OrcaGirl

Final thoughts Three things I loved about this cruise: 1. The Edge is absolutely beautiful. 2. Captain Tasos was delightful and memorable. 3. Eden was a top-notch dining experience. Three things I’d change if given a magic wand that only worked on cruise ships: 1. Dinner in the buffet was sadly limited. 2. Service in the restaurants was slow/spotty at times, either due to new staff or not enough staff. 3. Three hot tubs is not enough. Overall, we had an amazing time, and any issues/problems we had were minor and had no impact on our enjoyment. We fly home tomorrow, and you can bet I’ll be watching for future opportunities to sail on an Edge-class ship again. Or I’ll follow Captain Tasos to the Ascent. My next cruise is on the Discovery Princess, sailing to Alaska with my mom and aunt in late April. I’m sure there will another live from thread for that one over on the Princess boards if you want to follow along.

Disembarkation details We woke up at 7:30am, to the melodious sounds of trucks and yelling on the pier below. We said goodbye to our beautiful cabin and headed up for coffee and breakfast in the buffet. We had group 42, and headed down to deck 5 as the numbers got progressively higher. Disembarkation itself was one of the smoothest I’ve had. We beeped our SeaPass cards, said goodbye to Guiseppe, and walked down the gangway. The luggage room was well-organized, and customs used facial recognition and we didn’t even need to scan our passports or talk to an officer. The rideshare pickup area was a bit more chaotic, just ‘cause it needs more space for cars to stop and load up. It would be easier if people and their bags didn’t crowd the curb until their ride arrived, but people gonna people. But we got our Lyft, waved goodbye to the Edge and headed out to Miami Beach. Random notes and observations: I couldn’t get a photo without risking falling down the escalator, but the table of confiscated items was very prominent and seemed to be mostly power bars and electric appliances. It was funny (to us) to see people bundled up in their Arc’teryx jackets and puffy sweaters. Sure it’s colder today, but it’s Miami, not Whitehorse. I really hope we didn’t forget anything, but our luggage seems waaaay less full than when we started.

We did want to try the Rooftop Grill, but by the time we decided to try there weren’t any reservations left and I kept forgetting to ask the concierge. Oh well, a man’s reach must exceed his grasp else what’s a heaven for? (aka guess I need to take another cruise…)

Wrapping up the final sea day… 😢 After doing as much packing as we could, we made a last-minute decision to get a reservation for Raw on Five. We typically skip cruise ship sushi because we have such good sushi in Vancouver, but wanted something different tonight. The sunset roll was pretty good, the pork belly was delicious, the beef negimaki was unique and yummy, and the truffled albacore tuna was… interesting. The dessert menu looked good but we didn’t want to stuff ourselves so we headed out for a final walk through the casino. We finally used our $5 match play coupons, and won with both on roulette. I headed off to slots, the husband went to play blackjack. And we both lost our roulette winnings very quickly. We headed to bed, set out our luggage, and turned on our TV for the first time all cruise just in time for the Super Bowl half-time show. Yay Rihanna. Since we don’t actually care about football, once her amazing performance was done, we watched a White Lotus and fell asleep. Random thoughts and observations The Magic Carpet moved down to a lower deck at some point. But I missed it moving. It wasn’t used for a restaurant, looked like they were cleaning it. The martini bar theatrics combined with the light show is really something. I wish we’d spent more time there. Things I meant to do this cruise but didn’t: order room service breakfast; try one of the dot painting classes; enjoy a sailaway from the hot tub.

Sitting in the Oceanview Cafe, finishing up breakfast and waiting for our disembarkation number to be called. It’s almost time to say goodbye to the Edge. I’ll post a wrap-up of our final sea day evening and disembarkation later once we’re at our hotel.

