Apex 28 Aug - Royal Suite

[Stu UK]

Not seen a live Apex thread for a while so thought I would start this one. Will update as we go along. I’m onboard with my husband celebrating our retirements. Had 3 previous Apex cruises cancelled / amended so are very thankful to be finally onboard. Yesterday was a very long day leaving home at 3am for a 7:40am flight from London Heathrow to Athens. Arrived at dockside at 3pm. 
 

Lots of info / details to follow later today. 

[Sam.Seattle]

Post lots of pictures!  Our turn is not till April 23, 2022.  And, have fun!!!!!!

 

[LXA350]

Enjoy your cruise. How does it look with the total passengers on board for this sailing and the projections for the next ones? Supposedly they had only 300 or so passengers on one of the last sailings.

[Cruising Is Bliss]

Have a wonderful time!

[sunpsyche]

Following along eagerly. We don’t sail Apex until next year, but we loved Edge.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of retirement and enjoy your cruise!

[Stu UK]

So we have recovered from yesterday’s journey and now have the energy to start typing.

 

Let’s start prior to the cruise.  We received a move up email.  We were booked in a Sky Suite would have been very happy in that.  We would not normally be willing to spend the extra for the larger suites.  However the move up bid range started well below the current listing for the Royal Suite and Edge Villa.  After a lot of thought we put in just over the minimum bid and sat back an waited, the total would be c.1/3 of the current asking price. In the 4 days before we were due to sail the Villa bid went to “expired” and the Royal Suite was showing as “pending.  Later that day we receive an email confirming the RS upgrade was successful but our card had been declined.  I knew from paying the final balance that the Celebrity payment system is not currently compliant with UK bank payments  regulations.  After a call to Celebrity they took the payment in smaller tranches and yippee Royal Suite here we come!!

 

Next day we received a call and an email from the Shoreside Retreat Concierge who wanted to know arrival time, drinks preferences, dinning requests etc etc so the suite would be be how we wanted it upon arrival. Sent in the requests and to be honest would not be surprised if they were not met due to it being so close to departure.  Only challenging one I asked was because of the late arrival time (3pm) could we reserve places for Dinner on the Edge (Magic Carpet). He also wanted to know what initials we would want monographed onto the special pyjamas offered in the top suites.

 

After and early start arrived on Saturday (departure day) at Heathrow. Very smooth check in / baggage drop with BA.  Only documentation for Greece from the UK is the Greek Passenger Locator Form and the NHS Covid Vaccine Certificate.  The flight was busy and uneventful.  Arrival at Athens was not as smooth.  It was quite quick to go through the document check at the airport (wanted to see the PLF and Vaccine Cert).  Tip is have them printed as its far quicker than trying to locate on a mobile device.  Then onto Passport Control.  A couple of flights had landed to that was very slow to get through as only 4 agents operating.  Took about 45 mins to get through.  At least our cases were easy to spot on the baggage belt when we got to it as not many others left.  Then it was out and time to locate the Celebrity rep (operated by InterCruise) for the pre-booked ship transfer.  We had to wait for about 10 mins for the last two passengers who were due on the coach making a grand total of 4.  Driver gave us bottles of water which was a nice touch.

 

Journey to the port was about 40 mins and we arrived bang on our arrival slot of 3 - 3:30pm. Coach drew up outside some tent like buildings.  Very few people around.  We had been told in the concierge email to look for the  priority baggage drop sign for Royal Suite and higher guests and then the exceptional service began.  The InterCruises agent then personally took charge of us and our luggage.  She escorted us into the Covid testing area (bypassing the short queues) and remained with us until testing was complete.  By this time one of the Retreat Concierge (Luis) had come to take over from her.  He kept an eye out for our results (negative - phew) and provided a cold drink to us.  He then escorted us to the ship taking a pic (above) for us on the way.

 

Embarkation was a breeze.  You needed to show the express pass & Covid vaccination certificate and a sticker to prove the -ve test.  And relax, made it onboard.  We were now met by Tari our Butler (sorry Retreat Host) and were accompanied by her and Luis to the Muster Station. We had watched the safety video on the Celebrity App on the coach.  The off to the cabin still being escorted. We were informed about 450 guests onboard.

 

At the suite door Luis left us and Tari showed us around the suite.  It is stunning!  Will talk more about it in a later post - probably a video.  Much to my surprise all the drink preferences had been done and also she was keen to let us know that Dinner on the Edge had been booked also.  She reminded us that we could have unlimited speciality restaurant access and she would arrange it all.  We had prepaid for Chefs Table and she confirmed it would be happening on Sunday @ 6:30pm so we will let you know about that tomorrow.

 

We unpacked and sent some items for pressing - all included in the RS and set off to Luminea.  A great meal where our waiter Sony explained that in addition to the menu there were the classic Celebrity always available items such as escargot, French Onion soup, chick and Filet Mignon.  Amazing meal and even better that they stock Cloudy Bay my favourite wine albeit not shown on the wine list.  It was an extra $7 a glass - bargain!

 

After dinner it was time to explore the ship and have a drink on the Magic Carpet where I think there were a max of 6 guests.  Lovely location to watch us pull away from port so we fortfitted the comedian in the Theatre.

