Holidays on the Edge - A Full Report

[slei15]

Background:

Family of 4 from Orlando (mid-30’s, and two boys, 10 and 7) traveling with in-laws (mid-70’s). We are all very experienced cruisers (20+ for the adults, approaching 10 cruises for the kids). Adults have all sailed Celebrity multiple times, this was the first Celebrity for the kids. We were a bit apprehensive to take the kids on the Edge, knowing it was not designed for younger children, but after speaking with the Camp at Sea staff a bunch in January without the kids, we decided to go for it over Christmas. We generally prefer MSC and RCCL with the kids, and Celebrity without, as they love the slides and activities on the mega-ships, and we like the relaxed atmosphere without them. For this cruise, we booked with Kids Sail Free and Sail All Included, combined with an onboard booking bonus OBC from our January cruise, which made it quite reasonable. I will break down this trip report into various categories. I apologize if it jumps around, as I am adding stuff when I remember it! If you have any questions after, please ask!

 

Pre-cruise:

We drove down most of the way on Saturday and stayed at the Embassy Suites in Boca Raton. This left us about 30 minutes from the port Sunday morning. It is a great hotel, right off the turnpike. We love Embassy for the free happy hour every evening and the great breakfast. This specific one also has free parking. We made a Wal-Mart run for a few items we knew we needed that we didn’t have a chance to get prior to leaving and had a great Cuban dinner at a local place in Boca.

 

Embarkation:

Sunday morning, we arrived at Terminal 25 at Port Everglades at around 10:00 AM. We quickly dropped the luggage, kids, and in-laws, and then made the trek to the garage to park the car. Strong suggestion, if you have mobility challenged people with your group, drop them with the luggage. The garage is quite a distance from the terminal entrance, and there are not good crosswalks in between. You are sharing the garage with 4 or 5 other ships, and it gets a bit crazy. By the time we made the trek back and got inside the terminal, it was about 10:30. We quickly went through security and through the iPad check-in. By 10:45 we were seating in the handicap boarding area waiting for them to board us. Right at 11, they started allowing us on board. We went to our rooms to drop our carryon bags (one of the best things on the Edge) and grabbed our SeaPass cards. We had upgraded to the “Drinks and More” package pre-cruise, and we had 4 bottles of wine waiting in our room. We did not attempt to switch them, as we planned to bring them home anyway. The wines were their house Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon (Concha y Toro Reservado for both). There were cards in their acknowledging the upgrade.

 

After dropping our bags, we went to the Martini bar to grab our first of many delicious drinks, and then up to the Oceanview for a great lunch. The ship was still pretty empty at this point, and we had no issues finding seating.

 

Dining:

We had select dining, and had pre-booked all of our reservations for 6:00 most nights. We had booked 2 nights each in all of the dining rooms except Tuscan, where we had one. The classic menus were standard Celebrity. They had all of the traditional dished you find on all of the ships, and then the specialty items in each dining room. With this being a holiday sailing, the timing of the menus was quite off. They had a special holiday menu for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The food quality and presentation was good as always. My favorite dish was the beef carpaccio I believe on the second night. The only real food disappointment was that the Saganaki is gone from the Cyprus dining room special items. We asked the chef about it, and he let us know that it had to be removed because it was too difficult and expensive to import the quantity needed now that the ship is US based. The service was great in the dining rooms, except for the first night we were in the Cosmopolitan dining room. We arrived at 6 and were sat promptly at a nice table by the window. We asked the server to please bring the kids food out with our appetizers, as they wanted to go to Camp at Sea at 7. I don’t know if it was the server, the kitchen, or what, but the kids did not get their food until 7:15, and we did not finish until almost 8. Every other night, we were done by 7:15. We spoke to the hostess and dining room manager on our way out that night letting them know the issue, and we never had another problem.  We also had a small issue pre-cruise, that one of our party of 6 was accidentally dropped off of our reservations. This was never an issue on-board, as when we arrived each night for our reservation for 5 people, the staff assumed it would be 6 based on the two cabins booked. We also had our reservation dropped for the final night, but when I told them we didn’t cancel it and I had the printed confirmation, they quickly reinstated the reservation even though they were “booked up”.

