Live from Apex - 6/19

[CAVE MAN]

@Kreative03 

Thank you for all that you are sharing with us, we are following along and really appreciate all that we are learning.

 We are on the Transatlantic sailing leaving October 10 out of Barcelona. We are so hoping are cruise will leave without any problems. Any advice you have would be more than appreciated.

Thank you again, Carlotta

[phabric]

On 6/26/2021 at 2:51 AM, PTCruizer said:

Getting ready to head to the port! Just a quick picture of the Parthenon from our hotel rooftop bar. 

Did you stay at Athens Gate?  I had that view from Athens Gate from their rooftop.

[drarill]

On 6/26/2021 at 10:15 AM, Kreative03 said:

Fine Cut Photos -

apparently I eat and photograph a lot of fish! This crab cake was the best thing I ate all week. Also pictures is the lobster entree,  the king Caesar salad, and the brownie without ice cream.

 

everyone else had steak and enjoyed it. My niece has become obsessed with Celebrity’s bordelaise sauce and ate it several times including at fine cut. Most of our party had the filet, but one had the bone in tomahawk solo and enjoyed it.
 

Best side for us were the tater tots - worst was the macaroni.

 

The sundae was huge and I wish I had a photo to share with you all! 

We really liked the Sundae! 

[aero777]

1 hour ago, drarill said:

Looks delish!  Did you have unlimited lunch and dinner at specialty restaurants with your Royal Suite upgrade?

[Shadow9612]

12 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Maybe has something to do with Greece or the satellite?  On EDGE, I found the WiFi to be better by far than any other ship I have cruised.  It was out of Florida though.  But it was full to capacity with a lot of users, unlike APEX right now.  Strange.

 

7 hours ago, tonyinoc said:

one of the reason i am thinking internet speeds might be slow as the whole ship has gone wifi on the app for most things they might be having a bandwidth issue with some many people on wifi

I have generally always been happy with internet both in the Caribbean and Mediterranean. So I hope this is just some anomaly that needs to get worked out. It is strange because they are sailing at very reduced capacity.

[glanders]

On 6/26/2021 at 2:21 AM, Kreative03 said:

The hallway on Apex is slightly different - silver squiggles (almost mirrored) with white sparkly rock sculptures. Definitely a different vibe.

 

[glanders]

13 hours ago, camella said:

 I'm concerned about the internet because I'm going to be bringing my daughter and her friend who can't live without the internet!!  Wondering if you can upgrade using the Captain's club internet money that we usually get. 

We looked into the upgrade, and I believe it was just under $200 pp with CC discount. The speed was worse than the old days when internet first came out on ships at exorbitant prices. 

[glanders]

Last thoughts - we thought the crew was superb overall. We were in concierge class, so no retreat experience. Several servers we spoke with had 20+ years. We thought the food was realy good - except for the beef dishes and a horrible experience in Fine Cut the second night, which kind of put us off the beef dishes on the entire ship for most of the week. We tried to adjust our interpretations of medium to theirs, but it still didn't work. Beef was often quite raw, cool, and not juicy or flavorful. We'll be back on in November, and many of the crew will be turning over around that time. It will be intersting to see how things going with a fully packed Thanksgiving cruise.

[drarill]

15 hours ago, aero777 said:

Looks delish!  Did you have unlimited lunch and dinner at specialty restaurants with your Royal Suite upgrade?

yes we did! I think the CC points are the only perk we were not entitled 

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by drarill

[susan2001]

i will sail next week, and i have a question about the classic beverage package. i really like to drink a lot of smoothies, they are included in the classic beverage package?

[KKB]

11 hours ago, glanders said:

Last thoughts - we thought the crew was superb overall. We were in concierge class, so no retreat experience. Several servers we spoke with had 20+ years. We thought the food was realy good - except for the beef dishes and a horrible experience in Fine Cut the second night, which kind of put us off the beef dishes on the entire ship for most of the week. We tried to adjust our interpretations of medium to theirs, but it still didn't work. Beef was often quite raw, cool, and not juicy or flavorful. We'll be back on in November, and many of the crew will be turning over around that time. It will be intersting to see how things going with a fully packed Thanksgiving cruise.

When I was in Europe, the quality of beef was not as good as in the States--ESPECIALLY being from Nebraska! I even have to temper my expectations on cruise ships...

[mikkelhansen]

On 6/28/2021 at 8:36 PM, susan2001 said:

i will sail next week, and i have a question about the classic beverage package. i really like to drink a lot of smoothies, they are included in the classic beverage package?

