Liveish from the Apex Nov 19-Nov 26

[BeeMinor]

Hello from the Apex! I always enjoy reading live cruise reports, but also I enjoy not spending vacation on my phone. But since my husband, who shall be known as BeeMajor, fell asleep early and I've had a lot of Diet Coke today, let's give this a whirl.

 

TL;DR: Ship is beautiful, food is good, service is solid, the ship appears to be full, we don't have any symptoms of Covid, I've seen about 50 kids, but even as a person who isn't especially price sensitive it's unlikely we'll book another X cruise at current fares. (We're enjoying our cruise and this will all in all be a positive review, at least to date, but I'm also going to be upfront about costs.)

 

Day -700 to -1: This cruise started life as an onboard booking in 2019 for a 2021 sailing. For obvious reasons it got bumped out and we were able to book a Sky Suite for the relative bargain price of about $6000 all in, down from an original booking fare of about $8000. I've been looking forward to this cruise for a looooong time (BeeMajor is less into cruising but whatever I book our trips 😝). My work has been just a lot lately and I made a very short turnaround trip to Chicago for personal reasons right before we left, so I started out this adventure more than ready for some down time.

 

Day 0: We flew in to FLL from CVG on Friday morning, a bit delayed for a "light bulb problem" but luckily nothing major. We booked flights through Celebrity Air (about $900 each for Delta Comfort) and I had no problems with customer service. After arrival, we met a local friend for lunch at Shooters (pretty good) and then checked into the Oasis Motel. Was the Oasis fancy? No. Was it clean, convenient, and $168 including taxes? Yes. I wouldn't go out of my way to stay there again, but for one night it was fine and super affordable. Which was good, because we met another local friend for dinner at the Boatyard. That meal was expensive and just okay. And so slow. Nothing makes you notice slow like waking up at 5 am to catch flights three days in a row.

 

[BeeMinor]

Boarding day: After Starbucks and a couple last-minute errands we got to Terminal 25 for check in and, at last, Apex! Boarding was prompt and efficient. We dropped bags and took a wander around the ship before having a pleasant lunch at Luminae. We then got some seats at the Martini Bar, and oh boy, I should never go to the Martini Bar while it's still light outside. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur but I am confident that we unpacked, enjoyed sail away, ate dinner, and remembered our cabin number because I woke up with my clothes unpacked, photos of sailaway, not hungry, and in a very comfortable bed on Sunday morning. Those martinis, people. They're dangerous.

 

Day 2: Sea day! I am firmly in the "I love sea days" camp. Woke up bright and early and with remarkably little headache (see: Martini Bar) and got it together to go to Luminae for breakfast. I have a long-standing love of room service cruise breakfast but it's just not ideal with the small E-class interior table or barely-anything balcony table. Luminae breakfast was good--all the food so far has been consistently good to great--and we spent most of the day lounging around the Retreat sundeck or wandering the ship. BeeMajor cut off late afternoon to watch the Bengals game at Craft Social while I read on our balcony and got ready for Evening Chic night #1. I like to dress up but I am in a distinct minority on this sailing. Fellow dressed-up people: you looked great! 

 

We went to Raw on 5 for dinner with the explicit intent of getting the giant seafood tower. Our last cruise was on Edge in 2019, and Raw on 5 ran out of oysters by the end of the sailing when we planned to get a seafood tower then. We are oyster people so that was a massive disappointment but I am pleased to report that in the last 3.5 years the kitchen has restocked! The seafood tower was enjoyable and plenty of food for two people for dinner. Raw on 5 also has Veuve yellow label by the glass, so if you have the premium package and want to enjoy a better Champagne than the included Cattier or Montaudon for a small upcharge then that's your spot. 

 

[BeeMinor]

Day 3: 1/2 sea day + San Juan. We had a time change which confusingly was not reflected in the app until mid-morning, but we made it to breakfast and on a cruise who even cares what day or time it is otherwise? It was spectacularly windy on the upper decks so I found a somewhat sheltered spot in the Retreat and finished one of my two books while BeeMajor got a very overpriced haircut. (Really, he barely has hair and it was $70 before tip.) Then we were off the Le Grand Bistro for lunch. It was our absolute favorite on the Edge a few years ago so we had high expectations which were mostly met. There seems to be a bit of a wine supply issue--the wine we ordered originally was out, as were the wines ordered by the table next to us--but the food was uniformly good. We tried all the starters because why not and then had lobster bisque, frisee salad, the steak frites, the sea bass plat du jour and, somehow, profiteroles for dessert. The Bistro is now $30/pp + tip and it was a tasty meal worth doing once but maybe not twice.

