APEX of our year, 12/3 — 12/10/22

[barbeyg]

We were just reluctantly booted from Apex yesterday. They said something about new passengers that wanted to board….yada, yada, yada. 🙄

 

I am Barb, married to Ken.  Yes, people do remember our names all the time, even though I am personally awful with names myself.  We always cruise together, even though I’ve encouraged Ken to let me go alone sometimes to rack up extra loyalty points.  
 

I normally post on the RCI forums, since we have travelled with RCI for years.  We just experienced our first Celebrity cruise, and some friends here asked us to let them know how it was, so wanted to share here where it makes sense to do so.  Will try to group my thoughts together as much as I can.  
 

Why did we choose Celebrity? We have tossed around sailing with Celebrity for several years now.  After having our Harmony OTS cruise cancelled and moved to Wonder OTS, then our Wonder OTS cruise cancelled and the alternative offering was…well, lacking, we decided it was time to jump ship and booked a Celebrity sky suite on the Apex. 🙂

I will post the review over the next week or so, as I have time.  Sneak peak, this one rates up in our top 3 favorite cruises. 😁

[barbeyg]

Embarkation:  one of our easiest ever, comparable to our Oasis cruise last year in a suite.  

 

We drove to the port, dropped luggage right at the entrance to Terminal 25, and parked in the nearby garage. Quick 5 minute walk to the door, entered at 10:50 (our time was scheduled for 11 am), and were escorted to the elevator, then thru the bag screening, and to a seat where we were checked in, then invited to board.  

 

We walked to our cabin to drop our carryon bags (wish RCI allowed this as well), was greeted by our butler, who suggested we grab a bite to eat in Luminae, then go to muster.  When I asked if we should muster first, he told us to enjoy our lunch, that there was plenty of time afterwards.  He asked us to call him when we returned to the cabin later, and he would go over the cabin amenities at that time. 
 

Had a great lunch at Luminae (fantastic burger, which I didn’t get a pic of, but did enjoy another later in the week). 
 

Public service announcement:  if you sail RCI, the public restrooms have locks on the doors that notify you with red and green colors indicating if the stall is occupied.  Apex is more subtle, and it took 3 days for me to figure it out.  😂  So you don’t struggle like I did, here is the scoop. Straight up and down on what looks like a flathead screw = available.  Horizontal = occupied. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by barbeyg

[Tak8]

I'll be on the Apex in May. Can't wait for the full report. I travel mainly Princess, but really enjoyed my one Celebrity cruise.

[barbeyg]

The ship was decorated for Christmas when we boarded. Very nicely done. Following are a few pics of the decorations. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by barbeyg

[barbeyg]

6 minutes ago, Tak8 said:

I'll be on the Apex in May. Can't wait for the full report. I travel mainly Princess, but really enjoyed my one Celebrity cruise.

We can’t wait for our next one now, on the Beyond next Thanksgiving. 😁

[barbeyg]

We loved the concept of the Grand Plaza.  A three story gathering place for all, with the martini bar central to it all.  On the top deck of the area was Fine Cut Steakhouse (overlooking the area, but separated by glass so there was no noise pollution), middle deck included Cafe al Bacio (which I started every day at, and got to know the great kids that work there), the Grand Bistro, and the Craft Social.  Lots of seating on this deck.  Below that was the Martini Bar and an area for live music or a DJ. 

 

For those of you who sail with RCI, think of a stretched atrium on ships like the Radiance class.  Just much more user friendly (IMO), and a place to hang out on multiple decks. Great design for bringing people together to stay and make friends. 

[jk04]

14 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

For those of you who sail with RCI, think of a stretched atrium on ships like the Radiance class.  Just much more user friendly (IMO), and a place to hang out on multiple decks. Great design for bringing people together to stay and make friends. 

Like the Piazza on Princess?

[barbeyg]

4 minutes ago, jk04 said:

Like the Piazza on Princess?

We haven’t sailed Princess yet, so went and googled for a look see.  It appears to be very similar in concept.  I told Ken it felt like the “heart” of the ship to me. 🙂

[Lastdance]

Our friends were on the same cruise...a b2b.  We just finished a b2b/TA on here and loved the ship and crew!  Glad you gave her a try.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Lastdance

[barbeyg]

3 minutes ago, Lastdance said:

Our friends were on the same cruise...a b2b.  We just finished a b2b/TA on here and loved the ship and crew!  Glad you gave her a try.

We loved the crew as well. 🙂 And really wish we had time for a B2B. Can’t wait to do so in retirement! 

[barbeyg]

Back to boarding day. After a great lunch, went to muster. Ours was at the casino. We figured while everyone else boarded the life boats, we would be spending the rest of our money in the slots…just in case. 😂

 

The ship is beautiful, and has a very nice modern feel, with some of the classic look thrown in.  We loved the staircases on the grand plaza, with the beautiful wood steps.  Went back to the cabin, where our room steward Bachan (who rivaled our favorite steward from RCI, Marva) and butler, Rajeev, had finished up the cabin. 
 

