Nov 6 Apex B2B East-West Caribbean Cruise

[verizon]

36 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have eaten there twice, once on the Edge and once on this leg on the Apex. Had steaks both times that were recommended by the waiter. First time was the 32 oz Tomahawk steak, which was way too much for one person, and the NY Prime Cut here on the Apex which was pretty tough. BTW my DW didn’t see any entrees she liked, so she just ordered 3 starters. But I don’t think we’ll be going back there again any time soon. But that’s just us. I’m sure a lot of folks think what you get there for $110 for 2 is well worth it.

If you have the premium package the waiter's can do wine pairing with the course of mail.

It is hard to do in Luminae as they are short staffed.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, verizon said:

If you have the premium package the waiter's can do wine pairing with the course of mail.

It is hard to do in Luminae as they are short staffed.

Thanks! I’ll have to check that out. 

[Ken the cruiser]

Here are some random pictures taken while at Antigua. 
 

A picture of the Apex as we were heading to our excursion. 
 

 

A vista view point picture on our excursion. It was such a pretty day!

 

 

From the back of the Oceanview Cafe as we were sailing away. 
 

 

The Martini Bar during the Chandelier Show

 

 

Edited November 8, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[ETHTrader]

Ken, any news on how many passengers they are expecting on Saturday for the second leg?

[GMoney]

I’m on Millie right now and basically live at the outdoor OV cafe and Sunset Bar. It looks like Apex has a similar setup? Sailing her for Christmas. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, ETHTrader said:

Ken, any news on how many passengers they are expecting on Saturday for the second leg?

As of this morning the estimated count to board on Nov 13 was 1900 with around 900 of them being travel agents.

[ATLJC]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

As of this morning the estimated count to board on Nov 13 was 1900 with around 900 of them being travel agents.

Wondering if the Thanksgiving cruise departing on the 20th will surpass the 2K mark. Would be grateful for any insight you could share from your conversations with the crew! 

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, ATLJC said:

Wondering if the Thanksgiving cruise departing on the 20th will surpass the 2K mark. Would be grateful for any insight you could share from your conversations with the crew! 

I’ll probably have to wait until we get midway through the next leg before I’ll be able to give you any estimates on that cruise.
 

Here are some figures though. Maximum dual occupancy is 2,910 passengers. But, they currently have deck 6 assigned as the quarantine deck for new crew while they go through the clearance protocols. Deck 6 has 186 cabins or can accommodate 372 passengers. So the most passengers that can be on the Apex until deck 6 is reopened is 2,538. I know it doesn’t help answer your question, but thought I’d just add that so you know. 

[ETHTrader]

45 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

As of this morning the estimated count to board on Nov 13 was 1900 with around 900 of them being travel agents.

 Thanks Ken. That's about 800 more passengers than my last Apex sailing. I also have never sailed with that many travel agents before. It's gonna be an interesting one on Saturday......

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by ETHTrader

[Ken the cruiser]

17 minutes ago, ETHTrader said:

 Thanks Ken. That's about 800 more passengers than my last Apex sailing. I also have never sailed with that many travel agents before. It's gonna be an interesting one on Saturday......

 

There were around 900 on our Edge cruises back in August as well. Definitely much less crowded than now. We checked in at 11:30 on our embarkation day on Nov 4 and it went very smoothly! So hopefully it will be just as easy for you Saturday.
 

On this cruise we have around 250 passengers affiliated with the Park West Art Dealer who, of course, sells their art work on Celebrity cruise ships and I’m sure many others. Coincidentally, we also haven’t had any trivia/game shows in the evening in The Club the last two nights because of a “Private Event” each night. Hopefully, this won’t be the case on the next leg as we really enjoy going to the various shows they put on in The Club. 😎

Edited November 9, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[SeaWatch12]

Hi Ken, Thank you for taking the time to post about the Apex. Excellent photos and info. Im booked on that beautiful ship in just a few weeks and can’t wait to be there!  Mark

[ATLJC]

10 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I’ll probably have to wait until we get midway through the next leg before I’ll be able to give you any estimates on that cruise.
 

