Giving a “live” review a go. Celebrity Edge. Sydney to Tasmania. March 7-13

[Okahukura]

21 hours ago, Okahukura said:

Husband enjoyed the ship tour. Found it very interesting and informative. The laundry is as you can imagine quite an operation 

They also got to go up to the Bridge. He found that super interesting 

[cruiser3775]

18 hours ago, sonia2509 said:

If you bought the beverage package on a good deal like we did, none of these prices matter.

Unfortunately, not everyone is canny enough to get a special deal. Those of us who have to pay the full price are subsidising passengers like you.  I don't think blatant price gouging is a reasonable excuse and not a good business practice in the long term, in a very competitive cruise market. As you say, if I don't like it, I will just go elsewhere. After doing my research on Celebrity's charging practices,  I've just booked another cruise with a different company.

[Okahukura]

A very quiet day yesterday but still fun. Although my liver will definitely need a break. I can say no to everything except temptation 😝 

Went and played Deal No Deal which was fun. Quite amazing though as the first player got chosen the second time as well and also won a casino credit with her cards. 
We went to Le Petite Chef for dinner. It was a lot of fun and definitely worth spending some of our OB credit on. 
 

[sonia2509]

1 hour ago, cruiser3775 said:

Unfortunately, not everyone is canny enough to get a special deal. Those of us who have to pay the full price are subsidising passengers like you.  I don't think blatant price gouging is a reasonable excuse and not a good business practice in the long term, in a very competitive cruise market. As you say, if I don't like it, I will just go elsewhere. After doing my research on Celebrity's charging practices,  I've just booked another cruise with a different company.

That is the joy of living in a free market we can pick and chose where we want to holiday.  I was not canny in getting a special deal it was just pure luck.  I am certain you will have a great time on your cruise and enjoy!

[Blackduck59]

I have to ad my voice to those of the sticker shock crowd, from looking at the bar menus. I live in Canada and those prices are outrageous. I knew there was a reason why we abandoned Celebrity when we booked our 3rd time lucky trip for next year. We didn't like that they took away the S class ships and prices just kept rising.

[arxcards]

There were some great deals going a couple of years ago. We booked Celebrity Edge - this very cruise. It was a good deal, attractive at a time that cruising was still paused. It needed to be that sweet a deal way to get passengers aboard. You can't compare it with current pricing.

 

However, we did not look for discounted packages. We could have booked an "upgrade" with a package, but it would have turned our refundable deposit into a non-refundable one. We had a couple too many cruises booked, and when the pricing of specialty restaurants and drinks was being announced as double+ that of pre-pandemic, we pulled the pin and had our deposit refunded.

 

We love Celebrity, having enjoyed a couple of great cruises on Solstice. You can compare cruises with land holidays for price, but you can also compare them with other cruise lines. That is the comparison that has us abandoning Celebrity for now. When it comes to booking something today for next year, there is much better value out there. I can afford it, but there is a principle to saying no if I think pricing is OTT.

[Chiliburn]

3 hours ago, arxcards said:

There were some great deals going a couple of years ago. We booked Celebrity Edge - this very cruise. It was a good deal, attractive at a time that cruising was still paused. It needed to be that sweet a deal way to get passengers aboard. You can't compare it with current pricing.

 

However, we did not look for discounted packages. We could have booked an "upgrade" with a package, but it would have turned our refundable deposit into a non-refundable one. We had a couple too many cruises booked, and when the pricing of specialty restaurants and drinks was being announced as double+ that of pre-pandemic, we pulled the pin and had our deposit refunded.

 

We love Celebrity, having enjoyed a couple of great cruises on Solstice. You can compare cruises with land holidays for price, but you can also compare them with other cruise lines. That is the comparison that has us abandoning Celebrity for now. When it comes to booking something today for next year, there is much better value out there. I can afford it, but there is a principle to saying no if I think pricing is OTT.

My conclusion,Edge is a lovely ship. The food is way better than R.C and the cabins are larger with premium fittings .

 I had a interior cabin with a King bed and the cabin was huge.

 I paid $2,000 for it which was reasonable for 6 nights.

 

I would keep an eye out for a cheap cruise if I was you  Geoff.

 

Chili ,the last of the big spenders.

