ETHTrader

28 minutes ago, NaplesKnitter said:

Is there a Tiffany’s store onboard?

 

 

Nope

On 12/16/2021 at 8:38 AM, CruiseNYC said:

They have sailed quite a lot on Celebrity and love the Edge class ship.

I am on the ship with you and this is my first time on a M class ship. Previously, I have cruised exclusively on Edge class ships in a suite. 

In my opinion, the experience on M class ship is quite different for cruisers who are used to the Edge Class Ships.

Examples:

1. Edge class ships are bigger and as result, there are more options for the bars/restaurants. One thing I noticed right away was that the Casino Bar is only open when the casino is open, so when there are sporting events, there really isn't a place on the ship to watch such events (i.e. Craft Social Bar). I did see that they do air NFL games on the rooftop.

2. Man, was i spoiled on The Retreat amenities on an Edge Class ship. I am so used to the Deck and the Lounge within the same area of the ship. But on this ship, the two are far apart from each other. Plus, I wish there were umbrellas on the Sundeck.

3. It's a bit odd traveling with 400-500 passengers. So odd to see the Martini Bar empty most of the time. In fact, most areas of the ship are empty throughout the day. I miss the Eden bar/restaurant on Edge Class ships as well as the Le Grande Bistro. I always end up at the Eden bar for some live music/drinks after dinner and then finish the night at the Martini Bar. I do miss the lively (but not too busy) atmosphere on the Edge class ships.

4. I love the fact that I can order from the Blu/Luminae/MDR menus on this ship. So many options and the food is great. (So I have no idea what those diners you've met were talking about) The service is top notch as usual at the Luminae.

5. Service on this ship is top notch everywhere. Service is usually top notch on all the ships but I feel that on Edge Class ships, the staff are often stretched thin and much more busy. Service is great overall and there are definitely individuals who are over and beyond. But on this ship, pretty much everyone is delivering over and beyond service and they don't look like they are stretched thin either. Very relaxed and seem to be happy.

All in all, I am having a great sailing on this ship but I sail Celebrity mainly because of The Retreat and The Retreat on Edge Class ships work better for me because the ship was designed with The Retreat in mind (while other ships were retro-fitted with the concept). I love the service, food, and the people on this ship but I guess it's people like me (who are used to the Edge Class ships) who would prefer Edge Class ships over M/S Class ships. It's not an insult to the other class ships, but I think different people like different things. (Also on this ship, because there are so few people, I have not been to the Lounge or the Sundeck too much. I just find space and enjoy my time throughout the ship)

1 hour ago, What A Market said:

Ok yeah, and the odd Belgian Chimay here and there. 

Chimay Cinq Cents White Triple is my favorite. I was a little disappointed that the Craft Social Bar on Apex only carried the blue and red labels.

2 hours ago, pooh/tigger said:

We aren't technology smart. How do you scan that for information? Do you need a special app? 

Thank you

If you have an iPhone, just open the Camera app, point the camera at the QR Code. A banner will pop up for you to click and it will take you to the right page in the web browser.

3 weeks ago on Apex, there was a fellow passenger (older gentleman) who was waiting in a line at the iLounge. There was a big QR Code on the screen with the instruction that will help the passenger to set up WiFi. Poor guy kept pointing the camera for good 3 minutes before I went over and pointed to the banner to click. 

There are two types of OBC. One that's provided by the cruise and another provided by your TA.

For example, if you book a Sky Suite for a 7 day cruise, Celebrity offers $300/person in OBC (so $600 for two people sharing the Suite). If you book 10 day cruise, it's $400/person. Additionally, depending on your TA, they will add additional OBC (which is basically portion of their commission that they are sharing with you)

You won't get the coffee machines delivered to your room in a Sky Suite.

In the Retreat Lounge, there's a fridge with water, sparkling water and soda. (They don't check Seapass for those items in the fridge. You can just grab them) They serve light pastries in the morning and snacks in the afternoon (i.e. sandwich bites, cured meats, fruits, etc). They also serve teas, coffees and cocktails in the Lounge but I always had Always Included so I am not sure if you can just order them without drink package.

In Apex, the Lounge is right below the Retreat Sundeck. While on sundeck, they come around like once a hour offering fruits, ice cream sundae, mozzarella sticks, etc. They also come and get your drink order but again, I always had drink package that came included with Suites. You can also have lunch at the Retreat Bar. Food is free. Drinks required us to give them our Seapass or provide them our room number.

I signed up for this on my upcoming Millennium sailing next week. Would also like to know as well.

@Jim_Iain If I am not mistaken, you have done the Chefs Table with Daniel Boulud

The first-ever Craft Whiskey Expo at Sea, as it’s being called, will take place next spring on Celebrity Millennium out of Fort Lauderdale.

