Observations From The Poop Deck (Revisited)

[morpheusofthesea]

Well, we have just lost the weight we gained from our Celebrity Edge cruise in September 2021 and we are about to 'tackle' the Edge again tomorrow confident we can shed the weight again. This time we booked another Retreat cabin. These Retreat cabins have been completely sold out. On a fluke, we tried the Celebrity Move up. Click, Bid, Upgrade. The cheeseparer in me is thankful that the cabins remained sold out above our category, because for the price we bid on the Iconic Suite could buy us another 7 day cruise in the Retreat again in the future. Below are the rejected bids for the Penthouse and Iconic suites. We do not think these suites were really available to begin with. We are excited about sailing again before capacities are increased.

[Arzeena]

Delighted to see your post!

I will be following. Have a wonderful cruise!

[morpheusofthesea]

Got to the port a little after 10 am. No lines yet formed. Terminal 25 opens at 10:30. Parked across the street, 10 minute walk to front of the Retreat left hand line. No rain. Nice day at Port Everglades. Escorted to elevator to Retreat lounge, through security check and sat down and waited for ship to clear for boarding. 1100 passengers this October 2, 2021 sailing. 300 Retreat guests. Our Retreat host was summoned to escort us from the retreat terminal lounge to our cabin. (Nice touch).

[morpheusofthesea]

The Retreat Line is well marked.

Edited October 2, 2021 by morpheusofthesea
photo

[morpheusofthesea]

The Retreat Lounge in terminal 25 has a small pastry and drinks set up for guests waiting to board.

[FLCruiser97]

Well hello again Mr. Morpheus. Glad to see you and Mrs. Morpheus on the high seas once again. I followed you on your last Edge cruise and it was a delight. Such an eloquent writer. Did Mrs. Morpheus bring her token 7 suitcases? 

Fair winds and following seas for you!

[morpheusofthesea]

25 minutes ago, FLCruiser97 said:

Did Mrs. Morpheus bring her token 7 suitcases? 

Yes. She even added a duffle bag to throw some of my clothes into. Thanks for asking. This time I do not have to carry them up a flight of stairs like I did in the villa. Funny you should use the word "token", I sometimes feel like one.

[morpheusofthesea]

Here is a photo from our balcony of the Celebrity Constellation docked across the street from us on the Edge at Terminal 21. Please notice the parking garage directly across the street from both these vessels. Took me 10 minutes to walk back to the ship. 

  The bathroom mirrors open to the sides.

[morpheusofthesea]

I do not know how important  this is to some readers, but our TA has taken such good care of us these past years, that I asked her what libation she and her husband preferred from the complimentary liquor list and we emailed her choices 24 hrs prior to sailing to our shoreside concierge and voila, 2 bottles upon arrival to the cabin along with the gift boxes they come in. Also on the table, chilling in a bucket of ice was a bottle of Perrier Jouet champagne.

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

A couple of photos of the cabin. Walk in shower, no doors or curtains.

[FLCruiser97]

Nice cabin or should I say castle. That bathroom floor would make me dizzy! 

Be careful coming home at night.....LOL

[morpheusofthesea]

So far things have not changed. It is a cruiser dream come true. No lines. No reservations needed. Elevators empty and come within seconds. No masks. No tracelets. Only line we experienced was first day at the ILounge of guests trying to log onto wifi. This occurs in the Retreat lounge as well, but Retreat guests have three hosts to accommodate, where the ILounge only has one. With the additional OBC we received with a recent price decrease (after final payment) and the OBC given by Celebrity we wanted to purchase a mac book pro. They had 4 in stock at the ILounge and we had to reserve one since ILounge is unable to sell anything while in port. The widest screen they offered was a 13" and was giving a 5% discount $1710, and we still have $272 more OBC to use.

[Silkroad]

It’s lovely to have another chance to “sail” with the you and your DW. Wishing you a wonderful cruise!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Is this a Royal Suite? What do you think of the balcony after the Villa?

[morpheusofthesea]

1 hour ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Is this a Royal Suite? What do you think of the balcony after the Villa?

Yes. It is 9:30 am (clocks rolled back 1 hour first night) and am settling in on our rather small Royal suite balcony (6' x 12'). Our Personal Retreat Host waited til we boarded to show us the configuration of the balcony before adding a deck lounger to which he had to remove a chair not only from the balcony but removed it from the cabin entirely. Compared to the Villa it is less than half the space, but I love it all the more because it has shade most all the time. I had to remove myself from the balcony several afternoons while in the Villa and DW loves the fact she doesn't have to scale the stairs. (She has mentioned this to me several times and we haven't been on the ship 24 hours).

[morpheusofthesea]

When using OBC it is wise for both passengers in the cabin to be using the same one credit card. Thus the accounts are 'linked' especially when purchasing a big ticket item (like a mac book pro). It saves time standing in line at the end of the cruise, whether Retreat Lounge or guest services, trying to get the split up OBC to pay for the item(s).