 

 

[Okahukura]

Well the sun came out for the last few hours. So we got to enjoy some pool time yesterday afternoon which was lovely. Disembarking this morning was very easy. And it was pretty magical waking up to these views 

[Okahukura]

The Edge is a lovely ship and we certainly enjoyed our Retreat experience. Tasmania is a destination I wasn’t particularly interested in but we found it fascinating and would have loved to have spent two days there as on the original itinerary. 
But I think this size ship it too big for us. And we certainly would have struggled if we didn’t have the Retreat area. Bars and meeting places were often packed and noisy. Not our jam. 
And I had to be “that” person but the coffee was truly awful and don’t advertise you offer champagne on your menus when all you have is Chandon. It isn’t champagne!!!  Staff were lovely though and we really appreciate how hard they worked to make our trip comfortable 

[Chiliburn]

@NSWP

Cougar report Uncle Les 

Celebrity Edge had a mature clientele,I would say 95% of the people were over 50.

The entertainment was pretty sedate and it was quite safe for a couple of young fellows like us.

And there was a singles concierge!!

 

Steak and eggs every morning to keep the energy up .

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

My conclusion,Edge is a lovely ship. The food is way better than R.C and the cabins are larger with premium fittings .

 I had a interior cabin with a King bed and the cabin was huge.

 I paid $2,000 for it which was reasonable for 6 nights.

 

I would keep an eye out for a cheap cruise if I was you  Geoff.

 

Chili ,the last of the big spenders.

 

 

That is the other side. People don't buy anything because of the prices. Your $US18 Bulleit & Coke would have cost me $AU13.50 a couple of weeks ago if I didn't have a package. That way I could have bought two of them on my cruise and still been one of the last of the great spenders. All of the blame of the value of the $AU, yet our dollar could be at parity and drink prices would still be OTT.

 

We disembarked our last cruise on 29th Feb with a zero bill, after burning our $50 non-refundable credit in the casino on the last night. I booked a cheap cruise while you were cruising Phil, but it is on Luminosa.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, Okahukura said:

Well the sun came out for the last few hours. So we got to enjoy some pool time yesterday afternoon which was lovely. Disembarking this morning was very easy. And it was pretty magical waking up to these views 

Welcome back. Beautiful photos.

 

Thanks for your live thread.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

@NSWP

Cougar report Uncle Les 

Celebrity Edge had a mature clientele,I would say 95% of the people were over 50.

The entertainment was pretty sedate and it was quite safe for a couple of young fellows like us.

And there was a singles concierge!!

 

Steak and eggs every morning to keep the energy up .

If you are taking the lift Phil, I am taking the stairs.

[onlyslightlymad]

7 hours ago, arxcards said:

There were some great deals going a couple of years ago. We booked Celebrity Edge - this very cruise. It was a good deal, attractive at a time that cruising was still paused. It needed to be that sweet a deal way to get passengers aboard. You can't compare it with current pricing.

 

However, we did not look for discounted packages. We could have booked an "upgrade" with a package, but it would have turned our refundable deposit into a non-refundable one. We had a couple too many cruises booked, and when the pricing of specialty restaurants and drinks was being announced as double+ that of pre-pandemic, we pulled the pin and had our deposit refunded.

 

We love Celebrity, having enjoyed a couple of great cruises on Solstice. You can compare cruises with land holidays for price, but you can also compare them with other cruise lines. That is the comparison that has us abandoning Celebrity for now. When it comes to booking something today for next year, there is much better value out there. I can afford it, but there is a principle to saying no if I think pricing is OTT.

We booked our cruise on Edge years ago!  At least, not the particular cruise we took, but a cruise that was bumped several times because of Covid.  Consequently, we had a great deal and big credit to spend.  I am not saying this to be boastful, merely that to have purchased the cruise at today's prices would have meant quite a different decision.  I think quite a few of the passengers were still spending Covid credits and this has elevated the prices.  It will be interesting to see what happens when this inflationary effect ends.

[arxcards]

3 hours ago, Okahukura said:

 And I had to be “that” person but the coffee was truly awful and don’t advertise you offer champagne on your menus when all you have is Chandon. It isn’t champagne!!!  Staff were lovely though and we really appreciate how hard they worked to make our trip comfortable 

That is a general ship thing, and I wonder if they subscribe to those regional naming laws. Lots of ships offer a glass of "champagne" on arrival which is just cheap bubbles in a bottle and not a pinch on Chandon. So, no French champagne at all? No Dom or Veuve Clicquot? They have been readily available on Solstice cruises we have done.

[Okahukura]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

That is a general ship thing, and I wonder if they subscribe to those regional naming laws. Lots of ships offer a glass of "champagne" on arrival which is just cheap bubbles in a bottle and not a pinch on Chandon. So, no French champagne at all? No Dom or Veuve Clicquot? They have been readily available on Solstice cruises we have done.

