Live on the Apex March 18-25, 2023

[garyl62]

On board and getting settled in before we sail away. Quick check-in like many others have reported.  We brought 3 bottles of wine with us and this time I decided to bring them in my carry-on.  I told the guy running the x-ray machine I had them in there, he just looked at me like it's no big deal but didn't say anything.  He ran the bag through the scanner and never said a word to me the entire time.  I picked it up and off we went.  We had an 11:00 time, and could have been onboard by 11:15 but we sat down and enjoyed an almond croissant before we went onboard!  One thing I missed was lack of an escort onboard and to our cabin.  Maybe they don't do that for Celebrity Suites or below, but getting a little extra direction since this was our first time on an E-Class could have helped.  Also noticed very long elevator lines but nothing that really put a damper on the embarkation process.

 

Dropped our carryon off and met our room steward (forgot his name and didn't get a card so I'll update later) the room wasn't finished yet so we went to the retreat lounge and adjusted a couple of dinner reservations.  From there off to Luminae for traditional lobster roll lunch.  DW had the steak and said it was very good.  From there we wondered around the ship and took things in.  Oceanview Cafe was very busy and all the stations were open. We stopped by our Muster location, walked around the ship a little more and decided to head to our room.

 

Back to the room to unpack as luggage arrived by 2:30 and room was clean.  Our Butler Liam stopped in to discuss our desires, and stressed his ability to do anything for us.  We made a couple requests regarding pillows and glassware, but nothing else really.

 

Suites entry, left door, then left side of elevator as many have said.  Several staff there to make sure you go the proper way.

 

Snacks in the check-in area

 

Typical CS

 

 

Macallan Quest  in the center on the Magic Carpet

 

Enjoying an Orange Mojito on the Magic Carpet!

[sea mom]

Can you please post the beer selection menu at Craft Social.

 

Thanks and safe travels.

[binro01]

Cheers! Enjoy that first drink and the rest to come. Glad to hear your wife liked the steak at Luminae. How did you like the lobster roll?

[dlh015]

Wow, wow, wow!!  The snacks in the check-in area look waaaaay better than what they had for me on my January cruise or maybe it just looks that way because I'm feeling a little hungry...lol...

 

But you are on the Apex and I was on the Equinox...

[garyl62]

34 minutes ago, binro01 said:

Cheers! Enjoy that first drink and the rest to come. Glad to hear your wife liked the steak at Luminae. How did you like the lobster roll?

I always enjoy the lobster roll. I've learned from several others who suggest getting it "deconstructed". So I ask for the roll on the side and then have them put the lobster salad on top of the lettuce as a standalone item on the plate. Normally you get a larger serving of lobster salad,  but not sure that happened today. Doesn't matter,  no one will go hungry on a Celebrity ship! 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, dlh015 said:

Wow, wow, wow!!  The snacks in the check-in area look waaaaay better than what they had for me on my January cruise or maybe it just looks that way because I'm feeling a little hungry...lol...

 

But you are on the Apex and I was on the Equinox...

Suite Check in for BEYOND suites in Nov... had no snacks at all..just a bar..underwhelming!

 

How did you book dinner on Edge ahead?  Was it your level of suite?

For Ascent we won't be in the Retreat..but have pre- booked EDEN and FINE CUT..

 

Have a Great Cruise...

[breezy1200]

Hi Gary,  have a fantastic cruise!  Thanks for sharing.

 

During your wandering around the ship, can you let us know if there is a craps table in the casino?

[Silkroad]

Following. I’m very much looking forward to your impressions. Wishing you a wonderful cruise. Cheers! 🥂

[garyl62]

12 hours ago, breezy1200 said:

Hi Gary,  have a fantastic cruise!  Thanks for sharing.

 

During your wandering around the ship, can you let us know if there is a craps table in the casino?

Did a quick walk through last night and saw there was one table. Seemed to be about 6 people around it and a few more watching from a slight distance. 

[garyl62]

12 hours ago, hcat said:

 

How did you book dinner on Edge ahead?  Was it your level of suite?

For Ascent we won't be in the Retreat..but have pre- booked EDEN and FINE CUT..

 

Have a Great Cruise...

I just booked it through my cruise planner. I don't recall where it was listed, but it was available for anyone to sign up for. 

[garyl62]

15 hours ago, sea mom said:

Can you please post the beer selection menu at Craft Social.

 

Thanks and safe travels.

Didn't get there last night but will stop by and get a photo for you 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Enjoying your posts and food pictures! We love Celebrity and hope you enjoy!