 

San Juan has a really beautiful sail in and is just a fun stop. We went to our favorite local bar, La Taberna Lupolo, which I recommend for anyone who enjoys craft beer OR bands like the Pixies, the Smiths, Portishead, Ty Segall, etc. (If you just nodded at all those things, you will love spending a couple hours at La Taberna Lupolo as much as we do!) Alas Greengo's, which was BeeMajor's favorite nacho place, has closed. We've been to San Juan multiple times before and so didn't do any real sight seeing, but still a fun stop. We had enough food for the rest of time at lunch so just made a quick snack stop at the buffet for dinner, which was okay. BeeMajor enjoyed his burger more than I liked my pasta. But there are plenty more meals to come!

 

Phew! That was a lot. I'll check back in when I can!

 

[dlh015]

Loving your Liveish...good job!

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Thank you for your reports and of course the food pictures lol.  Love Celebrity. Smooth sailing!

[Cruise a holic]

Looks great  Will be on the Apex New Years and the following week.  I agree about the prices.  We always book a suite and sometimes try move up- however for our two cruises the price is insane for us to consider moving up.  We will stay put.   We do have a couple of cruises booked for 2023- but I think after those that are booked, if prices continue to soar, we will book balcony cabins and enjoy the elite plus perks.  

Have a great cruise! Thanks for sharing.

Edited November 22, 2022 by Cruise a holic

[BeeMinor]

Good morning from the BVI! Looks like a beautiful day today. Before we sailed the weather predictions were calling for rain pretty consistently but other than some short showers yesterday we've had sun and perfect low 80s temps.

[Smmessineo]

Thanks for your report! I've already taken notes on a few things, like La Taberna Lupulo. Keep having fun!

[Mimiya11]

Thanks for your report, so far.   We are in a SS on the Apex for a TA next year.  Am bummed about the size of the balcony and set up for room service.  We love breakfast on the balcony but sounds like it is not very conducive to enjoying a meal.    

Has the Retreat been busy? Any good spaces with shade? 

[terrydtx]

Thanks for your reports, we are booked in a SS on the Apex next September for the Amsterdam to Athens 12-night cruise. Looking forward to our first Edge class cruise. I agree the SS pricing is high for next year's sailings, considering that our 2024 SS bookings on the Edge of New Zealand and Australia are considerably less in cost. Our cost for our 12 nights New Zealand cruise is about $1400pp less than the 12-night 2023 Apex cruise.

Edited November 22, 2022 by terrydtx

[Crazy planning mom]

Enjoying your review very much.

[BeeMinor]

23 hours ago, Mimiya11 said:

Thanks for your report, so far.   We are in a SS on the Apex for a TA next year.  Am bummed about the size of the balcony and set up for room service.  We love breakfast on the balcony but sounds like it is not very conducive to enjoying a meal.    

Has the Retreat been busy? Any good spaces with shade? 

 

The Retreat has been pretty busy, especially the area by the pool. Plenty of loungers in the rear section. The chairs in the connector walkways are shaded and well protected from the wind, but also in hallways so not exactly exciting. The outside patio area off the lounge itself is also very pleasant and has been well used during the day. 

[BeeMinor]

Good morning from St. Kitts! We're docked next to the Marella Explorer 2 today, which Google has just informed me is the old Celebrity Century. 

 

Day 4: Tortola. We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning, with the Apex already docked around 7 am. Because we had an early meeting time for an excursion, we decided to order room service breakfast. It was mediocre at best. Nothing meant to be hot was hot, one of my poached eggs was cooked hard, BeeMajor termed his omelet "gross," and neither of us could figure out when "link sausage" became "small kielbasa." Luckily we've crossed over the point of ever actually being hungry and were perfectly fine with some fruit and coffee. The little Sky Suite coffee table is reasonably functional for a quick meal which is a real improvement over my memory of the tiny table on the Edge, so that's also something.

