EDGE, EDEN, MAGIC CARPET: AN UNBIASED REVIEW

[marylander2]

I know there are now hundreds of reviews about the Edge in CruiseCritic, but I still wanted to share my experience, as promised.

It did happen – we sailed on the Edge.

We are in our 50s, Elite with X, and have sailed about 30 or so times. Both are scientists, former engineers - this should explain why I was so particularly drawn to ship’s design and technical details… We love cruising, and do this minimum twice a year, work does not permit more.

Following all your posts, comments and reviews, I had a lot of fun, and in the past months the anticipation was so overwhelming that it became a distraction. I stopped reading and focused on stuff at work that I had to finish before going for a cruise.

There will be many things that you have read a lot about, some new – and perhaps unusual for some – observations, and some things that may look controversial, but I firmly believe that I deserve a chance to speak, simply because one too many times I’ve heard “Why you are commenting on this-n-that, you did not set your foot on the Edge!”

So I did.

And here goes.

What was the most striking and unusual about this ship?

It is built in non-traditional, perhaps weird for some, way.

There are a lot of places that are curved, rounded, “ovalled”. There are a lot of nooks and crannies, hideaways and coves. There are spiraled staircases, odd passages (Metal Forest) and, quite conveniently, connecting corridors. The Edge has only two elevator sets, and this is actually an issue, because – as many of you already noted – this leads to congestions during rush hours, e.g. before dinner or during early rush for disembarkation in the new port etc. I also can’t get it why the elevators are slow – this adds up to the issue.

The ship is designed – maybe, on purpose? – in the way that you cannot get through from bow to stern on several decks, and someone already mentioned it; this is unusual for traditional cruise ships. Not that it is annoying, but it makes it hard to move about the ship, unless you get to know the restrictions and bypasses.

There are three places inside the Edge that are “airy” – the Theater, then the central opening (with Martini bar dominating) and the Eden, to a certain degree. I can’t count The Club an airy place, to me it resembles a ghastly underground multi-level cemetery from “Interview With The Vampire”. Yes, I get it, it is THE CLUB, the hangout and so on – it should be like that, but I find it a strangely disturbing place. It’s cold, dark, and depressing – I caught myself trying to see the coffins in the wall niches… Again, it’s just me, perhaps.

The rest of the “big space” on the Edge is actually too small, including four jam-packed free restaurants (I cannot call them “main restaurants” because they are crammed and stuffy; plus, some of them, like Cosmopolitan, are very dark – I was laughing when saw many patrons using their cell phone lights to read the menu). To me, the idea of splitting the MDR into four separate rooms did not work - again, cannot call them the “themed restaurants” because no matter how you slice it, only a measly six dishes are “authentical” for each of them, and they do not change, so it is really a décor and the name that differ these eateries from each other.

This brings me to the Oceanview café (OVC).

Here again, this is a strange place, because it is unbalanced, in my view. There is plenty of seating, and even at peak times you can find a place, but this is done by sacrificing the actual buffet space, which becomes packed at peak times, so it is tough to maneuver through the crowd with your hands busy with plates-glasses – and yet, if it is a rush hour, your luck to find a free seating could bring you all the way to almost midship… So if you have difficulty of moving freely, it is a problem. We did not have an issue with making 2-3 trips back-n-forth, as we are fit and active, and in fact this helps to burn the calories 🙂

This setup is somewhat different from the S-class and quite different from the M one, which I personally like more.

Ample seating space is good, and there were a few nice novelties, like multiple (not only at the entrance) bar-like tables, and one-sided long tables along the windows.

Once I started with eateries, let’s talk about the food.

Perhaps for those folks who never sailed (or started sailing just recently) with X, the food on the Edge is great, but I noticed three things, that instantly would tell an experienced cruiser: there are corner-cuttings in many places.

1) Quality of the food is not even remotely as good as many of you remember from the century break or earlier for X. It is not even comparable with several S-ships that we sailed recently. It is OK at best, but nothing great, like the food that we had in OVC during spring’s cruise to the Northern capitals on Silhouette.

