some thoughts on the Edge class

[jagoffee]

4 hours ago, cangelmd said:

It’s been interesting to read what others thought about Magic Carpet, and what their experiences were. MC became more crowded as the day wore on, and maybe windier? We were always gone by then. I agree with those who describe Edge as being sort of chopped up - DH would go even further, there are a number of dead ends, both out on deck and inside, and felt those were frankly dangerous in an emergency if people panicked and thought they were taking short cuts. There are a couple of other quiet secluded spots we found - one an outside nook just outside the entrance to Eden (although it might be smoking), the other is a half deck, just above the pool deck, above the pool bar if I remember right - no one ever found that spot.

Entrance to the Magic Carpet at night.  It was on Deck 5.

[SNJCruisers]

12 hours ago, LGW59 said:

Who is all???  You seem to be the only person utterly obsessed with their decision.  

I personally don't care about them or their decision as to which cruise ship they decide to vacation on at all.  Just like I don't care about the fact that your preference is for RCI.  I just totally can't respect posters that make blanket statements about a particular cruise line or in this instance a class of ship without ever having first hand knowledge of actually sailing on that cruise line or class of ship.  Regurgitating second hand information is not respectful, but many do it.

[LGW59]

Just now, SNJCruisers said:

I personally don't care about them or their decision as to which cruise ship they decide to vacation on at all.  Just like I don't care about the fact that your preference is for RCI.  I just totally can't respect posters that make blanket statements about a particular cruise line or in this instance a class of ship without ever having first hand knowledge of actually sailing on that cruise line or class of ship.  Regurgitating second hand information is not respectful, but many do it.

While I do like RCI, they are def not my preference, only sail on them if they a specific itinerary I can't find elsewhere.  Otherwise I am Celebrity E-Class Retreat all the way.

[SNJCruisers]

4 hours ago, RichYak said:

Pigeonholing would be preferring a specific cabin type that was only available on very few, possibly only one, ship. Preferring a specific cabin type that is available on every other class of ship fleet-wide and across all other cruise companies is anything but pigeonholing.

There are currently 13 different types of cabins that are available for booking on the Edge Class.  If you add in the "regular balcony" that would be 14 types.  1/14 is about 7%.  If my preference regarding a cabin I wish to book is only 7%, that would be pigeonholing.

But then, you must have been a lawyer in a previous life, since you're adept at spin doctoring.

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

There are currently 13 different types of cabins that are available for booking on the Edge Class.  If you add in the "regular balcony" that would be 14 types.  1/14 is about 7%.  If my preference regarding a cabin I wish to book is only 7%, that would be pigeonholing.

But then, you must have been a lawyer in a previous life, since you're adept at spin doctoring.

 

I like all cruise lines.

 

Except Celebrity.

And Viking.

And Norwegian.

And ...  

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

While I do like RCI, they are def not my preference, only sail on them if they a specific itinerary I can't find elsewhere.  Otherwise I am Celebrity E-Class Retreat all the way.

same for us, can't beat the Retreat on E Class ships. We have 51 days booked on Apex and Edge in 2023 and 2024 all in Sky Suites. We only look at other cruise lines if Celebrity does not have the itinerary at the time we want.

Edited December 16, 2021 by terrydtx

[SNJCruisers]

5 hours ago, LGW59 said:

While I do like RCI, they are def not my preference, only sail on them if they a specific itinerary I can't find elsewhere.  Otherwise I am Celebrity E-Class Retreat all the way.

Since your preference is the Retreat have you ever sailed in the Haven on NCL or the Yacht Club on MSC?

[LGW59]

8 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Since your preference is the Retreat have you ever sailed in the Haven on NCL or the Yacht Club on MSC?

I have not and  have no plans to do so.

[Ipeeinthepools]

Most of us accept the fact that the Retreat Class on the E-class ships is great. The issue is that most of us don't sail in the Retreat class and Celebrity has allocated several of the best areas of the ship for the retreat class to the detriment of most of the passengers.  Suite class is likely great on the E-class ships, but if you're not in a suite perhaps you shou avoid the IV balconies and compromises made for the suite class on the E0class ships.

