Potential Edge Modifications Revealed By Cruise Critic Editor

[villauk]

4 minutes ago, DYKWIA said:

W.r.t. the IV cabins, In hindsight I wonder if Celebrity wish they'd created a conservatory a bit more like those being fitted to the new P and O ship, Iona

 

 

 

 

 

Have to say, they look pretty nice - pity that it’s P&O.

[TeeRick]

20 minutes ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

I glad you enjoyed the carpet, but as the article details it's hardly magic.  It's just too windy to enjoy eating in the area under many conditions and it can't be raised completely up while cruising under many conditions.. For many of us, it was a complete miss and the money and space could be better spent.  Yes, I think folly is a good term to describe the carpet.

I find this a bit humorous.  The space is actually outside the hull.  So how could it be better spent?  It would be just "air" if it wasn't there!

[Silkroad]

56 minutes ago, Xport said:

And in fact, he told me that he was expecting that the work would be completed before I reboard Edge this Sunday for the Transatlantic...

They still have three days. Hope springs eternal😊 Look for me in the RTG on the first sea evening. I won’t be wearing white, and I shall have a firm grip on my glass of red wine😜 I hope my friends wear dark clothing too. See you at sail away!

Edited April 24, 2019 by Silkroad

[ECCruise]

Unfortunately, the Edge "modifications" are due to one mistake only:

Listening (and building) a $Billion ship on the advice and recommendation of marketing gurus instead of actual, real life, breathing cruise pax.

[bajathree]

1 hour ago, DYKWIA said:

W.r.t. the IV cabins, In hindsight I wonder if Celebrity wish they'd created a conservatory a bit more like those being fitted to the new P and O ship, Iona

 

 

 

Note that BOTH sets of doors completely seal. Looks like a much nicer set-up with an actual OUTSIDE space.

Edited April 24, 2019 by bajathree

[Oville]

3 hours ago, vtcruising said:

You could be right about LGB. Katie ate lunch there 2 weeks ago.

 

 

Marilyn and Michelle, we did.  It was offered everyday except the last day (sea day) was the brunch which was quite busy.

 

I’m not sure we’d go back for lunch as I had the daily special and it was too much food for me.  Jeff had a sandwich, turkey, Brie and cranberry relish and it was quite tasty but it sold at the bakery for $7 or $8.  

 

On the the last day we went to Raw on Five and enjoyed it thoroughly.  We tried to do this on our January cruise and couldn’t get in, the April cruise the restaurant was more than half empty.

[Oville]

1 hour ago, Silkroad said:

 Hopefully, none of us will end up festooned with red wine or salad😂

 

 

I’d stick with beer, it didn’t stain and I can’t comment on my salad as I wasn’t the one wearing it.😉

[Silkroad]

1 hour ago, cgolf1 said:

Really disappointed in the change in the music about the ship. This was a huge highlight for us and way better than any ship we have ever been on. If the proposed music is on Apex, it may be a cancel.

I’m with you on this. I enjoyed your description of the music and shows, and had been looking forward to the entertainment. I like music from many eras and genres, including contemporary music. It won’t bother me if they’ve mixed it up a bit, but I hope they haven’t gone completely retro. I’ll let you know what I find when I board. Don’t lose hope😊

[deliver42]

The pricing has started to come down. I did a mock booking through a TA for Dec.2020, with 150.00pp and drinks, for a SV, and the price came to about $3500.00, which is over $500.00 less than their current pricing. This was on the Edge.

[JBare]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

I find this a bit humorous.  The space is actually outside the hull.  So how could it be better spent?  It would be just "air" if it wasn't there!

 

Exactly, a much better use of the "space". And no money spent.

[vtcruising]

2 hours ago, [g]cruiserke said:

 

The Magic Carpet isn't a folly or useless at all.

 

We enjoyed it very much on both our Edge cruises: we used it as a bar, for Dinner on the Edge, as tender boarding platform and just for sitting and enjoying the view.

 

It's one of the most multifunctional spaces on the ship and like it or loathe it, a very distinctive architectural feature drawing attention to the ship wherever she's in port. 

I agree, though it is weather-dependent. In Nov-Dec we used it a lot and on the windy (and sometimes rainy) January cruise, we missed not going out there much at all for a cocktail or dinner.  The MC has a very special feel that you  get when traveling, if lucky - that feeling of contentment and peace. Looking forward to Apex's wind barriers and then it will be a great space more often.

[Silkroad]

2 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

 

The Magic Carpet was one of our favorite places to relax while at sea. Very nice spot with great views. Maybe they take it to the next level with a glass floor:)

Love the glass floor suggestion. Great idea! We’re hoping to enjoy a sunset cocktail on the MC very soon😎😎

[Lastdance]

52 minutes ago, deliver42 said:

The pricing has started to come down. I did a mock booking through a TA for Dec.2020, with 150.00pp and drinks, for a SV, and the price came to about $3500.00, which is over $500.00 less than their current pricing. This was on the Edge.

