LIVE from EDGE - 12/9/18 - 7 night Western Caribbean Maiden Voyage

[WonderMan3]

Just when you thought it was safe to go back on Cruise Critic and not see yet another "LIVE from EDGE" thread...Ha! Think again!

 

Hello all! My name is Adam. Some of you may remember following along with me on some of my prior "LIVE from" threads to the Caribbean and Mediterranean this year and last. Well, I am traveling again, this time on the Edge's maiden voyage for their 7 night Western Caribbean itinerary on 12/9/18. Just a quick introduction for those who haven't followed my threads before. My husband Mike and I live in Provincetown, Massachusetts which is small historic fishing village at the tip of Cape Cod (it's where the Pilgrims first landed before Plymouth and where they signed the Mayflower Compact and today it is a popular beach resort, haven for artists and home to a large LGBT community). This will be our 9th cruise with Celebrity since starting to cruise with them in 2013 and our 3rd this year after doing Silhouette in January and Reflection in April. This time around it will just be the two of us traveling alone. We had no plans to sail on Edge anytime soon after seeing the initial pricing. But then, while on Silhouette, we each received discount vouchers from the casino towards a future new cruise that had to be used by January 2019. As we already had Reflection booked for last April and a Summit cruise next month we were stuck trying to figure out how we would be able to use the certificates. That's when I read about the new Maiden Voyage sailing on 12/9 that had been added. We figured this was a chance to try this new ship at a discount since we didn't think prices would come down for a couple years. We booked with the Future Cruise desk while onboard Silhouette. We always travel in suites with Celebrity but found that most of them were already gone. All that was left were some Sky Suites and Edge Villas. The Villas were way beyond our price range so we went with a Sky Suite. There was one aft Sky available on Deck 6 at the time but we passed on that as we didn't have a lot of information about Edge at that point and I was concerned about potential noise, light or obstruction of sea view from Eden which was right below that cabin. So we went with an S1 midship on deck 11, right across from the elevators which is very convenient. With our casino vouchers and a small sale going on we were able to save around $2100 of the total cost of the trip which was a big help.

 

In preparation for the cruise we haven't booked a lot in advance. We have reserved two of the specialties; Fine Cut Steakhouse and Roof Top Garden Grill. Eden's menu didn't appeal to us and La Petit Chef looked too gimmicky. Plus, we love Luminae so want to spend multiple evenings dining there. Because we are Blue Chip Club sapphire level members we were contacted by the shoreside concierge a week or so back. I did inquire about reserving Dinner on the Edge in advance but she couldn't help with that; she couldn't even tell me what day during the cruise it would occur on as it is not determined until you board. (And now from things I'm reading from others who have been on Edge it sounds like DOTE may not even happen now.) I also asked if she could reserve spa appointments for us. At first she said yes and asked me to advise times and day. When I did then she came back and said that actually they can't pre-reserve spa appointments for Edge, you can only do it through your Travel Planner. Not sure if this is a change that is going to happen for all ships or if it is isolated to Edge. So she was pretty useless in being able to set anything up. We will set up our remaining requests once we board. If DOTE doesn't happen then we'll just try for lunch at Raw on 5. Want to experience some sort of dining on the Magic Carpet at least once though.

 

We will arrive in Florida on Saturday afternoon, staying for one night at the Hard Rock Casino Hotel in Hollywood since we get comped rooms there. So looking forward to getting out of here as we had our first snow on the ground this morning and it's supposed to drop into the 20's by Saturday. Brrrr!

 

I'll try to share as much as I can through photos and videos (subject to reliable internet service of course). I'll post here but you can also follow our travel instagram account at traveling_husbands where I plan to post photo and video updates as well. If you want to follow my main instagram account at adam_a_rose you can also do that. Will only be posting my more "artsy" photos from the trip there though if anything inspires me. That's my main account for my photography of Provincetown and Cape Cod if you are interested.

 

Hope you all can follow along and if you have questions about the ship I'll do my best to answer them. Just please understand that this is also a vacation for me so I may not be able to find out answers to everything or it might take me a little time, but I'll certainly try. 🙂

 

 

 

 

[lola2013]

I've been waiting for your review to begin...we don't sail on EDGE until next December so I'm anxious to hear all about her.  My TA was on one of the preview cruises last week and told me we will love it.

Enjoy your trip.

Susan

[WonderMan3]

18 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

I've been waiting for your review to begin...we don't sail on EDGE until next December so I'm anxious to hear all about her.  My TA was on one of the preview cruises last week and told me we will love it.

Enjoy your trip.

