Apex live reports

[Sailaway1706]

38 minutes ago, keiki40 said:

Sailaway1706, please kindly note that this is a forum in English language. From your former posts one can see, that they were in English language. Thank you

 

You are absolutely right. I only uses German because I had a question for Germancruiser. 

[Germancruiser]

Today ended one of my most memorable and unforgettable cruises.

I will give more detailed report in the next two days.

Could not write from the ship as -  I have to admit- there was to less time and to much to enjoy.

@Sailaway1706- the regular masks  were worn by most of the passengers, including me. Anyway there where two  masks  , fabric and very well made, waiting in the cabin.

The SV was wonderful I would book JUST an SV cabin or , if the price is right a Suite- since they have the regular balcony. 

The best cabin i ever had on board a cruise ship in all my 25 years of cruising. 

Capt. Kafetzis and his whole Crew did a wonderful , outstanding job in opening the Celebrity Apex. 

More later. Thanks all for reading and all the nice comments.

Edited June 26, 2021 by Germancruiser

[Tony UK]

On 6/18/2021 at 8:49 PM, Jazzbo said:

50 is the new 30!

Fingers crossed! We will be on this sailing Sept 18th!

[kassiopi]

4 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Today ended one of my most memorable and unforgettable cruises.

I will give more detailed report in the next two days.

Could not write from the ship as -  I have to admit- there was to less time and to much to enjoy.

@Sailaway1706- the regular masks  were worn by most of the passengers, including me. Anyway there where two  masks  , fabric and very well made, waiting in the cabin.

The SV was wonderful I would book JUST an SV cabin or , if the price is right a Suite- since they have the regular balcony. 

The best cabin i ever had on board a cruise ship in all my 25 years of cruising. 

Capt. Kafetzis and his whole Crew did a wonderful , outstanding job in opening the Celebrity Apex. 

More later. Thanks all for reading and all the nice comments.

Thank you for posting this. Look forward to hearing more. We're due to board next Saturday.

 

[Germancruiser]

So I will beginn at the beginning. As we arrived at the pier we were guided right through the testing team. Some Celebrity staff must have recognized my friends an my Captains Club tier as we were told to follow said staff member who guided us right to the front of the line. 

We had to show our vaccination certificate and got registered and then tested. The wait was about 20 minutes- one of my friends outcome was a bit delayed due to a hurdle with the Email.

 

Soon there after we stepped on board and my, what a welcome we got. All three of us had tears in our eyes- most memorable. 

 

Exploring a brand new ship and on the verge of her Maiden Voyage is always very exciting. This time even more so as I read so many good, not so good and downright bad things about the new Edge Class. 

 

The ship is stunning, I was really impressed. The more I exploring we did during  the week the more we got stunned. 

 

This dreadful pandemic brought many new things to cruising. The most remarkable are the new boat drill and the handling of the buffet. The boat drill was made via the X App and quick turn up at the assembly station. Over in a minutes. 

 

Being served at buffet- no self service- you point out what you like and they put it on your plate- is the other very very welcome change. They could keep it that way.

 Next I will write about some nooks and crannies on board. Some pictures from the Apex as we explored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by Germancruiser

[Germancruiser]

These pictures are mostly of Eden by night and some of the almost empty decks during the day. All in all we where about 672 passenger and around 1000 crew members. 

[CanuckCruizer]

GermanCruiser - Thanks so much for taking the time to report - much appreciated.  Really nice pictures.  Looking forward to our cruises in Europe on her next year.

Cheers,

Canuck

[Tony UK]

Was there an elegant chic night? If so what night was it?

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, Germancruiser said:

Being served at buffet- no self service- you point out what you like and they put it on your plate- is the other very very welcome change. They could keep it that way.

 Next I will write about some nooks and crannies on board. Some pictures from the Apex as we explored.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post, and for your beautiful photos.

 

I agree with you about the change to the buffet -- even before the pandemic, that's how it was done on HAL -- no self-serve.  I'd like to see Celebrity keep it this way now too.

[Cruising89143]

7 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Thank you for taking the time to post, and for your beautiful photos.

 

I agree with you about the change to the buffet -- even before the pandemic, that's how it was done on HAL -- no self-serve.  I'd like to see Celebrity keep it this way now too.

Agree. Would love to the buffet to being served by crew only as a permanent move. I have witnesses enough “things” that made dining in the buffet less desirable. 

[portofrome]

Thank you for posting your great photos, Germancruiser.

[bama4cruisin]

German raiser, thank you so much for taking the time to share your observations and the wonderful photos!  I enjoyed your reports last summer.

