Our life on the Edge, 28 April 2019 TA, some photos & video

[Silkroad]

6 hours ago, vtcruising said:

This is one reason I can't wait to get back on the Edge!

 

 

Thanks for posting this. I'm hoping for many such gorgeous sunsets in the Greek Isles next year😊

[Silkroad]

20 hours ago, vtcruising said:

I think the Casino was the one bar where I didn't sit down and have a drink. I did have the more mediocre "free" drinks while playing the slots. Will have to visit it next year (for research purposes). 😉

Thorough research is very important😀  And one should always try to duplicate the results of one's experiment😉 We never played the slots, but the Casino bar was a nice place to have cocktails when the Martini Bar and Eden were heaving. Due to the lack of shade, the Sunset Bar was our least favorite place. I've never had a great cocktail at the Sunset Bar on any ship, so it's last on my list anyway. The Magic Carpet had potential, but we didn't spend enough time there to declare it a favorite.

[Silkroad]

I forgot to mention that the Tuscan Bean soup was one of my favorite dishes amongst the Exclusives😊

 

BTW I've noticed that many people (including some on our cruise) seem to think Normandie is a substitute for Murano, and Tuscan is a substitute for Tuscan Grill.  Normandie was in no way a substitute for Murano, though the menu had two or three dishes that reminded me of Murano's menu. Murano has several times been the restaurant in which we celebrated our anniversary or another special occasion, but we would not choose Normandie for such celebrations.  Though there were nods to Tuscan Grill on the Tuscan menu, we preferred Tuscan by a wide margin. We have never had a good meal in Tuscan Grill, but DH had three good meals (and I had one) in Tuscan. 

[Silkroad]

8 hours ago, Presto2 said:

Are we getting replacement chairs then? Any idea when and what they are?

 

Yes. During my conversation with the Hotel Director, Niyazi Korkmaz (see post #256 for details of that conversation) he said that new chairs (but not tables) were on order for the Infinite Verandas on Edge. That's all I know, but I'm hopeful🙂

Edited June 1, 2019 by Silkroad

[Silkroad]

On 5/31/2019 at 11:07 AM, vtcruising said:

Thanks for the great review, Michelle! It was great to see the Edge evolving and also loved seeing the ports. I think you have inspired me to do a similar TA. My SIL and BIL from New Zealand want to cruise with us again (we took them as cruise virgins on a Reflection Med cruise 1 1/2 yrs ago and had a marvelous time). I think I've talked them into a TA and I would love to share life on the Edge or the Apex with them. Getting SVs with connecting balconies would be cool. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration.

 

I did want to share my favorite picture of Mr Edge, since you are a fan as well. One day I was sitting in the RTG in an area in which I had not previously sat and guess who was keeping an eye on me?

 

 

 

Thanks for posting this photo, Marilyn!  I love it!  He seems to be calling us back to the Edge😎

[vtcruising]

🙂

1 hour ago, Silkroad said:

I forgot to mention that the Tuscan Bean soup was one of my favorite dishes amongst the Exclusives😊

 

BTW I've noticed that many people (including some on our cruise) seem to think Normandie is a substitute for Murano, and Tuscan is a substitute for Tuscan Grill.  Normandie was in no way a substitute for Murano, though the menu had two or three dishes that reminded me of Murano's menu. Murano has several times been the restaurant in which we celebrated our anniversary or another special occasion, but we would not choose Normandie for such celebrations.  Though there were nods to Tuscan Grill on the Tuscan menu, we preferred Tuscan by a wide margin. We have never had a good meal in Tuscan Grill, but DH had three good meals (and I had one) in Tuscan. 

I was wondering about the Tuscan Bean soup. That is a favorite of ours since we went to Tuscany for a wine tasting and had a private lunch/tasting (with BIL and SIL) in this gorgeous vineyard. Marco's (below) grandmother's Tuscan Peasant soup made with veggies, beans and stale bread (and much more) was a huge hit. So was Marco! 🙂

 

 

 

 

I'm surprised I remembered the soup at all after tasting all that wine! 😉

Edited June 1, 2019 by vtcruising

[Lastdance]

I definitely think Apex is going to be described totally by those of you doing the 7 day Caribbean in 2020.  You will not miss anything, and we all will all have the ability to cruise without even cruising...hahahahaha!  Now that would be one cheap cruise, but no fun at all!  You Edgies will be called "Apexies" or maybe not!  I applaud your attention to detail, and know that you will be getting hardly any sleep at all...but the computer keys will be buzzing all the time with those "live" updates continuing into the wee hours of the night.  Then, the final review will recap and add everything else that captured your attention...only then will I decide to book the TA for 2021!

