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Edge Review Feb 24-Mar 3: Observations, Opinions, Hearsay, Food Photos


BeeMinor
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And finally, wrapping up.

 

Shopping

I don't cruise to shop, but it's fun to poke around. There was a distinct lack of folding tables piled with stuff. I was pleased to see some familiar brands (Moroccan Oil hair products, Atelier Cologne, etc.) in the fake Sephora. The handbag store seemed to be about one-half Coach and one-third bedazzled, with about six Marc Jacobs Snapshot bags on the back wall. Prices were roughly 20% lower than MSRP for everything I Googled on the spot, including the bracelets at Tiffany. (Alas, no Tiffany bracelets came home with me.)

 

Speaking of which, am I only one who finds it hilarious that Tiffany is next to Blu? And that there are Tiffany blue seats on the chairs nearby? 

 

Celebrity App and Internet

Wifi service was great. Each stateroom has a router so the signal is strong and consistent all throughout the ship, and I was never kicked off the network as I was on the Summit a few months ago. I was unable to run a speedtest, but we had no problems doing some light music streaming and Instagram posting. On the downside, we have previously enjoyed using cruises as a digital detox, and there’s enough information that’s really only accessible through the app that I felt like I needed to carry my phone around the whole time.

 

The app is a work in progress. The stateroom controls worked well and we loved playing around with the scenes. Anything you see activity- or dining-wise on the app prior to boarding is just a suggestion of what you may have on your sailing. It seemed quite accurate on a day-to-day basis for general stuff, but did not consistently load individual information like dining or excursion reservations. Near the end of the trip I discovered a "ship tour" feature on the room controls tab that I didn't get a chance to try out—wish I had found it sooner. 

 

The app also simply stopped working on my Galaxy S9 twice during the week. I fixed it by deleting and reinstalling. 

 

So Is It Worth It?

I left home on Saturday morning 02/23 fully expecting this would be our last cruise on Celebrity, at least for a while; we've had a good time on our last couple of X cruises, but at no point felt the need to book another, and the current Edge-class pricing is not exactly a bargain. But we had independently decided by Monday afternoon 02/25 that we were definitely going to book another cruise on the Edge or similar. Suite class on other X ships has been nice, but suite class on Edge is truly competitive with our (limited) experience on luxury ships, and the ship is a whole lot more fun. For us it is worth it and having sailed Edge I'm not sure I'd bother booking an M- and S-class ship again unless there was a very compelling reason to do so.

 

Nevertheless the ship is not for everyone and the current prices are probably unsustainable. We heard repeatedly on the ship that those who liked it the least were usually those who sailed the most with Celebrity in the past. Every time I heard someone in the Retreat area talking about making another booking it was for an S-class ship or a cheaper category, or both. When we made our booking on what will be the Apex's first Caribbean season we had our choice of basically any sky suite on the ship, and there are a lot of them to fill. I think there was a missed opportunity to run Edge-class ships on more interesting itineraries (Cuba is an obvious choice) that could intrigue non-cruisers. Celebrity will need to broaden their market to keep these ships full and that could generate something of an existential branding crisis.

 

That's All, Folks!

That's it from me! See you again in two years when I break out of Lurkerville to post what I'm sure will be a long and rambling overview of the Apex. Thanks for reading along and I hope some of this info will be useful to those of you preparing to sail on the Edge or just trying to decide whether it's for you. Enjoy this sunset from our balcony. 

 

20190301_185537.jpg

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42 minutes ago, BeeMinor said:

And finally, wrapping up

 

That's All, Folks!

That's it from me! See you again in two years when I break out of Lurkerville to post what I'm sure will be a long and rambling overview of the Apex. Thanks for reading along and I hope some of this info will be useful to those of you preparing to sail on the Edge or just trying to decide whether it's for you. Enjoy this sunset from our balcony. 

 

20190301_185537.jpg

 

One word

 

WOW

 

What a stunning sky === priceless.

