Thrifty Couple Celebrity Edge Review Jan 27th to Feb 3

[cgolf1]

13 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

 

One thing I do to cut down on the burden of picture loading is to write my review on the PC and upload.   I then go back in and  edit on my iPhone or iPad and enter the pictures without having to transfer.

 

You just access CruiseCritic using the browser. 

 

I am doing my writing now on the PC, but will have to add the pictures in separate posts. It seems like after a certain amount of time on the new forum you lose the ability to edit a post. Wish they allowed unlimited edits. 

[cgolf1]

9 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

Post #42 has some beautiful pictures, including one of some multi-color deck chairs and a mural with a macaw in the background.  Could you please tell me what deck that is?  I have a blue & gold at home; he will be thrilled to see mom standing in front of that!!!

Thanks,

Susan

 

This is on deck 5 aft just outside of Eden. So if you are walking towards Eden it’s the doors on the right. The also have lounger style chairs like that that are surprisingly very comfortable. This area is currently underused so it is a great spot to hideaway and relax. 

[cgolf1]

Day 2 Breakfast

We ended up eating breakfast in the Oceanview cafe everyday and I did want to share what I noticed for those that are gluten free. There was gluten free bread available every day, but unlike lunch it seemed to be behind the counter but wasn’t a big deal. I noticed that the breakfast sausage and all cold cuts and items made with these were marked that you should ask about the allergens. My guess is they are, but they are worried about cross contamination, this will show up on a later day too at a different venue.

 

I don’t know if you could get gluten free waffles or donuts, as I never asked. I generally don’t eat these for breakfast. For me I ended up doing smoked salmon, cream cheese, onions, and capers with bacon and maybe some eggs. This is pretty much my breakfast on all 15 cruises I have been on. You could say I am a creature of habit lol. I did branch out and try an omelet station twice and the feta and spinach omelet was delicious. I still got my salmon though, just less of it;)

 

The Oceanview cafe did have a selection of juices that were pretty good, especially the more tropical flavored one, and a nice selection of teas. As the week went on, I found out I could survive without tea or coffee and just 3-4 sodas a day, I need to translate this to my daily life where I have a big coffee and a caffeinated tea in the morning along with a 1/2 liter of soda a day lol.

[Jesseslola]

Thanks again for your great review..looking forward for more.

 

It was mentioned in one of the flyers that there is an Asian stir fry station that had been added, but I have not seen any review that mentioned it. Have you seen one yet? We loved the Stir Fry station of all the Oasis class, especially the Harmony and looking forward to Symphony next year. We are crossing our fingers it would be the same as we had last year in Symphony.

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

 

I am doing my writing now on the PC, but will have to add the pictures in separate posts. It seems like after a certain amount of time on the new forum you lose the ability to edit a post. Wish they allowed unlimited edits. 

It isn't too bad.   I think they are editable for about 20-25 minutes.  The upload using Safari actually is much better than the old Forum app, even when connectivity is limited.   The only thing I learned is that you have to keep the screen active or if it goes into sleep mode the upload fails.  I usually just wiggle the screen once in awhile or increase the time before going into hibernation. 

 

 

[cgolf1]

22 minutes ago, Jesseslola said:

Thanks again for your great review..looking forward for more.

 

It was mentioned in one of the flyers that there is an Asian stir fry station that had been added, but I have not seen any review that mentioned it. Have you seen one yet? We loved the Stir Fry station of all the Oasis class, especially the Harmony and looking forward to Symphony next year. We are crossing our fingers it would be the same as we had last year in Symphony.

 

 

 

I hope that someone reading this has an answer for you. There was an Asian food station, but I skipped over it because we eat a fair amount of Asian dishes at home. I ate stuff that I don’t get at home like curry, lamb, etc. 

 

I am really wishing I took even more pictures of more specific things, I guess lesson learned for my next trip report:)

[cgolf1]

Day 2 AM

We first went up to check the temperature of the pools and we decided not to swim, because like most ships the pools are cool to cold in the morning. It was very windy, and the magic carpet was closed. The wind continued throughout the day. We decided to do the general trivia session in the morning and got a respectable 9 out of 16, but someone got 16 out of 16 and won. This trivia session was done on paper. Other than that we kind of just wandered the ship checking everything out. 

 

We ate lunch again in the Oceanview and wanted to mention the ice cream area. They offer ice cream and I believe one flavor of sorbet for no charge and gelato for a cost. Us being thrifty went with the free option and didn’t inquire about the price of the gelato. 