 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Lastdance

[Silkroad]

I suspect Apex will be thoroughly photographed and reviewed months before we board her😉 I’ve been hoping for some action on the Apex build thread, but I think Lloyd must be on vacation😂  Must we be Apexies? Surely we can remain Edgies, because each sister ship will be a member of Edge class.

[vtcruising]

5 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

I suspect Apex will be thoroughly photographed and reviewed months before we board her😉 I’ve been hoping for some action on the Apex build thread, but I think Lloyd must be on vacation😂  Must we be Apexies? Surely we can remain Edgies, because each sister ship will be a member of Edge class.

I do prefer Edgies - there are going to be 5 of them. 😊 Apex is not a good name to make a nickname out of, IMO - maybe an acronym would work better.

 

I think Suzy is challenging us  -  with things like our SV balcony measurement investigation, art scavenger hunt, bar crawl, sports challenge (Aft Club drone racing, archery and laser maze competitions), officer interview series, progressive dinner party and other discovery activities, we will really get to know all of the secrets of the Apex (just a few potential ideas - I may be on my own for some). 😉

[Bimmer09]

On 5/29/2019 at 1:41 PM, Silkroad said:

 

• This is the end of my review. I hope it has helped some of you with your own decisions about Edge😊 Next up for us is our very first Caribbean cruise, on Reflection (in our first Sky Suite since the advent of Luminae and Michael's Club). After that, we're back to Edge, in a Sunset Veranda. We wish all of you safe and happy travels😎😎

Michelle, thanks for a great informative read and for all those excellent photos!

Enjoy your Sky Suite on the Reflection!

Norris

[vtcruising]

The Reflection has been my favorite ship when sailing in a suite. MC has the best bar, IMO, and loved MC overall. It is where I had my first amazing Golden Margarita made by the bartender we called "The Doctor." He took very good care of his patients! 🙂

[C-Dragons]

15 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

The Reflection has been my favorite ship when sailing in a suite. MC has the best bar, IMO, and loved MC overall. It is where I had my first amazing Golden Margarita made by the bartender we called "The Doctor." He took very good care of his patients! 🙂

I agree about Reflection. I pray that X doesn’t ruin MC during the “revolution”. 😳

[vtcruising]

18 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

I agree about Reflection. I pray that X doesn’t ruin MC during the “revolution”. 😳

Me too! I hope that there will be enough complaints about the other things they have done on the Edge and Revolutionized ships that they will give us just what we want on the Reflection (and by "we", I mean us 😉). I actually like what they did with the EQ Retreat Lounge  - the bar is there, but who knows if that is only because of the shortened drydock. We'll see what people think of the chairs.

 

I personally don't like the look of the EQ Retreat Sundeck and the loungers don't look anywhere near as luxurious as the Edge. They did try to provide shade with canopies, but it will likely depend upon the direction of the ship. It probably looks better in person, but I just don't like the looks of several thin-cushioned loungers lined up.

 

Picture # 7 shows the bar still there on EQ 🙂

 

Edge loungers - a little more plush?

 

 

Edited June 2, 2019 by vtcruising

[C-Dragons]

48 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

Me too! I hope that there will be enough complaints about the other things they have done on the Edge and Revolutionized ships that they will give us just what we want on the Reflection (and by "we", I mean us 😉). I actually like what they did with the EQ Retreat Lounge  - the bar is there, but who knows if that is only because of the shortened drydock. We'll see what people think of the chairs

Personally, I think that X will leave the existing structural footprints of the MC's on the rest of the fleet, which includes the existing bars, and just “redecorate” them.

Going forward I hope they will add traditional bars to all the Retreat Lounges on the new E class ships.

 

[vtcruising]

29 minutes ago, C-Dragons said:

Personally, I think that X will leave the existing structural footprints of the MC's on the rest of the fleet, which includes the existing bars, and just “redecorate” them.

Going forward I hope they will add traditional bars to all the Retreat Lounges on the new E class ships.

 

I hope so too, but it made me nervous to see the M Class Retreat Lounge bar gone. Of course, all of that was planned before the launch of the Edge with subsequent complaints about the lack of the bar - I thought they might somehow put the brakes on removing the M Class Retreat bar after those complaints.

