LIVE Suite Review 1/30-2/6: A (Solo) Woman on the Edge

[Buffett1964]

Travelling on Edge next week in Aqua. Fine Cut steakhouse is sold out already but we made reservations for dinner in Eden. How was the food and experience?

[Dk-cruiser]

The cruise director Rich told it yesterday before the comedy show. 743 guest onboard and 99,4% vaccinated.

 

Last week we was 950, we are on a two weeks B2B and love it 😍

[nanruss]

I am loving your review, thank you so much for bringing us all along. I have a question about the specialty restaurants. Can you tell me what was the cost for dinner at Eden?

[ILgirl]

So enjoying another great review!  I discovered Le Grand Bistro for lunch on my Edge November cruise and loved it.  An FYI since you mentioned lamb chops, they are the Tuesday daily special and were fantastic!  I hope it warms up for you.  Thx again for taking the time to bring us all along on your cruise.

[GenerationX]

Ah the joys of evening chic night!

 

I pulled myself out of the tub and dressed just in time to catch the 7pm production show Colors of Life.  It looks like the ship is back to doing 2 shows a night at 7 and 9.

 

The screen and stage effects in the E-class theater are super cool.  This show is light on plot but has lots of good popular music and the singers and dancers were great.  I’m always blown away by the talent of the acrobats in Celebrity’s shows and this was no exception.   

 

After the show, I walked through the Grand Plaza on my way to dinner and was pleasantly surprised to see Captain Tasos and his senior officers mingling with guests.  I had read that the bridge crew was “in hiding” for recent cruises in order to reduce their risk of Covid exposure (makes sense).  I take the fact that they’re back out and about as a good sign that Celebrity feels they’ve got the onboard outbreak situation under control.

 

I’ve been craving pasta all afternoon so I decided to check out the Tuscan main dining room for dinner.  I got there about 7:45 and I’d say there were maybe a dozen tables occupied. This poor crew. I mean I love how safe I feel and the personalized service with the ships this empty, but for the sake of the crews and their tips I REALLY hope the guest counts start to get back up again soon.  

 

Speaking of said great service, my server Ben was very friendly and attentive and gave excellent recommendations on what to order (more on that in a sec).

 

I really like the 4 smaller MDR concept.  My Equinox cruse in November was my first cruise in years where I didn’t have Luminae or Blu for my dining room and while I had great table mates and food, the big dining room with a hundred people in it experience kind of made me feel more like I was at somebody’s wedding reception banquet than a fine dining restaurant.  Sitting in Tuscan tonight even though it’s a main dining spot I actually felt like I was in a specialty restaurant.  I dare say if it weren’t for the veranda that’s not a veranda, I might consider sailing E-class in a basic veranda stateroom.

 

Ok, let’s get to the point and talk food.

 

For dinner I started with the Caesar salad and corn soup from the menu items that are shared in common by all the MDR’s.  Then for my entree, at Ben’s recommendation, I had the Tuscan restaurant “signature entree” (items available only in that MDR) short rib pappardelle pasta.

 

The salad and corn soup were both fine, no complaints. Moving on. 

 

Y’all. That pasta.  You could totally tell the pappardelle had been made fresh.  The short rib meat was so tender it just fell apart with a nudge from my fork. The sauce was creamy and savory and rich and now I have to find time to come back to this restaurant at some point in the cruise just so I can have this pasta again.

 

For dessert, I also went with Ben’s suggestion of the Tuscan signature dessert warm apple crumble al la mode and his advice was once again right on the money.

 

I’m getting the sense that if I’m gonna keep doing this Edge class cruise thing, I’m gonna need to up the sizing on my day 5+ cruise wardrobe.

 

Tonight is silent disco which I love, but after shutting down the ship last night, climbing into bed early with my book is sounding much more appealing.

 

Tomorrow there’ll be lots of sea day fun to share as well as a catch up post on dinner in Eden.  

 

Good night and “suite” dreams from the Edge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MamaFej]

Confession time:

 

I feel like a creepy Internet stalker, because I totally want to hang out with my fellow Gen Xer. She seems like a really fun person, with a sense of humor that's just snarky enough, without being rude.

 

This is the first time I've had the good fortune to come across one of her live reviews, and I'll be on the lookout for them in the future.

 

Yeah... I sound pretty creepy. I'll shut up now. 

[KKB]

Oh, I am SOOOO jealous I did not try to get you to sail with me on this cruise.

LOVED LOVED LOVED the Edge last summer & this looks AMAZING!

I'm confident we would have been 2 peas in a pod!

You look fantastic---looking forward to more!

[mac_tlc]

21 hours ago, sjayo said:

Why not just place the small dining table that is inside the door to the patio, and place it outside? Can you ask for a lounge chair to be placed on the patio?

We found that both tables on the Edge were too low. We were hunched over to eat off them. 
 

