LIVE Apex Suite Review 2/25-3/4: Love in the Time of Relaxed Luxury

[rzyjzq]

Thanks for the great live review from the APEX.  Makes me even more excited for my cruise in April!

Susan

[George C]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 

When we sailed on Edge we had the same waiter every night and predominately the same assistant waiter. There were two assistants covering a larger area than our waiter, if that made sense. 

 

We also prefer having the same waitstaff the entire cruise. 

 

We definitely had several different waiters on both beyond and edge cruises.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

When we sailed on Edge we had the same waiter every night and predominately the same assistant waiter. There were two assistants covering a larger area than our waiter, if that made sense. 

 

We also prefer having the same waitstaff the entire cruise. 

 

Thanks John.    We also prefer the same waitstaff.   I hope they do the same on Apex but looks like it may vary by some of the other answers. 

 

I seem to remember that on Edge a couple years ago we had the same waiter but had the assistant assigned to a specific area.

[abbydancer2003]

35 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks John.    We also prefer the same waitstaff.   I hope they do the same on Apex but looks like it may vary by some of the other answers. 

 

I seem to remember that on Edge a couple years ago we had the same waiter but had the assistant assigned to a specific area.

I'd think you could ask for the same waiter if that's what you want.

 

[Jim_Iain]

26 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

I'd think you could ask for the same waiter if that's what you want.

 

I will ask for sure especially once we find one we are happy with.  

 

[abbydancer2003]

3 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I will ask for sure especially once we find one we are happy with.  

 

On our Silhouette cruise our waiter (good) and assistant waiter (great) followed us all over the back room wherever we sat.  On Solstice last month, same thing in the front room.

[DaKahuna]

We have been fortunate and have been seated at the same table or not more than one or two tables away for almost all our meals.  I think this is how we manage to get the same waiter all the time.  

[GenerationX]

Well ladies and gentlemen, we’re at the airport waiting for our 9:30pm flight home.

 

On the plus side, after getting off the ship we had a fun day in Miami thanks to our day hotel booking.

 

Our $120 prepaid booking got us a room from 10am till 6pm.  When we arrived at the hotel, they also charged a $40 resort fee and a $100 hold for any incidental charges.  The resort fee included wifi, beach chairs and umbrella rental on Miami Beach a few blocks away as well as beach towel rental and free bike rentals for up to 4 hours.

 

We originally planned to spend most of our day at the hotel’s pool, but when we checked in the front desk let us know they’d be having their weekend DJ pool party all day and that the party gets “pretty wild”.  We weren’t really in a wild party mood so decided to just shower up and walk around south beach and have lunch.

 

The hotel and our room were spotless and the decor was very cool with a retro Miami style. When we arrived a door man greeted us with cold towels and offered us a complimentary glass of welcome champagne while we checked in.

 

The room was kind of small but I wasn’t expecting much for a day reservation and it served our purposes of a place to keep luggage, shower and nap (which we did quite well after our south beach lunch).

 

I’d definitely stay there again before a late post-cruise flight.  I’d be interested in seeing what they charge for an overnight rate in one of the larger room categories, but I think I really do prefer the Brickell neighborhood to South Beach pre-cruise.  The vibe is a bit more relaxed and meals and entertainment are better priced.

 

Walking around Miami Beach, we stopped into a couple of small art galleries and shops then had a couple of very touristy cocktails while people watching and listening to a salsa band, then went to lunch at Havana 1957 on Ocean Drive.  

 

My food was good other than the tostones which were really bland.  Jeremy loved his Cuban sandwich and papas fritas.

 

While we were listening to the salsa band, Jeremy and the bartender got chatting about the wide selection of tequilas behind the bar and he poured Jeremy a few half shots of things to try, all of which kicked in for him on the walk back to our hotel and inspired him to try and do some Latin dancing in front of a couple of the bars playing music as we passed.  

 

Oh Jeremy, bless his tequila-fueled, two left feet heart.  While we were on Apex a couple of nights we saw an adorable couple really showing off their cha cha and swing moves on the dance floor and it FINALLY convinced him to agree to do some ballroom and Latin dance classes with me.  Our poor instructor is going to have his/her hands full.

