Live from Celebrity Apex Sept 25th & Oct 3rd B2B!

[ChucktownSteve]

Mr_T, TYVM for such an informative review with pics.  It's interesting to see your take on the IV vs. Sky suite and MDRs vs. Luminae.

 

I'm encouraged because we'll be on APEX this February. It will be our first SS and first E class sailing. Perhaps my tainted Celebrity experiences of a few years ago will evolve due to the new ship and quality.

 

So again TY.

[cinderellen]

I’ve really enjoyed reading your review. Thank you for taking us along. Your lost phone incident reminded me of something that happened to us several cruises ago. We were at a function in the Sky Lounge and when we got back to our cabin, my husband realized he didn’t have his wallet (it was day one and we hadn’t completely settled in yet). We were retracing our steps with no luck. We were in line at guest relations when a fellow passenger approached us. He had found the wallet under the cushion when he sat down. He was on his way to turn it in. I guess he sensed our anxiety.
 

Safe travels home!

[MR_T]

So we got our final negative results earlier today so we are all good to get home to Canada on Monday 👍🏼,

 

Our original plan was to catch the train to Madrid tomorrow and spend 4 nights there before heading home but just decided we’d prefer to go straight home but our best option for a flight means we will spend one night in Barcelona and fly home on Monday. 

[jagoffee]

11 hours ago, MR_T said:

I believe someone asked about the opportunity to order from the main dining room menus and just wanted to confirm this is possible, I wasn’t that interested in the appetisers last night and our waiter asked if there was anything on the MDR menus we’d like... 👍🏼

I asked the question originally.  I am so happy to hear that the MDR menu choices are available.  I was thinking that I might need to dine in the MDR on the TA.  Kathy and I have always enjoyed the service and atmosphere in Luminae ( Solstice Class experience only), but are not always thrilled by the menu choices.  I frequently order from the MDR menu.  I also do not like deciding what I want to eat the day before.

I will see if the Luminae dining experience is significantly different on the Apex.

 

Thank you for information,  Did you dock in Barcelona around 5 PM, today?

[MR_T]

Bags are packed and cases are outside the door and we will have a leisurely morning with a stop at Luminae for breakfast and will then just relax in the retreat before getting off around 9am, we are going to stay onboard as long as possible as we plan to head straight to the hotel and hope for an early check in 🤞🏻 The hotel still has a few rooms left for tonight in the category we’ve booked so hopefully we will be ok to check in early 😊 

 

I’ll do a full review of both cruises and will add a link here for anyone to check it out if you want to, might take a few days to put it together but I’ll get there 😜 

 

Tonight we just had a quick dinner in one of the main dining rooms as the menu just sounded better for us. 

 

 

[MR_T]

deleted! 

Edited October 9, 2021 by MR_T

[MR_T]

14 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

I asked the question originally.  I am so happy to hear that the MDR menu choices are available.  I was thinking that I might need to dine in the MDR on the TA.  Kathy and I have always enjoyed the service and atmosphere in Luminae ( Solstice Class experience only), but are not always thrilled by the menu choices.  I frequently order from the MDR menu.  I also do not like deciding what I want to eat the day before.

I will see if the Luminae dining experience is significantly different on the Apex.

 

Thank you for information,  Did you dock in Barcelona around 5 PM, today?

We are still heading towards Barcelona, I guess we’ll get there around 4am tomorrow morning? 

 

I may have the info slightly wrong... Julie’s understanding is that they can offer the classic menu items from the MDR! I just assumed it would be everything 🤞🏻 

Edited October 9, 2021 by MR_T

[Silkroad]

I've really enjoyed your live reviews, and I'm so happy you made it through the negative things on the second leg (cold symptoms, iPhone loss) to a couple of great days at the end. I certainly understand wanting to get home to your adorable fur babies. We felt the same when our wee (75 lb. lol) fur babies were still alive. Congrats on the negative tests! Looking forward to your additional thoughts and photos. We'll have our first E-Class Sky Suite when we board Edge in two weeks (we had an Infinite Veranda the last time we were on Edge) so it will be interesting to see your final thoughts about your Infinite Veranda & Sky Suite experiences.  Meanwhile, I'll wish you safe travels and a happy reunion with your pups☺️

Edited October 9, 2021 by Silkroad

[jagoffee]

46 minutes ago, MR_T said:

We are still heading towards Barcelona, I guess we’ll get there around 4am tomorrow morning? 