2) Corner-cutting was obvious in the taste and quality of soups and entrees in the OVC, and desserts especially. Presentation was superb – kudos to patissiers – but the taste was bland because of the mediocre quality of the ingredients; you can clearly taste the difference in the same-looking piece of Opera cake in the specialty restaurant and the OVC. That cake even has different number of layers (!!!) for specialty restaurant and for OVC –8-9 vs 5 – and the OVC one does not have crunchy caramel pieces in it… You may say “freak”, but I don’t care 🙂 It proves me right.

3) Do you ever pay attention to the odor of the eatery, just when you cross the door sill? Fine ones have a nice, alluring smell of spices, fresh baked bread, or grilled meat. Chain restaurants, like Olive Garden or Applebee’s, have in addition an odor of burning (cheap) cooking oil, plus annoying and obstinate smell of disinfectant... The low-end eateries have a persistent smell of wet, stinky rags. This is how the OVC smelled a couple of days into the sailing, and no matter how nicely the food presentation was done, or how helpful and smiling the stuff was, the feel of a cheap mom-and-pop old diner was spoiling it all.

We ended up taking the food (at lunch time) to our “balcony” and eating there.

I put “balcony” in quotation marks for the same reason as many of us feel bamboozled with the design of IV cabins. We had a deluxe OV room with veranda (1A), at the aft. While having a real sliding door and a “balcony” was a great thing, the size of it was not enough to place there anything bigger than two rope chairs and the “older brother of tom-tom”, the coffee table with flip top… and even then, it was impossible to move the chairs a few inches sidewise. But the chairs are actually not bad to seat on; regardless of their odd look, I was impressed.

This brings me to the functionality and décor of the cabin itself. Too much already was said about the “Hoppillows”, K. Hoppen’s decorative pillows. They flood the room, they are everywhere. I stacked them in the corner and forbid the attendant to place them back on the bed. I leave aside the hygienic matter (I am sorry, but I doubt that the covers are actually laundered between the cruises, forget being changed like the bed linen, once in 3 days or so…); just the sheer amount of them – I think, 12 or something like that – was scary.

Also gone to the corner was a white vase (it occupies way too much space on the drawer top, and together with the lamp bolted smack in the middle of it, the space on the top was enough only for a couple of mid-sized plates arriving with room service). I also hid in the corner an infamous piece of coral, which freed a space for room keys/watch/rings etc. in the niche where the coral was placed by design.

Now comes a tale about the electric outlet box.

From the very beginning, the first time I saw this live “addition” to artistic renderings of the Edge staterooms, I was puzzled – why would one need to hide the sockets inside the box?? It proudly sits – again, using a lot of precious space – on the fridge top and is a sore spot for an eye, even though it is made of white plastic that supposed to blend in with the décor… At some point I realized that there is no place for the set of outlets and USB ports on the side wall – the space is tight because the fridge sits tucked well and to mount the set on the outside wall of the fridge cabinet is not possible. Besides, all electrical wiring in the room is done OUTSIDE the walls, in crown moldings, positioned along the corners between ceiling and walls (I used these, by the way, to place the hooks for hangers, hat, etc., by jamming one side of S-hook in the gap of molding and ceiling (hint!). There are no hooks in the cabin, aside of two on the bathroom door).

Long story short, the only space for outlets would be on the TOP of the drawer chest/fridge cabinet, and then accidental spills would be a fire hazard. Thus, the little electric treasure chest was built… I also question its functionality, because the slots for wires are not in alignment with the actual sockets inside, and for bigger plugs (I live in Singapore and have these painfully large…) the wire just cannot pass through the slot because it is not centered with the socket.

I apologize for ranting a lot about the “treasure chest” but really, this is a very odd thing for otherwise supposedly well-designed staterooms of the Edge.

