Apex Review from a Couple Mid 20s - Western Caribbean 12/17 - 12/23

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

Here's my go at an honest review of Celebrity Apex.  Hope this is helpful info for those considering Edge class ships (or Celebrity Cruises) around our age.  My wife and I are 27 and this was our second cruise, both with Celebrity.  Sorry for the length of this review.  There's so much to comment about.  Feel free to ask any questions!

 

Travel to Fort Lauderdale

Our last cruise on the Equinox in June of 2019 and we arrived 2 days early to enjoy Fort Lauderdale.  This time around we flew in the day of.  We were slightly worried about flight cancellations or delays coming from Minnesota in the winter months, but we have a 1.5 year old that we had family members babysit while we were away and didn't want to burden them for longer than necessary.  Luckily, the flight was on time and we made it to the ship around 1PM after picking up some bottles of wine from Total Wine.

 

Embarkation

Because we arrived around 1PM, there was a very short line through security and check-in.  Process was smooth, and it was probably helpful that we printed out the boarding docs beforehand because we were having issues loading it on our phones due to the cell phone data traffic at the time.  We brought on 3 bottles of wine between the two of us and were lucky to have someone at security who was aware of the two bottles per person rule for Celebrity.

 

Navigating the Ship

We found navigating the ship fairly simple and having the app was super helpful in finding venues and keeping track of activities & shows that we were interested in.  Elevators were busy at times, but we didn't have to wait too long.

 

Activities Onboard

We attended a wide variety of onboard activities onboard which we enjoyed.  It was disappointing that the prizes for winning these were only a deck of cards.  We won a trivia contest on our 2019 cruise and got nice fabric lanyards.

• Trivia - Nice mix of general knowledge and some music based trivia.  Finding some wiser and older individuals to team up with was a necessity for us 😂
• Scavenger hunt - This was an interesting activity that would be really great for families with children.  We're a little salty because one of the clues included a math problem and the answer did not follow the correct order of operations (PEMDAS) which tripped us up and set us back a few minutes.
• Pool olympics - This happened on the first sea day and was really fun to watch!  High energy from all the guests and staff.  We'll be sure not to miss this on our next sailing.
• Silent disco - We went to both silent disco nights and enjoyed them both!  The vibe was great and we especially enjoyed it when they held it on the pool deck versus in the Grand Plaza which got a little crowded.
• Deal or No Deal - This was nice to watch, but also stressful trying to keep track of how many matches you get versus the case board. We had 5 cards between the two of us so maybe that had something to do with it.  We went to the second time they held this event on the last sea day.  A guaranteed free cruise was given away at the end of the show.  We paid $50 for 5 cards and ended up with $30 free play from these.  We turned that $30 free play into $120 on the Huff and Puff slot (video below).

 

Overall, we were happy with the activities offered onboard and the activities staff that made these happen.  They were fun and engaging.

 

Bars/Lounges/Venues

The bars around the ship were not super crowded, at least when we visited them.  Service was not slow and we were greeted with smiles.

 

The downside of our voyage was how crowded events/shows were at the Club and Eden.  There simply wasn't enough space to hold all that people that wanted to attend these events.  People often showed up 30 minutes early to grab a seat.  We didn't have any issues finding decent seats at the main theater.

 

There was an abundance of lounge areas around the ship where you could find a place to relax.  Lots of nooks and crannies.  We don't like to sit still too long on vacation, so we didn't bother to hang out in these spaces, but we could tell there was intentionality in providing these spaces in the ship design.  We found some of the more chic/modern furniture to be uncomfortable but there was a variety so we were always able to find a more comfortable seat.

 

I'd like to highlight the rooftop garden where they have the big screen TV for special sporting events and movies.  We are Minnesota Vikings fans and were super thrilled that they had it playing on our first day even though it was only being broadcasted on NFL Network.  Watching the largest comeback in NFL history was super enjoyable in that outdoor venue.  Sorry if we got a little too excited!

 

Stateroom

We were in 7312, one of the middle sunset verandas on deck 7.  We loved this room and the spacious balcony.  More details in this cabin info post:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2609144-edge-class-cabin-information-compilation-please-do-not-post-cabin-questions-here/?do=findComment&comment=64509541

Our stateroom attendant was super friendly and helpful.  Bed was always made by the time we got back to the room in the afternoon or evening.

 

Cabana Day

We though the price of the cabana was well worth it.  Comfy seating on the pool deck with dedicated service.  More details in my comment in another thread:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2898158-apex-cabana-question/?do=findComment&comment=64513398

 

Shows

We were super impressed with the shows on our last cruise on Equinox and the Apex production cast did not disappoint.  The 360 degree projector screen center stage and the wraparound screen at the back of the screen were used effectively in creating an immersive experience.  We were blown away.  We also enjoyed the Caravan show in the Club which was put on by the Eden production cast.