 

I may have the info slightly wrong... Julie’s understanding is that they can offer the classic menu items from the MDR! I just assumed it would be everything 🤞🏻 

I just caught the very end of this ship, but it obviously it was not the Apex.  I will be looking for you in the early morning as my body clock is all messed up.

 

Thank you for the clarification and thank you to Julie.  This was initial understanding as well.  I will certainly be dining less often in Luminae especially on a ship at around 50% capacity.  I have asked for a copy of all the Luminae menus.  (Celebrity only shows 9 days for dinners on line so I am suspicious if it is accurate)

if I am not doing Specialty dining, I suspect that I will be using the MDR for some dinners on this cruise.

Edited October 9, 2021 by jagoffee

[MR_T]

So after getting off the Apex yesterday we are now sitting in the lounge at BCN waiting for the first of our second flight heading home, first we travel to Frankfurt then onto Montreal a few hours later so fingers crossed there’s no delays and we are home by early evening (local time) 🤞🏻
 

The Apex should be arriving in Alicante anytime soon and obviously we wish we was onboard as we had that cruise booked for so long, but at the end of the day we had a great time on the seas (mostly 😂) and are happy to be on our way home, really looking forward to seeing our fur babies go crazy when we see them 😊

 

we did wave goodbye last night as the Apex went past our hotel but nobody waved back… how rude 😜

 

let’s see how much of the review I can tackle on the flights home… 

[verizon]

We have 1227 passengers on this leg.

Sorry we didn’t see you wave goodbye because we all had a good time though is a little busy on this leg but it still have the PRIVATE YATCH Feeling.

Very busy in Luminae.

Edited October 11, 2021 by verizon

[WeBcruisingMN]

Tony and Julie, just got home ourselves on Sunday, October 10, as we had booked a 6-day Greece road trip following our disembarkation on October 3. GREAT review/commentary, as we loved the Sept 25 cruise, too….and it was VERY nice to meet you and Julie a couple of times, and we sure hope to see you on a future cruise. [ I will attach a pic, in case you met so many people - to remind you who we are]. It was so nice to walk the Dubrovnik walls early in the day ‘with’ you. 
 

Sorry about the difficulties on your second leg, but you have an attitude of appreciation and perspective; I applaud that! 
 

I wondered if you went to ROCKUMENTARY (production show) on the second leg? We were so bummed to have that canceled on the Sept 25 cruise, my husband is a huge rock music fan and would’ve been mouthing all the words along with them. They juggled our last few shows around quite a bit, and not sure if you ever heard why- when we saw the Tree of Life on Thursday (day 6), my husband noticed a huge bruise on one of the dancers, and they had mentioned something about ‘keeping the cast safe’, so we wondered if that was the issue.

 

Anyway, just wanted to add a (hopefully) helpful comment to any cruise critic folks who would want to extend pre or post cruise from Greece, that we had a FANTASTIC six day private land tour with George’s Taxi, visiting many sites in the Pelopponese region and also Deplhi area and Meteora. Our guide took impeccable care of us, and we saw SO much of Greece. Plus, having a private tour gave us control over our pace and adding/deleting things and kept us healthier too, maybe. Our guide knew so much history and background, plus we got to hear a lot about how a ‘real Greek’ person lives today. We could settle back and not worry about the driving either. Their website is taxigreece dot com, and they have tours of all lengths. If anyone has any ??s, they can email me at sharonbaranick at yahoo dot com. I’ll also post this on the Greece page of cruise critic, as we have found so much help from other CC travelers, who recommend tours etc.

 

All the best to you and Julie, hope to sail again with you!

Sharon (& John) 

PS the pic I’m attaching is one that Julie took for us, when we saw each other on the Dubrovnik walls. Thanks for her photog skills 👍🏻

[MR_T]

6 hours ago, WeBcruisingMN said:

Tony and Julie, just got home ourselves on Sunday, October 10, as we had booked a 6-day Greece road trip following our disembarkation on October 3. GREAT review/commentary, as we loved the Sept 25 cruise, too….and it was VERY nice to meet you and Julie a couple of times, and we sure hope to see you on a future cruise. [ I will attach a pic, in case you met so many people - to remind you who we are]. It was so nice to walk the Dubrovnik walls early in the day ‘with’ you. 
 