The size of the room itself is relatively adequate. I actually want to meet and to chat with that individual who thought that bringing king size beds in 200 sq ft room is a great idea. Seriously. Our room had a layout with the bed next to the closet; one day I actually tried to stand upright in the passage between bed footing and wall-mounted TV – and failed. It literally is as wide as the standard hanger (I placed one in there and took a picture). I feel sorry for the folks with scooters or wheelchairs; it is only 15-16 in wide! Ginormous bed seems to dominate the room… and by the way, 50-in TV can be watched only while lying down on it, because you just cannot see much from the sofa – and there is no swivel console for TV, which obviously cannot be mounted there for the lack of space.

I wanted to use HDMI cable to hook up my laptop to TV, but when I called the Guest Relations, asking how can I connect laptop to it, I was told with the stern voice that “NOTHING should be connected to TV!”. Strange.

Let’s go to the bathroom.

Others are saying that the Edge bathrooms are bigger. I actually measured it, and it is about the same as on S-class. The difference is in the ANGLES. The wall separating bathroom and cabin (mirror on one side, closet on the other) is not perpendicular to the cabin wall. Edge shower stall is bigger because they protruded the far corner of it into the utility block, which is located between the bathroom and the hallway outside. Normally, it is rectangular, but on the Edge it is almost triangle, which gives more room for the shower stall – it is indeed bigger than on S-ships. They also bulged out the round part of it (with the door), and this created a problem: because the curvature is changed, there is no way to use the sliding doors like on S-ships, and thus they are forced to use the swinging door; when you open it after showering, it is so wide that it hits the counter… water running down the door is dripping on the floor, and the only solution is to cover the whole floor with a spare towel, not just the floor mat.

They use stationary dispensers for shampoo/shower gel/conditioner that are locked on the wall. I feel that the personal care product selection was done by a person who never actually bothered to try the chosen products him/herself with the ship-produced water, because – get this – neither shampoo nor bath gel produce ANY SUDS… They just don’t lather at all! Instead, when you apply any of these things, you feel a thin film on the skin, like glycerol, only it is harder to wash away.

Whoever approved these particular products for the Edge, has to be fired because at least he/she should know that cruise ship uses mostly (if not all) desalinated water, and it is VERY soft… These shampoo and bath gel are clearly wrong for the use with soft water.

I may sound nit-picking, but these are small things that eventually could become quite annoying when bundled…

However, I also can say many positive things about the cabin and the ship overall.

The individual air conditioning system for each cabin is a superb idea, and it is especially great when you want to breathe the sea air while sleeping: it does not turn in while the balcony door is open. Once the door is shut, the a/c works very efficiently and can be easily controlled from the control display or phone app. It works in cycles, just like the home a/c system, not continuously as on S-ships (by the way, I spoke to the Edge Chief Engineer and he said that even on S-class ships the a/c is NOT linked to other rooms or – more so – hallway, as somebody told me earlier in the Edge message board).

Astonishingly, for a seven-day cruise – especially, Caribbean – there is plenty of space to store your stuff, and I was particularly happy with extra space in the bathroom: tons of shelving, plus a big drawer under the sink. Speaking of which, it is very convenient to use, not as awkward as on S-ships where I constantly bang my forehead with the crane-like faucet. Yes, the closet is perhaps half the size of the older X ships (by the way, the safe in it is really tiny!) – however, we are not coming to Caribbean cruise with the tux and a bunch of evening gowns.

The Edge cabin had the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in – both at sea and on land. Hard, balanced, great pillows. Perfect for me, except I don’t need a bed where four of me can sleep without touching elbows. I am six feet tall, and yet there were a few spare inches of bed at my feet… total waste of space.

The ship has amazing stability, at least during the long hauls at sea days I never felt ship rocking much, and I am very sensitive to the motion.

The Edge has a fantastic set of workout equipment, I enjoyed the gym every morning and had restored the sense of the muscles that I already forgot about a while back :). My DW is an avid jogger/walker, and she says that the jogging track on the Edge is great.

The TV is superb, the quality of satellite reception at times was of the level I have not experienced on cruise ship before. I watched two NBA games (ESPN), and it was as crisp and as smooth as if I was watching them back home.

A few words about the solarium and the pool.

