LIVE Apex Suite Review 2/25-3/4: Love in the Time of Relaxed Luxury

[GenerationX]

It’s a beautiful morning in St. Thomas!

 

Luminae didn’t open until 7:30 this morning and we have to be on the pier for our excursion at 8:15, so we ordered room service from the hang tag last night for delivery between 6:30 and 7.  Albert called at exactly 6:32 to say it was ready and he was on the way with it.

 

I’m so confused by the suite room service menu differences from ship to ship. Or maybe it’s an upper suites vs sky suites thing. On silhouette and millennium I remember having steak and eggs as a room service option. And the silhouette menu also had an option to have mimosas and bloody marys delivered complimentary.  But again, those were a celebrity suite and a royal suite, so maybe that’s why.

 

I will say, the quality of this room service is far better.  The fruit plate is nicer than the ones I’ve gotten in Luminae.  My toasted bagel was still warm, orange juice was ice cold and Jeremy said his omelette was hot and tasted great.  

 

I wonder if the upcharge for non-continental breakfast room service (for non-suite staterooms) has reduced the volume of breakfast room service orders and, as a result, has given the kitchen and delivery teams more time to focus on quality of the output?

 

When I was going through my beach supplies to pack for shore, my “thanks for trying us” goodbye gift from the yacht club concierge team on the Divina fell out of a zipper compartment in my suitcase that I must’ve forgotten to unpack on the last cruise. 

 

I think I’ve already done enough damage on the MSC cross-sell front, so I promptly buried it back where I found it and grabbed my margaritaville clips instead.  😂

 

Later this afternoon after our day of snorkeling, beach time and conch fritters, I’ll report on last night’s dinner and go back in time to talk Eden.

 

Have a great day friends!

 

 

 

 

[terrydtx]

36 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

I’m so confused by the suite room service menu differences from ship to ship. Or maybe it’s an upper suites vs sky suites thing. On silhouette and millennium I remember having steak and eggs as a room service option. And the silhouette menu also had an option to have mimosas and bloody marys delivered complimentary.  But again, those were a celebrity suite and a royal suite, so maybe that’s why.

 

I will say, the quality of this room service is far better.  The fruit plate is nicer than the ones I’ve gotten in Luminae.  My toasted bagel was still warm, orange juice was ice cold and Jeremy said his omelette was hot and tasted great. 

I learned by asking that on that breakfast RS card you can write in things like Eggs Benedict on the card and get them in Sky Suites. Also write in Bloody Mary's and Mimosa's and they will be delivered too. Our very first butler told me that when ordering omelets and scrambled eggs to write in "Fresh Eggs Only" to avoid the premixed eggs mixtures that IMO are not so good. About the only thing I have been turned down on was asking for Turkey or Chicken breakfast sausage last year on the Reflection, I was told the RS kitchen did not have access to them. I prefer stronger coffee and our butlers have accommodated me by adding a couple of espresso shots to the standard RS pot of coffee.

[westcoastsue]

16 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

We have only sailed Edge so far.   Apex will be our second e-Class.

 

Year back when Murano was Olympic on Millennium we ate in Murano every night on a 14 night cruise.   After the first night the Maitr 'd told us we would no longer give us menus and the chef would prepare something off menu each night.   Even the wait staff didn't know what was coming out so had to scramble to get the correct table where.  

 

On a couple nights other guests would ask what we were having and he would say.... oh they have special dietary requirements.   I think we were having Shrimp Scampi that night.

 

One night he prepared a Raspberry Souffle for desert.   It was incredible.

 

Only downside was I put on 10 pounds  ... ugh.  

Millennium was our first Celebrity cruise in 2002. We loved the Olympic. Celebrated many a birthday there. Back in the day Elite afternoon tea was served there with the harpist playing. So elegant! 

[GenerationX]

If you aren’t spending happy hour sipping bubbly at dusk off the USVI’s I feel bad for you, son…

 

I’ll fill you guys in on our day shortly, but while Atish brings me another glass of Chandon, a report on dinner last night at Rooftop Grill.  

 

I purposely scheduled this dinner for our late night in Puerto Rico to avoid the wind issues that I experienced at the restaurant on Edge.

 

We started with the smoked dry rub chicken wings and oh so excessive but delicious trainwreck fries.  The wings had some decent heat on them so I don’t recommend if you aren’t a spice person, but Jeremy and I loved them.  

 

For mains Jeremy had the dry rub ribs and I had the lamb chops I’d been longing to eat again ever since I stepped off Edge.

 

Those lamb chops are so tender and juicy and flavorful.  If we hadn’t had such big appetizers, I probably would have ordered two servings.

