micmacmissy

That evening we hit up Eden for some drinks, and I saw Jared and Jordan from J&J Cruises (follow them on You Tube for cruise content, if you don’t already)! I went up to introduce myself and thank them for their content; we had a lovely conversation. Eden was our choice over Martini Bar before dinner - Martini Bar was always packed, didn’t have the greatest service (due to sheer numbers) and was definitely overrun with cruisers with the most life experience. 😉 Then on to the Rooftop Grill. Our last al fresco dining experience was the Lawn Club Grill on Silhouette…and that was like eating in a dang wind tunnel. I was a little worried and didn’t spend too much time on my hair for this dinner. We were so pleasantly surprised by how well designed the Rooftop Grill was on Apex! A lovely breeze but no wind - you could sit and enjoy and not be blown away (except by the food and drinks!) We started with the wings and pork sliders (yum!) watermelon salad (excellent), husband ordered the filet and I got a delicious burger. Of course we finished off with the warm cookie (which is insanely good). Service was great, food was great, ambiance was EXCELLENT (are you listening, Fine Cut??). Best specialty dining experience for us!

Spa appointment this day was a sea salt scrub/massage. It was fantastic! After days of sweat and sunscreen, it felt great to have all that scrubbed off. After the scrub, you hit the in-room shower to rinse and there is a 20 min quick massage after that - lovely! The spa lady in charge of my appointment noticed how dry my face was and did a few things to my face, too (that were not part of what I booked!). She put some under eye stuff on, moisturized, and did a skin buff…THEN hit me with the hard sell (she kept handing me products). I did wind up busing the skin buff. The bottle was huge (probably 12 oz.) and she said is was $37 - not terrible! She said she would have it sent to my room. Great! Back at the room, a quick google search yielded the Elemis Skin Buff available at Nordstrom Rack for $14.99. LOL. No biggie - I didn’t expect a bargain and I hope the spa lady got some credit for that sale. My only disappointment was when the product arrived - it was NOT the bottle she handed me…it was maybe 3 oz, and the attached receipt said $48, not $37. But it’s vacation, and I will not stress on my vacation. A cautionary tale for the rest of you…. 🙂 The treatment rooms are lovely - but they lower the shades almost all the way to the floor - so this lovely ocean view is not something you will see. Then again, your eyes should be closed. But those shades should be open as you are coming and going! Small gripe! Stock photos for your viewing pleasure…

Day 6: At Sea Big goals for today: trying to figure out how to use the next 2 specialty dining meals we paid for but hadn’t booked, relaxation, and spa appointments. A lot of people asking lately what your Retreat Host can do for you…honestly, ours didn’t do much. We requested two things: ice in our ice bucket at turndown. And on two separate mornings, coffee delivered to our room. It took until day 4 (and two reminders) before the ice showed up. Coffee took 30-45 minutes to be delivered. Meh. The other request - can you help check on our reservation requests for Eden and Rooftop Grill? He ghosted us on those things. After another great breakfast in Luminae, we headed to the Retreat and found a couple loungers. (Chair hogging still seriously out of control). After reading and relaxing, we decided to hit up Le Grand Bistro for lunch. They were entirely booked but the hostess there was wonderful! We explained we had 2 specialty dining meals unused. She immediately got to work and had no problem booking the Rooftop Grill for us that evening. (Made us wonder what the heck our Retreat Host was doing…). She couldn’t help with Eden (no surprise) but did offer to book us lunch in the Le Grand Bistro to use up our 3rd meal credit. Now - lunch is not the same as dinner there (which is Le Petite Chef) but that’s ok. I will say I was a little disappointed that specialty dining was so ridiculously hard to secure (and yes, I did try to book weeks before we boarded!) Video of the view from the Retreat hanging chairs. What a great place to sit and read (and chair hogs haven’t figured out a way to “save” these yet!). With the added waves it was so relaxing! FullSizeRender.MOV

We've been pretty spoiled last few cruises - Allure, Celebrity Apex. Looking for a last minute getaway and we live in Baltimore. That said...is Enchantment going to be a huge disappointment? (We are mainly in it for relaxation, food, good cocktails, sun, and maybe a little entertainment too). Thoughts?

We saw a lot of this in the Apex retreat! People covering every square inch of the lounger with towels. So obnoxious and wasteful and just adds to the laundry. I agree with the poster who said that X needs to step up and start enforcing.

Yes, they have it on Apex. At least the ginger beer.

The cabanas don’t face the pool - they face the walkway, so the back wall of the cabana is on the pool side. Sort of a dumb design which makes those cabanas not very desirable. (Everyone walking past goes by your cabana.). However: to me it would be worth it because I cannot stand dealing with chair hogs. Having private allocated space to come/go as you please would be nice. You’d have to walk to the end of the row to access the pool.