Susan

 

Thanks Susan! Been liking what I’ve been seeing of the ship so definitely looking forward to trying her out.

[portofrome]

I'm ready to follow you, guys!

[lv2cruisgrl]

We sail in March, my question is" IS Edge worth the extra $$$  ??

[alishac]

Looking forward to your review! Can you find out if the running track is only open for running during certain hours, or if it's okay to run on it all the time? Thanks.

[hcat]

Will be following...

We are going to be in AQ class on an Eastern itin,  but have res at FCSH and Rooftop ( port night).  We  will have Thermal suite access from AQ  but also have spa appts pre booked..  

Have fun!

[WonderMan3]

3 hours ago, lovrccl said:

We sail in March, my question is" IS Edge worth the extra $$$  ??

I'm wondering that myself. Will have my answer at the end of next week!

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

Will be following...

We are going to be in AQ class on an Eastern itin,  but have res at FCSH and Rooftop ( port night).  We  will have Thermal suite access from AQ  but also have spa appts pre booked..  

Have fun!

 

We're going to try the Thermal Suite with our free Elite access on one of the port days. Hopefully they'll still have space left.

[Northern Aurora]

While I don't have any specific questions I will certainly be following your posts.  We currently have ten future Celebrity bookings, but none so far on the Edge.  Keep us posted!  And have fun!

[katysuerx]

Looking forward to your live review, have an amazing time!

Edited December 7, 2018 by katysuerx
Misspelled word

[Sandy1975]

I can't wait to read your about your adventure! Have a great trip and I hope you get to to DOTE! 

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review and photos.  Have a great time!

[JoePDX]

Will definitely be following along on your journey!   Very much appreciate the time you put into your live reviews.....

 

Joe

[Champagne Cruiser]

Looking forward to your review. 

[doubled]

Adam

 

Have followed your live threads before and looking forward to hearing about Edge.  Especially interested in hearing about casino.  If you have time could you check the machines that are installed IN the casino bar top and if blackjack is an option on any of the machines installed in bar countertop.  Have a great time and don't go "Over the Edge"

 

Art

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, doubled said:

Adam

 

Have followed your live threads before and looking forward to hearing about Edge.  Especially interested in hearing about casino.  If you have time could you check the machines that are installed IN the casino bar top and if blackjack is an option on any of the machines installed in bar countertop.  Have a great time and don't go "Over the Edge"

 

Art

 

We will be in the casino every night so I will check that out!

[jcpc]

I'm on the "edge of my seat" waiting for your "LIVE from EDGE" review to start.  As posted over on the Edge postings, in January we'll be in the same Sky Suite as you guys.  Plus we have the same specialty dining booked as you do....and are waiting to have lunch or a cocktail on the magic carpet.  And, like you, we'll be in the casino every night.  Have a great time and enjoy!

[chamima]

Interested to hear about the Edge.

[abbydancer2003]

I was on  one of the preview cruises, so I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts.

[maggieq]

Adam, so nice of you to take the time out of your vacation to do this. Soo excited. Thanks so much!

[MACruisers]

Adam, 

 

First of all enjoy your cruise.  Next, I've been waiting for your live review to start. I followed your previous reviews and have enjoyed them. I am particularly interested in this one, as we are sailing B2B in March in an S1.  

[ecslady]

On 12/6/2018 at 6:21 PM, WonderMan3 said:

 

We're going to try the Thermal Suite with our free Elite access on one of the port days. Hopefully they'll still have space left.

 

Do you know for sure if Celebrity is stilll honoring that perk on EDGE? Since it has only been preview cruises I haven't heard.  Hope to run into you on the 9th.

Edited December 8, 2018 by ecslady

[WonderMan3]

8 hours ago, jcpc said:

I'm on the "edge of my seat" waiting for your "LIVE from EDGE" review to start.  As posted over on the Edge postings, in January we'll be in the same Sky Suite as you guys.  Plus we have the same specialty dining booked as you do....and are waiting to have lunch or a cocktail on the magic carpet.  And, like you, we'll be in the casino every night.  Have a great time and enjoy!

 

I think we’re living parallel lives! 😄

[WonderMan3]

1 hour ago, ecslady said:

 

Do you know for sure if Celebrity is stilll honoring that perk on EDGE? Since it has only been preview cruises I haven't heard.  Hope to run into you on the 9th.

 

According to this FAQ they will be. Also, when I asked the shoreside concierge about it she confirmed the benefit but said she couldn’t reserve it for us, it had to be done onboard.

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/EDGE/CEL_EDGE_Spa_Reveal_FAQS.pdf