 

Time for bed after a long day.  More to follow tomorrow after the day in Mykonos.  We are staying on the ship as you still need to do Celebrity Excursions.

[Stu UK]

58 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

Enjoy your cruise. How does it look with the total passengers on board for this sailing and the projections for the next ones? Supposedly they had only 300 or so passengers on one of the last sailings.

It’s very empty around the main ship. However The Retreat has a nice number of guests so a good atmosphere so far.  Apparently guest numbers will increase by about 100 a cruise during Sept / Oct.

[Stu UK]

15 minutes ago, sunpsyche said:

Following along eagerly. We don’t sail Apex until next year, but we loved Edge.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of retirement and enjoy your cruise!

Thank you so much.  Some small improvements over Edge in Sky suites we believe from talking to others - rainfall showers, glass shower doors and proper coffee table.

[Lady Arwen]

Thank you for sharing your incredible cruise with us!  Following along with anticipation, as we sail Apex and Edge in 2022.  Great start!

[CalTexCruiser]

1 hour ago, Stu UK said:

Thank you so much.  Some small improvements over Edge in Sky suites we believe from talking to others - rainfall showers, glass shower doors and proper coffee table.

 

Thanks for sharing.  You mentioned that you had reservations on the Magic Carpet dinner--is that included as part of the unlimited dining for RS and above?

[little britain]

@Stu UK boarding next week - thanks for the tip re printing the PLF.  Mine has a V on it - hope that means I've passed!?

Can you find out how many on next week please?

Shame about the excursions in Mykonos - how strange that RCI, Azamara, NCL, Silverseas et al allow guests off but not X!

[wendyam76]

@Stu UKhave a fantastic cruise! Tari is a treasure - we knew her from serving us in Constellation- she makes great espresso! - so when she spotted us on Apex she made sure to tell our Retreat Host she was asking for us. One of our highlights was seeing her in person. 
If you get a chance please tell her Wendy and Doreen are asking for her.

Wendy

[Stu UK]

51 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

Thanks for sharing.  You mentioned that you had reservations on the Magic Carpet dinner--is that included as part of the unlimited dining for RS and above?

Don’t believe it’s included will let you know after we have done it. Chefs table tonight is extra. 

[Stu UK]

39 minutes ago, little britain said:

@Stu UK boarding next week - thanks for the tip re printing the PLF.  Mine has a V on it - hope that means I've passed!?

Can you find out how many on next week please?

Shame about the excursions in Mykonos - how strange that RCI, Azamara, NCL, Silverseas et al allow guests off but not X!

V means vaccinated so the police at the airport direct you to correct queue. They say about 500 / 600 depending on cancellations this week. 

[glmacruise]

Congratulations on your retirement. Have a fantastic cruise !

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for taking the time to post.   I hope you enjoy your cruise and look forward to your Live Post.

[LGW59]

1 hour ago, Stu UK said:

Don’t believe it’s included will let you know after we have done it. Chefs table tonight is extra. 

Enjoy your dinner and thank you for taking the time to post here.  Sounds like you and your husband are and will continue to have a fantastic cruise!

[steveweese]

Following

[Silkroad]

Thanks so much for your live review. We've a few months to go before boarding Apex for the first time so I'm living vicariously through you and your DH😉 I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

[gbphipps]

Have a wonderful cruise in that amazing suite!

[ETHTrader]

EU is set to advise its member countries to impose travel restrictions from US starting Monday. I wonder what this means for Greece and Apex cruises scheduled for Sept/Oct.  Starting Monday, the officials said, the United States will be removed from a “safe list” of countries whose residents can travel to the 27-nation bloc without additional restrictions, such as quarantine and testing requirements.

 

Note that, this is a recommendation from EU to its member countries. Not enforcement or requirement

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/29/world/europe/eu-us-travel-restrictions.html

Edited August 29, 2021 by ETHTrader

[LGW59]

8 minutes ago, ETHTrader said:

EU is set to advise its member countries to impose travel restrictions from US starting Monday. I wonder what this means for Greece and Apex cruises scheduled for Sept/Oct.  Starting Monday, the officials said, the United States will be removed from a “safe list” of countries whose residents can travel to the 27-nation bloc without additional restrictions, such as quarantine and testing requirements.

 

Note that, this is a recommendation from EU to its member countries. Not enforcement or requirement

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/29/world/europe/eu-us-travel-restrictions.html

You should have posted this on a separate thread or on existing one related to Covid.  Most of us just want to follow along with Stu and his husband as they post about their cruise.

Edited August 29, 2021 by LGW59

[Shadow9612]

Thank you for taking the time to do this live review.  Very excited to join you virtually!  

 

A big shout out to you and all of the others who have done Live reviews during this period of cruising restarts.  🙏

 

Congratulations on your retirements, and the move up bid success!  Can't wait to hear more and see more on the royal suite.

 

Have a super trip!

 

[little britain]

With the possible EU news on USA today: what is the nationality split on board- Americans in a majority? 

[Stu UK]

3 hours ago, little britain said:

With the possible EU news on USA today: what is the nationality split on board- Americans in a majority? 

Majority is American followed by UK.