[garyl62]

Pulling in to dock at Key West. 

 

 Overall we had a good embarkation day. Things went smooth we explored many parts of the ship, rested in our cabin for a while, enjoyed a nice meal in Luminae then the 9 PM show featuring Andrew Derbyshire. He is a British singer that has a big voice and sang many well known songs.  People really liked him, but I don't need to go to his bonus show tomorrow. 

 

Having a small fruit and pastry (another almond croissant! ) breakfast on our balcony today. 

 

Then we'll will walk over to the Truman White House (one of those white buildings a couple blocks away) and back to then board one of these small boats in the foreground for a quick ride to Sunset Key for lunch at Latitudes. If the rain holds off we'll do a little exploring before our onboard time of 4:30.

Edited March 19, 2023 by garyl62

[breezy1200]

3 hours ago, garyl62 said:

Did a quick walk through last night and saw there was one table. Seemed to be about 6 people around it and a few more watching from a slight distance. 

Thanks very much!   

[garyl62]

Headed over to the Truman Little White House this morning. Just a short walk from where we docked, probably less than 5 minutes. The museum opens at 9, tours start at 9:30 and are conducted on the half hour. We got there at 9:20 and caught the 1st tour. Our tour guide Ann was excellent, very engaging with questions and providing information, yet still kept us on a one hour schedule. No photos are allowed in the museum however she offered to take one of us at the end. I would definitely recommend this to anyone as it's informative, but not overly long either. 

 

 

 

From there we had time to do a little wandering around town and then headed back towards the ship to catch a small boat over to sunset key for lunch at Latitudes. Had a great lunch on the beach which included a key lime martini! The boat ride also gave us a different perspective of the Apex.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following lunch we came back and walked around town a little more and fulfilled the proverbial requirement of having a piece of key lime pie.

 

 

Back in the cabin now as we just sailed away and we'll be getting ready for dinner at Fine Cut this evening.

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by garyl62

[asnaleah]

So glad to see your review! We haven’t yet sailed on E class. 

[garyl62]

We had an excellent dinner in Fine Cut last night.  We started with wedge salads and crab cake for appetizer, then we both selected the filet and it was cooked to perfection. We had 4 sides to share between the 2 of us, asparagus, mac and cheese, mushrooms, and potato tots. To top it off we had the ice cream sundae.   Our service was very timely and we never felt like we had to wait for any course.  Our waiter was Mushtaq and he had several excellent recommendations which we took most of the time.  It was so good that we decided to go back again tonight!

 

 

 

 

After dinner we made a quick stop at the martini bar to watch the light show and then walked down to the theater for The Tree of Life production show.

 

Seas started to get a little rough and there were a lot of people banging off the walls as they were walking back to their cabins following the late show. 😄

[garyl62]

We have sea day today, the sky's are overcast and the seas are rougher than usual in the Caribbean. Probably nothing for some of you people who have done TA's and other trips in more robust oceans but you can definitely feel the ship moving.

 

Just had a quick coffee and almond croissant in ourcabin and plan to explore more of the ship today. Also have a Behind the Scenes Tour later this morning.

 

Should be able to answer a lot of your questions today if anyone has some.

 

[Texed]

Mr. Gary,

We were on Apex for a B2B in January.  We enjoyed the cruises on a great ship.  Thanks for posting your experiences.  😊

[garyl62]

Pretty quiet in the Retreat Lounge this morning. Looks like a good spot to sit and enjoy a coffee while watching the ocean go by.

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 3/18/2023 at 1:01 PM, cinderellen said:

Jim, have you been on the Apex before?

 

Not yet but will be boarding 26 days.

[Cap_D]

Thanks for the pics of Fine Cut.  It has been a while since we've seen pics that show the steak appearing with thickness and char like a "steakhouse."

[garyl62]

58 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

Thanks for the pics of Fine Cut.  It has been a while since we've seen pics that show the steak appearing with thickness and char like a "steakhouse."

You are correct, however while this steak was excellent, the night before Luminae served what they called a "Grilled New York Strip Steak" and it was really just a roast. No char and had the texture of a roast. Notice the exterior ring, clearly roasted and not grilled.  We didn't complain as nothing was going to change our experience at that meal, but we'll comment about it on our survey. 

 

[cinderellen]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Not yet but will be boarding 26 days.

It's pretty amazing. 

[bookitdanno]

@garyl62 Thanks for the great review and especially the pics.

Since every place seems to have their own definition of how done a steak is, can I ask how you ordered that filet to be done?

TIA