If I remember correctly (from Edge December 2019), smoothies specifically are not included in the Classic package. They are around $6,50, but that price must be paid in full from your stateroom folio on the Classic package, whereas they are included in the Premium package. I'm sure someone else can confirm, or may even have the beverage package comparison chart bookmarked.

[Hlitner]

On 6/28/2021 at 2:51 PM, KKB said:

When I was in Europe, the quality of beef was not as good as in the States--ESPECIALLY being from Nebraska! I even have to temper my expectations on cruise ships...

A few years ago we had dinner on the Silhouette with the ship's Hotel Manager.  When the subject of beef happened to come up in dinner conversation the Hotel Manager explained that X ships ahead all their beef (and some other products) from the USA and the beef is only sourced in North America.  Even at that time we had noticed a major deterioration in the quality of beef on X (when compared to earlier years when X was known as having the best cuisine of the mass market cruise lines).  It was around that time (when LLP took over the line) that we decided to generally avoid X and cruise with other lines that better met our personal standards.  I had posted at that time that we thought X was suffering a "death by a thousands cut-backs" be it the quality of beef or the elimination of unlimited bottled water in AQ.

 

Hank

[jg51]

20 hours ago, Hlitner said:

A few years ago we had dinner on the Silhouette with the ship's Hotel Manager.  ... Even at that time we had noticed a major deterioration in the quality of beef on X (when compared to earlier years when X was known as having the best cuisine of the mass market cruise lines).  It was around that time (when LLP took over the line) that we decided to generally avoid X and cruise with other lines that better met our personal standards.  I had posted at that time that we thought X was suffering a "death by a thousands cut-backs" be it the quality of beef or the elimination of unlimited bottled water in AQ.

Hank

.

And your reason for coming to this board and trashing Celebrity is ... what?  Are you trying to take revenge on the cruise line (for some slight) by persuading other CrCr members that "X" is lousy, and everyone ought to join you on lines that "better [meet your] personal standards"?

 

Of course, you are free and welcome to post here, but we wish that you would refrain from doing so.  Thank you.

 

PS:  If you have been "generally avoid[ing] X" since "a few years ago," you don't really have an accurate, up-to-date knowledge of the Celebrity experience -- which is all the more reason for you to stop being so critical.

.

Edited June 30, 2021 by jg51

[Hlitner]

2 hours ago, jg51 said:

.

And your reason for coming to this board and trashing Celebrity is ... what?  Are you trying to take revenge on the cruise line (for some slight) by persuading other CrCr members that "X" is lousy, and everyone ought to join you on lines that "better [meet your] personal standards"?

 

Of course, you are free and welcome to post here, but we wish that you would refrain from doing so.  Thank you.

 

PS:  If you have been "generally avoid[ing] X" since "a few years ago," you don't really have an accurate, up-to-date knowledge of the Celebrity experience -- which is all the more reason for you to stop being so critical.

.

I do believe the name of this web site is cruise "critic."  My post was simply in response to another post from a very recent cruiser on the Apex that spoke about the meat on their cruise.   If and when we have reason to believe that X has returned to something close to the previous quality we will gladly return.  I would also point out that my post was critical of the cruise line and does not criticize other posters which would be a violation of board rules.

 

Hank

[camella]

On 6/28/2021 at 3:35 AM, glanders said:

We looked into the upgrade, and I believe it was just under $200 pp with CC discount. The speed was worse than the old days when internet first came out on ships at exorbitant prices. 

Yikes - even with the upgrade?  Well the good thing is we have lots of ports and only two days of sea so that should help.  Don't understand how a brand new ship doesn't have good internet though.  Would think with all the technology available they would have better satellite service but maybe it's the region we are in?

[LGW59]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I do believe the name of this web site is cruise "critic."  My post was simply in response to another post from a very recent cruiser on the Apex that spoke about the meat on their cruise.   If and when we have reason to believe that X has returned to something close to the previous quality we will gladly return.  I would also point out that my post was critical of the cruise line and does not criticize other posters which would be a violation of board rules.

 

Hank

Totally agree, isn’t high quality food one reason we all like to cruise!  I know I look forward to my meal, especially evening dining. It’s all subjective but if I don’t enjoy, I don’t enjoy it.  Ignore the responder, you are very entitled to your opinion and to share it here.  Thanks for doing so.

[Shadow9612]

On 6/29/2021 at 4:21 PM, mikkelhansen said:

If I remember correctly (from Edge December 2019), smoothies specifically are not included in the Classic package. They are around $6,50, but that price must be paid in full from your stateroom folio on the Classic package, whereas they are included in the Premium package. I'm sure someone else can confirm, or may even have the beverage package comparison chart bookmarked.

