April 16 - Apex - Back Again

[Straughn]

Please keep sharing the food porn pictures. I board Apex when you get back, so any info is welcome. You talked me into trying  Raw on 5 this cruise. I grew up near the Chesapeake Bay and love raw oysters. Those looked great. 
 

I will be most interested in your experiences in Luminae. You commented about a disappointing meal. I had a couple of those, in Luminae, on Edge and thought maybe I was just being picky. Since the menu change, Luminae has lost some of its luster for me.

[Peteymil]

51 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

We ate at Eden on Apex in January and it’s was wonderful. Enjoy the dessert tray!

 

mac_tlc

That's funny, we were in Eden last week and there was no dessert tray. We were actually disappointed with the 2 desserts we ordered. We had the desserts pre-covid on the Edge and the beauty and creativity were astounding.  These were good, but nothing special.  Plus we were so disappointed that there was not a show. (P.S. I know everyone does not like the show, but we really enjoyed it.

[mac_tlc]

24 minutes ago, Peteymil said:

That's funny, we were in Eden last week and there was no dessert tray. We were actually disappointed with the 2 desserts we ordered. We had the desserts pre-covid on the Edge and the beauty and creativity were astounding.  These were good, but nothing special.  Plus we were so disappointed that there was not a show. (P.S. I know everyone does not like the show, but we really enjoyed it.

Sorry to hear that!!  Here were our desserts.

 

[Peteymil]

56 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Sorry to hear that!!  Here were our desserts.

 

Nope, we never got that dessert tray. It's funny, because our waiter was not the best, and we decided to just go with the flow. But we also had a problem because as we were eating our desserts, he came over with a service survey, and wanted us to fill it out right then and there, with him standing over us. not very appropriate.

[What A Market]

Really calm seas this afternoon. 

Photo looking forward from balcony. That’s another one of the “named suites” (Iconic???) with Bridge hanging below. 
 

Oh yes, and in the foreground, the dreaded struts holding up the even more dreaded balcony overhang. (Which I’m happy to have. 😁)

Edited April 18, 2022 by What A Market

[What A Market]

Greetings from Belize. Absolutely beautiful day. Just returned from snorkel excursion to Goff’s Caye.  (Had my original small group snorkel excursion at Hol Chan Marine Park cancelled unfortunately.) This was a good snorkel tour.  Dive boat picked us up directly at ship for 20 minute ride out to the Caye. There was plenty of time for snorkeling as well as beach time. There were two private vendors selling various grilled lunches. Lunch was not included in excursion price. No reference to this is excursion details (which is dumb), but I knew beforehand from reading TripAdvisor reviews.

 

I’m going to post next on our dinner from last night at Eden.

It was awesome and a lot of fun!

 

[jelayne]

On 4/18/2022 at 10:55 AM, Peteymil said:

That's funny, we were in Eden last week and there was no dessert tray. We were actually disappointed with the 2 desserts we ordered. We had the desserts pre-covid on the Edge and the beauty and creativity were astounding.  These were good, but nothing special.  Plus we were so disappointed that there was not a show. (P.S. I know everyone does not like the show, but we really enjoyed it.

We got the dessert tray last night.  It was ok, we loved the lemon dessert.

[peanut head]

Do you have a large refrigerator in the PS like you would find on a M class ship?

[jelayne]

39 minutes ago, What A Market said:

Greetings from Belize. Absolutely beautiful day. Just returned from snorkel excursion to Goff’s Caye.  (Had my original small group snorkel excursion at Hol Chan Marine Park cancelled unfortunately.) This was a good snorkel tour.  Dive boat picked us up directly at ship for 20 minute ride out to the Caye. There was plenty of time for snorkeling as well as beach time. There were two private vendors selling various grilled lunches. Lunch was not included in excursion price. No reference to this is excursion details (which is dumb), but I knew beforehand from reading TripAdvisor reviews.

 

I’m going to post next on our dinner from last night at Eden.

It was awesome and a lot of fun!

 

DH was also on the cancelled small group snorkeling excursion.  He booked a tubing excursion and is not back yet😳.  We were in Eden also last night, was surprised it was supposedly sold out and when we were there at 8:30 there were many open tables.

[What A Market]

Before getting to Eden, here’s a photo of my morning cappuccino from the amazing Katherine who takes care of me every morning.

