Celebrity Edge - May 25th live on board

[alpineapa]

Relaxing sail away with Linda Capewell on Rooftop Garden

 

We are staying in Sky Suite. It was 2 chairs and table on decl. We asked butler to put lounger, he said no problem. Butler also said they no longer put rocking chairs in room. He wasn’t very friendly but room attendant was super nice.

 

Eden Cafe was not open for embarcation lunch so we went to Luminae which was great!

 

the retreat area for suites is amazing, both the inside section and the outside section. Tons of different types of chairs, I can see us spending a lot of time there this week.

 

when we boarded first thing we did was go to the retreat lounge to do restaurant reservations as we had 8 night specialty package. There were 3 people ahead but went fairly quick. There were lots of spots already sold out but we were pretty happy with our reservations.

 

we stayed in rome pre-cruise and used rome

cabs for the transfer. Very easy. 130 euro for 2 people. Left at 915 and it took about an hour. We basically walked on the ship, super quick!!

 

overall ship feels a lot less crowded than our usual cruises (RCCL Oasis class ships)

[vtcruising]

Will be following, alpineapa!  Glad you were able to get your specialty dining reservations.  It looks gorgeous there! Enjoy your time on the beautiful Edge and enjoy the sweet suite life!! 🙂

Edited May 25, 2019 by vtcruising

[alpineapa]

We had dinner at Eden. It was a good 5 course meal. For the RCCl cruisers out there I found this was a bit similar to Wonderland but Wonderland was better.

 

Went to the Spa after. They had a managers special for first day. 139 for 75 minute massage.

[alpineapa]

They always have some snacks in the retreat lounge. Here is a pick of breakfast items. There are also always water bottles, soft drinks, beer, wine.

 

off to the gym and then to Sicily!

[alpineapa]

Always great to start your day with a run! Now on the balcony relaxing with a coffee.

 

The gym was pretty busy (first day and we only arrive at noon). When you enter the first row of treadmill was full however if you keep walking to the other side, there is another row which had a couple empty ones. The gym has lots of classes. Some are free and the others are $19. You can buy a pass for $149 that covers all classes and also gives you access to the peloton bikes (4 of them in total).

 

As others pointed out, they no longer give you the paper dailies, however the retreat lounge has some copies every day if you want one.

 

Forgot to mention, last night around 11pm, pop by the buffet and although it was closed, they were still offering pizza which is all the way back. They also had cold cuts and a few other items.

 

Please don't hesitate if you have any questions.

 

Oh they offer the "magic carpet dinner" twice on this cruise (11 night cruise). It's around $100 per person so very expensive. We booked it on the evening we are in Santorini. I figured it would be pretty cool to have a Santorini diner view as we are sailing out.

 

[alpineapa]

So cool, as I was relaxing on the deck, I saw 8-10 dolphins jumping by the boat!!

 

As a side note, breakfast ends early on Luminae....I just called and it ends at 9h30am.....we are usually early risers but this cruise we don't have the kids so we "slept in" until almost 8 and then went for workouts so missed the breakfast. It's 10 am now, we will go check out buffet.

[hcat]

12 hours ago, alpineapa said:

We had dinner at Eden. It was a good 5 course meal. For the RCCl cruisers out there I found this was a bit similar to Wonderland but Wonderland was better.

 

Went to the Spa after. They had a managers special for first day. 139 for 75 minute massage.

Glad you are enjoying EDGE...we did and look forward to returning in Nov.

 

We had paper dailies in our AQ class cabin..We will need those as we do not use the app..Our devices are too old and we do not take our phones around with us anyhow

 

Thanks for the heads up. I will be looking for that first day/ night spa special...will see if it can be pre booked!

[vtcruising]

3 hours ago, alpineapa said:

Always great to start your day with a run! Now on the balcony relaxing with a coffee.

 

The gym was pretty busy (first day and we only arrive at noon). When you enter the first row of treadmill was full however if you keep walking to the other side, there is another row which had a couple empty ones. The gym has lots of classes. Some are free and the others are $19. You can buy a pass for $149 that covers all classes and also gives you access to the peloton bikes (4 of them in total).

 

As others pointed out, they no longer give you the paper dailies, however the retreat lounge has some copies every day if you want one.

 

Forgot to mention, last night around 11pm, pop by the buffet and although it was closed, they were still offering pizza which is all the way back. They also had cold cuts and a few other items.

 

Please don't hesitate if you have any questions.

 

Oh they offer the "magic carpet dinner" twice on this cruise (11 night cruise). It's around $100 per person so very expensive. We booked it on the evening we are in Santorini. I figured it would be pretty cool to have a Santorini diner view as we are sailing out.

