rrunner

Just returned from the Edge ourselves.   I do agree with many of your opinions.  However I would never describe the food as wonderful..  We actually thought it was awful..  We were assigned the Normandie.  .  We left on two occasions and skipped 2 other nights. No more Celebrity for us - going back to Oceania.  

We are on The Edge at the moment.   I came with low expectations after reading many comments on Cruise Critic.  Sadly so many are correct.  The loud music is very annoying    We are in our 70s and do not enjoy boom boom music. Lack of activities is surprising   We have cruised many times with Cunard and Oceania both lines have many entertaining lecturers.  Yes we can read  but could do that at home.  Food is typical for a mass market ship.  Afternoon tea was disappointing. Celebrity always did a nice spread.  Yesterday I saw dozens of  donuts and cupcakes.  There were scones.  The decor is very nice and our cabin is quiet. Ship so far has less motion than any ship we have sailed    We have cruised over 30 times.   The Grand Plaza  is awful. Borderline dark and gloomy. No windows but many restaurants and bars and again loud music. We have never seen such a congested place.  I think the ship is suited to the under 50 age group. We will return back to the cruise lines more suited to us.  This was our 7th cruise with Celebrity and last.  

On 12/6/2018 at 6:33 PM, MaggieAtSea said:

Posted last week after seeing the videos of our Edge Villa...stunningly disappointed in the room/veranda layout of the exorbitantly priced villa.  While we have taken in the positive reviews, and are grateful to all those who take time to post their experience, we are concerned changes in suite dining, the price of drinks, the nature of the entertainment on board, but mostly that darn veranda, will have us disappointed we didn’t return that same week to either our spacious, freshly “Revolutionized” penthouse on the Summit or one of our favorite suites on the S class....either at a FRACTION of the cost!  Reached out to our TA today to confirm options.  Have we fallen and hit our heads, or is anyone else ruminating similarly?

Same feelings as you.  The loud music is worrying us also.  

1 hour ago, hcat said:

We have  2 cruises booked on EDGE.

 

Quite a few reviews and videos  feature excessively loud music, flashing strobe lights,  general chaos,  So far it seems pervasive,...in EDEN, the Martini Bar,  the Club,.,etc    Wondering if there are any quiet mellow spots for  the evening.???

Quiet guitar music. Folk duos, etc 

 

Also interested in quiet spots for daytime readung, coffees etc...no creatures or flash mob  style games..

 

please post ideas here.....

I am worried about the same problem.  Had no idea Celebrity would play loud music. I actually called my agent to cancel our cruise today but we would loose to much.  We like a quiet and relaxing cruise.  We thought we would try Celebrity as a change from Oceania. The videos I have seen do not look relaxing. 

Is The Edge serving cream tea in the afternoons - would love to see a photo if so.   

Just watched several videos of The Edge - ship looks amazing but the music sounded very loud and modern on board.  Our last several cruises have been on  Oceania which is very low key.  Will we be able to escape  the noise without going to our cabin.   We are boarding in January.   

Who at Oceania? A customer service agent?

Was just told a supervisor after I explained my story to an agent. Did not get their name.

Any new information on the ship’s condition? I was disappointed to see that you’re still sitting in San Francisco on Wednesday morning instead of steaming toward Alaska. Day One and already well behind schedule.

Just talked to Oceania after reading your post. They are telling me the ship stayed in port over night due to bad weather north of San Francisco?????? Also that there have been no engine issues at all for many months and that missed ports and delays were for other reasons.

 

Surely you're joking. They don't really announce that type of thing on Oceania.

No I am not joking. There are often passengers on board that hear chatter from the crew about such things. We will be on Regatta 3 weeks today - just trying to get some idea if the ship will be sailing still. Our Celebrity cruise was cancelled one time - I was not too surprised as I was following passengers blogs and knew the engines were in poor shape.

730 am update - Regatta's tv information channel shows 120 miles remaining with a speed of 17 knots. We should be pretty close to the currently advertised arrival of 2 pm.[/quote

 

Any chat about engine repairs and future booked cruises on Regatta.

Are you currently on board, or just estimating from the current speed? If this is an official announcement from the Regatta, I'm really starting to get queasy over the ship's capability for our upcoming Alaska cruise.

Same feeling. I called Oceania this afternoon and asked if the ship would be going in for repairs but they insisted that there was no problem only weather causing the delay. We are also on Regatta in June to Alaska.

Were you scheduled to be on the Celebrity Millennium? We were also booked on one of the cancelled cruises, and quite disappointed by the engine failure. I believe the Coast Guard wouldn't allow the ship to leave port on one engine with passengers aboard, so all were eventually dumped off unceremoniously in Ketchikan. To their credit, Celebrity did reimburse all our expenses, including airfare. Sadly, I foresee a similar occurrence on the Regatta if they persist in failing to properly address the engine issue.

I believe it was Millennium. We luckily booked another to the Mediterranean for the same week. Celebrity did reimburse our fare as expected but also gave us a huge credit and paid the difference in the airfare to Europe which was more expensive than to the West Coast. However this time we are with family and we are looking forward to Alaska in less than 3 weeks so do not want a phone call telling me the ship is going into dock for repairs.