The number of loungers around the pool area if ample enough to accommodate all cruisers, I think. However, it creates a problem – and I have never seen this before on cruise ships – the pool staff sets the chairs so close to each other that there is literally no space to even slide between them, and – as many already noted – there are no small tables next to the loungers for drinks/personal items. It is all about spacing and demand, as in the OVC as well.

I cannot rationalize why the designers neglected the fact that there is no shade at all on the pool deck. A few canopies here and there, like on S-ships, would have been very easy to install, but… Yes, there small pockets under the upper deck cantilever at the deck corners, but the air there is stagnant and many people were avoiding them. There is a thin strip of shade formed by the jogging track above but it is narrow, and it was funny to see how people were moving their loungers trying to catch up with the shade if they stayed long.

The whole pool deck was scorching hot during sea days, and the amount of the sunscreen crèmes that people were using was so overwhelming, that it formed a film – I kid you not – on the pool surface with lots of tiny rainbow bubbles from the sunscreen surfactants!

Yet another oddity on pool deck is cabanas area. Again, many reviewers already mentioned this, but I wanted to say as well – this restriction of free passage through the six cabanas is nonsense; either let people go through it freely, or create a parallel way outside, move loungers closer to the pool. I also feel sorry for patrons who paid a fortune to get a cabana, and yet there were people who ignored the sign “private function” at the entrance to cabanas area and roamed through…

We are not interested (much) in the entertainment while cruising – prefer a relaxing, quiet time onboard, but we stop by the Theater every now and then to check out the shows. I would say that the Edge shows are entertaining enough for us to stick with them for more than our usual 15-20 minutes – they are quite modern and utilize the possibilities of an amazing equipment and podium fully. The cast is professional enough, nothing superb, but alright. The only complain is the decibel level – most of the times, it was very loud.

A couple of times, when we hang around the pool, the “cruise director deputies” were organizing game contests – they screamed so loud, and the music pumped up so strong that some people were leaving the sun deck. Again, cannot understand why the cruise director staff feel that “fun” must be a synonym of “tear my eardrums”. The quality of challenges used in the games is disputable, I personally felt that people who were brave enough to participate had a few good drinks before stepping up… but hey, they had fun, I guess. I felt like on Carnival cruise.

This brings me to Eden.

I have mixed feelings about the place. I really like the whole concept – using the aft on three decks level, with a lot of space, glass wall, uneven cutoffs and so on is a great idea. However, I question the way they use the place. Again, this is my personal opinion, but I liked the opportunity to hang out there during sea days after lunch; even a few nooks outside, with plenty of chairs, were great. I was not a big fan of evening show there, for a few reasons (it is repetitive, it is NOT engaging, the “Edenists” – I felt that way – are uncomfortable with themselves performing the acts they don’t enjoy etc.); the Eden restaurant menu is pretentious and most definitely does not deserve money charged for the dishes there… But I hope that eventually it all settles down, and Eden will become a place to be on Edge. Not the Magic Carpet, which I think is the overhyped and weird concept. There is nothing special about it, honestly. Yes, no other ship has that, but hey, X ships also do not have zip lines and brightly painted sliding pool tubes – does this make Carnival, Norwegian or RCCL more appealing ships than X? I stepped there a few times, had a drink, looked down. That’s it. People this is only a bump-out on the deck, nothing more. Imagine if decks 5, 16, and 2 had a bulged-out expansion of otherwise straight deck – would it be magical? I doubt. They do not allow to RIDE on that platform up and down, and this instantly kills the fun and the meaning of “magic carpet”. The most use of it is perhaps for tendering, but on our cruise we didn’t have tender-served ports.

A few words about crew.

Obviously, X wanted to bring the best there, on the Edge. This is their dog and pony show. I have met 3-4 guys and gals from other X ships, and when I spoke to them, their reactions were mixed; however, one comment was almost identical – they are extremely overworked… The shifts are long, and – for some reason – they feel that the crew is understaffed. Was this done intentionally, or just because the Edge is a novelty and X tries to learn things on the go as well – don’t know. But I spoke to a girl at one of the long-working stations at OVC, and she looked totally drained. SIXTEEN HOURS long shift. Imagine that.

