Semi-live from the Edge | February 3-13 | Southern Caribbean

[OrcaGirl]

Hey everyone,

 

At the Vancouver International Airport right now, about to start our journey to Miami. On Friday we’ll be embarking on the Celebrity Edge for the 10-day Southern Caribbean itinerary out of Fort Lauderdale with stops in St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, and St Kitts.

 

 

We’ve been to most of these ports many times, except for St Kitts which will be new to us.

This is my third time sailing Celebrity, and first time on an Edge-class ship.

We booked this cruise quite last minute via a Blue Chip Casino ‘free cruise’ offer, after needing to cancel an early January cruise on Norwegian when my mom got sick over  Christmas holidays. She felt so bad that we missed our original cruise that she paid for our drink package on this one. Thanks mom!

 

I’ll try to post 2-3 times each day with what we’re up to, though my particular focus will usually be cocktails, food, entertainment, and excursion adventures. (I’ll also be posting lots of photos over on Instagram Stories; look for erin_braincandy if you just want all the photos and none of the commentary.)

 

Here are links to my two most recent “semi-live from…” threads:

 

 

I’m happy to try to answer questions as we go, so feel free to ask away.

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by OrcaGirl

[Barwick Cruiser]

Thanks for posting and wishing you calm seas and great food and drink! Are you connecting on your flight or is it one of the new nonstops to Florida? What type cabin are you in? Glad your Mom is feeling better! 

[Texed]

Orcagirl,

We are on Edge doing the same itinerary in July.  So, we will be following.  😊

[OrcaGirl]

1 hour ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

Thanks for posting and wishing you calm seas and great food and drink! Are you connecting on your flight or is it one of the new nonstops to Florida? What type cabin are you in? Glad your Mom is feeling better! 

Air Canada just recently reinstated direct flights from YVR to MIA 3x per week (last offered in 2004!!!), and we were so excited to book this option. Totally beats connecting through Toronto or Chicago or [shudder] Dallas-Fort Worth.

 

The plane is completely full so hopefully its popularity means the route sticks around.

 

 

Very few people are masked on the flight, which I don’t love. This will be our longest flight since March 2020 (getting home after our NCL cruise was rerouted from San Juan to Port Canaveral), and I’m not thrilled about wearing a mask for 6 hours but c’est la vie… I’d rather be a little uncomfortable now versus risk being sick on the cruise.

 

We’re booked into a Concierge cabin. Can’t wait to see it, and especially to check out the infinity verandah for ourselves.

[TheHawk1]

Doing this exact same itinerary on Edge on Feb. 24.  Will be very interested in reading about your impressions, especially on food quality and things to do in ports.

[sdnich]

I look forward to following you on this cruise we will be doing the same itinerary in  March !

cheers

[AbbyCruiser45]

My parents will be on this cruise (sitting firmly in the shade with a tall glass of Pellegrino with ice and lime). So I'm excited to follow along! 

[dacsmom]

1 hour ago, TheHawk1 said:

Doing this exact same itinerary on Edge on Feb. 24.  Will be very interested in reading about your impressions, especially on food quality and things to do in ports.

Me too. I am anxious to get a bit of a preview.

 

[peanut head]

Enjoy the cruise and thanks for taking us along!

[Arubamoose]

3 hours ago, TheHawk1 said:

Doing this exact same itinerary on Edge on Feb. 24.  Will be very interested in reading about your impressions, especially on food quality and things to do in ports.

 

So are we - except the port order is reversed.

 

We are B2B - doing the Canal cruise on the 13th.

[OrcaGirl]

The husband recently upped his airline loyalty status, and we’re enjoying living the Maple Leaf Lounge life. Grabbing some light breakfast in the lounge sure beats waiting AN HOUR in line for Tim Horton’s. 
 

 

The flight was full but uneventful. Watched a movie (Love & Basketball) and the first two episodes each of Inventing Anna and The White Lotus. (No spoilers please!!)

 

 

Landed in Miami, grabbed our luggage and ordered a Lyft to our hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

 

Got checked in to the hotel, and will be headed out for dinner shortly. The big question: Outback Steakhouse or Red Lobster?

