Edge Review - Exceptional - Hits - Misses - Failures - Edenists

[kwokpot]

52 minutes ago, Seapoint said:

Thanks for a great review.

 

Question - my wife and I like to spend a lot of time at the main pool area, but we have to be in the shade.

The S Class ships have a lot of shade areas around the pool. Looking at pics of E class, I don't see shade. (Except the cabanas).Please advise. This would be a deal breaker for us.

 

Is there shade at the Retreat pool?

There are areas with shade at the main pool. 

I also attached photos of shady areas not on the main pool deck. 

[PatC]

On 1/15/2019 at 8:33 AM, Host Anne said:

 

My opinion is that Edge is very overpriced at the moment.  They have spent a ton of money on the ship and I'm sure they want to get a good return on their investment.  However, I think the infinite balconies are going to be a major downfall in filling this ship long term at the current pricing.  We certainly won't return at the price we paid.  I really wanted to see the ship so we were willing to pay the price for this cruise.  But I don't think the pricing is sustainable long term.  That's my personal opinion.

Agree 100%!  We left Edge very disappointed and concerned with the lack of handicapped accessible areas.  Did not have an opinion on the IV cabins but heading over to Silhouette and on her right after Edge we will not be doing any more "E" class unless they re-work them.  Martini Bar area very inaccessible and overly crowded, the Rooftop Garden was a challenge until you figured it out, forget completely the Sunset Bar!  That was terrible.  While the crew and food were all Celebrity perfection folks on Silhouette now all say no more Edge for them.  I agree those IV's were high class staterooms and Celebrity might re-think the word "veranda".

PatC

[vtcruising]

On 1/22/2019 at 12:04 PM, bstoeck said:

We are price conscious cruisers as well.   Last Monday we booked an Oceanview cabin on a Dec. 15th seven night sailing of the Edge for 2711.90 total for two adults with a well known east coast cruise company from New Hampshire.  We each received a Premium Drink Package, Internet for two, Prepaid Tips for two, a 300.00 OBC from Celebrity -  and an additional 10% of cruise cost in OBC from the agency (225.00 OBC) as well an additional 50.00 Loyalty OBC from them.  

 

We can probably get a little cheaper price on the older ships but we feel this is a pretty good value for us, and we are happy we reserved it as the prices have already gone up for what we booked.  It is a refundable deposit from Celebrity, and we feel it is worth the risk of a small cancellation penalty from the agency to get this deal.  We are fortunate to be able to drive the hour and a half to get to Ft Lauderdale so no added airfare either.  We will try the Edge class ship and see what we think.  It is great that Celebrity currently has choices between Millenium, Solstice, and Edge class experiences.

 

Sweet! I walked past an ocean view that was being made up yesterday with door open. It looked very nice - it was one of the ones on 3. Enjoy the beautiful Edge!!

[kearney]

2 hours ago, PatC said:

Agree 100%!  We left Edge very disappointed and concerned with the lack of handicapped accessible areas.  Did not have an opinion on the IV cabins but heading over to Silhouette and on her right after Edge we will not be doing any more "E" class unless they re-work them.  Martini Bar area very inaccessible and overly crowded, the Rooftop Garden was a challenge until you figured it out, forget completely the Sunset Bar!  That was terrible.  While the crew and food were all Celebrity perfection folks on Silhouette now all say no more Edge for them.  I agree those IV's were high class staterooms and Celebrity might re-think the word "veranda".

PatC

This was our second time using a scooter on a cruise. I booked a cabin in the forward part of the ship thinking that having a scooter would eliminate the need to be convenient to dining etc. Well if you are using a wheelchair... it is not straight forward to get to the martini bar or guest relations.... oh you can do hallway driving... but that is less than ideal... we constantly had to think about where we were going... and how to get there. Day one while touring the ship we decided to check out Eden. I knew that they had an elevator and we discovered if you got in on 6 it was difficult if not impossible to make the 90 degree turn to get out on 5. Now perhaps DH's scooter was too long to make the turn...but it appeared that it was not intended for scooters. I wonder it it works for a chair. Did you check that out?

