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EDGE REVIEW DECEMBER 15TH

Cruisegirl6

By Cruisegirl6,
in Celebrity Cruises

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Cruisegirl6

Cruisegirl6

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I am sorry for not writing this any sooner but we were on the Edge on the December 15th sailing and got off on the 22nd, then flew home and had to shop/prepare for Christmas Eve and day with family coming over our house, its been a very busy week since I got home.
 
ABOUT US- We are both 56 and we took my elderly widowed 71 year old father in law with us.  This is my 93 cruise but first cruise on Celebrity.  We are diamond on Royal Caribbean (would of been diamond plus but when the program started we didn’t keep our past booking numbers and their computer only went back so far) which made us Elite on Celebrity, nice touch!  We have cruised on NCL, Princess and many Carnival and when we got off the Edge we swore we never will go back to Carnival again.
 
DAY PRIOR TO CRUISE- We flew from Jacksonville to Ft. Lauderdale the evening before the cruise.  We generally stay at the Renaissance Cruise Airport but the price during this time of year would of been $350 a night so we opt for the Sheraton Cruise Airport on federal highway which was just less than two miles from the port.  The hotel was ok, not sure I be back just love the Renaissance much better, but it was fine for one evening stay.
 
The morning of the cruise we left at 9:45am which was great because there was no line up to get into the port as you have to go through security entering the port.  We noticed people still lined up looking for uber and cabs to get home, but overall the terminal was empty and was open for us to go inside and find a seat to wait for when boarding started.
 
EMBARKATION-  via iPad, so simple and easy with facial recognition.  We were brought to an area to wait to board the ship and boarded at 11:30am.  Its quite a walk to get onto the ship but made it more exciting as we couldn’t wait to get on her.  When we stepped inside the Edge I did not have get the “wow factor”…everything was subdued not what I am used to traveling on other cruise lines but we made it to our cabin which was right outside the aft elevators/staircase.  I always have had balcony cabins, although I have to admit, we never use the balcony more than an hour at most during a week long cruise, I do not like to sit outside in the heat.  My cabin was a panoramic Oceanview and my father in law had a studio balcony.  I LOVE my panoramic stateroom as the window was floor to ceiling window which to me is a balcony and I can sit looking outside inside air conditioning!  Loved it!  My father in law had the single balcony cabin, he did not have any drawers to place items in other than the one bathroom drawer, we thought this was odd and that was his only complaint about the cabin.  It was smaller but he was one person and didn’t pay double the rate and it is nice for Celebrity to recognize solo cruisers.
 
STATEROOM- My panoramic was just lovely in every way.  We did have the shade that went up and down, the thermostats went down to 66 degrees but in reality as I carry an interior thermometer it was 6-7 degrees higher than what it showed…I was comfortable during the night at the lowest setting.  I thought my stateroom was quite roomy and there was plenty of electrical/charging outlets in the room.  The mini frigerator was full and I asked the cabin steward to clear it as we like to keep some bottles of cold water in there for during the night and for taking medications.  The bathroom was HUGE!  We had a huge sink, honestly, we didn’t need that large of a sink but it was nice.  There was alot of storage areas for items as well as a deep big drawer to place things in and a shelf on the bottom of the sink.  The. Shower was large and they provided large bottles of conditioner/shampoo/body wash and body lotion.  Towels were nice, but what I wish they had and was missing was a make up mirror, thought that it was odd that they pretty much thought of everything (including hooks in the bathroom) but forgot about the mirror.  The water pressure was excellent and we were able to get hot water, by the way, be very careful, it is very easy to get hot water, make sure you check the water temperature as it could get very hot.
The mattress was one that I did not care for in fact, my back was hurting when I got up the first morning, its the type of mattress that is foam, kind of forms around your body and I move around alot at night so maybe that had something to do with the mattress not being good for me but my sister and brother in law were on the transatlantic sailing as well as the Thanksgiving cruise on the Edge and they also had back issues from the mattress but they asked for a topper which they got.  I took Tylenol before going to bed each night ( but forgot to take another evening and woke up with same back pains) which worked fine and didn’t wake up with any back pains.  The pillow I loved!!  I do not like mushy/thin pillows this pillow was so great that I will be ordering some on their web site.  The sheets were also soft and comfy.  There is a round table in the room and the cover comes off, I placed a. Large trash bag in it and it became my hamper for the week.  We loved the fact on the thermostat we were able to adjust the lighting to the time of day and roll up the shade from there to.
 
