On Edge Now 1/9-16 Observations

[hoklun]

5 hours ago, BACON227 said:

Hoklun, my wife and I will be on Edge back to back boarding on 1-23-22, can you elaborate on using the HDMI input on the TV, would love to bring our Fire stick with us, thanks for any info you can share.

On the remote, press the CC button, then Menu, scroll down to support, scroll down to source list, and u can choose HDMI, or Bluetooth audio input. The HDMI doesn't need to be plugged in on on before doing the above. 

 

If you have a Samsung Andriod with Andriod 12, u can also hotspot your wifi connection (good for re-sharing the premium with multiple devices), or get a mini travel router. Wifi hasn't been bad on this cruise, even with the surf one (we have 1 surf, 1 stream). It's only the ping times that were high (but to be expected with satellite internet).

 

Side note, the mens change room for the gym/spa had the door ajar to the steam room, rain things, and loungers on the multiple occasions I went to the gym. 🤔🤐

Edited January 15, 2022 by hoklun

[terrydtx]

6 hours ago, BACON227 said:

Hoklun, my wife and I will be on Edge back to back boarding on 1-23-22, can you elaborate on using the HDMI input on the TV, would love to bring our Fire stick with us, thanks for any info you can share.

We had a suite on the Equinox in August with the better Wi-Fi stream package and I found it terrible to impossible to watch FUBO or Prime on my tablet, not sure your firestick would work any better.

[miaminative0853]

Update: Just about to pull out of Nassau headed to FLL. Not surprisingly Nassau port was very busy and there is construction going on for a new terminal area. Should be nice when done but as of now it is a bit of a walk to main road/taxi area. I'll give my final thoughts on Edge and cruising during these stange times for those with an interest. Off to Blu for dinner (which gives you a hint as to my opinion of Luminae on this trip!). LoL.

[vppro]

We're leaving on the Edge tomorrow so any last minute thoughts are appreciated.  I've been following you posts all week.  Thanks for these updates.

[kwokpot]

2 hours ago, hoklun said:

Side note, the mens change room for the gym/spa had the door ajar to the steam room, rain things, and loungers on the multiple occasions I went to the gym

What are you talking about? The men's locker room in the spa is SUPPOSED to be only if you have a Thermal suite pass and not SUPPOSED to be accessable to all guests. I've been on four E-Class cruises,two pre Covid and two during the restart, including the Apex. I specifically asked on each cruise about locker room access and each time it's been confirmed that it's only for Thermal suite guests.

[39august]

Why would the locker room not be available to all guests? It's a changing room.  I use the women's on every cruise and the steam room is always available. 

[hoklun]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

What are you talking about? The men's locker room in the spa is SUPPOSED to be only if you have a Thermal suite pass and not SUPPOSED to be accessable to all guests. I've been on four E-Class cruises,two pre Covid and two during the restart, including the Apex. I specifically asked on each cruise about locker room access and each time it's been confirmed that it's only for Thermal suite guests.

The door in the locker room has a separate card reader inside, which says that u need to go to spa front desk for key card access to Thermal Suites.... seems odd to me that u wouldn't have access to a locker room before and after the gym as a regular passenger. 🤷 No one seemed to care that I went to the locker room.

[kwokpot]

30 minutes ago, hoklun said:

The door in the locker room has a separate card reader inside, which says that u need to go to spa front desk for key card access to Thermal Suites.... seems odd to me that u wouldn't have access to a locker room before and after the gym as a regular passenger. 🤷 No one seemed to care that I went to the locker room.

I know about the door and the card access,but that's why occasionally they leave the door open because you're only supposed to be using the Locker room if you have a Thermal suite access. While I agree with why shouldn't a gym user have a locker room to utilize that's just how they designed the ship.  It's not my rules it's Celebrity's rules. 

On Royal's Oasis and Quantum Class ships it's the same story. The locker room in the spa is only for Thermal suite guests or if you have a treatment. When the Oasis first launched there was no restrictions on spa locker room access. Subsequent builds actually blocked  the hallway that led from the gym to the spa locker rooms. On all ships I ask about locker room access for gym goers and I follow the rules.I may not agree with them,but that's the rules. 

[BACON227]

5 hours ago, hoklun said:

On the remote, press the CC button, then Menu, scroll down to support, scroll down to source list, and u can choose HDMI, or Bluetooth audio input. The HDMI doesn't need to be plugged in on on before doing the above. 

 

If you have a Samsung Andriod with Andriod 12, u can also hotspot your wifi connection (good for re-sharing the premium with multiple devices), or get a mini travel router. Wifi hasn't been bad on this cruise, even with the surf one (we have 1 surf, 1 stream). It's only the ping times that were high (but to be expected with satellite internet).