Sorry about the difficulties on your second leg, but you have an attitude of appreciation and perspective; I applaud that! 
 

I wondered if you went to ROCKUMENTARY (production show) on the second leg? We were so bummed to have that canceled on the Sept 25 cruise, my husband is a huge rock music fan and would’ve been mouthing all the words along with them. They juggled our last few shows around quite a bit, and not sure if you ever heard why- when we saw the Tree of Life on Thursday (day 6), my husband noticed a huge bruise on one of the dancers, and they had mentioned something about ‘keeping the cast safe’, so we wondered if that was the issue.

 

Anyway, just wanted to add a (hopefully) helpful comment to any cruise critic folks who would want to extend pre or post cruise from Greece, that we had a FANTASTIC six day private land tour with George’s Taxi, visiting many sites in the Pelopponese region and also Deplhi area and Meteora. Our guide took impeccable care of us, and we saw SO much of Greece. Plus, having a private tour gave us control over our pace and adding/deleting things and kept us healthier too, maybe. Our guide knew so much history and background, plus we got to hear a lot about how a ‘real Greek’ person lives today. We could settle back and not worry about the driving either. Their website is taxigreece dot com, and they have tours of all lengths. If anyone has any ??s, they can email me at sharonbaranick at yahoo dot com. I’ll also post this on the Greece page of cruise critic, as we have found so much help from other CC travelers, who recommend tours etc.

 

All the best to you and Julie, hope to sail again with you!

Sharon (& John) 

PS the pic I’m attaching is one that Julie took for us, when we saw each other on the Dubrovnik walls. Thanks for her photog skills 👍🏻

Hi both, 

 

of course we remember you 😊 and yes walking the walls that day was definitely a highlight and we enjoyed the interactions we had with you both during that morning, 

 

You are both nice people and for sure we hope our paths cross again on the seas one day in the future. 
 

Your Greece trip sounds amazing, we have discussed several times about doing an extended trip to Greece to incorporate the mainland and the islands, one day it will happen for sure 😊

 

We didn’t do any shows on the second cruise, I know a couple of them also got changed/cancelled, we just thought maybe it was due to the crowds being so low but who knows 🤷🏼‍♂️

[MR_T]

4 minutes ago, MR_T said:

Apex review 

 

As mentioned in the title we recently did a B2B on the Apex and here’s my thoughts on the cruises & our first suite experience! 

 

• About us 

 

We are a 49 & 52 year old married couple, Me (Tony) am from England & Julie is from Canada, we met on the celebrity silhouette back in 2012  where we became friends for life and one cruise after another we just decided we actually wanted to be together forever so fast forward around 4 years and I packed my bags and moved to Montreal to be with my dream woman, and never looked back! 

 

We’ve done around 23 cruises in total with most on celebrity as they are our favourite cruise line.  

 

As it turned out we had a lot of changes leading up to this cruise but we actually booked inside cabins on both the 25th September & 3rd October Apex cruises with the  hope of upgrading via the move up program to infinite balcony’s on both, We we’re successful on both cruises but for the second cruise we actually upgraded again but onboard this time to a sky suite S1, So from the inside we booked for an extra $2660 Canadians dollars total we got a S1 midship suite and we felt that was a pretty good deal 😊  this was our first suite experience and I’ll touch on that later in the review. 

 

We hope anyone that wants to take the time to read this review enjoys it and makes it to the end.... once I get started I tend to go on a bit as I’m always thinking of another bit of info... Sorry! 😂 

 

• Pre-departure stuff 

 

Like any trip there’s always a bunch of stuff to do and organise regarding the travel to & any stays before boarding the ship, this time, for us anyway and I guess a lot of people there was a bunch of new protocols to navigate through to ensure a smooth process 🤞🏻

 

• Departure flights 

 

We fly Swiss airways from 

Montreal - Zurich (2&1/2hr layover) 

Zurich - Athens 

 

Both flights we’re on time and went ok other than a screaming kid for the night flight (all night) 🙄 

 

I’ll never understand the need to drag your child on such a long flight just so you can go on holiday... go camping and don’t inflict such issues on others... I know people are rolling their eyes right now but it’s my review and I’ll say what I want to... 😜and no need to comment that people want to take their kids to see granny... how about spend the money on a first class ticket for granny to visit you? I’m going to say 95% of the time it’s selfish parents wanting to go away so dam everyone else. I’m sure if the same adults we’re travelling on their own and this happened to them they would find it equally annoying & frustrating. 