 

The acrobatic and vocal talent is what makes the price paid for the cruise really worth the money in our opinion.  The shows have been some of the top highlights for our voyages.  Here's some videos from our favorite of the shows, Crystalize.

Itinerary/Ports

Although we were interested in the ports for this itinerary and we did enjoy our time at the ports, we felt very rushed while we were there.  Finding itineraries with longer times docked at the ports will be something for us to look for on our next cruise.

 

Key West - All we had pre-planned for this port was the butterfly conservatory, which we would highly recommend.  It was nice to walk around and enjoy the shops at our own pace.  We could do without this port in the future since there's only so much to see and do there.

 

Cozumel - We booked an excursion not sponsored by Celebrity for this port.  Unfortunately, the excursion took up all the time we had at Cozumel.  The excursion was a combo of snorkeling, ATV tour, and a beach club.  The tour company was Tortugas Cozumel.  We were surprised that they had us drive the transport car - a Jeep - from the meeting point to the Tortugas beach club.  I'd assume they don't have the tour guides drive due to liability reasons.  Our first part of the tour was snorkeling which was very lackluster.  There were barely any fish, minimal coral, and we were only out for about 20 minutes.  We then drove further into the island to the location where the ATV tour took place.  They didn't have enough lockers or goggles for everyone in our group.  The ATV riding itself was really fun and we enjoyed the cenote that we stopped at and even jumped from the rock cliff down into it.  While headed back to the beach club we noticed the time and we figured out that we would not have enough time to enjoy the beach club before having to head back to the ship.  We were able to sit down and eat our included lunch which were some tasty fajitas.  After lunch, we had trouble tracking down our tour guide who offered to give us a ride back to the cruise pier.  Luckily, we were able to find him and get back to the ship on time.  Everything with this tour company was really disorganized and we wouldn't go with them again.

Grand Cayman - This was a very messy and chaotic day.  We booked a snorkeling excursion ourselves through a tour company, Captain Bryan which met at 11:45 that day.  We figured that we shouldn't run into any issues since our ship arrived in Grand Cayman at 10.  However, there were a total of 5 cruise ships at port that day and the captain said that it was the busiest day of the year and actually advised passengers to stay on the ship to avoid the crowds.  We didn't want to lose out on the excursion we paid for so we decided to give it a go.  We got tender tickets around 10 and were given tickets with number 17.  By 11, only tenders 1 through 4 had been called so we went down and explained we wouldn't make our excursion if we waited until our number was called.  Thankfully, they let us get on the next tender and we made it to our meeting point just in time.  We were able to swim with and handle the stingrays as my wife was really excited for, but the snorkeling spot we went to was not very impressive and we only got about 15 minutes to do that since we were running late.  It was getting close to 4:15 when the last tender to the ship was scheduled for so we called the port authority to see if they'd adjusted the last tender time for our ship due to all the delays.  The guy on the phone was not helpful saying, "I think you should be able to make it" and "just get back as soon as you can".  Luckily we did make it back on the ship on the second to last tender.  We were not happy with all the chaos of this port stop, but we did enjoy the short amount of time we had in Grand Cayman.

Food/Dining

We were satisfied, but not impressed, with the food on our sailing.  Entrees were hit and miss, but we did enjoy all the appetizers we ordered.  Service at the main dining rooms was slow, but not agonizingly slow.  Best service we got was at Normandie on the first night.  We did anytime dining and I was able to secure some reservations before the cruise so we didn't have any wait.  We dined at the buffet the last two nights because we didn't want to dedicate 2 hours to eat dinner at the main dining room.  We did feel that the quality of food diminished slightly from our 2019 cruise.

 

We ordered room service for breakfast every morning because we enjoy relaxing on our balcony to start the day.  I was able to write in items - like eggs benedict and gluten free toast for my wife - and they were delivered without issue.  The quality of food was what is to be expected of room service breakfast.  It was good, not great.

 

Disembark & Travel Home

We carried off our luggage and made it through customs very quickly.  A nice streamlined process.  The crowd at the rideshare area was large and our first ride was cancelled by our driver en route to pick us up because he was denied entry at the port checkpoint, so that was lame that we had to request another and stand there for longer.  Thankfully, we didn't have flight delay/cancellation issues like others did flying home to the Northeast.

 

In Summary

Though the trip was crowded and chaotic at times, my wife and I enjoyed our long overdue second cruise aboard Celebrity Apex.  The service and staff were wonderful and we look forward to the next time we'll cruise with Celebrity again.

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by NorthStarStateCruiser

[LGW59]

18 minutes ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Here's my go at an honest review of Celebrity Apex.  Hope this is helpful info for those considering Edge class ships (or Celebrity Cruises) around our age.  My wife and I are 27 and this was our second cruise, both with Celebrity.  Sorry for the length of this review.  There's so much to comment about.  Feel free to ask any questions!