Are you currently on board, or just estimating from the current speed? If this is an official announcement from the Regatta, I'm really starting to get queasy over the ship's capability for our upcoming Alaska cruise.

Mine also. We had our cruise cancelled a couple of years ago with the same issues. The ship had been struggling for months until they finally took her for repairs. 4 future cruises were cancelled.

Regatta is due to arrive San Francisco at 6 am Tuesday. As of 10 am ships time, we have 850 nautical miles to travel and are averaging about 17.3 knots with head winds.

 

Using speed and distance calculations, we would arrive in 48 hours (we gain one hour tonight). This would be 0900 local or 3 hours late.

 

 

With 45 more hours to scheduled arrival, we could still make arrival on time, if conditions change.

 

 

For those of you preparing to board in San Francisco, I would recommend following Regatta's progress. MarineTraffic.com is a good free app that should show our position, course and speed.

 

 

On arrival the Regatta will undergo a "through sanitation protocol ". This entails disembarking all guests, including those of us that are continuing on the next cruise segment. The ship will be scrubbed down which could delay the embarkation process. The cleaning is due to a stomach virus outbreak that affected 13 passengers.

 

 

My personal opinion is that Regatta is not able to achieve her designed max speed of 20 knots. We have achieved 18 in calm seas but no more. The ship was 3 or 4 hours late into Nassau on the previous cruise, we missed Cartagena, Columbia do to "minor technical difficulties " and were about 30 minutes to an hour late into Cabo San Lucas yesterday.

 

 

But, if any readers are getting on or off in San Francisco then I would recommend following the progress closely.

I can understand the occasional virus outbreak and I am sorry for the sick passengers. However the ship should not be still having technical difficulties and be missing ports. This has been going on for months now. It is very annoying for past passengers and booked passengers looking forward to sailing on Regatta and now having doubts.

Speed now 19 knots, they must have made the repair.

What speed you were doing before.

We expect to arrive SF on schedule. All is fine

Good to hear - thank you

Hey RRunner, just take it as it comes...I think my sister and brother in law will be on that voyage- possibly the week after, I am not sure ...but it is their first time on a ship that small but i think it will be an advantage for Alaska! You are going to live in Horizons!

 

 

When all is said and done, I had a wonderful time on the cruise. The staff, food, amenities etc were wonderful and I would do it again. Go to the waves grill and get the Surf and Turf sandwich (hold the bread and ask for double surf! lololol) You are gonna have a great time! I will look for your review when you get back.

 

Cindy

Not concerned about having a good time. We have sailed on Regatta before. My concern is the cruise getting cancelled at the last minute as our prior cruise was due to same issues. We have hotels air etc booked

This is a little upsetting to read. We will be on Regatta June 12th for an Alaskan cruise. A few years ago our cruise was cancelled a few day's before we sailed due to a similar issue. I hope we will all be kept updated on this problem from passengers sailing on her in the next few weeks.

We must choose between two ships with good port-intensive itineraries; one is Oceania Nautica & the other is Azamara Journey. We have not sailed either line before.

Our general priority for at-sea days and other free time is learning about the culture and history of the areas we are visiting, rather than casino, spa-pampering, etc. While we research and study ahead, there are always new insights or facts with good speakers!

 

But in checking the website for Oceania, I saw only vague allusions to enrichment but could not find details on guest lecturers for our sailings, as with Cunard. If the evening talks about the next day's port stop will simply be the ship staff subtly pushing unsold excursions, we'll be mightily annoyed.

 

What's been your experience with Ocenia (or also Azamara, tho FYI, I am posting the same query on that board)?

Okay lectures but NO comparison to Cunard.

Is seating at the Terrace Buffet at your discretion or does Oceania staff make you sit with others. If I want to on some night just escape and eat dinner alone with a book, would I be able to do this (Regatta)? My cruise is over 3 weeks long

 

I was extremely disappointed when trying to reserve the specialty 45 days out, all was left was 8:30 and 9 pm dining. So this is a luxury cruiseline, I couldn't even book a normal time. Anyway, I'm thinking while my friends eat late, I can just go to the buffet. I'm not so into four course meals as others and nor do I like a 2 or 3 hour meal.

Absolutely you can sit yourself at the Terrace- inside or out. When you board check with the specialty restaurants in person - they might be able to seat you early - passengers do cancel. There is always the main dining room - no reservations needed in there.

Travel gum - recommended by a pharmacist in Italy.

I know this is an old post however thought I would give my question a try. We bought travel gum in Italy several years ago and it worked very well for my husband. We live in the US and could purchase it via Amazon but they do not have it any more. Any ideas where we could buy more?

Using Hyatt points was a nice bonus - an $800.00 plus saving in January. We do not rent a car - get around via the water taxi. We liked the tower rooms at the hotel and view of the ships sailing in and out.

we have decided to do that - thank you.

Will do - thank you

I have booked 3 nights at the Hyatt Pier 66 Fort Lauderdale using points for our January 2018 cruise. I am just reading on line that the hotel has been sold. Hyatt tells me they know nothing about the sell - that the booking will be honored - anyone else booked there for next year?