[PatC]

4 minutes ago, kearney said:

This was our second time using a scooter on a cruise. I booked a cabin in the forward part of the ship thinking that having a scooter would eliminate the need to be convenient to dining etc. Well if you are using a wheelchair... it is not straight forward to get to the martini bar or guest relations.... oh you can do hallway driving... but that is less than ideal... we constantly had to think about where we were going... and how to get there. Day one while touring the ship we decided to check out Eden. I knew that they had an elevator and we discovered if you got in on 6 it was difficult if not impossible to make the 90 degree turn to get out on 5. Now perhaps DH's scooter was too long to make the turn...but it appeared that it was not intended for scooters. I wonder it it works for a chair. Did you check that out?

No we didn't try it because once we did the ramp it was narrow and, as you said, no place to turn even in the chair.  The Sunset Bar was impassible for anyone with equipment and our neighbor who had MS really was turned off by the handicapped bathrooms and the idiotic way to lock those doors.  My son also noticed the chairs at the Sunset were peeling and this brand new ship is simply not for us.  Spoke to a man on the elevator this morning and he was with us on EDGE.  He cancelled a b2b in March.  Speaking to many of the crew on here, they are turning down transfers to Edge also.  Very sad.  I hope someone in Miami is listening!!!

[ecslady]

38 minutes ago, PatC said:

No we didn't try it because once we did the ramp it was narrow and, as you said, no place to turn even in the chair.  The Sunset Bar was impassible for anyone with equipment and our neighbor who had MS really was turned off by the handicapped bathrooms and the idiotic way to lock those doors.  My son also noticed the chairs at the Sunset were peeling and this brand new ship is simply not for us.  Spoke to a man on the elevator this morning and he was with us on EDGE.  He cancelled a b2b in March.  Speaking to many of the crew on here, they are turning down transfers to Edge also.  Very sad.  I hope someone in Miami is listening!!!

 

Hi Pat- too bad our paths did not cross on the EDGE.  It's been so long since I've seen you two (and we live so close). Dee and I noticed the same regarding the accessibility around the ship.  Interesting that crew doesn't even want to  be transferred to EDGE.

[MisterBill99]

Ugh, thanks CC for keeping me in the posting page and not showing that my post was successful  Sorry for the dups.

Edited February 13, 2019 by MisterBill99

[MisterBill99]

On 1/20/2019 at 11:01 PM, Host Anne said:

 

cgolf ~ the price to upgrade is going to vary from sailing to sailing depending upon the available inventory.  I'm guessing it could range from a few hundred to more than $1,000 depending upon inventory and what you are upgrading from and upgrading too.   Going from an inside to an oceanview is probably the least expensive.  If you are interested, stop at Guest Relations when you board and they can give you details.  It's definitely worth asking about.  It doesn't cost anything to inquire.

 

So based on this post I decided to see if I could upgrade from our C2 cabin on the 2nd week of our B2B. I asked at Guest Services as soon as we got back on the ship for the 2nd cruise and was told they would put me on the wait list. Around 3:30 they left a message on my cabin phone for me to call them. When I called them back a couple of hours later they offered me an upgrade to an Aqua Class for $800 per person. Needless to say I did not accept it (it was WAY more than I was willing to pay) and it sounded like the person I spoke to was surprised that I declined. I really should have asked if she realized that I was in a Concierge Class cabin and asked her to check if that was really the price to go from that to Aqua. But alas, I did not. 

 

BTW the accessible Sky Suite next to our cabin was empty for the 2nd sailing. We had spoken to the people who were in it the first week and they showed us all of the things that were wrong with it vis a vis the ADA. They could have offered it to me for a decent price and we could have just moved our stuff next door. Of course, the people in it the first week said that Celebrity was having some people from corporate come on board in the next couple of weeks to figure out what could be done to fix the accessibility problems in the cabins, so maybe they needed it to be empty.

Edited February 13, 2019 by MisterBill99

[MisterBill99]

On 1/26/2019 at 8:53 PM, kwokpot said:

There are areas with shade at the main pool. 