Sun. Pool. Cocktail. Repeat. Since they’d moved the time of the pool volleyball game, we didn’t have time to properly buffet so we grabbed burgers and hot dogs from the Mast Grill. The husband signed up for volleyball, and although fun was had, their team didn’t even make it out of the semi-finals. (Funnily enough, two of dudes we scouted yesterday formed their own team and also lost in the semi-finals.) The officer introductions were of course the best part, and it was surprisingly good volleyball (even if some of the calls by the ref were suspect). After the volleyball playing and spectating, it was time to tackle the dreaded task of packing up. 😢 We got partially packed, and then headed off for one last round of trivia. We got our wish for 80s music trivia, but completely blanked on two songs. Who knew that Toni Basil even had another song besides Mickey?!?! So no more prize cards for us. With nine tickets in hand, we got a second Celebrity hat. Back to the room to continue packing. Random observations and thoughts and whatnots: Noon seems late for the buffet to open for lunch on a sea day. Just realized an unexpected downside to the infinite verandah versus traditional balcony: the husband’s dive gear and wetsuit would usually be left (secured) on the balcony to air out. Without that option, it’s starting to smell like an NHL locker room in here. 🤢 I think there are more Eagles fans on board, but I could be wrong. The line-up for the theatre was getting a bit intense, people concerned about which doors on which levels would open first.

We never made any reservations for MDRs. Only one night we were asked to wait for five minutes, but it was actually more like one. All other nights we were seated immediately.

Good morning from I don’t know where because the GPS on my phone isn’t working and MarineTraffic says the Edge is out of coastal AIS range. Woke up early and — due to the time change — actually had to wait for Cafe al Bacio to open up. Headed up to breakfast, had another delicious omelet. Went back to the room to change into my swimsuit and then snag a prime spot by the pool while waiting for the husband to wake up. Except oh look, every single chair around the pool is claimed by towels. At 8:06am. Sure. But success! Grabbed a poolside chair when someone else didn’t like the look of the dark clouds rolling in. The pool temperature was perfect this morning. Phooey on anyone declaring it too cold. The husband showed up surprisingly early given his late-late shenanigans. Turns out he broke even at blackjack but then lost the rest of that $100 at more roulette. And had a great time at Liar’s Club. Random notes and observations Time zones continue to be dumb. I do like a longer cruise. Usually with a 7-day, it feels like it’s almost over just as soon as it began. (Of course, the last time I told the husband that 7-day cruises were too short, the COVID shutdown started and we were denied disembarkation in Puerto Rico and our 7-day cruise turned into 9.5 days, so I should just keep my mouth shut.) They changed up the schedule of activities so the guests vs officers pool volleyball is at the exact same time as the final TimePlay! Argh! It’s a conspiracy to keep me from winning, obviously. If there are obviously many, many people waiting for their drinks and the lone bartender is in the weeds and struggling to keep up, it is not the time to be chatty. He doesn’t care how your day was. And everyone else waiting would appreciate it if you keep your many, many questions for him about onboard life until after everyone else has been served.

Apres nap, we got showered and dressed up for ‘elegant chic’. Which, for me basically means a sparkly eyeshadow, sparkly shoes and a sparkly purse. And for the husband, it meant wearing his purple Fluevogs (sockless, in honour of Guiseppe). And for at least one dude, it meant wearing an NFL jersey in the MDR. 🤷‍♀️ We headed back to Normandie again. Interesting to note, for the second night in a row, we were asked if we’d like to be seated at a shared table by the window. But alas we’re anti-social, so we waited the extra 30 seconds for our own table (albeit not window-adjacent). The husband had a Caesar salad to start, and I had the baked Brie. Yummy, but seemed more desserty to me. The husband had the beef tenderloin en croute (again, some more) and I ordered the lobster. It was delicious, although our waiter seemed a bit less practiced at removing it from the shell. We skipped dessert again to head to the theatre for A Hot Summer Night’s Dream. Perhaps the expectations were raised too high by the cruise director and the activities team saying all day that it was their favourite of the production shows… but I thought it was just okay. (Or maybe I was distracted by the child watching a video on her mom’s phone in the front row the entire time?) After the show, we headed to the casino to make a deposit on a future free cruise offer. 🤣 I lost $100 incredibly quickly on the slots, while the husband goes and wins $90 on the same $100 investment at roulette (even though we had no idea what we were doing and the roulette lady had to keep correcting us)… and then we lost the winnings but kept his original $100 (which was technically still part of my winnings from Deal or No Deal last cruise). After that excitement, I started fading. We watched the tail end of some flair bartending at the Martini Bar. I love it when officers get up on the bar and do the fancy pour. But I just couldn’t stay up any longer. So the husband tucked me into bed and headed back out to party the night away. 😘 Random thoughts and observations A stranger grabbed me on the way to the theatre, but it was five-year-old girl who (according to her mom) thought I was her nana. 🤔 At least say she thought I was her hot aunt or something. I like that the photographers on Celebrity are less intrusive compared to NCL. We didn’t have to run a gauntlet of photo stations on elegant night, and nor have there been embarkation day or port photos. We ‘joked’ that the Captain should give Guiseppe a lifetime supply of socks as a gift. I think my final personal ranking of the production shows is: 1. Colours of Life 2. Kaleidoscope 3. Feel the Funk 3. A Hot Summer Night’s Dream