 

The sorbet flavor was the same flavor that was offered in the MDRs the previous night. Our favorite was the day they had coconut sorbet and ice cream, they were both excellent.  

[Fogfog]

Thanks again for your great review..looking forward for more.

 

It was mentioned in one of the flyers that there is an Asian stir fry station that had been added, but I have not seen any review that mentioned it. Have you seen one yet? We loved the Stir Fry station of all the Oasis class, especially the Harmony and looking forward to Symphony next year. We are crossing our fingers it would be the same as we had last year in Symphony.

 

For the last several years the asian/stir fry has been on the Solstice class ships...always options --its on the long stretch on short wall-- what would be opposite the pizza on the opposite side

 

Don't know when the post you are reading was done/how old that may be.

 

Plenty of baked goods, breads, rolls as well. 

 

Always carving station options, pasta to order options etc.

 

My fav is when they have great curries

 

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by Fogfog

[msteries]

Following along and enjoying your posts immensely.  One of my friends cruising next week needs gluten free, and she will be delighted with your informative posts!

mary

[cgolf1]

Day 2 PM

We explored the ship some more and looked in the shops to confirm that we weren’t going to be buying much in the shops. We did end up buying the Edge hat for 25$, which was at the high end of what I will pay for a hat. Unfortunately, the other Edge specific items were very expensive. While the bamboo tees are probably really comfortable, I would never pay that much for any shirt. Celebrity really should have some lower priced items like magnets, coasters, cotton tees, etc to compliment the high test offerings.

 

At 3 we did the Table Maze in the club. This was essentially an escape room on a table and the goal is to be the first solve the puzzle to get a key to open the prize chest. We paired with a group of 3 others and while we weren’t the first to solve it, we did solve it with 6 minutes left. This was a very fun activity and hope in the future they have a couple different versions so that this could take place a couple of times a cruise.  Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of the club. The laser maze and archery looked like fun. 

 

One thing that I am noticing as I am writing this is we really didn’t do a lot of activities, but we always felt really busy exploring different parts of the ship. I really don’t think we ever got bored.

[cgolf1]

Day 2 Supper

Before we went to supper I went to the next nights dining room, we rotated dining rooms every night, and preordered the next days meal at about 5:30. This was done at the entrance where you check in to get your table. If you were going to stay in the same dining room every night, you would just preorder after your meal was finished like you would on RCCL or Disney.

 

We ate in Normandie and our dinner service was very slow. My wife noticed that the head waiter was struggling to get her teams to do their jobs and keep the services flowing properly. An example was we were given our desert menus and after waiting 20 minutes the head server came over and took our order and then delivered our deserts. I didn’t preorder my gluten free order that night, but I chose gluten free items off the menu, so that shouldn’t have been the cause of the slow service.

[cgolf1]

Day 2 Show

After supper we changed and wandered around a bit and then went to the show around 8:50, mistake on our part. When we got there we tried to get a seat in the balcony so that if the show was no good we could easily slip out. When we walked in we found that once you were all the way in the seats were reserved for suite guests. So we sat on the stools behind the seats only to learn the whole balcony was reserved!

 

Big picture we aren’t mad that they reserve spots for the suite guests. What bothered us was it wasn’t clear to anyone but the suite guests that this was a thing. After we added it to our comment card we learned that the balcony was reserved for suite guests for the 3 Celebrity theater productions, but not the other 4 shows. I think it would be helpful to list this in the daily planner and/or announce it at the first nights show, because the theater ended up being standing room only pretty much for every late show. We felt like they needed to make the early showtime earlier so that more people could make the early time, because the 2 times our dinner service was quick enough the first show wasn’t as crowded. 

 

Luckily we got a good seat for Kaleidoscope. I do want to a bit about my music preferences because I know our opinion of the show differs from many. I grew up listening to the oldies when with my dad, but my personal tastes were very wide. I listened to a lot of punk, hair bands, R&B, some country, and classic rock. My take on music is that I like great singers and great guitar. My ipod ranges from Roy Orbison and CCR all the way up to some of the latest pop songs. 

 

The reason for the background is because Kaleidoscope flat out blew us away. The 4 main singers are incredibly talented and I apologize to those next to us because I was singing along. This was not only the best stage show I have seen at sea, it is second to seeing Joseph on Broadway in the 90s. The singing was on point, the dancing was great and the song selection was incredible. I really wish I would have video taped some of the songs or gotten to see both the 7 and 9 pm show. I don’t really have the proper words to explain how much we liked the show. I was definitely bummed though that the crowd didn’t seem to be into it or appreciate how talented the singers were.