[SNJCruisers]

6 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

I have not and  have no plans to do so.

You found your sweet spot and you're happy with it.

[LGW59]

Just now, SNJCruisers said:

You found your sweet spot and you're happy with it.

I have.  I’ve sailed on NCL (2x) enjoyed it actually one of best itineraries I’ve done, Carnival, totally one and done never again.  Summit pre-Reno nice cruise great public spaces but she was tired.  The Edge, been in retreat only and yes def found my sweet spot for sure.  Only SS thus far but for a few future cruises I have a mix of both SS and upper suite.

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, SNJCruisers said:

Since your preference is the Retreat have you ever sailed in the Haven on NCL or the Yacht Club on MSC?

Our preference is the retreat as well and we have compared the Haven against the Retreat on similar itineraries and found the Haven to be more expensive than a Sky Suite. We have sailed a couple of cruises on NCL in a mini suite and compared to Celebrity in non-Retreat class they are way below Celebrity in quality and overall onboard experience, in our opinion. The other factor with NCL is too many of their ships are geared to Kids and over 4000 passengers, two thing we do not like about them. The same reasons we do not choose to sail with RCL.

 

We have also been on an Oceania (owned by NCL) cruise and find their quality and onboard experience to be equal to the Retreat on Celebrity. So now when we are looking for a cruise, we look at either Oceania or Celebrity in a Suite. We have O booked for a Baltic cruise next year and when we compared the two lines O won out for the itinerary with no wasted sea days. For 2023 the Apex won out over O and the same for 2024 on the Edge in NZ and Australia, in fact the Edge in a Sky Suite was several thousand less than similar O cruise.

 

We do have one last HAL cruise booked next year to use up some FCC and for a decent itinerary, but after experiencing the Retreat, HAL no longer has any product to compete. We most likely will not book again with HAL 

[grandgeezer]

20 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

I personally don't care about them or their decision as to which cruise ship they decide to vacation on at all.  Just like I don't care about the fact that your preference is for RCI.  I just totally can't respect posters that make blanket statements about a particular cruise line or in this instance a class of ship without ever having first hand knowledge of actually sailing on that cruise line or class of ship.  Regurgitating second hand information is not respectful, but many do it.

What about your fellow Celebrity groupies who make blanket statements about other lines, especially Carnival, without actually sailing with them, that’s o.k.? 
I’ll make such a statement, I wouldn’t sail on an Edge class ship no matter what the price.

[SNJCruisers]

5 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

What about your fellow Celebrity groupies who make blanket statements about other lines, especially Carnival, without actually sailing with them, that’s o.k.? 
I’ll make such a statement, I wouldn’t sail on an Edge class ship no matter what the price.

I am far from a Celebrity groupie.  My B2B on the Apex will only be my 6th and 7th on X.  Previously sailed on the Horizon, Summit, Silhouette, Equinox and Edge.  So I have experience on 4 different Classes.  I have no respect at all for any individual that puts down a cruise line without ever having sailed on it.  This is prevalent on the RCI boards, primarily regarding Carnival.

So, why would you turn down a free E Class cruise?

[LGW59]

5 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

I am far from a Celebrity groupie.  My B2B on the Apex will only be my 6th and 7th on X.  Previously sailed on the Horizon, Summit, Silhouette, Equinox and Edge.  So I have experience on 4 different Classes.  I have no respect at all for any individual that puts down a cruise line without ever having sailed on it.  This is prevalent on the RCI boards, primarily regarding Carnival.

So, why would you turn down a free E Class cruise?

Have sailed Carnival, once and never again. 

[SNJCruisers]

15 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Have sailed Carnival, once and never again. 

Which ship and what happened?

[terrydtx]

23 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Have sailed Carnival, once and never again. 

Same for me, I would swin before I ever get on another Carnival cruise.

[LGW59]

11 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

Which ship and what happened?