We have had to manually change our phones.

The husband has requested some clarifications and corrections. He used a French roll, not the French baguette. He asked for the hot dog wiener to be split and cooked a bit longer on the grill before hustling back to the buffet. He also added green onions and bacon bits from the baked potato bar.

We grabbed some refreshing beverages and headed to the theatre for the captain’s presentation. Unfortunately today’s Broadway lecture was going long and wow was that a painful five minutes. The captain’s presentation — billed as secrets of ship navigation — was more of a look at the differences between Solstice-class and Edge-class ships and cool behind the scenes photos from construction. Plus some fun videos of both construction and various port approaches. As always, Captain Tasos was a very engaging speaker. Since his Q&A went long and we wanted to play TimePlay, we grabbed cookies from Cafe al Bacio in lieu of lunch. And then crushed TimePlay. Again. 🤣 By then we were starving so up to the buffet. Only to be greeted by the most insane desserts on offer. Cakes. Donuts. Chocolate fountain with all the usual accoutrements. Somehow we resisted and went for proper food. Except that was over-the-top too. I’m not sure if it was in honour of the Superb Owl 🦉 or what but there were pork ribs, brisket, Buffalo wings, giant hamburgers/lamb burgers/chicken burgers, etc. The husband created his DIY chili dog today. A French baguette, hot dog wiener from the Mast Grill, chili from the buffet, shredded cheese AND nacho cheese. After lunch, we spent a little time in the pool, scouting out potential volleyball players for tomorrow. An excerpt: “What about that guy? I like his tattoos.” “Hmm, sure, he’s got a good body but he looks like he coasts by on his looks.” “What about that guy? He’s built.” “Sure, he’s probably a natural athlete, but he doesn’t look like a team player.” “What about that guy? He kind of looks like an older Ice Man.” “But will he be my wingman?” “But you’re Goose, you don’t get a wingman.” So yeah. We’ll see that happens tomorrow. We dried off and headed to Music Trivia. But alas it was Motown-themed and we gave up after three songs. Not our strong suit. Now if it had been 80s country or 90s new wave… We stuck around for General Knowledge and did a bit better but 10/15 just doesn’t cut it. These folks are here to WIN! Naptime. Random notes and thoughts and ramblings: The premium wifi speed has been great; the Celebrity App seems slow and glitchy. Time change back to EST tonight at 2am. When did watching videos on your phone in public without headphones become okay? I just don’t get it. Note to self: I need to order a tropical fish identification book for the husband. During his talk, the Captain mentioned that the guest who was medivaced off the ship earlier in the week is now doing better.

Woke up early and went to Cafe al Bacio for my morning espresso and croissant instead of risking disturbing Snoring Beauty by opening the verandah. Theoretically I’d planned to use today to (finally) start planning our upcoming trip to Fiji but looking at the list of interesting onboard activities, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. But breakfast is definitely happening. I dragged the husband to Eden to check out the morning offerings there. Then to guest services because I messed up and accidentally picked self-assist departure instead of luggage assist, which with all the husband’s dive gear, no. Once we got that sorted out, it was time for… second breakfast. The husband wanted some POY-TAY-TOES and I mostly wanted a mimosa. But also got some fruit, yogurt and a cinnamon roll because balance is important. We headed to a shady spot to read for a bit, but of course I left my book in the room and was feeling too lazy to [checks notes] climb down and back up one flight of stairs. So instead I’m here on CC. But maybe the mimosa has already gone to my head because I just posted this to the wrong thread! 🤣 Oops.

