Live - suite life on the Apex (Baltics)

[cavaaller]

2 minutes ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

Thanks for doing a "live from" thread. We were on the Apex TA and loved the ship, Retreat and Luminae! Then I quarantined on the following British Isles cruise. 

Hi suzyluvs2cruise, thank you for your comment, of course I followed your live thread with great interest, thank you for writing that!

 

It is one of the many many reasons I am so careful - although I do know that you cannot really escape the virus.

 

I hope you have fully recovered by now?

[cavaaller]

13 minutes ago, sunpsyche said:

We’re on the Apex August 1st and 13th cruises and eager to follow along with you. 

wow back2back I do envy you 🙂

[LXA350]

8 hours ago, cavaaller said:

 

A propos too close: Almost nobody is wearing masks – a nonchalance am not used to – maybe later in the cruise I will be able to relax a bit and maybe then I will also dare to lose mine. Right now I am much too afraid to catch it to go unmasked…

 

 

 

Do as you feel the safest / most comfortable. On the last sailing to Iceland COVID cases officially reached 3% last monday once in Belfast after which wearing of masks at all times (except when in the Restraurants) wasmandated by the Captain. Likely the cases onboard were even higher at this point as the 3% only considered crew and or guests officially tested positive and that are in Isolation.

[SbbquilterUT]

37 minutes ago, sunpsyche said:

We’re on the Apex August 1st and 13th cruises and eager to follow along with you. 

We will be joining you on those two sailings - 3 weeks and counting!

[suzyluvs2cruise]

41 minutes ago, cavaaller said:

Hi suzyluvs2cruise, thank you for your comment, of course I followed your live thread with great interest, thank you for writing that!

 

It is one of the many many reasons I am so careful - although I do know that you cannot really escape the virus.

 

I hope you have fully recovered by now?

Thanks....I was fortunate and only had symptoms of a light cold and they only lasted a few days. And....you're right about not being able to escape the virus. All one can do is make your best effort to protect yourself. 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

31 minutes ago, LXA350 said:

 

Do as you feel the safest / most comfortable. On the last sailing to Iceland COVID cases officially reached 3% last monday once in Belfast after which wearing of masks at all times (except when in the Restraurants) wasmandated by the Captain. Likely the cases onboard were even higher at this point as the 3% only considered crew and or guests officially tested positive and that are in Isolation.

 

It was 3% (or higher) toward the end of both the TA and following British Isles cruises in May too. Are they doing b2b testing that you're aware of? 

[ryansmousehouse]

Looking forward to your report... We were scheduled to be on this cruise in a celebrity suite but I managed to test positive for covington 4 days before flying to Amsterdam.. Coming from the US, just didn't want to take the risk.. 

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for you wonderful post.  I'm enjoying it very much and look forward to following.

 

Hope you don't mind if I give a couple pointers on uploading photos to CC.  

 

Your upside down picture are nothing you are doing wrong -  there's a glitch with iPhone photos loosing orientation when posting to forums.   It can be fixed by opening the photos first and click edit and then rotate 4 times -  then when you post direct to CC it will show up correctly.

 

For the photos you tried to upload as files the reason it shows HEIC  is that it is an apple proprietary format  and most pc's can't view them unless they buy a codec for it. 

 

Under Camera page, please tap “Formats” option to set up photo formats when taking pictures and transferring to computer. To disable HEIC image format, simply tap to switch on “Most Compatible” from “High Efficiency” option under CAMERA CAPTURE section.

[calicakes]

12 hours ago, cavaaller said:

The Porters identify upper-suite luggage and tag it as “priority”.

So, why is it only UPPER level suites are tagged priority.  I'm traveling in a Sky Suite in September, so that means I have no priority?  If so, wow. 

[sunpsyche]

5 hours ago, cavaaller said:

wow back2back I do envy you 🙂

We’re excited. This is our third attempt to do Iceland due to pandemic cancellations. Keeping our fingers crossed..

4 hours ago, SbbquilterUT said:

We will be joining you on those two sailings - 3 weeks and counting!

We can’t wait either!

[chemmo]

Thank you so much for posting the balcony pictures! They are the best I have seen and give me a real perspective of the space…We are yet to cruise on E class and the Iconic suite is out (too expensive) the villa is out (mobility issues) the RS is out (tiny balcony) so the PH may be our best option…

[Baynanno1]

Thank you @cavaaller for your live thread from Apex.

 

We will be on the sister ship Edge early next year and would love to see some photos of the Retreat Lounge and the Retreat Sundeck if you are able to post at some stage during the course of your cruise.

 

Looking forward to following along. 😀

[jagoffee]

9 hours ago, George C said:

On Edge there was no sunlight in penthouse balcony, only thing I didn’t like about penthouse.

Funny.  The only thing I did not like about by Edge Villa on the Apex was there was virtually no shade.  

[cavaaller]

3 hours ago, calicakes said:

So, why is it only UPPER level suites are tagged priority.  I'm traveling in a Sky Suite in September, so that means I have no priority?  If so, wow. 

Every bag being dropped off at the retreat drop off has already priority status. But upper suites get special delivery within which means that suitcases should be brought right to the suite. Other reviews have shown that this depends very much on port and occupancy. Here in Amsterdam our suitcases were in front of our stateroom when we came back from lunch in luminae (about 40 minutes after boarding)

[cavaaller]

At 6:30 we arrived in Warnemünde.

