Celebrity Apex to the Caribbean 2023 - mainly photos for anyone interested

[Dreamer68]

Oops, forgot a shot of Tom there as Maverick to show you how a bright day affected the screen, or not, at the Rooftop Garden. Be early though to grab your seats (nice options) or you'd be like me, behind some sort of obstruction.

[Dreamer68]

I might as well show you parts of the "Resort Deck" while I am out here. That includes the Rooftop spaces, the pool, the solarium, the cabanas. As it was just DH and me, there was no occasion to rent cabana space on the Apex but it too, is lovely and there are YouTube videos from people who have rented these spaces. The cabanas are near the Mast Grill (complementary dining). The food is fast (generally) and fresh at Mast Grill. There was at least one staff member in training the day I went after a morning excursion. Unfortunately, many of us returned AFTER the MDR and OVC lunch hours were done so the lineup at Mast Grill was very long. I feel that an Apex supervisor in the food and beverage department should have anticipated the number of people who might be looking for food in between regular serving hours and therefore assigned enough help to serve the numbers. Having said that, the most important find for me on that day was the soft serve machine!!! OMG! Chocolate soft serve too!! So, let me quickly show you the food first at Mast Grill, and then enjoy the rest of the walk along the Resort Deck, in the day time and night (I had taken a walk after some rain that evening and it was blissfully quiet with nobody around... I try not to take photos that include people in them as I feel guilty I've not asked their permission to share my photos which happen to have them in them. 🤷‍♀️ The photo of people in the pool was the day the officers went up against the guests in pool volleyball. PS - apologies for that fast-paced timelapse video at the end of this section of photos.

[Dreamer68]

Sorry for my excitement but in case you didn't catch it, here's the self-serve soft serve machine at Mast Grill on the Apex. I felt like a kid again! Hahaha! I believe there were some toppings as well (sprinkles etc. for those young at heart. Please note however that on my trip, the soft serve ice cream was not exactly silky smooth as some famous soft serve ice creams we might know but the fun of swirling my own soft serve cone and having as much as I wanted brought me lots of joy. 😍🤣 PS - you can pay good quality gelato at Oceanview Café if you wish.

[lola2013]

I have to wait another 142 days to experience Apex.  If possible, your photos have me even more excited than I already was 😎.

Susan

[hcat]

17 hours ago, Dreamer68 said:

So, should I continue? I'll share photos from the 4 MDRs including some food choices, the theatre and some show videos (all entertaining, some more than others), the outdoor space and of course Oceanview Café. If people are interested, I can share some photos from the excursions we took (one through Celebrity itself).

Now contemplating between the Constellation and the Ascent for a 2024 Mediterranean cruise... surprisingly hard choice.

 

 Enjoying the pics..lovely art! Please do continue!

 

We are booked on ASCENT for 2024 in AQ Class..and on APEX in 2025, Sunset Veranda..4 mdrs. 

 

We have enjoyed EDGE and BEYOND...and loved all the Art. We have the Art Books and took the art tour on EDGE...amazing!

[hcat]

We also enjoyed the live  plants on these ships.. One of the caretakers on EDGE gave me  short tour..very interesting!

[Dreamer68]

1 hour ago, lola2013 said:

I have to wait another 142 days to experience Apex.  If possible, your photos have me even more excited than I already was 😎.

Susan

Awww, Susan...what a nice compliment! I am a planner by nature, ouf, the amount of research on the Disney forum boards the year we went to MouseWorld...so I love anticipating my hard-earned trips. I think the important thing is to differentiate between anticipation and expectation. There seems to be a fine line between the two which will make or break my vacation. 😉 All of us like different things after all. Regardless of the diversity of preferences, the Apex remains a stunning ship regardless who travels on it. I am certain your will make wonderful memories 142+ days from now on the Apex. 😍

[Dreamer68]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

 Enjoying the pics..lovely art! Please do continue!

 

We are booked on ASCENT for 2024 in AQ Class..and on APEX in 2025, Sunset Veranda..4 mdrs. 

 

We have enjoyed EDGE and BEYOND...and loved all the Art. We have the Art Books and took the art tour on EDGE...amazing!

YOU have the Art books!!??! LUCKY!! And somebody needs to update their Guest Relations crew members about the existence of the books. There was an Art tour on the Apex as well, of course but it was too expensive for me. As mentioned, I was prioritizing my excursions. Even the galley tours cost a pretty bundle now. I'm pretty sure I went on a free galley tour at the Summit in 2016. I'd love a Sunset Veranda someday... 🤞 As for Aqua class, Blu Restaurant was WOW from the outside. Is that how it looked on the EDGE and the BEYOND? Gorgeous!

