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

[Swordfish1949]

Totally get the sadness of a wonderful cruise nearing its end. Many thanks for sharing it with us.

[GenerationX]

Packing and envelope stuffing have begun…we drowned our sorrows enjoying a last veranda sunset with a bottle of wine we brought onboard from the winemaker who lives up the road from us (yes, that is as dangerous and expensive of a neighbor to have as it sounds).

 

After our morning in the cabana Jeremy and I had lunch at the rooftop grill.  

 

We started with the oh so good train wreck fries again and ordered the dry rub wings but they came out with the Buffalo sauce instead.  It ended up being a good mistake because we REALLY liked the buffalo wings. Sweet and tangy with just the right touch of heat.  They’re messy as all get out so probably not an evening chic night order, but our server gave us wet wipes to clean up our fingers afterwards.

 

For mains Jeremy had the most massive Reuben burger I’ve ever seen in my life and I had the sausage flatbread I’d been anxious to eat again ever since edge.  Jeremy loved his burger. I was sad to find that my flatbread was nowhere near as good as it had been on Edge.  Some of the sausage wasn’t cooked through all the way and the broccoli chunks were cut way too big to cook properly on a pizza.

 

I’d had plenty to eat with the huge apps and splitting a ceasar salad, so I didn’t go hungry.  

 

After lunch we spent a bit more time in our cabana and then went to do some shopping before our future cruises meeting.  The cabana attendants brought us any cocktails we wanted for free since we had the beverage package and we weren’t feeling up to drinking a whole bottle of veuve yet (included in the cabana rental), so we took the champagne bottle with us when we left and dropped it in our stateroom fridge and will have it with dinner tonight in Luminae instead.

 

On Edge and Beyond the shops were sold out of the ship Christmas ornaments that we’ve gotten for every ship we sail on. This time I got the last ornament on the rack!

 

Then it was time to have tea and meet with future cruises to book Jeremy’s 40th birthday bucket list cruise.  In October we’ll be spending 10 nights on Beyond in Aqua class sailing to Italy, Greece and Montenegro out of Rome!  The future cruises consultant matched the price online under the current promo. We also got the onboard booking perks of an additional $200 onboard credit and reduced $200 non refundable deposit.  She also gave us our captains club complimentary stateroom category upgrade.

 

I’m off to finish pre-departure tasks then shower and dress for the rockstar production show and one last dinner in Luminae.

 

We’ll be turning in early tonight, so before bed I’ll do a catch up post to remind me of happier times back on the beautiful island of St. Thomas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[asnaleah]

Charla, so happy for you and Jeremy! Safe travels home, and maybe I will someday learn to take photos of my food prior to digging in…

 

We are thoroughly enjoying Azamara Pursuit! Excellent crew and lovely fellow travelers. Rio on Monday.

[RichYak]

14 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

In October we’ll be spending 10 nights on Beyond in Aqua class sailing to Italy, Greece and Montenegro out of Rome!

That sounds like a great itinerary. I did a similar one last summer. The sail into Montenegro via the Bay of Kotor is stunning. I can recommend a wonderful tour guide if you're interested. I can also recommend one for Corfu.

[Texed]

Thanks again for posting.  😊

[Jim_Iain]

I have so enjoyed following along.   I have to say Jeremy's smile is infectious.   His love for you is so apparent every time he is captured looking at you.

 

I can't believe it is that terrible time of a cruise when the luggage tags arrive.   Looking forward to your next live post.

 

One quick question when you get a chance to answer.   In Luminae on an E-Class ships, do you get the same waiter and assistant every night or do you different ones each evening?   I really like it when we just have a single server so we can get to know them and they get to know us.

[hcat]

hate to see this blog end..thanks for taking us along on your special journey!  

[onlyano]

I really enjoying reading along!

[terrydtx]

3 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Then it was time to have tea and meet with future cruises to book Jeremy’s 40th birthday bucket list cruise.  In October we’ll be spending 10 nights on Beyond in Aqua class sailing to Italy, Greece and Montenegro out of Rome! 

We did that cruise last year on the Reflection and loved the itinerary. Jeremy will love the ship and cruise. October is a much better time to go, we did it in August when Rome was over 100 degrees as was most of Greece and Croatia. Safe travels home to you both.

[oshmom]

I have been following your live reports, Thank You!  I agree with Richyak, the sail into Montenegro is not to be missed.  It’s an experience I visualize often. My Med cruises (2) have been phenomenal.