 

Travel to Fort Lauderdale

Our last cruise on the Equinox in June of 2019 and we arrived 2 days early to enjoy Fort Lauderdale.  This time around we flew in the day of.  We were slightly worried about flight cancellations or delays coming from Minnesota in the winter months, but we have a 1.5 year old that we had family members babysit while we were away and didn't want to burden them for longer than necessary.  Luckily, the flight was on time and we made it to the ship around 1PM after picking up some bottles of wine from Total Wine.

 

Embarkation

Because we arrived around 1PM, there was a very short line through security and check-in.  Process was smooth, and it was probably helpful that we printed out the boarding docs beforehand because we were having issues loading it on our phones due to the cell phone data traffic at the time.  We brought on 3 bottles of wine between the two of us and were lucky to have someone at security who was aware of the two bottles per person rule for Celebrity.

 

Navigating the Ship

We found navigating the ship fairly simple and having the app was super helpful in finding venues and keeping track of activities & shows that we were interested in.  Elevators were busy at times, but we didn't have to wait too long.

 

Activities Onboard

We attended a wide variety of onboard activities onboard which we enjoyed.  It was disappointing that the prizes for winning these were only a deck of cards.  We won a trivia contest on our 2019 cruise and got nice fabric lanyards.

• Trivia - Nice mix of general knowledge and some music based trivia.  Finding some wiser and older individuals to team up with was a necessity for us 😂
• Scavenger hunt - This was an interesting activity that would be really great for families with children.  We're a little salty because one of the clues included a math problem and the answer did not follow the correct order of operations (PEMDAS) which tripped us up and set us back a few minutes.
• Pool olympics - This happened on the first sea day and was really fun to watch!  High energy from all the guests and staff.  We'll be sure not to miss this on our next sailing.
• Silent disco - We went to both silent disco nights and enjoyed them both!  The vibe was great and we especially enjoyed it when they held it on the pool deck versus in the Grand Plaza which got a little crowded.
• Deal or No Deal - This was nice to watch, but also stressful trying to keep track of how many matches you get versus the case board. We had 5 cards between the two of us so maybe that had something to do with it.  We went to the second time they held this event on the last sea day.  A guaranteed free cruise was given away at the end of the show.  We paid $50 for 5 cards and ended up with $30 free play from these.  We turned that $30 free play into $120 on the Huff and Puff slot (video below).

 

Overall, we were happy with the activities offered onboard and the activities staff that made these happen.  They were fun and engaging.

 

 

Bars/Lounges/Venues

The bars around the ship were not super crowded, at least when we visited them.  Service was not slow and we were greeted with smiles.

 

The downside of our voyage was how crowded events/shows were at the Club and Eden.  There simply wasn't enough space to hold all that people that wanted to attend these events.  People often showed up 30 minutes early to grab a seat.  We didn't have any issues finding decent seats at the main theater.

 

There was an abundance of lounge areas around the ship where you could find a place to relax.  Lots of nooks and crannies.  We don't like to sit still too long on vacation, so we didn't bother to hang out in these spaces, but we could tell there was intentionality in providing these spaces in the ship design.  We found some of the more chic/modern furniture to be uncomfortable but there was a variety so we were always able to find a more comfortable seat.

 

I'd like to highlight the rooftop garden where they have the big screen TV for special sporting events and movies.  We are Minnesota Vikings fans and were super thrilled that they had it playing on our first day even though it was only being broadcasted on NFL Network.  Watching the largest comeback in NFL history was super enjoyable in that outdoor venue.  Sorry if we got a little too excited!

 

Stateroom

We were in 7312, one of the middle sunset verandas on deck 7.  We loved this room and the spacious balcony.  More details in this cabin info post:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2609144-edge-class-cabin-information-compilation-please-do-not-post-cabin-questions-here/?do=findComment&comment=64509541

Our stateroom attendant was super friendly and helpful.  Bed was always made by the time we got back to the room in the afternoon or evening.

 

Cabana Day

We though the price of the cabana was well worth it.  Comfy seating on the pool deck with dedicated service.  More details in my comment in another thread:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2898158-apex-cabana-question/?do=findComment&comment=64513398

 

Shows

We were super impressed with the shows on our last cruise on Equinox and the Apex production cast did not disappoint.  The 360 degree projector screen center stage and the wraparound screen at the back of the screen were used effectively in creating an immersive experience.  We were blown away.  We also enjoyed the Caravan show in the Club which was put on by the Eden production cast.

 

The acrobatic and vocal talent is what makes the price paid for the cruise really worth the money in our opinion.  The shows have been some of the top highlights for our voyages.  Here's some videos from our favorite of the shows, Crystalize.

 

Itinerary/Ports

Although we were interested in the ports for this itinerary and we did enjoy our time at the ports, we felt very rushed while we were there.  Finding itineraries with longer times docked at the ports will be something for us to look for on our next cruise.

