Just booked Apex (1st celebrity cruise) - why so much hate for edge class?

[C-Dragons]

19 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

Oh Edge is happening. That is in 3 weeks. 🙂

👍🏻 😊

[cgolf1]

To the comment about the review section of this site. I personally find it to be a waste of time and don’t use that section nor did I post my review there. I did however do a long detailed review on the forum allowing people to ask questions and I could do lots of pictures and link in videos as well. 
 

The reviews live and post on this board are where I get my info. A lot of you have been extremely helpful before our Edge trip, and hope the same will be true for the Apex (have forward facing oceanview so we have our front view:) ) and when we branch away from the E class and sail the Constellation in 2022. 

[DrKoob]

On 1/24/2020 at 1:38 PM, WestLakeGirl said:

No sky lounge

Not enough bars and no quiet intimate ones

No reasonably priced gift shops

No card room 

No coffee  table in stateroom

TV doesn’t swivel

uncomfortable seating in stateroom and throughout  the ship

there’s more but this is what comes to mind when I think of The Blunders of Edge

 

 

 

Thanks, I have been looking for a list that says it all so succinctly. The only thing I think you left out are the people who don't like the Infinite "verandah." I put that in quotes because I am so tired of these staterooms being called verandahs. They are not verandah staterooms. They are outside staterooms that have a window that opens. 

 

The other reason that I and so many other long-time X cruisers who have never sailed on the ship hate it is because it seems to be all that Celebrity cares about anymore. When Edge first came out, we were on Summit and they pulled about a quarter of the crew to move to Edge. That left Summit with bars with a hundred people and two bartenders and dining rooms with one sommelier trying to get wine to 20 tables. 

 

I have said it a lot of times before. X and LLP need to remember there are nine other Celebrity ships. The only thing that makes me happy is that with all the old X customers have pretty much said NO to Edge. That's why the prices have dropped through the floor and the ship is selling so poorly. 

 

Jim

[yorky]

38 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

Thanks, I have been looking for a list that says it all so succinctly. The only thing I think you left out are the people who don't like the Infinite "verandah." I put that in quotes because I am so tired of these staterooms being called verandahs. They are not verandah staterooms. They are outside staterooms that have a window that opens. 

 

The other reason that I and so many other long-time X cruisers who have never sailed on the ship hate it is because it seems to be all that Celebrity cares about anymore. When Edge first came out, we were on Summit and they pulled about a quarter of the crew to move to Edge. That left Summit with bars with a hundred people and two bartenders and dining rooms with one sommelier trying to get wine to 20 tables. 

 

I have said it a lot of times before. X and LLP need to remember there are nine other Celebrity ships. The only thing that makes me happy is that with all the old X customers have pretty much said NO to Edge. That's why the prices have dropped through the floor and the ship is selling so poorly. 

 

Jim

I’m still trying to work out if prices have dropped because of lack of demand or because it’s no longer quite as shiny and new. I think the one thing Celebrity will be disappointed with is the overall review scores on places like cruise critic, it really should be picking up now to s class levels but there are clearly things about the ship many don’t like. I still maintain that the biggest mistake they made was the IV cabins, they made a huge thing of them when promoting the ship and it’s clearly not the hit they expected with many people. We will never sail in an IV cabin simply because for many cruises  one of the most important things is the balcony and I don't  need to be sitting right in front of it to see it’s never going to be for us. We are on M class for the first time next year and I’m pretty confident we will enjoy it. We don’t need huge ships so are quite looking forward to one that’s slightly smaller and I’m expecting many things to feel very familiar.

Edited January 26, 2020 by yorky

[JSR]

My husband and I were on the Edge last year b2b, we are 60, active, and seasoned cruisers. My DH husband did cruise when cruising was traditional with tuxedos every night on the SS United States, we have cruised Royal extensively when our DD was young and Celebrity extensively, and we have tried NCL and Princess. 

 

We enjoyed Edge B2B so much that I am having second thoughts about not being on an Edge class ship for our next two cruises in March and June. Week one we had an AQ infinite Veranda and week two we had a sky suite. 