Sunrise.  I thought the food was awful, restaurant service very lacking, room steward was awesome, bar service was good, on deck near the pool rarely did the server ever stop by (he seemed to enjoy spending more time with the folks who were drunk) and we tipped for every individual drink we ordered.  But the real kicker for me were the passengers, even older folks 40's, 50's acted like John Belushi in Animal House.  I am def not a prude and like a good time and a few drinks for sure, but the things I saw MANY folks do were just things I could not enjoy on my vacation.  Now then there is the buffet so many acted like they had never seen food in months, the hand to mouth to touching food again was appalling.  I know certainly not everyone does this but there were enough that did to make me never go to a buffet again.

Edited December 17, 2021 by LGW59

[terrydtx]

41 minutes ago, grandgeezer said:

I’ll make such a statement, I wouldn’t sail on an Edge class ship no matter what the pric

Have you been on an E Class ship?

[terrydtx]

9 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

But the real kicker for me were the passengers, even older folks 40's, 50's acted like John Belushi in Animal House.  I am def not a prude and like a good time and a few drinks for sure, but the things I saw MANY folks do were just things I could not enjoy on my vacation.  Now then there is the buffet...

This was our experience on the old Fantasy in 1999, I had not seen the behavior I saw since my fraternity days in college.  One morning I was shocked at the used condoms on the floor down the hall from our cabin. The food was terrible and the lines in Buffett were so long with passengers piling a week's supply of food on their plates, just not what we wanted. Every morning the cabin TV showed videos of all the drunks around the pool the night before. We progressed from there to a much better RCL cruise and then found Celebrity and HAL.

Edited December 17, 2021 by terrydtx

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

This was our experience on the old Fantasy, I had not seen the behavior I saw since my fraternity days in college.  One morning I was shocked at the used condoms on the floor down the hall from our cabin. The food was terrible and the lines in Buffett were so long with passengers piling a week's supply of food on their plates, just not what we wanted. Every morning the cabin TV showed videos of all the drunks around the pool the night before. We progressed from there to a much better RCL cruise and then found Celebrity and HAL.

Even my son who was 13 or 14 at the time, said Dad I would be so embarrassed if you acted like these "other old guys"

[PTC DAWG]

16 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Since your preference is the Retreat have you ever sailed in the Haven on NCL or the Yacht Club on MSC?

The problem with the Yacht Club on MSC is when you want to leave the Yacht Club on MSC....

[SNJCruisers]

5 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Sunrise.  I thought the food was awful, restaurant service very lacking, room steward was awesome, bar service was good, on deck near the pool rarely did the server ever stop by (he seemed to enjoy spending more time with the folks who were drunk) and we tipped for every individual drink we ordered.  But the real kicker for me were the passengers, even older folks 40's, 50's acted like John Belushi in Animal House.  I am def not a prude and like a good time and a few drinks for sure, but the things I saw MANY folks do were just things I could not enjoy on my vacation.  Now then there is the buffet...

The problem is that you chose an older refurbished ship.  Now, if you choose to sail on the Mardi Gras (Port Canaveral) or upcoming sister ships Celebration (Miami) or Jubilee (Galveston) you would have a much different experience.  Especially if you stayed in one of the Excel Suites.  https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6365/

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

The problem is that you chose an older refurbished ship.  Now, if you choose to sail on the Mardi Gras (Port Canaveral) or upcoming sister ships Celebration (Miami) or Jubilee (Galveston) you would have a much different experience.  Especially if you stayed in one of the Excel Suites.  https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/6365/

I believe it was only 5+or- years old when we sailed on her in 2004.  We stayed in a suite and as I noted the service there was great.

[SNJCruisers]

17 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

I believe it was only 5+or- years old when we sailed on her in 2004.  We stayed in a suite and as I noted the service there was great.

But in 2004, she was the Triumph, not the Sunrise.  It started in 1999 and became the Sunrise in 2019.  But the Excel Class ships are a game changer for Carnival.  Another suggestion I would have for you is the Haven on NCL, specifically on their new ship, the Prima.