By the time we were dropped off, the Norwegian Getaway was pulled up alongside us. (We’ve sailed on the Dawn, Epic, Encore and Bliss x2 but never the Getaway). Once back on board, I serendipitously spotted my husband waiting for the elevators. (One gentleman jokingly admonished me for getting handsy in public; “at least this time I grabbed the right butt” was my retort.) We quickly dropped off our bags and headed to the buffet. The husband has been planning to assemble a gastronomic monstrosity, but alas the buffet didn’t have the right ingredients out so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. The lamb and chicken kabobs with tzatziki and tahini were really good, as was the chicken curry salad. The falafel was not. Then it was off to trivia! (With a quick detour up to the pooldeck bar for a BBC.) Trivia in Eden comes with a nice view but without a screen. And it was supposed to be ‘theme trivia’ again but there was no discernible theme. We suuuuuuucked. Okay, I need to let the trivia-induced stress go because it’s now massage time. [cut to 75 min later] Okay, the Thai herbal poultice massage was not what I was expecting based on the ‘massage teaser’ sampler on embarkation day. It was good, but I wasn’t prepared for just how up in my business the masseuse was going to get. It needs a rewrite and/or they need to explain it when you book it. For dinner, we went back to Normandie. The husband had a salad, but they were out of the advertised greens so it was arugula. I had the escargot. 🐌 Yummy buttery garlicky snails. As entrees, we both got the beef tenderloin en croute. Amazing! So tender and yummy. Definitely pushes Normandie into top spot of our MDR rankings. Dessert was just okay — he had the blueberry-apple turnover (the filling-to-pastry ratio was way off) and I had the opera cake (it tasted like it was trying to be tiramisu but failing miserably). After a quick trip back to the cabin to grab my phone charger and start the GoPro videos downloading (spoiler: 🐢, 🦁 🐠, 🦈), we headed to the Club for ‘Headline the Band’ e.g. karaoke. I wish I had the confidence, the husband wishes he had the voice. (There’s a video of a particularly drunken karaoke rendition of Let’s Dance in a bar in Germany from 30+ years ago that will haunt him forever.) Earlier in the day we had grand plans of staying up late tonight and go to Silent Disco, but… I’m exhausted. To bed! Random thoughts and observations: Someone asked, and yes, this is the final cruise on the Edge for Captain Tasos. 😢 The husband thinks the ship should have a Coke slushy machine that can also make Bellinis. Tonight the husband asked if our next cruise could be on a line where (trying to word this delicately) he didn’t feel like one of the youngest people on board. (For the record, he’s in his 50s but certainly doesn’t act it.) 🤣 But the jokes on him — if I get another BCC offer and he doesn’t want to go, I’ll just bring my mom or the Fox again. Speaking of, cruise lines that cater to more mature audiences need to rethink the lighting in the MDRs. Nary a night goes without someone or several someones using their phone flashlights to read the menu. I guess the sustainability effort where you get a bonus CC point for opting to get your room serviced less isn’t a thing anymore? We actually left the Deep Sleep magnet on our door every other day since we didn’t feel we needed the room cleaned twice a day everyday; and apparently our steward tried calling us yesterday to make sure we were all right. Cruise ships should have ‘backup singer’ karaoke. Like, I don’t have Lead Character Energy but I could sway along in the background and provide backing vocals. The husband, on the other hand, wants Lip Sync Battle at sea. I wonder how many people packed their jerseys for Super Bowl on Sunday? They’re going to play it in the theatre and there’s gonna be some type of betting grid thingy. The husband appreciates being able to grab a cookie from Cafe al Bacio whenever, versus the “by request only until after 9pm” situation on NCL lately.

