BeeMinor

Boarding day: After Starbucks and a couple last-minute errands we got to Terminal 25 for check in and, at last, Apex! Boarding was prompt and efficient. We dropped bags and took a wander around the ship before having a pleasant lunch at Luminae. We then got some seats at the Martini Bar, and oh boy, I should never go to the Martini Bar while it's still light outside. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur but I am confident that we unpacked, enjoyed sail away, ate dinner, and remembered our cabin number because I woke up with my clothes unpacked, photos of sailaway, not hungry, and in a very comfortable bed on Sunday morning. Those martinis, people. They're dangerous. Day 2: Sea day! I am firmly in the "I love sea days" camp. Woke up bright and early and with remarkably little headache (see: Martini Bar) and got it together to go to Luminae for breakfast. I have a long-standing love of room service cruise breakfast but it's just not ideal with the small E-class interior table or barely-anything balcony table. Luminae breakfast was good--all the food so far has been consistently good to great--and we spent most of the day lounging around the Retreat sundeck or wandering the ship. BeeMajor cut off late afternoon to watch the Bengals game at Craft Social while I read on our balcony and got ready for Evening Chic night #1. I like to dress up but I am in a distinct minority on this sailing. Fellow dressed-up people: you looked great! We went to Raw on 5 for dinner with the explicit intent of getting the giant seafood tower. Our last cruise was on Edge in 2019, and Raw on 5 ran out of oysters by the end of the sailing when we planned to get a seafood tower then. We are oyster people so that was a massive disappointment but I am pleased to report that in the last 3.5 years the kitchen has restocked! The seafood tower was enjoyable and plenty of food for two people for dinner. Raw on 5 also has Veuve yellow label by the glass, so if you have the premium package and want to enjoy a better Champagne than the included Cattier or Montaudon for a small upcharge then that's your spot.

Hello from the Apex! I always enjoy reading live cruise reports, but also I enjoy not spending vacation on my phone. But since my husband, who shall be known as BeeMajor, fell asleep early and I've had a lot of Diet Coke today, let's give this a whirl. TL;DR: Ship is beautiful, food is good, service is solid, the ship appears to be full, we don't have any symptoms of Covid, I've seen about 50 kids, but even as a person who isn't especially price sensitive it's unlikely we'll book another X cruise at current fares. (We're enjoying our cruise and this will all in all be a positive review, at least to date, but I'm also going to be upfront about costs.) Day -700 to -1: This cruise started life as an onboard booking in 2019 for a 2021 sailing. For obvious reasons it got bumped out and we were able to book a Sky Suite for the relative bargain price of about $6000 all in, down from an original booking fare of about $8000. I've been looking forward to this cruise for a looooong time (BeeMajor is less into cruising but whatever I book our trips 😝). My work has been just a lot lately and I made a very short turnaround trip to Chicago for personal reasons right before we left, so I started out this adventure more than ready for some down time. Day 0: We flew in to FLL from CVG on Friday morning, a bit delayed for a "light bulb problem" but luckily nothing major. We booked flights through Celebrity Air (about $900 each for Delta Comfort) and I had no problems with customer service. After arrival, we met a local friend for lunch at Shooters (pretty good) and then checked into the Oasis Motel. Was the Oasis fancy? No. Was it clean, convenient, and $168 including taxes? Yes. I wouldn't go out of my way to stay there again, but for one night it was fine and super affordable. Which was good, because we met another local friend for dinner at the Boatyard. That meal was expensive and just okay. And so slow. Nothing makes you notice slow like waking up at 5 am to catch flights three days in a row.

UGH. When we were on the Edge in a Sky Suite a few years ago our little toilet enclosure was pretty whiffy in a stagnant main drain kind of way. We picked up a gel air freshener at our first port which basically fixed the smell issue, but I was hoping that it was a fluke. Sounds like it's a design problem though. I will remember to pack an air freshener for our Apex cruise in a couple weeks just in case.

What time is your ceremony? I wouldn't count on anyone being able to do quick turnaround onboard on embarkation day. You might not even meet your butler until late afternoon. It seems safer to me to take care of any steaming before you board and then transport in a garment bag/dry cleaning sleeve. I'd go to the Retreat concierges or the Eden maitre'd (or both) for Eden.

When we sailed Silversea they seemed to care much more about the jacket for men than the specifics of pants. I'm pretty sure my husband, who isn't much for dressing up, wore non-denim jeans-style pants most nights--basically what he'd wear to Luminae but with a sports coat, which they politely but firmly enforced throughout the ship.

This is exactly why I find it confusing and stressful . . . and I am American! If tips are automatically charged, but people are still broadly tipping over and above, then are auto grats adequate? I hate to undertip and seem cheap, but also, if something is included then it should just be included IMO. We sailed once on Silversea, which doesn't do auto tips but covers tips in the fare. Then if you want to do something extra, you give to a general crew fund, which seems to me more civilized.

I think the point is that fares have already increased to cover increased costs, but there is a perception that higher fares aren't maintaining the same level of quality. I haven't cruised since 2019 (looking forward to sailing next month) so I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with that perception but asking people to spend considerably more on their fare and also to directly subsidize salaries on the ship at a higher level is going to rub some people the wrong way, no matter how small the absolute increase. Even with prepaid grats I find tipping expectations on a ship confusing and stressful, so I wish they'd truly roll it up in fares and eliminate the practice altogether.

This is a real risk with a small ship. We sailed on the Silver Whisper back in 2018 . . . along with two charter groups. One was smaller and ignorable, the other comprised at least half the ship's passenger count and was, let's say, boisterous. We loved the ports and also found the food, especially in the Italian restaurant, superior to X, but were extremely unhappy about trying to share a small space with a large charter. However, we were on the Summit in a pre-Revolution suite about six months later and really noticed the constant upselling of dining, drinks, photography, etc. and not in a good way. Very much appreciated that this practice wasn't visible in the Retreat on Edge when we sailed in Feb 2019, and hoping it hasn't come back to the Apex for our sailing in November! We also found the food on Edge to be on par with what we had on Silversea, and I'm really hoping that's still true of Apex too. We have tried to give Silversea another try, but one cruise was canceled due to the elimination of Cuba cruising and the other was a victim of the shutdown. Depending on how this next Apex cruise goes we might consider making another SIlversea attempt. IMO the steep price increases on X for the Retreat make them directly competitive at the Sky/Celebrity Suite-equivalent level that we would book.