Nov 6 Apex B2B East-West Caribbean Cruise

[Ken the cruiser]

Sailing away from Port Everglades is so pretty at sunset, I had to post another picture! 😎

 

[ETHTrader]

Long line at the iLounge today on embarkation day.

 

Many people had trouble connecting to the internet. (Myself included) For example, when I tried to set up my WiFi, it showed that I had to pay $34~ per day to upgrade to Streaming package. However, I already had that benefit as a Suite guest. So I had to go down to the iLounge and have them fix it from their end. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with this issue because the line was really long.

 

Additionally, all the reservations for the specialty restaurants sold out. My Retreat Host (Dino) had some Suite guest who purchased Specialty Dining packages in advance but they could not reserve any specialty restaurants because there weren't any availability. Poor Dino had to call restaurants directly and assign his Suite guests to waitlists. 

[like2cruise]

13 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

As the Dailies are quite lengthy, if it’s all right, I’m only going to post just one so you can see how they flow. Which day would you like to see, today’s which is the transition day, or the one receive this evening for tomorrow’s sea day preview?

I am really mainly interested in the evening activities each night to plan dinner accordingly if you are willing to post that section each night...otherwise, I will be happy with whatever works for you as I don't want to interfere with your vacation.  THANK YOU!!

[Ken the cruiser]

OK, by popular demand, here are a couple of key pages from Celebrity Today for the first two days. 
 

Saturday, November 13

 

 

 

Sunday, November 14

 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

10 hours ago, ETHTrader said:

Additionally, all the reservations for the specialty restaurants sold out. My Retreat Host (Dino) had some Suite guest who purchased Specialty Dining packages in advance but they could not reserve any specialty restaurants because there weren't any availability. Poor Dino had to call restaurants directly and assign his Suite guests to waitlists. 

I read this to my DW and here’s what she said our CVP said to her when she was looking at buying a specialty restaurant package earlier in the summer. Note, my DW has to eat early. Our CVP said not to buy the package because (1) you can’t specify a specific restaurant to reserve in advance, and (2) we could pick the dining time when we bought the package, but the time was not guaranteed. IAW you get to pick from the reservations that are remaining once you actually board the ship, so you better be one of the first in line at the reservation desk in order to hopefully get the reservations you want.

[Ken the cruiser]

Our visit to the Eden restaurant on the first night. 

 

Taking my DW’s above advice, yesterday she was second in line at the reservation desk on deck 3 and was able to get a 6 pm reservation for last night in the Eden restaurant when it appeared there were none to be had on the app. 
 

All we can say is WOW!! What a great menu along with great service!! From the first starter, was a pallet tickling crab appetizer, to the tasty hot soup (which was the first surprise as they don’t offer a hot soup at any of their other SRs). We then had the tastiest crab cake we have EVER had that wasn’t even listed on the menu. Ever have a crab cake where you take your fork and pull on the side and all that falls out are chunks of crab? It was fantastic!
 

Then the DW ordered the fillet mignon and short rip Wellington entree while I ordered the lobster casserole, which was anything but a casserole other than it had a tasty cream sauce covering the 4 large pieces of lobster. The unique thing about 2 of the pieces was that they were fully intact claws down to the tips, but without the shell. We had never seen that before. It was totally awesome!! Of course, halfway through the meal, we switched plates so we each could enjoy them both. 
 

Then came dessert where the DW ordered the Aztec chocolate pie and I had the butterscotch crème brûlée. Both were excellent!!

 

As we were leaving we stopped by and asked the Eden hostess if we could book another reservation later on in the week, expecting the answer to be no. But, she checked and we were able to get another 6 pm reservation on day 4! Yay!! 

 

So, the bottom line is if you really want to eat at a particular restaurant and the App is not showing any available times that fit into your schedule, ask the hostess at that particular restaurant if they can squeeze you in some evening. Interesting side note, our Eden waiter said they are only filling the reservations in the Eden restaurant to between 50-60%, rather than to 100% capacity, to ensure everyone has a pleasant experience, which we thought was pretty cool. 😎

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, ETHTrader said:

Long line at the iLounge today on embarkation day.

 

Many people had trouble connecting to the internet. (Myself included) For example, when I tried to set up my WiFi, it showed that I had to pay $34~ per day to upgrade to Streaming package. However, I already had that benefit as a Suite guest. So I had to go down to the iLounge and have them fix it from their end. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with this issue because the line was really long.

 

Additionally, all the reservations for the specialty restaurants sold out. My Retreat Host (Dino) had some Suite guest who purchased Specialty Dining packages in advance but they could not reserve any specialty restaurants because there weren't any availability. Poor Dino had to call restaurants directly and assign his Suite guests to waitlists. 