[What A Market]

4 minutes ago, peanut head said:

Do you have a large refrigerator in the PS like you would find on a M class ship?

No large frig.

There are two under counter refrigerators. One glass-fronted wine frig and one typical hotel mini bar frig.

 

[What A Market]

6 minutes ago, jelayne said:

DH was also on the cancelled small group snorkeling excursion.  He booked a tubing excursion and is not back yet😳.  We were in Eden also last night, was surprised it was supposedly sold out and when we were there at 8:30 there were many open tables.

We just watched the last tender arrive. Hope he and the rest of the group made it..... But I’m sure Belize is lovely this time of year if he didn’t 😜

[What A Market]

Holy heck. The ship is making a very slow turn to head back out to sea, and another local tender is pulling up aside the ship.

[zdad59]

My food porn submission.   We were on the April 2 sailing.  This was Friday night in Luminae.   Might have been the best lamb chops I've ever eaten.   Presentation was perfect and taste was equally as good.    Don't miss it.   

 

(The lamb chops in A Fine Cut were not good at all.    Mama ordered them and sent them back, they were so poorly done.)

Edited April 19, 2022 by zdad59

[What A Market]

And another late local tender pulling along side!

At least no one was making the made dash down the pier.

 

 

[zdad59]

11 minutes ago, What A Market said:

Holy heck. The ship is making a very slow turn to head back out to sea, and another local tender is pulling up aside the ship.

We did the Lamanai Ruins tour when in Belize and they were super late getting everyone back.     Our tender got back to the ship some 45 minutes after the theoretical "all aboard" time and there were still almost 400 on shore waiting for more tenders.   I think that Belize is still figuring things out, and with the need to anchor so far out to avoid the reefs, the tender time is long.    I suspect timing will improve as both sides get more experience.

[What A Market]

A Lamanai tender just pulled up. We are over 50 minutes late. 
 

[Salt Lifer]

Keep posting those food pictures!  We are on Apex next week and looking forward to our meals!

 

How is the Covid situation on the ship?

[citruscruiser]

How many guests are on board? Thanks

[Cruising3347]

Probably unlikely, but have you happened to hear anything about how many passengers are expected on the Apex after your cruise? Leaving the 23rd and am curious how full it will be. Hope you’re having a lovely time!

[What A Market]

10 hours ago, citruscruiser said:

How many guests are on board? Thanks

I have not heard anything “official,” but passengers are saying about 2000.

Other than trying to get a seat right at the bar at The Martini Bar (which I think would be full even with only 200 passengers onboard), most every venue doesn’t seem packed.

 

The Martini Bar is a gorgeous space, but I think a lot of people are like me and enjoy sitting at the bar itself. The construction and layout only allows 14 people to do this. Design flaw in my opinion.

 

 

[What A Market]

Cozumel today. 
Six ships in port today (yikes!), but only us at this dock. 

[jelayne]

We were told 2200 on this sailing.  
We didn’t care for the Luminae menu so headed to Normandie about 8:15 and there was a line and folks with pagers.  The host said they could have a table for us in 2-3 minutes but we declined.  We didn’t  feel it would be appropriate to keep guests who were booked for the 4MDRs waiting while we were seated so ended up in Luminae which was 1/2 full at best,  DH had a Caesar salad & I had onion soup.  Actually felt good to have e a lighter meal.

[zdad59]

3 hours ago, jelayne said:

We were told 2200 on this sailing.  
We didn’t care for the Luminae menu so headed to Normandie about 8:15 and there was a line and folks with pagers.  The host said they could have a table for us in 2-3 minutes but we declined.  We didn’t  feel it would be appropriate to keep guests who were booked for the 4MDRs waiting while we were seated so ended up in Luminae which was 1/2 full at best,  DH had a Caesar salad & I had onion soup.  Actually felt good to have e a lighter meal.

If you’re going to go somewhere other than Luminae, let your Retreat Host know where you want to go.   He/she will have a table ready for you if at all possible.    Worked for us every night.   Kiran was great. 
 

[What A Market]

Ok, I’ve become pretty lazy about posting. Here comes some food porn. 
 

These photos come from Sunday’s Easter and Passover lunch. There were loads of specialty breads and desserts. 

Edited April 20, 2022 by What A Market