Quick review, APEX Western Caribbean, 03 Feb - 10 Feb 2024

[psternklar]

Just got off of Apex, here is a quick review.  Stayed in SS room 9184 with DW.  Sailing with SIL, CS room 11109.  We had a  great time.  First time in the Retreat but not new to Celebrity (usually Aqua).  The ship was sold out.

 

SHIP:  Grade A.  First time on Edge class.  Enjoyed the layout.  Easy to get from place to place.  I was impressed with the elevators, no wait.  The ship was clean and in good repair.

 

CREW:  Grade A+.  Extremely friendly and helpful, both in and outside of the Retreat.  Always available, always with a smile.  

 

ROOM:  Grade A.  Layout was great.  Bed was firm but comfortable.  Only saw butler once.  SIL in CS had constant contact with her butler.  Retreat hosts were. fantastic and available.

 

EMBARCTION:  Grade A+.  Could not have been better, 5 minuets from door to ship.

 

FOOD:  Grade B+.  Ate exclusively at Luminae.  Food good to very good, and the burger is as good as the hype!  Special requests were not a problem.  Excellent service.  Did not find it loud or too large.  SIL enjoyed Raw on 5.  Cafe Baccio great as usual.

 

BARS:  Grade B+.  This was a mixed bag.  Retreat bar was always excellent, service and selection were great.  Eden bar was not so good.  SLOW service, fair drinks.  Craft Social was fun, great selection, usually crowded.  Martini bar was good, not as crowded as I have seen in pats, good service.

 

ENTERTAINMENT:  Grade C+.  Big let down.  Walked out of shows for the first time.  Tree of Life, Rocumentary, and comedian were good, others were terrible.

 

PORTS: Grade A.  Roatan, Belize, Cozumel.  Missed Grand Cayman due to weather.

 

Overall a great cruise.  Would likely book Retreat again.  I hope this is helpful.  

 

 

[Texed]

49 minutes ago, psternklar said:

Just got off of Apex, here is a quick review.

Overall a great cruise.  Would likely book Retreat again.  I hope this is helpful.  

 

Thanks for posting. 😊

 

[psternklar]

Welcome!

[Host Anne]

Here's your ship during sunset on Saturday Feb. 3 after leaving Ft. Lauderdale

 

 

[psternklar]

9 hours ago, Host Anne said:

Here's your ship during sunset on Saturday Feb. 3 after leaving Ft. Lauderdale

 

 

Thanks!

[CruiseRQA]

23 hours ago, psternklar said:

Just got off of Apex, here is a quick review.  Stayed in SS room 9184 with DW.  Sailing with SIL, CS room 11109.  We had a  great time.  First time in the Retreat but not new to Celebrity (usually Aqua).  The ship was sold out.

 

SHIP:  Grade A.  First time on Edge class.  Enjoyed the layout.  Easy to get from place to place.  I was impressed with the elevators, no wait.  The ship was clean and in good repair.

 

CREW:  Grade A+.  Extremely friendly and helpful, both in and outside of the Retreat.  Always available, always with a smile.  

 

ROOM:  Grade A.  Layout was great.  Bed was firm but comfortable.  Only saw butler once.  SIL in CS had constant contact with her butler.  Retreat hosts were. fantastic and available.

 

EMBARCTION:  Grade A+.  Could not have been better, 5 minuets from door to ship.

 

FOOD:  Grade B+.  Ate exclusively at Luminae.  Food good to very good, and the burger is as good as the hype!  Special requests were not a problem.  Excellent service.  Did not find it loud or too large.  SIL enjoyed Raw on 5.  Cafe Baccio great as usual.

 

BARS:  Grade B+.  This was a mixed bag.  Retreat bar was always excellent, service and selection were great.  Eden bar was not so good.  SLOW service, fair drinks.  Craft Social was fun, great selection, usually crowded.  Martini bar was good, not as crowded as I have seen in pats, good service.

 

ENTERTAINMENT:  Grade C+.  Big let down.  Walked out of shows for the first time.  Tree of Life, Rocumentary, and comedian were good, others were terrible.

 

PORTS: Grade A.  Roatan, Belize, Cozumel.  Missed Grand Cayman due to weather.

 

Overall a great cruise.  Would likely book Retreat again.  I hope this is helpful.  

 

 

Was on this itinerary Jan 20.   Like your grading system!   Agree with your grades for Ship, Crew, Room, Embarkation.

 

Curious as to why you gave food only a B+?    We found the food in the Luminae to be very good as it was in the specialty restaurants we ate at (Eden for dinner and The Bistro for lunch).   Had lunch one time in the OVC and thought the selection and quality were great.