 

Sorry to get off topic. 😳

[Texed]

1 hour ago, C-Dragons said:

Going forward I hope they will add traditional bars to all the Retreat Lounges on the new E class ships.

 

 

Ditto!  😊

[Silkroad]

14 hours ago, vtcruising said:

I do prefer Edgies - there are going to be 5 of them. 😊 Apex is not a good name to make a nickname out of, IMO - maybe an acronym would work better.

 

I think Suzy is challenging us  -  with things like our SV balcony measurement investigation, art scavenger hunt, bar crawl, sports challenge (Aft Club drone racing, archery and laser maze competitions), officer interview series, progressive dinner party and other discovery activities, we will really get to know all of the secrets of the Apex (just a few potential ideas - I may be on my own for some). 😉

We should put it to a vote😜  All Edgies in favor of continuing to refer to ourselves as Edgies, throughout the build & launch of the Edge class ships, say AYE. All those against, say NAY.  Vtcruising, being our Queen, shall be the tie breaker.

 

Nice challenge list, Marilyn! We're definitely up for checking these things out, but we may need to schedule a massage in there somewhere🤣 

[Silkroad]

3 hours ago, vtcruising said:

The Reflection has been my favorite ship when sailing in a suite. MC has the best bar, IMO, and loved MC overall. It is where I had my first amazing Golden Margarita made by the bartender we called "The Doctor." He took very good care of his patients! 🙂

This is good to know. Thanks! Reflection is already one of my favorite ships, even though I've not yet been in one of her suites. We had a corner aft booked for the Greek Isles last year, but had to cancel because of some work changes. I scored the last available corner aft for this Caribbean cruise, so we're looking forward to several new experiences (first Caribbean cruise, first suite with Luminae & Michael's Club, and first aft stateroom). I'll look for "The Doctor" before sail away😎 

 

BTW the best Golden Margarita I had on Edge was made by Johannes (hope I'm spelling it correctly) at the Martini Bar. We had just found seats AT the bar for the first time🍹😋  It was perfection!

[vtcruising]

13 minutes ago, Silkroad said:

Nice challenge list, Marilyn! We're definitely up for checking these things out, but we may need to schedule a massage in there somewhere🤣 

Ah yes, I forgot to add the Edge Class massage challenge! We must each try a different type of massage and compare and contrast for CC ... if I'm not careful, I think I'm going to be kicked off the Roll Call and barred from the cruise so everyone will have time to relax. I'm a planner and explorer at heart and doing all this stuff IS relaxing for me. My DH is a good sport about it all, but will be happy to have some other Edge-obsessed people onboard to participate in my explorations.

 

Hope you know this is tongue-in-cheek - I will be happy no matter what we do! 😊

Edited June 2, 2019 by vtcruising

[Silkroad]

54 minutes ago, vtcruising said:

Ah yes, I forgot to add the Edge Class massage challenge! We must each try a different type of massage and compare and contrast for CC ... if I'm not careful, I think I'm going to be kicked off the Roll Call and barred from the cruise so everyone will have time to relax. I'm a planner and explorer at heart and doing all this stuff IS relaxing for me. My DH is a good sport about it all, but will be happy to have some other Edge-obsessed people onboard to participate in my explorations.

 

Hope you know this is tongue-in-cheek - I will be happy no matter what we do! 😊

Thanks for giving me this great introduction to my next post! While hitting our beautiful hiker-biker trail this morning (still burning off those TA calories lol) I suddenly remembered that I'd wanted to post a list of the things I wish we'd done on Edge. I wish we had:

 

• spent some time in The Club (for Bandaoke and some of the other live music).
• attended the Captain's Navigation lecture, and a couple of the other lectures.
• found Texed at the waffle station so we could learn from the master😋
• found a way to get a brief tour of The Retreat.
• tried Le Petit Chef.
• found seats in the Magic Carpet bar for sail away.
• taken more photos of our favorite art during our daily art walks.
• gotten some video of Cello 2 Cello's first show, video of the production show, video of the other musical acts, and better video of the Eden show for this review.
• taken more food porn photos, especially of our meal in Eden, for this review😀
• tried Raw on Five.
• booked Inside Access tours (ideally before the price increase lol).
• found Margaret and Tom for that drink to celebrate our anniversaries. We did raise our glasses to them, however😊