[terrydtx]

3 hours ago, RichYak said:

That sounds like a great itinerary. I did a similar one last summer. The sail into Montenegro via the Bay of Kotor is stunning. I can recommend a wonderful tour guide if you're interested. I can also recommend one for Corfu.

We did a Reflection cruise last year that did Italy, Montenegro and Corfu. The cruise down the bay of Kotor was covered in smoke as most of the surrounding hills were on fire from lightening storms that week.

[jpsykes]

Thanks for the posts - gonna spend 14 days on Apex in April B2B 

[scokely]

9 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Then it was time to have tea and meet with future cruises to book Jeremy’s 40th birthday bucket list cruise.  In October we’ll be spending 10 nights on Beyond in Aqua class sailing to Italy, Greece and Montenegro out of Rome!  The future cruises consultant matched the price online under the current promo. We also got the onboard booking perks of an additional $200 onboard credit and reduced $200 non refundable deposit.  She also gave us our captains club complimentary stateroom category upgrade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That will be a great itinerary, and October is the perfect time to spend in Rome!

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Always enjoy your posts and pictures. Glad you had a great time. We love Europe both land and sea and have been blessed to have visited countless times.  Is your voyage begins or ends in Venice, may I suggest the Cipriani for a pre or post cruise stay which we often do. In Barcelona the Hotel Arts. There are also other hotels in other cities which I can respectfully recommend if you want. Please keep us posted and all the best.  By the way, our Med cruises have been with Celebrity and Cunard. Different experiences but equally wonderful!

[cruisebeachgirl703]

Loving the pics. So happy!!! Thanks for the review once again.

[GenerationX]

Well here we are back in Port Everglades.  

 

This morning at breakfast when Jeremy’s smoked salmon eggs Benedict arrived, he just sat there looking at it for a moment, admiring its beauty one last time before we regress again to breakfasts consisting of toaster pastries consumed in the car on the drive to work.

 

T25 was using facial recognition for customs this morning so disembarkation was very quick and easy.  Less quick and easy was getting an Uber.  The first car we were assigned stopped moving at the entrance to port Everglades and sat there for 15 minutes then our ride was canceled and we were reassigned.  By the time our new driver was making his way in, a car had broke down in the middle of one of the Uber pick up lanes, causing a traffic nightmare.

 

While we’re on our way to Miami, let’s go back to better days and talk about our day  St. Thomas.

 

In some ways the excursion was a lot like the one we did in Tortola.  We were picked up by a motor (NOT sailing) catamaran right in the port area and sailed about a half hour out to a protected marine reserve off St. John to snorkel.

 

Unlike Tortola, for this excursion the boat was jam packed and we were all sitting hip to hip.  Also unlike Tortola, the music on this boat on the sail out was definitely not conversation friendly level. They were ready to start a party.  If you want less of a party boat atmosphere for your St. Thomas snorkeling, I’d recommend the “luxury catamaran sail and snorkel” excursion that I did on my last cruise to St. Thomas.

 

The snorkeling was decent. We saw lots of colorful fish and a few rays.  Unfortunately Jeremy’s dream of seeing a sea turtle in the wild remains unfulfilled, but he still had a good time.

 

After snorkeling the crew opened up a complimentary rum punch bar and we sailed to a nice clean small beach where we could swim and lay out in the sand for about an hour. 

 

While we were on the beach we met a very cool couple from Virginia and when we got back to port, fueled by the rum punch, the four of us decided to walk around and see if we could find another local cocktail or two.

 

We ended up inside an air conditioned bar inside a windmill in the port area where we were the only customers at 1pm. 

 

The bartender was very sweet and friendly and since we were her only task for the afternoon, she joined us at our table and we had a great conversation about her life on the island and its food, culture and, of course drinks!  Speaking of drinks, we did get to try a few local specialties, including a drink called the Cruzan confusion (made with 7 different types of flavored rum) and the Virgin Islands spin on Mamajuana. I drink quite a bit of mamajuana when at our favorite land resort in the Dominican Republic. In the VI’s in addition to adding rum to the spices and special bark steeped to make the drink, apparently  they also add Hennessy!

 

Prices at the bar were also surprisingly reasonable for a tourist spot.  There were four of us and we each had a cocktail, a local beer and a couple of shots, and our total tab came to a little under $25 per person before tip.