Edited by Presto2
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5 hours ago, BeeMinor said:

 

It was awesome! I believe the Bistro is open for lunch every day, including embarkation and port days, unless there is a special event--they didn't offer the regular lunch menu or hours on the brunch sea day. Be sure to check out the "plats du jour" to see if there's a particular dish you might want. I asked about whether those could be made on other days in an attempt to get a croque madame but was told the kitchen doesn't have the ingredients prepped for those dishes all the time.

Great review...

how did you find out about the  Bistro brunch buffet?  Did they accept res and do you know the cost ?  We did not see this on our EDGE cruise but would be interested when we are back in Nov.. 

 

BTW.. We are old time Celeb regulars and  enjoyed EDGE....work in progress!

 

Thanks again for your insights and that great end photo.. Are you going to submit it to X???

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1 hour ago, BeeMinor said:

Speaking of which, am I only one who finds it hilarious that Tiffany is next to Blu? And that there are Tiffany blue seats on the chairs nearby? 

LOL - I was quite sure that it was on purpose! Too much of a coincidence...🙂

 

PS: please don't go to Lurkerville!! 🙂

Edited by vtcruising
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Beautiful sunset photo! Thanks for your very entertaining and helpful review. We’re eagerly anticipating our cruise on Edge, next month, though not - alas- in a suite😎😎 

 

I shall look forward to your future review of Apex. 

Edited by Silkroad
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17 hours ago, hcat said:

Great review...

how did you find out about the  Bistro brunch buffet?  Did they accept res and do you know the cost ?  We did not see this on our EDGE cruise but would be interested when we are back in Nov.. 

 

BTW.. We are old time Celeb regulars and  enjoyed EDGE....work in progress!

 

Thanks again for your insights and that great end photo.. Are you going to submit it to X???

 

Thank you x 2! The brunch buffet was in the daily planner, and the day before they held it I saw some staff outside the buffet telling people about it. I'm not sure about reservations but I believe the cost was about $30-$35 pp. There was no brunch or dinner on the Magic Carpet on our sailing so maybe it was the replacement for that.

 

I didn't know submitting photos to Celebrity was even a thing! Huh.

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7 hours ago, Silkroad said:

Beautiful sunset photo! Thanks for your very entertaining and helpful review. We’re eagerly anticipating our cruise on Edge, next month, though not - alas- in a suite😎😎 

 

Thank you, and I hope you have a lovely trip! You never know when the upgrade fairy may wave her wand . . . 

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22 hours ago, BeeMinor said:

And finally, wrapping up.

 

Shopping

I don't cruise to shop, but it's fun to poke around. There was a distinct lack of folding tables piled with stuff. I was pleased to see some familiar brands (Moroccan Oil hair products, Atelier Cologne, etc.) in the fake Sephora. The handbag store seemed to be about one-half Coach and one-third bedazzled, with about six Marc Jacobs Snapshot bags on the back wall. Prices were roughly 20% lower than MSRP for everything I Googled on the spot, including the bracelets at Tiffany. (Alas, no Tiffany bracelets came home with me.)

 

Funny to see we weren't the only ones who thought it was a fake Sephora! :classic_biggrin: 

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On 3/18/2019 at 4:30 PM, BeeMinor said:

Nevertheless the ship is not for everyone and the current prices are probably unsustainable. We heard repeatedly on the ship that those who liked it the least were usually those who sailed the most with Celebrity in the past. Every time I heard someone in the Retreat area talking about making another booking it was for an S-class ship or a cheaper category, or both. When we made our booking on what will be the Apex's first Caribbean season we had our choice of basically any sky suite on the ship, and there are a lot of them to fill. I think there was a missed opportunity to run Edge-class ships on more interesting itineraries (Cuba is an obvious choice) that could intrigue non-cruisers. Celebrity will need to broaden their market to keep these ships full and that could generate something of an existential branding crisis.

 

OK I totally agree here.  I think I would book Edge again even if the price was higher if it went beyond the current boring itineraries.  But I am going back to S-Class.  I have my next cruises on Eclipse (S.America) and Reflection (Iceland and Ireland) because of the interesting itineraries.  I'm not paying premium Edge pricing for 7-day Western or Eastern Caribbean sailings.

