Jim_Iain – Edge Live Post – B2B – Greek Islands and West Bound TransAtlantic

[Mike981]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

We have been told that they are installing full shower doors on the bath's of the Sky Suites.   Many of them have already been completed and there are workers onboard doing work on the ship.
 

I'm wondering how they arrange this during a cruise. Are the rooms not booked or does it quite possibly effect a cruisers experience.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

5 hours ago, gfkcruiser said:

Your photos of Santorini are beautiful.  Hard to take a bad photo with those blue skies.  Makes me want to go back to the Greek Islands.  

 

After reading your review so far,  makes me want to sail on Edge and sail in a Suite.  Edge might happen but not sure about the suite.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your trip review.  

Agreed! I had been thinking I would do a Pride of America cruise and stay at Disney’s Aulani in July 2021 for my 50th birthday, but these pictures are making me want to rethink that and go back to Greece! And I could probably swing a suite and still come out paying less than Plan A would be...

[hcat]

Missing EDGE...counting down til we are back on board and sitting  in EDEN...The cafe has  good soups, bread...limited menu but all freshly made!   Love  the outdoor seating.  As for the Edenists, we may try the 10:30 show this time!

 

The current book cart is a disgrace!  On our cruise it was a very cute cart but we learned those are actually used to show merchandise for sale near the stores..like you'd see in a mall...Our cart  in January had all the Art Books, donated magazines... paperbacks, etc.

 

This thing is not in line with the EDEN  motif or any library niche! Looks like store shelving.  Vt Cruiser and several of the original  EDGIES have suggested they do a  nicer reading nook along the EDEN entry area....Hope we convince them soon!

Edited October 26, 2019 by hcat

[eyecantwait]

Many thanks for all the market photos! Nice squid and octopus!

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, zitsky said:

Jim I am enjoying your posts.  We were "neighbors" of yours from Mountain View, CA before we moved to Raleigh.  I just did one of these live blogs for a Viking Mediterranean cruise.  I know it's a lot of work, so I just wanted to say thank you.

Thanks much neighbor.  

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, gfkcruiser said:

Your photos of Santorini are beautiful.  Hard to take a bad photo with those blue skies.  Makes me want to go back to the Greek Islands.  

 

After reading your review so far,  makes me want to sail on Edge and sail in a Suite.  Edge might happen but not sure about the suite.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your trip review.  

 

It is an amazing ship.    I keep discovering more and more.

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, Mike981 said:

I'm wondering how they arrange this during a cruise. Are the rooms not booked or does it quite possibly effect a cruisers experience.

Not sure how they are doing it or whether they arrange it with the passengers in the room.   I was on a cruise once and they advised us they would be installing new carpet one day while we were off the ship.    All we had to do was get everything off the floor.    

[Jim_Iain]

6 hours ago, hcat said:

Missing EDGE...counting down til we are back on board and sitting  in EDEN...The cafe has  good soups, bread...limited menu but all freshly made!   Love  the outdoor seating.  As for the Edenists, we may try the 10:30 show this time!

 

The current book cart is a disgrace!  On our cruise it was a very cute cart but we learned those are actually used to show merchandise for sale near the stores..like you'd see in a mall...Our cart  in January had all the Art Books, donated magazines... paperbacks, etc.

 

This thing is not in line with the EDEN  motif or any library niche! Looks like store shelving.  Vt Cruiser and several of the original  EDGIES have suggested they do a  nicer reading nook along the EDEN entry area....Hope we convince them soon!

 

 

I would agree.   At the beginning of the cruise there were about 100 books but I guess they must all me out on loan. 

[Jim_Iain]

Last night we had dinner at Fine Cut.  Was a nice dinner and everything was delicious. 
 

I noticed on bottom menu is a notation of a $20 up charge for a second entre.  I could hardly eat 1/2 my Rib Eye. 
 

Iain had the Dover Sole and I had the Rib Eye. 
 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

 

After dinner we stopped by The Club to see what was going on.  To our surprise they had an Interesting high energy show. 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Daily for October 26

 

 

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Arrived Mykonos around 6:00 am.  I kept hearing the thrusters and became impossible to sleep.  If we could hear it so loudly on deck 11 I can only imagine the sound on the lower decks.    The winds are really strong and we are having to tender today.   
 

We have a tour booked with Tours By Locals for today.   Our tour doesn’t begin until 1:00 so have plenty of time before going ashore.  Our guide has already messaged us with a new meeting place. 

[vtcruising]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

After dinner we stopped by The Club to see what was going on.  To our surprise they had an Interesting high energy show. 

I liked The Club a lot more than I thought I would. As someone in the older demographic, I assumed this was for the young and energetic. We actually enjoyed stopping in and watching the dancing at night (you can watch from the upper level) - so much fun! We loved the Live on the Edge show (think Tonight Show or other late night show) - the CD interviews an officer or a member of staff or crew and it gets hilarious. They do different things like get people in the audience to participate or have the raw egg/cooked egg Russian Roulette - fun to see the CD and an officer get a raw egg cracked on their heads. There was a real variety of music and dancing in there, from the Edge Ensemble Band with dancing to more traditional music to other times with the dancers' pictures taken and flashed on the walls while current favorites are blasting - very high energy.  They also had late night comedy at times, game shows, Karaoke, etc. The bar was excellent and there were many comfortable chairs and couches (and a few KH lowboys 😉). I will be trying the archery and laser maze the next time I'm onboard.