 

Unfortunately while this show was a grand slam for us, I think it missed with a majority of the people at the show. I know that Celebrity was hoping to draw a younger crowd on the Edge, but that has not happened yet. At one of our meals, one of our retired table mates at the two top next to us asked my wife how it felt to be one of the younger couples onboard. She didn’t think about it too much till she looked and the crowd in the theater and realized that our table mates were right. I don’t fault Celebrity for the show choice, because you can’t just change a show when you realize that their target demographic is not sailing the ship yet like they expected.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by cgolf1

[Fogfog]

56 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

Day 2 Show

After supper we changed and wandered around a bit and then went to the show around 8:50, mistake on our part. When we got there we tried to get a seat in the balcony so that if the show was no good we could easily slip out. When we walked in we found that once you were all the way in the seats were reserved for suite guests. So we sat on the stools behind the seats only to learn the whole balcony was reserved!

 

Big picture we aren’t mad that they reserve spots for the suite guests. What bothered us was it wasn’t clear to anyone but the suite guests that this was a thing. After we added it to our comment card we learned that the balcony was reserved for suite guests for the 3 Celebrity theater productions, but not the other 4 shows. I think it would be helpful to list this in the daily planner and/or announce it at the first nights show, because the theater ended up being standing room only pretty much for every late show. We felt like they needed to make the early showtime earlier so that more people could make the early time, because the 2 times our dinner service was quick enough the first show wasn’t as crowded. 

 

Luckily we got a good seat for Kaleidoscope. I do want to a bit about my music preferences because I know our opinion of the show differs from many. I grew up listening to the oldies when with my dad, but my personal tastes were very wide. I listened to a lot of punk, hair bands, R&B, some country, and classic rock. My take on music is that I like great singers and great guitar. My ipod ranges from Roy Orbison and CCR all the way up to some of the latest pop songs. 

 

The reason for the background is because Kaleidoscope flat out blew us away. The 4 main singers are incredibly talented and I apologize to those next to us because I was singing along. This was not only the best stage show I have seen at sea, it is second to seeing Joseph on Broadway in the 90s. The singing was on point, the dancing was great and the song selection was incredible. I really wish I would have video taped some of the songs or gotten to see both the 7 and 9 pm show. I don’t really have the proper words to explain how much we liked the show. I was definitely bummed though that the crowd didn’t seem to be into it or appreciate how talented the singers were.

 

Unfortunately while this show was a grand slam for us, I think it missed with a majority of the people at the show. I know that Celebrity was hoping to draw a younger crowd on the Edge, but that has not happened yet. At one of our meals, one of our retired table mates at the two top next to us asked my wife how it felt to be one of the younger couples onboard. She didn’t think about it too much till she looked and the crowd in the theater and realized that our table mates were right. I don’t fault Celebrity for the show choice, because you can’t just change a show when you realize that their target demographic is not sailing the ship yet like they expected.

 

 

 

Outstanding vocals can make all the difference

 

Many here have said they believe Celebrity is fishing in a new pond--hoping to attract the younger, affluent sailors...

 

Grew up with parents who played the Stones, Beatles and ELP, classics like Bach and even heavy organ like Virgil Fox. Grew up going to shows on Broadway several times a year since I was a child

DH and I have a huge collection of records and CDS that span 100s of years and a variety of styles

 

Glad you enjoyed it. enjoying your review

 

Smooth sailing

[cgolf1]

To wrap up day 2 I forgot to mention we played the free 5 buck slots play in the casino and my 4th time ever playing slots lasted about 3 minutes. Still not for me lol. 

 

We did catch Billy Garan’s late night show and again it was pretty good. So 2 days down and besides a slow dinner service and some cool pools everything is going great so far. 

[cgolf1]

TDay 3 Morning and Early afternoon 

The morning and early afternoon were chill out and explore time. I know we listened to the rooftop singer for a while and hung out by the pools and just enjoyed our time on the ship. Again it is strange, but we definitely felt like we were really busy. We did look into booking another Celebrity cruise and learned that our Captains club status already got us a 1 category stateroom upgrade, from an 8 to a 7. This on some levels seems like more appreciation from Celebrity during our first cruise that we got from Disney for our first 5 cruises.

 

We went to the Galapagos island presentation and that is going to be a bucket list trip for us some day. The presenter had been on the trip and she used her own pictures in the presentation. She did a great job with the presentation, and you could tell how much she enjoyed the trip.