 

Once we got back we napped for a couple of hours in the comfortable bed then packed up our things and headed to the airport.

 

While we’re in flight, I’ll start working on back in time posts about last night and dinners in Eden and Raw on 5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[spammie]

Safe travels home and thank you for taking us along with you! 😃

[lola2013]

May I ask the name of today’s hotel?  I have to attend a wedding at the Confidante Hotel on Collins Avenue next month.  That hotel is way out of my price range and am looking for a recommendation close by.  For the amount of time I’ll be there, I’ll be happy with a clean room with a shower!

Safe travels home.

Thanks,

Susan 

[MzShae]

42 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

May I ask the name of today’s hotel?  I have to attend a wedding at the Confidante Hotel on Collins Avenue next month.  That hotel is way out of my price range and am looking for a recommendation close by.  For the amount of time I’ll be there, I’ll be happy with a clean room with a shower!

Safe travels home.

Thanks,

 

I'm not GenerationX, but I saw in an earlier post it was the Good Time Hotel on South Beach (co-owned by no other than Pharrell!)

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, GenerationX said:

 

 

Oh Jeremy, bless his tequila-fueled, two left feet heart.  While we were on Apex a couple of nights we saw an adorable couple really showing off their cha cha and swing moves on the dance floor and it FINALLY convinced him to agree to do some ballroom and Latin dance classes with me.  Our poor instructor is going to have his/her hands full.

 

 

 

Enjoy.  When I first got engaged to my DH, we took ballroom lessons, as a dream of mine was to do ballroom with my life partner.

 

After the first two lessons I thought "the dream is dead", and later "keep dancing or get married"

 

It's 26 years later and we're still dancing, and pretty good at some of it.  (And still married).  

[GenerationX]

Guys, I have no words for how our travel evening has gone. Actually I take that back, I have 2 words: travel insurance. Highly recommend.

 

Our flight boarded on time and started to back away from the gate when there was a loud bang and the whole plane jerked hard then came to a complete stop.  Turns out there was a mechanical issue with the front landing gear during pushback. After  2 hours of sitting at the gate on the plane during repairs, at 11:15pm, the captain came on and said the flight crew timed out and we were canceled.

 

Everyone is automatically rebooked on a new flight tomorrow at noon.  But of course this meant that at close to midnight, a plane full of people needed a place to stay tonight.  
 

AA’s compensation offer was, get this, a whopping $100 hotel voucher. I’m not even sure there’s such a thing as a $100 a night hotel in Miami (and if there is, I can only imagine what condition it’s in). 
 

Because of all our travel plans this year, in January I bought an annual travel insurance policy for a little over $500 total that covers me, Jeremy and Gen Z, not only for international medical but also for covered reason trip cancelation and expenses of trip interruptions just like this one .  Thanks to insurance, I should be fully reimbursed for our very last minute stay at the Hilton Blue Lagoon at the airport. 
 

We’re going to try and make the best of the situation and get some sleep and tomorrow morning while I’m starting one more day laying by the pool drinking my coffee (turns out I had a swimsuit packed in my carryon, yay!) I’ll do some catch up posting.

 

Good night from still in Miami!

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, GenerationX said:

Good night from still in Miami!

 

Oy no. So sorry. At least, the travel insurance "kicked in" 😎

[lola2013]

4 hours ago, MzShae said:

I'm not GenerationX, but I saw in an earlier post it was the Good Time Hotel on South Beach (co-owned by no other than Pharrell!)

Thanks…I’ll check it out.

[WNCtourist]

I have had more cancelled and delayed flights for mechanical issues on AA than all other airlines combined. And I typically fly on Delta! Hope you get much needed rest and have a better day tomorrow.

[vickykay]

Charla,

 

Can you share the name of the annual insurance you have?  Thanks!

[Silkroad]

My first thought is that I’m so sorry you’re having such a frustrating end to your vacation😕 My next thought is that I’m grateful the problem appeared on the ground instead of while landing at your destination😱 Wishing you a pleasant day at the pool and a smooth trip home!