What was the length of cruise?  I paid 8,200, with all four perks, 11 days in Med and Adriatic, May of 2020...SV.

Edited April 24, 2019 by Lastdance

[Xport]

I'm at top loyalty level in Captain's Club and a big Celebrity cheerleader but--beyond my serious disappointment with the Infinite Veranda concept--I otherwise found things to be desired with the AquaClass cabin I occupied during my first Edge cruise last month [I'll be back in AquaClass--different stateroom--for the Transatlantic on Sunday] and found it questionable as to whether the cabin designers--consulting or within the Royal Caribbean organization--had ever spent a night aboard a cruise ship.  And so, I'm also disappointed that Mr. Abel's comments--as relayed by Cruise Critic--don't mention livability issues [some of which are easily remedied] at its most basic level...

• In-room safes are seriously undersized despite the fact that the space allotted for them is not fully utilized.  I could not store my Microsoft Surface Tablet--11" wide, 7" deep, less than  an inch high--in the safe...  If I'd brought my laptop or my digital camera/lenses along, neither would have fit--alone or together--either.  It's a matter of security.
• When I mentioned the lack of an in-room clock to my Stateroom Attendant, he told me to turn on the TV and tune in to one of the navigation channels!  Really?  What happened to the clocks on the phone--as on other ships--that take up no added space?
• The cabin had two nightstands each with a lamp--the larger stationary, the smaller movable if the very comfortable bed is split into twins--but it is the smaller that is crowded with the phone and a pad with the useful but, to my mind misplaced, USB ports above  At night I'd activate an alarm clock app on my phone and propped it up--with an inch to spare on the already cluttered movable nightstand with the intention of sleeping on the other side of the bed adjacent to the stationary nightstand [copious uncluttered surface to accommodate my glasses, meds, a bottle of water, and the TV remote].  It worked--sort of--but I couldn't see the time on my phone from across the bed without groping around for my glasses.  On future E-Class ships, the USB ports ought be mounted above the larger/less-cluttered stationary nightstand.
• Loved the oversized TV but, without a swivel mounting, one needs to be watching from bed for a direct line of sight.  The sofa is a logical option for propping up/stretching out to watch TV--even if indirectly--but, with the sofa's silly one-armed design oriented toward looking outdoors and no swivel TV mounting, quite an unappealing/uncomfortable option.
• Storage space--particularly drawers, cubbies, and even the otherwise useless tom-tom--is copious [in the well-designed bath too] but the closet hanging space--and its too late to do anything about it from an Edge perspective now--is seriously undersized with too much competing for available space. The very nice robes take up a good bit of space for full-length hanging [somewhat reduced by a utility conduit that runs from the bath into the closet],  But the adjacent "stacked" partial-length rods for hanging shorter clothing were of insufficient height to hang my sports jacket--and I'm not particularly tall--without it draping on the rod below or on the closet floor [which is usually a great place to store laundry needing to be done/shoe in the absence of a top-of-closet shelf].   In AquaClass, a good bit of floor space is further taken up for storage of yoga mats.  I suppose that some may use them but those will be under the bed or removed by my Stateroom Attendant as soon as I board on Sunday.
• Whatever happened to the unobtrusive hooks just outside the bath?  They certainly wouldn't ruin the aesthetic and proved useful while dressing, for day-to-day storage of a robe in use, and for laundry delivery while leaving the hooks on the interior bath door for towels not yet in need of laundering.
• I asked my Stateroom Attendant for a pen to fill out a laundry slip; he offered to get me a golf pencil. I get/support the "Save The Waves" mission but thought this was taking the concept too far and did not otherwise see the same restriction placed upon crew members.  Who wants to fill out a laundry request [now two ply rather than three]--or better yet, one's disembarkation luggage tags--in pencil???  I eventually found a pen in my carry-on and, though I shouldn't have to do so, have already packed one for my upcoming trip.
• During turndown service, my Stateroom Attendant lowered--and I appreciated it--the shade.  But when I returned to the room for the night, the shade would automatically raise to full height the moment I unlocked my stateroom.  I asked the Stateroom Attendant--and I've since come to understand I've had far better--why he bothered to lower it; he responded by saying that his card did not cause the shade to rise after lowering it [as if the disparity was proper] but didn't suggest that I ought contact Maintenance--or offer to do so on my behalf--for reprogramming.
• And finally, there's this.  No, I hadn't been drinking.  And I couldn't possibly make this up.  The top of the desk/vanity table retracts or extends into the adjacent dresser so as to allow the guest [I never touched it] to determine its length.  Very early one morning, I was seated at the desk--hands in lap--checking e-mail and glancing at the news.  All of a sudden--and I didn't otherwise detect it; Edge provided a very smooth ride--the ship apparently started to rock side-to-side and the desk top with my tablet--started to contract/extend, by an inch or two, with the movement.  I initially thought I was delusional!  I was able to reduce the movement a bit--which I also noticed one night while watching TV; by that time it had become funny--by adjusting the outboard legs of the work surface to be truly perpendicular to the floor.  My Stateroom Attendant shrugged it off and said that I was not the first to report it; in any case, it appears to be a design defect.