 

We'll work on this list on our next cruise on Edge, Greek Isles next year😎😎

Edited June 2, 2019 by Silkroad

[Silkroad]

I had hoped to be able to get a short tour of The Retreat, partly to satisfy my own insatiable curiosity, and partly to convince myself (and my DH) that a suite on Edge class would be fun enough (for us) to justify paying considerably more than we would for a Sunset Veranda. We almost got a tour, but we were foiled by bad weather. On a sunny day, I was able to press my face against the gate (just kidding lol) to see people relaxing on loungers in The Retreat. They appeared content😎

Edited June 2, 2019 by Silkroad

[Silkroad]

4 hours ago, vtcruising said:

Me too! I hope that there will be enough complaints about the other things they have done on the Edge and Revolutionized ships that they will give us just what we want on the Reflection (and by "we", I mean us 😉). I actually like what they did with the EQ Retreat Lounge  - the bar is there, but who knows if that is only because of the shortened drydock. We'll see what people think of the chairs.

 

I personally don't like the look of the EQ Retreat Sundeck and the loungers don't look anywhere near as luxurious as the Edge. They did try to provide shade with canopies, but it will likely depend upon the direction of the ship. It probably looks better in person, but I just don't like the looks of several thin-cushioned loungers lined up.

 

Picture # 7 shows the bar still there on EQ 🙂

 

Edge loungers - a little more plush?

 

 

 

There's only one way to be certain. Yes. We need a volunteer to test both cushions. Think of it as mattress testing with cocktails😂 Seriously, the top of the Edge cushion  (lower right corner of Edge photo) appears thicker, but it seems odd that X wouldn't purchase the same lounger cushions for all the ships. As you say, at least they had the sense to leave the bar in place on EQ.

Edited June 2, 2019 by Silkroad

[Silkroad]

14 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

Michelle, thanks for a great informative read and for all those excellent photos!

Enjoy your Sky Suite on the Reflection!

Norris

Thanks very much, Norris! I'm glad you enjoyed it😊  I'm looking forward to your next review, which I believe will be the Fjords. Your Cuba review was fabulous! On our Caribbean cruise, I'll be back to wandering the ship like a ghost, trying to capture both sunrises (while DH sleeps) and sunsets😉 Oh, we will enjoy our Sky Suite. I just hope we don't become addicted to the Suite Life😂

 

Cheers!

Michelle

Edited June 2, 2019 by Silkroad

[hcat]

16 hours ago, Silkroad said:

I suspect Apex will be thoroughly photographed and reviewed months before we board her😉 I’ve been hoping for some action on the Apex build thread, but I think Lloyd must be on vacation😂  Must we be Apexies? Surely we can remain Edgies, because each sister ship will be a member of Edge class.

I'll stick with EDGIE....Apex just does not do much as a name for a ship.

[Lastdance]

3 hours ago, Silkroad said:

Thanks for giving me this great introduction to my next post! While hitting our beautiful hiker-biker trail this morning (still burning off those TA calories lol) I suddenly remembered that I'd wanted to post a list of the things I wish we'd done on Edge. I wish we had:

 

• spent some time in The Club (for Bandaoke and some of the other live music).
• attended the Captain's Navigation lecture, and a couple of the other lectures.
• found Texed at the waffle station so we could learn from the master😋
• found a way to get a brief tour of The Retreat.
• tried Le Petit Chef.
• found seats in the Magic Carpet bar for sail away.
• taken more photos of our favorite art during our daily art walks.
• gotten some video of Cello 2 Cello's first show, video of the production show, video of the other musical acts, and better video of the Eden show for this review.
• taken more food porn photos, especially of our meal in Eden, for this review😀
• tried Raw on Five.
• booked Inside Access tours (ideally before the price increase lol).
• found Margaret and Tom for that drink to celebrate our anniversaries. We did raise our glasses to them, however😊

 

We'll work on this list on our next cruise on Edge, Greek Isles next year😎😎

Getting a tour of The Retreat was my fault, as it was ready to go...I will keep the ship in tip-top condition for your Greek Isles tour...porn photos...what happens on Edge stays on Edge...I just hope that Captain Kate is still on in May, 2020, as I hope to do the catwalk!  I must say that I need to be on Edge again to do all the things I missed, but this time in 11 days instead of 15.  I do feel a little Edgie today...

Edited June 2, 2019 by Lastdance
I am just not over the Edge!