Here are some figures though. Maximum dual occupancy is 2,910 passengers. But, they currently have deck 6 assigned as the quarantine deck for new crew while they go through the clearance protocols. Deck 6 has 186 cabins or can accommodate 372 passengers. So the most passengers that can be on the Apex until deck 6 is reopened is 2,538. I know it doesn’t help answer your question, but thought I’d just add that so you know. 

Thanks for the valuable info. Enjoying your posts and the insider information, much of it very helpful for our upcoming sailing on the 20th. 

 

Wishing you a continued wonderful journey and a great sailing ahead. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived at Castries, Saint Lucia. It was raining this morning, but hopefully it clears up and will be a nice day as we are taking a 6 hour excursion around Saint Lucia. But we’ll also be stopping at a waterfall and an Estate where we’ll have a tasty lunch I’m sure. So some sunshine would be good, at least later on. 😎

 

[ETHTrader]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived at Castries, Saint Lucia. It was raining this morning, but hopefully it clears up and will be a nice day as we are taking a 6 hour excursion around Saint Lucia. But we’ll also be stopping at a waterfall and an Estate where we’ll have a tasty lunch I’m sure. So some sunshine would be good, at least later on. 😎

 

 

Great pictures Ken.

 

I don't know if you have been to St. Lucia before, but if you have not, I recommend that you find a bottle of Coke (that was bottled locally in St Lucia) if you get a chance. It's an odd suggestion but apparently, the local Coke uses cane sugar that is produced locally and it has a very distinct taste (that is different from any other Coca Cola). To this day, I still think about Coca Cola from St. Lucia. 

 

Or maybe, I am just weird 🤔

[phabric]

I will be on the Apex in March with the WIFI included in the package.  I will be cruising with a 12 yr that likes to talk to her mom at home each day through FaceTime or What’s app and play games on her phone.

 

Can she do these things with the WiFi provided?

[shipknotshore]

On 11/6/2021 at 4:56 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

OK, I have another tidbit to pass along, but you can’t tell anybody. I was looking out over the rail of our balcony and saw what appeared to be the foot end of a lounge chair. Could it be that all I need to do is ask our steward if we could get a lounge chair delivered to our cabin to compliment our existing 2 chairs and table on our balcony? Yup, that’s all it took! 😎

 

 

We have a SV on our upcoming cruise and I was hoping that we would be able to get a lounger.  Thanks for posting all this information.  

 

Jill

[Ken the cruiser]

Just got back from our 6 hour excursion which included having to switch buses because of a flat tire shortly after we started along with 3 hours of roundtrip driving to the other side of the island and back with many hairpin turns along the way. Other than that we had a good time and had a tasty lunch! 
 

Here was the view from where we had lunch. 
 

 

Here’s a picture of the waterfalls we visited which you could go walking under if you so chose. 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, ETHTrader said:

 

Great pictures Ken.

 

I don't know if you have been to St. Lucia before, but if you have not, I recommend that you find a bottle of Coke (that was bottled locally in St Lucia) if you get a chance. It's an odd suggestion but apparently, the local Coke uses cane sugar that is produced locally and it has a very distinct taste (that is different from any other Coca Cola). To this day, I still think about Coca Cola from St. Lucia. 

 

Or maybe, I am just weird 🤔

I’ll definitely check it out the next time we’re in port. But, unfortunately, we’re back on the ship and it’s scheduled to leave in a little while. 😎

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, phabric said:

I will be on the Apex in March with the WIFI included in the package.  I will be cruising with a 12 yr that likes to talk to her mom at home each day through FaceTime or What’s app and play games on her phone.

 

Can she do these things with the WiFi provided?