Their menus definitely offer champagne. They just said there were supply issues

[cruiser3775]

Chandon is actually a French owned wine company that diversified into sparkling wines in the US more than 50 years ago, and Australia more than 30 years ago.  They produce a high quality "methode champenoise" product that wins international wine medals in competition with French champagne producers. 

The problem is the French insistence on the term "champagne" only being used for the local product. In Australia, many people use "champagne" as a generic term for any sparkling wine.

Here a bottle of award winning Chandon Brut costs about $30. I'd be interested to know what they are charging for it on the ship.

[aussielozzie18]

Thank you for your report.  What did you do in Tassie that you enjoyed?  
 

Photo glimpse of your ship taken by family member who was having drinks at the Opera Bar yesterday afternoon.

 

 

[Okahukura]

15 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Chandon is actually a French owned wine company that diversified into sparkling wines in the US more than 50 years ago, and Australia more than 30 years ago.  They produce a high quality "methode champenoise" product that wins international wine medals in competition with French champagne producers. 

The problem is the French insistence on the term "champagne" only being used for the local product. In Australia, many people use "champagne" as a generic term for any sparkling wine.

Here a bottle of award winning Chandon Brut costs about $30. I'd be interested to know what they are charging for it on the ship.

I know what Chandon is. But thanks for the explanation. However my point js that I like champagne. It was showing on the beverage menus but it wasn’t available. 

[Okahukura]

8 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Thank you for your report.  What did you do in Tassie that you enjoyed?  
 

Photo glimpse of your ship taken by family member who was having drinks at the Opera Bar yesterday afternoon.

 

 

We did a Greyline Bus tour which was really interesting. Gave us a good overview of the town and the history which really suited us first time visitors. We did get dropped off at the Botanical gardens for an hour which was a bit long for me. But some of our party loved that. We then did the ferry ride and tour of MONA. MONA is a lot!!!  Especially with 2 cruise ships in. Quite overwhelming. Also the weather wasn’t very nice so we couldn’t explore outside. I would have loved to have done a bit more exploring of the Salamanca district as that looked interesting. But we definitely felt we got a taster 

Great photo from the Opera Bar btw

[Okahukura]

25 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

Chandon is actually a French owned wine company that diversified into sparkling wines in the US more than 50 years ago, and Australia more than 30 years ago.  They produce a high quality "methode champenoise" product that wins international wine medals in competition with French champagne producers. 

The problem is the French insistence on the term "champagne" only being used for the local product. In Australia, many people use "champagne" as a generic term for any sparkling wine.

Here a bottle of award winning Chandon Brut costs about $30. I'd be interested to know what they are charging for it on the ship.

I think they were charging $18-$20 a glass

[aussielozzie18]

Glad you had a successful visit to Hobart despite the cruise crowds & weather.  Haven’t been to MONA yet but it’s on my list.

[cruiser3775]

3 hours ago, Okahukura said:

I think they were charging $18-$20 a glass

So it fits the pattern of being another rip off. 

[willsaway]

Evening all. Having just disembarked from this very cruise yesterday, here is my 2 bob's worth. Cost: did not get a particularly good price for a concierge infinity balcony cabin, but keen to try Edge and took advantage of a flash sale to upgrade from Classic to Premium drinks pkge. And so pleased we did. Prices were outrageous, if you were "paying". Sav Blanc Villa Maria $18US a glass as an example. So much higher generally than Royal prices. The ship itself was very flash, but we felt there were limited community areas. Only 3 general indoor bar areas: given the number of passengers limited seating, and disjointed and uncordinated bar service. 4 choices of MDR, and give Edge their due, the meals were terrific, as they were in the buffet. So fresh and well presented. Bands at bars: brilliant, really excellent. Staff: Captain Costa (who did a 90 minute superb presentation) said 50% of the staff were on their first contract. Enough said. Infinity Cabin: hmmm, has pluses and minuses. The window washing mechanism on the starboard side aft wasn't working, consequently window was heavily salted. The Captains Club drinks from 5-7 had enough choice to suit most people. Cruise Director: excellent. Unable to enjoy the experience of the Roof Garden or Sunset Bar as 6 days just wasn't enough time, but it did give us a good feel for a lovely, new ship. We'd go again but the price would have to be more in line with other cruises out of Sydney or Brisbane. 

[Okahukura]

I reckon your 2 bob is worth about 5 lol.  A great summation of the features and pain points on board