Back from the Edge Review of Feb 20 Sailing and hints and Tips I wish I had known before I sailed.

[The Flying Pirate]

Hello Everyone. I am just back from the Edge. It was cruise number 25 for us and 5th on Celebrity, 1st on the Edge Class.  We enjoyed it overall. I thought in addition to a traditional review I would start a review with pictures and throw in some hints those of you going on the Edge in the near future might find helpful. 

 

The February 20th Sailing was an odd itinerary we were supposed to go to San Juan, but it got substituted with Nassau and then Tortola and St Maarten.  We booked a Concierge Class room with the new Edge "Infinite Veranda" 

 

We flew in the day before and stayed in one of the hotels near the cruise port. We booked a Van service as there were notices at the hotel advising not to use Uber and Lift to go to the pier. Apparently there have been problems recently. 

[The Flying Pirate]

One of the signs explaining the Uber and Lyft Issues at the Port. Could be a "Marketing" thing to take the contracted vans. We decided not to take a chance and booked the Contracted van. It was easy and $11 per person 

[The Flying Pirate]

As I mentioned we had a Concierge Class Room with the new "Infinite Veranda" and honestly I am not sure I liked it for the Caribbean. For Alaska it would be fantastic - We did an Alaska cruise and spent a lot of time on the balcony of our state room and it was freezing. With the Infinite Veranda you have wall to wall floor to celling windows. 

 

Our stateroom was on deck 11, the service was excellent as usual.  

 

The window is split in two sections a top and bottom, the bottom is fixed in place and the Top moves to open.  It is a novelty. We opened it, the room immediately got hot, (the air conditioning turns off the moment the window opens.) So we rarely opened it making it a very expense Ocean View room. Something to consider when booking. 

 

There were two other negatives with the Infinite Veranda design in my opinion. 

1) The shade has gaps around the edges and it lets a lot more light in than the traditional curtains so we got woken up early with bright light in the room. 

 

2) We tend to travel with groups and book rooms next to each other. With Traditional Veranda Rooms we can open the balcony dividers and have a shared space among our group. That is not possible with the Infinite Veranda design. As a result we spent less time than usual in the room.  Honestly if I were to book Edge again, I would seriously consider either booking a suite, (more on that later) or saving money and booking an interior stateroom.

[The Flying Pirate]

Here is Royal Caribbean's New Wonder of the Seas passing us on it's way to Fort Lauderdale for it's naming ceremony. You can see the Infinite Veranda view and I have it open slightly to make it easier to see. 

 

 

[mikewomb]

I really dislike those “verandas”..we are in a SS on the Beyond, and I will book a veranda on their other ships, but that is a real deal breaker. Don’t know why they did that. 

[The Flying Pirate]

Here is the shade closed, so you can see the light leak I was taking about. Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea. 

 

[The Flying Pirate]

The window and shade can be controlled three ways. 

 

1) Switches on the Wall near the window

2) On the Main Room Control panel near the bathroom

3) Via the Room Controls on your mobile device via the app

 

Here is the window switches on the wall 

[PTC DAWG]

Interesting on the shade, I've never closed the curtains in my room on a cruise that I know of.  IF the sun is up, I'm awake, or should be.  🙂

 

Does the AC stay on if those frosted doors are closed?  I've seen varying reports.  

 

Keep bring the tips, I'm sailing Apex later this March. 

Edited March 2, 2022 by PTC DAWG

[tugboat]

27 minutes ago, The Flying Pirate said:

One of the signs explaining the Uber and Lyft Issues at the Port. Could be a "Marketing" thing to take the contracted vans. We decided not to take a chance and booked the Contracted van. It was easy and $11 per person 

 

[The Flying Pirate]

Here is the main room control panel on the wall, it controls lights, temperature, window and shades. 

 

 

[The Flying Pirate]

The room controls via the app

[tugboat]

Easy stay in the car and go back to the hotel and try again turn it over to Uber or Lyft to stort out. 