I don’t know as neither my DW or myself use What’s App or FaceTime. She does play online games, though, and she doesn’t seem to have an issue with them.
 

However, you might try asking your same question on the following thread. Maybe somebody following that thread may have a more definitive answer for you.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2811878-heads-up-on-the-basic-internet-package-that-comes-with-all-included/

[lola2013]

On 11/6/2021 at 6:56 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

OK, I have another tidbit to pass along, but you can’t tell anybody. I was looking out over the rail of our balcony and saw what appeared to be the foot end of a lounge chair. Could it be that all I need to do is ask our steward if we could get a lounge chair delivered to our cabin to compliment our existing 2 chairs and table on our balcony? Yup, that’s all it took! 😎

 

 

I'm a few days behind and not sure if this has been mentioned.

On my 2019 Edge sailing in an SV, all I had to do was ask for a lounger and it appeared.  I planned to do that on my recent September Edge sailing (also an SV)...SURPRISE...two loungers, along with two chairs and a table...were waiting for me when I arrived.

I was a very happy Edge passenger 😎 for this and so many other reasons.

[Ken the cruiser]

Today we are at St Kitts and Nevis and did a 4 hour Rail and Sail Celebrity excursion and had a great time!!! 
 

First was a short bus ride to the train station where we caught a cool train for 2 hours where we sat up top in comfortable seats in the open air. Then it was another short bus ride to catch a 45 minute catamaran cruise back to the ship, which turned out to be quite a memorable journey for the two of us.

Why you ask? 13 of the 16 passengers decided to go either up top or out on the bow to catch some sun and a better viewing point which left just 3 of us below until the 3rd person went up on the bow to visit with others. Talk about having plenty of space to spend a romantic boat ride back to the ship when we’re usually packed into tour buses. 😎

 

A couple of pictures from the 2 hour train ride. 

 

Our space to relax and have a quiet cruise back to the ship where the other 14 passengers found other places to hang out and catch some rays!

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[little britain]

22 hours ago, shipknotshore said:

We have a SV on our upcoming cruise and I was hoping that we would be able to get a lounger.  Thanks for posting all this information.  

 

Jill

We had a SV on Apex. Asked our steward for loungers and 2 arrived within 5 minutes! 
 

[phabric]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Today we are at St Kitts and Nevis and did a 4 hour Rail and Sail Celebrity excursion and had a great time!!! 
 

First was a short bus ride to the train station where we caught a cool train for 2 hours where we sat up top in comfortable seats in the open air. Then it was another short bus ride to catch a 45 minute catamaran cruise back to the ship, which turned out to be quite a memorable journey for the two of us.

Why you ask? 13 of the 16 passengers decided to go either up top or out on the bow to catch some sun and a better viewing point which left just 3 of us below until the 3rd person went up on the bow to visit with others. Talk about having plenty of space to spend a romantic boat ride back to the ship when we’re usually packed into tour buses. 😎

 

A couple of pictures from the 2 hour train ride. 

 

Our space to relax and have a quiet cruise back to the ship where the other 14 passengers found other places to hang out and catch some rays!

 

 

[phabric]

I have the St Kitts train excursion booked for March on the Apex.

 

From the excursion’s  details listed on Celebrity excursion, it mentions bus to train and bus back to the port.

 

Was your excursion listed as - bus, train, boat?

 

I wonder if there are different excursions for the train?

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

11 minutes ago, phabric said:

I have the St Kitts train excursion booked for March on the Apex.

 

From the excursion’s  details listed on Celebrity excursion, it mentions bus to train and bus back to the port.

 

Was your excursion listed as - bus, train, boat?

 

I wonder if there are different excursions for the train?

 

 

Yes, it was called Rail and Sail and my DW said it was about $200 pp. No meal was included, but there was an open bar with a wide variety of drinks on both the rail and sail portions of the excursion.

Edited November 10, 2021 by Ken the cruiser