 

I would have thought the Retreat Host could have fixed you internet problem.  I had a similar problem and she just went into her system typed a couple keys and I could get my free internet.

[Jim_Iain]

12 hours ago, like2cruise said:

I am really mainly interested in the evening activities each night to plan dinner accordingly if you are willing to post that section each night...otherwise, I will be happy with whatever works for you as I don't want to interfere with your vacation.  THANK YOU!!

You may find it helpful to download the App.    They list all the daily activities in the app.   One suggestion is at top change from Recommended to All.    If your cruise is not yet loaded you can look at a current cruise for your ship.  

[terrydtx]

24 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

You may find it helpful to download the App.    They list all the daily activities in the app.   One suggestion is at top change from Recommended to All.    If your cruise is not yet loaded you can look at a current cruise for your ship.  

Jim, a great tip about the app, you can see all the activities, bar and lounges costs and dinning menus for current and future cruises about 90 days out for all of the Edge class and other Revolutionized ships. I see this question asked many times on CC and I have to believer a lot of people do not know how to use the app  properly or have never explored its great store of information.

[Jim_Iain]

5 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Jim, a great tip about the app, you can see all the activities, bar and lounges costs and dinning menus for current and future cruises about 90 days out for all of the Edge class and other Revolutionized ships. I see this question asked many times on CC and I have to believer a lot of people do not know how to use the app  properly or have never explored its great store of information.

Terry -  Have to agree with you.    The app isn't always the most intuitive but if you use it a little you get accustomed to it's little tricks.     One that would fool me was that on many screen there is a white arrow to get back to previous screen but often sits on a light or white area and you can't figure out how to get back. 

 

Another difficulty many have is to select a different ship or cruising.

 

Click top middle Icon (Calendar)

Go to very bottom and select Change Ship/Date

You will get a list of your reservations  Go to the very bottom

Choose Get more details on Ships we Support

Choose Ship

Choose Sailing

 

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Another difficulty many have is to select a different ship or cruising.

 

Click top middle Icon (Calendar)

Go to very bottom and select Change Ship/Date

You will get a list of your reservations  Go to the very bottom

Choose Get more details on Ships we Support

Choose Ship

Choose Sailing

Great way to explain this, I do this until our cruise finally becomes available, I am sure many CC's will thank you for this.

[AngryDog77]

Hi Ken!

 

John and Jeannie here, we are back in sunny CA.  Great meeting you, looking forward to second leg updates!

 

For those on the cruise, I've got some entertainment notes and disembarkcation notes.  Getting off the ship was pretty smooth, but there was a bottle neck between ship exit and bag pick up.   Probably due to customs, but we did have to stand around on the ramp for maybe 1/2 hour.   Grumpiness was going up.   After you get out taxis are right, ride shares are left.   Rideshare is cheaper, taxi more convenient. YMMV. 

 

The shows in the main theatre were very good, might not be worth a second visit.  I'd recommend the comedian Ralph Harris (@ralphharris), the rock variety act Greg London (greglondonshow.com), and the Magician Jason Bishop (thejasonbishopshow.com).   The stage shows, Tree of Life and Crystalized, by the on-board singers and dances were excellent.   See Ken's photos!   But the ship has two performance groups!  The second group, that performs in Eden and the Club, is not to be missed.   They do an incredible Alice in Wonderland show and a cabaret act called Caravan in the club.   Watch the schedule and get there early to get a good seat.

 

The variety of music on the ship was incredible, and all of the performers were wonderful.   There

were two DJs that worked in a variety of styles, so there was always something interesting to listen to.  I know I'm going to forget someone, but the solo guitarist Ge Luz played romantic chill sets, the  D.O.S played dancable Latin (http://landaumusic.com/d-o-s-duo),  two combos Impuse (@impulsetheband) and the Soundtrack band that rotated between the pool, rooftop, Martini bar and Club.   I think the main theatre band also did jazz sets, and one of the bands did live karaoke.  The dance floors on the rooftop and Club were very large, but a lot of the dance music was at the Martini bar which had a small dance floor mostly taken over by the bands.   What's up with that design?

 

My navigation of cruise critic boards isn't that good, so if there's a good place to post reviews here drop me a link.  Thx!

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

19 minutes ago, AngryDog77 said:

Hi Ken!

 

John and Jeannie here, we are back in sunny CA.  Great meeting you, looking forward to second leg updates!

 

For those on the cruise, I've got some entertainment notes and disembarkcation notes.  Getting off the ship was pretty smooth, but there was a bottle neck between ship exit and bag pick up.   Probably due to customs, but we did have to stand around on the ramp for maybe 1/2 hour.   Grumpiness was going up.   After you get out taxis are right, ride shares are left.   Rideshare is cheaper, taxi more convenient. YMMV. 