Please know that I liked--and sometimes loved--the common areas on Edge and I'm not some cranky old guy who boarded with the intent of comparing the ship to those in Millennium and Solstice-Class.  I'm not change-averse/don't live in the past...  And I don't spend inordinate amounts of time in my cabin--an hour or less as I get ready for the day, less than an hour freshening for dinner/the evening--and another hour or less before turning in; otherwise, I'm out and about on sea days and port days.  Let's just say that I found my stateroom somewhat quirky [it was generally comfortable once I adapted or resigned myself to most of them] rather than the norm I've experienced upon first boarding other Celebrity ships--new or remodeled--which I've found to be more thoughtfully designed and more immediately welcoming...

 

We'll see...  I fully realize that not all of my observations are shared by other guests and I know that the die is cast on much of Edge's design...  But to my mind, there are some things that X can be considering--without significant expense or protracted time frames--in terms of making guest-focused improvements to Edge cabins now and in terms of planning/implementing future E-Class builds. 

Edited April 24, 2019 by Xport

[hcat]

4 hours ago, DYKWIA said:

W.r.t. the IV cabins, In hindsight I wonder if Celebrity wish they'd created a conservatory a bit more like those being fitted to the new P and O ship, Iona

 

 

 

Wow..that was awesome.  The concept X wanted but " done right"...

 

X can  do more to make it better by putting in Queen beds. Every inch saved could  be added into the IV area.

 

Hopefully,  the VP for hotel..B Abel can turn more things around..just like  when they brought on Damian as the CD!

[hcat]

Re Xports post...

We were in AQ on EDGE...had to laugh. The TV time did not change at the appropriate time and more than a few pax and others were "confused" til it was  fixed! Became a running joke.

 

We easily relocated the telephone to the nightstand of choice..Very long cord!

 

The charcoal type pencils were  an odd substitute for the  white Celeb pens...which are not so great either.

 

Thanks for the heads up about the moving desk top...we used that for our ice bucket, flowers and food!

 

But overall we enjoyed AQ IV on EDGE and EDGE in general...something new and fresh!

Edited April 24, 2019 by hcat

[villauk]

28 minutes ago, hcat said:

Wow..that was awesome.  The concept X wanted but " done right"...

 

 

I think they’d have had far, far more positive comments using this design rather than the IVs. Pity they can’t put some of these on the future E builds.

[kwokpot]

5 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

Really disappointed in the change in the music about the ship. This was a huge highlight for us and way better than any ship we have ever been on. If the proposed music is on Apex, it may be a cancel.

 

Same goes for the shows, we thought they were great, but knew they were in trouble observing some of the crowd. 

 

Eden, well I am with most on this one, story line was impossible to follow, so glad changes being made there. 

 

I am really glad we sailed the Edge when we did!

I was on the inaugural Dec.16th cruise and also the April 14th. cruise. The BIGGEST changes were indeed the Entertainment. Gone was the Jewel Box(That was such a mess of a show with it trying to be like Narnia and the convoluted and useless plot-they should have just done the numbers without the plot!) Gone also HYPE which actually was a great show. In it's place is the same male performer with the first half of the show doing Motown and the second half more contemporary songs ( definitely no Shawn Mendes). 

The Beatles tribute was very good overall. It took a bit to find it's energy but by the second half it was great!

They shortened the breakfast hours at Eden and that's disappointing. Still have those AMAZING Brownies and Chocolate Chip cookies for lunch (Lays Potato Chip bags now behind the counter-ask for them. Still great pork belly sliders. (Yummy Steel Cut Oatmeal at breakfast, which is only available on sea days).

Meals at the main restaurants were EXCELLENT at each restaurant. 

Pizza at the Buffet is probably BEST at Sea(Sorry Carnival!)

[ipeeinthepool]

5 hours ago, TeeRick said:

I find this a bit humorous.  The space is actually outside the hull.  So how could it be better spent?  It would be just "air" if it wasn't there!

 

Perhaps you consider a bigger picture.  There is space that is inside the hull that has been compromise  to accommodate the carpet.

