What A Market

15 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

@What A Market, Thank you for your review.  We have been on three of the E class ships, with reservations on the fourth for February.  When we have sailed in the Retreat, our go-to favorite restaurant has been Blu.  Have you tried it yet?  It's designed for Aqua class passengers, of course, but Retreat guests also can dine there when space is available.

Hi Traveling Man

We’ve done Blu a couple of times while traveling in a suite on previous Apex cruises. Haven’t been in yet on this cruise, but thanks to you it is back on my radar!

As always, sticking with my morning ritual in Cafe au Bacio. Tessa, one of the waitresses there, takes care of my daily caffeine needs. She is exceptional!

Downhill bike ride yesterday from top of fjord in Geiranger….. And I still married. Lol

Even though weather wasn’t perfect, it was an awesome excursion. 
 

 Very nice meal in Fine Cut last night.  
Stand out dishes were the Lobster salad with bibb lettuce and melon as well as the arugula salad with poached pears and goat cheese fritters. 
 

I had the dry aged New York with an au poivre sauce. Good not great. 
 

Finished with the apple crumble. Very nice. 

Morning cappuccino arriving in Geiranger. Doesn’t get much better than this!

Sea Walk coming out to connect with us. (Sea Walk is a movable motorized floating dock.)

7 hours ago, hcat said:

thanks..

could u hear music from Fine Cut table?

Oh yeah, you can totally hear the music from the Martini Bar below.

I don’t find it oppressive or distracting.

Even when the evening flare show kicked off it felt “right” — of course I was enjoying dessert at that point and finishing off the last of the wine 🍷! 😋

Sorry gang.
You would think I could post more on a sea day. 
 

Here’s some Live Photos from our table at Fine Cut. 

Here’s some random ramblings about yesterday in Oslo.

We had a ship’s excursion for 10:30. I’ve not done excursions thru the ship on previous cruises, except to arrange dive/snorkeling adventures.  The idea of being trapped on a bus has never seemed appealing.  But I must say, I was pleasantly surprised.  Full-sized bus with only 26 of us for the tour, and not a lot of time on bus.  Quick bus ride to Oslo’s sculpture park (Vigeland Park) where we toured the sculptures with our private guide. The bus dropped us off at one end of the park and we walked across the length of the park where we met the bus again.  
 

Then it was another fairly quick drive to the Fram and Kon Tiki museums. The Norwegians are justifiably proud of their maritime scientific and exploratory history!  
 

Back on the bus for another quick ride to the ship. Tour was four hours and very enjoyable.  It was nice having a guide to learn details of these beautiful and unique spots in Oslo.

13 hours ago, doghog said:

Beautiful young lady, ship (we cruised on the Apex March 2023) and enjoying a Red Stripe. 🍻

Good eyes on all counts, particularly on picking up the Red Stripe bottle!

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

 

I use it often -   Both the Mobile as well as the Web Version.    I find the easiest method is to search on  a site like Cruise Mapper to find ships current location by Long. and Lat.  

 

 

 

 

Thanks Jim!  That’s exactly what I needed.

I did not think I would be sitting outside on the Magic Carpet enjoying a perfect evening in Oslo!  Perfect weather!!!

22 hours ago, hcat said:

what types of fish dishes were featured in the 4 mdrs..pls dont say tilapia..     we had wonderful choices on EDGE.. but thst was awhile ago!

Hello hcat 

Here’s a run down on various seafood dishes (starters and mains) at the four main dining rooms for this evening:

Salmon Gravlax 

Pan seared cod

Grilled shrimp

Coquilles Saint Jacques

Shellfish dish in seafood broth

That’s it between all four restaurants.  This is what I see in the App though.

Maybe more on actual menus???

Our dock location in Oslo. A little way out from the center of the city. I guess the closer in port is closed to cruise ships for construction of new infrastructure. (Not 100 percent of that though.)

Photos not wanting to load. Take two with those. 
 