I also attached photos of shady areas not on the main pool deck. 

 

 

 

 

So, a funny story about those glass panels that aren't sealed on top (I kept one of the posted photos to use as an example). When it rains, the covered side pool area floods because the rain can get inside the glass (especially when it rains on an angle). I saw several crew members furiously sweeping water into fairly small drainage holes in the area on the port side of the pool at the entrance to the Solarium near the Spa Cafe. It also flooded in the Spa Cafe itself but it wasn't clear where that water was coming from.

Edited February 13, 2019 by MisterBill99

[cgolf1]

1 hour ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

So based on this post I decided to see if I could upgrade from our C2 cabin on the 2nd week of our B2B. I asked at Guest Services as soon as we got back on the ship for the 2nd cruise and was told they would put me on the wait list. Around 3:30 they left a message on my cabin phone for me to call them. When I called them back a couple of hours later they offered me an upgrade to an Aqua Class for $800 per person. Needless to say I did not accept it (it was WAY more than I was willing to pay) and it sounded like the person I spoke to was surprised that I declined. I really should have asked if she realized that I was in a Concierge Class cabin and asked her to check if that was really the price to go from that to Aqua. But alas, I did not. 

 

BTW the accessible Sky Suite next to our cabin was empty for the 2nd sailing. We had spoken to the people who were in it the first week and they showed us all of the things that were wrong with it vis a vis the ADA. They could have offered it to me for a decent price and we could have just moved our stuff next door. Of course, the people in it the first week said that Celebrity was having some people from corporate come on board in the next couple of weeks to figure out what could be done to fix the accessibility problems in the cabins, so maybe they needed it to be empty.

 

I guess we got offered a good deal. It would only have been a little more than what you were quoted for us to move from an inside to an aqua class room. We didn’t take the deal and loved our inside room. I will say right before they closed bookings there were 21 aqua class cabins on our cruise open, so lot of space open, which may have kept the upgrade price down. 

[renroc13]

I have been following these posts ever since Anne posted and thank you all for the updates. 

Anne..I think we were on the opening of the Solstice with you if you were on the Inaugural sailing.  Unless it was another Anne. Len and I have been married to the "S" Class since they launched and spend at least 4-8 weeks on them a year.  

We are also on the March 3rd sailing and booked when I saw a 45% off last year.  I would not book onboard when we saw the prices they were asking.  I feel we are well prepared by all of you with what to expect.  We spoke with Lisa on the President's sailing several years ago and know that Celebrity is trying to "rebrand" and at the same time keep us happy.  It will certainly be a challenge.

We know what to expect.  We have booked an IV but will certainly miss my mega balcony this trip (which will only be 7 days.)

Thank you all for the posts.  We will be looking for those quiet corners you have posted about.

Karen (and Len)

[renroc13]

On 1/22/2019 at 4:44 PM, Host Anne said:

 

The day we were in Grand Cayman, the seas were rough so they used local tenders instead of Celebrity "launches" (new tender name).  We really wanted to try the new Celebrity tender but didn't happen on this trip.

I believe but am not certain that there are contracts in certain ports where the ships must use the local tenders.  I was told that years ago but am not certain if that is the case.

Karen

[Host Anne]

On 1/26/2019 at 7:46 PM, Seapoint said:

Thanks for a great review.

 

Question - my wife and I like to spend a lot of time at the main pool area, but we have to be in the shade.

The S Class ships have a lot of shade areas around the pool. Looking at pics of E class, I don't see shade. (Except the cabanas).Please advise. This would be a deal breaker for us.

 

Is there shade at the Retreat pool?

 

There are some shady spots in the Retreat outdoor deck but it will likely depend upon the time of day and position of the ship as most of it is an open deck.  There are a few spots under cover but I don't have photos of them.  The bar and dining area are all under cover.  Sorry for the delayed response.

[Host Anne]

2 hours ago, renroc13 said:

I have been following these posts ever since Anne posted and thank you all for the updates. 

Anne..I think we were on the opening of the Solstice with you if you were on the Inaugural sailing.  Unless it was another Anne.