[hcat]

Blu  has a standard decor and menu,  but on EDGE it had a very poor view..... of cleaning equip etc. Drapes were kept closed. Very disappointed.

 

On BEYOND, they remedied that..we had lovely sea views!  We like AQ and BLU but were  very happy with the 4 mdr plan on EDGE..favs were Tuscan and Cyprus..the smaller dining rms.

( Btw..we disliked LumInae on BEYOND..location view and  menu..it was a one time suite cruise for us but no need to move up)

 

yes,  Lucky to get the Art books..On our first  EDGE cruise..I was planning an Art walk for my roll call...it was turning into alot of work. Then the Cruise Line offered their tour

and truthfuly I was relieved!  Def worth the cost..and went into  some of the pvt areas.

[durangokid]

3 hours ago, lola2013 said:

I have to wait another 142 days to experience Apex.  If possible, your photos have me even more excited than I already was 😎.

Susan

Susan I believe you will be boarding APEX as we get off from the December 2 cruise.  I agree this post has made me want December to get here - now!  Thank you @Dreamer68for these pictures and if you have more please post!

 

Mary

[Dreamer68]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Blu  has a standard decor and menu,  but on EDGE it had a very poor view..... of cleaning equip etc. Drapes were kept closed. Very disappointed.

 

On BEYOND, they remedied that..we had lovely sea views!  We like AQ and BLU but were  very happy with the 4 mdr plan on EDGE..favs were Tuscan and Cyprus..the smaller dining rms.

( Btw..we disliked LumInae on BEYOND..location view and  menu..it was a one time suite cruise for us but no need to move up)

 

yes,  Lucky to get the Art books..On our first  EDGE cruise..I was planning an Art walk for my roll call...it was turning into alot of work. Then the Cruise Line offered their tour

and truthfuly I was relieved!  Def worth the cost..and went into  some of the pvt areas.

Ooh, how interesting the differences in Blu among sister ships! I didn't expect that. On the Apex, I got to chat with a few Suites guests and they enjoyed the Luminae. 

 

And gosh, I can imagine the amount of work your Art Walk would've been coz there was so much art! I remembered to photograph the identification plate beside each piece as well so I could learn a bit about the work and the artist. 

[lola2013]

1 hour ago, durangokid said:

Susan I believe you will be boarding APEX as we get off from the December 2 cruise.  I agree this post has made me want December to get here - now!  Thank you @Dreamer68for these pictures and if you have more please post!

 

Mary

Yes, I board December 9…can’t get here soon enough.  And I know I will love it so much that I booked the same ship (different itinerary) for December, 2024.  I hope you have a wonderful cruise 🚢.

Susan

[Dreamer68]

Here's something I really appreciated about the Apex - the contactless public washroom entrances and the faucets. I know, we all get our joy from different and sometimes strange things. I loved all the handwashing stations as well at the Oceanview Café so right after this, I will move on to dining stuff. Feel free to ask questions as I will do my best to refrain from too many opinions and simply stick to my original goal of just sharing photos of this stupendous ship. 😍  I liked the options of paper or cloth towels to wipe my hands.

PS - the lock for the stalls in the washroom took a bit of time to remember which way indicated locked and which way meant available. Vertical vs horizontal look. It meant you really had to have the habit of knocking on the stall door to check for occupants before trying to push i open. t I actually took photos to remind myself but ugh, 6 months later, I cannot remember which way was which. LOL!! I think it would have been far simpler for some sort of green and red colour marker on the doors to discreetly indicate to those waiting in line which stalls were available or not....but then, would those colours fit the decor? 🤷‍♀️😂

[Dreamer68]

OK, then, here is the Oceanview Café of the Apex. I really like the concept of food stations vs the long U of the Summit and other class ships. I felt the line-ups were shorter and everything was so much more efficient when people could just zoom in on their favourite types of cuisine. For breakfast and lunch, all the stations were in use. For dinner, only half the stations were opened but before anyone gets really upset about that, I have to say even with just half the stations opened, there were plenty of options to eat.. There is no way anyone would have gone hungry if they chose Oceanview Café for dinner unless they were extremely picky, IMHO. I'll do my best to separate my dinner offerings photos so you can see. I spoke to a supervisor at lunch time and asked about the dinner offerings. He confirmed the options were reduced as they were noticing a lot of waste. He said there were generally themes for the evening buffet despite the lesser quantity. 