 

Bars:   Interestingly we found the Eden bar to have very good service and to be a quiet and relaxing venue.   Martini bar?  Overcrowded, loud and slow service.   So my great would be a "B"

 

Entertainment:  what shows did you walk out on?  We had 3 cast shows, a comedian, a musical comedian, a magician, and a Motown group.   Cast shows are what they are, generally great production values but sometimes a bit strange.  None worthy of walking out on.   The magician was the weakest of the rest and the others quite good.   So A-  on my report card.

 

Ports:   sort of a been there done that thing for us.   The ports are now so built up and have lost the local charm they had years ago.  

 

 

[Texed]

14 minutes ago, CruiseRQA said:

Was on this itinerary Jan 20.   Like your grading system!   Agree with your grades for Ship, Crew, Room, Embarkation.

 

Thanks for posting.  😊

[psternklar]

34 minutes ago, CruiseRQA said:

Was on this itinerary Jan 20.   Like your grading system!   Agree with your grades for Ship, Crew, Room, Embarkation.

 

Curious as to why you gave food only a B+?    We found the food in the Luminae to be very good as it was in the specialty restaurants we ate at (Eden for dinner and The Bistro for lunch).   Had lunch one time in the OVC and thought the selection and quality were great.

 

Bars:   Interestingly we found the Eden bar to have very good service and to be a quiet and relaxing venue.   Martini bar?  Overcrowded, loud and slow service.   So my great would be a "B"

 

Entertainment:  what shows did you walk out on?  We had 3 cast shows, a comedian, a musical comedian, a magician, and a Motown group.   Cast shows are what they are, generally great production values but sometimes a bit strange.  None worthy of walking out on.   The magician was the weakest of the rest and the others quite good.   So A-  on my report card.

 

Ports:   sort of a been there done that thing for us.   The ports are now so built up and have lost the local charm they had years ago.  

 

 

Thanks for the reply.  B+ on food due to selection.  In the past there were options such as Indian curry etc.  We did not try specialty venues.  We walked out on a "headliner", he was from Canada but I can not remember his name, that was doing songs from the 80's but was singing like he was at a nursing home.  We also walked out on the Tina Turner revue, out of tune, many people were leaving, too bad, I love Tina Turner music.

[CruisinShips]

Was on the same cruise with you, in a CS and agree almost completely with your grades.  Wonderful cruise.  The ship is gorgeous.  Loved our CS and our Butler (Ari) couldn't have been better. Room was immaculate.  The crew was absolutely amazing.  Luminae staff was great.  Retreat Lounge was great...great personalities.    

 

Also agree with you on the Tina Turner revue...we slipped out after about 10-15 minutes.  The comedian was great and the acrobatic show was also very good.

 

Luminae food was good, but yes, the menus could use some improvement.  Everything was tasty.  Portions were typically on the small side, but I assume that's because they know so many people order more than one app or entrée (many seem to share a third entrée).  But no significant complaints and we ate there every meal except about 3 or 4 times.  Dined in Eden which was very good, and Rooftop Garden Grill which was even better than expected for real comfort food.

 

I will never for the life of me know how these people working on the ships can be so damn kind and seem so genuinely nice and just happy to accommodate you.  Remembering names and preferences.  Just really wonderful humans.  Makes me want to move to the Philippines lol.

 

Overall a great cruise and we actually booked the same cruise, same cabin, same ship for the same time next year.

 

 

[Texed]

10 minutes ago, CruisinShips said:

Was on the same cruise with you, in a CS and agree almost completely with your grades.  Wonderful cruise. 

 

Thank you for posting.  We are looking forward to our transatlantic on Ascent in April.  We were on Ascent for a B2B in January.  We had a great experience. 😊

[txtechmk]

Thanks for posting your review.  We were on the Apex a couple of years ago and loved it.

[psternklar]

1 hour ago, CruisinShips said:

Was on the same cruise with you, in a CS and agree almost completely with your grades.  Wonderful cruise.  The ship is gorgeous.  Loved our CS and our Butler (Ari) couldn't have been better. Room was immaculate.  The crew was absolutely amazing.  Luminae staff was great.  Retreat Lounge was great...great personalities.    

 

Also agree with you on the Tina Turner revue...we slipped out after about 10-15 minutes.  The comedian was great and the acrobatic show was also very good.

 

Luminae food was good, but yes, the menus could use some improvement.  Everything was tasty.  Portions were typically on the small side, but I assume that's because they know so many people order more than one app or entrée (many seem to share a third entrée).  But no significant complaints and we ate there every meal except about 3 or 4 times.  Dined in Eden which was very good, and Rooftop Garden Grill which was even better than expected for real comfort food.