 

Key West - All we had pre-planned for this port was the butterfly conservatory, which we would highly recommend.  It was nice to walk around and enjoy the shops at our own pace.  We could do without this port in the future since there's only so much to see and do there.

 

Cozumel - We booked an excursion not sponsored by Celebrity for this port.  Unfortunately, the excursion took up all the time we had at Cozumel.  The excursion was a combo of snorkeling, ATV tour, and a beach club.  The tour company was Tortugas Cozumel.  We were surprised that they had us drive the transport car - a Jeep - from the meeting point to the Tortugas beach club.  I'd assume they don't have the tour guides drive due to liability reasons.  Our first part of the tour was snorkeling which was very lackluster.  There were barely any fish, minimal coral, and we were only out for about 20 minutes.  We then drove further into the island to the location where the ATV tour took place.  They didn't have enough lockers or goggles for everyone in our group.  The ATV riding itself was really fun and we enjoyed the cenote that we stopped at and even jumped from the rock cliff down into it.  While headed back to the beach club we noticed the time and we figured out that we would not have enough time to enjoy the beach club before having to head back to the ship.  We were able to sit down and eat our included lunch which were some tasty fajitas.  After lunch, we had trouble tracking down our tour guide who offered to give us a ride back to the cruise pier.  Luckily, we were able to find him and get back to the ship on time.  Everything with this tour company was really disorganized and we wouldn't go with them again.

Grand Cayman - This was a very messy and chaotic day.  We booked a snorkeling excursion ourselves through a tour company, Captain Bryan which met at 11:45 that day.  We figured that we shouldn't run into any issues since our ship arrived in Grand Cayman at 10.  However, there were a total of 5 cruise ships at port that day and the captain said that it was the busiest day of the year and actually advised passengers to stay on the ship to avoid the crowds.  We didn't want to lose out on the excursion we paid for so we decided to give it a go.  We got tender tickets around 10 and were given tickets with number 17.  By 11, only tenders 1 through 4 had been called so we went down and explained we wouldn't make our excursion if we waited until our number was called.  Thankfully, they let us get on the next tender and we made it to our meeting point just in time.  We were able to swim with and handle the stingrays as my wife was really excited for, but the snorkeling spot we went to was not very impressive and we only got about 15 minutes to do that since we were running late.  It was getting close to 4:15 when the last tender to the ship was scheduled for so we called the port authority to see if they'd adjusted the last tender time for our ship due to all the delays.  The guy on the phone was not helpful saying, "I think you should be able to make it" and "just get back as soon as you can".  Luckily we did make it back on the ship on the second to last tender.  We were not happy with all the chaos of this port stop, but we did enjoy the short amount of time we had in Grand Cayman.

Food/Dining

We were satisfied, but not impressed, with the food on our sailing.  Entrees were hit and miss, but we did enjoy all the appetizers we ordered.  Service at the main dining rooms was slow, but not agonizingly slow.  Best service we got was at Normandie on the first night.  We did anytime dining and I was able to secure some reservations before the cruise so we didn't have any wait.  We dined at the buffet the last two nights because we didn't want to dedicate 2 hours to eat dinner at the main dining room.  We did feel that the quality of food diminished slightly from our 2019 cruise.

 

We ordered room service for breakfast every morning because we enjoy relaxing on our balcony to start the day.  I was able to write in items - like eggs benedict and gluten free toast for my wife - and they were delivered without issue.  The quality of food was what is to be expected of room service breakfast.  It was good, not great.

 

Disembark & Travel Home

We carried off our luggage and made it through customs very quickly.  A nice streamlined process.  The crowd at the rideshare area was large and our first ride was cancelled by our driver en route to pick us up because he was denied entry at the port checkpoint, so that was lame that we had to request another and stand there for longer.  Thankfully, we didn't have flight delay/cancellation issues like others did flying home to the Northeast.

 

In Summary

Though the trip was crowded and chaotic at times, my wife and I enjoyed our long overdue second cruise aboard Celebrity Apex.  The service and staff were wonderful and we look forward to the next time we'll cruise with Celebrity again.

 

Very nice and balanced review.  Glad you enjoyed your cruise, many here believe the EClass is designed with your demographic in mind.

[Tyler414]

Excellent review, I was on Apex in March and loved it, so booked Beyond and leave in a few weeks.  We are stopping at Cozumel and Grand Cayman and have never been to either port, so was great/ not so great to hear about a recent stop there.  The only 2 excursions I booked through X are in those ports so hopefully a bit smoother.  I only booked a 2 hour snorkel in Gr Cayman so I'm off the ship first...

 

If you ever make it back to Key West and have a full day in port I highly recommend the sea plane to Dry Tortugas, it's and unbelievable 4-5 hour trip.... They sell out months in advance, so early planning is required, but well worth the time and money.