• It will feature reps from 20 brands. 
• The brands will offer onboard tastings, and there will be seminars on all things whiskey.
• There’ll also be an optional onboard Whiskey School for extra learning, a lunch with whiskey pairings, and opening- and closing-night cocktail parties hosted by the brands (with brand drinks served). 
• Scheduled to take place between March 31 and April 4, the four-night voyage is scheduled to call at Key West, Florida, where there’s talk of a bar crawl that also will include a visit to a local distillery and optional visit to a cigar factory, capped off with a group tasting of the locally famous Kermit’s Key Lime Pie on a Stick. 
• A second stop, in Nassau in the Bahamas, will offer those interested a chance to visit a cigar shop and a lounge visit with the Expo’s “cigar ambassador.
• The cost to participate in expo events is $75 per participant on top of the cost of a cabin, plus extra charges for optional expo events.
• For more information: https://www.whiskeyexpoatsea.com/

17 hours ago, WeBcruisingMN said:

Our servers (Jakub from Poland and Larysa from Ukraine… not sure if they are still on) were excellent at explaining each dish, since there are some unique food choices and combinations. We shared 4 apps (Bazaar Bowl, Sheep’s Milk Gnocchi, Truffled Huit la coche risotto, Pan roasted carabinero shrimp) and 3 entrees (Nova Scotia lobster casserole, Atlantic salmon, and the Filet Mignon & mini shortrib wellington (that @Ken the cruisermentioned). Dessert was a Meyer lemon tart for me, and I forgot to write down what my husband had. I will attach a couple of pics, even though I’m not an expert food photographer.

 

It was our favorite specialty restaurant experience on Celebrity in our 13 cruises with them 👍🏻

 

100% agree that Eden was the best specialty restaurant experience on Apex.

P.S. - Jakub is no longer on the ship. He went back to Poland in October. Larysa was still there as of last week. Retreat Concierge also mentioned that most of the original crew from Apex are all planning to move to the Beyond together so you will probably get to see them on Beyond next year.

Make sure you have a backup plan though. I had an appointment scheduled at CVS for a cruise couple of weeks ago and they cancelled the night before. Staff shortage was the reason.

On 11/17/2021 at 6:45 PM, twins_to_alaska said:

The lack of shade or any protection on the Retreat Sundeck is a serious flaw. Here's one couple's improvisation. They were the only ones braving the sun at that time. I left after not finding any shade.

Yikes. That is not ideal at all. On Apex, i noticed that they added umbrellas all over the Sundeck to address this issue. I was hoping that Millennium had umbrellas as well, but I guess I have time to prepare before my cruise in couple of weeks.

I wouldn't say it's cold at all. 

This time of the year, especially in the Caribbean, you will encounter a lot of passing showers and heavy winds. So outside might be windy/cold (at times) but inside the ship, I wouldn't describe it as cold at all. Plenty wear T Shirts and shorts within the ship. 

Your best bet is Casino Bar and/or Michael's Club (if you are a Suite guest).

They don't play all the games but they will play one game for the 1pm slot (EST) and another at 4pm slot and the Sunday Night Football. Your Daillies or App will tell you where those games are played and when

Superb service from the crew all around the ship.

Some examples include:

• Bartender @ the Craft Social Bar who remembered me from previous sailing, including my go-to drink (Old Fashioned) and the fact that I was there to watch Formula One event twice
• Sommelier @ the Eden restaurant who also remembered me from previous sailing. She remembered my favorite drink on the Eden drink menu (Garden) and she comp'd me twice (without charging me for the difference in the price of the drink and Premium Package limit) b/c she was just happy to see me again.
• Host @ the Luminae who I've met for the first time while checking in to eat lunch on embarkation day and then never asked for my name or room number ever again for the rest of the sailing. Whenever she saw me approaching the entrance of the Luminae, she just grabbed the menu and greeted me by name.
• Staff @ the Retreat Lounge who simply learned my routine on the first day. Every day after, whenever they saw me at the lounge, they brought out my go-to tea and small bites without me asking. Extra credit b/c sometimes I was there outside of the hours when they served small bites but they said they might have some in the back and went the extra distance. 
• Staff @ the Retreat Sundeck who simply learned my morning routine, which was: 1) Grab my favorite lounger under a gigantic umbrella. Set it up. 2) While I am setting it up, they bring me some pillows and a bottle of water. 3) Then I head to the jogging track and complete few laps. 4) I return to my lounger, and they have my favorite drink ready for me to either enjoy the view or continue my reading. 5) On rainy days, I like to sit under the umbrella and watch the rain. The staff learned this so when it rained, they just brought me extra towels so I can just enjoy my "odd habit" under the umbrella while others escape from the mayhem.

These are just some of the examples of why I only cruise with Celebrity

I just hand extra cash in an envelope to the individuals. Whether they get to keep them or need to share with others, is out of my control.