 

What we liked:

- loved being able to control temp, lights etc with the app on my phone. Sounds hooky but it was wonderful

- enjoyed the IV though as others have said it is really a large picture ocean view whose window opens. We were surprised we liked it as we are balcony people

-the art and decor is interesting and fresh. 

-lots of hidden quiet gems of places that make you feel like your the only people on the ship

-the gym was fantastic

-food in Blu

-food in Lumanea which we usually do not care for

-The Retreat area and all the suite benefits week two (we did not have these week one and did not feel at all slighted by not having them)

-the service

-general experience of something new

 

What we did not care for: ( all minor and in no way diminished our experience)

-Not having a table to eat breakfast at on the balcony

-Entertainment was just not up to our likes (this is true of 90% of the cruises we are on) We try to be open minded but we are a bit selective that way

-Eden area we enjoyed, the entertainment and the meal was not up to par, the roving actors were not able to pull it off, they spent more time interacting with each other then we the guests and when they did they were clearly uncomfortable. We were on the Symphony of the Seas (first RCCL in years) and much preferred Wonderland and the amazing Mad Hatter. 

-The pool being raised up

-The martini bar being so big 

 

We have a B2B booked on the Apex and will do more Edge cruises.

 

Recently we went on a last minute cruise with our DD for Thanksgiving, we had few choices because of the last minute booking. We ended up on Symphony of the Seas, we had done one other mega ship, Oasis, maybe 10 years ago and really disliked it but figured being with our DD alone for a week was something we could not pass up. We ended up having a blast and loving it. Will I rush back to RCCL without our DD, probably not but we had lots of fun. 

 

The older I get the more I find it is what you bring to the cruise that influences your experience the most. 

 

Bon Voyage!

 

[chisoxfan]

I know I am whining here and a bit off topic but thought I would vent a little. I did not realize the new Apex and Edge had some 'controversy'.  We really like X with maybe 7 cruises under our belt. We  have recently migrated to All Inclusives and to MSC Yacht Club.

When we booked an MSC YC cruise for next Jan (2021) we had looked at APEX AQ. With the price of over 1500 more than YC leaving the same weekend we were not interested. Anyway  I recently received an e mail from X that showed more attractive pricing for APEX AQ. I went to the box store travel agent and my X member numbers did not register. I went back to X site and they seemed to register but needed more info to update things. I dutifully filled in requested info and never got things to work.

I thought I would send a quick Email to X but found no ready venue to do this.

 

I thought it would be a quick and painless process to get accurate booking info with our X status (usually a small upgrade of OBC) but could no longer log in.  Not that interested to take time to call X after many in line attempts.

 

As others stated, I had assumed the newer ships were only 'better' but now realize this may not be 'automatic'.

 

Bottom line I am peeved that X piqued my interest 'a bit' while making it impossible to easily gather more info.

 

Thanks for letting me vent!  We have fond memories of X and will look first to them when and if  MSC YC fails us.

[yorky]

4 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

I know I am whining here and a bit off topic but thought I would vent a little. I did not realize the new Apex and Edge had some 'controversy'.  We really like X with maybe 7 cruises under our belt. We  have recently migrated to All Inclusives and to MSC Yacht Club.

When we booked an MSC YC cruise for next Jan (2021) we had looked at APEX AQ. With the price of over 1500 more than YC leaving the same weekend we were not interested. Anyway  I recently received an e mail from X that showed more attractive pricing for APEX AQ. I went to the box store travel agent and my X member numbers did not register. I went back to X site and they seemed to register but needed more info to update things. I dutifully filled in requested info and never got things to work.

I thought I would send a quick Email to X but found no ready venue to do this.

 

I thought it would be a quick and painless process to get accurate booking info with our X status (usually a small upgrade of OBC) but could no longer log in.  Not that interested to take time to call X after many in line attempts.

 

As others stated, I had assumed the newer ships were only 'better' but now realize this may not be 'automatic'.

 

Bottom line I am peeved that X piqued my interest 'a bit' while making it impossible to easily gather more info.

 

Thanks for letting me vent!  We have fond memories of X and will look first to them when and if  MSC YC fails us.

Sadly using x online is very painful, their website continues to be extremely unreliable, no idea why given the size of the company, it’s really not rocket science these days. We always phone directly where we find the service to be very good.