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

20 minutes ago, Tyler414 said:

Excellent review, I was on Apex in March and loved it, so booked Beyond and leave in a few weeks.  We are stopping at Cozumel and Grand Cayman and have never been to either port, so was great/ not so great to hear about a recent stop there.  The only 2 excursions I booked through X are in those ports so hopefully a bit smoother.  I only booked a 2 hour snorkel in Gr Cayman so I'm off the ship first...

 

If you ever make it back to Key West and have a full day in port I highly recommend the sea plane to Dry Tortugas, it's and unbelievable 4-5 hour trip.... They sell out months in advance, so early planning is required, but well worth the time and money.

Thank you, I'm betting the celebrity sponsored excursions will go smooter.

 

Thanks for the tip!

[Dancing Shoes]

Sounds like a nice time.  We are on her in April.  I wonder how many ships will be stopping @ G. Cayman when we are there.  I know we tender, so I booked our snorkel excursion through Celebrity. Doesn't seem right, that they tell you to stay on the ship.  SMH

 

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

13 hours ago, Dancing Shoes said:

Sounds like a nice time.  We are on her in April.  I wonder how many ships will be stopping @ G. Cayman when we are there.  I know we tender, so I booked our snorkel excursion through Celebrity. Doesn't seem right, that they tell you to stay on the ship.  SMH

 

You can see the ships scheduled to anchor at the port for your day on cruisemapper

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/grand-cayman-island-port-25?tab=schedule&month=2023-04#schedule

[Texed]

NSSC,

Thanks for the review. We are on Apex January 7th and 14th, so we appreciate the report.  😊

[dunedinmaiden]

18 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Here's my go at an honest review of Celebrity Apex.  Hope this is helpful info for those considering Edge class ships (or Celebrity Cruises) around our age.  My wife and I are 27 and this was our second cruise, both with Celebrity.  Sorry for the length of this review.  There's so much to comment about.  Feel free to ask any questions!

 

Travel to Fort Lauderdale

Our last cruise on the Equinox in June of 2019 and we arrived 2 days early to enjoy Fort Lauderdale.  This time around we flew in the day of.  We were slightly worried about flight cancellations or delays coming from Minnesota in the winter months, but we have a 1.5 year old that we had family members babysit while we were away and didn't want to burden them for longer than necessary.  Luckily, the flight was on time and we made it to the ship around 1PM after picking up some bottles of wine from Total Wine.

 

Embarkation

Because we arrived around 1PM, there was a very short line through security and check-in.  Process was smooth, and it was probably helpful that we printed out the boarding docs beforehand because we were having issues loading it on our phones due to the cell phone data traffic at the time.  We brought on 3 bottles of wine between the two of us and were lucky to have someone at security who was aware of the two bottles per person rule for Celebrity.

 

Navigating the Ship

We found navigating the ship fairly simple and having the app was super helpful in finding venues and keeping track of activities & shows that we were interested in.  Elevators were busy at times, but we didn't have to wait too long.

 

Activities Onboard

We attended a wide variety of onboard activities onboard which we enjoyed.  It was disappointing that the prizes for winning these were only a deck of cards.  We won a trivia contest on our 2019 cruise and got nice fabric lanyards.

• Trivia - Nice mix of general knowledge and some music based trivia.  Finding some wiser and older individuals to team up with was a necessity for us 😂
• Scavenger hunt - This was an interesting activity that would be really great for families with children.  We're a little salty because one of the clues included a math problem and the answer did not follow the correct order of operations (PEMDAS) which tripped us up and set us back a few minutes.
• Pool olympics - This happened on the first sea day and was really fun to watch!  High energy from all the guests and staff.  We'll be sure not to miss this on our next sailing.
• Silent disco - We went to both silent disco nights and enjoyed them both!  The vibe was great and we especially enjoyed it when they held it on the pool deck versus in the Grand Plaza which got a little crowded.
• Deal or No Deal - This was nice to watch, but also stressful trying to keep track of how many matches you get versus the case board. We had 5 cards between the two of us so maybe that had something to do with it.  We went to the second time they held this event on the last sea day.  A guaranteed free cruise was given away at the end of the show.  We paid $50 for 5 cards and ended up with $30 free play from these.  We turned that $30 free play into $120 on the Huff and Puff slot (video below).

 

Overall, we were happy with the activities offered onboard and the activities staff that made these happen.  They were fun and engaging.

 

 

Bars/Lounges/Venues

The bars around the ship were not super crowded, at least when we visited them.  Service was not slow and we were greeted with smiles.

 

The downside of our voyage was how crowded events/shows were at the Club and Eden.  There simply wasn't enough space to hold all that people that wanted to attend these events.  People often showed up 30 minutes early to grab a seat.  We didn't have any issues finding decent seats at the main theater.