St. Kitts also has a historical area, so when we arrived back in port we thought we’d try that out. But it was SO hot and after walking a few blocks, we felt like a drink in the shade of the Retreat would be exactly perfect, so we headed back to the ship. Is there any better feeling in the world then heading back to the ship? You’re hot, tired, thirsty, and greeted with fresh water, cold towels, and friendly people? Celebrity does this so well. (One suggestion: have a drop area for towels so that guests don’t have to haul their heavy wet sandy towels back up to the room…but now I’m getting picky!)

St. Kitts is now officially our favorite port. Discovery Beach bar is a must for those of you who want a peaceful day! Also - if you see the ship sponsored “Carambola Beach Break” or “Shipwreck Beach” excursions…Discovery Beach bar is located between them on the same stretch. So not only will you save serious coin by going it on your own, you’ll have a much better experience with no crowds! You will not have amazing facilities here…a bathroom and a bar held together with plywood and good intentions (and a Roll Tide banner!)…but the rum punch was excellent and the food is all made from scratch. (We didn’t eat, but our shipmates did and they said the chicken wings are to die for.) ’ We only stayed at the beach for a couple hours, our wonderful taxi driver didn’t want us to pay him - he said he’d come back and get us and we could pay him at the end. We arranged a time and he came back to get us. Fun fact: mongoose are all over St. Kitts! Our taxi driver told us all about them and we even saw one on our ride back to the port. Our driver also took us to an overlook where the Atlantic and Caribbean meet so we could get some pictures.

We were not bothered on the beach at all…totally private, no people wandering trying to sell you stuff. If you are looking for a quiet spot to read and unwind, this is the spot for you. (Unfortunately for me I threw the wrong book in my beach bag - the one I had just finished the day before - but it was all good.)

There is one guy, Morsi, who runs the place. Drinks and food will be slow, but two lounge chairs and some rum punch will run you a whopping $22. There was one other couple there (Americans who lived part time in St. Kitts), and later we were joined by another couple from the Apex. The water was warm, beautiful, and calm, and the natural shade of the palm trees was plentiful. It was the most gorgeous spot ever!

Day 5: St. Kitts We had never been to St. Kitts before and we were definitely not up for a ship’s excursion…so the day before I looked around facebook and trip advisor and came across the Discovery Beach Bar. Reviews said the place was small, occupied mostly by locals, quiet, and on a beautiful beach. Sounded good to us. We arrived at St. Kitts and our plan was to find a taxi. The St. Kitts port area reminded me somewhat of Falmouth, Jamaica. Built up port area with tonnnssss of people hustling for rides, tours, etc. We bypassed all that until we saw a parking lot and went there to find a taxi. The taxi driver had never heard of Discovery Beach Bar and tried to talk us into going to Shipwreck beach: “that’s where all the cruisers go.” Which is exactly what we DIDN’T want. After a quick google search for an address we were on our way. Our taxi driver was excellent and basically gave us a tour and pointed out things on our drive. St. Kitts is gorgeous and not nearly as “depressed” looking as some other Caribbean islands. It was about a 15 minute ride to Discover Beach Bar, which is halfway between Shipwreck and Carambola. I’ll stop talking and let the photos speak for themselves…

The Retreat is full of chair hogs. All the loungers in shade covered by towels at 7am. Staff doesn’t enforce the 30 minute rule. So - can you find a spot in the Retreat at any time? Likely, yes. Can you find a shady spot? Definitely not…really wish Celebrity would have Retreat staff enforce the rules…sigh…

Hi everyone, We are just off Apex, our first cruise since 2017. Previous cruises include Celebrity (Mercury, Millenium, Silhouette) and Royal Caribbean (Independence and Allure). This was the first time cruising as a couple without anyone else…and after a couple of rough years, we felt we were entitled to some pampering so we booked a Sky Suite in the Retreat. We booked pretty last minute (2 months out) and got a great deal by using a website where you can input the cruise you want, and travel agents compete with one another and offer you bids on your cruise. This has worked really well for us in the past and we once again scored a good price and $1,600 OBC. I’ll break down the cruise day by day with as much detail as I can remember. Here we go!

Waiting at the airport with time to kill. Just finished up an incredible week on Apex. Full photo review will follow…but until then, amy questions? Highlights: Luminae Retreat Service Spa Lowlights (i’m being picky here, there really is little to find fault with): Some seriously entitled/rude fellow passengers Weird ship layout Casino didn’t like me Can’t get a dinner reservation at Eden