 

Jeremy must have really enjoyed his ribs because he barely came up for air to say 5 words to me while he ate them, other than to offer me a bite of his (very good) jalapeño cornbread…talking with his mouth full of rib meat. 🤦🏾‍♀️

 

I drank Shiraz to pair with my lamb and Jeremy checked another drink off his list and had the steakhouse margarita made with (brace for gag reflex) steak sauce.  I wondered if he’d taken leave of his senses but I did try a sip for review purposes and it was surprisingly better than expected.  Not  what I’d usually go for but Jeremy liked it enough to have 3 of them.

 

We split the dirty rice as a side which Jeremy really liked but I didn’t think was that great.  Honestly just my personal opinion based on my 2 visits, I think the sides at Rooftop Grill just take up prime stomach real estate.  Going forward I’ll just focus on the meats.

 

For dessert we had the warm chocolate chip cookie and comically had the opposite issue as with dessert at Fine Cut the night before.  The cookie was served oh so wonderfully warm.  The problem is that someone clearly put the scoop of vanilla gelato on top of the warm cookie LONG before our server delivered it to our table, so by the time we got it we basically had a cookie with warm vanilla soup on top.  The restaurant was getting busy by the time the dessert course came so we didn’t want to risk waiting a bunch of time to have it remade. The cookie part was still as good as I remembered from Edge.

 

Our server Satish seemed like he was newer to Celebrity and still learning the ropes, but he was very nice and responsive.

 

Jeremy said this was his favorite dinner on the ship so far (I, an Eden loyalist, hissed under my breath at this) and was so into it that he booked us lunch there for the last sea day.  I was kind of looking forward to Luminae that day, but I’m not one to argue with a man who’s buying me jewelry this week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hcat]

   I am catching up...great review and so fun with both of you in starring roles!

 

  You are so right about all the auto doors.  Unpredicable and dangerous, esp when they turn on you,.  On BEYOND, I was assaulted by the doors more than once., and was locked in for awhile in the  Luminae bathroom..  I particularly avoided that one or brought along  a buddy to wait outside!

 

 Loved the EFFY bauble..will drop the hint to Sal..Our.next cruise on Ascent is a big b day for me ..,last big b day on EDGE,  I got the dancing diamond if my dreams!

 

 Love your look in this shot..Have fun!

 

[Stem to Stern]

49 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

 

 

Head to toe cuteness in overdrive.  Smiles and accessories on point.  Was that a napkin rose that Jeremy was presenting you with in the other pic?

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, westcoastsue said:

Millennium was our first Celebrity cruise in 2002. We loved the Olympic. Celebrated many a birthday there. Back in the day Elite afternoon tea was served there with the harpist playing. So elegant! 

Millennium was also the first ship we ever sailed back in 2001 and still have a fondness for her.  I really miss the Olympic.   Remember the Cheese Cart?

[Jim_Iain]

Charla -   curious about the room service menu.    The menu for a Sky Suite should be the same for the CS, RS and PS.  Is there anything on the back side.    The one I posted yesterday on a different thread had the same items as yours but listed the others on the back side.

 

Regardless -  If you want any of those items, just write on the menu.   I always write in a Cappuccino

 

The additional items are showing on the other suites menus on different ships but for some reason the Room Service Menu not working for Apex.

 

 

[GenerationX]

12 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Charla -   curious about the room service menu.    The menu for a Sky Suite should be the same for the CS, RS and PS.  Is there anything on the back side.    The one I posted yesterday on a different thread had the same items as yours but listed the others on the back side.

 

Regardless -  If you want any of those items, just write on the menu.   I always write in a Cappuccino

 

The additional items are showing on the other suites menus on different ships but for some reason the Room Service Menu not working for Apex.

 

 

Thank you for sharing Jim. This is so weird.
Your menu is definitely different from the menu in our room. The other side of the hang tag just has the space for stateroom info and selecting delivery time. All of the specialties have been removed. They don’t show up in the room service booklet either.

 

Like you I’m not able to see the retreat room service menu in the app, even connected to ship wifi.

 

I wonder if they’re tested a more limited Retreat room service breakfast on this ship/sailing?

 

If we do room service again this sailing I may try writing in an order for steak and eggs and a mimosa just to see what happens…solely for research purposes of course.

 

 

 

[Visitors4]

Charla, we were on the Beyond a week ago, and our room service was the same as yours (without the specialty items). We were in an Aquaclass Sky Suite. Hope your research shows otherwise!

[TeeRick]

14 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Millennium was also the first ship we ever sailed back in 2001 and still have a fondness for her.  I really miss the Olympic.   Remember the Cheese Cart?

Jim- same for us!  Those former M-Class restaurants were fabulous! 

[Bejay219]

We were on the Beyond (first time in a Sky Suite) usually always did Celebrity Suite/Royal.  The room service menu was the same as Charla's.  I spoke to the Butler who said that is the menu for Sky Suites, we had friends with us a couple door down (in a Sky Suite) that had the extended menu like Jim showed.  She shrugged her shoulders and that evening a new extended menu was on our bed.

