NCHPcruiser

A few weeks ago our service in The Retreat was excellent though we very much miss the actual bar found in  Michael’s Club.  (Yordan is great!)   We were asked which brand of alcohol was preferred for our cocktails.    We liked the availability of the self pour option.  We would pop in late afternoon for a glass of wine to carry back to our suite.  

It would definitely be the Edge for us.   It’s a great itinerary with a few Adriatic ports.   The Apex itinerary includes Paris but it is at least a two hour + trip into Paris so for us it would be a sea day.  

You are a man after my own heart!  Love the laminated itinerary and I’ll be adding to my next cruise preparation!  

Non-suite guest have always been able to dine in Luminae with suite guest so this really shouldn’t change things.  When our friends area in a suite they have always had their adult children (who were not in a suite) dine with them in Luminae every night.    However,  the Retreat outdoor pool area on the Edge was packed during our recent cruise so I would definitely not want non-suite guest to have access.   Perhaps this won’t be the case on the other ships that don’t have a pool in the Retreat area.  

As a previous post mentions, on M & S-class ships you may order from the Main Dining Room menu while in Luminae.  This is not the case on the Edge, and I’m assuming Apex will be the same.   The Luminae menus includes several everyday items which are not listed menu.

There absolutely no way I would ever trust my hair color to someone on a cruise ship!  Perhaps your wife wouldn’t mind but I would have mine colored the week before we left home and just deal with less than perfect roots the last couple of weeks.   

I would guess that since even my 88 year old parents read from kindles and iPads (easy to control font and much lighter) that ship libraries will not reappear.  When we travel whether cruise or land trip we love to read as it’s something we don’t have enough time for at home.  We load our kindles with books from our library, kindle unlimited and love having a variety of books to choose from.  We literally will never run out of options.  I still purchase actual books especially if it’s one I know friends or family member will also enjoy.  I thought I would never be a convert to an e-reader but now prefer the format.   The book exchange through the Roll Call is a great idea though.  We don’t need to add to our book collection at home and would happily contribute a book(s) assuming luggage space/weight allowed.  

Love the pineapple drink (right up my alley), the margarita and the bracelet!  We love Pancho’s Backyard and have been twice, though the one we went to was a 10 minute taxi ride from the port.  

We were on the February 2 sailing of the Edge and spent considerable time in the Retreat.  There was NO entertainment in the Retreat during our cruise.   The service was great though especially from Yordan.   He always remembered our cocktail preference and even when very busy we never had to wait long.   We enjoyed talking with so much!  

We would absolutely book a RS for the right price.  We love the additional .5 bath, separate bedroom and much larger bathroom plus the “perks” that go along with the suite.  The dining table only gets used as a work area for my husband since we have never had dinner service in our suite, just breakfast.  The most awesome butler we have ever had was with a RS.  Having said that we generally are just as happy with a Celebrity Suite since it also has the separate bedroom and good sitting area (though much smaller than a RS).    It doesn’t come with the unlimited specialty dining but for the price difference we can do that if we choose.  The bar set up is nice but there is no way we are going to drink two bottles of liquor in our suite on a 7 day cruise.  

I may weight a couple of pounds more when I get home but it’s usually from eating more sodium than usual and the weight is gone by the end of the week.   Well sodium and alcohol!  At home, I snack all through the day with no really big meal but on a cruise I generally stick to three meals.  Early in a cruise I’m loving breakfast including the usually off limits croissants, etc.  By mid-cruise I’m happy with something small in the morning.  We are usually not tempted by the desserts on the ship though every now and again one might appeal.  

Definitely stay in Rome.   You can show your son a lot of Rome in a day and half especially if are in a well located hotel and make a plan.  We have used Romeinlimo on several trips (airport to Rome hotel, hotel to ship, ship to airport) and they are extremely professional and punctual.   Friends have also used them for a day tour of Rome.  

1 hour ago, Arubamoose said:

We are doing the Eclipse that overnights in Buenos Aires.  We will have no means to get wine before we board the first day as we are coming from the airport.  

 

Can I bring on my two bottles on the next day?   