 

We are scheduled to board her 14 weeks from today in Barcelona as she heads to the US, so I am enjoying all the first-hand reports from those on board.

[Germancruiser]

First to answer a few questions, yes, there have been two " chick" evenings. People dressed all nice and I saw just a few shorts and shirts for dinner. One Lady was denied entry into one of the Main Dining Rooms, because she came in - well more or less - bathing attire. Very well done.

 

The first was on the second evening the last two days before debarkation.

 

I really like the four dining room concept. I thing even sailing full capacity this makes for a much calmer dining experience.

We dined in all four of them. Tuscan, Normandie, Cosmopolitan and Cyprus. They are all very nice and elegant rooms- our favorite though was Tuscan. All waiters, assistent waiters, wine stewards where just wonderful. Such a nice service- I felt transported back to my very early days of sailing with X- 2001 on the Millenium.

 

It seemed that many people did not know about the four dining room concept- since the first evening we were almost alone in Tuscan- some people - as I heard later though Cyprus, Tuscan and Normandie Extra Pay Restaurants. Cosmopolitan is the name of the Dining Room of the Millenium Class ships.

 

Eden is really a great place to be. Left and right, no port and starboard side outside Eden- at the end of the promenade deck where nice outdoor spots- one for smokers one with nice chairs an tables. They also served little breakfast goodies and lunch snacks to enjoy - weather permiting outside. Very well thought of- they turned out to be one of my favorite places to be on the ship.

 

I will attach a few pictures of Al Bacio in the next post.

 

Since these boards are called Cruis CRITIC have one or two points in Eden who stood out. Some chairs- besides  the outdoor ones on the starboard side where very very low- I am 6´tall and not built on the " slim" side- so I would have prefered a bit higher chairs. Certainly they look great, some chairs little works of art- but not really very confortable. Some seem more made for " show" then for the purpose of " sitting"! I did not dine in the Eden restaurant- since I am not a big fan of entertaintment while dining- but the layout of the table and the location itself looked quite nice.

 

Cafe Al Bacio- also one of my favorite place to be on board Apex was the best I ever found on X- Ships- loved, loved loved the place. Wonderful, friendly service and the usual high quality tea and coffee  and the little cakes and snacks. Also very much enlarged- so it should not be a problem to find a space- when they sail with 3000 passengers.

 

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Germancruiser

[cruisemom42]

8 minutes ago, Germancruiser said:

It seemed that many people did not know about the four dining room concept- since the first evening we were almost alone in Tuscan- some people - as I heard later though Cyprus, Tuscan and Normandie Extra Pay Restaurants.

 

It's interesting. Princess had a ship or two about a dozen years ago that had four separate "main" dining rooms (no extra charge); each one with the same menu except for 1-2 "specialty" dishes for that particular restaurant. The idea never seemed to catch on. As you said, people seemed confused by so many "MDRs". After a while I think they just decided to keep the menu the same in all four. They did not continue the concept on later ships.

 

[eckosd2]

1 hour ago, Germancruiser said:

 

I really like the four dining room concept. I thing even sailing full capacity this makes for a much calmer dining experience.

We dined in all four of them. Tuscan, Normandie, Cosmopolitan and Cyprus. They are all very nice and elegant rooms- our favorite though was Tuscan. All waiters, assistent waiters, wine stewards where just wonderful. Such a nice service- I felt transported back to my very early days of sailing with X- 2001 on the Millenium.

 

 

Great info thank you for the post! Curious, was the menu the same each night for each restaurant? We want to visit each restaurant and wondering if we should be strategic in looking at the menus each night before booking to see what we like at each

[Shadow9612]

2 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Cafe Al Bacio- also one of my favorite place to be on board Apex was the best I ever found on X- Ships- loved, loved loved the place. Wonderful, friendly service and the usual high quality tea and coffee  and the little cakes and snacks. Also very much enlarged- so it should not be a problem to find a space- when they sail with 3000 passengers.

I am so happy to hear this. Cafe Al Bacio is also one of my favorite places on board the celebrity ships... just to enjoy coffee and relax. So it's nice to hear that this one is top notch, and also that they increase the size.

[Germancruiser]

Each restaurant has part of the menu reserved for " Celebrity Favorites" - they are the same in every restaurant.

Each restaurant has it´s own " Speciality´s - in a seperate part of the menu. You have to choice of starters and entrees. I sometimes ordered my all time favorite Ceasars Salad another small starter and a main course- I skipped dessert most of the time- even though they where nice.

 

Al Bacio really is a hit- and was totaly underused during our Maiden Voyage.