We'll start with the seating areas after you get in. Oh my...so many beautiful spots to sit at. Tall stools among raised narrow tables, regular chairs among narrow tables along the windows looking out to sea, clusters of two or four, outdoor seating, indoor, some areas further from the buffet (near the washrooms) that are really quiet. There was a large contactless and gorgeous handwashing station at the entry to OVC (a bigger one if coming from the pool area). There was always a staff member there to encourage guests to wash their hands before moving on to the food but not all guests washed their hands and some staff members looked young and shy and did not stop anyone who chose not to wash their hands from enjoying the buffet. BTW, you cannot not notice the giant sculpture at the entrance to OVC if you are coming in passed the swimming pool.

PS - the photos of the food stations were taken in the afternoon where it was either the tail end of lunch or around tea time when they bring out tea items like mini scones served with cream and jam (one day I found clotted cream - score!) and other baked treats. It also felt like you could always get smoked salmon and bread throughout the day if you ever wanted to make yourself a smoked salmon sandwich. Also, as I mentioned, I try my best to take photos with as few people as possible for privacy reasons.

[Dreamer68]

And here are some food offerings for breakfast and lunch. There are several egg stations in the morning. My favourite was the Eggs Benedict section. When I travel or eat out, I choose stuff I would not make at home due to cost or skill. So, I had a "Benny" almost every morning, I figured out that I could just ask for one half of the English muffin so one poached egg, normally atop a slice of Canadian bacon and some spinach, drenched with Hollandaise sauce and then I picked up some smoked salmon on the side. Yum-oh! There was always plenty of fruit and an Asian station with congee and condiments. So, I had an East-meets-West plate most mornings and afternoons. That's what I love about buffets, I get to pick and choose based on my curiosity and preference and I determine the size of the servings. If my adventure proves delicious, I go for a 2nd round. Love that! This is the main reason I have never done an MDR at lunch. I just enjoy exploring food too much! 😋🤣 And yes, I gained weight in this one week of cruising. I expected that. 🤭 Loved the squid ink paella! Enjoyed the churros afternoon and the display of cake day.

PS - there is always a carving station at lunch and one day, the focus was fish... the display was fantastic although I was sad there was no sashimi/ sushi to be had (the Summit used to have a 5-6pm sushi hour). Got to taste at least 4 different types of fish though and was quite satisfied. And the pizza station which was outside the main seating area in the back of the ship had been brought back to be part of the stations. I kept going back there where it said "Pizza" for the first 2 days, especially after reading some threads here on CC but turns out the outside pizza station was not being used for my cruise...maybe coz we were only about 2300 passengers.

 

[Dreamer68]

And I thought this one should be included on its own. That's "Chocolate Shawarma" at the dessert station one day at lunch. I HAD to try it of course. The "shawarma" was 3 kinds of chocolate they put on the standing spit and the chef would shave off whatever "meat" you needed for your "shawarma. The "pita" was a crepe and the mix chocolate shavings were the "shawarma meat" that got rolled up and you can choose a sauce for the top and more chocolate shavings. So was it good? The idea was innovative but the well-travelled foodie and good cook in me has to be honest and say that better quality chocolate for the "shawarma" and a deeper tasting recipe for the chocolate ganache topping would have made this a total star. There were other toppings like strawberry/ raspberry sauce/ coulis and chopped fruits like berries and peaches.

I'll throw in a photo of the croquembouche (a cone shaped tower of cream puffs bound by caramel) just to show that in my mind, efforts made to make the buffet an interesting experience. Lots of items were delicious at OVC, not everything...but truly, this is a buffet and my expectations were set to that of a buffet.  BTW, my standards are quite different (higher) for a sit-down MDR experience as you will see soon enough. Hope you enjoyed the food porn. 🤣

[Dreamer68]

Sadly, it was a bit complicated to check through the details of each of my photos to determine which of them were taken of the evening buffet where there are limited offerings. Sorry! What I can say though is, at the OVC for dinner, there is always a carved meat, 2 soups, at least 3 other meat offerings and 3 side dishes in the hot meal section. There is always a bread station, a salad station, dessert station and the pizza station. So, space wise, it looked like almost a third of the stations were opened at dinner time. Not a lot in comparison to breakfast and lunch but I honestly don't see how anyone can still be hungry even with this pared down option. Technically, at the MDR, we tend to eat one appetizer, one main, and one dessert (sometimes 2) so, how much can one's stomach handle anyway? While I understand that we might have "paid" for all of this, I am also increasingly uncomfortable with the amount of waste we do not seem to see in all our affluence. So, I'm okay with a reduced offering at dinner time at the OVC.