I ranted long enough, I believe. It’s all about the hype. I was soooo excited to get there, and when I did, I learned a lot and saw a lot, that’s why I wanted to share all this with you. I hope that those who reached this point of my review have enjoyed it.

Lastly, I think that bringing into a highly competitive cruise industry a product like Edge needs more adaptivity than commanding. You cannot expect people to get to love something right away because you tell them – “love it!”. It needs to be done carefully, otherwise you lose devotees not only from this Edge ship but from X in general. Of course, there will be newcomers, and X ships will be full (well, almost full…) but guess what, Oceania who has perhaps the best “returnees” percentage throughout the whole fleet, does gosh darn well without flying a Magic Carpet…

That’s why the average review level about the Edge (out of over 200 now) is 3 out of 5. People don’t like being pushed and showed.

Thank you.

Edited February 21, 2019 by marylander2

[lisiamc]

Thanks, I can see it now!  

Edited February 21, 2019 by lisiamc

[marylander2]

Sorry, I accidentally added review as an attachment; now it's posted.

 

[villauk]

Thanks for posting; you’ve highlighted some very interesting points.

[dazey]

Agree with many things - bogus MDR's that sound like they should have different dining but, as you said, only a few different choices along with standard menu.  And they still rush you along.

 

Eden dinner was nice for one time and LePetit Chef I would never do again.

 

Magic Carpet - This I agree with you for sure.  What is the big deal?

 

Miss the real Martini Bar. Miss Murono. Did enjoy Fine Cut.

 

We enjoyed it but our excitement before the cruise did not match our excitement after.

 

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

 

[lisiamc]

Thank you for a very thoughtful and honest review.  Those electrical outlets sound like they weren’t very well thought out.  Cruisers from many parts of the world have items with fairly large electrical plugs and clunky adapters, and we will all struggle to use them with the Edge outlets.

[XtaSea]

Wow. Your engineering background shows in your insightful comments. I don't think it's nit-picking to realize that the sum is equal to, and often more than, the combination of all elements of an experience. It's not just the specifics but the "feeling" as well, and I think you injected a lot of both in your exceptional review. We're in our 60s, now retired and Elite on X with many cruises and cruise lines in our travel repertoire. We wondered about Edge and, to be honest, given the early reviews I don't see us booking it. I suppose we're way too traditional, given that we prefer M class over S class (and M class has three elevator banks, which definitely makes a huge difference). The Summit has long been our favorite ship (four cruises so far) and we've booked it again for early 2020. Fingers crossed that the Revolution brings modernization without eliminating the style and intimacy we love. We'll see. Thanks for your review. 

[Bo1953]

Thank you very much for your review...

 

Much appreciated.

 

bonvoyage

[Silkroad]

Thanks for your review. You’ve highlighted some areas many of us debated on Lloyd’s thread, along with a couple things I haven’t seen mentioned before. I’m disappointed to read your assessment of the main dining rooms, as I’ll be dining there myself in a couple months. I hope Celebrity resolves their staffing issues very soon. If the poor crew is understaffed and overworked, they’re more susceptible to illness and injuries. I hope you (and other reviewers) will post a cabin review on the Edge cabin sticky: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2609144-edge-class-cabin-information-compilation-please-do-not-post-cabin-questions-here/

 

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Silkroad

[Jesseslola]

Thank you for your honest review. Actually like your observations a lot. I have the same train of thoughts and I notice all the small things that some people would probably ignore.

 

We are used to the Oasis class ship and the 25 of us might find this ship boring.  We chose Edge for the Amalfi route, ship is secondary. It is either the Celebrity Edge or the Emerald Princess. No brainer..Celebrity that is. 

 

Oh, oh our iPads have chunky adapters.. hmmm. Apparently the new bigger iPads don’t fit in the safes, how do we keep them safe when we wander around the ship?

[Bo1953]

3 hours ago, Jesseslola said:

Thank you for your honest review. Actually like your observations a lot. I have the same train of thoughts and I notice all the small things that some people would probably ignore.