Karen (and Len)

Hi Karen and Len ~ yep, I'm the same Anne as you met on the Solstice inaugural.  I hope you enjoy your sailing on Edge.  I do think a lot  of it has to do with expectations.  Knowing what to expect prepares people so they aren't disappointed.  This is definitely a different class of ship than the M- or S-class ships.  We much prefer the S-class ships and just booked Equinox for the fourth time.  But if E-class ship pricing ever comes down, we'd consider it again for the right itinerary.  

 

Have a GREAT time!!!!

[renroc13]

8 minutes ago, Host Anne said:

Hi Karen and Len ~ yep, I'm the same Anne as you met on the Solstice inaugural.  I hope you enjoy your sailing on Edge.  I do think a lot  of it has to do with expectations.  Knowing what to expect prepares people so they aren't disappointed.  This is definitely a different class of ship than the M- or S-class ships.  We much prefer the S-class ships and just booked Equinox for the fourth time.  But if E-class ship pricing ever comes down, we'd consider it again for the right itinerary.  

 

Have a GREAT time!!!!

Good to hear from you....

We think we know what to expect on The Edge and know it will be "different." I am hoping to see some of our old staff members on-board as we have heard they were pulled for the opening.  Now that Len is retired and we are back in S Florida (he was actually born in Miami) we have finally been able to book some of those BtB's and use the ships as transports to Europe on the TA's.  We were on the Barcelona to BA run in November followed by the BA to BA.  It was a fabulous trip.

So glad to see you are still posting.  We keep meeting the same people all of the time.  It is a wonderful way to live! I do however suspect we will still be on both the S and the M Class most.

Best,

Karen

[Host Anne]

10 minutes ago, renroc13 said:

Good to hear from you....

We think we know what to expect on The Edge and know it will be "different." I am hoping to see some of our old staff members on-board as we have heard they were pulled for the opening.  Now that Len is retired and we are back in S Florida (he was actually born in Miami) we have finally been able to book some of those BtB's and use the ships as transports to Europe on the TA's.  We were on the Barcelona to BA run in November followed by the BA to BA.  It was a fabulous trip.

So glad to see you are still posting.  We keep meeting the same people all of the time.  It is a wonderful way to live! I do however suspect we will still be on both the S and the M Class most.

Best,

Karen

 

I thought we would see crew from other ships as well but we really only saw two or three that we recognized/knew.  I was very surprised about that.  But it didn't matter because the staff was truly wonderful and delivered the kind of service we were used to after years of sailing on Celebrity ships. 

 

Couldn't agree with you more about being a wonderful way to live.  We feel very fortunate to be able to cruise a couple of times of year and living in Florida makes it much easier to get to ports.  

 

Have a great time...and I'll be interested to see what you think!

[MisterBill99]

8 hours ago, renroc13 said:

I believe but am not certain that there are contracts in certain ports where the ships must use the local tenders.  I was told that years ago but am not certain if that is the case.

Karen

 

Could be, since we didn't use the ship's tenders (or Magic Carpet) when we were in GC and the weather was fine. I wonder if they knew that when they made a big deal about the Magic Carpet being used for tendering?

Edited February 17, 2019 by MisterBill99

[hcat]

I suppose we'll see how much use is truly made of the Celeb tenders.  We had no tender ports on the Eastern itin... and will only have Gr Cayman on the ABC  itin ( as far as I know).  We hope to use the "luxury" Celeb tenders there,  but we have an excursion booked there so we may be going on the larger port supplied tenders. (?)

 

We did exit and return through the Gateway area from our ports.  Same old  lines to get off the ship and same uneven temp. walkway....no big improvement!  On the return to the ship, .same lines ..too few security  personnel to process guests.

 

The positive changes we noticed  were a lighter,  brighter,  bigger area overall ;  nearby bathrooms, better elev access , and  a recessed spot for water sales replacing the old table set up. 

 

 Have to question whether  devoting such a large space to this area is worth it..considering the feeling of less space overall throughout the ship.    We would rather have  an Ensemble Lounge or passport Bar!

