BeeMinor

Does anyone know offhand how separating the beds works with the pole placement? Just booked one of these on Reflection for a friends trip over the summer and I'm wandering if it will be super awkward to maneuver around.

I think the process might actually have changed. There was a note in the planners about "checking out" towels. I'm not sure exactly how anyone would go about that, but then there was another note on the disembarkation info about remembering to check them back in or being charged a $25 fee. BeeMajor grabbed a couple from the main pool deck while we were walking by and we took those on catamaran #2. Never "checked them out" or officially returned them, just left them in the stateroom. It's a small thing but it seemed . . . ungracious might be the word I'm looking for.

It's been a week since we've been back and we're both fine! We both had Covid in the spring and got the latest booster in late October but otherwise we didn't take any special precautions. Hope everyone else on the sailing had an equally healthy return.

Congratulations to you both!!! I don't think we ever talked but I'm sure we must have crossed paths at some point. There were just so many people in the Retreat I feel like some people I encountered once or twice and then never saw again! How was the Ralph Harris adult show? I am 100% sure we would have been asleep by the time it was on anyway so we skipped for a couple reasons but I am really curious how his material changed for a different crowd.

I noticed some empty tables when we were there too. I was speculating to myself about whether it was a timing/table turn issue or whether the restaurants were required to hold a table or two for the upper level suites just in case. Regardless I'm sure the line of people being turned away weren't thrilled about it!

Day 7 and departure: Hello from back home! I have a last recap and some concluding thoughts, so thanks for following along with my liveish thread! Our last day was another sea day--we had three altogether. That time change finally happened and I was up quite early to find that the good chairs were being claimed by the Retreat pool even before 7 am. Luminae didn't open for breakfast until 8, and by the time we finished only the back area had loungers. Everything was fully occupied by lunch. The main pool area seemed like a madhouse. The captain said in the morning announcement that we were "a full house" and it certainly felt that way! Getting a slice of pizza requires both patience and ruthlessness on a full ship. We spent the day lounging, snacking, and bar hopping. I decided to walk off some lunch by taking a wander up and down the cabin halls to check out the photographs, which have varying regional or "vintage/retro" themes. Normally BeeMajor and I are trivia goers, but practically every trivia and in general most of the daytime activities all throughout the cruise were held in the Club. We don't see the appeal of sitting in a windowless and heavily air conditioned room on a beautiful Caribbean day, so that was kind of a bummer. We did go to the Musical Murder Mystery on Thursday afternoon and that was fun and pretty silly. We got all packed up and put out our suitcases before a last dinner in Luminae. We ate a little less in Luminae than usual, I think, and ultimately decided that we like the smaller versions of the restaurant we've experienced on M-class especially even though the food was generally better on Edge/Apex and the service was excellent. The tables just seemed so close together and the vibe is a little louder and more frenetic versus the relaxed dining experience on the older ships. Overall we found the suite experience less special even--or perhaps because--it's so hyped. The concierges (Paolo and Liz) didn't have much a personal touch and I highly doubt they ever knew our names; I only ever saw Liz on boarding day and this morning when departing. On other ships we've been invited to, say, musical performances or officers' meet and greets in the suite lounge but nothing this time whatsoever. Our butler (Dean) was extremely efficient and absolutely made sure everything we asked for was taken care of, but he was clearly super busy and was, I believe, covering twice as many rooms as usual. We often get to know a couple of staffers over the course of the week but that didn't really happen. Ultimately I think we may just prefer ships with fewer suites even if they lack some of the E-class amenities. Departure went smoothly this morning and I am pleased to report we had a very uneventful trip home where we were happily reunited with the dog! All in all we were happy with the cruise and I have no real complaints (my finger has recovered from being bitten by the water bottles) but this was the first Celebrity cruise we've taken that we didn't make another booking while on board. I priced a couple options out before we boarded and was prepared to be persuaded but IMO the experience just isn't there for $10k+ a week or $6k for a 4-nighter. We travel often and for that money there are just so many other options. We did book another cruise with another line, however, so we haven't given it up for good! And kudos to Celebrity for not firewalling their competitors' websites on the ship WiFi. If anyone has questions let me know!

Whoops, left out a key word there. We never received invitations for anything. BeeMajor didn't even get a reminder for his haircut appointment.

We got a flyer in the cabin at boarding with Elite benefits. (see below) Kind of forgot about it and never heard another peep from the Captain's Club reps. We received invitations for anything that wasn't shopping or "art." I'll circle back to this when I wrap up tomorrow but we considered this an overall miss by Celebrity.

The beach itself was not very exciting and I don't think anyone was snorkeling. People were bobbing around in the water but the highlight was the catamaran/lunch experience. Neither of us are snorkelers so great for us but I do think there is a separate excursion option that might be more water-forward. Our excursion was operated by Leeward Island Charters, or something similar.