[dacsmom]

I vote for Red Lobster. Those cheddar bay biscuits are tasty. May I ask about how much the Lyft was? Still working on transportation from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale.

[OrcaGirl]

Well, %$&@. The husband left his phone in the Lyft, so that’s put a damper on things right out of the gate.

 

But beer and cocktails help alleviate the anxiety, right? Right?!?!

 

 

After trying and failing to contact the Lyft driver, we decided on the Outback Steakhouse as the appropriate place to drown our sorrows. (Also it was closer than Red Lobster.)

 

 

 

 

Random notes:

 

I feel like a bad Canadian for not realizing it earlier, but the NHL All-Star Weekend is *this* weekend… in Fort Lauderdale. We won’t have time to see any of the activities, but may be able to spot some of the hockey shenanigans on the beach from the ship.

 

[OrcaGirl]

30 minutes ago, dacsmom said:

I vote for Red Lobster. Those cheddar bay biscuits are tasty. May I ask about how much the Lyft was? Still working on transportation from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale.

The Lyft XL was $85USD with tip, and took about 40 minutes once we got picked up.

 

There were cheaper options but we weren’t light packers and wanted extra space for our luggage.

[mpdog42]

13 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

Hey everyone,

 

At the Vancouver International Airport right now, about to start our journey to Miami. On Friday we’ll be embarking on the Celebrity Edge for the 10-day Southern Caribbean itinerary out of Fort Lauderdale with stops in St Maarten, St Lucia, Barbados, Antigua, and St Kitts.

 

 

We’ve been to most of these ports many times, except for St Kitts which will be new to us.

This is my third time sailing Celebrity, and first time on an Edge-class ship.

We booked this cruise quite last minute via a Blue Chip Casino ‘free cruise’ offer, after needing to cancel an early January cruise on Norwegian when my mom got sick over  Christmas holidays. She felt so bad that we missed our original cruise that she paid for our drink package on this one. Thanks mom!

 

I’ll try to post 2-3 times each day with what we’re up to, though my particular focus will usually be cocktails, food, entertainment, and excursion adventures. (I’ll also be posting lots of photos over on Instagram Stories; look for erin_braincandy if you just want all the photos and none of the commentary.)

 

Here are links to my two most recent “semi-live from…” threads:

 

 

I’m happy to try to answer questions as we go, so feel free to ask away.

 

When you get to Bridgetown, Drink a Banks for me..😁

[cinderellen]

Geez, hope he gets his phone back. That’s a bummer.

[OfcSupport]

My husband and I will be on this sailing. We are driving from southwest Florida in the morning. We have cruised a lot through the years but never on Celebrity. We are really looking forward to it. 

[dodger1964]

Thanks for taking time to do updates.

 

We are on same cruise Feb 23rd (reverse port order), and are staying near where you stayed (based on restaurant locations)...we are using orphan miles to stay for free at Hyatt Place.

 

Looking forward to updates..will be our first time on this class of X ships.

 

If you have time please try to check out the buffet at night and see if recent reports are true.

 

Hope you get your phone back!

 

Let us know how you get to ship. (we are planning on just using uber or lyft thinking cost should be around $25 ish)

 

Have a Great Cruise!

 

[Cruise a holic]

Enjoy your cruise!  Love the Edge class ships.

[OrcaGirl]

Quick update on the excitements of last night:

 

The husband’s phone was recovered!! The Lyft driver didn’t respond for 2+ hours, and there was a bit of a language barrier to overcome, but he drove back with the phone. In addition to Lyft’s $15 lost item return fee, the husband tipped him an extra $60 cash for the trouble.

 

 

So, phone returned, we settled in to our hotel room to watch another episode of The White Lotus. Only to have the fire alarm go off! That thing was PIERCING. I’m not great with loud noises at the best of times, AND we’d just had a fire alarm go off in our apartment building last week. At least this time we only had to climb down six flights instead of 30+.

It took about 30 min for the fire truck to arrive and another 15 or so to get the all-clear to re-enter the hotel and go back upstairs.