[chisoxfan]

The postings here made me do some prelim research on the Infinite Balconies. I remember thinking how cool this sounded when X was touting their new ships. After seeing it on You Tube videos I have to say it seems more like a double hung window than actual balcony and I can see where there is some pushback. I guess this is why prices dropped so much from when I initially looked at Apex sailing. 

[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

 

I have said it a lot of times before. X and LLP need to remember there are nine other Celebrity ships. The only thing that makes me happy is that with all the old X customers have pretty much said NO to Edge. That's why the prices have dropped through the floor and the ship is selling so poorly. 

 

Jim

I’m looking for more insight into your statement about the prices dropping through the floor. I mentioned earlier that I’m sailing with my wife and two kids on the Apex in 2022. I remember being here on CC last January discussing the Edge as I was looking at it for my family but if I remember correctly I think they wanted like $7800 for a week in a ocean view veranda and was mind blown. I hadn’t looked at Celebrity in about a year until last week and was surprised to see the Apex in the same cabin with all four perks for 4K. With your profession has it been a slow decline in price for the Edge class ships or did these prices just fall like a rock recently. I mean, it seems like I’m now getting a better deal above on this amazing new ship than I could booking on almost all other lines with all things considered and apples to apples. Is it that bad and that much of a nosedive in price? Are Edge class bookings that bad?

[Oville]

44 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

 Are Edge class bookings that bad?

If you look at the upcoming Edge cruises they are sold out or close to being sold out.  I was on the January 12th sailing and I think it sailed full.

 

I’ve been tracking two Apex cruises I booked last Spring for Nov. ‘20 and March ‘21 and the price has been increasing on both.

 

We have an Edge booked in April in an AQ cabin that we booked during the Veterans Day sale for a steal.  You just have to be lucky.

Edited January 26, 2020 by Oville

[drakes2]

23 minutes ago, Oville said:

If you look at the upcoming Edge cruises they are sold out or close to being sold out.  I was on the January 12th sailing and I think it sailed full.

 

I’ve been tracking two Apex cruises I booked last Spring for Nov. ‘20 and March ‘21 and the price has been increasing on both.

 

We have an Edge booked in April in an AQ cabin that we booked during the Veterans Day sale for a steal.  You just have to be lucky.

We also got our upcoming Apex at a great price and added the 4 perks on veterans day for the price of gratuities which we would have to pay on board anyway.  Prices have gone up considerably since.  Doubt we will see another price this low.

[Justalone]

On 1/24/2020 at 1:38 PM, WestLakeGirl said:

No sky lounge

Not enough bars and no quiet intimate ones

No reasonably priced gift shops

No card room 

No coffee  table in stateroom

TV doesn’t swivel

uncomfortable seating in stateroom and throughout  the ship

there’s more but this is what comes to mind when I think of The Blunders of Edge

 

 

New to cruising and considering maybe first cruise on Celebrity.
Wow.  That is a lot of complaints!

It has me concerned.   😯

Thanks for your fair and honest input.

Edited January 26, 2020 by Justalone

[drakes2]

5 minutes ago, Justalone said:

New to cruising and considering maybe first cruise on Celebrity.
Wow.  That is a lot of complaints!

Has me concerned.

Thanks for your input.

Celebrity is a great cruise line.  Please give it a try.  Not concerned if tv does not swivel nor if sofa is hard. If gift shops expensive well then good for me as less money to spend onboard. The gift shops have a lot of X logo stuff anyway that I'm not interested in. 

[Oville]

10 minutes ago, drakes2 said:

We also got our upcoming Apex at a great price and added the 4 perks on veterans day for the price of gratuities which we would have to pay on board anyway.  Prices have gone up considerably since.  Doubt we will see another price this low.

We booked on board and ended up with $750 Celebrity OBC, Specialty Restaurants already booked.😉

[Oville]

11 minutes ago, Justalone said:

New to cruising and considering maybe first cruise on Celebrity.
Wow.  That is a lot of complaints!

Has me concerned.

Thanks for your input.