 

I have use uber the last ten years without any problems but if you have extra cash for a shuttle, not to mention being shoulder to shoulder with someone you don’t know.

[The Flying Pirate]

9 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Interesting on the shade, I've never closed the curtains in my room on a cruise that I know of.  IF the sun is up, I'm awake, or should be.  🙂

 

Does the AC stay on if those frosted doors are closed?  I've seen varying reports.  

 

Keep bring the tips, I'm sailing Apex later this March. 

No the frosted doors have no effect on the Air Conditioning. The are just decorative. The window has sensors that control the AC

[Chriskoo]

I’m on the Edge in early April with the same itinerary - following this post with interest.  Thank you for the pics of your room. We booked a sunset veranda in order to get a “real” balcony, looks like we made the right decision. I like to have the option of going outside to read while my husband sleeps in, it doesn’t look like the infinite veranda would work well for this.

[go.without.you]

39 minutes ago, The Flying Pirate said:

One of the signs explaining the Uber and Lyft Issues at the Port. Could be a "Marketing" thing to take the contracted vans. We decided not to take a chance and booked the Contracted van. It was easy and $11 per person 

I'm not buying this. An Uber for 2 people would be less than $22, the hotel just wants the revenue.

 

Plus, if you were indeed "dropped off at the gate" which is a good mile or two from the ship, wouldn't you report that to Uber? And then that driver would be tagged as "unable to deliver to pier" and those trips would not be offered to them via the app. Remember you have to pick your drop off point so its not like the driver and Uber doesn't know where they are taking you.

[The Flying Pirate]

The check in process at the pier was seamless. I think we were on board in less than 5 min. We did all the pre-travel homework. Had our Covid Test - we purchased the test kit through the cruise line. It was simple and easy. 

 

Once on board we dropped our carry on bags and explored the ship. We learned from earlier cruises that we enjoyed the specialty restaurants so we took some time to check them out and look at menus. 

 

We talked to the staff at Raw on 5 which is a new Sushi/seafood specialty expanding on the "Sushi on 5" on the other ships. 

 

They offer multiple meal "deals" on the specialty restaurants. We have taken advantage of this in the past. We also knew that sailing day they are more likely to make a deal for specialty restaurants for reservations for that day. Raw on 5 did that for us and we took advantage of it. Basically the "deal" was we booked a 3 meal package and then booked Raw on 5 for $45/person and they gave us an "unlimited" meal to sample as much as we liked.  It was amazing, easily one of the top meals we have had at sea. Highly recommend it. (Well unless you have  shell fish allergy then stay away)  

[The Flying Pirate]

10 minutes ago, Chriskoo said:

I’m on the Edge in early April with the same itinerary - following this post with interest.  Thank you for the pics of your room. We booked a sunset veranda in order to get a “real” balcony, looks like we made the right decision. I like to have the option of going outside to read while my husband sleeps in, it doesn’t look like the infinite veranda would work well for this.

Excellent choice, you are correct. If you have the window shade open he will not be sleeping

[The Flying Pirate]

The dining room area of Raw on 5

 

[The Flying Pirate]

Menu for Raw on 5, I now they are online now, but I thought you might want to see what the actual "hard cover" menus look like 

[The Flying Pirate]

Cruise critic seems to want to load these sideways no matter how I have them saved. Whatever, here is the drink menu for Raw on 5

[The Flying Pirate]

Raw on 5 Menu Continued Wine and Sushi

[The Flying Pirate]

Raw on 5 menu

[The Flying Pirate]

Raw on 5 Menu Seafood Towers

[The Flying Pirate]

The pool area of Edge is very nice and the ramp is the walking/running track which makes a figure 8 on two different decks. The white pool chairs are movable and they float. 

[The Flying Pirate]

Here are a few of the chairs in use. We were just pulling into Tortola so the pool was fairly empty