 

Cabin:

We had a category 7 Oceanview on deck 3 behind the Martini Bar for the 4 of us, and my in-laws were on Deck 8 in a Category 6 Deluxe Oceanview. The oceanview cabin was fine for the 4 of us. The sofa has a trundle underneath that pulls out to add the 4^th bed. This was closed during the day each day to allow for more space. Geneviv from the Philippines was our cabin steward, and she was amazing. The location of this cabin was perfect (and specifically chosen) for its proximity to both Camp at Sea and the Grand Plaza. It was not noisy at all, and easy to get anywhere from it. The deluxe oceanview was a nice cabin as well, however; the location being all the way forward was not convenient. It also had a lot of movement up there. Even though it was a two person cabin, the steward had no problem making up a 3^rd bed on the couch for them so our kids could spend a couple nights with their grandparents. I do have to say, Geneviv was not as much of a “ninja” as others we have had, as we constantly had bad timing with her, but it was more our fault as we kept going in and out to change for the pool, etc. She was still great, and if we needed to get in while she was there, she would just come back when we were done to finish.

 

Entertainment:

We saw all 3 main production shows, plus the acrobat show in the club, and the Eden Revelations show. The production shows were great, engaging, and entertaining. The kids loved them as well. The acrobats were entertaining as well. The Eden show was interesting. We had a hard time following exactly what was going on, but they performed well and had some fun tricks. During the day, there was tons of trivia, movies, etc. to keep people busy.

 

Casino:

The biggest downside to this Casino is that the smallest minimum table for blackjack was $15. I have never seen such a high minimum as the cheapest table, but the Casino Manager’s answer was that they are still filling them, so why not! I played quite a bit of roulette as usual during this cruise. We had the $50 each promo from the Drinks and More, as well as a couple of hundred dollars of non-refundable OBC with nothing else to use it on. For both the Drinks and More credit as well as the non-refundable OBC, they give you promo chips to use. These must be played through and cannot be cashed out. I used them on roulette, and the dealers were great about paying out any winnings in cash chips instead of giving you back the colored ones that were still under the promo amounts. I did pretty well during this cruise, and was actually able to convert the Drinks and More credit plus $250 of OBC credit into cash, plus another $150 on top of that! I love that the Celebrity casinos are entirely non-smoking.

 

Camp at Sea:

Our boys absolutely loved the Camp at Sea program. For the first time in their nine cruises, we could not get them to leave! The younger group played lots of games that kept them very active, and the older group had scavenger hunts daily that had them exploring the ship. They loved the freedom of the hunts, and the activities were great. Spicy from Mexico and Andre the manager from Brazil were the kids favorite counselors. They both made friends on the ship and had a blast. They had a bunch of family themed activities for the holidays, including a holiday carnival, gingerbread house making, and family scavenger hunts. They also had Santa arrive on the ship on Christmas morning and parade around all of the public decks, before stopping in the Grand Plaza for pictures and gifts. Each kid got either sunglasses or earbuds from Santa (Celebrity branded of course). Also, not Camp at Sea related, but on the holiday theme, there was a nightly Hanukkah “Service” with prayers, electric candle lighting, songs, latkes, and donuts. It was nicely done and very well attended (at least the first couple nights…after that we stopped going because other activities got in the way).

 

Ports:

Key West we missed due to the weather. Captain Kate did not think we would have a window to depart if we made our way in, so we had an extra sea day. To dock in Key West, the winds have to be below 25 knots, to sail through the 8 mile channel, and you can not enter or exit when it is dark. We would have been able to get in, but based on the forecast, getting out before dark would have been a challenge.

Off-topic, but speaking of Captain Kate, she was the most personable and entertaining captain we have ever sailed with. She truly loves her job, and I think if she could hold a dual role of Captain and Cruise Director, she would.

Costa Maya:

This started off a bit rough, as the tram on the pier was not operating and it is quite the long walk. I think this might have been because it was Christmas, as it was operating every other time we have been there. There were 4 ships in port, and we were docked next to the recently crashed Carnival Glory. The back of the Glory looked like a Florida roof after a hurricane…Nothing some tarps and duct tape can’t fix! We took the shuttle over to the downtown/beach area and got a table at the Krazy Lobster. You can use their tables, chairs, umbrellas, hammocks, and kayaks for free if you sit there. They also have $5 for 5 Coronitas or Dos Equis small bottles, and the food it pretty good. We all got the $25/hour massages on the beach, and it ended up being a great day.

Cozumel:

We always highly recommend the food tours or cooking class with the Cozumel Chef in Cozumel. They take you were the locals eat and teach you about authentic Yucatan cuisine. We have done the tours a few times, and now we tend to just walk the island away from the tourist areas and eat our way around. For this time, we got a cab since we had my in-laws with us. $50 for 2 hours + tip, and he took us everywhere we wanted to go. For this trip, we chose a local place with whole fried snapper and ceviche, as well as a local taqueria. We also grabbed some empanadas and baked goods at a local bakery. We have never felt unsafe in Cozumel and have wandered our way around most parts of the island. We love it there!

