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

[nikel]

 

Thank you so much for your most informative review, your style of writing and pictures.........its making me more excited for my trip !!

 

Sorry about the covid part !!  I guess it will be around forever like the flu !

[Dreamer68]

On 7/19/2023 at 12:52 AM, Tina99 said:

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and pics. I’m blissfully booked solo on Apex 1/6/24 same itinerary IV cabin. 

You're welcome! I met a lovely lady travelling Solo on the Apex. I've seen photos of the solo cabin. Really, really NICE!!! Enjoy your cruise!

[Dreamer68]

On 7/23/2023 at 9:33 AM, Silkroad said:

Thanks! Flying into Schiphol, we need all the positive energy we can get! We booked our SVs and SS very early for lower fares (and we booked onboard for a bit more OBC). We are considering an OV for very hot or very cold itineraries. I’m attaching three photos of a Deluxe Ocean View cabin (cabin #9100) I toured on Edge. The occupants said they loved their cabin.

 

@Silkroad, as I write this, it is the wee hours of the 31st July and I believe you're getting on your cruise today out in Rotterdam. I just want to thank you VERY MUCH for digging out these photos to share with me despite your busy schedule preparing to fly. This Deluxe OV looks perfect for my  needs. I checked on the ASCENT itinerary that I was interested in for May 2024 and as I expected, the last 2 Deluxe OV cabins that were available up until last week are no longer available. 😔 Ah well, perhaps another time...At least I know these exist! ❤️

Wishing you a wonderful cruise!

[Dreamer68]

16 hours ago, dazey said:

Enjoyed your review.  Appreciated your recent listing of tours(both Celebrity and non-Celebrity) as you mentioned you would do.  Any tendered port we went with Celebrity tours.  You are definitely correct - private tour operators are less money and mostly give a more private and different tour.  It is our first choice but taking a tour with Celebrity does eliminate the "missing the boat" issue.

 

Agree with you about Raw on 5. We find Sushi on 5 has a wider sushi menu.  Not the best sushi(it is hard to find many excellent sushi restaurants for sure but good for a little change in dining onboard maybe once on a cruise.

 

Looking forward to sailing on Apex in December and your review makes me feel like "I cannot wait!".

 

 

@dazey, glad you enjoyed reading this. I'm leaning with you on the "any tendered port, go with ship-arranged tours". If I am satisfied though with my research and depending on how long we are stopped, I can see myself booking our own local tours. In addition, these local tours depend on reviews, right? I can imagine it's their worst nightmare to return guests late to the port. Yikes. Research takes a lot of time though and I'm learning to be okay with reclaiming some of my time and energy and just pay the extra for the convenience of the ship taking care of my schedule. 🙂

 

Raw on 5 ... I almost took a cooked Japanese meal as my first try but then I thought, "Hello!? 'RAW on 5. RAW." 😂🤣 If there was a noodle or South East Asian specialty restaurant, I would have gladly tried it. You are right, it's good for a little change onboard as the main menus almost everywhere on the boat was Western-centric.

 

Wishing you a terrific time on the Apex this December! ✨

[Dreamer68]

15 hours ago, CunucuMom said:

@Dreamer68 thank you so much for taking the time to share your journey in both words and visuals.   I've been somewhat 'meh' about our upcoming Ascent preview cruise but your travelogue has definitely rekindled my excitement.  Btw, thanks for your comments about the spa seminars; I won't waste time trying to melt off my excess fat.  🤣🤣

 

Happy future travels and wishing your DH a speedy recovery (and immunity for you!).

@CunucuMom, you are so welcomed! If Celebrity pays attention to customer surveys post-cruise and practises design thinking principles and prioritizes the guest experience journey (sorry, somewhat fresh out of grad school 😂), then they would capitalize on lessons learned from the Edge, Beyond, and Apex before the Ascent sails inasmuch as possible. One can hope. 🙏🙂 I just heard they announced the Cruise Director for this inaugural season and he sounds really popular among Celebrity fans. I also loved the video clip of the two brothers who will co-captain the Ascent. They sound like so much fun! The Ascent cruise I was looking at for the Mediterranean is starting to price out of my budget for next year. I'm not sure what happened to warrant a rate increase of 1K per couple for the dates I was looking at. The Constellation for a different routing came up to half of the Ascent prices. So, I may have to be sensible in my choice.

Sigh. Those "seminars". I was so hopeful about finding new information about reducing wrinkles and stress and fat...but nope.Dang it!  I found out after the cruise what "Destination Gateway" is used for and thought what a loss of space and opportunity to impress and hook current and future fans of the cruise line as that space was not used for any informative seminar during my cruise. 🤷‍♀️

 

I receive your good wishes and am pleased to report DH recovered well. 🙂

[Dreamer68]

11 hours ago, nikel said:

 

Thank you so much for your most informative review, your style of writing and pictures.........its making me more excited for my trip !!

 

Sorry about the covid part !!  I guess it will be around forever like the flu !

You are welcome! Bienvenue!|

I think you said you were on the Transatlantic later this year, right? Oh, so many sea days to enjoy this gorgeous ship! I'd be curious to know your thoughts on your meals then, as a fellow Montrealer with access to amazing cuisine here. I'm almost tempted to go to Maison Boulud before the summer ends and if Chef Daniel is in the house, ask him curiously, "Is THIS what you envisioned with XYZ (strawberry angel food cake, pannacotta (it was grainy!), etc.) on the Celebrity MDR menu?" 🙄😂🙃

 

Enjoy your trip!

[Dreamer68]

21 hours ago, Wendylvs2travel said:

Absolutely loved seeing your pictures and your very honest reviews about the food. Thank you very much for sharing with us! 

@Wendylvs2travel, so glad you enjoyed my pictures and even my honesty about the food. 🙂

 

The food comments (for the MDR and specialty restaurant) were my way of saying, "Hey, Celebrity, don't make promises you can't keep about your level of refined dining". I mentioned that in my survey response. A lot of it was good but some of it was really mediocre or below par (for an MDR). I've been privileged to travel and know what things taste like. Plus during my TA career in a different season of life, I got to experience what luxury and premium service looks and feels like around the world. A meal in any of the hyped-up 4MDRs should technically be better than what I can cook myself for my guests or at least equal to meals in my cities best-loved restaurants. Just my two cents worth.