I’ve been on 3 Edge cruises and have enjoyed all three.  If people go into something new comparing everything to how it used to be they maybe disappointment but change is good and we’ve taken advantage of that.

[Jeremiah1212]

24 minutes ago, Justalone said:

New to cruising and considering maybe first cruise on Celebrity.
Wow.  That is a lot of complaints!

It has me concerned.   😯

Thanks for your fair and honest input.

 

Different people have different prospectives. If I had to comment myself on that list of complaints, not a single one of those points is something I am remotely concerned with. 

 

I've never understood the fascination of the sky lounge and usually only go in the evenings when it's dark

There are 9 or 10+ bars...

Never purchased anything in a cruise ship gift shop 

Never used or needed a dedicated card room

We always move the coffee table out of the way 

The TV is on maybe 30 minutes throughtout our entire cruise, swiveling or not makes no difference 

I can't imagine that every single seat on the ship is painfully uncomfortable

 

I think many people are in a mindset that Edge was/is the next iteration of an S class ship. It's not. It's not "missing" any venues. It was never meant to be a replacement or a clone. 

[ipeeinthepool]

45 minutes ago, Justalone said:

New to cruising and considering maybe first cruise on Celebrity.
Wow.  That is a lot of complaints!

It has me concerned.   😯

Thanks for your fair and honest input.

 

I think you're correct to be concerned.  If it were me I'd look for an itinerary that interests you on an S-class ship.  I think you'll be very pleased.

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

I’m looking for more insight into your statement about the prices dropping through the floor. I mentioned earlier that I’m sailing with my wife and two kids on the Apex in 2022. I remember being here on CC last January discussing the Edge as I was looking at it for my family but if I remember correctly I think they wanted like $7800 for a week in a ocean view veranda and was mind blown. I hadn’t looked at Celebrity in about a year until last week and was surprised to see the Apex in the same cabin with all four perks for 4K. With your profession has it been a slow decline in price for the Edge class ships or did these prices just fall like a rock recently. I mean, it seems like I’m now getting a better deal above on this amazing new ship than I could booking on almost all other lines with all things considered and apples to apples. Is it that bad and that much of a nosedive in price? Are Edge class bookings that bad?

 

Each week we get a Celebrity Xciting Deals PDF from Celebrity (that is available to the public as well) that lists all the cruises that have been discounted due to no one wanting to go . About six months after Edge sailed the first time, once the newness had worn off, her cruises started to appear on that sheet on a regular basis. Much more than the S Class and about the same as a lot of the M Class. It has been an ongoing thing. People rushed to try her, many long-time X cruisers tried her once and are in no hurry to (or really never want to) go back. 

 

One other problem, that X had kind of fixed, is that especially in Europe, long-time X cruisers don't like to go all the way to Europe for just a 7 day cruise and they weren't willing to spend the kind of money they were asking when she first sailed to do a back-to-back. 

 

Jim

[drakes2]

48 minutes ago, Oville said:

We booked on board and ended up with $750 Celebrity OBC, Specialty Restaurants already booked.😉

You did well. 😁

[DrKoob]

19 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

Different people have different prospectives. If I had to comment myself on that list of complaints, not a single one of those points is something I am remotely concerned with. 

 

I've never understood the fascination of the sky lounge and usually only go in the evenings when it's dark

There are 9 or 10+ bars...

Never purchased anything in a cruise ship gift shop 

Never used or needed a dedicated card room

We always move the coffee table out of the way 

The TV is on maybe 30 minutes throughtout our entire cruise, swiveling or not makes no difference 

I can't imagine that every single seat on the ship is painfully uncomfortable

 

I think many people are in a mindset that Edge was/is the next iteration of an S class ship. It's not. It's not "missing" any venues. It was never meant to be a replacement or a clone. 

 

I just went to the Edge deck plans and I counted three indoor bars/lounges open to every guest. There are undoubtedly bars/lounges in the retreat and there are some outside but not a single small, intimate bar (like the Martini Bar, Reflection, Sky Lounge, World Class Bar) where you can sit and have a quiet drink and conversation with friends. 

 

The Sky Lounge is used for so many things that have now taken over the Martini Bar stopping if from being the conversation lounge that it is on the M and S class ships. 