[ecslady]

9 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

Could be, since we didn't use the ship's tenders (or Magic Carpet) when we were in GC and the weather was fine. I wonder if they knew that when they made a big deal about the Magic Carpet being used for tendering?

 

We did use the ship's tenders in GC on the Dec. 9 cruise.

[vtcruising]

6 minutes ago, ecslady said:

 

We did use the ship's tenders in GC on the Dec. 9 cruise.

I thought someone had said that the Edge tenders ran on their cruise. It must have been you. 🙂

 

In the Captain's Q+A he said something about the conditions having to be right because they are moored in such a limited area because of the reef in GC. They have to keep the ship tightly in a certain position and going from the starboard side doesn't always work. Maybe someone who was also there can explain it better, but he didn't say anything about having to use only GC tenders, when asked.

 

I haven't looked at the European ports. Are there any tendered ports there?

[ecslady]

13 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

I thought someone had said that the Edge tenders ran on their cruise. It must have been you. 🙂

 

In the Captain's Q+A he said something about the conditions having to be right because they are moored in such a limited area because of the reef in GC. They have to keep the ship tightly in a certain position and going from the starboard side doesn't always work. Maybe someone who was also there can explain it better, but he didn't say anything about having to use only GC tenders, when asked.

 

I haven't looked at the European ports. Are there any tendered ports there?

 

We did have good weather that day.  I got off just to ride the new tenders.😄😄

[vtcruising]

Just now, ecslady said:

 

We did have good weather that day.  I got off just to ride the new tenders.😄😄

I was going to do that too - just ride over and back - but they didn't run them on our GC day. Luckily, I was able to ride around in one during one of the early cruises. They are amazingly comfortable and fun to ride around in. 😊

[Silkroad]

39 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

I thought someone had said that the Edge tenders ran on their cruise. It must have been you. 🙂

 

In the Captain's Q+A he said something about the conditions having to be right because they are moored in such a limited area because of the reef in GC. They have to keep the ship tightly in a certain position and going from the starboard side doesn't always work. Maybe someone who was also there can explain it better, but he didn't say anything about having to use only GC tenders, when asked.

 

I haven't looked at the European ports. Are there any tendered ports there?

Edge will visit Santorini, which is a tender port. Sometimes ports require ships to use local tenders, but we used ship tenders last time we were there. If she visits Kotor or Villefranche sur Mer next year, they are also tender ports.

[TeeRick]

On 1/21/2019 at 5:41 PM, emileg said:

However, the amount of space and service devoted to the Retreat certainly took away from space for non-suite passengers. There were only two main lounges: the Martini Bar lounge and Eden.  It was very difficult to find a seat. If you could find a seat, it would take as long as 35 minutes to get a drink and often the wrong one at that.

Not sure how you conclude this.  How is the Retreat area related to the lack of main lounges?  There is another large indoor lounge on Edge (the Club) too.  We enjoyed it in there a number of times.  And of course there are outdoor bars.   But we still hear the comment about lack of lounges.  I think the Martini Bar was limited because it is connected to the Grand Plaza with plenty of seating.  Eden has a lot of seating.  The Club has two levels of seating and two bars.  I think one more bar like Cellar Masters or World Class Bar could be added as a nice touch on Edge or Apex.  But I would take out a very high priced shop and put it there.  No conflict with the Retreat.

[RICCruisers]

My biggest issue with the Martini Bar is the lack of seating at the bar itself and the overall feeling you get. There were only 4 bar stools on one side and about 8 wide low chairs on the other side. It took away from the ambiance of the Martini Bar on  the S Class ships. It was more of the bar that serviced the whole Grand Plaza area, not a separate Bar with its own identity. If you did happen to get one of the bar stools you slid forward off of them. I miss the circular bar where you got to know the bartenders during the cruise. They now have a behind the scenes area where they are making drinks and the bartenders are serving them. The staff is constantly rotating from being at the actual bar or out in the Grand Plaza taking orders and going to the back to make them and then serving.  

 

To make a comparison to a restaurant, the Martini Bar went from being a Specialty Restaurant to the Oceanview Buffet.