MAIN DINING ROOM-  On all our cruises on other cruise lines we only opt for specialty dining as we do not care for the MDR food and service.  We were pleasantly shocked and impressed with the quality of food as well as the service on the Edge main dining room.  We loved the fact we could dine in four different dining rooms and we did try all of them.  Every dining room was fabulous, comfortable and food overall excellent.  We did make prior arrangements for our dining times before our cruise and it worked out perfectly.  We chose the anytime dining and our table was always available to us at 7:45pm.  I think my most favorite dish out of all four restaurants is the Cosmopolitan Manhattan Steak, but you are able to order any of the dining room special entrees in dining in any of the dining rooms you go to, they will be happy to get you what you want.
 
FINE CUT STEAKHOUSE-  I have to say very very good!  I don’t rate it excellent, perhaps because when I travel I generally dine at 4-5 star restaurants and I have been to many steakhouses so I compare more than most people.  We dined here two evenings and both were very good.  I had the filet one evening and the NY Strip the second evening, both experiences my steak was made to perfection (medium rare) and I have to say the portion of the beef were huge and very tender, but I felt it lacked more of the beef flavoring I am used to dining at other fine steakhouses.  We were debating to go back a third evening (yes, it was still very good) but to be honest, the dining room food was overall very good to excellent, and for the first time ever I can honestly say we don’t need to go to the specialty restaurants but we will always dine here at least once during our future cruises on the Edge.
 
LUNCH BUFFET- I can only say two things- AMAZED AND WOW!!  There were countless of meat dishes each day as well as 2-3 carvings of meat/poulty offered.  So many choices to choose from and everything is so very good and tasty!  They had a section of Indian food, who the heck figured that I would love Indian food, never tried it and I found myself eating these wonderful dishes each day as well as Moroccon food!  They had a cheese station, deli, salads, chefs choice, pasta, well, I could go on and on, lets just say they offered everything!  I loved the fact I finally can get fresh vegetables something that other cruise lines sure lack.  I never in all my 92 past cruises have ever seen such a huge assortment of breads/rolls and such and all fresh!
 
OCEANVIEW BUFFET- Definitely well planned and designed, never had more than two people ahead of me for the meat carving and really had no waiting to get any of the food at any of the stations.  There was a sufficiently amount of space between the stations and it NEVER felt crowded at the buffets to any of us.  The service was very good and we were offered drink service each time.  They do have a bar as well as a coffee area here which again nice touch Celebrity!
I have to say the quality of the buffet food here is remarkable, totally blows away other cruise lines and is so good that we would consider eating dinner here each evening, that is how good we thought the food was, and again, I am very picky and a big foodie when I am away on vacations.
 
BREAKFAST BUFFET-  What can I say other than wow!  To have different types of ham served along with a real ham carving as well as made to order omelets which not just 10 items as other cruise lines offer but so many other items to choose from for your omelet.  I can’t think of anything there that was not offered that should be for breakfast they had it all.
 
MAST GRILL-  We were pleasantly surprised not to see burgers, fries and hot dogs at the ocenview cafe, but they were offered here, unfortunately, do to the huge variety at the buffet we never tried the burger but they sure looked good.
 
MARTINI BAR-  Excellent and fun friendly bartenders, it can be difficult to get a seat but there are many chairs/tables and couches around we were always able to find seating somewhere no matter what time of the day it was.
 
CAFE AL BACIO- I was addicted to going there each morning for a latte and a pastry and found myself in the afternoon getting espresso and more pastry to eat for a snack, I fell in love with the napoleons, everything was so tasty and so good and fresh.  Service was fast here and if you sit at one of the tables around in this room there is service and they actually bring you coffee and such in real dishes not in the paper cups and they will get you any pastry you would like to eat, nice touch again Celebrity!
 
EDEN-  I read so many negative things about this place and it pleasantly surprised me totally.  During the evening during their show you can smell a LITTLE BIT of incense but to be honest we were here each day in the daytime and never smelled anything what other people described on these boards.  It was our most favorite place to hang out during the day, it was well lit and you can see the ocean from the windows there and there was all different types of chairs/seating to choose from.  Bar service was remarkable here and always so friendly.  It was our hidden gem lol.
 
SHOWS-  We don’t care for shows but prefer going tot he casino, so I am unable to comment about the shows but we did see the main show in Eden and I have to say it was weird but interesting, something different.  They also had passenger participation which was nice and I was one that was called up to do something, they show workers were amazing and so friendly too and mingled in with us passengers after the show.
 
