Live Edge Review - July 3-10, 2021

[Susanb10567]

4 minutes ago, elf426 said:

The person checking us in just handed it to us, so we adjusted it to be loose enough to be able take off. I saw others being put in by the staff and adjusted tightly. Call me a rebel, but a damp ribbon on my wrist all week is gross and I want to be able to not wear it. 

So it’s just a bracelet to identify the vaccinated..it’s not a tracelet to help with contact tracing like they are giving out on the Summit and Millennium.

[PTC DAWG]

3 minutes ago, Susanb10567 said:

So it’s just a bracelet to identify the vaccinated..it’s not a tracelet to help with contact tracing like they are giving out on the Summit and Millennium.

Sure looks that way,  also looks easily adjustable…

[elf426]

4 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Sure looks that way,  also looks easily adjustable…

It’s one of those that doesn’t get looser, so keep that in mind. We weren’t given any explanation, just handed them to us. I’m sure it’s to identify vaxxed pax, but no one has stopped me if I’m not wearing it (like this morning in the gym). 

[Susanb10567]

2 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Sure looks that way,  also looks easily adjustable…

Just confused why they are doing this as these are advertised as “fully vaccinated cruises “ (95%) are they separating people  this way like on Royal ? Are crew really going to see someone without a band and tell them to put a mask on. If they were using tracelets for contact tracing it would make more sense to me.

[Shadow9612]

26 minutes ago, elf426 said:

The Drinks and More package includes $50 in free play at the casino, so the cost of the upgrade after accounting for this was minimal. To redeem you see the cashier at the casino and they transfer it to your card, which you then activate at any machine. There are other perks like access to your minibar, but this was the deciding factor for us.

Thank you for this info and thank you for this review!  Loving this thread.

[Travelexpert35]

Enjoying your post. Have a safe trip!!

[gbphipps]

Enjoying reading your live.  Thank you for showing the bracelet.  We are on July 24 for a B2B so are living vicariously through the lives until then.

[SHIP TRAVELER]

I am following.....and enjoying .  Just wanted to drop a note to a fellow gambler.  When we were in Nassau last we went to the Baha Mar resort casino.  The resort is upscale and it has a very large newish casino.  They were giving free play for cruise passengers who signed up for a card.  We enjoyed video poker at the bar with much better pay schedules than on board the ship. Service was grea, drinks were free to players and all the machines were up to date....it felt like Las Vegas.  Much nicer than the Atlantis Casino which felt old and dark to me.

Just saying if you want to do a taxi ride and stay in the air con on a hot day you might enjoy this place.

[ItsADryHumor]

47 minutes ago, elf426 said:

No, there isn’t a fee for Peloton. You do need to reserve your sessions with the spa desk though. Truthfully I’m not certain how long your session is, I was on for about 45 minutes this morning - when I arrived three of the five were occupied, they rotated out and a few more were getting on. Best I can assume it’s a hour slot per person. I’ll believe that until someone kicks me off.

I’m so freaking excited for the Peloton. It will offset the eight meals I eat daily on a cruise. #MomBodSummer

[ItsADryHumor]

38 minutes ago, Susanb10567 said:

Just confused why they are doing this as these are advertised as “fully vaccinated cruises “ (95%) are they separating people  this way like on Royal ? Are crew really going to see someone without a band and tell them to put a mask on. If they were using tracelets for contact tracing it would make more sense to me.

Yes, they will. Also, they had to punt given rules in FL. Cut them a little slack- and be sure to put some slack in your bracelet when you put it on. 🤣

[elf426]

30 minutes ago, SHIP TRAVELER said:

I am following.....and enjoying .  Just wanted to drop a note to a fellow gambler.  When we were in Nassau last we went to the Baha Mar resort casino.  The resort is upscale and it has a very large newish casino.  They were giving free play for cruise passengers who signed up for a card.  We enjoyed video poker at the bar with much better pay schedules than on board the ship. Service was grea, drinks were free to players and all the machines were up to date....it felt like Las Vegas.  Much nicer than the Atlantis Casino which felt old and dark to me.

Just saying if you want to do a taxi ride and stay in the air con on a hot day you might enjoy this place.

Great point on Baha Mar. We actually stopped by there on our last cruise in Feb 2020. I agree that it's a beautiful casino, but I don't recall if there were any promos. It's been ages since I've been to Atlantis.

[elf426]

Now that I have post-workout endorphins flowing, plus a fancy spa juice and a latte coursing through my blood, here are a couple more thoughts from Day 1 plus some from this morning.