I am fairly certain you would not be able to as I believe it is only at initial embarkation.  You can always pack your wine which is what we usually do using reusable padded wine sleeves purchased online.  We have never had a problem although it does take up valuable space in your luggage!  

4 hours ago, little britain said:

Do they actually charge corkage?   RCI are meant to charge corkage but I’ve never ever been charged. 

We were charged corkage last week on three bottles (the fourth was enjoyed in our suite) though it had been hit or miss previously.  Traveling with another couple so had four bottles between us.  The four bottles were packed together in one carryon and after assuring security the four of us were traveling together they allowed us to proceed.  

Enjoy your cruise!

I guess I had expected the interiors to be much more updated  and Edge-like (we like the Edge interiors) but by just looking at the pictures I don’t see a thing changed! We have a CS booked on the Solstice in 2022 and surely expected a different product than the same CS we sailed in last February.  

We love the CS for the separate bedroom.  DH is a very early riser even on a cruise so with the CS he can enjoy his coffee and read the news in our suite with the draperies wide open and I can sleep as late as I like in a darken room.   

16 minutes ago, mafig said:

jelayne,,

we have reserved Fine Cut even though we've read reviews about it being noisy.

 

Can you recommend where we can request being seated where it would be less noisy?

We had dinner there last week and it was noisy, but not as bad as I had expected based on reviews.   It is adjacent to the Grand Plaza overlook so the noise level really depended on  whatever music was being played below.    We were there for a special dinner so were in a  separate, semi-enclose dining area (which you would think would have been quieter, but wasn’t) near the entrance.  There was a long line to be seated at 6:00 pm.    I don’t have a recommendation as to seating except to ask as soon as you check in at the podium.  

Our friends used it this past Sunday in Fort Lauderdale (flying American on a 1:00 pm flight) and it worked great, just like it is suppose to.  We also used it on a previous cruise while in a RS without cost though I don’t remember that it was listed as an amenity.  

39 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

So was the shampoo Bigelow or Bvlgari?

It was the Bigelow.  

I was recently on the Edge in a suite and the shampoo is awful!  I have fine, thin hair that just needs one lather but not with this shampoo, always needed twice to feel clean.  It really hardly lathers at all.   This is from someone who is not fussy about hair products and has always used the ships/hotels products.  From now on I’ll bring my own shampoo when on a Celebrity ship.  

We missed a port just last week in the Caribbean (Costa Maya) because we could not safely dock due to weather.   Two years ago aboard the Silhouette in the Baltic’s the Captain had to cancel St. Petersburg, the highlight of the cruise, for both days we were to be in port also for weather.    I don’t think the Captains make these decisions lightly

21 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I can confirm you can indeed stream movies.   I brought my Roku with me and watched many things on both Netflix as well as YouTube TV.  This was both in the Med and on the TA.   My experience was different than yours and found it to be one of the strongest most stable internet in the fleet. 

 

 

 

 

Something was definitely off this past week and we do hope it was a fluke.  We weren’t the only ones to express frustration.    Tried to stream a couple of shows but gave up.  It took forever to simply pull up a website (news, cruisecritic).  It was frustrating for my husband to get his work done.   A year ago on the Solstice (AU/NZ) we had much better internet.  

Friends of ours (who aren’t on cruisecritic) were in the path of the Magic Carpet.  They only noticed it go by once or twice during the cruise and it did not bother them.  They were happy to book the same sky suite again.  

I can’t compare it but it is SLOW!!   They tout that you can stream movies-NO WAY!  At least you couldn’t this past week.  We were on the Solstice for two weeks last March (AU/NZ) and the internet was much, much better.  Finding the internet so slow on the Edge has been very disappointing.

Not many people pack more than my husband and I.  I like options and don’t usually pay baggage fees.  The wide drawers are a huge improvement over the open cabinet with one shelf in the same area on the S-class ships.   For a variety of reasons we probably still  prefer a ”Revolutionized” S-class ship as a whole, however, we prefer the Edge class Sky suites.   The bathroom alone is a huge improvement!