 

Also forgot to add that we went to the port shopping talk on day 2, and we sat up front and won the guava berry rum minis. Being thrifty cruisers you would think we would have used these to save on drinks, but nope we were good and didn’t do that.

[cgolf1]

We had lunch at Oceanview again and I want to give credit to Celebrity for having a nice gluten free dessert selection. The best thing was that their deserts actually had a lot of flavor. The red velvet cake was amazing. Generally we have found that the cakes on the other lines gluten free or not generally didn’t have a lot of flavor, so this was a nice surprise.

 

I added a pic from the Magic Carpet at sea and the rope perspective because I just really like that picture. My wif got a pic of the Edge from shore and as we were walking back to the ship we saw police taking pictures of the Edge and selfies with the Edge in the background. The Edge seemed to draw some attention wherever we were. 

 

We sailed into San Juan and docked around 3:30 We got off the ship and bought some stones at a rock shop and stayed away from the jewelry stores because they were crazy busy. We weren’t out too long before we headed back to the ship. Tonight we dined in Cyprus and encountered better service than the previous night, but the chef’s didn’t get my preorder slip. It didn’t seem to really slow them down that they got it late. The food as always was very good.

[cgolf1]

After Dinner we went to the guest entertainer show, Marcus Terell. He did a show of mostly current pop music and included two of the celebrity theatre singers and the Celebrity band. He was a very good singer and his upper range was incredible. In his lower range he was human and the Celebrity singers really shined. Marcus seemed like a great guy. After one of the Celebrity singers nailed his solo bit you could see them goofing around on stage as the lights briefly went down. He was also at the other shows and really got into them and seemed super humble. This was another huge win for us in the show department, but we definitely saw many people get up and walk out during this show. So for us the Edge is delivering entertainment at a level we have not seen before on a ship.

 

After the show we were able to get up on deck and get some pictures from the Magic carpet as we sailed out. I hope they still show up well after I shrunk the photos to fit on the site, as they were all very low light.

 

 

[vtcruising]

Great pictures!

 

We enjoyed the Marcus Terrell show - he is a good performer and the other singers were very good too. I mostly enjoyed watching the electric guitar player and other band members. They are so good!

Edited February 7, 2019 by vtcruising

[cgolf1]

24 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

Great pictures!

 

We enjoyed the Marcus Terrell show - he is a good performer and the other singers were very good too. I mostly enjoyed watching the electric guitar player and other band members. They are so good!

 

Ricky looks like he is still in high school, and they gave him a hard time about it;) The band was incredible, in how quickly they can put a show together. The Summer of 63 act said that they only worked with the band during sound check and the show seemed like they played together for years. The entertainment was the best we have seen on a ship. 

[Jim_Iain]

Great blog.   Enjoying immensely. 

[vtcruising]

21 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

 

Ricky looks like he is still in high school, and they gave him a hard time about it;) The band was incredible, in how quickly they can put a show together. The Summer of 63 act said that they only worked with the band during sound check and the show seemed like they played together for years. The entertainment was the best we have seen on a ship. 

I watched Ricky play in different shows over the 4 cruises we did and really fell in love with his style. They are a talented group - sometimes when you throw a bunch of people together like that, they can't work together, but they are so good and look like they enjoy what they do. A pleasure to watch!! 🙂

[dmp223]

Really enjoying your review, your enthusiasm truly comes through in your writing. We'll be on Edge soon, same itinerary, so I am looking forward to each post!   Thank you again for sharing your cruise with us!

 

[Fogfog]

The bow and hull of the Edge really is something--such interesting lines.

 

Enjoying your review

[cgolf1]

3 minutes ago, Fogfog said:

The bow and hull of the Edge really is something--such interesting lines.

 

Enjoying your review

 

It is very interesting, and to be honest looking at it from the front you get the impression it ran into something or got in a fight and had her nose flattened;)

 

i will say it made for for some interesting dockings. We have sailed Disney so often, their ships have long bows, that both my wife and I thought the bow was closer to other ships than it really was, especially when docking at San Juan. 

 

I did finally post a picture with me in it in my Disney and RCCL clothes;) By the last day I was wearing my nice shorts and collared shirt during the day. 

[vtcruising]

It's funny because when the Edge bow was first revealed, I didn't like it, but now I like the looks of it. When I see others ships (that I thought were beautiful before), I now think that the bow is too long and pointy. 🙂

 

The Captain praised the bow during the bridge tour and Q+A. He said the fuel savings are significant. He said that twice since she started sailing, they had canceled scheduled refuelings because they had plenty of fuel (likely had based schedule on the needs of ships with pointy bows).