 

We are used to the Oasis class ship and the 25 of us might find this ship boring.  We chose Edge for the Amalfi route, ship is secondary. It is either the Celebrity Edge or the Emerald Princess. No brainer..Celebrity that is. 

 

Oh, oh our iPads have chunky adapters.. hmmm. Apparently the new bigger iPads don’t fit in the safes, how do we keep them safe when we wander around the ship?

Maybe in a locked suitcase? 

 

I must say that I have left my laptop, tablet and dslr camera out, at various times, in my cabin on other X ships with no problems, but I do not recommend that anyone try this based on my experience. 

 

I have NEVER left my cell phone out. 

 

Over the last few years, I have only read here about two (2) passengers who have had items missing from their cabin. I Am sure that there may be others nor reported here on CC. 

 

Safe sailing and Bon voyage 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Bo1953

[Fighterone]

7 hours ago, dazey said:

Agree with many things - bogus MDR's that sound like they should have different dining but, as you said, only a few different choices along with standard menu.  And they still rush you along.

 

Eden dinner was nice for one time and LePetit Chef I would never do again.

 

Magic Carpet - This I agree with you for sure.  What is the big deal?

 

Miss the real Martini Bar. Miss Murono. Did enjoy Fine Cut.

 

We enjoyed it but our excitement before the cruise did not match our excitement after.

 

Appreciate your thoughts.

 

 

Marylander 2, appreciate your detailed review through the eyes of an engineer! Thank you for posting. 

 

Dazey, thank you for your thoughts on the dining venues. We booked “Le Petit Chef” today for our upcoming cruise and I am curious to know why you would not do it again. I might just cancel it. What did you enjoy eating at the Fine Cut Steakhouse?

 

General questions:

• Concerning  the design of the MDR, is it 4 different restaurants with different menus or just divided areas of one big main dining room?
•  How is the quality of the food at  Normandie, Cyprus, and Cosmopolitan? 
• Is the Magic Carpet available for drinks only while in the ports and if so, would someone have a bar menu available? 
• For those who have booked “Suites”  and dined at  either of the 4 complimentary restaurants,  was  the quality of the food better at Luminae? 
• Does Michael’s Lounge offer light meals?

TIA 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Fighterone

[portofrome]

Thank you very much for your review!

[yvrdave]

8 minutes ago, Fighterone said:

 

 

General questions:

• Concerning  the design of the MDR, is it 4 different restaurants with different menus or just divided areas of one big main dining room?
•  How is the quality of the food at  Normandie, Cyprus, and Cosmopolitan? 

 

 

Regarding the MDR's, there are 4 separate dining rooms, 2 on the 3rd deck and 2 on the 4th deck.  Each room is decorated somewhat in the style of the name.  The menus are mostly the same except for a few dishes that represent the theme of the names - French, Italian, Greek and Cosmopolitan.  We ate in all 4 and mostly found something that was pretty good.  Although the first night's service was extremely slow and after an hour and a half, still waiting for the main course, we left and went upstairs to the OVC where we found some very good food and lots of room to sit. 

 

Overall this is a very good review by marylander2, and we agree with most points.  However we found the bed to be very firm and hard.  An extra duvet was added to help soften the mattress which got us through the 10 days.  And for many other reasons, we have decided that the Edge is not for us.

[villauk]

4 minutes ago, yvrdave said:

Although the first night's service was extremely slow and after an hour and a half, still waiting for the main course, we left and went upstairs to the OVC 

 

 

Good grief, I don’t blame you for walking out ! Did you complain and what was the response?

[gordylad]

thanks for your review have not been on Edge....wont be on Edge

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Excellent review, objective and comprehensive.  Almost feels like I was there!

 

We're going to take a break from X ourselves after the next cruise, see where this goes, and who remains at the helm.  The Ballet and Chef partnerships may be a step in the right direction, if not course correction, but I would like to see more.  The last straw was LLP's bragging that the Edge was "A ship for women, designed by women".  I find these comments a bit sexist, and embarrassing, as some of these concepts appear to have flopped.