 

Then we were off to meet for our excursion, Escape to Jost Van Dyke. (We visited the Baths on Virgin Gorda, the major BVI highlight, last time.) The staff ushered us off the ship and onto a fairly unexciting motor caramaran/ferry with minimal fuss. Perhaps I am misremembering, but didn't Celebrity used to leave beach towels in staterooms the night before beach stops? And hand out water on the way off the ship? Neither of these things are happening now, and I found myself very jealous of the handful of people who had planned ahead and had those things as the morning went on.

 

The excursion, as suggested, visits Jost Van Dyke, about a 45-minute ride across the water. Sometimes the excursion boat makes a wet landing at White Bay, and sometimes it pulls into the ferry port about 10 minutes away. Ours did the latter. There's then a wait while taxis shuttle folks to the beach. It isn't the longest wait, but it feels endless when you're standing around and know you have just a couple hours there anyway. BeeMajor really, really hates standing in line--it's one of the reasons we sail in suites--so he was a little grumpy by the time we arrived at White Bay. But White Bay is absolutely beautiful with perfectly clear water edging into white sand. The excursion provided beach chairs, one drink ticket per person which quite controversially could be used only for water/soda/juice, and a basic hamburger or hot dog with bagged chips meal. Pro tip: being a jerk to the bartenders isn't going to make them give you a free Painkiller or magic up some Diet Coke, although I saw some people try this approach. Bring some cash and go with the flow. There is rum punch on the way back. 

 

All in all I'd rate this excursion a solid 3.5 stars. It was fine but not amazing, and I wouldn't do it again, although I would go back to Jost Van Dyke not on a cruise to enjoy it without a timetable.

On the next episode of this liveish review: I rant about the water bottles and we have a surprisingly delightful meal at the Rooftop Garden Grill

[mahdnc]

Good review. Really nice photos. I hope you have a most excellent cruise. 

[BeeMinor]

Commercial break! Cloud burst over St. Kitts left a nice rainbow--

 

 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, BeeMinor said:

Good morning from St. Kitts! We're docked next to the Marella Explorer 2 today, which Google has just informed me is the old Celebrity Century.

We saw her at one of our ports on our cruise in Greece and Italy in August, the Century was our first Celebrity cruise in 2008.

[carolina_yankee]

9 hours ago, BeeMinor said:

Perhaps I am misremembering, but didn't Celebrity used to leave beach towels in staterooms the night before beach stops? And hand out water on the way off the ship? Neither of these things are happening now, and I found myself very jealous of the handful of people who had planned ahead and had those things as the morning went on.

 

We are just off the Apex. They put beach towels in our stateroom the night before our first stop (Costa Maya). There was also a blurb stating that if we liked them we could buy new ones from the desk. I’m not sure I saw them as a special-purchase, but they certainly would have worked for a beach excursion had we taken one.

 

We were not given water at either Costa Maya (docked) or George Town (tender).

[mermee]

Following, great review, love your sense of humor.

Will be on the Apex this Saturday

 

 

[BeeMinor]

Happy Thanksgiving folks! The app doesn't seem to have picked up the time change again so I'm vague on what time it is, but I know today is a sea day and I'm hoping to catch up this review from liveish to actually live. So I'm back with Day 4 continued! 

 

We got back from our Jost Van Dyke excursion early afternoon, and BeeMajor decided he was still hungry so off we went for Second Lunch. After some consideration we went to the Mast Grill for a burger (him) and hot dog (me) snack. It's not Shake Shack at Sea or anything but it was fine.

 

Next we decided to go have a drink on the Magic Carpet while we were still docked and relatively wind-free. It's a nice enough space but IMO nothing special. After that we settled into the Sunset Bar to relax and enjoy the view of Tortola. Here I got into my second losing battle with one of the aluminum water bottles. The bartenders do not open water battles for you, and the caps so slick and so hard to twist. "Oh everyone is complaining about those," says the Sunset Bar bartender. Great. Thanks. I am a competent 42-year-old adult but I've now managed to get not one but two surface-level cuts on my index finger from trying and failing to get water caps off. Neither has drawn blood but it's not awesome having little flaps of skin hanging off your finger. 

 

I'm a klutz who travels with band-aids but these dumb injuries ran through my stash fast. I went to guest relations to ask for band-aids. Win for guest relations: it provided band-aids. The agent also tried to persuade me to go to medical, which I declined. Fail for guest relations: they are terrible band-aids that fall off as soon you wash your hands. 