 

Here comes to another " CRITIC" point:

 

" The Grand Central Rocks"- well, yes- it does- not for us, though. The whole area is open to three decks- including Deck 4 where Al Bacio is located, so a nice chat with friends is almost out of the question there. The Martini Bar is also a total failure- and I really really can´t stand the show those bar waiters behind the bar have to preform every evening-  but please, that is just my- our opinion- people seem to love it- since this is really a big hit on board X- ships now.

 

Nevertheless there are so many other wonderful, nice and quite places on board- there is always a space for everyones taste. The Sunset- Bar- we all loved it.

 

The Rooftop Garden- very nice place- and those benches are really comfortable- despite the missgivings I had , when I saw them.

 

The Magic Carpet- great idea- done with taste and very inviting- yet elegant.

When they move the " carpet" it makes quite a noise. We were sitting in Al Bacio when they moved it from Deck 14 to Deck 5- we did not know that by then. So we almost thought- since it was the  Maiden Voyage-   we hit something. ( A night to remember - 1912)

 

Thank God for small mercies- we were spared the officers against passenger-  waterball game. Or maybe we did not notice. Another favorite nowadays and again- not our kind of shoe. LOL.

For Entertaintment the Captain has his team, inclduing the leader of the gang- the Cruise Director. In our case the wonderful, great and friendly Jay Guiseppe. The best Cruise Director ever.

 

Okay- thats all for today. Until the next installment.

 

 

 

 

[hoopslover]

How do you see the menus in each of the 4 restaurants to decide where to eat?  Is it on the app?  Thanks for your help.

[Miaminice]

Since there seem to be more questions about the 4 MDR concept - IMHO one of the best features of Edge class - here´s a link to an introduction with pics and menus...

 

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Miaminice

[Miaminice]

5 hours ago, eckosd2 said:

Great info thank you for the post! Curious, was the menu the same each night for each restaurant? We want to visit each restaurant and wondering if we should be strategic in looking at the menus each night before booking to see what we like at each

 

On E class all 4 dining rooms have the same rotating menu - just like you know it from the one main dining room on other ships. In addition to the regular rotating menu and the known Celebrity signature dishes each restaurant offers a choice of permanent, themed signature items. Mediterranean for Cyprus, Italian for Tuscan and so on.

So once you know the day´s menu, you know it for all the restaurants. 

See more info and pics in post #69.

 

[little britain]

2 hours ago, hoopslover said:

How do you see the menus in each of the 4 restaurants to decide where to eat?  Is it on the app?  Thanks for your help.

All menus are on the app. Each restaurant serves the same menu, which changes daily; ( just like a ship with one main dining room), but each restaurant also has a few dishes, unique to that venue, which remain the same and are available every night; eg Cyprus has a few Greek themed dishes 

 

Personally I loved the 4 dining room concept on RCI Quantum class and wish they had not got rid of it; I wonder why it has been so successful on E class ships? 

[Miaminice]

4 minutes ago, little britain said:

Personally I loved the 4 dining room concept on RCI Quantum class and wish they had not got rid of it; I wonder why it has been so successful on E class ships? 

 

Well, I think on Edge the enhanced ambiance (less rushed and more quiet) is the big advantage of the 4 smaller MDRs vs the one big MDR.
Usually we book AQ to have that. On Edge we don´t need to.

On Quantum class the MDRs were different - but still huge and not really relaxed and quiet...

Different audience on Royal might also have to do with it.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Miaminice

[Eloise4Ever]

9 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

Eden is really a great place to be. Left and right, no port and starboard side outside Eden- at the end of the promenade deck where nice outdoor spots- one for smokers one with nice chairs an tables.

 

Thank you for your reports Germancruiser, all very interesting. Can you recall which side of the ship the smoking area outside Eden was on? On Solstice class ships all the smoking areas are on the port side so I wondered if they have continued this on Edge class.

 

I read on another thread that this particular smoking area on Edge had been removed due to complaints from nearby cabins. If it is in situ on Apex it sounds like a cabin location nearby would be best avoided by those sensitive to smoke.

[almostnewtocruise]

Thanks for all the information and the lovely photos!

We hope to be on Apex in August and I have a very practical question. In order to fly home (and we leave on the day of disembarking) we need to have a certificate of a negative PCR test which had been done 72 hours (or less) before the flight.

I assume that we are not the only ones who will need that..

So my question is - is there a possibility to do the test on the ship? Or in the last port (which would be Mykonos), as the last day of cruising is a "sea day"?

TIA

 

 

[Homestyle]

Hi, do you know how much in USD each of the speciality restaurant are? Just wondering whether I would actually save anything in buying a 3 night package.