Trip Report for Apex Iceland Cruise 7/723

[Onasunnyafternoon]

Thanks for your fantastic report, really useful as we go on the same cruise next month. We truly appreciate all the details. Happy onwards travel for you both! 

[kwokpot]

Cruise wrapup and final thoughts

I'm laying in bed in my hotel in Rome almost ready for my next cruise (7 day Greek Islands and Mediterranean on Royal's Odyssey of the Seas) and I just wanted to wrap up my thoughts on the Apex cruise.

 

Ship

This was our second time on the Apex, the first time in December 2021 and the ship looks just like it did when we first sailed her. Everything about the ship, the facilities, staff, food was on point. The only disappointment we had was our dinner at Fine Cut Steakhouse. Nothing was bad per se, but our experience just didn't rise to the level of a specialty restaurant that warranted an extra $60/pp cover. One could look at it as saying we felt the service and food quality of the four main dining rooms was equal to our experience at Fine Cut. We had zero issues with our cabin and the same goes for our cabin attendant. We enjoyed our dinner experiences in the MDR and for me only one dinner entree didn't meet my expectations.  The Oceanview Cafe/buffet was consistently excellent with a wide variety of choices which also extended to dinnertime. Cafe Al Bacio is our favorite venue and the coffee, tea, and dessert quality and choices were top notch. The same goes for the staff there who remembered our orders and were always such a pleasure to interact with.

 

Although we didn't partake in too many of the entertainment choices on board on the whole they were varied and high quality. Many times we enjoyed listening to the entertainment from the Grand Plaza while enjoying our coffee at Cafe Al Bacio.

 

The fitness center is well equipped and although it was busy every day during our sailing the crowds never hindered my ability to complete my workout routine.

 

The Ports

Every port on this itinerary besides Rotterdam was new to us, which is why we chose this sailing, and it didn't disappoint. The three Iceland ports were a great sampling of what Iceland has to offer. We did tours at two of the three ports and they were both independent. We did have issues with the tour companies in both Isafjordur and Reykjavik but ultimately we got resolutions with both companies and were able to see the attractions that we wanted to see. I thought our port time in Cobh would be too short to visit Cork but my fears were unfounded and we enjoyed a short afternoon in Cork. Both Glasgow and Belfast were very enjoyable just to walk around the City Centers and get a small glimpse of what each town was like and had to offer.

 

Weather

I was so concerned pre-cruise about the weather for this itinerary but we definitely lucked out and in Iceland we had no rain and mild temperatures.  The rain did come and go a couple of times in Belfast but it didn't hamper walking around town. And it was a wonderful surprise to see the Gay Pride Parade and the thousands of participants go through the streets of Glasgow. 

 

Summary

All in all besides Robert getting sick and basically in the cabin for 2.5 days and the mishaps with our private tours we couldn't have asked for a better cruise. Both Amsterdam and Rotterdam were great places to embark and disembark and although it obviously would have been easier to have boarded from Amsterdam it gave us the opportunity to visit Rotterdam a second time (The first time was via a cruise port stop) and enjoy a great one night pre-cruise stay and meal in this beautiful city. 

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by kwokpot

[Beachlover1989]

Thank you so much for your detailed review and synopsis!  We're really looking forward to boarding Apex on Aug 9!

[cinderellen]

What a wonderful review! Your pictures are stunning. Thank you. 

[sharonbear]

How often was your cabin cleaned/tidied up?  I thought I remember receiving an email that said you could choose if you wanted once or twice a day.  They were trying to encourage the once a day by giving you some points towards your status.  The points didn't seem much and hardly worth it.  Just curious.

[kwokpot]

5 hours ago, sharonbear said:

How often was your cabin cleaned/tidied up?  I thought I remember receiving an email that said you could choose if you wanted once or twice a day.  They were trying to encourage the once a day by giving you some points towards your status.  The points didn't seem much and hardly worth it.  Just curious.

Twice a day. I think you are referring the Green program or something to that effect. Although I didn't receive an email to participate in it for this cruise, I've done it before on a previous one. At that time I didn't notice any difference since they still came in the evening to freshen up the cabin. I think the idea was no change out of towels to lessen the amount of laundry. But I didn't opt for it on this cruise.