We're not visiting Petit Chef or Fine Cut on this cruise, but have in the past on Edge, so we've tried all of them I think. Petit Chef is fun one time. It's very orchestrated. Fine Cut does a nice job with steak, but there are plenty of good steaks all around the ship. My husband says Le Grand Bistro had the best steak of the ones he's had to date. Raw on 5, the Bistro, and the Rooftop Grill are all open for lunch, too, at least sometimes. You won't go hungry!

The Alltrails reviews for Liamuiga make me think it's also not too fun when it's wet because it gets so slippery. I don't even think it was offered for this sailing, at least not the last time I looked at the cruise planner. Someday. Hope you have a great hike!

Day 6: A beautiful Thanksgiving at sea! The weather was sunny and warm, hot in the sun, and all the pools were packed. Even the back Retreat sundeck, which has been more thinly used, got pretty full throughout the day. This is our third cruise over Thanksgiving and this one seemed much more aware of the holiday than the others we've been on. The captain gave a little speech about being thankful for family during the morning announcement and the crew were wished everyone happy Thanksgiving, which some of the non-American guests seemed a bit baffled over. The buffet had a full Thanksgiving spread at lunch: turkey and gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, the dreaded green bean casserole, etc. Luminae, at least, was also apparently serving Thanksgiving food to certain tables at lunch and especially dinner, which maybe wasn't a great idea. The regular dinner menu was the lobster entree Evening Chic one, and service was slower than usual. The staff had a slightly wild-eyed look. I hope they made it through . . . both because they have been a very good group and because I want breakfast. A few other miscellaneous points. Wifi: we have premium wifi as part of the Retreat package. It's just okay. I'm able to use social media, post photos, check emails, etc but loading websites is often very slow. We got Spotify to work last night but with lots of buffering. Covid: there are no rules! No announcements, no masks requirements and almost no voluntary masks, but also no significant coughing/sneezing that I've noticed around the ship. Venues are very busy. I haven't seen any room service tables parked outside staterooms. If you are Covid-cautious, holiday sailings might be an especially bad choice. Sports: World Cup games are being shown at the Rooftop Garden and Craft Social as well as on in-room TV. Same for football. There's been a pretty good crowd when I've walked by and yesterday there was a burger/hot dog buffet set up in the Rooftop Garden Grill in the afternoon. One last sea day for us! The time really did change overnight so I was up especially bright and early. Time to find coffee and then do a whole lot of nothing

Must just be a change then. It was listed on the app menu at the beginning of the week but has now definitely been dropped.

It is. It might just be because this sailing is so full--I keep hearing 3000 people. We asked about it and our server suggested getting multiple dishes to share instead which worked.

We booked pre-cruise. The time is listed on the wine events card the sommeliers have and there's a reminder card like you'd get for a dinner reservation. If you're concerned about a conflict you can check the time and book with a sommelier on board.

It was just a cove, really. There are picnic tables but no loungers. Toilet is on the catamaran so plan ahead.

We definitely preferred the St Kitts catamaran, but the beach itself is nicer at Jost Van Dyke. Are you going up Mt Liamuiga? We're hikers and I would love to do that although it seems a bit intimidating.

Day 5: St Kitts. We weren't hungry for breakfast so just had some coffee and had a lazy morning on the balcony before heading for our excursion, St. Kitts Catamaran Sail and Nevis Beach Getaway. This was an excellent excursion, 5 stars/A+ would do again. It was really what we wanted the Jost Van Dyke day to be: a catamaran trip spent lounging on the nets, a couple hours at a beach where the crew served a casual but tasty Caribbean lunch, an open bar, and great vibes all around. I didn't even mind getting soaked in a cloud burst coming back to the ship. Back in dry clothes, BeeMajor and I went to the mixology class in Eden. I've mentioned this is a pretty full cruise and it seems this event was oversold because the last people to show up got turned away due to lack of seats even though it sounded like they'd signed up and prepaid. An Eden Bar bartender led a group of 20 people through making (and attempting to drink) 3 cocktails. I've attended several cocktail seminars before, never on a cruise, and this one had good drinks and was pretty fun. I think it would be better with a smaller group actually at the bar, but we've found the whole ship experience to be a bit impersonal so maybe that's just us. Last night's show was Tree of Life. The standard by which I judge all cruise ship shows in the absolutely bonkers Chandelier show that was (and maybe still is?) on Summit so Tree of Life, with its lack of any plot and nothing haunted, was just a time filler for me. We were back in Eden for dinner. The word on the ship has been that Eden is the best restaurant on board and I have to agree. Eden seems to me unique of the onboard offerings because it isn't a restaurant in the style of some generic kind of restaurant (bistro, raw bar, steakhouse, etc.) but is instead its own thing with its own culinary point of view. The tasting menu is no more but our fantastic server Desy helped us order a wide selection of dishes to share and they were all very well executed. She also emphasized that Eden sources ingredients with local suppliers in each port. It was an excellent meal worth every penny and I would eat there even not on a cruise ship which I can't say for most ship restaurants. That about catches things up! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I am thankful for not having to pretend to like turkey or green bean casserole