 

The shows in the main theatre were very good, might not be worth a second visit.  I'd recommend the comedian Ralph Harris (@ralphharris), the rock variety act Greg London (greglondonshow.com), and the Magician Jason Bishop (thejasonbishopshow.com).   The stage shows, Tree of Life and Crystalized, by the on-board singers and dances were excellent.   See Ken's photos!   But the ship has two performance groups!  The second group, that performs in Eden and the Club, is not to be missed.   They do an incredible Alice in Wonderland show and a cabaret act called Caravan in the club.   Watch the schedule and get there early to get a good seat.

 

The variety of music on the ship was incredible, and all of the performers were wonderful.   There

were two DJs that worked in a variety of styles, so there was always something interesting to listen to.  I know I'm going to forget someone, but the solo guitarist Ge Luz played romantic chill sets, the  D.O.S played dancable Latin (http://landaumusic.com/d-o-s-duo),  two combos Impuse (@impulsetheband) and the Soundtrack band that rotated between the pool, rooftop, Martini bar and Club.   I think the main theatre band also did jazz sets, and one of the bands did live karaoke.  The dance floors on the rooftop and Club were very large, but a lot of the dance music was at the Martini bar which had a small dance floor mostly taken over by the bands.   What's up with that design?

 

My navigation of cruise critic boards isn't that good, so if there's a good place to post reviews here drop me a link.  Thx!

 

Hi John! Thanks for posting your in-depth review and we hope you enjoyed Celebrity enough to book another cruise with them in the future! 😎

[Ken the cruiser]

20 hours ago, toddmanka said:

Who is the cruise director ?   If you get a passenger count on the next cruise give a shout out  

Thanks  Enjoy your week  Will be watching as you leave 

Just checked with CS and the passenger count for this cruise is 1794 and the current estimate for the next leg is about 1700.

[ATLJC]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just checked with CS and the passenger count for this cruise is 1794 and the current estimate for the next leg is about 1700.

Thanks for the info Ken!

[kwokpot]

21 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I don't believe you have to go down to the iLounge.    I think there is an option on the signup screen to upgrade and it has the CC discount built into the price.    I'm sure others will correct me if I am wrong. 

If you want to upgrade from the Surf Wifi that's part of the Always Included package you MUST visit the Ilounge and have someone do it manually, it cannot be done via the app. If you look at the options on the app the only available options are for a 24 hour Stream upgrade. When we went to the Ilounge it was confirmed that there's no choice on the app to do the stream upgrade from surf through the app. 

This is what we experienced on the October 30th sailing on the Edge.

[kwokpot]

On 11/11/2021 at 7:49 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

It comes with 2 stalls, 23 hangers and 3 drawers plus the 3 long drawers across from the sofa next to the fridge. Not a lot of space, but enough for us. But then we have also used the laundry services twice.

you forgot to mention all the storage above and below the coral display niche.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

you forgot to mention all the storage above and below the coral display niche.

 

Jackpot! With every scavenger hunt, there has to be a prize!! 😂😂

[Ken the cruiser]

44 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Jackpot! With every scavenger hunt, there has to be a prize!! 😂😂

Just so my response didn’t seem too weird, at post #119 I started a scavenger hunt to challenge folks to look for the Wi-Fi router in their cabin. That was the “hidden” prize, so to speak as it took us almost a week to find that cabinet. 😎

[RedneckBob]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just checked with CS and the passenger count for this cruise is 1794 and the current estimate for the next leg is about 1700.

Thanks Ken for the info. We sail in two weeks on Apex b2b so maybe capacity will be the same. Just curious, any children on the cruise. A week ago on the Equinox there was only one child on cruise.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, RedneckBob said:

Thanks Ken for the info. We sail in two weeks on Apex b2b so maybe capacity will be the same. Just curious, any children on the cruise. A week ago on the Equinox there was only one child on cruise.

On the last leg, I think we saw 3 toddlers. On this cruise we’ve seen 4 or 5 so far.

[kwokpot]

Can you confirm that the Thermal Suite in the spa doesn't need reservations?  In other words if you're in Aquaclass you have access to the Thermal Suite without needing reservations?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

Can you confirm that the Thermal Suite in the spa doesn't need reservations?  In other words if you're in Aquaclass you have access to the Thermal Suite without needing reservations?

Just called the Spa. If you are in Aqua Class, you have access to the Thermal Suite without needing a reservation. You just need to give them your Sea Pass card and they’ll give you the means to access it.

[kwokpot]

6 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just called the Spa. If you are in Aqua Class, you have access to the Thermal Suite without needing a reservation. You just need to give them your Sea Pass card and they’ll give you the means to access it.

Appreciate you taking the effort to call and verify the information.

[tiller]

I'll be on this ship in January. Really appreciate all the tips! I haven't downloaded the app yet but will definitely do that before the cruise.