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

[The Flying Pirate]

The famous Edge Magic Carpet bar. The captain gave a talk and explained how they built the ship and to balance Magic Carpet the Edge Class has a 5 main engine on the opposite side. 

 

For those wondering Captain Kate is not on the Edge, she is in France taking delivery of the new Celebrity Beyond. No word if Bug Naked is with her....

[The Flying Pirate]

One of our favorite venues on the ship is Eden. Which is a large space at the stern of the ship. It is three levels, the lower level is a specialty restaurant. The main level is a bar and music venue and the upper level is a balcony overlooking the music venue on one side and chairs facing the huge windows on the other. The Bartenders at Eden are the best on the ship. The best of the Eden  is Daffodil, she was amazing. I have never seen anyone so fantastic at multi-tasking. She not only kept the busy bar served, she got to know each customer and what they liked. Then she took that to a next level by offering suggestions like "If you like that you might like this," or "I can make this cocktail and substitute this for that"  Everything she made was delicious. She was awesome. 

[The Flying Pirate]

This was probably the most commented on space on the ship. A hallway that connects the main part of Deck 5 with Eden and Blu at the stern. Every time I walked past someone was making comments. They either loved it or hated it. If you walk through please don't touch the gold statues there was a guy in there polishing finger prints off every day and he was working way too hard! 

[The Flying Pirate]

The sign at the entrance to Eden made out of plants with some funky chairs across the hall from Blu

[The Flying Pirate]

This is the main bar area of Eden. It is set up very similar to the Two-Seventy on the Quantum Class ships at Royal Caribbean. The rear wall is floor to ceiling windows - a great place to watch the sunset 

[The Flying Pirate]

Here is the view at sea from one of Eden's seating areas. It is a beautiful space and features live music every night from 5 to 11pm 

[JeanieC,Aston]

50 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. 

Hi

Its hoped you don’t book a cruise near the Arctic Circle,,,Iceland,Northern Norway or St Petersburg,,,in June/July it never gets dark,,,,,you will be suffering sleep deprivation after a week.😁

In St Petersburg in June/July the phenomenon causes drunkenness.

They call it White Night fever.

[The Flying Pirate]

This was in Eden and is a group called Eden Acoustic Experience. They play from 5 to 11pm and rotate. Sometimes it is a solo act other times a duet, trio etc they mix it up. They had a different "theme" for their music every night. We would go there before dinner and listen for a while and then return after dinner for an after dinner cocktail and listen to them until they finished. The Bald guy with the guitar is Max, he did a lot of interesting solo work, the girl in the blue is Lucy. She has an amazing voice. The girl playing the violin I can't remember her name but she was outstanding and alternated between violin and guitar. The piano player at the back barely visible was exceptionally talented as well.  

[The Flying Pirate]

This is also at Eden, this is Danny Smart, he has been around Celebrity for a bit and also played at the pool area and in the Martini Bar.  He is outstanding. During the "break" from cruising he spent some time in the studio recording his own music and he was a "special feature" at Eden one evening playing his original music. This guy has talent. He's on all the media platforms. His song "Take me Home" is fantastic. If you seem him on your schedule take the time and go hear him play. 

[The Flying Pirate]

The Edge at night is a work of art. The sign behind the pool is actually moving and the Magic Carpet lights up like a UFO. We passed Apex one night and it looks like a UFO landing on a cruise ship when lit up. 

[The Flying Pirate]

The Martini Bar at the heart of the Edge. We loved the martini bar on the Solstice Class Ships. So honestly this was a bit of a disappointment. No frozen bar, and they don't do the crazy pouring of the flights. It was also probably the most crowded place on the ship. Being a music venue the dance floor takes up a lot of space so seats are at a premium. Also because it is a music venue it is really loud. That noise level carries into Raw on 5 and Fine Cut, the new steak house.   

[The Flying Pirate]

Speaking of Fine Cut, that was the second of the specialties we tried. Here is the dinning room which is sort of an odd layout. When you walk up to it, the restaurant is basically a closed off hallway. 

[The Flying Pirate]

The Fine Cut Menu 

[EatonDoolittle]

1 hour ago, The Flying Pirate said:

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

 

Has this been improved upon on later ships (Apex, Beyond).

 

I ask because I just booked Ascent for 2024 while on the Constellation, and the future cruise  guy assured me that yes, I could go out, close the frosted doors behind me, open the window, and it would act like a regular balcony. Room AC would not go off. 