[cgolf1]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

I was on the inaugural Dec.16th cruise and also the April 14th. cruise. The BIGGEST changes were indeed the Entertainment. Gone was the Jewel Box(That was such a mess of a show with it trying to be like Narnia and the convoluted and useless plot-they should have just done the numbers without the plot!) Gone also HYPE which actually was a great show. In it's place is the same male performer with the first half of the show doing Motown and the second half more contemporary songs ( definitely no Shawn Mendes). 

The Beatles tribute was very good overall. It took a bit to find it's energy but by the second half it was great!

They shortened the breakfast hours at Eden and that's disappointing. Still have those AMAZING Brownies and Chocolate Chip cookies for lunch (Lays Potato Chip bags now behind the counter-ask for them. Still great pork belly sliders. (Yummy Steel Cut Oatmeal at breakfast, which is only available on sea days).

Meals at the main restaurants were EXCELLENT at each restaurant. 

Pizza at the Buffet is probably BEST at Sea(Sorry Carnival!)

 

Which one was Hype? If that was the first show, kaleidoscope for us, that is a bummer. While jewelry box, land of khalida when we sailed, was really good, kaleidoscope actually felt like a concert and blew us away. Madison, Roger, and the other guy singer were amazing talents. Granted for us we really liked the songs and were singing along. 

 

With the change in music style, hope they still bring singers like a Michael Redden onboard the Apex. I wonder if this means that Celebrity has thrown in the towel on bringing a younger crowd to there ships?

[hcat]

58 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

 

Which one was Hype? If that was the first show, kaleidoscope for us, that is a bummer. While jewelry box, land of khalida when we sailed, was really good, kaleidoscope actually felt like a concert and blew us away. Madison, Roger, and the other guy singer were amazing talents. Granted for us we really liked the songs and were singing along. 

 

With the change in music style, hope they still bring singers like a Michael Redden onboard the Apex. I wonder if this means that Celebrity has thrown in the towel on bringing a younger crowd to there ships?

Loved Kaliedescope.. outstanding,,. Walked out on Khalida...if that was  the one with the Lion..Narnia rip off?

Like some of the indiv acts/ singers..Theater is amazing!

We avoided Eden show but might  go now if it is shorter...

[Oville]

13 minutes ago, hcat said:

Loved Kaliedescope.. outstanding,,. Walked out on Khalida...if that was  the one with the Lion..Narnia rip off?

Like some of the indiv acts/ singers..Theater is amazing!

We avoided Eden show but might  go now if it is shorter...

We went to the 10:00 Eden show Revelation at 10:00 and it lasted about 1:15.  I left but Jeff stayed.  What I saw in of it in April was amazing and he really enjoyed it, nothing like January.

 

I liked A “Hot” Summers Night Dream and we both enjoyed it for different reasons.  The Beatles show we missed due to time conflicts.

Edited April 25, 2019 by Oville

[Doc2725]

13 hours ago, vtcruising said:

A Cruise Critic Editor wrote the following, after cruising the Edge and discussing potential changes with those onboard.

 

from the article:

"Celebrity listened. Over the past few months, the line has been incorporating feedback from cruisers and evaluating what needs to be tweaked."

 

"We're working through a few things," said Brian Abel, senior vice president of hotel operations for the entire Celebrity Cruises fleet. "The ship doesn't come to life until you have ... passengers and ... crewmembers onboard. ... You have to give the ship enough time to start living and breathing ... before you ... start making changes."

 

Changes include:

-entertainment changes, including Eden

-trial of frosted glass in bi-fold doors

-more shade

-less wind

-changing MDR specials for 4 MDRs (2 regional specials lists for each of the 4 MDRs rotated)

-Le Grand Bistro schedule change

-Dinner on the Edge change

and more!

 

Some great changes (though don't agree with Le Grand Bistro change) - a good start..... nothing about the suites in this article.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/4017/

I wonder what they mean by entertainment changes. Perhaps more, and also a greater variety of live music in the lounges at night? 

[Doc2725]

9 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

Really disappointed in the change in the music about the ship. This was a huge highlight for us and way better than any ship we have ever been on. If the proposed music is on Apex, it may be a cancel.

 

Can you elaborate on this? 

[Oville]

4 minutes ago, Doc2725 said:

I wonder what they mean by entertainment changes. Perhaps more, and also a greater variety of live music in the lounges at night? 

Interestingly enough Edge has a pretty good variety of music throughout the ship day and night.  Here is a list from our April 7th cruise.  It does not include the theater or Eden or special events:

 

 

 

Linda Capewell: Guitar and vocalist

Edge Theater Ensemble 

Dos Duo:  Guitar/Piano and vocalist

Asami:  Pianist 

Spectrum:  Band and vocalist

The Free Label:  Band and vocalist

Marco Gnatto:  Pianist

Crystie Jane:  Pianist and vocalist

 

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by Oville