On Apex now and the table in the room is a bit higher. But veranda table is still low and small, although rectangular as opposed to round. 
 

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by mac_tlc

[GenerationX]

Last night when I got back to my room I discovered that Celebrity has upped its turndown pillow chocolates game on E-class.  
 

Did I say something last night in my post-short rib pasta bliss about potentially passing on booking in the Retreat on future E-class cruises?  NVM.

 

 

 

[kirtihk]

13 hours ago, sgadk87 said:

The cruise director Rich told it yesterday before the comedy show. 743 guest onboard and 99,4% vaccinated.

 

Last week we was 950, we are on a two weeks B2B and love it 😍

That's amazing - there are 4.458 ostracized organisms on the board (I agree to be the 0.458 one, but I cannot - I was cheated to fall in 738.542 category; so, I only may exchange with the one whose count is is 0.542).  I read a Canadian "doctor" wanted to exterminate them all (for real), but, unfortunately, it's to late now - for a strange reason, he faded away himself.

[kirtihk]

On 1/31/2022 at 9:17 AM, GenerationX said:

 Will do!  Yes the entrance to Luminae is in kind of a weird spot if you’re coming from the aft.

Yes, the Celebrity made it as a hidden treasure which I liked (on our December 5 cruise).

[Dk-cruiser]

10 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

That's amazing - there are 4.458 ostracized organisms on the board (I agree to be the 0.458 one, but I cannot - I was cheated to fall in 738.542 category; so, I only may exchange with the one whose count is is 0.542).  I read a Canadian "doctor" wanted to exterminate them all (for real), but, unfortunately, it's to late now - for a strange reason, he faded away himself.

He mentioned it was all kids under a certain age, where vaccination isn’t allowed.

[GenerationX]

A very good morning from our first sea day on the Edge!

 

Know what I like about cruising?  At home when I check my mail it’s nothing but junk and bills.  On a cruise ship my mail is a preview of all the fun stuff I’m going to do the next day.

 

Before I get carried away on a sea of wine and specialty dinning, just a few thoughts on things I’ve noticed about Edge’s layout.

 

I read lots of reviews saying that Edge seems “fragmented” and it can be a challenge getting from place to place.  I’ve found that to be true especially depending on what deck you’re on.  Just a tip though: in each elevator bay/stairwell and inside each elevator there are signs telling you the best way to access specific places.  For example, the Tuscan Restaurant is aft on deck 3, but the signs tell you the best way to access it is to take the aft elevator to deck 4 (then signs with arrows direct you the rest of the way).   I am admittedly one of those people who occasionally thinks I know better than Waze, Google Maps, etc. and ignores the suggested directions and I did the same for about a half a day on the ship.  I’ve quickly learned that the signs on Edge are good and wise and when they tell you the best/easiest way to get to something, it’s probably the case.

 

I’d also read comments that Blu has a far better restaurant location than Luminae.  Again I think it’s true. Luminae is in kind of a random location forward on deck 12 right next to a stairwell in the midst of a bunch of staterooms.  I get what Celebrity was going for with this though.  The ship is designed so all the Retreat common areas are essentially stacked right on top of each other.  You can take the forward stairwell up and down 2 decks and be right at the Retreat pool deck, Retreat Lounge or  Luminae in no time. The staterooms in this area are also the super high end suites (Royal and higher) so making all the suite amenities super convenient for the guests paying the most money also makes sense.  

 

My biggest frustration so far on this ship that was supposed to be designed to sell to the smartphone generation:  the lack of public device  charging ports.   It just seems like a HUGE miss. Especially since Celebrity is really encouraging use of the Celebrity app (which is awesome) for all things onboard.  If I’m going to spend the better part of my day in the app looking at schedules, managing my account, scoping restaurant menus and messaging with friends onboard, my cell battery is gonna drain quickly.  There should be USB charge ports under every bar, in the cabanas, in common seating areas, etc.

 

It’s rather inconvenient to have to plan to spend a couple of hours of the afternoon everyday in my stateroom letting my phone charge. But I guess that does give me some encouragement to partake of nap time.

 

I just finished breakfast in Luminae and am settling into my cabana for the day. My attendant David just brought me some water and a beer to sip on while I read and enjoy the ocean views.  He also offered me som fruit skewers but I’m still quite full from my Luminae breakfast tropical fruit plate (it’s a hard-knock suite life).  I’m planning to chill here until my Riedel wine glass workshop (always wanted to do this but hubby was never interested, joys of solo cruising!) then I’m having lunch at Rooftop Grill.
 

After lunch I’ll come back to my cabana to spend the afternoon drinking my included bottle of Veuve rose’ and munching on poolside appetizers.  If anyone following is onboard with me and wants to come join me for a seaside glass of good bubbly and some shrimp cocktail around 2pm ship time, let me know!