Elsewhere, these photos are from the late night offering at the OVC, from 10 pm to 1 am. An assortment of breads, cold cuts, sandwiches and sweet treats. My time stamp on these photos was 10:50 pm-ish.

[Dreamer68]

Oops, forgot the croquembouche. To be continued.

[hcat]

OVC  photos look great..some very inventive offerings. Great photography!   We go there for some early bkfsts for variety and a few lunches..(mostly salads for me,)  

 

As to the pool area cabanas on APEX..are they  private or is there still a public walkway that goes through the area?  We might try one but did not like the walkway we saw on EDGE where everyone walks through...Can't recall abt BEYOND..we were in RETREAT area... on a  port day it was wonderful..but crowded on other days  We also like the Solarium in the early a.m. and outdoor pool before the crowds return on port days!

 

 

[Silkroad]

On 7/18/2023 at 10:42 PM, Dreamer68 said:

Hello there, I was on the Celebrity Apex to Key West, Belize, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman back in January 2023 to celebrate a milestone anniversary

I’m enjoying your review very much. We sailed the same itinerary aboard Apex in early December 2022, and we board her again at the end of this month. It’s lovely to revisit some of our favorite areas through your photos and observations.

[Dreamer68]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

OVC  photos look great..some very inventive offerings. Great photography!   We go there for some early bkfsts for variety and a few lunches..(mostly salads for me,)  

 

As to the pool area cabanas on APEX..are they  private or is there still a public walkway that goes through the area?  We might try one but did not like the walkway we saw on EDGE where everyone walks through...Can't recall abt BEYOND..we were in RETREAT area... on a  port day it was wonderful..but crowded on other days  We also like the Solarium in the early a.m. and outdoor pool before the crowds return on port days!

 

 

Thanks! I felt very intrusive taking my photos at the OVC during meal times as I didn't want to slow down the person behind me with my pause but I'm glad to have these memories that cause me to smile and be thankful all over again. Oh, I was quite impressed with the salad station. Quite the variety, I thought. 👍

 

I'll keep in mind those potentially quieter times at the Solarium. We were at about 2300 guests so space never seemed an issue, at least for my schedule of walkabouts and activity. 😂

 

The pool area cabanas are similar to ones you saw on the EDGE, I think. I was able to walk past several of them and the day I took these photos, we were a long line of guests, snaking through the cabana area, waiting for food at Mast Grill. So, if there had been any cabana guests while I was in line, I would have had to work at looking elsewhere. I think I saw privacy curtains but I may be wrong. Also, they are set up against the pool deck so it's quite easy for your conversations to be "shared" with the people occupying the loungers just beside and slightly above you. It probably goes both ways e.g. someone without ear buds looking for a quiet and shade covered lounger at the pool might have to  contend with a loud group at a cabana...🤷‍♀️

[hcat]

Thanks s for the cabana  info..we would pass.  Maybe see how they are set up on Ascent..that's our next cruise.  Going to see if we can book the art tour..that guarantees getting the Art Book

[PTC DAWG]

30 minutes ago, hcat said:

Thanks s for the cabana  info..we would pass.  Maybe see how they are set up on Ascent..that's our next cruise.  Going to see if we can book the art tour..that guarantees getting the Art Book

Ascent is sister ship to Beyond..I believe they both face inward toward the pool. 

Edited July 20, 2023 by PTC DAWG

[debfed65]

Hello and thank you for sharing all this pictures...you have a great eye for sure!  

 

Could you please send a picture of the Sunset Bar and that area of the ship?  I know they are a bit different between Edge, Apex, Beyond and the new Ascent. 

 

We have been on the Beyond and are doing at TransPacific on the Edge this coming April.

 

L❤️VE the Edge Class ships! 

 

Thanking you in advance 

 

 

[Ellesor826]

Was that a photo of an OV cabin and if so, what was the location of it?
Looked really nice, bright and roomy….I was thinking, we could do that!

Have only done balcony but I really like that cabin!
Thanks so much. 
R