But by handing them the extra tip in an envelope, I am simply trying to express my gratitude directly to the individuals and in my opinion, that's what matters. If they get to keep it. Fantastic. If they have to share it, well, out of my control at that point.

Retreat Host on Apex told me yesterday that a lot of the crew who was initially on Apex (when the sailing began this summer) will move to the Beyond together (when their contract/assignment ends). So if you have been on Apex this year, some of your favorite staff will be on the Beyond. 

S3 on Edge Class ships are actually not bad at all.

The balcony is bigger. Comes with two loungers as well as a side table and 2 chairs and still have ample room to lay down a yoga mat (if you want to do some stretching in the early morning with open sea view).

Magic Carpet is not much of a bother. When it moves, no one is on the Magic Carpet (for safety reasons) so there's no privacy issues and they move up and down pretty quickly. 

1 minute ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Update: there are 16 people in the raft and they are not requiring assistance. However, we’re going to stay here near them for 3 hours until the US Coast Guard gets here. 

Yes. Apparently they kept waving us away as we got close to their raft.

Everyone is out on the Retreat Deck with binoculars to watch this little drama at the sea and lots of people speculating. I think the most important thing is the safety of those people on the raft

Ken, how is your WiFi today?

It's absolutely brutal today in terms of WiFi speed even with streaming package. I am struggling to do just about anything.

Went down to the iLounge to see if anyone can do something about it but no one was there. My guess is that a lot of passengers have the same issue and the iLounge guy ran away 🤣

1 hour ago, judebarsto said:

We tried talking to the host last night. I’m afraid he was very snotty to us and suggested we couldn’t get a reservation because we booked through a travel agent not celebrity directly. Which sounds pretty ridiculous!

Booked my cruise through a TA as well. My host did not make any comment like that. He simply explained that there's some disconnect between the Corporate office and the people operating the specialty restaurants on the ship. Corporate is selling these specialty dining packages without actually consulting availability or the employees on the ship. And by the time these passengers are on board and want to make reservations for these packages that they have paid for, they are told that there's no availability and it's the employees on the ship who has to deal with the tricky balance between dealing with unhappy passengers and the Corporate office.

Additionally, I dined at the Eden tonight. It looked like they were operating only 6 tables at a given time (and the restaurant was completely sold out but plenty of empty tables in between seated diners), so there's some capacity restrictions that's causing all these issues with specialty restaurant reservations

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

I was on Apex’s TA last month.  I am really disappointed to hear that they have yet to fix the problem with the internet.  I was almost certain that it would be a relatively easy fix.  Our internet was the worse that I have ever experienced on a cruise ship.

Unfortunately, it's still slow.... 

It's slower than DSL speed circa 2001

53 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We got Celebrity baseball hats instead of tote bags in our SV on the Apex.

 

They must like you better than me because I only received a Tote Bag 😃

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived at Costa Maya! However, we have no plans to go on any excursions and possibly even going ashore. Time will tell. 😎

 

I didn't get off the ship either. It was raining pretty much all morning (and it's raining right now as I type this from The Retreat deck) so I spent the morning on the Retreat Deck, lying on a lounger under a gigantic umbrella and watched the scenery and the rain. 

Serenade of the Seas is docked next to us and all their passengers are waving and taking pictures of us. I think they are jealous of our ship because in comparison, their ships looks like it needs some refurbishment. 😁

Also had a blast watching football on Sunday at the Craft Social Bar with all the Patriot fans. I am from NY (and grew up a Jets fan) so it was interesting to mix with the Patriot fans but they were great people. Met a great couple who are doing B2B2B2B on Apex (for like 31 days). So jealous of them. Also Aleksandra at the Craft Social Bar is fantastic. She remembered me from my Sept Apex sailing and remembered my go-to drink. What an awesome service she provides.

Lastly, had an interesting run in at the entrance to The Retreat Lounge. There were these couple trying to enter The Retreat. Now I don't know if they were Suite guests or not but to enter The Retreat lounge, you have to scan your Seapass in order to get the sliding doors to open. This couple did not know that so when they realized that the doors did not open automatically, they forced it to open. 😅  No idea if they were trying to sneak in or it was just their first time using the lounge.

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have a question for those on this leg or the last. Is there anyone in a cabin on deck 6?

Not me. I am on deck 11

2 minutes ago, jolieinc said:

 

@ETHTrader Awesome! Any negatives so far? Masks on or off on board? Hows the streaming wifi so far - I also dable in ETH, etc so its important to have good wifi.

Everything is awesome on the ship. Only negative might be the weather. It's been raining and expected to rain just about every day. 

No masks required by the passengers once on board but required when getting on/off the ship. WiFi is terrible. My streaming WiFi package is getting like 0.5mbps, which is barely good enough to make WiFi calls and Youtube videos but not much else. But all the trading apps are accesible so feel free to trade, lol