H2OH!

Thank you for sharing so much detail!!  Fabulous! 

We are on the 6/5/25 Apex cruise so am so excited to read your detailed review and tour operators! 

In September 2023 we did a week in London followed by an 8 day cruise out of Southampton to Spain and France. I am jealous you got to see Stonehenge with some sun!  The day we went was POURING rain! Thankfully my Eddie Bauer rain jacket saved the day! Worth every penny! Stonehenge is incredible. We will visit again...hopefully with better weather!

We used this company to go to Stonehenge, Bath and a Secret Place. They are small group tours and were fantastic. At first we were not trilled about a 12 hour tour but the day flew by. I would use these folks again in a heartbeat! https://theenglishbus.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIroHSr_WyhgMVVDjUAR0BUA6LEAAYASAAEgJY1vD_BwE

4 minutes ago, BuckeyeMark said:

Check out the EDGE class ships - Apex, Beyond, Ascent, and Edge. These represent a very new way of doing cruising. Not more glitz and glamor, Vegas-on-the-Sea, can we cram 10K people on a ship if we make it big enough cruising. The ships are very chill, full of unique art and have lots of cool spaces. I'm reviewing our trip on the Apex to the Norwegian fjords now - you can see some pics there - but I think you'd really enjoy these ships. Younger vibe but definitely not party ships full of 20somethings.

We are doing the Norwegian Fjords on Apex June 2025 so would love to read your review, see what tours you took and with whom! I will have to find your thread. 

For the past 15 years, we have exclusively sailed Celebrity due to non-smoking ship (except for port side deck) and not alot of children...for the most part. We have not sailed Holland so cannot compare. 

I would pick a Solstice class ship or the new edge class ship.

The edge class ships have the infinite veranda balconies which sounds like they may be in your price range. I have not stayed in them but thought it might be a place for you to start looking. youtube has several videos about these balconies. You may also want to check out Aqua class cabins as they have a dedicated restaurant Blu. Edge class ships have great specialty restaurants. Eden is great as well as La Voyage (I think is only on Beyond, Ascent and newer ships). They also have several other venues such a Fine Cut Steakhouse (just ok in my opinion), Rootop Garden Grill (it was good), Le Grand Bistro and Raw on 5 (was also pretty good). 

Solstice class is another option. Reflection is our favorite ship although been on all. These ships also have Aqua class with Blu. Upscale restaurant is Murano. Meals have mostly been good to great. They also have several other specialty restaurants. We like also like Lawn Club Grille but is not "upscale"...although the steaks are pretty good. 

Good luck. 

Great pictures and commentary....following along. We are on Apex 12 day fjord cruise in June 2025!

On 3/3/2024 at 1:39 PM, Lois R said:

Hi, my screen name? Been this way for years(and years)......I have been on CC for 20 years....I have used my name for maybe all of them but 1. When I first logged in I think I used my initials but I asked the moderator to change it.

Who was asking about me?

I changed cruiselines in 2017.

I remember reading alot of your posts early on. What cruise lines did you switch to? We are thinking of trying another line....oceania, silver seas etc. 

Thank you for the comparison to HAL!  We have been a loyal Celebrity cruiser but thinking of trying other lines. 

We were on Ascent in January and LOVED her. Enjoy! 

can someone post the content of the email? Just curious. We were on the 1/21/24 sailing- beautiful ship and service was fantastic. 

Thank you for sharing your adventure with us! 

Thank you for sharing. We may try MSC as well for the reasons you stated. 

We booked the 12 night fjord cruise June 2025 on Apex. It goes far north to Tromso and Honnigsvag which my husband want to do and hits the ports of Geiranger, Flam and Alesund...plus Haugesund so am happy with the itinerary! 

On 7/20/2023 at 4:54 PM, MillbrookMom said:

Hello all,

We are doing a Norwegian Fjords cruise next summer and I have started research to figure out what we want to do on this once in a lifetime trip.  I haven't been able to find a good guidebook, so looking for suggestions on one, or suggestions for any of the ports we are going to, which are; Geiranger, Molde, Honninsvag, Tromso, Flam Alesund, Olden, Bergen. 

Thanks in advance

This is a great itinerary- which cruise line are you sailing with? 

We will be on the September 22nd sailing!  Following along! 

We are leaving London at 9:30 am to head to Southampton. I'm assuming will be in plenty of time given the boat show and possibility of accident etc. What do you all think? Our check in time is noon. 

Amy

We stay at either the Renaissance on 17th or The Maren Hotel. 

Does your friend need to scooter for long distances or does she need it all the time in a cabin?  

I traveled with my mom who used a scooter. We booked a regular sky suite for us several times. She got in the shower 1-2 times during the cruise and only when docked in port. The tub is VERY hard to get in and out of. She sponge bathed the rest of the time and got her hair done at the salon. The tub is REALLY hard to get in and out of. We found the size of the sky suite was perfect to park the scooter and charge it since my mom could ambulate with her 4 prong cane when in cabin. Mom needed the scooter for distance. 