 

There was an abundance of lounge areas around the ship where you could find a place to relax.  Lots of nooks and crannies.  We don't like to sit still too long on vacation, so we didn't bother to hang out in these spaces, but we could tell there was intentionality in providing these spaces in the ship design.  We found some of the more chic/modern furniture to be uncomfortable but there was a variety so we were always able to find a more comfortable seat.

 

I'd like to highlight the rooftop garden where they have the big screen TV for special sporting events and movies.  We are Minnesota Vikings fans and were super thrilled that they had it playing on our first day even though it was only being broadcasted on NFL Network.  Watching the largest comeback in NFL history was super enjoyable in that outdoor venue.  Sorry if we got a little too excited!

 

Stateroom

We were in 7312, one of the middle sunset verandas on deck 7.  We loved this room and the spacious balcony.  More details in this cabin info post:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2609144-edge-class-cabin-information-compilation-please-do-not-post-cabin-questions-here/?do=findComment&comment=64509541

Our stateroom attendant was super friendly and helpful.  Bed was always made by the time we got back to the room in the afternoon or evening.

 

Cabana Day

We though the price of the cabana was well worth it.  Comfy seating on the pool deck with dedicated service.  More details in my comment in another thread:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2898158-apex-cabana-question/?do=findComment&comment=64513398

 

Shows

We were super impressed with the shows on our last cruise on Equinox and the Apex production cast did not disappoint.  The 360 degree projector screen center stage and the wraparound screen at the back of the screen were used effectively in creating an immersive experience.  We were blown away.  We also enjoyed the Caravan show in the Club which was put on by the Eden production cast.

 

The acrobatic and vocal talent is what makes the price paid for the cruise really worth the money in our opinion.  The shows have been some of the top highlights for our voyages.  Here's some videos from our favorite of the shows, Crystalize.

 

Itinerary/Ports

Although we were interested in the ports for this itinerary and we did enjoy our time at the ports, we felt very rushed while we were there.  Finding itineraries with longer times docked at the ports will be something for us to look for on our next cruise.

 

Key West - All we had pre-planned for this port was the butterfly conservatory, which we would highly recommend.  It was nice to walk around and enjoy the shops at our own pace.  We could do without this port in the future since there's only so much to see and do there.

 

Cozumel - We booked an excursion not sponsored by Celebrity for this port.  Unfortunately, the excursion took up all the time we had at Cozumel.  The excursion was a combo of snorkeling, ATV tour, and a beach club.  The tour company was Tortugas Cozumel.  We were surprised that they had us drive the transport car - a Jeep - from the meeting point to the Tortugas beach club.  I'd assume they don't have the tour guides drive due to liability reasons.  Our first part of the tour was snorkeling which was very lackluster.  There were barely any fish, minimal coral, and we were only out for about 20 minutes.  We then drove further into the island to the location where the ATV tour took place.  They didn't have enough lockers or goggles for everyone in our group.  The ATV riding itself was really fun and we enjoyed the cenote that we stopped at and even jumped from the rock cliff down into it.  While headed back to the beach club we noticed the time and we figured out that we would not have enough time to enjoy the beach club before having to head back to the ship.  We were able to sit down and eat our included lunch which were some tasty fajitas.  After lunch, we had trouble tracking down our tour guide who offered to give us a ride back to the cruise pier.  Luckily, we were able to find him and get back to the ship on time.  Everything with this tour company was really disorganized and we wouldn't go with them again.

Grand Cayman - This was a very messy and chaotic day.  We booked a snorkeling excursion ourselves through a tour company, Captain Bryan which met at 11:45 that day.  We figured that we shouldn't run into any issues since our ship arrived in Grand Cayman at 10.  However, there were a total of 5 cruise ships at port that day and the captain said that it was the busiest day of the year and actually advised passengers to stay on the ship to avoid the crowds.  We didn't want to lose out on the excursion we paid for so we decided to give it a go.  We got tender tickets around 10 and were given tickets with number 17.  By 11, only tenders 1 through 4 had been called so we went down and explained we wouldn't make our excursion if we waited until our number was called.  Thankfully, they let us get on the next tender and we made it to our meeting point just in time.  We were able to swim with and handle the stingrays as my wife was really excited for, but the snorkeling spot we went to was not very impressive and we only got about 15 minutes to do that since we were running late.  It was getting close to 4:15 when the last tender to the ship was scheduled for so we called the port authority to see if they'd adjusted the last tender time for our ship due to all the delays.  The guy on the phone was not helpful saying, "I think you should be able to make it" and "just get back as soon as you can".  Luckily we did make it back on the ship on the second to last tender.  We were not happy with all the chaos of this port stop, but we did enjoy the short amount of time we had in Grand Cayman.