Edited March 5, 2023 by Silkroad

[GenerationX]

14 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks John.    We also prefer the same waitstaff.   I hope they do the same on Apex but looks like it may vary by some of the other answers. 

 

I seem to remember that on Edge a couple years ago we had the same waiter but had the assistant assigned to a specific area.

I think you’re correct that it may vary.
 

We didn’t have the same waiter every time we ate in Luminae but it was the same two who seemed to alternate.  We usually had Marlon at breakfast and Kumar at dinner but a couple of times it was switched (Kumar at breakfast and Marlon at dinner).

 

Both gave us great service and took the time to get to know us and our preferences so we didn’t mind. 

[GenerationX]

It’s crazy to think that a mere 24-hours before we found ourselves on an extended stay in Miami, we were enjoying our last night on Apex.

 

That night before dinner we went to the Rockumentary production show.  Jeremy who is a big classic rock fan said it was his favorite entertainment of the week.  Whether you’re so young that the only place you’ve heard the artists was Spotify playlists or lucky enough that you actually got to attend some of the concerts honored in the show, the music and dancing are probably going to be entertaining. 

 

I bet some of you can even tell from my photos what artists were being performed.   For the last performance of the show, passengers could vote in advance in the app (scroll to the very bottom, swipe left till you see the guitar in a circle with “vote” underneath it and click) for which song the cast would close with. For our cruise, We Are The Champions won.

 

After the show we went to one last dinner in Luminae.  We started with the tomato soup (one of my Luminae favorites), smoked salmon and pork belly.  The pork belly was sadly overdone and a bit dry.  Jeremy’s expression while eating the salmon spoke for itself.

 

For dinner I went with another Luminae favorite of mine and got the bucatini and Jeremy and I split a very nice duck breast.  Inspired by his stellar filet mignon experience at Fine Cut, Jeremy ordered the filet. He said it was good but the fine cut one was much better.

 

We thought about skipping dessert but we still had a couple of glasses of champagne left in our bottle and Kumar reminded us that tomorrow there would be no dessert service (oh now right he turned out to be). So Jeremy had the poached pear and I had almond cake.

 

We’re about to board our rebooked flight home and hopefully all will go smoothly this time!

 

I know I still have a couple of catch up posts to do and then will go back through to answer any questions I missed and do a final post on our overall thoughts on Apex and future cruise plans.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

Food looks great Charla. Curious what champagne you are drinking? (We had not so good luck by the glass last 2 cruises in luminae.)

Safe travels home today!

Edited March 5, 2023 by cruisebeachgirl703
missed text

[DaKahuna]

@GenerationX It has once again been an amazing journey following your cruise adventures.  Thank you for sharing both the ups and the downs with us.  

 

 I am sorry your trip home was spoiled.  As I posted in another Celebrity CC  thread, there are three airlines I do not fly - Spirit, Frontier, and American.  Never again for those three.  I'll drive first, even if it involves renting a car.  

[hcat]

Hope it all worked out...

 

Before the big glitch Jeremy looked like he was def getting into the South Beach vibe !   A good look for him!

 

Sounds like a great ins policy..many end when the cruise ends.  Have to check ours??

Looking forward to your  next Blog!

[lovecruzin]

Now that you're home I finally read your entire blog, thanks for taking us along with you and Jeremy. 

One of your posts showed dining times and a luxurious 9:30am end for breakfast in Luminae. All of our recent cruises dining in both Luminae and Blu breakfast closes at 9am. Is that an Edge class thing?  Our last 6 cruises have been on either Eclipse or Solstice.

Anyway, I can count the number of mornings we’ve asked each other why cant they just serve brekkie until 9:30!

[abbydancer2003]

1 hour ago, lovecruzin said:

Now that you're home I finally read your entire blog, thanks for taking us along with you and Jeremy. 

One of your posts showed dining times and a luxurious 9:30am end for breakfast in Luminae. All of our recent cruises dining in both Luminae and Blu breakfast closes at 9am. Is that an Edge class thing?  Our last 6 cruises have been on either Eclipse or Solstice.

Anyway, I can count the number of mornings we’ve asked each other why cant they just serve brekkie until 9:30!

They used to on sea days.