 

Jim

[JSR]

50 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

 

Each week we get a Celebrity Xciting Deals PDF from Celebrity (that is available to the public as well) that lists all the cruises that have been discounted due to no one wanting to go . About six months after Edge sailed the first time, once the newness had worn off, her cruises started to appear on that sheet on a regular basis. Much more than the S Class and about the same as a lot of the M Class. It has been an ongoing thing. People rushed to try her, many long-time X cruisers tried her once and are in no hurry to (or really never want to) go back. 

 

One other problem, that X had kind of fixed, is that especially in Europe, long-time X cruisers don't like to go all the way to Europe for just a 7 day cruise and they weren't willing to spend the kind of money they were asking when she first sailed to do a back-to-back. 

 

Jim

 

I would add to your list as to why prices dropped. They were extremely high to begin with which turned some people away. For me, I love the Edge, it is just not going any where I want to go. I did the B2B last year and have no desire to repeat those itins for the upteenth time. While we like to take a Carib cruise each winter we opted for the Reflection 10 night because of more unique ports. If I was picking solely on ship I would go back to the Edge. We have 25+ cruises so we are looking to change things up a little. 

 

[Alsmez]

15 minutes ago, JSR said:

For me, I love the Edge, it is just not going any where I want to go

 

We felt the same until the 2022 itineraries were released. We love S-class and have been excited to try E-class ever since Edge debuted, but the expensive, boring 7-day itineraries were a no go. We were just looking for a replacement for an Equinox cruise due to an itinerary change, and I discovered that Edge is doing longer sailings in 2022. Yippee! Found a nice one in January, 11 nights to the ABC islands with an overnight in Aruba, plus stops in Cartagena and Grand Cayman. Can't wait! 

[ipeeinthepool]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

 

I just went to the Edge deck plans and I counted three indoor bars/lounges open to every guest. There are undoubtedly bars/lounges in the retreat and there are some outside but not a single small, intimate bar (like the Martini Bar, Reflection, Sky Lounge, World Class Bar) where you can sit and have a quiet drink and conversation with friends. 

 

The Sky Lounge is used for so many things that have now taken over the Martini Bar stopping if from being the conversation lounge that it is on the M and S class ships. 

 

Jim

 

 

Thanks for the observations.  I think the Edge was designed to appeal to the suite guests, certainly the Edge is very nice for them.  However, it's certainly mediocre at best for the rest of the passengers.  Perhaps this explains why most of the guests, who are non-suite guests, are less than ecstatic about the Edge.

[cgolf1]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

 

Thanks for the observations.  I think the Edge was designed to appeal to the suite guests, certainly the Edge is very nice for them.  However, it's certainly mediocre at best for the rest of the passengers.  Perhaps this explains why most of the guests, who are non-suite guests, are less than ecstatic about the Edge.

I am not sure you can throw out that generalization. I get it you and others didn’t like the ship. We sailed in an inside room and really enjoyed the experience. Then again we don’t hang out at bars or lounges. Everyone cruises different and enjoys different things. 

 

We found good food and music on the ship, the shows were the best we have seen at sea, and enjoyed sitting out on the Magic Carpet. It’s not a perfect ship and I stated that in my review, but we have yet to find one that is. 
 

I know you recommend an S class ship to someone based on your experience and comments on this board. We are booked on the Constellation, not sure the class, and I am very nervous it won’t meet our expectations. A few on here were positive when I brought up sailing a non E class ship, so we will give it a go since a day cruising is better than a day working. 

Edited January 26, 2020 by cgolf1

[fragilek]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

 

Thanks for the observations.  I think the Edge was designed to appeal to the suite guests, certainly the Edge is very nice for them.  However, it's certainly mediocre at best for the rest of the passengers.  Perhaps this explains why most of the guests, who are non-suite guests, are less than ecstatic about the Edge.

 Never sailed in a balcony suite but the Edge has had the best cabin- an IV balcony we have ever had out of balconies/ OV/ Large OV suites / insides.  We loved the Edge especially how many nice quite little hide away areas near bars to just sit and chat quietly with  great mellow background music something we found hard to do on our last Celebrity sailing on the Infinity