 

Muster Drill 2021 is. the. best. I can’t believe I forgot about it last night, but we got a survey this morning and it reminded me. You literally open the app and watch a 20 second video about the life jackets, click complete, then listen to the emergency horn sound, click complete and go to your muster station to verify you completed your drill. Why people wait to do this is beyond me. Be Like Mike, Just Do It.

 

You’ve probably caught on that we enjoy spending time in the casino. Celebrity takes the cake here as the casinos fleet-wide are non-smoking. Having spent the morning at the Hard Rock Seminole, this was a refreshing and welcome change in environment. Anyone will tell you the non-smoking sections of most casinos are a joke (ventilation shmentilation), so being 100% non-smoking earns major kudos from me.

 

F&B – no major comments yet but just a funny thing IMO. Celebrity has committed to eliminating single-use plastics, so bottled water now comes in aluminum bottles. They look like the Coors Light bottles from a few years ago and make me chuckle. Simple minded, I know. Evian water (available with the premium package) comes in a glass bottle.

 

A quick note on the buffet – the staff serving everyone has its ups and downs. For instance, someone might not be at the station you need served from. Have some patience, they’ll get there, but instant gratification is no more. Or, in my case this morning, someone could be standing right there but is so zoned out they don’t notice you. Poor guy, he was deep in some thought and all I wanted was a waffle. I’m not sure why I can handle the syrup thingy or the hot sauce but not the tongs, but thems the rules. I think we all learned that a lot of people are pretty gross (none of us beautiful cruisers) and so we have to tell strangers precisely how many sausages we want at a time now.

 

I wish I could say more about entertainment, but we didn’t time anything out well enough yesterday and missed the majority of scheduled events. The duo that’s been in the atrium has been good, kind of a hipster/folksy/acoustic cover band – I knew all of the songs they were doing but I’d venture to guess the typical Celebrity client wouldn’t recognize a Weeknd song if it smacked them in the face. BUT. Sweet baby Jesus the DJ that was in the nightclub last night needs to rethink some life choices. You can’t tell me that by midnight there wasn’t enough liquid courage flowing to get people on the dance floor, so the only plausible excuse was the atrocious music he played for the first 30 minutes of his set. People kept going up to him to make requests and kept getting rebuffed, like he had a set playlist of disco that he couldn’t deviate from. Ok, sure, maybe he’s restricted to the BMI catalog only or something, but sir, if no one is dancing, quit playing the same style of music, especially when people are clearing asking for something else.

 

Ok, that’s enough for now. Not that I have a special affinity for Nassau, but looking out and seeing the straw market, Senor Frogs and the rest of the main drag shuttered and empty makes me kind of sad. But the grey skies make me glad I can wander this floating city and just relax for the day.

[KKB]

1 hour ago, SHIP TRAVELER said:

I am following.....and enjoying .  Just wanted to drop a note to a fellow gambler.  When we were in Nassau last we went to the Baha Mar resort casino.  The resort is upscale and it has a very large newish casino.  They were giving free play for cruise passengers who signed up for a card.  We enjoyed video poker at the bar with much better pay schedules than on board the ship. Service was grea, drinks were free to players and all the machines were up to date....it felt like Las Vegas.  Much nicer than the Atlantis Casino which felt old and dark to me.

Just saying if you want to do a taxi ride and stay in the air con on a hot day you might enjoy this place.

Thx for this; DH wants to see Atlantis. Perhaps I can talk him into this instead.

How much freeplay did they offer?

[KKB]

1 hour ago, elf426 said:

 

. The duo that’s been in the atrium has been good, kind of a hipster/folksy/acoustic cover band – I knew all of the songs they were doing but I’d venture to guess the typical Celebrity client wouldn’t recognize a Weeknd song if it smacked them in the face. BUT. Sweet baby Jesus the DJ that was in the nightclub last night needs to rethink some life choices. You can’t tell me that by midnight there wasn’t enough liquid courage flowing to get people on the dance floor, so the only plausible excuse was the atrocious music he played for the first 30 minutes of his set. People kept going up to him to make requests and kept getting rebuffed, like he had a set playlist of disco that he couldn’t deviate from. Ok, sure, maybe he’s restricted to the BMI catalog only or something, but sir, if no one is dancing, quit playing the same style of music, especially when people are clearing asking for something else.

 

HEY--this 50 something DEFINITELY knows her Weekend songs!😉

 

Regarding the DJ--disco was his jam? But I 100% agree with you; I've made the same comment before.