We will be on a B2B2B on the Apex in April, first two Sky Suites, last cruise Celebrity Suite.  Has anyone else had this happen?  Could someone ask the Retreat Concierge to verify which menu it is as there is a lot of difference between the two.  Thanks in advance. 

 

[terrydtx]

9 minutes ago, Bejay219 said:

We were on the Beyond (first time in a Sky Suite) usually always did Celebrity Suite/Royal.  The room service menu was the same as Charla's.  I spoke to the Butler who said that is the menu for Sky Suites, we had friends with us a couple door down (in a Sky Suite) that had the extended menu like Jim showed.  She shrugged her shoulders and that evening a new extended menu was on our bed.

We will be on a B2B2B on the Apex in April, first two Sky Suites, last cruise Celebrity Suite.  Has anyone else had this happen?  Could someone ask the Retreat Concierge to verify which menu it is as there is a lot of difference between the two.  Thanks in advance. 

 

As others have said just write in the items you want and they will be delivered on room service. We did this last year on the Reflection in a Sky Suite and got eggs benedict and the fancy omelets delivered with no questions asked. BTW I just checked the app for our June Equinox cruise and all of the specialty breakfast items show up on the app.

Edited March 1, 2023 by terrydtx

[Jim_Iain]

Will be interesting to see if they are now using a different Room Service Menu for CS and above.  I'll let you know 45 days from now.   Yea.  Check-In opened this morning.

[Cap_D]

On the App for April 1 Apex sailing in Retreat CS no menu appears for room service in the area lableled "Room Service: Guests of the Retreat."

 

The Rooftop Garden Grill has entirely been missing for months, too.  No mention at all in the App.  

 

Charla, thanks for the fun posts.  Are the fries at Rooftop the same as elsewhere on the ship?  

 

(We both have A-B Hall in common).

Edited March 1, 2023 by Cap_D

[terrydtx]

9 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

The Rooftop Garden Grill has entirely been missing for months, too.  No mention at all in the App. 

We booked the RTG for our September cruise on the Apex, but had to do it online in our Celebrity account. It doesn't show up on our app either.

[Cap_D]

Thanks @terrydtx.  Can confirm that we see Rooftop Garden Grill on the website in our account / planner for the cruise reservation.  

[terrydtx]

5 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

Thanks @terrydtx.  Can confirm that we see Rooftop Garden Grill on the website in our account / planner for the cruise reservation.  

The Celebrity app has become so totally useless. On our September Apex cruise the only specialty restaurants that show up in the app is Le Grande Bistro. No Eden, RTG, La Petite Chef and Fine cut steaks show on it. The suites room service menu now shows no menu and just says "menus subject to change"

Edited March 1, 2023 by terrydtx

[westcoastsue]

19 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Millennium was also the first ship we ever sailed back in 2001 and still have a fondness for her.  I really miss the Olympic.   Remember the Cheese Cart?

Oh yeah! And the Perrier Jouet Fleur champagne.

[cinderellen]

20 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Millennium was also the first ship we ever sailed back in 2001 and still have a fondness for her.  I really miss the Olympic.   Remember the Cheese Cart?

wasn't there a goat cheese Soufflé? We ate in the Olympic on our very first cruise in 2005 for our 25th anniversary. A wonderful experience. 

[Whinenowine]

On 2/27/2023 at 7:35 PM, Jim_Iain said:

One night he prepared a Raspberry Souffle for desert.   It was incredible.

 

Raspberry Souffle....isn't that a a Prince song.....?

 

Sounds delicious...

[Whinenowine]

On 2/28/2023 at 6:51 AM, GenerationX said:

It’s a beautiful morning in St. Thomas!

 

 

 

Hi, Charla--based on this picture, I assume you docked at Subbase?

[C-Dragons]

3 hours ago, terrydtx said:

The Celebrity app has become so totally useless. On our September Apex cruise the only specialty restaurants that show up in the app is Le Grande Bistro. No Eden, RTG, La Petite Chef and Fine cut steaks show on it. The suites room service menu now shows no menu and just says "menus subject to change"

Your cruise is 6 months away. I wonder if that is why certain venues are not showing, or it states “menus subject to change” ? 😊

If X posts the menus closer to departure it would mean fewer changes on the App (caused by possible supply chain issues) and perhaps fewer disappointments? 😉

[GenerationX]

Hello from a beautiful sail away from Tortola!

 

Our day so far:

 

This morning we once again had an early tour assembly time so went with room service breakfast ordered the night before.

 

I had some work to do early morning and Wi-Fi speeds were terrible.  My connection kept dropping and I was very worried I wouldn’t be able to finish my noon deadline project in time and would have to skip our tour.  It reminded me that a similar issue with Wi-Fi happened early morning on my last cruise that ported in Tortola pre-starlink, and I did have to miss going to port to take care of it later in the day when internet was better. 