 

Any comments on this dilemma would be welcome. 

Fortunately, I have plenty of time to change cabins 😁

 

 

 

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by EatonDoolittle

[The Flying Pirate]

Fine Cut Menu Starters

[The Flying Pirate]

Notice at the bottom something we had not seen before " $20 charge applied per additional entrée ordered" 

 

We only saw that at Fine Cut. 

[The Flying Pirate]

Fine Cut Menu Main 

[The Flying Pirate]

16 minutes ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi

Its hoped you don’t book a cruise near the Arctic Circle,,,Iceland,Northern Norway or St Petersburg,,,in June/July it never gets dark,,,,,you will be suffering sleep deprivation after a week.😁

In St Petersburg in June/July the phenomenon causes drunkenness.

They call it White Night fever.

I'm an international airline pilot, as such I  travel extensively in the Arctic/Alaska/Iceland/Greenland/Scandinavia for work year round.  Nearly every hotel in that region is setup for it with excellent room darkening shades.  It's not a problem 

[PTC DAWG]

7 minutes ago, EatonDoolittle said:

 

Has this been improved upon on later ships (Apex, Beyond).

 

I ask because I just booked Ascent for 2024 while on the Constellation, and the future cruise  guy assured me that yes, I could go out, close the frosted doors behind me, open the window, and it would act like a regular balcony. Room AC would not go off. 

 

Any comments on this dilemma would be welcome. 

Fortunately, I have plenty of time to change cabins 😁

 

 

 

 

That explains the conflicting info....thanks for posting...sorry to derail the great thread/pics of Pirate.  My info was from a live YouTube review of the Apex...

Edited March 2, 2022 by PTC DAWG

[The Flying Pirate]

One thing to mention on the itinerary I am not sure if the problem was unique to our sailing but there was a serious lack of options for shore excursions. 

 

I am a scuba diver and was beyond excited to get back to Tortola. Up until about a week before our sailing there was a restriction against booking a non-ship sponsored excursion in many islands. The cruise line website has a link so you can get the latest information. 

 

That being said I was really disappointed we couldn't dive in Tortola. There were no ship sponsored scuba excursions on the cruise. Because of the odd times we were in port I had difficulty finding a non-ship excursion we could book. So we ended up booking a snorkeling trip in both Nassau and Tortola. 

 

The Nassau trip was ok the one in Tortola was the Norman Island Snorkel Tour. It was terrible. Don't do it. It was crowded, they took us to three places, the first was some caves. Lots of fire coral, way too many people and not much to see it was miserable. The second location was slightly better and then the 3rd was a "Beach Break" which I am pretty sure we stopped at only because they had to fix the boat. 

 

If you go to Tortola the diving is amazing. I have been there before. The wrecks are world class. It was a shame the cruise line didn't take advantage of that. There were no scuba options. So if you are a diver, plan ahead to book your own dives. 

[The Flying Pirate]

The crew on Edge is awesome. Even when we had issues onboard they were fantastic. (We had an issue with a credit card getting shut off by fraud protection which was quickly resolved and we had a plumbing issue in our stateroom that they bent over backwards to fix)  

 

This is the Guest Services area, the "front desk" of the ship at a rare moment of quiet. 

[mac_tlc]

Interesting about the Martini Bar. On Apex 1/29 sailing, they did the bottle juggling and pyramid martini pour twice a night, and it was listed in the daily planner.

 

mac_tlc

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, go.without.you said:

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.

Exactly. I've yet to have a problem. 

[The Flying Pirate]

On the recommendation of the waiter at Raw on 5 we booked the Rooftop Grill for the evening we were in Tortola so we could have dinner and watch the sail away. (We sailed at 7pm that night) I realized I forgot to take a picture of the dining area but there are plenty online. 

[The Flying Pirate]

1 minute ago, kwokpot said:

Exactly. I've yet to have a problem. 

Everyone let me put this clearly I don't care that you have never had a problem. I have used Uber in the past and not had an issue. I was planning on doing it this week as well. 

 

I am reporting what the sign said at the airport and at the hotel. Because apparently there have been problems recently. 

 

If we want to have a discussion of Uber/Lifts omeone start a thread on Port Transportation If this continues to get hijacked I am not going to waste any further time continuing