Scene in front of kitchen 

Eden’s unique salad

Ceviche with an herbed sorbet

Crab Cake

Lamb loin

Great dinner in Eden last night. Our server was Desy with Belen as assistant. We had Yan as wine steward. All three were exceptional with their service. 
 

I’m a big fan of Eden. I always try to sit at the tables fronting onto the kitchen. We did not do the wine paired tasting menu. (Heidi not up for the task. Boo!) So it was just a la carte for us. We each had two starters and one entree. Everything very good, with my crab cake and Heidi’s sea bass the stand outs. Weakest dish was my lamb. 

Good morning from Oslo, our first port.

Day at sea yesterday, which is always nice after embarkation day and all the travel that proceeded it.  A bit overcast in Oslo. Local weather report says rain is supposed to hold off until this afternoon.  We have a ship’s excursion planned for later this morning — four hour walking tour. (I am only using ship excursions for this cruise, which is a first for me.)

The day, of course, starts with multiple cappuccinos and espressos at Cafe al Bacio. Fairly quiet at 6:45am. 

Warning for chair hogs. These were placed on every open lounger in the Solarium. 

In my morning (every morning) happy place — Cafe al Bacio!  I’ll spend a couple of hours here as Heidi usually sleeps in. Thank you Heidi!  If any of you have followed any of my previous Live cruise threads, you know this gets pretty repetitive. Lol

First drink at Martini Bar for this cruise. 
The room as a whole is stunning in a glam sort of way. Much much prefer the Solstice class ship’s Martini Bar for the ability to socialize easier with others at the bar. 

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I've pulled up a chair and looking forward to your adventure.  Was surprised to read about the baggage service.   We arrived Rotterdam x2 and departed from Amsterdam.    In Amsterdam they had a long line for people without tags but if you had you luggage you just put it on a conveyor belt like at the airport and it went into the backroom.     There were some porters curbside but very few.

Glad you posted Jim.  I was just getting ready to ask you a question.

I just downloaded the Windy App.  I think you may use that???

Trying to figure out how use/read.

I have it set to Waves for checking conditions. Photo of current conditions below.

Dark Blue means higher waves? Looks like right outside of Rotterdam is heaviest.

But what height be?

Thanks for help with this!

9 minutes ago, CanuckCruizer said:

What A Market - Glad you made it ok and thanks very much for doing this review. 

 

We are sailing on the Apex in September out of Rotterdam.  Reading the above concerns me.  We are going on a very long holiday and will have 4 large cases between the two of us.  Are there any carts available to put your luggage in, while you are in the lineup, as don't know how we are going to manage?  Failing that - would our driver be able to accompany us with the luggage up to the porters?  Did you see anyone doing this?

 

Do you know what time the boarding opened up as I don't think you mentioned your arrival time?  We have chosen the 1st time that was available - 11:30am - just wondering if they are open before that?  

 

Thanks very much.

 

Canuck

 

Hello Canuck

Thanks for following. 
I get your concern from what I tried to describe. I did not see any carts. Not sure what others were doing at drop off. Our driver ignored everyone trying to flag his car into the drop off area. He pulled his car off on the other side of the road, had us jump out, unloaded our suitcases (four — two wheeled carry ons and two medium wheeled bags), stopped all traffic, then he and I wheeled the bags across the street. We were basically in the middle of the scrum at that moment. 
 

It was right about then that I heard a Celebrity concierge screaming for Retreat guests. 
 

Everyone in line seemed to have all their bags with them. 

Still dreary out there in Rotterdam. Nice in here though!

Luminae was absolutely packed for lunch. Huge line. Butler (Gordon) alarmed. Said the wait would be at least 40 minutes. Suggested Le Grand Bistro as an alternative. We were up for that, and he insisted on escorting us. It was a great option. First time dining in LGB. Dare I say it?!? The burger here is much nicer compared to Luminae. (At least by my sometimes faulty recollection.)

Photos from our table by the window. 

Can’t wait to sit in my hanging chair while in heavy seas in the North Sea!

First photos from the suite. 
Very unique chair in the foreground and elaborate clothes hanger (with its own TV) in the background. 🤣