Anyone on Apex now?

[dazey]

On Apex in November we were assigned a cabin on Deck 6.  Prior to leaving I had read on CC that Deck 6 had some cabins assigned to crew for Covid reasons but never had any info from the ship.  Once we arrived they told us our cabin was on Deck 8 which I was very happy about. 

 

If this happens to you,  make sure any reservation or tour information is transferred to your new cabin number.  Actually one night we came back from dinner and there were 10 cases of water, 6 cases each of different sodas, juices, etc. along with some alcohol and coffee.  After trying to figure out what the heck was going on in our cabin we called and they removed it so we had room to move.  Some of the staff thought our new cabin was vacant and was using it for storage.  The staff really is not very informative about anything I have found.

 

We did enjoy our cruise and glad especially after what is going on now that we were able to do it.

[UniPac]

23 hours ago, dazey said:

along with some alcohol and coffee.  After trying to figure out what the heck was going on in our cabin we called and they removed it

 

 I think I could have "removed" some of the alcohol in my cabin myself 😉

However, your cabin must be so tidy they didn't recognized someone is living there... our cabin is decorated, maybe that's why I never found alocohol (but body oil and a sealed condom...).

Edited January 8, 2022 by UniPac

[SNJCruisers]

On the Apex now.  Just got done with five day, clearing customs for seven day. 

Sitting at Cafe Al Bacio sipping a double espresso with Baileys over ice.  B2B transfer was easy peasy.  Facial recognition makes it a quick process.

Made it to Puerto Plata, refused at Nassau on the five day.  Two out of three production shows went on, with Tree of Life being cancelled.  Musicians were abundant, mini production shows in Eden cancelled.  Had 1300/2950 on board for 5 day.  Masks were mandatory as of last Monday inside everywhere unless you are eating, drinking or seated at a bar or restaurant.  Sip n cover not needed thank goodness.  About 100 people on the B2B.  We have the ship to ourselves till the new cruisers come on around 1130.  We get a sit-down lunch in Tuscan for the B2B cruisers.

 

[msteries]

33 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

On the Apex now.  Just got done with five day, clearing customs for seven day. 

Sitting at Cafe Al Bacio sipping a double espresso with Baileys over ice.  B2B transfer was easy peasy.  Facial recognition makes it a quick process.

Made it to Puerto Plata, refused at Nassau on the five day.  Two out of three production shows went on, with Tree of Life being cancelled.  Musicians were abundant, mini production shows in Eden cancelled.  Had 1300/2950 on board for 5 day.  Masks were mandatory as of last Monday inside everywhere unless you are eating, drinking or seated at a bar or restaurant.  Sip n cover not needed thank goodness.  About 100 people on the B2B.  We have the ship to ourselves till the new cruisers come on around 1130.  We get a sit-down lunch in Tuscan for the B2B cruisers.

 

May I ask you to find out the current hours for the martini bar?  Any time when it is not super crowded?  During a Pre-covid trip on the Edge, I never could get a seat at the bar, and this year I would be happy to sit anywhere if I can maintain a bit of social distancing.

[librarylady19]

On 1/6/2022 at 6:45 AM, amomx5 said:

That’s funny NavyCruiser I took that very same picture. That was the only closed door on our cruise deck 6 Aft odd side. The even side door was open. So it seems that they have put aside more quarantine rooms.  So how do they decide who goes to deck 3 (porthole) and Deck 6 (balcony)?

I saw the same thing on deck 8 forward on the 1/3 sailing. Several cabins had piles of take-out food boxes outside the cabin doors. I do think there were a number of crew members in quarantine. The lovely CD Lauren told me that some shows (air Caravan) had to be cancelled due to performers in quarantine due to close contact with positive cases. 
Service was very good, except a couple of rookie waiters at. Normandie and Cyprus. I speculate they had to bring in untrained crew to cover shortages. Overall a really fantastic cruise however!!!. 

[taylortime05]

12 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

On the Apex now.  Just got done with five day, clearing customs for seven day. 

Sitting at Cafe Al Bacio sipping a double espresso with Baileys over ice.  B2B transfer was easy peasy.  Facial recognition makes it a quick process.

Made it to Puerto Plata, refused at Nassau on the five day.  Two out of three production shows went on, with Tree of Life being cancelled.  Musicians were abundant, mini production shows in Eden cancelled.  Had 1300/2950 on board for 5 day.  Masks were mandatory as of last Monday inside everywhere unless you are eating, drinking or seated at a bar or restaurant.  Sip n cover not needed thank goodness.  About 100 people on the B2B.  We have the ship to ourselves till the new cruisers come on around 1130.  We get a sit-down lunch in Tuscan for the B2B cruisers.

 

We are on the Jan 15th sailing.  Did they have some type of entertainment in the main theatre every night?  

[mrsgoggins]

On 12/31/2021 at 9:42 AM, little britain said:

I've got a backup at my hotel in FLL just in case - they are offering free tests!  (Riverside on Las Olas) !   I've seen many reports here and on TripAdvisor of Brits getting tested at CVS/Walgreens with no issues. 

I think you are on before me - please report back! 

 

LB 

In the end we cancelled our Walgreens appointments made the previous week, because the TV news was showing local people queuing for hours trying to get either free tests or testing kits.  I had Qured tests with me, purchased for less than £25 each (code BATRAVEL15) and so I booked an  appointment to have an online witnessed test. Our hotel printed out our certificates for us and all was fine at check in.
 