[LGW59]

13 minutes ago, morpheusofthesea said:

When using OBC it is wise for both passengers in the cabin to be using the same one credit card. Thus the accounts are 'linked' especially when purchasing a big ticket item (like a mac book pro). It saves time standing in line at the end of the cruise, whether Retreat Lounge or guest services, trying to get the split up OBC to pay for the item(s).

Great thread, thank you!

[morpheusofthesea]

First night, there was only one show, a comedian, different than last months. Told his story of starting out doing comedy as a teenager and always being described by those in the industry as 'the young guy'. After 30 years of a rather successful career as a comedian and 18 months of not working due to covid he is glad Celebrity called him up to perform on board the Edge and once again being 'the young one'.

[morpheusofthesea]

Something new and different from early September. There is non stop musical entertainment in the evenings at the Eden. I forget til how late, but it goes to well past our bedtime.

[morpheusofthesea]

I have found that I must 'drag' myself away from my cozy 'man cave' of a balcony to make my observations. So after breakfast, ( Luminae opened at 8:00 am) giving our steward time to make up our cabin by 9:30 am, I accompanied DW both before and after for a portion of her 'walkabout'. This where we both made another interesting lesson in cruising. We have read that one dessert not to be missed by guests sailing on the Edge is the delicious chocolate chip cookie only served in the Rooftop Grill. We have (so far) never had the occasion to eat at a specialty restaurant while on board any cruise ship, even when complimentary. DW only eats the same grilled chicken breast and baked potato and I only care about desserts. So this cookie intrigues us. While doing our rounds on deck 14 we always run into a young man who tries to up sell dining packages. He is very cordial and remembers not to bother guests a second time. He also manages the cabanas (and wears glasses). We approached him on deck 14 with a question. Do we need to make a reservation for the Rooftop Grill, if after dinner in the Luminae all we want is to have the 'famous' Rooftop Grill chocolate chip cookie for dessert there. He began to tell us sure, we do not even need to make a reservation, when his colleague and perhaps superior, piped in that it was not possible, that we should just book a reservation for an entire meal. We left, disheartened and I retreated to spend the rest of the morning on my veranda. DW continued her daily laps around the ship, when this super nice young man caught up to her again. He said we could come any time the Rooftop Grill was open, without a reservation, and have just our cookie desserts and if we wanted he suggested that we could order the cookie desserts ahead of time and have them delivered to the Luminae for dessert. Morale of this story, your cookie dreams don't always crumble, on Celebrity Cruises.

Edited October 3, 2021 by morpheusofthesea

[morpheusofthesea]

We have moved into the 'hood'.

  Every day for seven days is a different theme for lunch and dinner in the Oceanview Cafe. Lunch today was American themed? I question marked because I thought fish and chips was British. We walked into the Cafe and washed our hands (why some guests refuse to wash their hands is beyond my comprehension. One couple told the greeter that they just 'purelled' and walked on in). Anyway the selection is great. Carved turkey, grilled filet mignon, rib eye and NY Strip. Every kind of donut on one side and 7or 8 different cakes on the other side. I just had to get one piece of the battered fish (cod) having just left the Luminae and had the halibut. Besides a bowl of hot apple crumble with vanilla sauce, slice of red velvet cake and slice of  german chocolate cake . I could not carry another plate.

 

[hcat]

23 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

A couple of photos of the cabin. Walk in shower, no doors or curtains.

I would cover up that floor with large bath towels or  ask for a  rug.  Nice to have a special suite but that black and white op art floor is hideous and distracting.  .Be careful.!

The space itself is  a nice size.

 

Enjoy your perks and pvt  outdoor space

Edited October 3, 2021 by hcat

[hcat]

Again..black op art tile..and  the black grates..too modern

Do you know who the designer was?  Does not look like Hoppen.

[morpheusofthesea]

Last nights show Kaleidoscope was the same as before, appreciated but disjointed. Capt. Costas was introduced and remarked that there were 1023 crew on board the Edge in contrast to the 'skeleton' crew of 78 that maintained the Edge during the pandemic. He brought up the good news that there are no cases of covid reported on board and thanked the passengers for following protocols. Below are photos of the social distance tables now situated in the Luminae. We sat at this one 4top taking a photo of the 4top next to us and the rest of the dining room for dinner on Chic night. We decided to eat as early as possible to avoid crowded venues. After dinner we ambled over to the Oceanview cafe for dessert. Almost empty venue at 6:30. DW had one cup cake, I tried 4 (they were 2 bite sized).

[brownc424]

On 10/3/2021 at 8:07 AM, morpheusofthesea said:

With the additional OBC we received with a recent price decrease (after final payment) and the OBC given by Celebrity we wanted to purchase a mac book pro. They had 4 in stock at the ILounge and we had to reserve one since ILounge is unable to sell anything while in port. The widest screen they offered was a 13" and was giving a 5% discount $1710, and we still have $272 more OBC to use.

Any idea how the price compared to buying it at a normal electronics store?