 

Fortunately I finished just in time as Albert arrived with breakfast. Once again everything we ordered was some of the better quality Celebrity room service I’ve had in a while.

 

After breakfast we headed out on our excursion to Virgin Gorda for snorkeling and beach time at the Virgin Gorda baths.

 

The catamaran boarded right next to the ship and it was about a 30 minute sail over to the Baths. Unlike our excursion in St. Thomas (I swear I’m going to catch up writing tomorrow) the boat wasn’t crowded at all even with a sold out tour and the crew kept the music on the sail out at a low conversation friendly level.

 

If I remember correctly, the tour advisories for this excursion included a weight limit as well as a warning that it is only suitable for very strong swimmers and those without any kind of mobility issues.  

 

Those advisories are very well heeded.

 

We initially moored off of Devil’s Bay beach where we snorkeled about 300 yards in from the boat to the beach.  

 

The boat captain told us we were very lucky as it was the first yellow flag day after weeks of red flag waves and undertow.

 

Even on a yellow flag day, our guide was very right in telling us that the ocean there “is NOT a swimming pool”.

 

To get to the beach you had to swim through about a 6 ft wide gap between massive boulders and the end of the line of buoys marking off the snorkeling area.  Fighting a current pushing you towards the boulders. You have to take anything you may want from the boat for the beach with you on the swim.

 

I suggest strapping water shoes through the strap of your snorkel float vest (our guides told us they “wouldn’t be necessary” but that hike through the baths definitely would have been more comfortable if I’d had water shoes on) and maybe bringing a dry case for your phone/money and strapping it to you as well if you think you’ll want it for the beach. The guide did have a dry bag that he  offered to carry people’s phones, medications and glasses/shades in, but said he would not accept towels, money/wallets or cameras, so if you want to bring any of those things, you’ll have to have your own floating dry bag.

 

The snorkeling on the way in wasn’t very good. We saw a few fish but that’s it.  Lots of sand bottom and no real coral.  

 

Once we got to land, we hiked a trail for about 45 minutes through the Baths.  I think about 10-15 minutes of that was our group standing in line and waiting for the guides to try and assist a mobility impaired passenger (who I guess didn’t take the booking warnings seriously) through the more technical parts of the caves.  There are areas where you climb up and down some steep, narrow wooden ladders and wade through about knee deep water assisted only by anchored tow ropes.  There were also a few passages where at 5’5, I still had to almost crawl to go through.  If you’re up for it though, it really is a fun experience and with such cool scenery.

 

When we got to the main beach on the other side of the caves,  there was an area with vendors and a small restaurant. We were given about an hour to swim and hang out. The waves and currents there were decent as well, but swimable with some effort.  In fact it had to be swimable because after beach time, we had to swim about another 200 yards back to our boat which had moved over to meet us on the other side of the baths.  

 

Jeremy and I decided to snorkel our way back a little early and the snorkeling out to the boat from the main beach was much better than the snorkeling in had been. We saw lots more fish and a ray almost the size of me!

 

I think if we were to do an trip to the baths again, we’d probably book one that is just a trip to the Baths and beach and bring our own snorkel equipment to hit the good spots if we feel like it. Rather than deal with the swims back and forth to/from the boats.

 

On the sail back to the ship, the crew offered complimentary (stiff) rum punch and water and turned up the music a bit.

 

When we got back to port, we tried to stop at a small bar in port for conch fritters and more rum punch, but after sitting at a table for almost a half hour without a server stopping to take our order,  we decided to head back to the ship and have a late lunch in the buffet.

 

I am pleased to report that the food options, even on a port day a half hour before lunch was set to end, were plentiful.  To match our destination there was a Caribbean theme to the chef’s specialties. We had some very good jerk pork, jerk chicken and barramundi (one of my favorite fish) and I even got adventurous and tried goat curry for the first time (I’m a fan).  I also couldn’t pass up a piece of leg of lamb and one of the thin steaks from the grill which are a buffet favorite of mine and were just as good on Apex as I recall from other ships.

 

Drink service was a little weird at first, a drunk server walked by our table, flipped down the little menu (the sign to other servers that we’ve been given drink service) but then just walked away without saying a word to us.  Fortunately a couple of minutes later, a nice young lady who’d served us the day before when we went for a pizza snack came by and greeted us by name and even remembered our drink orders.

 

After lunch Jeremy headed to the pool and I came back to the room to do some work and found our butler had left us a nice note and a treat, which I thoroughly enjoyed while forced to do my day job.

 

Now it’s time for me to tear myself away from this beautiful sunset to shower and dress and head to the second production show before dinner in Luminae.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jelayne]

Charla, did you mean drunk server or drink server?