My excursion today was the scenic rail and sail. I love trains, and I love catamarans. Win-win. We started with the sail portion. Which seemed to confuse a lot of people, though the description did say it could operate in either order. The boat crew asked a few trivia questions about St Kitts & American history, and I think I was only one who got them right, and I’m Canadian. Did no one see Hamilton?!?! But apparently I’ve been mispronouncing Nevis my entire life so… 🤷‍♀️ The catamaran portion of the tour was lovely, a nice speed, scenic views, great crew. Strong rum punch, so I limited myself to one since I didn’t have the husband or the Fox with me to keep me from making good/bad decisions. But they only played reggae music, no country, so everyone was saved from my poor-but-enthusiastic singing. They also handed out potato chips and muffins. I’m glad I remembered to grab my face mask, as there was a fair bit of coughing on the bus to the train. The bus transfer was about 10 mins. Of note, our bus driver was the only person all day to actually reference the slave trade and colonization… (It was a little disconcerting on the catamaran to hear slave traders/owners referred to as simply plantation owners and ‘great men.’) The train portion was also great, if a bit screechy. I wish I’d brought my earplugs. But scenic AF. A variety of beverages were on offer, inc. rum punch, pina coladas, etc. My one-and-done plan ended as soon as she said mango daiquiri and fired up the blender. The catamaran had been so relaxing and the train was a bit of sensory overload, so in retrospect I think I would have preferred the reverse order. But still absolutely enjoyable and worth doing. From the train station, it was another 10 min bus ride back to the port area.

Sorry, to clarify: yes, there’s a bartender at peak times. But I just meant that we haven’t seen it be anywhere other than deck 14 or serve any purpose other than a bar/lounge. I thought it was supposed to be able to be an extension of restaurant space up higher or lower at certain times; that’s what I haven’t seen (yet).

As previously mentioned, we’re up to two foam toppers folded over double. Is there another solution you’re thinking of?

Good morning from St Kitts. But where’s my daily rainbow? Once again had a deep sleep but messed up dreams (involving an outdoor adventure trade show, a now-retired NHL player that I used to work with, a well-known Canadian ultrarunner, and I found a dead body but it was no big deal?)… The Seabourn Ovation is to our starboard side but quite a ways out from the pier so I guess they’re tendering today? And the Norwegian Getaway must have a later arrival time as their AIS shows them still en route. But the real star is the Sea Cloud II — gorgeous ship! To breakfast! And then dive for cover when it starts to rain again. Oh there’s my daily rainbow. Excellent. A perfect 5/5 for port day rainbows. Then kisses to the husband as we head our separate ways: him to meet his dive boat and me to the theatre to await my excursion departure.

Actually that wasn’t the tour we had booked! We’d previously done a different catamaran & snorkel tour twice on Norwegian, and both times went to the same spot with a very sad coral situation, so this trip we were booked on the catamaran & snorkel that goes to Green Island on the far side of Antigua and (depending on how you interpret the language in the description) circumnavigates the entire island. I’m sad to have missed it, but there’s always next cruise. I’d love to do the lobster catamaran someday but since the husband doesn’t appreciate lobster, we’ve never booked it. I’ll do that one solo someday when the port times align better with scuba for him.

My Sleepy Beauty finally roused himself out of bed around 12:30pm and we headed up for lunch. Only to get chased inside by another quick cloudburst that turned my guacamole and sour cream into a weird soup. After that, we settled in poolside for some reading (him) and future cruise contemplation (me). We attempted trivia again but obviously Celebrity *hates* Canadians because the sports-themed trivia didn’t have a SINGLE question about hockey. Who pays attention to football (either kind), baseball, basketball and golf anyway? Phhhffff. And the Long Island iced tea we ordered between trivia rounds didn’t help our score on the General Knowledge trivia either. 5 out of 20?!?! 🤣 Tonight for dinner we made a return trip to Cyprus. Service was unusually slow compared to our last visit, and the entrees didn’t live up to expectations (the short ribs were gristly and tough and nowhere near as flavourful). But at least the saganaki was still amazing? Mmmm gooey cheese. We skipped dessert in order to grab our usual seats for tonight’s theatre show, Feel the Funk. It was very good, although definitely my least favourite of the three production shows we’ve seen so far. Really wish we could stay up for the ABBA trivia and singalong, but alas, we’ve got an early day tomorrow so it’s back to the cabin to get our stuff prepped (and start season two of The White Lotus). Random thoughts and observations: The husband is wondering which cruise line is known for the softest mattresses. Meanwhile I’m wondering if the Disney cruise ships have Dole Whip on board. We haven’t seen the Magic Carpet in use once. It’s a beautiful space but the intended function itself seems quite gimmicky. Captain Tazos continues to be the best. Checked my email today and oh look a PUP offer. Guess I know what I’m watching tomorrow.

