Edge 12/15 aft suite & family travel

[Chefwoody]

So we're new to Celebrity but not to cruising.  Followed Edge from her keel build.  Followed her through the shake downs and first rounds.  NOW it's our turn!.  We (just now 60) and our kids/significants (and our 1st grand baby) in four separate cabins.  "Management" and I in a aft corner Sky suite with our middle son-wife-grandbaby next door with adjoining deck and entrance area veranda stateroom.  Our Princess "aft" experiences make these seem super small.  But... the deck size is nice and the 
"suite" is fine.  On the Royal class Princess cruise ships the aft corner ships are HUGE ...BUT.. they suffer from soot from the engines and it really is bad!.  Not sure what Sky Princess has done to improve on this.  Any hoo... Being a suite class on Celebrity ROCKS!.  We were able to board the rest of our non suite class family at the same early boarding time (afforded to us "SWEET" class folks) and had probably the BEST over all boarding experience EVER!!.  Just plain EASY and QUICK.  Did I capitalize enough KEY points?.  I'm going to keep day on simple but first bring up some important key points for parents bringing baby's and for all trying to figure out what you have in regards to ... um.. anything.

  1st and foremost - CELEBRITY SUCKS WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE PHONE LINE AND YOUR RESERVATIONS!!.  Between my 45 minute phone efforts and my travel agents we both got YES and NO almost all of the same questions regarding ship/reservation/room issues.  Basically you left feeling like you had NO CONFIDENCE in what you were going into on YOUR VACATION!!.   COME ON PEOPLE... LET'S GET THIS FICIURED OUT!.  

  Let's move on.. . FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANTLY FOR YOU PARENTS WITH YOUNG BABY'S.... NOT INFANTS... BUT 1 TO 2 YEAR OLDS..

[Chefwoody]

... sorry.. to finish... if you need a crib..NOT AN INFANT CRIB (ie under 3 months) BRING YOUR OWN!  OR .. at least see if they've address this yet.  Today.. nope.  My son built a sudo bed/crib out of pillows and stuff to make it work - film at 11.  To be open.. we asked for a crib for our 2 YEAR OLD about 3 months in advance.  Not one option exists on the ship today.  Parents be warned

[Chefwoody]

Next ...The aft corner Sky suite itself.  Nice.  Small by comparison to Princess, but nice.  Dollar for Dollar... guess I need to finish the cruise first, but for the $ ??? not ready to weigh in.  

  Today has been overly long and I am exhausted.  I believe I'll fill this in better tomorrow.  Will add the crew has been amazing!.  Always makes the whole experience great. 

[Chefwoody]

Early start to our first sea day.  So to finish day one's first impressions I'll bullet point:

- boarding - AMAZING.  Suite class gave us expedited boarding via a cushy lounge area.

                     Once on board it was easy to find our cabin.  Some luggage had already arrived!

-aft Sky suite (corner) - Very nicely appointed.  Just enough interior room to feel comfy.

                     Great deck space which became greater as we opened the door between our Boston 

                     clans adjoining Sunset veranda cabin.  Super nice is we also have a common entry

                     alcove with a common main door leading to the hallway.  Overall it feels like a two room

                     apartment.

-food - I'll be all over this one, but the food court was standard fare (compared to Princess) and that's

            not bad at all.  Dinner at the Roof Top Grill was very windy.  We have a two year old in clan so

           dinners are early.  But blankets were provided and happily received by all (but me and my youngest 

           sons girl friend).  Food was perfect.  For our group of eight a bit of everything was sampled. All left

           satisfied. 

Entertainment: Night time on this ship is incredible!.  SO colorful!.  Not loud lighting (if you've been

          to a disco (no, you don't have to admit it) then you know what I mean.  As advertised Edge

          blends technology with art in a very eye teasing way.  Very fun!.  Casino was better than most - 

          no smoking!.  I could actually breathe in a casino.. go figure.  Didn't seem to up the odds though...

Sum of day one: We are all so thrilled to be here on this ship.  It's been over a year of build up and so far

          it has lived up to our expectations. Yes yes, there may be warm sunny weather clouding our

          judgement.  Perhaps even a foofy drink (or two), but when setting up a vacation for eight people

         (four cabins) so many things can go wrong.  I will elaborate near the end, but Celebrity is horribly

         discombobulated in the reservations and customer service department (land not sea).  If you

         need a question answered be prepared to wait on the phone for a long time and receive at least

         two answers - conflicting answers to be sure.  Yes, they're happy you called, and your call is very

         important to them... guess we'll just give you as many answers as we can and say good day.  Brother!