Anyone on Apex now?

[Want2Cruise 701]

We just came off the Xmas sailing yesterday. 33% full. 7 confirmed Covid cases. Possibly more with us. DH has had flu symptoms since yesterday afternoon after disembarking. I’m fine. Both vaxxed and boosted. Testing tomorrow. Could only get one appt here in the Boca area and traveling to CVS in lake worth to get it. If he’s positive, I’m most likely asymptomatic.  So our post vacation stay is turning into staying in the hotel quarantining instead of enjoying. We will drive the rental back later this week instead of flying. 
 

Besides that, it was business as usual on the ship. Things went well (until now). No lines, no waits, no problems getting seats anywhere and service excellent. Nothing cancelled. Very enjoyable. 
 

I will say hardly anyone wore masks. I’d say only 10% did. We did in the beginning always and towards mid-late cruise we wore them less. I think we got too comfortable and got into the vacation mode. Something we regret now but would it have changed things who knows. We didn’t interact with many at all I will add. We didn’t take ship excursions either for fear of being too close to others. 

[kwokpot]

2 hours ago, Steve_MI said:

The one thing that is kind of sad is people are noticeably less social to others from different parties. We’ve seen very few interactions between couples & groups who obviously aren’t together. I assume it’s fear of quarantine if someone tests positive. 

That wasn't our experience on the 12/11-20 Apex sailing. My husband and I (separately and together) spoke to various people in many different venues; Retreat Lounge, Fitness Center, Buffet, Cafe Al Bacio, pool deck, Retreat sundeck, Casino, Etc. Having sailed on four cruises since the restart that's one aspect of cruising that for me hasn't changed vs pre-pandemic. 

[travelwide]

Following along. 

[IMNiles]

Want2Cruise701, sorry to hear DH isn’t feeling well, but thanks both for reporting in (we’re booked in just three weeks), and also for being so responsible with regard to your travels home!

[clojacks]

13 hours ago, kwokpot said:

That wasn't our experience on the 12/11-20 Apex sailing. My husband and I (separately and together) spoke to various people in many different venues; Retreat Lounge, Fitness Center, Buffet, Cafe Al Bacio, pool deck, Retreat sundeck, Casino, Etc. Having sailed on four cruises since the restart that's one aspect of cruising that for me hasn't changed vs pre-pandemic. 

To be fair, with the focus on the speed of Omicron, what you experienced from 12/11-20, could be 180 degrees different from today with knowledge gained in the past 10-15 days.

[bunnycrawford]

I would love to know if there are any current cases on this week's sailing.  We are set to depart 1/3 and trying hard to make a good choice on going.  It feels safer than home(TN) because at least everyone is vaxxed and tested!  I also feel like there is going to be 1/3 -1/2 capacity which will make the ship feel more spacious.  Anyone else on the 1/3/2022 sailing have thoughts on this?  

[RandyOnie]

On 12/28/2021 at 10:22 AM, Nado44 said:

Here are some Day 1 observations from the APEX:

 

- Boarding was smooth. We were on the ship 15-20 minutes after arriving. TIP: To expedite boarding, have these four items in hand and ready to go when arriving: 1) passport; 2) Xpress / Set Sail pass; 3) COVID vaccination card; 4) COVID vaccination test. 

 

- We set sail an hour late (530 pm). Several passengers/groups were denied boarding due to not having their proper papers. See above tips!

 

- About 60% of passengers initially wore masks. Passenger mask wearing and physical distancing dissipated after a few hours of being on board. Only about 5% are masked now at the time of writing (Day 1). Crew members are all masked as required. Elevators are usually full.

 

- About 1900 passengers onboard. 

 

- Main dining room. Empty tables in between dining parties as to allow physical distancing. 

 

- All ship wide announcements have been rosy and forward looking. No COVID commentary.

 

- All scheduled shows, activities, etc are taking place as planned. TIP: Avoid the True and False activity in the Club. Game requires everyone (~100 people) to closely congregate and almost shoulder to shoulder on the main floor. We felt uncomfortable and decided to watch instead.

 

- Casino. Was busy. No physical distancing at tables. Everyone was shoulder to shoulder.

 

- The mood is quite festive given it's NYE week. Everyone is dressing to impress and looking their best! 