I’m afraid I don’t know how the seating times work on Edge-class ships with the four main dining rooms. We haven’t made any MDR reservations at all.

Good morning from Antigua! What a beautiful rainbow and view to wake up to… And then a squall. Oh well, can’t have rainbows with some rain. With a later arrival time into port, I went to grab coffee and enjoy it on the verandah while letting Snoring Beauty sleep in. 😴 The Seven Seas Navigator and Seabourn Ovation are in port with us today. Breakfast time. Yay for chocolate babka! It was one of my favourite things on the Solstice and I’m delighted it made an appearance this morning. Our original plan was to go on another catamaran and snorkel tour, but a combination of rainy skies and husband not feeling 100% had us cancelling last minute. Apparently we’ll get 50% of the tour cost back, which I wasn’t expecting due to the late cancellation, but unfortunately it doesn’t sound like they keep a waitlist for anyone else to grab our spots. As an aside, I don’t love the self-serve kiosks in lieu of a properly staffed shore excursion desk. There was one excursions crew member there, but she was trying to disengage from questions (despite a number of people having them) so she could get to her position in the theatre. Apparently they only have staff there in the evenings, but it would seem to me that the morning would be when troubleshooting requiring an actual person to talk to is most likely to happen. 🤷‍♀️ So anyway, the husband is back in bed, I’m back on the verandah with an Americano and a BBC (it’s practically a breakfast smoothie) and we’ll see what the ship has to offer us later today. Oh, it took a while to transfer the files, but a selection of videos from the husband’s scuba diving in Barbados are now up on my IG Stories.

We weren’t contacted by the concierge ahead of sailing, but I don’t know what their usual protocol is. We were a very last-minute booking, so that may have factored in. We booked an Eden reservation online a week before sailing, but the last sea day at 8:30pm was all that was available. After checking the app once on board and not seeing anything else available, we stopped by the concierge desk and just asked if anything earlier in the week was available, time didn’t matter. And they were able to get us the same 8:30pm spot but on day 4.

Barbados afternoon & evening recap I had a chill day, hanging by the pool, consuming many delicious beverages (BBC FTW), and having a lovely chat with a fellow Canadian about our respective travels in Tanzania. The husband got back on board around 1:45pm and after rinsing all his scuba gear, we headed up for lunch. Yummy fried fish! After a crash nap, we headed to visual trivia which was not exactly what I was expecting based on the description. Instead it was ‘interpret the emojis’? And almost everyone got 15/15, and the tie-breaker trivia question was ridiculously obscure. 🤷‍♀️ For general knowledge trivia, we’re keeping up our alternating streak of either “bringing shame upon our families” or “tying for first but losing the tie-break.” Oh well. For dinner, we went to the Tuscan MDR. Service was a bit awkward and we felt the food was only so-so. We had the French onion soup (good) and eggplant caponata bruschetta (meh). Followed by the chicken saltimbocca (okay) and the strozzapretti carbonara (good but kind of one note). For dessert we had the apple tarte tatin (delightful) and tiramisu (amazing). Since we had missed the start of the 7pm show, we moseyed back to our cabin (via the casino, quickly losing $20 apiece) to attempt some diving video transfers between PC and Apple. Tonight’s show was Magical Bones. As was the case on the Solstice, any performer who starts with a video reel saying how amazing they are generally isn’t. Magical Bones was definitely better than the last magician, but still not my favourite magic show at sea. Random observations: The husband noted and I agreed, there are fewer bar servers in the theatre compared to NCL. After now dining in all four MDRs, our current rankings are: Me: 1. Cyprus 2. Cosmopolitan 3. Normandie 4. Tuscan Him: 1. Cyprus / Normandie (tied) 3. Tuscan 4. Cosmopolitan I’d like to know where Cruise Director Giuseppe gets his jackets; dude has style. The ship was rocking and rolling and bouncing tonight, to the point that the magician-breakdancer didn’t quite land his backflip (but still grabbed the right card ‘from the air’). We’re currently 3/3 for spotting rainbows on port days.

Further update: there were lines of only 1-2 groups at each of the MDRs tonight around 7:30pm as we finished our dinner.