 

Anyway as I said my review and all that... no input required! 😂 

 

• Pre-cruise hotel in Athens 

 

We booked the Phidias Piraeus Hotel due to the ratings/reviews and also the location to the marina near the port. On arrival we we did have to wait for our room but we had booked the cheapest (only room available) at the time of booking but the manager did inform us he had a nice upgrade for us so in the end it was worth waiting for. The room was small but very well equipped and had a small balcony on both sides of the room. The location of the hotel was perfect. 5 mins walk to all the restaurants & bars on the marina water front. The hotel did offer breakfast but we decided to go to the marina as we had plenty of time. We would definitely stay their again if we find ourselves cruising out of Athens again

 

• Embarkation process 

 

As we only booked the 25th cruise a week before departure we were somewhat limited to an early check in for the cruise, Generally we arrive at the port around 9.30am and just get in line and board as soon as we can, For this cruise we were allocated a check in time of 1pm so it was a little strange trying to fill our morning while we waited to leave, Anyway after a walk around the port area and a nice breakfast but the time we strolled back to the hotel & finalised the bags it was time to head to the port 😁a quick taxi ride and we were there, we actually arrived around 12.45pm but was told to go and take a seat in the pre-pre check in area, Shortly after we started the process and headed into the terminal to start the check in stuff and get our Antigen test done, 15 mins later we got called to say we are good to go and we could board the ship 

 

• Boarding 

 

So after a very smooth check in procedure we started that lovely walk towards the ship, it really is an impressive sight when you first see it for the first time just before you board, walking up to it was very special as like for a lot of people it was our first cruise for some time and we were very excited to be back cruising 😊As we did our first steps onboard it felt like we were back, a very warm & welcoming feeling from the crew members standing there to greet us, What was different was stepping onboard a brand new ship/class for us and not knowing where anything is 😂in some part we felt like first time cruisers again which was good & bad in a few ways but we new we’d get the hang of it quickly and after a day or 2 we kind of new the basic areas we needed 🍸😎

 

• Pax count for both

 

On the 25th September sailing I was told there was 1045 pax due to board, actually I think we ended up with around 975 that actually made it to the ship, Nor sure what happened to the difference in numbers but I guess in these times people can cancel at the last minute for various reasons... 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

On the second cruise 3rd October we we’re initially told during the first cruise there was just under 500 booked but as the week went on a lot of people must have decided to get on it as by the time the 3rd came along there was around 800 booked/confirmed onboard, don’t get me wrong still amazing and as we new what it was like to be onboard the previous cruise with around 1000 people we new it was going to be another quiet experience onboard. 

 

• Initial thoughts of ship 

 

What can I say other than WOW, what a beautiful ship it is, like the S/Class ships in a way the E/Class ships are very classy & lovely colours all around the ship. The designs all over the ship were really nice and the mix of colours etc really worked for us, If you got on blindfolded & didn’t know anything at first thought I’m sure you’d just  know it was a Celebrity Ship. 

 

• Infinite balcony 

 

My initial thoughts we’re that I really liked it and all the concerns I had we’re not going to be an issue but over the first day or 2 I did find I was wishing they had stuck with the standard balcony design... Now my initial thought was it was a great idea and yes it did give a feeling that the cabin was bigger and that was great but I think that’s where the positives ended for me. 

 

The process of opening & closing the window (and yes let’s call it what it is) was fun maybe the first time but after that I just felt it was a weird thing, and I know it’s a small thing but to have to stand there and keep the button pressed in vs just pressing it once seemed odd to me 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

And using the space as a balcony just seemed nothing like a balcony on a cruise ship I’ve ever experienced, with the window fully open there was absolutely no breeze coming in & the seats were either too low or the window edge was too high as from the sitting position we were just looking at the thick window edges and didn’t feel like it was anywhere near the same experience vs the other ships/classes. 

 

The bed was comfy & again the visual design was very nice... if I must be honest the over use of that fake coral stuff all over the ship & cabins was a bit much 😂 

 

The bathroom was nice, great size shower and nice big sink. 

 

We found that although there is a lot of storage spaces all over the cabin it wasn’t really ideal for what we wanted or needed, personally I loved to over the bed storage and can’t see why they didn’t add that to these also, I know a lot of people don’t like it but you don’t have to use it but for the people that do like it there’s still space to have had it there. Not a big deal but we ended up having to put still in/on shelves in the bathroom that could have been more accessible in the bedroom area... for us anyway! 