 

I will never for the life of me know how these people working on the ships can be so damn kind and seem so genuinely nice and just happy to accommodate you.  Remembering names and preferences.  Just really wonderful humans.  Makes me want to move to the Philippines lol.

 

Overall a great cruise and we actually booked the same cruise, same cabin, same ship for the same time next year.

 

 

Thanks, we missed the acrobat show.

[psternklar]

9 minutes ago, txtechmk said:

Thanks for posting your review.  We were on the Apex a couple of years ago and loved it.

We were concerned with the negative postings but all was great!

[Robkat]

Was also on this cruise, in a Sunset Verandah, so slightly different perspective.

 

The cabin is excellent and that huge verandah is a dream.  If you opt for an SV, know that you will get lots of steps in, when heading to either of the elevator banks.  We didn't mind and actually kind of enjoyed it.

 

The ship is gorgeous.  We've been on the Edge and we thought the Apex was even prettier.  The layout is similar, but we did note some differences that seemed like improvements for the flow.

 

We did feel, though, that they could use at least an additional bar ... on a busy, full ship like we had on this cruise, it's needed.  Think we've read that they've addressed this on the subsequent E class ships, and we bet it helps.

 

We love that this class of ship has 4 MDRs.  It "should" help to disburse people a little more than the larger 2-story MDRs of the Solstice class.  That, however, is not always the case.  Most evenings we arrived at one of the MDRs to find a long line.  

We always make reservations for dinner ... of course always for specialty dining, but also for the MDR.  Lots of people who choose Select, don't want to bother with reservations, feeling like they prefer to "play it by ear", which is great if that's their preference.  The problem is when everyone lines up in one line ... so those with reservations are stuck waiting behind those who are just showing up.  This seems like it would be an easy fix, if they just had two lines: one for Reservations/ one No Reservations.  It's done this way on another cruise line, and for the most part, works well.  Then there wouldn't be such a log jam at the front entrance.

 

Once in though, the food was very good.  We had many memorable dishes and were impressed with the taste and consistency.  One thing that we didn't love though (and this is prevalent on most cruise lines) was the pacing of the dinner.  One course would be barely finished and the next would immediately appear.  We always tell our waiter that we're in no rush, but they're trained to be quick and efficient and to move things along.  But since our preference is for a more leisurely pace, we take it upon ourselves to deal with this issue, and it seems to help.  

 

Also, in recent reviews,  some people have been commenting about the service from the Sommeliers ... we found it quite spotty and inconsistent.  On some evenings, he would be Johnny on the Spot, quick and efficient and keep an eye on each table.  And on other nights, the Somm looked like he was walking through molasses and appeared to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off.  We understand that when there are large groups (which there were a lot of on this cruise), they are very time consuming.  But, in that case, let the Assistant Waiter take a wine order, or have the Somm ask for temporary assistance.

 

We ate in the buffet for a couple of lunches, and we continue to think that X ships have great food in their buffets.  We also like how the different food kiosks/areas are set up.  But here I would implore people to be a little more focused and aware of their surroundings in the buffet, especially at really busy times.  There are so many people walking around in a dither, almost bumping into others all over the place, gazing distractedly at all the food choices, stopping unexpectedly in crowded pathways.  I can't tell you how many times I'd be in front of a kiosk and turn to find someone almost with their chin on my shoulder, checking out the choices!  guess it's easy to pick up on the fact that crowded buffets aren't our favorites. LOL. But people could help by being more aware.  

Nuff said on that particular pet peeve!

 

Will concur that the walking/jogging track on these E class ships are excellent!  So much more interesting and varied that almost all others!!!  The layout through the 2 decks and the incline are great.

 

We also agreed with many of the OP's other remarks and grading, but hope that this different perspective was also interesting.

 

 

 

 

[psternklar]

56 minutes ago, Robkat said:

Was also on this cruise, in a Sunset Verandah, so slightly different perspective.

 

The cabin is excellent and that huge verandah is a dream.  If you opt for an SV, know that you will get lots of steps in, when heading to either of the elevator banks.  We didn't mind and actually kind of enjoyed it.

 

The ship is gorgeous.  We've been on the Edge and we thought the Apex was even prettier.  The layout is similar, but we did note some differences that seemed like improvements for the flow.

 

We did feel, though, that they could use at least an additional bar ... on a busy, full ship like we had on this cruise, it's needed.  Think we've read that they've addressed this on the subsequent E class ships, and we bet it helps.

 

We love that this class of ship has 4 MDRs.  It "should" help to disburse people a little more than the larger 2-story MDRs of the Solstice class.  That, however, is not always the case.  Most evenings we arrived at one of the MDRs to find a long line.  