Grand Cayman:

We tendered over and walked around a bit. We had planned to take the public bus to Public Beach (Calico Jacks), but nobody was really in the mood for a beach day by then, so we skipped it. Grand Cayman is not one of our favorite ports, but we are not big snorkelers or divers, and living in FL, the beach is not always inviting!

 

Drinks and More:

As I said earlier, we had the 4 bottles of wine waiting for us in the cabin. The $50 casino credit per person also not an issue, and the Casino cashier knew exactly what it was and how to handle it. We received the invitation for the wine tasting, but did not end up going due to other activities. Our mini-bar was restocked for us every day, with the Tito’s, Pringles, Kind Bars, and the two wines, as well as the sodas.

 

Overall:

This was a great cruise. The kids loved it, which allowed us to love it! We have tentatively booked the Apex for next Thanksgiving with the kids again, as they begged for another Celebrity cruise after this week. We’ll see how the deals come in through wave season to determine if we keep it, as it is quite high right now.

 

[mafig]

thank you for an enjoyable read!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[hcat]

Great review. Thanks for sharing...

 

So happy EDGE delivered a great holiday vacation for your family!

Agree 100% about the port parking garage location.....and appreciate the tip about Embassy Suites Boca..

 

Question about kids club...Did they have any STEM activities for the boys?

 

Cosmopolitan was our least fav mdr..and going there the 1st night  at 6 p.m. did not work well for us either.  For APEX, we are skipping Cosmo for dinner as we will use it for a lunch and breakfast!

[slei15]

19 minutes ago, hcat said:

Great review. Thanks for sharing...

 

So happy EDGE delivered a great holiday vacation for your family!

Agree 100% about the port parking garage location.....and appreciate the tip about Embassy Suites Boca..

 

Question about kids club...Did they have any STEM activities for the boys?

 

Cosmopolitan was our least fav mdr..and going there the 1st night  at 6 p.m. did not work well for us either.  For APEX, we are skipping Cosmo for dinner as we will use it for a lunch and breakfast!

There was a stem journey curriculum that they use, and they made slime one night, but with the volume of kids they didn’t use it as much as usual. They do a lot more in the off seasons. We had 500 kids 0-17, with 300 under 13. There was a lot of physical activity (Gaga and dodgeball) that my little one was in heaven with. 
 

Agreed on Cosmopolitan, especially knowing now that we can get their special items in any dining room. I love the short rib and Manhattan cut strip in there, and my wife loved the scallops. 

Edited January 2, 2020 by slei15
Typo

[davekathy]

slei15...thanks for taking us along on your cruise. 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for telling us about your cruise.

Glad you had a great time.

[hcat]

Thanks for STEM info...

Wow.. lots of kiddos...Bet almost all of them had a ball!

[micheleata]

Thanks for a great review!

 

[cangelmd]

Did you get to Eden? When are the Eden shows now? I've read that they have changed a bit since the originals.

[slei15]

1 hour ago, cangelmd said:

Did you get to Eden? When are the Eden shows now? I've read that they have changed a bit since the originals.

We did make it to Eden.  They are doing the Eden Revelations show a few different nights beginning at 10:30 PM.  They are also doing a lot of live acoustic music in there in the early evening, calling it "Eden Unplugged".

 

Also, forgot to mention, the Eden cafe has great sandwiches, salads, and soups for lunch.  They are also open for breakfast on Sea Days with different breakfast sandwiches and delicious cinnamon rolls.

[cangelmd]

2 hours ago, slei15 said:

We did make it to Eden.  They are doing the Eden Revelations show a few different nights beginning at 10:30 PM.  They are also doing a lot of live acoustic music in there in the early evening, calling it "Eden Unplugged".

 

Also, forgot to mention, the Eden cafe has great sandwiches, salads, and soups for lunch.  They are also open for breakfast on Sea Days with different breakfast sandwiches and delicious cinnamon rolls.

Is the Revelations show like the original show with acrobatics and odd people wandering around interacting with the audience?

[slei15]

6 minutes ago, cangelmd said:

Is the Revelations show like the original show with acrobatics and odd people wandering around interacting with the audience?

Yup.  That's exactly what it is.  With some singers as well. Very crowd engaging to those sitting in the front.

[hcat]

Love the addition of EDEN unplugged.. great space for acoustic music.!