 

On 6/28/2021 at 2:36 PM, susan2001 said:

i will sail next week, and i have a question about the classic beverage package. i really like to drink a lot of smoothies, they are included in the classic beverage package?

Smoothies were not included in the classic beverage package when I traveled in the fall of 2019.

[WeBcruisingMN]

@Kreative03or anyone else who was on the June 19 Apex cruise:

Could you please check your planners for the Theatre show times for the main evening show(s)? I would like to hear when they were. We are cruising in September on the Apex, and we wanted to start planning our dining, while being sure we can attend the shows.

 

Someone suggested looking on the app at the current (6/26) Apex cruise, and when I did that- the planners only list one evening Theatre show (9:30pm). Trying to find out if there was indeed only one show per evening and what time(s) the shows were (also, if it was consistent on each day of the cruise).

 

 Thanks much. When we cruised the Edge for the first time in 2019, we were caught off-guard by the show times being 7:30 & 9:30. Current Edge planner posted on another thread has the Edge’s shows listed as 7 & 9, so X must’ve changed the Edge schedule back to the ‘norm’.

Grateful for any comments on this,

Sharon 😊

[Kreative03]

On 7/1/2021 at 7:04 AM, WeBcruisingMN said:

@Kreative03or anyone else who was on the June 19 Apex cruise:

Could you please check your planners for the Theatre show times for the main evening show(s)? I would like to hear when they were. We are cruising in September on the Apex, and we wanted to start planning our dining, while being sure we can attend the shows.

 

Someone suggested looking on the app at the current (6/26) Apex cruise, and when I did that- the planners only list one evening Theatre show (9:30pm). Trying to find out if there was indeed only one show per evening and what time(s) the shows were (also, if it was consistent on each day of the cruise).

 

 Thanks much. When we cruised the Edge for the first time in 2019, we were caught off-guard by the show times being 7:30 & 9:30. Current Edge planner posted on another thread has the Edge’s shows listed as 7 & 9, so X must’ve changed the Edge schedule back to the ‘norm’.

Grateful for any comments on this,

Sharon 😊

I have two planners photographed and one my thumb is over the theater times :). The one I do have lists 7:30 and 9:30pm

[little britain]

5 hours ago, Kreative03 said:

I have two planners photographed and one my thumb is over the theater times :). The one I do have lists 7:30 and 9:30pm

What was the entertainment? I usually find on X it’s a bit arty - lots of arial activity…. I’m thinking as it’s a multicultural audience it will be visual rather than a comedian?

 

Im guessing no Brits on board due to Greece still being on our Amber list ( 10 days quarantine). 

[Lagranger36]

6 hours ago, little britain said:

What was the entertainment? I usually find on X it’s a bit arty - lots of arial activity…. I’m thinking as it’s a multicultural audience it will be visual rather than a comedian?

 

Im guessing no Brits on board due to Greece still being on our Amber list ( 10 days quarantine). 

They had a ‘tree of life’ show which was basically 45 mins of songs and singing around a tree with some aerial activity.

 

they also had a comedian (Steve Caouette”

 

lastly, they had a production show called “Rockumentary” which went back in time to a bunch of iconic rock performances (Woodstock, Monterrey, etc.).  It was really good.

 

Times we’re 7:30/9:30 except for the comedian which was at 10:45 for unexplained reasons.  We actually got to know him and it sounded like he was planning to negotiate earlier start times.

 

Few Brits/Europeans in this one overall.  Guessing they already had to be out of the UK to make it there.

[ltcTN]

We are on the 7/9/21 sailing. Very pumped for this trip. We upgraded from AQ to SS and pleased that we did. Any early cruise hiccups I trust will be corrected by 7/9. Honestly, I'm just happy to be back on a ship! Looking forward to meeting others, see you Friday!

[little britain]

20 minutes ago, ltcTN said:

We are on the 7/9/21 sailing. Very pumped for this trip. We upgraded from AQ to SS and pleased that we did. Any early cruise hiccups I trust will be corrected by 7/9. Honestly, I'm just happy to be back on a ship! Looking forward to meeting others, see you Friday!

Could you do a “live from” post do we know how the ship is continuing to handle things and whether rules are changing ( like masks). 

[ltcTN]

2 minutes ago, little britain said:

Could you do a “live from” post do we know how the ship is continuing to handle things and whether rules are changing ( like masks). 

I can give it a try!