 

Tonight’s late dinner will be Raw on 5.

 

As Ice Cube said, I think today is gonna be “like one of those fly dreams”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lola2013]

8 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

A very good morning from our first sea day on the Edge!

 

Know what I like about cruising?  At home when I check my mail it’s nothing but junk and bills.  On a cruise ship my mail is a preview of all the fun stuff I’m going to do the next day.

 

Before I get carried away on a sea of wine and specialty dinning, just a few thoughts on things I’ve noticed about Edge’s layout.

 

I read lots of reviews saying that Edge seems “fragmented” and it can be a challenge getting from place to place.  I’ve found that to be true especially depending on what deck you’re on.  Just a tip though: in each elevator bay/stairwell and inside each elevator there are signs telling you the best way to access specific places.  For example, the Tuscan Restaurant is aft on deck 3, but the signs tell you the best way to access it is to take the aft elevator to deck 4 (then signs with arrows direct you the rest of the way).   I am admittedly one of those people who occasionally thinks I know better than Waze, Google Maps, etc. and ignores the suggested directions and I did the same for about a half a day on the ship.  I’ve quickly learned that the signs on Edge are good and wise and when they tell you the best/easiest way to get to something, it’s probably the case.

 

I’d also read comments that Blu has a far better restaurant location than Luminae.  Again I think it’s true. Luminae is in kind of a random location forward on deck 12 right next to a stairwell in the midst of a bunch of staterooms.  I get what Celebrity was going for with this though.  The ship is designed so all the Retreat common areas are essentially stacked right on top of each other.  You can take the forward stairwell up and down 2 decks and be right at the Retreat pool deck, Retreat Lounge or  Luminae in no time. The staterooms in this area are also the super high end suites (Royal and higher) so making all the suite amenities super convenient for the guests paying the most money also makes sense.  

 

My biggest frustration so far on this ship that was supposed to be designed to sell to the smartphone generation:  the lack of public device  charging ports.   It just seems like a HUGE miss. Especially since Celebrity is really encouraging use of the Celebrity app (which is awesome) for all things onboard.  If I’m going to spend the better part of my day in the app looking at schedules, managing my account, scoping restaurant menus and messaging with friends onboard, my cell battery is gonna drain quickly.  There should be USB charge ports under every bar, in the cabanas, in common seating areas, etc.

 

It’s rather inconvenient to have to plan to spend a couple of hours of the afternoon everyday in my stateroom letting my phone charge. But I guess that does give me some encouragement to partake of nap time.

 

I just finished breakfast in Luminae and am settling into my cabana for the day. My attendant David just brought me some water and a beer to sip on while I read and enjoy the ocean views.  He also offered me som fruit skewers but I’m still quite full from my Luminae breakfast tropical fruit plate (it’s a hard-knock suite life).  I’m planning to chill here until my Riedel wine glass workshop (always wanted to do this but hubby was never interested, joys of solo cruising!) then I’m having lunch at Rooftop Grill.
 

After lunch I’ll come back to my cabana to spend the afternoon drinking my included bottle of Veuve rose’ and munching on poolside appetizers.  If anyone following is onboard with me and wants to come join me for a seaside glass of good bubbly and some shrimp cocktail around 2pm ship time, let me know!

 

Tonight’s late dinner will be Raw on 5.

 

As Ice Cube said, I think today is gonna be “like one of those fly dreams”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rooftop Garden Grill is my favorite specialty dining spot on Edge...be sure to leave room for the fabulous warm chocolate chip cookies served for dessert.  RGG mirrors Lawn Club Grill on S Class (oops, you probably already know that!)...love LCG so much that I visited three times last week on Reflection.  I believe the key to a successful experience in either of these restaurants is expandable pants!!!😋

Enjoy.

Susan

[GenerationX]

Quick update from the pool deck:  During this morning’s announcement Captain Tasos announced that one guest onboard has tested positive for COVID. Fortunately he said the person has only mild symptoms.

Also interesting: during his remarks, cruise director Rich mentioned that upgrades to suite class are available for the remainder of the cruise.  I may wander down at some point and see what they’re charging for that and if there’s an option to upgrade to one of those sweet looking Edge Villas and how much that would set me back…you know…solely for review informational purposes [clears throat].

 

Edited February 1, 2022 by GenerationX

[GenerationX]

12 hours ago, MamaFej said:

Confession time:

 

I feel like a creepy Internet stalker, because I totally want to hang out with my fellow Gen Xer. She seems like a really fun person, with a sense of humor that's just snarky enough, without being rude.

 

This is the first time I've had the good fortune to come across one of her live reviews, and I'll be on the lookout for them in the future.

 

Yeah... I sound pretty creepy. I'll shut up now. 

Thank you for the awesome compliments!!!! And no you aren’t creepy at all!  Hopefully we end up on the same cruise one day!