[fragilek]

Thanks for your review.  Can you tell me how dressy the more elegant evenings were. I usually love to get dressed on holidays for all nights .  However, for my next cruise I have injured my foot so will be wearing a big black clumsy boot.  It looks ridiculous with my dresses so plan on just sticking to black/navy trousers & blouses to try and blend the boot a bit .  Will this look out too of place ?

[slei15]

26 minutes ago, fragilek said:

Thanks for your review.  Can you tell me how dressy the more elegant evenings were. I usually love to get dressed on holidays for all nights .  However, for my next cruise I have injured my foot so will be wearing a big black clumsy boot.  It looks ridiculous with my dresses so plan on just sticking to black/navy trousers & blouses to try and blend the boot a bit .  Will this look out too of place ?

The elegant evenings were quite toned down.  There were still plenty in tuxes/suits/military dress uniforms, however; the majority were more like my family wearing jeans or slacks and a nice shirt every night. Not to start the debate that always gets ugly about what's appropriate or not, but my personal preference being on vacation is to be comfortable. I don't go on vacation to get dressed up and I am not one that enjoys it! I dread the couple times a year I need to wear a suit for weddings/funerals/interviews! 

 

And I will add, there were a large number of families wearing matching "ugly" sweaters for Christmas Eve/Christmas Night.

Edited January 3, 2020 by slei15

[DebFromCanada]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.  My question is in regard to the Camp at Sea program.  We have 3 boys (10, 10, & 12) that LOVED the Disney kids club and HATED Norwegian's.  I don't know if you and your kids have experience with either of those lines, but my impression is that Disney is unstructured (kind of a free-for-all) while NCL is heavily programmed and divided into 2-year age groups.  Based on your experience, where do you feel the kid's program on the Edge falls?  Also, while in the club, do they have opportunity to play video/computer games?  We would be travelling over spring break, so likely to also have a good number of children on board.

[slei15]

1 hour ago, DebFromCanada said:

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.  My question is in regard to the Camp at Sea program.  We have 3 boys (10, 10, & 12) that LOVED the Disney kids club and HATED Norwegian's.  I don't know if you and your kids have experience with either of those lines, but my impression is that Disney is unstructured (kind of a free-for-all) while NCL is heavily programmed and divided into 2-year age groups.  Based on your experience, where do you feel the kid's program on the Edge falls?  Also, while in the club, do they have opportunity to play video/computer games?  We would be travelling over spring break, so likely to also have a good number of children on board.

I would say it’s somewhere in between. There was definitely Xbox time, enough that we had to come home and buy one because the kids loved it! Our boys hated NCL too, but it was a few years ago. Your 3 will be in the same group ( it was 7-9 and 10-12). They did a lot of scavenger hunts that our older one loved. It was not overly structured, but not a complete free for all. They kind of let the kids drive the fun. 

[mahdnc]

Very nice review.  It is good to read that your family enjoyed the holiday cruise, especially the kids.  I also thought it was appropriate that your Cruise Critic membership date is dated Dec 25.

 

My family of 4 was on the other side of the world enjoying the holidays aboard Solstice.  When our kids were younger (they are adults now), they very much liked the Celebrity's youth program.

 

How was EDGE decorated?

Edited January 11, 2020 by mahdnc

[slei15]

4 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Very nice review.  It is good to read that your family enjoyed the holiday cruise, especially the kids.  I also thought it was appropriate that you Cruise Critic membership date is dated Dec 25.

 

My family of 4 was on the other side of the world enjoying the holidays aboard Solstice.  When our kids were younger (they are adults now), they very much liked the Celebrity's youth program.

 

How was EDGE decorated?

The decorations were very much in the color scheme of the ship. Lots of grays and natural tones. Not gaudy, but very tasteful. 

[dani negreanu]

Thank you for taking the time to review, very well written and informative.

 

One question, pls. — for our “taster” cruise we travel with a carry on only. Does it mean we can go and “settle” in our cabin right away? Thanks, 

[slei15]

2 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

Thank you for taking the time to review, very well written and informative.

 

One question, pls. — for our “taster” cruise we travel with a carry on only. Does it mean we can go and “settle” in our cabin right away? Thanks, 

You can drop your bags and use the safe right away. I would wait for the announcement around 1:00 that cabins are ready before “settling in”. The room stewards are still working on getting them ready until then and you will want to give them space to finish. 

[dani negreanu]

7 minutes ago, slei15 said:

You can drop your bags and use the safe right away. I would wait for the announcement around 1:00 that cabins are ready before “settling in”. The room stewards are still working on getting them ready until then and you will want to give them space to finish. 

 

Thank you.

Of course. I just meant that we could get rid of the carry ons, and “roam” the brand new ship 😁