We always make reservations for dinner ... of course always for specialty dining, but also for the MDR.  Lots of people who choose Select, don't want to bother with reservations, feeling like they prefer to "play it by ear", which is great if that's their preference.  The problem is when everyone lines up in one line ... so those with reservations are stuck waiting behind those who are just showing up.  This seems like it would be an easy fix, if they just had two lines: one for Reservations/ one No Reservations.  It's done this way on another cruise line, and for the most part, works well.  Then there wouldn't be such a log jam at the front entrance.

 

Once in though, the food was very good.  We had many memorable dishes and were impressed with the taste and consistency.  One thing that we didn't love though (and this is prevalent on most cruise lines) was the pacing of the dinner.  One course would be barely finished and the next would immediately appear.  We always tell our waiter that we're in no rush, but they're trained to be quick and efficient and to move things along.  But since our preference is for a more leisurely pace, we take it upon ourselves to deal with this issue, and it seems to help.  

 

Also, in recent reviews,  some people have been commenting about the service from the Sommeliers ... we found it quite spotty and inconsistent.  On some evenings, he would be Johnny on the Spot, quick and efficient and keep an eye on each table.  And on other nights, the Somm looked like he was walking through molasses and appeared to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off.  We understand that when there are large groups (which there were a lot of on this cruise), they are very time consuming.  But, in that case, let the Assistant Waiter take a wine order, or have the Somm ask for temporary assistance.

 

We ate in the buffet for a couple of lunches, and we continue to think that X ships have great food in their buffets.  We also like how the different food kiosks/areas are set up.  But here I would implore people to be a little more focused and aware of their surroundings in the buffet, especially at really busy times.  There are so many people walking around in a dither, almost bumping into others all over the place, gazing distractedly at all the food choices, stopping unexpectedly in crowded pathways.  I can't tell you how many times I'd be in front of a kiosk and turn to find someone almost with their chin on my shoulder, checking out the choices!  guess it's easy to pick up on the fact that crowded buffets aren't our favorites. LOL. But people could help by being more aware.  

Nuff said on that particular pet peeve!

 

Will concur that the walking/jogging track on these E class ships are excellent!  So much more interesting and varied that almost all others!!!  The layout through the 2 decks and the incline are great.

 

We also agreed with many of the OP's other remarks and grading, but hope that this different perspective was also interesting.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the perspective 

[4Nathan]

Were there loungers on the SV balcony or did you have to request ($) them? Any soot issues?  We have an SV booked for our very first Celebrity cruise on Apex .  So excited. Thank you

[dreamer321]

If anyone on a recent Apex cruise still has the Daily Planners would you mind posting scans/photo of them.

 

Thanks.

[Robkat]

1 hour ago, 4Nathan said:

Were there loungers on the SV balcony or did you have to request ($) them? Any soot issues?  We have an SV booked for our very first Celebrity cruise on Apex .  So excited. Thank you

All the SV's had a lounger, 2 smaller regular balcony chairs, and a small table. 

We didn't ask for another lounger as we liked the walk-around space and the existing stuff out there suited us fine.  We did notice that all the balconies on our deck had the same configuration and no one had a second lounger.  So, whether that was because they also liked the roominess of the balcony, or whether they'd been told it wasn't possible, we're not sure.

Yes, there was soot flying around out there.  We brought pool towels and put them on top of the seats, changed them out a couple of times during the week, and it worked great.  Just be careful to check where you're about to sit.

Enjoy your SV!

[hcat]

On 2/11/2024 at 10:27 PM, Host Anne said:

Here's your ship during sunset on Saturday Feb. 3 after leaving Ft. Lauderdale

 

 

Anne.. Amazing photo!

 

"Psternklar"... very good review

 

..We are booked on APEX for Jan 2025..Sunset Veranda with 4   mdrs! I am a Tina fan  and enjoy Motown music too ,  so not sure how bad it would be for me to walk...too loud, ?bad singers?  poor dancing?  Special shows will likely be diff next year anyhow! I now have ear plugs !

 

"Robkat":  ...  what deck was ur SV on..We had middle deck 7 EDGE..no soot and had a lounger.

On APEX we are booked in a middle 10..cpuod be sooty,??

 

 

Edited February 13 by hcat

[psternklar]

6 hours ago, hcat said:

Anne.. Amazing photo!

 

"Psternklar"... very good review

 

..We are booked on APEX for Jan 2025..Sunset Veranda with 4   mdrs! I am a Tina fan  and enjoy Motown music too ,  so not sure how bad it would be for me to walk...too loud, ?bad singers?  poor dancing?  Special shows will likely be diff next year anyhow! I now have ear plugs !

 

 

Thanks.  The singer was way out of tune to the point of being painful.  It takes a lot for me and wife to walk out, many others were leaving as well.  We lasted 2 songs.