 

We got back to the ship in that weird time window between lunch and tea when food options were scarce, so we just grabbed a couple of pieces of pizza in oceanview to ride us out till dinner at Raw on 5. Which reminds me I still need to report on that too.  

 

Much more to come from this recently evicted resident of Apex!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GenerationX]

16 hours ago, RichYak said:

That sounds like a great itinerary. I did a similar one last summer. The sail into Montenegro via the Bay of Kotor is stunning. I can recommend a wonderful tour guide if you're interested. I can also recommend one for Corfu.

Thank you! Yes, tour recommendations would be very much appreciated!  If you don’t feel comfortable sharing in the full review audience, just let me know the best way to reach out.

[KKB]

17 hours ago, GenerationX said:

 

Then it was time to have tea and meet with future cruises to book Jeremy’s 40th birthday bucket list cruise.  In October we’ll be spending 10 nights on Beyond in Aqua class sailing to Italy, Greece and Montenegro out of Rome!  The future cruises consultant matched the price online under the current promo. We also got the onboard booking perks of an additional $200 onboard credit and reduced $200 non refundable deposit.  She also gave us our captains club complimentary stateroom category upgrade.

 

Sounds wonderful! Safe travels home.

So did you get Jeremy added to your April cruise?

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, GenerationX said:

Thank you! Yes, tour recommendations would be very much appreciated!  If you don’t feel comfortable sharing in the full review audience, just let me know the best way to reach out.

We did a private tour of Montenegro that took us up the snake road that had 27 switch backs up into the mountains. I will try to find the tour but it was so hot in Montenegro and at the top of the mountains it was 20 degrees cooler.

[cruisebeachgirl703]

On 3/3/2023 at 1:35 PM, terrydtx said:

The retreat lounge seems to find ways to get the liquors passengers ask for, so I hope they can find a bottle of Macallan for us in Sept. Last Year the Michaels club lounge on the Reflection found a bottle of Antica Vermouth for us to make the best Manhattans.

Not always. Equinox May 2022 only Mumms chamapgne offered. Summit July 2022 only Cattier offered. Neither one palatable for us.

[RichYak]

2 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Thank you! Yes, tour recommendations would be very much appreciated!  If you don’t feel comfortable sharing in the full review audience, just let me know the best way to reach out.

I'm more than happy to share here.

 

In Montenegro we used Miro & Sons and our guide's name was Bruna. She was wonderful, so proud of her home country that it was infectious. The tour started with traversing the switchbacks that @terrydtx mentioned. The views from the top were gorgeous.

 

In Corfu, we used Leonidas Pachis who owns Pachis Travel. We booked him through Viator. Also a great tour with more stunning vistas, a beautiful monastery and an olive oil museum. 

 

Both tours were great and Bruna and Leonidas were the best!

[Texed]

3 hours ago, GenerationX said:

While we’re on our way to Miami, let’s go back to better days and talk about our day  St. Thomas.

The snorkeling was decent. We saw lots of colorful fish and a few rays.  Unfortunately Jeremy’s dream of seeing a sea turtle in the wild remains unfulfilled, but he still had a good time.

 

Too bad Jeremy missed turtle spotting.  The last time we were in St. Martin, we got off the ship about an hour for Jacquie's shopping fix and picking up some Jerk Chicken spices.

 

We returned to the ship, and I sat on the veranda.  I watched three sea turtles play near the ship for a couple of hours.  😊

[DaKahuna]

18 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

One quick question when you get a chance to answer.   In Luminae on an E-Class ships, do you get the same waiter and assistant every night or do you different ones each evening?   I really like it when we just have a single server so we can get to know them and they get to know us.

 

When we sailed on Edge we had the same waiter every night and predominately the same assistant waiter. There were two assistants covering a larger area than our waiter, if that made sense. 

 

We also prefer having the same waitstaff the entire cruise. 

 

[C-Dragons]

18 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I have so enjoyed following along.   I have to say Jeremy's smile is infectious.   His love for you is so apparent every time he is captured looking at you.

 

I can't believe it is that terrible time of a cruise when the luggage tags arrive.   Looking forward to your next live post.

 

One quick question when you get a chance to answer.   In Luminae on an E-Class ships, do you get the same waiter and assistant every night or do you different ones each evening?   I really like it when we just have a single server so we can get to know them and they get to know us.

Yes, we do on every sailing.

Edited March 4, 2023 by C-Dragons

[39august]

You must have docked at Crown Bay in St. T. But I don't recall a bar in a windmill there. Were you away from the port?