CASINO-  I heard negative about the casino being tight and too small, yes it is on the smaller side than what I am used to on other cruise lines but we don’t have the passenger capacity like the other ships on the Edge so it was a perfect size with sufficient amount of tables and slots.  I never was not able to get a slot machine that I wanted.   We played in here alot and think my other half got to 45k tier points….On the second evening I introduced myself to Demi who was the casino host as he remembered my sister/brother in law and who can forget them because on the transatlantic sailing my sister won a jackpot of 8k and on the thanksgiving cruise she won almost 3k!  He was very professional and nice as well as all the casino staff there.  I came home with the exact same amount of money that I left with and my other half came home with over 6k just in playing slot machines, so when you hear many on these boards say you don’t win it is NOT true!  He had three cash payouts, yes has to declare on income tax of course but hey he won quite a bit of money.  I was only down $400 but on the last day I found a machine that was good to me and gave it back to me.  We did play often in there mostly two hours or so in the afternoon then during the evening before and after dinner.  We love the casino and that is our entertainment at night during the cruise.
 
OVERALL STAFF- Have not encountered one person that did not live to our expectations.
 
CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS- Very and too subdued for us, in fact, pretty much didn’t feel like Christmas to us as everything was mostly white/silver, they could of added some color on the trees but what they had was elegant in its own way.  Its not that we spent Christmas on the ship so it wasen’t really an issue to us.
 
CASINO BAR- We loved the fact we would hear live music each evening from the Plaza, and the service was excellent there too.
 
THE CLUB-  Always had something going on in there during the day and at night.  
 
DISEMBARKATION- The best we ever encountered!!  Facial recognition really is the best.  We were not in a rush to get off the ship, we disembarked around 9:10am and immediately found our luggage made our way outside with a porter and waited for uber to come which took 17 minutes due to the traffic of cars trying to get into the port security.  It was painless totally and so fast we were amazed.
 
The ship grew on us by the third day, we no longer felt she was subdued as we felt when boarding the ship.  The only negative I can think of besides of my not caring for the mattress (my other half and father in law thought it was good so don’t panic) were the elevators tend to get crowded and not work as fast as other cruise lines elevators, didn’t put a damper on our cruise just mentioning it.
 
To sum our Edge cruise up, we WILL be back on Celebrity and truly feel Celebrity lived up to every all of our expectations in fact it blew us away in amazement in so many ways.  We feel this is the first time we actually got our value for what we paid for the cruise….Celebrity is our most favorite cruise line and we will be back for sure!
 
 
 

 

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hcat "Live from...." Rare

hcat

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Great  well written,  detailed review.. thanks for posting it.

 

glad you enjoyed EDGE,  and that your husb won a nice amount!  Sounds like you are joining the EDGIES.. (fans of EDGE).  Welcome!

 

The theater shows were very good..hope you try a few next time.

 

 

 

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helen haywood

helen haywood

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We were on this sailing as well!!  I previously had made my mind up that I'd never sail on Edge due to no Sky Lounge and no shade practically everywhere.  Well, we were blown away!!!  LOVED it!!!  Eden almost totally makes up for the loss of the Sky Lounge and would if they stopped playing that weird sitar music at night....(IMHO)  I loved the hand washing station at the entrance to the Buffet.  We were amazed at how quickly the Cafe al Bacio attendants processed orders!  One time there were 10 people in line ahead of us....it took less than 2 minutes to get our coffee.  Thought I'd dislike the infinite veranda but loved it for the same reason you liked your oceanview.  Panoramic view AND AC:  win, win!!

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Bo1953

Bo1953

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15 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

We were on this sailing as well!!  I previously had made my mind up that I'd never sail on Edge due to no Sky Lounge and no shade practically everywhere.  Well, we were blown away!!!  LOVED it!!!  Eden almost totally makes up for the loss of the Sky Lounge and would if they stopped playing that weird sitar music at night....(IMHO)  I loved the hand washing station at the entrance to the Buffet.  We were amazed at how quickly the Cafe al Bacio attendants processed orders!  One time there were 10 people in line ahead of us....it took less than 2 minutes to get our coffee.  Thought I'd dislike the infinite veranda but loved it for the same reason you liked your oceanview.  Panoramic view AND AC:  win, win!!

hh - Thank you for your input. I was wondering what you would think after reading a few of your pre-sailing comments.