Food/Dining

We were satisfied, but not impressed, with the food on our sailing.  Entrees were hit and miss, but we did enjoy all the appetizers we ordered.  Service at the main dining rooms was slow, but not agonizingly slow.  Best service we got was at Normandie on the first night.  We did anytime dining and I was able to secure some reservations before the cruise so we didn't have any wait.  We dined at the buffet the last two nights because we didn't want to dedicate 2 hours to eat dinner at the main dining room.  We did feel that the quality of food diminished slightly from our 2019 cruise.

 

We ordered room service for breakfast every morning because we enjoy relaxing on our balcony to start the day.  I was able to write in items - like eggs benedict and gluten free toast for my wife - and they were delivered without issue.  The quality of food was what is to be expected of room service breakfast.  It was good, not great.

 

Disembark & Travel Home

We carried off our luggage and made it through customs very quickly.  A nice streamlined process.  The crowd at the rideshare area was large and our first ride was cancelled by our driver en route to pick us up because he was denied entry at the port checkpoint, so that was lame that we had to request another and stand there for longer.  Thankfully, we didn't have flight delay/cancellation issues like others did flying home to the Northeast.

 

In Summary

Though the trip was crowded and chaotic at times, my wife and I enjoyed our long overdue second cruise aboard Celebrity Apex.  The service and staff were wonderful and we look forward to the next time we'll cruise with Celebrity again.

 

Thanks for your review!  We were your neighbors in 7315.  Agree about Grand Cayman.  When I discovered how many ships were in port, we just decided to stay on board and not deal with the tender process. 

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

24 minutes ago, dunedinmaiden said:

Thanks for your review!  We were your neighbors in 7315.  Agree about Grand Cayman.  When I discovered how many ships were in port, we just decided to stay on board and not deal with the tender process. 

Hello again. Well now you found out we didn't have any issues with the flight home. Nice to meet you onboard!

[Honolulu Blue]

18 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Here's my go at an honest review of Celebrity Apex.  Hope this is helpful info for those considering Edge class ships (or Celebrity Cruises) around our age. 

 

(snip)

 

Itinerary/Ports

Although we were interested in the ports for this itinerary and we did enjoy our time at the ports, we felt very rushed while we were there.  Finding itineraries with longer times docked at the ports will be something for us to look for on our next cruise.

First of all, thank you for the review!  It's very well written, the pictures are nice, and it's good to hear from someone who's relatively young.

 

As for port stop times in the Caribbean, I notice they've gone from a general average of 8-10 hours to 7-9 hours.  Part of the reason is fuel costs.  Another small part might be docking fees.  And another small part might be keeping the shops and casinos open as long as possible.  I too wish for longer stops, and occasionally some itineraries have longer stops (even overnights!) in some ports.  Good luck finding them.

 

(snip)

 

18 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Cozumel - We booked an excursion not sponsored by Celebrity for this port.  Unfortunately, the excursion took up all the time we had at Cozumel.  The excursion was a combo of snorkeling, ATV tour, and a beach club.  The tour company was Tortugas Cozumel.  We were surprised that they had us drive the transport car - a Jeep - from the meeting point to the Tortugas beach club.  I'd assume they don't have the tour guides drive due to liability reasons. 

I can understand starting with an ATV and driving it around to all your stops, but not having a tour guide driving you to where you're going seems odd to me.  

 

Anyway, I'm glad you mostly enjoyed your cruise and wish you the best in your future travels.

[RobertoF]

We are on the Edge in the Mediterranean in June and staying in this exact same SV cabin, so the review and cabin pictures are especially appreciated.  There are not too many twenty-somethings on Cruisecritic, and fewed that leave reviews, so thank you for taking the time and sharing your perspective.

[Lastdance]

Thank you for sharing your experience for us on Cruise Critic.  Overall, it seems like you did enjoy Apex.  We were on her for 26 days in Oct/Nov and loved the ship.  Our only issue was Covid, but Celebrity was awesome at taking care of us.  You are brave, IMHO, for traveling during the holidays, but what a nice trip overall; you actually made it to your destination and boarded without issues.  Bravo!

[AZDivers]

Just got back from ours. Posted our review to CC for review. Is this the review you uploaded through the reviews section of the site or just separate for here?

 

We had multiple issues on our Christmas cruise on the Apex personally and they will be in my review which hopefully goes live soon.

[Tyler414]

15 minutes ago, AZDivers said:

Just got back from ours. Posted our review to CC for review. Is this the review you uploaded through the reviews section of the site or just separate for here?

 

We had multiple issues on our Christmas cruise on the Apex personally and they will be in my review which hopefully goes live soon.

CC ?    Cruise Critic or Celebrity Cruises???  Two completely different things...

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

24 minutes ago, AZDivers said:

Just got back from ours. Posted our review to CC for review. Is this the review you uploaded through the reviews section of the site or just separate for here?

 

We had multiple issues on our Christmas cruise on the Apex personally and they will be in my review which hopefully goes live soon.

I only posted on the message boards here. Didn't bother with the ship review page of Cruisecritic. Sorry that your experience wasn't as enjoyable.