 

So can you request dailies on your bed at night? Hope that is still an option...

 

If you could check on the menu and cost of the Le Grand Bistro brunch that is done 2-3 times/cruise, that would be great. A picture of the menu would be much appreciated.

 

I will look forward to your review of Dinner on the Edge. How lovely to do it in Santorini during Sailaway. $100PP was the original cost, if I remember correctly (pre-launch info). They have changed the format and the cost a few times - looks like they have settled back at the $100. If you can get a photo of the menu, it would be great. 🙂

[vtcruising]

3 hours ago, alpineapa said:

So cool, as I was relaxing on the deck, I saw 8-10 dolphins jumping by the boat!!

 

As a side note, breakfast ends early on Luminae....I just called and it ends at 9h30am.....we are usually early risers but this cruise we don't have the kids so we "slept in" until almost 8 and then went for workouts so missed the breakfast. It's 10 am now, we will go check out buffet.

On our last cruise, Luminae was open from 8-9:30 on sea days, but 7:30-9:00 on port days. They are fine if you walk in at the last minute, but it means that they need to stay later, so we hate to get there right at 9:30. We have walked in at 9:15 a few times on sea days after a late night and they welcomed us with a smile. Eden Cafe was open until 10 on our cruise - I think they are only open on sea days for breakfast now? That's a great place for a complimentary breakfast with a beautiful view.

 

Have a wonderful day!!🙂

Edited May 26, 2019 by vtcruising

[alpineapa]

Sicily - celebrity excursion - Castelmola, Wine Tasting and Cannoli

 

The port area is not very nice. 

 

We boarded a bus and drove around an hour up to Castelmola. Great views however it was very foggy and rained a bit. They let us ‘walk around’ for approx 30 minutes. There were a few shops. We are now back on bus, will provide an update on remainder of tour after

[alpineapa]

We drove for around another hour and stopped at a ‘reception place’ where they served wined, cannoli and cheeses. We are here for 30 minutes and next stop winery. Based on the tour description I though we would stop at a place that makes cannoli so a but disappointed but they were still very good.

[hcat]

1 hour ago, alpineapa said:

Sicily - celebrity excursion - Castelmola, Wine Tasting and Cannoli

 

The port area is not very nice. 

 

We boarded a bus and drove around an hour up to Castelmola. Great views however it was very foggy and rained a bit. They let us ‘walk around’ for approx 30 minutes. There were a few shops. We are now back on bus, will provide an update on remainder of tour after

Hope the day worked out for you even without the cannoli making..that would  have been nice!

 

We  have only been to port in Sicily once and  booked the Taormina excursion,  it was a very long bus trip with curvy mountain rds.,.but great views,  Bus parks lower than the city but once up there it is beautiful,,   We had a very good guide..sometimes too long winded.  We ended up leaving the tour for awhile...for lunch, shopping and even saw a wedding party going into church..

 

If we ever go back...wine tasting and cannolis sound great!

Edited May 26, 2019 by hcat

[Ilikebigboats]

Thanks so much for taking us along on your trip!

We are thinking of booking this itinerary next summer so I am looking forward to your observations, good or bad. It looks like you are not to impressed with Celebrity tours so far, did you book any independent tours?

 

[alpineapa]

7 hours ago, hcat said:

Glad you are enjoying EDGE...we did and look forward to returning in Nov.

 

We had paper dailies in our AQ class cabin..We will need those as we do not use the app..Our devices are too old and we do not take our phones around with us anyhow

 

Thanks for the heads up. I will be looking for that first day/ night spa special...will see if it can be pre booked!

Actually they do deliver paper dailies to the rooms, I noticed it was on our bed when I got back to the room today and my wife said it was there last night as well.

[alpineapa]

4 hours ago, alpineapa said:

Sicily - celebrity excursion - Castelmola, Wine Tasting and Cannoli

 

The port area is not very nice. 

 

We boarded a bus and drove around an hour up to Castelmola. Great views however it was very foggy and rained a bit. They let us ‘walk around’ for approx 30 minutes. There were a few shops. We are now back on bus, will provide an update on remainder of tour after

on our way back from the tour, the bus went through the town which is very nice, looks like there was lots of streets to walk around with shopping, restaurants and drinks. Not sure what the walk would be from the port to there but I'm sure others who have done it will provide that information.

 

The winery we stopped on the way back was great. we sampled 5 wines and there were some snacks. you could also buy bottles.

[alpineapa]

2 hours ago, Ilikebigboats said:

Thanks so much for taking us along on your trip!