 

We would love to try Oceania in the non so distant future, maybe on a cheaper reposition cruise. Happy Sailing.

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Stateroom_Sailor

[poffles]

Really enjoyed your review!  I love reviews that are not so 'wonderful' that they seem to lack a bit.  There is always good and bad and it's how one presents it that allows others to take something from it and judge for themselves.  This one definitely does that.  I would not say unbiased as I think we are all biased in some way, rather a very fair review given it seems to repeat what some others have said so there seems to be a theme in experience and thoughts.

 

I believe I think like you

 

- dislike loud venues (especially when you can't easily escape)

- theater shows are always take it or leave it unless really done well (not always loving the in house entertainment) but the technical additions will be cool to see at least once

- wondered what makes magic carpet special (and guess I still wonder :))

- cabanas seem odd that they are not really secluded and you pay extra for that ???  (the perks don't sell it since food is free anyway and some have the drink package.)

- less elevators seems an interesting decision

- dead ends on some decks sounds like fun

- multiple MDRs that have almost same menu except for few items?

 

All that said, I am looking forward to my sailing next month.  I had said I would never pay the prices they were/are charging for this ship as I just couldn't rationalize it.  I just like cruising and the other Celebrity ships serve that up just fine (actually other cruise lines do to and pricing may make my eye wander).  But by an ironic twist, a friend got an offer from Blue Chip for a complimentary deluxe inside cabin .... SHOCKED as she will play a little here and there in the casino but nothing that would ever warrant a free cruise in any room.  She jumped at it and is bringing me a along (woot woot).  Guess they are having a hard time filling the ship??  We didn't have much time to prepare so flights were a bit higher given it being so late booking (not complaining LOL).  It has no perks aside from the room of course but all good and it will be first time sailing inside cabin on Celebrity.

 

So now I can't wait to experience the ship for myself and I really do expect it will be the one and only time unless they do some MAJOR price adjustments.  I will be sure to post my thoughts when I return.

 

Edited February 21, 2019 by poffles

[Caribbean Chris]

Adding my thanks for your review, and agreement with many points. We sailed January 6 and enjoyed all the pre-hype, too.

 

After time to reflect on it, I’ve concluded that the ship was designed primarily for style and effect, with less thought or experience put into how passengers move through the vessel, accessibility, comfort, enjoyment. The infamous 10-lb decor pillows are the essence. They look pretty when you walk in, but are an annoying nuisance in use. The low-to-the-ground hard couch follows that form-over-function guiding principle.

 

i will add the Aqua class restaurant Blu to your list of positives. Food and service was excellent. (Once again, though, the design was askew - there are windows, but always with shades-down because the view is of lifeboat gear.)

 

I won’t book an infinite veranda again. I think it would have been more accurately sold as a special “ocean view” stateroom since it’s not comparable to a true Veranda like S Class offers - for standing or reclining with a footrest in the sea air with much more expansive views.

[hcat]

4 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Good grief, I don’t blame you for walking out ! Did you complain and what was the response?

In BLU one night it took an hour to receive our entrees..totally unacceptable!

 

We found food on EDGE to be very good, served correctly( temp good, cooked well)    but kitchens are slow!  

 

Maybe there are too few staff in the kitchens, ..or too many guests  eating at the same preferred times esp if you want to  make the 9 pm shows!...

Edited February 21, 2019 by hcat

[boscobeans]

Excellent review with no criticisms that were not explained with observations and details.

 

I cannot judge the Edge since I have not sailed on her but can see that it has been designed totally with a different attitude, that being; "Design over Function".  This is a ship designed like the one or two Beyond the Edge pieces of Haute Couture seen at many fashion shows that are meant to raise eyebrows rather than to be worn. 

 

It is a shame to see Celebrity fill its future runway presentations entirely with nothing but Avant-garde designs of unusual, pushing the limits and atypical visions of what appear to be people out of touch with reality. 