 

Now I'm asking the bartenders to open the water for me.

 

The show was Ralph Harris. People say food is subjective, but comedy is even more subjective, and he wasn't our thing. (To give you a sense, the first 10 minutes could be summarized as "audience members, where are you from?") But the theater was pretty full and most everyone else was into it so YMMV.

 

We found the Luminae menu particularly disjointed for dinner so made a last-minute decision to go to Rooftop Garden Grill instead. Apex has improved this concept! We sat in a good sheltered spot closer to the kitchen, and the food was well executed. I followed our waiter's advice and got the caprese salad and seafood kabob, and BeeMajor went all in on the smoked meats with wings, baby back ribs, and short ribs. We also ordered several sides to share. BeeMajor very much preferred the short ribs to the baby backs, which he said were steamed, and we agreed that the mac and cheese was super yummy. It was about $100 after tip, so teetering on the edge of "not a great value" for the style of food offered but portions were huge and we enjoyed our meal so no regrets.

 

We eat late so it was already time for the day's Eden show, Night of Dreams. The Eden entertainment concept has also changed a lot since we were on Edge and this was your standard Alice in Wonderland-themed slightly campy jukebox cruise ship show in the round. It includes a version of "Get This Party Started" which is one of my least favorite songs of all time so we walked over to the Soul Town show for a bit. The dance band did good renditions of 60s/70s soul songs but the room lacked a little energy, maybe because the only people dancing where the activities guy and children. We made it back to Eden for the conclusion and then off to sleep.

 

 

[jimbri]

Great photos.  Enjoying your review!

[BeeMinor]

Day 5: St Kitts. We weren't hungry for breakfast so just had some coffee and had a lazy morning on the balcony before heading for our excursion, St. Kitts Catamaran Sail and Nevis Beach Getaway. This was an excellent excursion, 5 stars/A+ would do again. It was really what we wanted the Jost Van Dyke day to be: a catamaran trip spent lounging on the nets, a couple hours at a beach where the crew served a casual but tasty Caribbean lunch, an open bar, and great vibes all around. I didn't even mind getting soaked in a cloud burst coming back to the ship.

 

Back in dry clothes, BeeMajor and I went to the mixology class in Eden. I've mentioned this is a pretty full cruise and it seems this event was oversold because the last people to show up got turned away due to lack of seats even though it sounded like they'd signed up and prepaid. An Eden Bar bartender led a group of 20 people through making (and attempting to drink) 3 cocktails. I've attended several cocktail seminars before, never on a cruise, and this one had good drinks and was pretty fun. I think it would be better with a smaller group actually at the bar, but we've found the whole ship experience to be a bit impersonal so maybe that's just us.

 

Last night's show was Tree of Life. The standard by which I judge all cruise ship shows in the absolutely bonkers Chandelier show that was (and maybe still is?) on Summit so Tree of Life, with its lack of any plot and nothing haunted, was just a time filler for me. 

 

We were back in Eden for dinner. The word on the ship has been that Eden is the best restaurant on board and I have to agree. Eden seems to me unique of the onboard offerings because it isn't a restaurant in the style of some generic kind of restaurant (bistro, raw bar, steakhouse, etc.) but is instead its own thing with its own culinary point of view. The tasting menu is no more but our fantastic server Desy helped us order a wide selection of dishes to share and they were all very well executed. She also emphasized that Eden sources ingredients with local suppliers in each port. It was an excellent meal worth every penny and I would eat there even not on a cruise ship which I can't say for most ship restaurants.

 

That about catches things up! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I am thankful for not having to pretend to like turkey or green bean casserole

[blade3]

Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoyed your review, off on Apex 1/7, excited!

[vacruizer]

Ughh…I cancelled that St Kitts Catamaran tour to do Jost van Dyke instead while in Tortola. Thinking I should change it back! 
 

I wanted one boat/beach day and booked the rainforest hike for st Kitts instead. 
 

Thank you for taking time to review…I’m counting down to December 3rd!

[gizmodog]

Was it Pinney beach in Nevis where you stopped for lunch, was it near the Sunshine Bar at all? Looking at that excursion myself, says no bathroom facilities and no beach chairs provided.

[Tz2989]

How did you book the Mixology class? I see the option on the pre-cruise planner, but it doesn't indicate which day(s) its held.