DJing 101--don't keep playing the same genre of tunes if no one is on the dance floor!

Honestly I'd say something to the Cruise Director. THAT will get things changed!

 

BTW--thx for this sassy trip report!

Edited July 4, 2021 by KKB

[FlorenceItaly]

1 minute ago, KKB said:

HEY--this 50 something DEFINITELY knows her Weekend songs!😉

 

Regarding the DJ--disco was his jam? But I 100% agree with you; I've made the same comment before.

DJing 101--don't keep playing the same genre of tunes if no one is on the dance floor!

Honestly I'd say something to the Cruise Director. THAT will get things changed!

 

BTW--thx for this sassy trip report!

Another Weekend fan(me 58, dh 72)!  On other Celebrity ships my thought has been they did not want us out dancing and could not wait for us to leave so they could leave, lol.

[sofietucker]

Last week: There were 2 DJs, one good and one...not so good. Both quartets (latin and jazz) had excellent musicians and just okay singers--one of those could not stay on key; we had to leave in hte middle of their set. Along with the duo--who changed up some songs so much they were unrecognizable, and not in a good way-- there was an acoustic guy and the main theater band, who did separate sets sometimes in the Club or the Grand Plaza. Carity Lockheart is an EXCELLENT singer who did 2 shows, one a tribute to Aretha Franklin. We love music--terribly spoiled by the old HAL bands--but in spite of music all over the ship, we had a hard time finding something we wanted to stay and listen to... They did have Silent Disco twice, at 10 pm.

[sofietucker]

Also a White Night Party, so bring your togs!

[SHIP TRAVELER]

46 minutes ago, KKB said:

Thx for this; DH wants to see Atlantis. Perhaps I can talk him into this instead.

How much freeplay did they offer?

We got $25 free play each.  Our friends didn't have a Drivers License with them so got none.  That amount would about cover the cab fare ($25) each way.  We actually took the local bus both ways but that might be too big of an adventure for some.  We were on Royal out of New Orleans and did not play in ships casino because of the smoke. This was Feb 2020 so like everything else  in the world, the free play may have changed by now.

[elf426]

13 minutes ago, sofietucker said:

Last week: There were 2 DJs, one good and one...not so good. Both quartets (latin and jazz) had excellent musicians and just okay singers--one of those could not stay on key; we had to leave in hte middle of their set. Along with the duo--who changed up some songs so much they were unrecognizable, and not in a good way-- there was an acoustic guy and the main theater band, who did separate sets sometimes in the Club or the Grand Plaza. Carity Lockheart is an EXCELLENT singer who did 2 shows, one a tribute to Aretha Franklin. We love music--terribly spoiled by the old HAL bands--but in spite of music all over the ship, we had a hard time finding something we wanted to stay and listen to... They did have Silent Disco twice, at 10 pm.

I’m amped for the silent disco, one of my favorite events. My husband says he’s always the guy on red when everyone else is on green. And yes, there are two DJs. One was wearing a cheesy DJ shirt and one sucked at music. Not sure which is worse truthfully 😂

[Reel Love]

Following .... and loving your writing style elf426!  😊    Have a fabulous cruise and looking forward to reading more about your on-board experience!

[Travelexpert35]

19 minutes ago, elf426 said:

I’m amped for the silent disco, one of my favorite events. My husband says he’s always the guy on red when everyone else is on green. And yes, there are two DJs. One was wearing a cheesy DJ shirt and one sucked at music. Not sure which is worse truthfully 😂

Love..love the silent disco. On the transpacific cruise I went by myself to the disco and joined in with some other girls. Had a blast.

[Cruising89143]

Following along.

[silkismom]

Always wanted to do the silent disco, but DH would have nothing to do with it, maybe try it on my own on Millie in AK.

[GACRUISER456]

Question - is there any sushi on the buffet these days?  Like late afternoon or dinner?  I know Raw on 5 is there, but we used to enjoy a little snack late afternoon up there.  Thanks!  We sail next week and can’t wait!

[mafig]

4 hours ago, elf426 said:

The Drinks and More package includes $50 in free play at the casino, so the cost of the upgrade after accounting for this was minimal. To redeem you see the cashier at the casino and they transfer it to your card, which you then activate at any machine. There are other perks like access to your minibar, but this was the deciding factor for us.

Is the $50 free play per person?  Can  you break it up in increments, like $10 in this machine, $10 in another, etc.......

 

Can you explain what access to minibar means?