 

Side note, the mens change room for the gym/spa had the door ajar to the steam room, rain things, and loungers on the multiple occasions I went to the gym. 🤔🤐

Thanks for the info…….hopefully I will get it to work!!!!

[BACON227]

4 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We had a suite on the Equinox in August with the better Wi-Fi stream package and I found it terrible to impossible to watch FUBO or Prime on my tablet, not sure your firestick would work any better.

Fingers crossed, maybe it will work.

[miaminative0853]

Final Update

 

Off the Edge at 8:45 am this morning at FLL now. 

 

First for those asking the question "Should I Go or Not Go". I will dispense with the usual advice of “everyone has different risk tolerance” etc. etc. I figure you already know that and wouldn’t ask for opinions if you didn’t want them and that you are adults and will take all advice with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, my answer will be an easy one but perhaps not that informative: If you choose to sail and you don’t come down with COVID and get quarantined, then my advice is Go. My point is that our sailing experience while different than pre-COVID was still worth it as we did not end up in quarantine. At the end of the day we felt the actual risk we experienced was lower then what we expected, but of course, that's easy to say when you werent negativley impacted.

 

Positves and negatives:

 

1)      Port changes: San Juan out and Nassau in. For us, no big deal. I also get the sense that as time goes on, the difficult ports of call are becoming clear. At the moment PR, Cayman, Key West (in the case of KW, for reasons not entirely related to COVID), for example. If a port that is on the list is important enough to you to cancel if it is likely to be skipped then the answer is obvious.

2)      Masks: I don’t know anyone who likes masks (except maybe scuba divers and snorkelers!) and while it was inconvenient, it was tolerable for us and there were plenty of opportunities to ditch the masks with all the eating, drinking, and outside activities! As far as those with concern about folks abiding by the rules, we were very satisfied. With two notable exceptions (a group of four young people on embarkation and a “gentleman” unmasked and coughing away in Luminae one night), we saw nearly 100% adherence among passengers and absolutely 100% among crew. One port call (St. Martin) required masks indoors and out and the compliance level outdoors was low, maybe 50-60%, but given the lack of crowds we felt okay there.

3)      On Board services: We have cruised Edge before (Med 2019) so we have a frame of reference here. Onboard service was generally outstanding primarily due to low passenger load (approx. 900 passengers out of 2900 capacity). One of the pluses was ability to access any restaurant, bar, or other activity without problem or delay. Crew was definitely happy to have customers!

4)      For those in the Retreat: I’ve reported on this previously, so if you are interesting in our thoughts on that, please see my previous posts. Bottom-line: not sure but it seemed that the Suites were at or near capacity. That made the Luminae and forward sundeck experience not top-notch particularly with so few passengers in the non-suite areas. For example we ate more dinners at Blu (2) and specialty restaurants (4) than Luminae (1). If we had it to do all over we would still book The  Retreat though, because we love the Sky Suite and we had an outstanding Butler (Anastasiia). Also, the sundeck while crowded at times was still the place to be.

5) Wi-Fi: We had the one device each streaming that came with our suites package. There were times when it was difficult to switch from one device to another even when properly logging out of the first, but all in all we found it to be acceptable for basic web surfing, email, etc. and better than our past experiences. Again, low passenger load likely helped alot.

6)      Onboard “Vibe”: Not as energetic as usual due to low passenger load but there was energy to be found if you were interested and went looking for it. I suspect many people were less likely to be engaging due to COVID. It was definitely more sedate.

7)      COVID: Of course we have no idea how many passengers ended up in quarantine. The reporting by the captain was short on details other than what must now be the standard company line (1% in our case) tied to the CDC levels. But my sense is it wasn’t many. We didn’t hear of any through the normal onboard grapevine but who knows. In our opinion the crew and 99% of passengers did the right thing in terms of measures and by mid cruise we felt much safer than we will feel tomorrow moving around our own hometown!

 

That’s it. Anyone have a question, let me know. Otherwise, safe and enjoyable sailing to you all. And thanks to those that came along for the ride!

[Sheal]

Thanks so much for taking the time to give us your perspective.  We plan to board in three weeks.  I'm not thrilled about the mask policy but from what you and another passenger reported it doesn't sound intolerable to us.  Our itinerary is pretty beat, substituting a short morning in Nassau for SJU but what really is annoying is that they cut our visit to Tortola so short it will be impossible to do the Baths (on on own) with the limited time working around the ferry.  I'll squeeze in some beach time anyway!