We are thinking of booking this itinerary next summer so I am looking forward to your observations, good or bad. It looks like you are not to impressed with Celebrity tours so far, did you book any independent tours?

 

Actually overall the tour was ok. I would rate it an 8 out of 10. For Malta and one of the Greece Ports, we booked Celebrity and for Naples and Athens, we booked on Viator. For Santorini we booked on Greek Travelling.

[Lastdance]

Thanks for sharing your impressions and review with us.  I was on the TA and loved the ship.  Great to hear that you did not just do Celebrity tours, as those bus tours are more expensive and not the best.  Sounds like booking the MC for Santorini will be superb!  Yes, you will definitely enjoy the suite life.  We were in a corner aft, so you would not have our butler, George, but he was awesome.  Hopefully, yours will improve or just have a little talk with him!  Anyway, have a great time and enjoy Edge....I am on her again next May!  I am going through cruise withdrawal...

Edited May 26, 2019 by Lastdance

[alpineapa]

927 and still lots of seats for 930 show. Looks like 4th floor always has more availability than 5th floor.

 

great theatre, very comfy seats and great waiter service. 

[alpineapa]

Day 3 - Malta

 

We woke up and open the blinds to see beautiful Malta and a clear blue sky. Having the bed face the balcony is nice. We ordered room service breakfast the night before which is free for suite guest. There is now a large table in the sky suite which is perfect for breakfast.
 

We did a Celebrity Cruise excursion "a Taste of Malta" which started at 8h30 and lasted 4 hours. I would rate it 8.5 out of 10. It was a relaxing morning that started with a visit to a garden (approx. 30 minutes) and then we went to the Masta Dome which is really nice. Even if the description said you don't enter the Dome, we actually did. After we went to a glass blowing factory and then the tour ended at a Wine Estate for a Wine tasting. It was a good way to see a bit of the city.

 

After we went relaxing on the Retreat deck. It was busy in the pool area but we were able to find chairs. The area on the other side was less busy and plenty of chairs.

 

Now we are heading to Retreat Lounge as they have someone playing music in the lounge and then we are doing Fine Cut for diner and we will go to the show after.

 

As a heads up, they only reserve seats for the suites on formal nights and not on every nights. They reserve up to 15 minutes prior to the show.

[judla]

Do you remember what dock number the ship was at in Civitavecchia?

[Presto2]

On ‎5‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 6:06 PM, alpineapa said:

Actually overall the tour was ok. I would rate it an 8 out of 10. For Malta and one of the Greece Ports, we booked Celebrity and for Naples and Athens, we booked on Viator. For Santorini we booked on Greek Travelling.

 

Hi, we have booked more or less the same itinerary as you for our cruise in August. We have booked that same tour that you have done for our 25th anniversary, thinking that we wanted something different. How long did you spend at the small town at the start of the tour? Would you say it was better than a Taormina stop and then a boat trip to the Blue Grotto …… we cancelled that one for this one !! Ha ha

[alpineapa]

6 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

 

Hi, we have booked more or less the same itinerary as you for our cruise in August. We have booked that same tour that you have done for our 25th anniversary, thinking that we wanted something different. How long did you spend at the small town at the start of the tour? Would you say it was better than a Taormina stop and then a boat trip to the Blue Grotto …… we cancelled that one for this one !! Ha ha

We drove past Taormina on our way to the small town that was higher up. Taormina looked better so in terms of towns, I’d go with Taormina so really depends on Grotto vs winery which would be really different experiences

[Presto2]

Just now, alpineapa said:

We drove past Taormina on our way to the small town that was higher up. Taormina looked better so in terms of towns, I’d go with Taormina so really depends on Grotto vs winery which would be really different experiences

 

Thanks, we've done Taormina a number of times so thought we'd do something different. It may sound daft but was it a decent wine tasting experience with lots of nice local nibbles to have with your wine? We fancy some of the local foods as well.

[Presto2]

Sorry, forgot to ask re the Magic Carpet. Is the menu still mainly fish? For some reason I have it in my head that it is and sadly this is one of the things that put us off. Then again, now it is the price too ! Crickey

[alpineapa]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

Sorry, forgot to ask re the Magic Carpet. Is the menu still mainly fish? For some reason I have it in my head that it is and sadly this is one of the things that put us off. Then again, now it is the price too ! Crickey

 

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

Sorry, forgot to ask re the Magic Carpet. Is the menu still mainly fish? For some reason I have it in my head that it is and sadly this is one of the things that put us off. Then again, now it is the price too ! Crickey

Not sure, I will let you know after we go in 2 days