 

Yet, no worries as each of us will enjoy based on our direct experience(s) which I value greatly even if different from mine!

 

bon voyage

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helen haywood

helen haywood

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43 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

hh - Thank you for your input. I was wondering what you would think after reading a few of your pre-sailing comments.

 

Yet, no worries as each of us will enjoy based on our direct experience(s) which I value greatly even if different from mine!

 

bon voyage

 

Not only LOVED Edge but booked again in a couple of months to check out some things we missed!  And booked Apex next year!  (Because oddly enough it is cheaper than Edge...)  I guess this means I'm a convert.  But in no way does it mean I don't still love the S Class!

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Bo1953

Bo1953

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2 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

 

Not only LOVED Edge but booked again in a couple of months to check out some things we missed!  And booked Apex next year!  (Because oddly enough it is cheaper than Edge...)  I guess this means I'm a convert.  But in no way does it mean I don't still love the S Class!

I concur!

 

bon voyage

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bstoeck

bstoeck

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I was on your Edge sailing as well and was blown away by service and beauty of this ship.  We brought another couple with us who were first time Celebrity cruisers and they loved it so much they booked another future Celebrity cruise onboard for their group of six to Alaska next Summer.

 

This was my 10th Celebrity sailing, and after all the negative press regarding the Edge,  we were cautiously ready to hate it but boy were we impressed.  We were in our FIRST ocean view cabin on deck three- we usually are Aqua Class and/or Deluxe Verandah cruisers - (due to increased Edge fare, we could only afford this option) and our cabins were IDENTICAL in almost every way other than the verandah to our friends IV they booked.  An added benefit was we were very close to the four dining rooms, the Martini Bar, the Guest Relations desk, etc.  My husband remarked that it is no longer necessary to book Aqua Class cabins on Edge class as the food quality and four smaller dining rooms did the trick for us. 

 

I was so impressed by it all - it never felt crowded even though it was a full ship.  We were able to confirm our Select dining times in advance and were seated on time every night.  The entertainment was TOP NOTCH and they really elevated their game here.  Plenty of evening options....  Loved Eden - what a nice quiet area during the day and the bar staff was so personable here. Eden Cafe for breakfast and/or lunch was our little secret - yum!  It is a free venue but everyone probably thought it was a pay venue, so it was never crowded.

 

We felt the food quality was outstanding - the only disappointments were food quality in the Sushi restaurant and the interactive animated experience was cute but not worth an extra 55.00 per person because the food quality was awful the night we attended.  We wished we would have tried the Fine Cut Steakhouse or Eden dinner instead.

 

The staff made this trip and this was my first cruise with Captain Kate.  Her Q and A activity was truly an education in itself, she is so personable and smart.  When we disembarked in Ft Lauderdale, there was Captain Kate (we called her Sandra Bullock because she looks just like her)  in her skirt and high heels, personally thanking every passenger (along with the Cruise Director and Hostess)  she must have had to stand and shake hands for hours!

 

We personally booked two future sailings on board, and  rest assured, we will return to enjoy future Edge class ships .  They are incredible. We did not feel we needed a balcony on this ship - our friends had an IV cabin, and it was nice, but if you are wavering due to price - an Ocean View cabin on Aft Deck three is really great.

 

Boarding and Customs in Ft Lauderdale were a dream.  We used the early walk-off option and carried our bags but no joke - it took minutes - we were truly amazed.

 

We had a lot of OBC to burn so we purchased two Celebrity Shore Excursions (look for sales on this - we got discounts pre cruise) - The Captains Club Bacardi Mixology Class in San Juan was a blast!  We also took the Jost Van Dyke catamaran trip and went to the Soggy Dollar Bar where they invented the Painkiller and has a great time.  

 

Do not be afraid to try the Edge or Edge class ships!   We loved it.  Such a chill vibe everywhere - beautiful artwork - felt more like a deluxe resort than a cruise ship.  We are a couple in their 60's and would bring our families of all ages aboard in the future....every age group would enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

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Oville

Oville

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17 minutes ago, SumoCitrus said:

Been thinking about trying Celebrity for our next cruise. We usually cruise on HAL. Can you explain what you mean by facial recognition? How is it used on board the Edge?

When you do your pre cruise paper work online you can include a picture of yourself for your Express Pass.   We always do it on a blank wall.  Also you can scan your passport info.  Hope that helps.

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