Edge Semi Live Blog - December 8-15, 2019 - Moveable Feast - Edge Villa Experience

[alexsarasota]

I will make it a point to pat Mr. Edge’s nose. Along with a short prayer. 

[JFontaine]

I hope you don't mind some Villa questions (feel free of course to answer when you get home).  Is there a TV upstairs?  Did you get monogrammed robes? Is luggage valet complementary with this suite?  Thank you

[Schmoe38]

27 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

I hope you don't mind some Villa questions (feel free of course to answer when you get home).  Is there a TV upstairs?  Did you get monogrammed robes? Is luggage valet complementary with this suite?  Thank you

I can help if you like. We were in an Edge Villa on our last cruise on Edge in November of this year.

There is a TV in the bedroom upstairs that actually closes into the ceiling. It’s quite noisy when it opens from the ceiling to the viewing position and vice versa. If you leave the TV in the down position overnight, watch your head if you have to get up during the night. 
 

We got monogrammed robes to take home with us. There were separate robes for us to use during the cruise.

 

Luggage valet is complimentary with the suite as long as you meet the criteria for flight times.

 

Hope this helps

 

Randy

[Schmoe38]

52 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

I hope you don't mind some Villa questions (feel free of course to answer when you get home).  Is there a TV upstairs?  Did you get monogrammed robes? Is luggage valet complementary with this suite?  Thank you

If it helps, I did a review of Edge Villa 15106, complete with pictures, on the top of this page under the Edge Class Cabin information sticky. It is on Page 5.

 

Randy

[JFontaine]

48 minutes ago, Schmoe38 said:

If it helps, I did a review of Edge Villa 15106, complete with pictures, on the top of this page under the Edge Class Cabin information sticky. It is on Page 5.

 

Randy

Randy - thank you. Great photos. I know you said you would not take this cabin again, but I hope you had a great cruise. 

[Schmoe38]

25 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

Randy - thank you. Great photos. I know you said you would not take this cabin again, but I hope you had a great cruise. 

We did and the stateroom was nice. That employee entrance door to the Retreat Lounge is destined to injure someone if Celebrity does not do something to make it safer. It’s really only an issue with 15106.

 

Don’t get me wrong...if an opportunity to sail in an Edge Villa presents itself in the future, we would certainly consider it.

 

Randy

[Cdresser]

I can confirm the info on the TV, the robes, and the luggage valet are still valid. We thought we would have to ask for the robes because that has happened with upper level suites on other ships but they had them ready for us when we first walked in. We used them for 4 days then they took them to be laundered so we could pack our fresh, clean robes and gave us plain ones to use for the last 3 days.

[Cdresser]

3 hours ago, Schmoe38 said:

If it helps, I did a review of Edge Villa 15106, complete with pictures, on the top of this page under the Edge Class Cabin information sticky. It is on Page 5.

 

Randy

Thanks for doing the review, it's very helpful for those people trying to decide if a villa is a good choice for them.

[Cdresser]

Day Three

 

This was our first sea day on the Edge. We started the day with breakfast at Luminae since we didn't have anything we had to rush off to that morning. As usual, the service and the company of people around us was good. The food was a little disappointing - it was good, just not what I expected for corned beef hash and huevos rancheros. 

 

After breakfast we went to get our picture taken with Gail Simmons and Marcus Samuelsson - the special guest Moveable Feast guests. They were both very nice and personable and since we are fans of theirs, it was great to know they are as nice in person as they are on TV.

 

After that I headed to the purse store because I wanted to get a wristlet/clutch purse if they had something I liked for a reasonable price. I was pleasantly surprised they had some of the Coach purses on sale and I found one that works perfectly for me. It was a little more than I would normally pay for a purse, but I have some OBC to spend so I splurged on myself a little. Thankfully DH didn't mind (in fact, he was the one who found it for me). Shopping trip complete, we headed to Eden for the private cooking class with Gail Simmons we had booked before the cruise.

 

I had high hopes for the cooking class and it really exceeded my expectations. We started with a glass of champagne, then we put on the white aprons embroidered with the Moveable Feast logo and Celebrity logo which we got to keep as a momento of the experience. They also had tall white paper chef hats for everyone to wear. Gail Simmons walked us through making lamb meatballs which we got a chance to sear off in the Eden kitchen. The Eden staff then cooked the rest of the dish while we were served the appetizer of the 3 course lunch. Each course was perfectly paired with a wine (I am so impressed with Adrian, the sommelier at Eden, and he wowed us again at dinner the next night). While we ate, Gail and Armando - the executive sous chef for Eden - visited with each table and answered all our questions. I am not a great cook, but I admire great food so the experience was well worth it to me.