 

• Main dining rooms 

 

We really we’re looking forward to trying these out as for us the MDR on the other ships just seems to have become a little bland and very much the same every night and we wasn’t disappointed, We loved them all and to be honest the way they are set up regarding the menus it’s very easy it eat in them every night with lots of choices. And everything we ate we really in-house and it seems like they have stepped up the food presentation as well, Now there are a lot items from the s/Class ships and I guess that makes sense but there are also new items which were enjoyable also, We also loved the different designs in each restaurant as it gives you a real feel that you are eating in a different restaurant every night, Obviously you are but you know what I mean (hopefully) 

 

• Specialty restaurants 

 

We only tried Raw on 5 & Fine Cut on this cruise as we enjoyed the MDR so much so didn’t feel the need to try the others, Plus with being on the next cruise we just thought we’d try others then. 

 

Raw on 5

 

Julie is a lover of anything raw fish/sushi, me not so much (well not at all really) but we always visit this place (or sushi on 5) at least once a cruise as we really enjoy the experience in there, as I said Julie loves it and really looks forward to it and to be honest with the menu both places have I’ve never left hungry so for the both of us it’s always a good experience 😋

 

There was a few new items to try out, especially for me as a non sushi eater and I must say I loved everything I had, Julie really enjoyed hers also so a good night all round. 

 

Fine-Cut 

 

On first impressions again we really liked it but after 10 mins and the start of the martini show down on deck 3 we just wondered why they left the restaurant so open to the noise & lights in the main central section of the ship? It wasn’t just the noise etc it was as soon as it started a load of people got up from their table to go look over the edge to watch the show and all this between tables set up on the edge also. If I was sat there I’d be pushed with all the extra people standing around our table... now it’s only 10 mins but still for us it just seemed a bit of a flaw... also if you go there for a romantic meal and it’s during one of the martini shows it’s very loud & flashing lighty... 😂 

 

The food however was very good, Julie’s steak was a little over cooked as we ordered med & med-rare but both were the same, not a big but in our experience it just seems they don’t like to serve steaks rare for what ever reason as it generally comes out a little over! 

 

But overall a nice dinner in a somewhat nice restaurant, We’d definitely go again on another cruise 😋 

 

• Buffet

 

We have to say one of the best things about cruising in the current climate is how lovely the buffet experience is, We went  at various times and it was alway a nice experience, crew we’re amazing and the food delicious but the absolute best thing was not having to worry about finding a table or having to share a table with let’s be honest you’d never want to share a table with people... I’m sure we’ve all seen them or heard them 😱😂if only all cruises could sail at 30% 😂 

 

• Bars 

 

If I’m being honest I must say the bars we’re a little disappointing, we love the old martini bar so much we both just felt the replacement just didn’t hit the mark... I will say sailing with around 30% occupancy will obviously affect the atmosphere but still the bars around the ship just didn’t feel as nice, We also really liked the passport bar and we didn’t feel there was a bar like that on this ship. 

 

• Casino 

 

We love to play the slots in the casino and for the last few cruises the experience seems to be only going one way and it’s not the right way... don’t get me wrong from a financial view we actually came away winning money on both cruises but the entertainment value wasn’t the same as the choice of machines just didn’t excite us, we love the machines that have a story along with them that has interesting features etc we just found a big proportion of the machines onboard the Apex were of a similar nature,  For instance anyone that loves slots might understand... we love Wonder Woman, sex & the city, the flintstones, Charlie & the chocolate factory & our new favourite the Simpsons machine and there’s wasn’t any like that 😞as I said we came away with a plus so it’s not all bad! 

 

• Shops 

 

We didn’t really visit any shops and to be honest it didn’t look like anyone else did do nothing really to report, One that did surprise us was that there wasn’t a Tiffany’s store...Julie loves anything Tiffany so maybe we would had spent a few winnings in there if they had one but no. 

 

• Spa 

 

Neither of us are spa people so again nothing really to report other than it did look nice and they ran various offers throughout both cruises.

 

• Pool deck 

 

Wow, what an amazing pool, I would have said it wouldn’t be possible to have such a big pool on a cruise ship as I’ve never seen anything near the size of this one on any cruise like, it really is a lovely pool, Not sure I’d feel the same the the Caribbean on a sea day in 90 degrees heat but with 30% occupancy it was very cool indeed! 