I’m on board now, with fewer than 1100 passengers, which I love!  Last night I witnessed an altercation between an elderly, unmasked man and a masked younger man at the entrance to the Cyprus restaurant.  The young man was really annoyed at the older man, (who had just refused the attendant’s offer of a mask) and told him to keep his distance.  Overall mask wearing seems good but then we were not about later in the evening.

 

I love the stateroom with its IV balcony but this doesn’t make up for missing either the elite breakfast in Tuscan Grill or the cosiness of Bacio on the S class ships.  

[SNJCruisers]

On 1/8/2022 at 10:43 AM, msteries said:

May I ask you to find out the current hours for the martini bar?  Any time when it is not super crowded?  During a Pre-covid trip on the Edge, I never could get a seat at the bar, and this year I would be happy to sit anywhere if I can maintain a bit of social distancing.

1100 am to late on at sea days like today

[SNJCruisers]

18 hours ago, taylortime05 said:

We are on the Jan 15th sailing.  Did they have some type of entertainment in the main theatre every night?  

Yes

[little britain]

13 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

In the end we cancelled our Walgreens appointments made the previous week, because the TV news was showing local people queuing for hours trying to get either free tests or testing kits.  I had Qured tests with me, purchased for less than £25 each (code BATRAVEL15) and so I booked an  appointment to have an online witnessed test. Our hotel printed out our certificates for us and all was fine at check in.
 

I’m on board now, with fewer than 1100 passengers, which I love!  Last night I witnessed an altercation between an elderly, unmasked man and a masked younger man at the entrance to the Cyprus restaurant.  The young man was really annoyed at the older man, (who had just refused the attendant’s offer of a mask) and told him to keep his distance.  Overall mask wearing seems good but then we were not about later in the evening.

 

I love the stateroom with its IV balcony but this doesn’t make up for missing either the elite breakfast in Tuscan Grill or the cosiness of Bacio on the S class ships.  

Thanks for the update. I see  Walgreens opens up 7 days in advance and the Riverside is only taking bookings out to 15th....hoping they extend that date as backup. As another back up I also have some tests to bring with me Cronomics £18.04 but I see the price has now dropped to £15.19!

 

The elite breakfast is now in Le Petit Chef isn't it - admittedly we never went when we were on her in September! 

 

Fingers crossed the rest of the cruise goes well! Please keep us updated!  If you can try and find the projected guest numbers for 22/1 it would be appreciated! 

Edited January 10, 2022 by little britain

[librarylady19]

9 hours ago, little britain said:

Thanks for the update. I see  Walgreens opens up 7 days in advance and the Riverside is only taking bookings out to 15th....hoping they extend that date as backup. As another back up I also have some tests to bring with me Cronomics £18.04 but I see the price has now dropped to £15.19!

 

The elite breakfast is now in Le Petit Chef isn't it - admittedly we never went when we were on her in September! 

 

Fingers crossed the rest of the cruise goes well! Please keep us updated!  If you can try and find the projected guest numbers for 22/1 it would be appreciated! 

Elite breakfast was in Le Bistro on the 1/3 sailing. Sit down service with choice of cheeses/pastries/cold cuts/smoked salmon and fruit plates as well as various coffee drinks. I personally preferred breakfast at Eden Cafe. They had great pastries, muesli and breakfast paninis! Lovely servers there too. 

[little britain]

9 minutes ago, librarylady19 said:

Elite breakfast was in Le Bistro on the 1/3 sailing. Sit down service with choice of cheeses/pastries/cold cuts/smoked salmon and fruit plates as well as various coffee drinks. I personally preferred breakfast at Eden Cafe. They had great pastries, muesli and breakfast paninis! Lovely servers there too. 

Unfortunately never made it up Eden Cafe either as they stopped serving too early (9am?)!  It reminded me of Cafe 270 which is my go to place on RCI ( because they serve later!) 

[librarylady19]

Just now, little britain said:

Unfortunately never made it up Eden Cafe either as they stopped serving too early (9am?)!  It reminded me of Cafe 270 which is my go to place on RCI ( because they serve later!) 

They are open until 9:30 a.m. for breakfast and also serve lunch. Hope you get there this time!!

[verizon]

I would love to know the experiences on Apex about Omicron.

Would those on board please post?

[JKHawaii]

Just returned from Jan 8-15 Apex Western Caribbean.

 

Cruise was fantastic!

[mrsgoggins]

44 minutes ago, JKHawaii said:

Just returned from Jan 8-15 Apex Western Caribbean.

 

Cruise was fantastic!

I agree.  We were told that someone had tested positive during the cruise and was isolating but nothing further as far as I am aware. Unlike the previous week’s cruise, we were allowed to dock in Nassau.  I understand that cruise was prevented because of the percentage of passengers infected (more than 1% I heard).

 

Mask wearing was widely adhered to, although as everywhere, there were plenty who didn’t think covering their nose was part of the deal.

 

Cruising at this time has spoiled me for when it returns to normal.  Everything is just so easy with a ship only one-third full, and disembarkation went like a dream.  I was wavering for a short time about whether to cancel, mostly because of all the testing involved in getting into the USA, boarding the ship and then returning home, but I’m so pleased we went ahead.

[SF]

We are looking forward to our cruise on Apex in April. Hope at that point the cruise line is still keeping the passenger numbers at the percentage they are at now or only slightly higher. 

[mrsgoggins]

34 minutes ago, SF said:

We are looking forward to our cruise on Apex in April. Hope at that point the cruise line is still keeping the passenger numbers at the percentage they are at now or only slightly higher. 

I’m sure it wasn’t meant to be as low as it was last week.  I was told they had had 500+ cancellations in the week before we sailed.