[dlh015]

Enjoyed reading your review...you pointed out the pros and cons in a very tasteful manner...

[Dave Judy]

Enjoyed your balanced review. We have been on the Apex twice during early 2022 and were excited that capacity was 50% or less.  I’m curious about the numbers on your recent cruise and how busy dining rooms and buffet area were?

 Even with low capacity, Eden shows and “The Club” shows were always packed.  Glad you had a great time. 

[AZDivers]

5 hours ago, Tyler414 said:

CC ?    Cruise Critic or Celebrity Cruises???  Two completely different things...

Cruise Critic

[mac66]

Excellent review. 

 

I'm curious that at 27 you chose Celebrity instead of something like Royal Caribbean?    We tend to like X better but our 30 something year old kids like RC, particularly the Oasis class ships. 

Edited January 1, 2023 by mac66

[Nado44]

On 12/27/2022 at 3:22 PM, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

I'd like to highlight the rooftop garden where they have the big screen TV for special sporting events and movies.  We are Minnesota Vikings fans and were super thrilled that they had it playing on our first day even though it was only being broadcasted on NFL Network.  Watching the largest comeback in NFL history was super enjoyable in that outdoor venue.  Sorry if we got a little too excited!

 

I saw this game too and can only imagine what it must've been like to watch it on the big outdoor screen on Apex.

 

Great review!

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

18 hours ago, Dave Judy said:

I’m curious about the numbers on your recent cruise and how busy dining rooms and buffet area were?

Ship was at 92% for our cruise.  The buffet was busy most of the time for lunch, dinner not so much. Sometimes it was even hard to find a seat. We didn't have any problems in the dining rooms, but we did pre-book reservations. Otherwise it could have been around a 15 minute wait.

[KKB]

4 hours ago, NorthStarStateCruiser said:

Ship was at 92% for our cruise.  The buffet was busy most of the time for lunch, dinner not so much. Sometimes it was even hard to find a seat. We didn't have any problems in the dining rooms, but we did pre-book reservations. Otherwise it could have been around a 15 minute wait.

Curious what ship you sailed your first cruise & how they compare.

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

3 hours ago, KKB said:

Curious what ship you sailed your first cruise & how they compare.

For sure. We were on Equinox in June 2019. Really enjoyed that cruise as well. We were in a concierge class room which didn't matter to us much besides the location. We loved the theater shows, dinners at the main dining room and the pool deck. We kind of missed the amount of live music on the pool deck that we had on the Equinox. There was some on Apex, but a lot less. Mostly a DJ mix with some background music. Not sure if this is ship/itinerary dependent?

 

We liked Apex better for the amount of venues onboard. Some of the game shows and activities were held in that smaller theater or the sky lounge on Equinox and having the club or Eden for those same activities was more enjoyable. We definitely miss bingo, but that's all the ships now.

 

I feel like the central atrium on Apex is a better use of space than the one on Equinox by having the martini bar there.

 

There were a decent amount of kids on our two cruises (Summer and winter break). However, the kids' presence was less noticeable on Apex due to the basement club being on the lower deck. Good design choice.

 

The theater itself felt much more immersive on Apex. It was actually better to sit towards the back of the theater since the screen in the back of the stage is so wide. I swear the seats felt more comfortable and had a higher back. Felt more cozy sitting through the shoes.

 

It might have been due to out room location on deck 7 in a SV, but we noticed quite a bit more vibration and rumblings from the motors on Apex. I swear others have pointed out more creaking/rumbling on this class of ships.

 

One thing that's a bummer about Celebrity is the fact the pools and hot tubs close at 10PM. We would really enjoy some late night dips sipping on cocktails under the stars. I'd imagine the pool closure times are similar for the other cruise lines?

 

We would definitely cruise again on either S class or E class again. Enjoyed them both, but I'd probably give the edge *pun intended* to the E class.

[NorthStarStateCruiser]

11 hours ago, mac66 said:

Excellent review. 

 

I'm curious that at 27 you chose Celebrity instead of something like Royal Caribbean?    We tend to like X better but our 30 something year old kids like RC, particularly the Oasis class ships. 

If given the opportunity, we'd try Royal Caribbean. Even more so now that we have a little one. The prices are just a little high for the value that I've read/heard is offered on the ships they sail. Quantum class seems the most interesting to us. Oasis class would be nice, but we probably wouldn't enjoy it as much unless we were in a suite. Having that many people on a ship is just nuts and the suite neighborhood would help make that less noticeable. We'd like to get to elite before going trying RC so we can get those diamond benefits.

[hcat]

excellent review..we had cabin 7312 on EDGE and loved it!

 

We did not care for Oasis st all...more for families with kids..very crowded..dining sub par compared to X  but the shows and music were good.

 

We just cruised on BEYOND..like it even more than Edge and recently booked AQ Class on Ascent for 2024