 

• Crowds 

 

As you would expect with only 30% occupancy there was never a crowd, not that we saw anyway... yes the martini bar was busy night one of the first cruise but after that finding a seat wasn’t an issue. Likewise the pool deck was never busy, nor was any of the other bars. The buffet was a dream all the time everyday. 

 

• Cabanas 

 

In 2 weeks we never saw anyone in there. Personally we don’t see the attraction. 

 

• Guest relations 

 

Over the 2 cruises we did unfortunately have to visit guest relations a few time and everyone of our issues was dealt with very well, Although some seemed to take longer than we thought they should I’d say the crew manning this area we’re great, especially a lovely English lady named Natasha who  helped up a lot throughout the first cruise, 

 

• Onboard testing process 

 

As the first cruise was an 8 night cruise we we’re required to have a mid cruise test along with the embarkation & disembarkation, the test at the end of the first cruise actually worked as our test to start the second cruise as well so we was only required to take 1 final test at end of the second cruise to fly home as the cruise was only 7 nights, as we live in Canada we we’re required to have a PCR test vs the other ones that we’re Antigen tests. All the tests we’re performed early in the morning with the results coming in via the app around 2-3pm the same day, we did get a hard copy of the results delivered to our cabin in the evening but I just kept logging into the app to check and as I said they arrived between 2-3pm. 

 

Now unfortunately we did develop a couple of symptoms at the beginning of cruise 2 and although we we’re confident it was just a common cold virus we felt we had to report it just in case... even though we had been tested negative the day before... 

 

As soon as we reported it we were told to stay in our cabin and wait for the doctor to come and evaluate us, the doctor arrived within 20 mins and had a nurse with him. They ran a few tests and checked out breathing etc and also took a PCR test to check for covid. We we’re told we had to remain in the cabin for 24hrs to see if the symptoms got any worse. They called us a couple of hours later where they told us our results we’re negative but said we still have to isolate in the cabin for the 24hrs. What I wasn’t expecting was the following day we had to take a second PCR test and was told we would have to isolate for another 24hrs as we still had symptoms (a cough & congestion) this was a bit annoying as on any cruise I’ve been on we’ve always seen people walking around the ship coughing/sniffing/sneezing etc etc and nothing was ever done about it... we had had 2 PCR negative results so we didn’t understand why we’d have to isolate again for an additional 24hrs. In fairness the doc agreed that the this seemed unfair and said he’d come back around 5pm to see if our symptoms improved and what can I say... I heard in my mind him say... tell me you’re both ok at 5pm and I’ll release you 😂so around 5.40pm he came back we said we we’re find and he released us to get out of the cabin, maybe we weren’t fine but we didn’t think we were a danger to anyone as we always stay away from the crowds anyway so as there wasn’t any crowds we felt fine with our decision.  

 

• B2B process 

 

The switch over process was easy, we were told to meet at 9am to pick up our new cards and have a new photo taken along with confirming our credit card, Actually all we had to do was pick up our cards as they had all the other details already from the online check in process we did before boarding the first cruise. The whole process took less than 5 mins so all good. 

 

As mentioned previously the new embarkation test was actually done the day before as the same test as the departure test so that was nice not having to do that again, 

 

We were allowed to get off if we wanted to but we decided not too, we were given transit passes should we want to get off to bypass the standard boarding procedures for new guests. 

 

As mentioned earlier we went from an inside to a infinite balcony via the move up program and then upgraded on the ship to a sky suite, we first asked about this on day one of the first cruise and we were told yes this would be possible and it’s a fixed cost per upgrade, the cost was $800US each for the sky suite & $2000US for a celebrity suite which for our first experience we just felt the sky suite would be a good starting point so that’s the route we went with. Now... we we’re told to just come back on the morning of day one on cruise 2 but they obviously don’t know me and as I’ll explain later it’s just as well I’m a pain in the arse as if I hadn’t been we’d have lost out! 