When I traveled with my mom and sister (who has MS), we booked a royal suite for the walk in shower (celebrity provided a shower chair) and the second bathroom where we had the over the toilet raised chair because my sister needed handles to get off/on toilet. Plus we needed the extra room for 2 scooters--- one for my mom and one for my sister. During this last trip, my mom was on oxygen 24/7. We worked with celebrity to ensure the oxygen concentrator was there with a humidifier, the bath bench and toilet seat. Mom had a portable oxygen unit but we needed a concentrator in cabin. This trip was alot of work to make happen. So glad we did it as was my mom's last cruise and my sister can no longer cruise due to dizziness. The memories are priceless.

Best story was when we ate at Lawn Club Grill. When we were done eating, two of the crew went to get the scooters for my mom and sister. They decided to have some fun and were racing each other around the deck and as they kept passing us they would wave and keep riding...it was on of the funniest things ever. This memory will with us forever. 

Lastly, my husband and i have traveled in a celebrity suite many times. I agree with what the others have said. If she needs the scooter in the cabin and near the bed, it is too tight in the bedroom to make that work.

Thank you for the great review.

Following along. Thanks for the fabulous pics.

Looking forward to your thoughts Silhouette. Been years since we last cruised her but will be on September 2023 out of Southampton!

Safe travels. 

I also wear a visor to keep hair out of my eyes on excursion days. When leaving for an excursion we only eat in ocean view and have not been asked to remove it. I never would have thought twice about it when entering the main dining room. Interesting conversation. 

2 hours ago, Mark_T said:

... which will still leave you fighting to get a reservation once onboard...

 

We don't use the packages just for that reason alone, booking well in advance seems to be the requirement these days if you want any certainty regarding where and when you will be dining...

Exactly.

3 minutes ago, 4-2-N-8 said:

What qualifies as a high end suite?

If things are still the same, royal suite and up are high end suites. 

This is our first cruise post pandemic. Last cruise was January 2020 on equinox . just sharing I was surprised that our usual process is now caput!
 

1 minute ago, jelayne said:

Eden is very difficult to get into unless you book way before boarding, on Beyond Le Voyage is the same and it is a smaller venue.  We have been in suites on E class for 5 cruises and on every cruise there are Suite guests trying to get reservations in Eden, most don’t get them.  Being Elite Plus doesn’t really matter ( there are tons of us).   Unless you are in a high end suite the odds of getting into Eden without booking ahead are not good. 

Understood. Just sharing that things have changed based on how we have operated in the past. I mentioned elite plus because someone  on these boards would ask that too… I know there are a ton of elite plus. 

5 hours ago, Cruising Princess said:

Currently on Beyond with my hubby.
We ate lunch in Luminae on embarkation day yesterday. Very dissatisfied with the quality of the food. Frozen butter, cold soup, undercooked thick cubes of bacon in Cobb salad with watery under seasoned chicken (all 5 small bite sized pieces), undercooked thick French Fries that tasted like the kind you get in freezer bag from food store, and a apple berry crumble that was dry dry dry like they forgot to add butter to the crumble. 

Worst is that Celebrity changed a lot of the dishes on the menu for the rest of the week.  Gone are some of the expensive cuts of meat and fish.  The menus just do not look appealing. 
Tonight is Chic night. I’ll share feedback/update in next few days. 

we agree 100 percent!  We were shocked,  the fries and crumble were the worst food we’ve ever had anywhere in the world!

Just a sky suite 1….cost was 8k for two,  

never had this problem in the past…whether in a sky suite, celebrity suite, signature suite or royal suite ( these are the cabins we have sailed in).  Things change and they clearly want restaurants pre sold.  We were use to boarding and deciding based on menus. We would know menus before hand due to cc members or review them in Michael’s club then get into speciality restaurant if unappealing. That will not be the way to go in the future. 

We are also on board.  Burger during embarkation was good but the fries are not the same.  Dumped on the plate and tasted bad.  DH and I both left the fries when we typically devour them.  Just for kicks we ordered the berry cobbler for dessert.  The crumble Had the texture of sand, was dry and had an odd taste. It was so bad we laughed out loud…like what in the world is happening. Lol

dinner last night and tonight were good.

day 5 and 6 dinner menus are completely unappealing to us so when we boarded we tried to get in Eden for our 27th anniversary. Was told the retreat host had to check. Keep in mind we were one of the first people on board by 11:10 am. Learned today that they are sold out and too bad for us. Hmmm….we are elite plus (half way to zenith) and in suite where we allegedly get priority.  We’ve never had this problem before…. Board and get reservations…those days appear to be over. They called tonight with an 8 pm cancellation but passed. 
 

Our butler told us due to online reservations, they are sold out and that they don’t hold as many slots for suites like they use to. She brought us chocolate covered strawberries tonight which is a nice gesture.
 

we shall see how the rest of the week goes!! 

Thank you for sharing your trip. We love the Reflection. One of our favorite ships!