 

 

[OrcaGirl]

We stayed at the Comfort Suites in Dania Beach. It was perfectly fine for a post-flight / pre-cruise hotel, and we got it for a good price (~$250CDN with breakfast included.)

 

 

It was about a 10-15 min walk to Outback last night, despite what Google Maps said. 

 

 

This morning we partook of the breakfast buffet, which had the usual suspects (egg patties, surprisingly good sausage, cereal, yogurt, toast, fruit, and a waffle station) and a pleasant and bright seating area.

 

 

We are Starbucks addicts (one reason we typically sail on Norwegian) so after a quick breakfast we walked up to the nearest Starbucks for a final iced Americano for the next 10 days.

 

 

Hotel check-out is at 11am, so we’ll mosey on back and order a Lyft to the port.

 

P.S. — Geckos!

 

 

 

P.P.S. — it’s so hot out, wearing jean capris was a bad idea, as was leaving my sunglasses in the room for our walk.

[JDPCruisers]

Following your review as we will be on Edge April 7 (on Allure this Sunday). We were on Apex last April and loved it. What terminal are you scheduled to go out of?

[cachouonacruise]

I look forward to your Port Experience Review OrcaGirl. We are sailing a similar itinerary from San Juan next month, on the Millenium.. 

 

Thank-you so much for sharing your adventure with us!

[knoxvillecruiser]

We will be on the February 24th sailing with the same ports.  I'm looking foward to your posts!  Have a wonderful cruise.

 

[OrcaGirl]

Apres Starbucks, we hustled back to the hotel, took cold showers, and quickly repacked everything.

 

Ordered a Lyft to the port, which came in at $25USD + tip for an XL. Smaller vehicles were $16-$20. The car arrived within 3 minutes, and the drive was ~10 or so.

 

And then driver tells us to have our passports out, because security will check them before letting the car into the terminal. So I unzip the pocket of my backpack where I *always* keep my passport. No passport.

 

So I check all of the other pockets. No passport. I’m panicking but trying to stay calm, wondering if my nexus card will be enough or if the ship will be okay with the PDF scan of my passport that I keep in a Dropbox.

 

And then my husband goes to pull out his passport… and it’s mine. He had grabbed my passport, thinking it was his. He had both of them without realizing it. I love him, but damn, dude. 🤣

 

Anyway, the Celebrity Edge is docked at pier 25. The terminal building is beautiful; the husband is suitably impressed after only sailing out of San Juan, Los Angeles and Seattle for the past few years.

 

 

 

We arrived a good hour before our check-in time (12:30) and so — after dropping off our luggage with the porters — we chilled in the shade for a bit. But around 11:45 they called out for everyone to come on in.

 

Embarkation took about ~15 minutes max, from the first check of our SeaPasses at the door through security and check-in. And then right on board!

 

 

We headed to our room (more on the room later but SPOILER: it’s gorgeous) to drop our carry-on bags and grab our cruise cards. The husband still thinks that leaving our keys on the doors is weird, but I guess the risk is low?

 

The Edge is still offering the new/better version of the muster drill, which is fantastic. Watched the video on our phones, headed to our muster station, got scanned in. 

 

Then, to the buffet. It’s embarkation day, so naturally it was crowded and chaotic. But the husband loves himself a DIY taco bar. 

 

 

We each grabbed a plate of food and found a table in the outdoor seating area. When the husband went back for round 2, he returned with a delightful strawberry daiquiri. Yum. (We’ve got the classic beverage package.)

 

 

Random thoughts:

 

The husband is thrilled that it’s a Coke ship versus Pepsi. It almost makes up for the lack of Starbucks.

 

Based on a few observations over lunch, I feel like there’s a lot of new staff. And I sensed a lot of micro-frustrations between them and management.

 

Also witnessed one cruiser get snippy at a server for [checks notes] daring to start to clear a plate from a table. Apparently despite the fact that people leave full plates behind all the ****ing time, she should have somehow known that his pizza slice was not to be touched. (Despite there being no sign that he was returning to the table.)

 

The husband saw a manatee! But I missed it. 😢