 

So I decided I’d drop by and just speak to Natasha quietly about the suite upgrade as at this point once we decided to go ahead we really wanted it 😂all was going well until around 5pm on the last day of cruise one when Natasha told me that a large group had actually called celebrity and took all the available suites left and there was no availability anymore 😱but Natasha said leave it with her as she was in communication with the suite manager to hopefully find us  something (anything) but I won’t lie our hopes seemed to have gone from 99% sure we would get it to no chance at all in a matter of hours! Anyway we left our cabin and moved our stiff to the new infinite balcony and was just told don’t unpack 🤞🏻around 5pm I went to guest relations for one final time before unpacking and to my surprise they had just confirmed we had a suite and not just a suite but a mid ship S1 which was amazing, I felt like we’d won the lotto after such highs & lows throughout the week. 

 

 

• S1 sky suite (first time suiters) 

 

So, I’ve talked about the process of getting the suite so I won’t repeat all that, I really liked the layout of the suite and the bed facing the balcony doors was great, really nice to wake up and lookout to see or port as we relaxed in the mornings, it was also nice to take a rest in the afternoon with the great view in front of us. 

 

The bathroom was really nice and loved the tub/shower combo, I don’t think I’d ever take a bath on a cruise but having it resulted in a huge shower and we really enjoyed that. The big sink along with the separate toilet with its own door in the main bathroom was also nice touches. There was plenty of storage in the bathroom and the sliding mirrors that opened to a window was also a great touch we thought. Loved opening it up while getting ready so we could still have the amazing views that the full length windows to the balcony gives you. 

 

There was adequate power sockets for us and the USB sockets made it easier to keep all our devices charged.  

 

• The retreat lounge 

 

At first we thought it was a nice space but in reality for us it’s just not our thing, I can see why people like it but for us it just seemed a bit boring in there.... the soft drink/water self service fridges was good as we were able to get drinks without having to bother the staff. We really liked getting a light breakfast from the small buffet area there and eating it on the small open deck next to the lounge. 

 

• The retreat sun deck 

 

This was a highlight for us as it was so quiet all the time, the pool was small but perfectly fine for cooling off in the warmer days, the hot tub was also nice and we enjoyed the fact that there’s a sign on it saying only people from the same family or same cabin at a time so really nice to have it for just the 2 of us. I’ll miss that when cruise life gets back to normal.

 

• The retreat snacks 

 

The snacks available at the retreat was nice but not sure they are any different to what’s available at the buffet or The coffee bar. 

 

• Luminae restaurant 

 

To be honest I’m not sure why they put the restaurant on deck 12 forward as in bad weather it’s got to be the worst place to be on the ship, and trust me we found that out on this cruise and by all accounts everyone there felt it quite bad between Messina & palma! I guess it’s not often and they wanted the restaurant closer to the suites but personally I’d have preferred it with the other restaurants. 

 

The food was ok, some dishes we really enjoyed and some we felt were just ok, before the trip all we had heard was how amazing it was and that we wouldn’t want to eat anywhere else on the ship but to be honest we enjoyed the MDR just as much (if not more) and to be honest we were a little disappointed in luminae overall. 

 

• The retreat location 

 

Again I see why they put the retreat there but to be honest for us it just comes with to many weather related issues to enjoy fully. Maybe because the main pool deck was so quiet and the main pool was so nice we enjoyed it down with the common folk 😜just as much really! 

 

• Disembarking process 

 

A very smooth process and a completely relaxed way to end a cruise. 

 

We got up around 7am and went for a quick breakfast in luminae, then we got our bags and went to wait in the retreat lounge until we was ready to get off, We got luggage tag 4 of which 1-5 we able to get off anytime between 7-9am so as we planned to go straight to a hotel we wanted to wait as long as possible before departing the ship. 

 

Once we got off it must have only took 5 mins from leaving the ship to getting in the taxi so no issues at all and our luggage was waiting for us in a very well organised luggage hall. 

 

• End of cruise hard sell for 10/10 

 

One thing that does always leave a sour taste in my mouth is the last day/night hard sell of please give us a 10/10 for service... it seems like it’s a script from celebrity as it’s pretty much word for word regardless of who it is that gives you the speech.... I was very close to have to talk to someone about us as in one restaurant it was given to us by both waiters along with the wine waiter and to be honest it’s just too much, Now yes I understand that the reviews are important to the crews jobs etc but as someone that’s worked in the service industry all my life I’ve never experienced it anywhere else other than a cruise ship. And to be honest if anything it would make me give a less score or just not bother at all. 

 

Again my opinion and I just think they would be better to just mention the survey & move on! 

Until the next time 🍸😎

Edited October 17, 2021 by MR_T