 

 

[cruise47]

We loved  EDEN,   the area, the different colors,  the decorations and the location was excellent IMO.

 

The only negative thing about EDEN to us was the production show. We just did not understand the storyline, or the music, or the characters.

Edited October 26, 2019 by cruise47

[hcat]

We skipped the  EDEN show last time so we'll check it out...not really that enthused but we have a longer cruise and  may be surprised.  Hope to also  spend more time in the club...nice energy .  We missed most of a jazz set one night.  Seems the Club is finding its identity!  Nice.

 

Thanks Jim for that clip..well done!

[JBare]

6 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Daily for October 26

 

 

Tonights the night when the ships company do their best performance in the theatre, the singers and stage effects are fantastic. Also later in Eden the "Edenists" do their thing and grab willing participants into their act.  Interesting but unfortunately my wife could not stay in Eden for long during this because of the smokey atmosphere.

[zitsky]

24 minutes ago, JBare said:

 

Tonights the night when the ships company do their best performance in the theatre, the singers and stage effects are fantastic. Also later in Eden the "Edenists" do their thing and grab willing participants into their act.  Interesting but unfortunately my wife could not stay in Eden for long during this because of the smokey atmosphere.

 

The smoke?  So Eden is outside or open air?  It's part of the smoking area or near one?

[driftychick]

Hello, as a past Edge cruiser my Hubby and I learned that if you take the time to talk to the performers in Eden and ask them questions they are more than happy to explain the performances to you.  Most of them will "come out of character" when they are in the space practicing in the afternoons and that is the best time to get to know them on a personal basis.  They are very talented and during our 2 weeks on board we enjoyed many conversations with several of them.

[JBare]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

 

The smoke?  So Eden is outside or open air?  It's part of the smoking area or near one?

 

Its inside but they introduce scented smoke into the air so that the lights and special effects create an atmosphere.

[bluwes]

17 hours ago, hcat said:

Missing EDGE...counting down til we are back on board and sitting  in EDEN...The cafe has  good soups, bread...limited menu but all freshly made!   Love  the outdoor seating.  As for the Edenists, we may try the 10:30 show this time!

 

The current book cart is a disgrace!  On our cruise it was a very cute cart but we learned those are actually used to show merchandise for sale near the stores..like you'd see in a mall...Our cart  in January had all the Art Books, donated magazines... paperbacks, etc.

 

This thing is not in line with the EDEN  motif or any library niche! Looks like store shelving.  Vt Cruiser and several of the original  EDGIES have suggested they do a  nicer reading nook along the EDEN entry area....Hope we convince them soon!

Did you look in the draw. My wife left a couple in there.

[Jim_Iain]

21 hours ago, vtcruising said:

I liked The Club a lot more than I thought I would. As someone in the older demographic, I assumed this was for the young and energetic. We actually enjoyed stopping in and watching the dancing at night (you can watch from the upper level) - so much fun! We loved the Live on the Edge show (think Tonight Show or other late night show) - the CD interviews an officer or a member of staff or crew and it gets hilarious. They do different things like get people in the audience to participate or have the raw egg/cooked egg Russian Roulette - fun to see the CD and an officer get a raw egg cracked on their heads. There was a real variety of music and dancing in there, from the Edge Ensemble Band with dancing to more traditional music to other times with the dancers' pictures taken and flashed on the walls while current favorites are blasting - very high energy.  They also had late night comedy at times, game shows, Karaoke, etc. The bar was excellent and there were many comfortable chairs and couches (and a few KH lowboys 😉). I will be trying the archery and laser maze the next time I'm onboard.

 

 

 

I'm sure we will check it out again.   The current cruise is very Port intensive (only 2 sea days) with most ports arrival at 7:00 AM.   People seem to eat earlier and go to bed earlier after long days ashore. 

[Jim_Iain]

21 hours ago, cruise47 said:

We loved  EDEN,   the area, the different colors,  the decorations and the location was excellent IMO.

 

The only negative thing about EDEN to us was the production show. We just did not understand the storyline, or the music, or the characters.

 

We haven't had dinner yet at Eden but looking forward to it.   Last night they had a guitarist playing nice soft music.   From what I can see they only the the Edenet show on some nights.   Not sure if that is new.

[Jim_Iain]

16 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

The smoke?  So Eden is outside or open air?  It's part of the smoking area or near one?

There is a smoking outside the Eden area but I am sure the OP was referring the the "Canned" Smoke that they blow into the theater to  give an eerie effect.  I believe most theaters use C02 but haven't seen it yet.     I've have heard of others that were bothered by it. 

[Jim_Iain]

Saturday was Mykonos.    I was awaken early with really heavy thruster vibrations.  After about an hour I figured we were tendering instead of docking.    Our room is so quiet we have never heard any announcements the entire cruise so far.   When I got up around 9 I confirmed my thought.  

 

The winds were really strong yesterday and temperatures around 70.   We had a 1:00 PM tour scheduled so did not go ashore until we had a bit of lunch.    Tenders were being provided by the port and worked really well.

 

We met our guide, Erwin at the little church with a blue roof directly in front of our tender point.    We stayed in contact by Whatsapp as it wasn't clear which of the tender ports we would be using.  

 

First we took a walking tour for 45 minutes of Downtown Mykonos.    The town is picture perfect and beautifully maintained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

 

 

After visiting town we took off in Erwin’s Jeep for a tour of the island.  
 

It was interesting to learn that the official population of the island is only 7,800 people.   The population swells during the summer.  Ours was the final cruise of the season and many shops were starting to shut down.