[graphicguy]

Loving this review.  On the APEX on 2/26 in an S3.  I know it's similar to the EDGE which I sailed last July.  Sailed in the Retreat S2 suite on that one.  

 

But, one thing I wanted to try, but didn't, was Blu.  I understood it was only for Aqua Cabins.  Have also heard that Retreat guests could dine there, also.  Do you know if that's true?  Any plans to dine there?

 

TIA!

[cruise47]

1 hour ago, GenerationX said:

Thank you for the awesome compliments!!!! And no you aren’t creepy at all!  Hopefully we end up on the same cruise one day!

Thanks for your candid reviews  and photos.

Please enjoy your cruise and good luck to that upgrade to an Edge Villa .

[CruiserRob]

On 1/30/2022 at 9:41 AM, GenerationX said:

Earlier this month I was thrill  to find that the maker of my much loved world map embarkation day dress now makes it in my favorite color!

DW would like to know the brand of your dress and where you got it please.

 

Robert

[r2h2]

34 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Loving this review.  On the APEX on 2/26 in an S3.  I know it's similar to the EDGE which I sailed last July.  Sailed in the Retreat S2 suite on that one.  

 

But, one thing I wanted to try, but didn't, was Blu.  I understood it was only for Aqua Cabins.  Have also heard that Retreat guests could dine there, also.  Do you know if that's true?  Any plans to dine there?

 

TIA!

Yes. It is true. A suite guest can dine at Blu if they have availability. They did and we really enjoyed it back in December!

[Straughn]

On 1/30/2022 at 10:27 PM, fsdorado said:

@GenerationX If you get a chance, please find out what the infection rate was on the last sailing.  We're scheduled to board in a week in a Sky Suite for the first time and are very closing following your adventures.  Have a great cruise!!

 

 

Frederick

I was on Edge last week. The Captain announced two cases of Covid-one on Wednesday and one on Friday. There were just under 1000 passengers.u

[jcpc]

6 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Last night when I got back to my room I discovered that Celebrity has upped its turndown pillow chocolates game on E-class.  
 

Did I say something last night in my post-short rib pasta bliss about potentially passing on booking in the Retreat on future E-class cruises?  NVM.

 

 

 

We also received these tasty treats on Chic night while in a suite on Summit!

[quicklabs]

Glad you are having such a great time!  Love, love, love the photos your are providing.  Pretty, please?  The Eden review?  We are boarding this Sunday (weather permitting--moved the flight to tomorrow morning in an effort to beat the Snowpocalpyse.)

 

[fsdorado]

27 minutes ago, Straughn said:

I was on Edge last week. The Captain announced two cases of Covid-one on Wednesday and one on Friday. There were just under 1000 passengers.u

 

Thanks!!  That's a nice low percentage of passengers testing positive.  Hopefully this is a trend!!

 

 

Frederick

[GenerationX]

While I’m settling in for lunch and sipping my Por Mi Amante margarita (so good and not at all stingy on the tequila by the way) at the rooftop garden, please allow me to share a little about the Riedel Wine Glass workshop.

 

I found this class fascinating.  The cost is about $99 total, but at the end you get a voucher for 4 free Riedel wine glasses that you order online to be delivered to your house. Given what the wine glasses alone are worth I thought the price was more than fair and I would’ve done it even if I didn’t have OBC to cover the cost.

 

I’ll admit I went into it kind of skeptical that  it would just be mostly a glassware sales pitch and that the type of glass couldn’t REALLY affect the taste of the wine that much.  I stand so corrected.

 

We’d pour a wine from one glass to another and taste it each time and it was crazy how different it was!

 

Panji the sommelier who led the class did a great job.  He shared some stories from meeting Maximilian Riedel in person that were really entertaining.  Only 4 people attended so it was very intimate.

 

Towards the end of the tasting, an officer with a batphone in his hand and a serious look on his face came in and started talking in low tones to Panji.  For a moment I had a massive anxiety attack that I’d been contact traced to the positive Covid person and was about to be dragged off to quarantine. It turned out, we’d just kept poor Panji so long asking questions and having him share stories he was in danger of being late to host his next wine event. (Phew!) 

 

While I was on my way to the atm to get more cash to put on my onboard account (nevermind why, mind your business people! Lol) I did here an announcement asking 2 guests to report to guest services immediately.  Hopefully it was for something else and this isn’t the start of a contract tracing snowball.

 

My cell phone battery is getting low so posting may be slow till my early evening room trip to recharge (grrr, so annoying).  I just thought of it but next cruise I think I’ll start packing my portable charging bay that hubby and I use for our phones on our hiking and camping trips.  I think that’ll work well, but I still think it’s a little silly to be on one of the newest cruise ships in the world and have to take the same phone charging measures that I do in the middle of the Mark Twain National Forest.