Happy Thanksgiving folks! The app doesn't seem to have picked up the time change again so I'm vague on what time it is, but I know today is a sea day and I'm hoping to catch up this review from liveish to actually live. So I'm back with Day 4 continued! We got back from our Jost Van Dyke excursion early afternoon, and BeeMajor decided he was still hungry so off we went for Second Lunch. After some consideration we went to the Mast Grill for a burger (him) and hot dog (me) snack. It's not Shake Shack at Sea or anything but it was fine. Next we decided to go have a drink on the Magic Carpet while we were still docked and relatively wind-free. It's a nice enough space but IMO nothing special. After that we settled into the Sunset Bar to relax and enjoy the view of Tortola. Here I got into my second losing battle with one of the aluminum water bottles. The bartenders do not open water battles for you, and the caps so slick and so hard to twist. "Oh everyone is complaining about those," says the Sunset Bar bartender. Great. Thanks. I am a competent 42-year-old adult but I've now managed to get not one but two surface-level cuts on my index finger from trying and failing to get water caps off. Neither has drawn blood but it's not awesome having little flaps of skin hanging off your finger. I'm a klutz who travels with band-aids but these dumb injuries ran through my stash fast. I went to guest relations to ask for band-aids. Win for guest relations: it provided band-aids. The agent also tried to persuade me to go to medical, which I declined. Fail for guest relations: they are terrible band-aids that fall off as soon you wash your hands. Now I'm asking the bartenders to open the water for me. The show was Ralph Harris. People say food is subjective, but comedy is even more subjective, and he wasn't our thing. (To give you a sense, the first 10 minutes could be summarized as "audience members, where are you from?") But the theater was pretty full and most everyone else was into it so YMMV. We found the Luminae menu particularly disjointed for dinner so made a last-minute decision to go to Rooftop Garden Grill instead. Apex has improved this concept! We sat in a good sheltered spot closer to the kitchen, and the food was well executed. I followed our waiter's advice and got the caprese salad and seafood kabob, and BeeMajor went all in on the smoked meats with wings, baby back ribs, and short ribs. We also ordered several sides to share. BeeMajor very much preferred the short ribs to the baby backs, which he said were steamed, and we agreed that the mac and cheese was super yummy. It was about $100 after tip, so teetering on the edge of "not a great value" for the style of food offered but portions were huge and we enjoyed our meal so no regrets. We eat late so it was already time for the day's Eden show, Night of Dreams. The Eden entertainment concept has also changed a lot since we were on Edge and this was your standard Alice in Wonderland-themed slightly campy jukebox cruise ship show in the round. It includes a version of "Get This Party Started" which is one of my least favorite songs of all time so we walked over to the Soul Town show for a bit. The dance band did good renditions of 60s/70s soul songs but the room lacked a little energy, maybe because the only people dancing where the activities guy and children. We made it back to Eden for the conclusion and then off to sleep.

Commercial break! Cloud burst over St. Kitts left a nice rainbow--

Good morning from St. Kitts! We're docked next to the Marella Explorer 2 today, which Google has just informed me is the old Celebrity Century. Day 4: Tortola. We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, with the Apex already docked around 7 am. Because we had an early meeting time for an excursion, we decided to order room service breakfast. It was mediocre at best. Nothing meant to be hot was hot, one of my poached eggs was cooked hard, BeeMajor termed his omelet "gross," and neither of us could figure out when "link sausage" became "small kielbasa." Luckily we've crossed over the point of ever actually being hungry and were perfectly fine with some fruit and coffee. The little Sky Suite coffee table is reasonably functional for a quick meal which is a real improvement over my memory of the tiny table on the Edge, so that's also something. Then we were off to meet for our excursion, Escape to Jost Van Dyke. (We visited the Baths on Virgin Gorda, the major BVI highlight, last time.) The staff ushered us off the ship and onto a fairly unexciting motor caramaran/ferry with minimal fuss. Perhaps I am misremembering, but didn't Celebrity used to leave beach towels in staterooms the night before beach stops? And hand out water on the way off the ship? Neither of these things are happening now, and I found myself very jealous of the handful of people who had planned ahead and had those things as the morning went on. The excursion, as suggested, visits Jost Van Dyke, about a 45-minute ride across the water. Sometimes the excursion boat makes a wet landing at White Bay, and sometimes it pulls into the ferry port about 10 minutes away. Ours did the latter. There's then a wait while taxis shuttle folks to the beach. It isn't the longest wait, but it feels endless when you're standing around and know you have just a couple hours there anyway. BeeMajor really, really hates standing in line--it's one of the reasons we sail in suites--so he was a little grumpy by the time we arrived at White Bay. But White Bay is absolutely beautiful with perfectly clear water edging into white sand. The excursion provided beach chairs, one drink ticket per person which quite controversially could be used only for water/soda/juice, and a basic hamburger or hot dog with bagged chips meal. Pro tip: being a jerk to the bartenders isn't going to make them give you a free Painkiller or magic up some Diet Coke, although I saw some people try this approach. Bring some cash and go with the flow. There is rum punch on the way back. All in all I'd rate this excursion a solid 3.5 stars. It was fine but not amazing, and I wouldn't do it again, although I would go back to Jost Van Dyke not on a cruise to enjoy it without a timetable. On the next episode of this liveish review: I rant about the water bottles and we have a surprisingly delightful meal at the Rooftop Garden Grill