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Your comments re shopping on the Edge.   You name  the "fake" Sephora.   Are you suggesting that it is a store that is made to look like Sephora or it is actually called Sephora and it is not a true Sephora store?  Clarification would be greatly appreciated.   Thank you.

Edited by Welland
grammar error
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2 hours ago, TeeRick said:

OK I totally agree here.  I think I would book Edge again even if the price was higher if it went beyond the current boring itineraries.  But I am going back to S-Class.  I have my next cruises on Eclipse (S.America) and Reflection (Iceland and Ireland) because of the interesting itineraries.  I'm not paying premium Edge pricing for 7-day Western or Eastern Caribbean sailings.

 

I would think the shorter itineraries are part of the effort to draw in a younger/working age group with limited PTO, but agreed that there's no reason to make them the same old Eastern/Western loops. Caribbean cruises for us are usually just warm weather breaks but we have a Cuba cruise on the books next year with Silversea that we certainly would have considered taking with X if we could have sailed there on the Edge.

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30 minutes ago, Welland said:

Your comments re shopping on the Edge.   You name  the "fake" Sephora.   Are you suggesting that it is a store that is made to look like Sephora or it is actually called Sephora and it is not a true Sephora store?  Clarification would be greatly appreciated.   Thank you.

 

Definitely not actually a Sephora--I think it is officially called "Attractions." The exterior has a black and white striped facade that is very reminiscent of Sephora's branding and the store does carry a small selection of products you would find at a Sephora but by no means a full range.

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Thank you for a really entertaining review, and THANK YOU for mentioning that the hike to virgin gorda baths is strenuous! I had it booked but after I saw your post I read reviews specifically searching on the word ‘strenuous’ and found many in agreement. I won’t be doing this with my 70 year old mom. 

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On 3/18/2019 at 4:30 PM, BeeMinor said:

And finally, wrapping up.

 

Shopping

I don't cruise to shop, but it's fun to poke around. There was a distinct lack of folding tables piled with stuff. I was pleased to see some familiar brands (Moroccan Oil hair products, Atelier Cologne, etc.) in the fake Sephora. The handbag store seemed to be about one-half Coach and one-third bedazzled, with about six Marc Jacobs Snapshot bags on the back wall. Prices were roughly 20% lower than MSRP for everything I Googled on the spot, including the bracelets at Tiffany. (Alas, no Tiffany bracelets came home with me.)

 

 

Did you happen to notice if the Tiffany rings were also less than MSRP? 😀

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8 hours ago, alishac said:

 

Did you happen to notice if the Tiffany rings were also less than MSRP? 😀

 

Ah, I didn't check out the rings, but I would think so! The store is small and they don't have a wide selection of styles or sizes but a cruiser can hope.

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13 hours ago, kirtens said:

Thank you for a really entertaining review, and THANK YOU for mentioning that the hike to virgin gorda baths is strenuous! I had it booked but after I saw your post I read reviews specifically searching on the word ‘strenuous’ and found many in agreement. I won’t be doing this with my 70 year old mom. 

 

Thank you for the compliment and you are very welcome! The alternate path that doesn't go through the caves isn't as intense, but it could still be a challenge for folks with less confidence in their mobility. You could ferry over independently and just visit the Top of the Baths area for an easy visit and nice views out to boulders below.

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  • 4 months later...
On 3/6/2019 at 10:45 AM, BeeMinor said:

Without further ado . . . 

[...]

Fitness Classes

Note that all prices have an added 18% gratuity (because you normally tip fitness instructors?) which makes a $19 class $22.  I've been a spin instructor for years and have yet to be tipped with anything other than thanks, a bottle of water, or a healthy snack.

[...]

"Mystery yoga" isn't my thing so I didn't take the class,:classic_laugh:

[...]

Whatever that class was, it was not barre. :classic_laugh:

Thanks so much for the useful information and making me laugh!

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  • 2 weeks later...
34 minutes ago, joyhannah said:

what is Apex?

Edge's sister ship sailing in March 2020. She will be very similar to the Edge, though will have some improvements and different art collection. There will be 3 more Edge Class ships after that though they will be a bit larger (about 70 ft longer).

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