Shortly after 7 the ship was cleared.

[cavaaller]

We had a coffee and some Pains au Chocolat at Café al Bacio:

 

The Coffee is incredibly good, the service is impeccable. I really love Café al Bacio!

 

 

 

[cavaaller]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Under Camera page, please tap “Formats” option to set up photo formats when taking pictures and transferring to computer. To disable HEIC image format, simply tap to switch on “Most Compatible” from “High Efficiency” option under CAMERA CAPTURE section.

Thank you very much for that Jim, I think now I fixed it 🙂

[cavaaller]

Celebrity chartered an S-Bahn to take the excursion-guests to Rostock/Berlin. The S-Bahn is "parked" right in front of the ship, very convenient.

 

Within 30 Min. you arrive at Rostock, the journey to Berlin takes about 3 hours total.

 

We had breakfast at Ocean View Café and watched the first groups leave the ship at 8:40.

 

View from OV:

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by cavaaller

[cavaaller]

You can see how easy it is to take the S-Bahn to get to Rostock.

I don't think I would dare to diy Berlin in the given time frame - I like to be on they safe side and we are in port from 7 to 22 "only".

 

The weather is a bit cloudy right now, that is a pity, although the forecast promises sunshine for later in the day.

[cavaaller]

This today's Daily Paper:

 

see attached pdf for better quality:

Celebrity.pdf

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by cavaaller

[Scottishclover]

Enjoy your day In Warnemuende. I worked and lived in Rostock in the early 90s when the area looked a bit different. Of course there was no cruise port back then, it was all very industrial. I actually wrote my final dissertation about the development of tourism in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern but did not foresee the way the area would be used as a cruise hub.
I’ve been back many times since and it has been interesting to see how things have changed. In Rostock the buildings have been beautifully restored and there is a nice walk you can do around the city gates. I love the different architecture there - even that from GDR times, as it all tells a story.

Thanks for the morning view of Warnemuende 😀 The iconic Hotel Neptun brings back many memories but the Ferris wheel is new since my last visit. I can’t wait to see some more photos of your day there.

[asnaleah]

9 hours ago, chemmo said:

Thank you so much for posting the balcony pictures! They are the best I have seen and give me a real perspective of the space…We are yet to cruise on E class and the Iconic suite is out (too expensive) the villa is out (mobility issues) the RS is out (tiny balcony) so the PH may be our best option…

100%! What is up with those tiny RS balconies?!

[chemmo]

2 minutes ago, asnaleah said:

100%! What is up with those tiny RS balconies?!

Honestly, I cannot believe how a decision was made to give a RS a balcony smaller than some veranda cabins…I know not everyone likes the sun and some guests may only sit on the balcony occasionally and that the Retreat Deck is only a few steps away…..but for us it is a real dealbreaker.
 

 

[cavaaller]

Unfortunately the weather did not get any better so the pictures I took look a little sad.

 

Exiting the ship you turn right and follow the "Centrum" signs which lead you right through the train station

 

and into the city center.

 

Some shops were open even though it is Sunday. 

 

Continuing to the right you find the beach promenade (I drew our promenade in red)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

with beautiful holiday homes

 

and some more or less beautiful hotels.

 

I always admire how some people manage to cultivate their gardens. ( I have what you would call a "black thumb" in my country, meaning that every plant that I plant dies)

 

 

The gardens in Warnemünde are beautiful.

 

 

Unfortunately it started raining so we did not want to continue our walk into the little forest. It was a very nice walk nonetheless.

 

Back to the ship:

 

 

On the ship we had lunch at Le Grand Bistrot:

 

Ham&Cheese Sandwich (very good)

 

Double Cheese Truffle Burger (amazing)

 

Steak (meh)

 

 

[cavaaller]

10 hours ago, Baynanno1 said:

 would love to see some photos of the Retreat Lounge and the Retreat Sundeck if you are able to post at some stage during the course of your cruise.

 

your wish is my command 🙂

 

So if you enter the retreat sundeck on the starboard side this is what you will see up to the pool area:

Starboard side:

view from alley to the retreat bar (in your back) to the solarium (aft)

 

Starboard side 

to the right you see the stairs leading to the retreat lounge outside seating area

 

this is the alley where the Edge Villas 106-102 exit (upper level)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pool Area starboard:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

view from stern to bar:

 

the bar

 

the retreat that I got on the way:

 

the alley that leads from the bar to the solarium on the port side:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the little gangway leading to the edge villa corridor (even)

 

 

view from the staircase to the retreat lounge:

 

the self-serve bar:

the buffet:

 

in the back you see the (secret) door to the edge villa corridor (even suites)

 

the outdoor seating area

port side:

 

fridge

 

I could not take pictures of the starboard side because there were a lot of guests that I did not want to disturb.

 

this is the port side corridor for the edge villas:

 

 

 

 

Entrance Spa 

 

entrance corridor EV port side

 

 

Coming down the stairs to deck 12 entrance lumina to the right

 

our corridor to the left

 

 

extremely convenient to get from the suite to luminae.

Edited July 10, 2022 by cavaaller