This is the first time we aren't in Blu. I did a sunset verandah as I am not a fan of the infinite balcony. How do they determine which restaurant you eat dinner in? We have the 8:30 seating. I'd like to be able to select which of the 4 available dining rooms we will eat in. Do we have to make reservations once we are on the ship? Any insight greatly appreciated. ...Onie

[little britain]

27 minutes ago, RandyOnie said:

This is the first time we aren't in Blu. I did a sunset verandah as I am not a fan of the infinite balcony. How do they determine which restaurant you eat dinner in? We have the 8:30 seating. I'd like to be able to select which of the 4 available dining rooms we will eat in. Do we have to make reservations once we are on the ship? Any insight greatly appreciated. ...Onie

You can dine in any of the 4 restaurants.. they all serve the same daily menu but each offer a few restaurant specific items (flavours and dishes unique to that restaurant’s theme - these remain the same every night) … Cyprus was our favourite, but Tuscan was the prettiest decor. 
 

Edited December 30, 2021 by little britain

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, bunnycrawford said:

I would love to know if there are any current cases on this week's sailing.  We are set to depart 1/3 and trying hard to make a good choice on going.  It feels safer than home(TN) because at least everyone is vaxxed and tested!  I also feel like there is going to be 1/3 -1/2 capacity which will make the ship feel more spacious.  Anyone else on the 1/3/2022 sailing have thoughts on this?  

We're on the 1/3 and 1/8 sailings.  Assuming we can get tested at a walk in clinic on the first, everything else should hopefully go smoothly. Have backup appointments at CVS and Walgreens on Monday morning for insurance.  Half capacity will be nice.  It was reported that the Carnival Mardi Gras was at 80% and some ships in Royals fleet even higher.

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, RandyOnie said:

This is the first time we aren't in Blu. I did a sunset verandah as I am not a fan of the infinite balcony. How do they determine which restaurant you eat dinner in? We have the 8:30 seating. I'd like to be able to select which of the 4 available dining rooms we will eat in. Do we have to make reservations once we are on the ship? Any insight greatly appreciated. ...Onie

You will have to speak to the Maitre'D at your assigned MDR and let him know that you wish to visit the other three dining rooms.  I would stop by once they open before 600 the first night and get things set up.  With the reduced capacity, you should be able to hit all 4 on the first four nights and then decide which ones you want to go to on nights 5-7.

[Host Anne]

2 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

You will have to speak to the Maitre'D at your assigned MDR and let him know that you wish to visit the other three dining rooms.  I would stop by once they open before 600 the first night and get things set up.  With the reduced capacity, you should be able to hit all 4 on the first four nights and then decide which ones you want to go to on nights 5-7.

 

I don't think this is quite right on Apex.  You are not assigned to any of the four dining rooms (unless they changed something in the last month).  I've been on Edge twice and Apex once and you can choose any of the four main dining rooms you'd like on any evening.  At least that's what we did.  I wouldn't want to only eat in one of them all week.   Getting to enjoy all four is why they designed it the way they did.  Do stop at any of them and chat with the Maitre 'D for full details.

[vkb2751]

Can anyone on Apex find out how many passengers on 1/3 sailing? Thank you.

[SNJCruisers]

16 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

 

I don't think this is quite right on Apex.  You are not assigned to any of the four dining rooms (unless they changed something in the last month).  I've been on Edge twice and Apex once and you can choose any of the four main dining rooms you'd like on any evening.  At least that's what we did.  I wouldn't want to only eat in one of them all week.   Getting to enjoy all four is why they designed it the way they did.  Do stop at any of them and chat with the Maitre 'D for full details.

I was under the impression that if you had traditional dining, Early or Late, that you were assigned to one dining room and you had to get permission from the Maitre'D to visit the other MDR's.  If you had anytime dining, you could visit them as you please and make reservations ahead of time.

[Host Anne]

55 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

I was under the impression that if you had traditional dining, Early or Late, that you were assigned to one dining room and you had to get permission from the Maitre'D to visit the other MDR's.  If you had anytime dining, you could visit them as you please and make reservations ahead of time.

 

I've never heard of that but we probably had Celebrity Select.  We still made reservations in each of the individual dining rooms each evening (you can do that, too).  I can't think of any reason someone would want to be assigned to one dining room for the entire cruise.  The menus in each venue are pretty limited.  

[BennyBrun]

We have select dinning and made reservations at different MDR but we also have a 4 night specialty dinner package so we will have to cut out one for the MDR.  I was told that you can request the item that’s served at the other MDR if you would like.  I hope that is still true.