The Retreat has been pretty busy, especially the area by the pool. Plenty of loungers in the rear section. The chairs in the connector walkways are shaded and well protected from the wind, but also in hallways so not exactly exciting. The outside patio area off the lounge itself is also very pleasant and has been well used during the day.

Good morning from the BVI! Looks like a beautiful day today. Before we sailed the weather predictions were calling for rain pretty consistently but other than some short showers yesterday we've had sun and perfect low 80s temps.

Day 3: 1/2 sea day + San Juan. We had a time change which confusingly was not reflected in the app until mid-morning, but we made it to breakfast and on a cruise who even cares what day or time it is otherwise? It was spectacularly windy on the upper decks so I found a somewhat sheltered spot in the Retreat and finished one of my two books while BeeMajor got a very overpriced haircut. (Really, he barely has hair and it was $70 before tip.) Then we were off the Le Grand Bistro for lunch. It was our absolute favorite on the Edge a few years ago so we had high expectations which were mostly met. There seems to be a bit of a wine supply issue--the wine we ordered originally was out, as were the wines ordered by the table next to us--but the food was uniformly good. We tried all the starters because why not and then had lobster bisque, frisee salad, the steak frites, the sea bass plat du jour and, somehow, profiteroles for dessert. The Bistro is now $30/pp + tip and it was a tasty meal worth doing once but maybe not twice. San Juan has a really beautiful sail in and is just a fun stop. We went to our favorite local bar, La Taberna Lupolo, which I recommend for anyone who enjoys craft beer OR bands like the Pixies, the Smiths, Portishead, Ty Segall, etc. (If you just nodded at all those things, you will love spending a couple hours at La Taberna Lupolo as much as we do!) Alas Greengo's, which was BeeMajor's favorite nacho place, has closed. We've been to San Juan multiple times before and so didn't do any real sight seeing, but still a fun stop. We had enough food for the rest of time at lunch so just made a quick snack stop at the buffet for dinner, which was okay. BeeMajor enjoyed his burger more than I liked my pasta. But there are plenty more meals to come! Phew! That was a lot. I'll check back in when I can!

Boarding day: After Starbucks and a couple last-minute errands we got to Terminal 25 for check in and, at last, Apex! Boarding was prompt and efficient. We dropped bags and took a wander around the ship before having a pleasant lunch at Luminae. We then got some seats at the Martini Bar, and oh boy, I should never go to the Martini Bar while it's still light outside. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur but I am confident that we unpacked, enjoyed sail away, ate dinner, and remembered our cabin number because I woke up with my clothes unpacked, photos of sailaway, not hungry, and in a very comfortable bed on Sunday morning. Those martinis, people. They're dangerous. Day 2: Sea day! I am firmly in the "I love sea days" camp. Woke up bright and early and with remarkably little headache (see: Martini Bar) and got it together to go to Luminae for breakfast. I have a long-standing love of room service cruise breakfast but it's just not ideal with the small E-class interior table or barely-anything balcony table. Luminae breakfast was good--all the food so far has been consistently good to great--and we spent most of the day lounging around the Retreat sundeck or wandering the ship. BeeMajor cut off late afternoon to watch the Bengals game at Craft Social while I read on our balcony and got ready for Evening Chic night #1. I like to dress up but I am in a distinct minority on this sailing. Fellow dressed-up people: you looked great! We went to Raw on 5 for dinner with the explicit intent of getting the giant seafood tower. Our last cruise was on Edge in 2019, and Raw on 5 ran out of oysters by the end of the sailing when we planned to get a seafood tower then. We are oyster people so that was a massive disappointment but I am pleased to report that in the last 3.5 years the kitchen has restocked! The seafood tower was enjoyable and plenty of food for two people for dinner. Raw on 5 also has Veuve yellow label by the glass, so if you have the premium package and want to enjoy a better Champagne than the included Cattier or Montaudon for a small upcharge then that's your spot.