 

I planned to write this blog that afternoon but got caught up chatting with new friends and hosting some in our suite. 

 

Dinner that night was in the Rooftop Garden. I was a little hesitant to book it because it is an outdoor venue, but since the specialty dining is included with our suite I wanted to try every restaurant. I dislike wind and rarely eat outside because of that. The windscreens installed in the Rooftop Garden definitely make a difference. There was a light breeze - enough to keep the temperature pleasant without disrupting the meal. Good food, good service, fantastic seared bronzino. On the whole, however, I would recommend Fine Cut over Rooftop if I were paying out of pocket for the venue.

 

We finished the night in the Club. We loved the Boogie to Broadway music set and the 1920's speakeasy show. We've been very pleased with the dance opportunities at this venue and as the cruise has progressed, more people have discovered it. I would say it is popular but not too crowded to dance and enjoy the music.

 

Finally, we ended our evening in what is now our traditional way, bathing in the hot tub under the stars on our balcony. 

[Cdresser]

I am a bit behind in this blog (the cruise is over), but I'll keep working my way through the days and pretend I am still there (I like this kind of pretending). 

 

Day Four

 

This morning we arrived at Costa Maya. Since DH and I had never been there, we went ashore even though we knew it was pretty much just a shopping port. It was, but I had a little bit of shopping I wanted to do so this worked out fine for me. 

 

The night before, I had stopped by the Port Shopping Desk on the ship and talked to Danielle. I knew from past experience that getting one of the handy-dandy VIP cards for shopping in jewelry stores really pays off. I had lost one of my tanzanite earrings before the cruise and wanted to get a replacement. Danielle recommended we get to the store early because there were going to be a lot of ships in port and that she'd would be there as well to help if we needed it. Her advice and assistance paid off because we were able to get earrings at a good price. The people at Diamonds International did try to upsell us but we politely stood firm with our original choice and they respected that.

 

We did not linger in port long after our jewelry store stop because the crowds were getting thick and the vendors very pushy. 

 

Back on board, we grabbed a light bite to eat at Oceanview. We went to the Retreat bar to get a drink but it was very crowded so we took our drinks with us to the smoking area. I will say, in spite of the crowd, it was worth the trouble because I discovered the retreat bar makes the best Moscow Mule on the ship (IMO).  

 

We met up with friends we'd made in the smoking area (smoker's are generally very social people) and spent the afternoon enjoying their company. Our server, Oscar, took great care of us the entire cruise and our little group had quite a fun afternoon. 

 

Dinner that night was in Eden. We got there early and requested a table where we could watch the chefs work in the open kitchen. For us, that is the equivalent of dinner and a show. It was especially fun for us since we met Chef Armando and some of his staff the day before. 

 

The dinner was nothing short of spectacular. Our service was spot on and the sommelier, Adrian, was the best I have ever had - on a ship or anywhere else. I did not have wine, I stuck with my cocktail, the Planter, from the Eden bar upstairs, but I did take of sip of DH's wine pairing with each course and they were perfect - and within the beverage package parameters. Eden serves a 5 course meal with 2 choices for every course so DH ordered the left side of the menu and I ordered the right and we shared tasted with each other so we could try everything (except one course which had an ingredient I'm allergic to). 

 

We talked about it during the meal and both DH and I rated the dinner as one of our top five dining experiences - with all five tied for first place. That list for us includes Morimoto, Wolfgang Puck, Bryan Voltaggio, and Joel Robuchon. We made sure to convey that message to our server so he could share the compliments with the kitchen staff.

 

Earlier in the afternoon we made plans with our new friends to meet up at 10:30 for White Party on the Resort Deck. After a liquid afternoon and a beautiful meal, I had to push myself to last that long. I was not alone. Some of our group showed, some didn't make it, and we only gathered long enough to say we made it, then headed to bed about 10 minutes later. I was *almost* too tired for the hot tub but stayed awake long enough to enjoy it, not fall asleep in it, and fall happily into bed. 

 

An early night was a good thing because we had a busy day planned for Cozumel starting in the morning.