[kwokpot]

16 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

 

I've never heard of that but we probably had Celebrity Select.  We still made reservations in each of the individual dining rooms each evening (you can do that, too).  I can't think of any reason someone would want to be assigned to one dining room for the entire cruise.  The menus in each venue are pretty limited.  

That's how traditional set seating is done on E-Class Ships. You choose either early or late seating, and then on the day of embarkation in your cabin will be a card that indicates which of the four main dining rooms you're assigned to. You can ask to dine at the other restaurants, but that's only on space available. Pre-covid when the ship was full it wasn't guaranteed that you can dine in one of the other dining rooms at your traditional dining times. On the Edge inaugural cruise I had booked it only three weeks before the sailing and only Late seating as available. I never was able to dine anywhere except my assigned dining room since it was all booked up.

 

[kwokpot]

1 minute ago, kwokpot said:

The menus in each venue are pretty limited. 

On E-Class ships the menu for each of the four main dining rooms are the same except for the dining room specific items. Otherwise there's the Classic always available section and the nightly rotating Celebrity Signature selections. If anything the main dining rooms on E- class ships have MORE choices than the other ship classes due to the dining room specific choices which actually are available to order from any of the four dining rooms. 

[travelwide]

2 hours ago, vkb2751 said:

Can anyone on Apex find out how many passengers on 1/3 sailing? Thank you.

Looking for an answer to this also. Called  X and was not given an answer. Was told they are not sailing at full capacity. That can mean 1 person below full capacity! A useless answer.

 

Hope someone onboard can find out.

 

[H2OH!]

1 hour ago, travelwide said:

Looking for an answer to this also. Called  X and was not given an answer. Was told they are not sailing at full capacity. That can mean 1 person below full capacity! A useless answer.

 

Hope someone onboard can find out.

 

I called earlier this week and was told they will be sailing at 60 percent capacity.  Who knows if that is true

[like2cruise]

On 12/26/2021 at 8:02 PM, ShelleyUM said:

On Apex now. It’s business as usual. The ship is about 50% capacity but I’m hearing that it will be much higher for the NYE sailing, about 70%. Mask usage is higher than our November Reflection sailing but the majority of pax are still mask-less. The crew is still masked up and I’ve noticed greater adherence to that than the November sailing. Hope you have a wonderful cruise!

Have you heard any capacity guidelines for the 1/8 sailing.?

[mrsgoggins]

1 hour ago, like2cruise said:

Have you heard any capacity guidelines for the 1/8 sailing.?

 

I'm interested in this also.  We are departing the UK in the next few days and spending our time at Vero Beach until the cruise.

 

Are we advised to book Celebrity's recommending testing provider or will we be able to take an antigen test locally (Sebastian or Vero)?

 

To say we have thought about cancelling many times in the past few days is an understatement. And we will definitely be wearing masks when indoors onboard. I would prefer not to have to quarantine away from home!

[little britain]

1 hour ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

I'm interested in this also.  We are departing the UK in the next few days and spending our time at Vero Beach until the cruise.

 

Are we advised to book Celebrity's recommending testing provider or will we be able to take an antigen test locally (Sebastian or Vero)?

 

To say we have thought about cancelling many times in the past few days is an understatement. And we will definitely be wearing masks when indoors onboard. I would prefer not to have to quarantine away from home!

We are going to use free drive through Walgreens 

[mrsgoggins]

26 minutes ago, little britain said:

We are going to use free drive through Walgreens 

 

I had booked appointments with them too, but I am a bit concerned about the requirement to take with you: Your medical and pharmacy benefit insurance card.  Do you think this is important?

 

 

[travelwide]

7 hours ago, H2OH! said:

I called earlier this week and was told they will be sailing at 60 percent capacity.  Who knows if that is true

That is the phone reps stock answer. Would prefer to hear from someone onboard. By now the ship should have the true number pending any further cancellations.

[little britain]

4 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

I had booked appointments with them too, but I am a bit concerned about the requirement to take with you: Your medical and pharmacy benefit insurance card.  Do you think this is important?

 

 

I've got a backup at my hotel in FLL just in case - they are offering free tests!  (Riverside on Las Olas) !   I've seen many reports here and on TripAdvisor of Brits getting tested at CVS/Walgreens with no issues. 

I think you are on before me - please report back! 

 

LB 

Edited December 31, 2021 by little britain