 

bosco

 

 

 

[cgolf1]

Thanks for your review. It is so interesting with the Edge how different all the reviews are. I also hope they fix the cabana situation on the Apex, we only saw a handful rented the week we were on, seemed like a waste of space and bad acces to pool are for guests that did rent a cabana. 

 

I will say for us the food was amazing including the OVC. Not sure what it used to be like, but it was much better than RCCL and the way overhyped Disney. This is the first time we have had cake like deserts that had any flavor at all. 

[kearney]

Enjoyed your review......I really wonder about the plug box. It seems like an afterthought. I wondered if they had made the chest a few inches taller and then placed the outlets at the end..above the area where the table slides out... then they could add a forth smaller drawer... big enough for sun glasses and small items. Or make the chest a few inches wider and place the outlets.. again by the pull out table ... but below the table on the side. Anyway.. we did not need those outlets... used the outlet by the bed... but I wondered about when someone thought about outlets during the design phase...was it as they were assembling a cabin?

 

Interesting points about the bathroom (whatever they did it it felt larger... but I know what you are talking about with angles... although I had no trouble with the shower door... no dripping whatsoever. Now I tend to dry off in the shower... so perhaps the quick time to grab towel and longer time with door closed while drying, is enough to allow bulk of moisture to move to shower floor... is the reason... I loved the bathroom... not a fan of vessel sinks you see on other ships.

 

FYI the length of a King and Queen are the same... so space at end of the bed would be the same even if they used a smaller bed. You are right about scooters... I am so glad we changed cabins to one with bed by window.... we had plenty of room in that type of cabin.

 

Your comments about the Club are interesting... It did not feel inviting to me... I stuck my head in once just to see what was going on... too dark and depressing. Perhaps if they had more openings .... brightened it up and made it two different venues... one on deck 4 and one on 5... smaller ensemble type lounge on one (piano bar type place) and on the other level multipurpose.. perhaps comedy club at night. But another bar in each?

 

Now I liked the 4 different dining venue idea... but I was disappointed at the lack of menu changes for the specialty theme from night to night. If you were stuck in one dining room for the entire cruise... I would tire after day two seeing the same items. Now I loved the food itself... now I am not much of a cook... so any meal I don't have to prepare is at least a 1 diamond.   I loved the Ocean View.... we had no issues with crowds. Now your comments on dessert was interesting. I am not a big dessert eater... but one thing I have noticed on Royal is that they seem to have one white cake formula... which they use regardless of what type of cake they are making. I suspect the pastry chef has lattitude in baking... the best desserts I have seen I believe were on Silhouette... but in general Celebrity seems to have better desserts. To be honest they did not stick out on Edge.. not bad just not memorable.

 

We had no issues with elevator... they were nice and large and DH used a scooter and we never had any issues... now we used the forward elevator the most... so that might be why...  I suspect the aft elevator was busier ...in part with people on scooters who go down to deck 4... drive to the aft elevator to go down one more level.  On the last day I was concerned about crowds but when we went to get an elevator...it was empty.

 

Noise in martini bar was an issue if you wanted to talk... but the setup was not really conducive to conversation anyway. We had no issues with crowds either... but there the reason is ... we got to the Martini Bar by 5 and were out of there by 6:15... so probably too early.

 

I don't get the logic of putting tv over bed and no way to rotate it so that you could watch from the sofa/chaise lounge... by the way what is the purpose of putting such a low seat in the room... uncomfortable as hell... I actually brought 3" risers to raise it to a decent level... alas it did not make it more comfortable.

 

Thanks for your review....

[TeeRick]

Thanks for taking the time to review Edge and share your thoughts.  So would you sail on Edge (or Apex) again?

[marylander2]

44 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Thanks for taking the time to review Edge and share your thoughts.  So would you sail on Edge (or Apex) again?

 

Yes - as long as the prices will be not as insane as they are now. The hype was good enough reason for paying first time (although we still got a good deal by booking early); I doubt many of us would pay this much for the second or third time... unless they introduce appealing itineraries. The Eastern Caribbean itinerary that we were on... came on, who would sail for it on, say, Solstice or Milly?!