Rajeev chilled our welcome aboard champagne, after asking if we wanted to enjoy it that day or later (chill that baby now! 😁). 
 

 

[Tina99]

I’m following your Apex review. Similar to you, I’m a Royal cruiser (Diamond). I’ve got two upcoming 2023 on RC with friends, but because I love solo travel, I’ve booked my first Celebrity cruise on Apex for Jan 2024 for a blissful week alone (w/thousands of others). 

[barbeyg]

16 minutes ago, Tina99 said:

I’m following your Apex review. Similar to you, I’m a Royal cruiser (Diamond). I’ve got two upcoming 2023 on RC with friends, but because I love solo travel, I’ve booked my first Celebrity cruise on Apex for Jan 2024 for a blissful week alone (w/thousands of others). 

Suggest heading to the Martini Bar in evenings, even if you aren’t a drinker. We met the nicest people at the Martini Bar, and if the bartenders are still working their current contract, they are all great! 🙂  Don’t miss the entertainment there, and in the Eden Bar as well.  Hope you have a great cruise too. 

[barbeyg]

We are Diamond, very close to +, so we’re given Elite status with Celebrity for this cruise. We had breakfast in the Grand Bistro one morning, a very nice, ‘heavy’ continental breakfast, with specialty coffees.  I had a cheese and fruit plate, and Ken had a bagel, cream cheese and salmon, along with fruit and cheese.  Plenty to eat for breakfast….after my regular caramel macchiato with biscotti, of course. No pic of the plates, but here is one of the yummy caramel macchiato. 

[barbeyg]

These are the Elite bennies for our cruise. 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by barbeyg

[txtechmk]

We sailed on the Apex late May/early June.  Loved it so much!  I'm glad to hear it was one of your favorite cruises.

 

Looking forward to reading your review.

[barbeyg]

A quick lighthearted note on Apple AirTags for those of you who use them.  On embarkation day, checked “Find my” on the phone…..only to see that Apple said my bag was in the channel at the port. 😳 😬😂

 

We were finishing up the champagne at that point, so thought that was funny. The champagne explains why I didn’t get a screenshot for all to enjoy.

 

I figured it was on the ship, but we joked that I should have asked Rajeev what my bag was doing in the water. 🤭

[barbeyg]

If anyone has specific questions, please feel free to ask. I will be happy to assist, if I know the answer. 🙂

[Hafa2990]

I would love it if at some point in the week you could post a photo of any of the daily kid’s club/camp at sea activities. We sail with our munchkins next spring on Apex for their first cruise. Thanks! Have a wonderful vacation. 

[barbeyg]

16 minutes ago, Hafa2990 said:

I would love it if at some point in the week you could post a photo of any of the daily kid’s club/camp at sea activities. We sail with our munchkins next spring on Apex for their first cruise. Thanks! Have a wonderful vacation. 

We were on last week. 🙂 I looked thru the flyers we have and apparently the kids club info is only available at the kids club.  So we don’t have any of the flyers. Maybe someone else can chime in here with that. 

 

We did talk to a couple who have younger kids, and their children love the kids club. They play Gaga ball, do scavenger hunts, ice cream sundae parties, and other fun activities. On our cruise, since school was back in session, there were only a handful of kids on the cruise, most were younger than school age.  Hope you have a great cruise!

[MLP12]

2 hours ago, barbeyg said:

We are Diamond, very close to +, so we’re given Elite status with Celebrity for this cruise. We had breakfast in the Grand Bistro one morning, a very nice, ‘heavy’ continental breakfast, with specialty coffees.  I had a cheese and fruit plate, and Ken had a bagel, cream cheese and salmon, along with fruit and cheese.  Plenty to eat for breakfast….after my regular caramel macchiato with biscotti, of course. No pic of the plates, but here is one of the yummy caramel macchiato. 

We board on January 7.  Is the breakfast for Elite members in the Grand Bistro? Can you get coffee drinks to take out?

 

 

 

[MLP12]

Did you have an infinite veranda?  I was wondering what you thought about it.  That's what I booked, but after reading more about it I'm a little concerned I won't like it as much as a regular balcony.

[barbeyg]

15 minutes ago, MLP12 said:

We board on January 7.  Is the breakfast for Elite members in the Grand Bistro? Can you get coffee drinks to take out?

 

 

 

Yes. The Grand Bistro is where the Elite breakfast is, and you can get your specialty coffees there. 

[barbeyg]

14 minutes ago, MLP12 said:

Did you have an infinite veranda?  I was wondering what you thought about it.  That's what I booked, but after reading more about it I'm a little concerned I won't like it as much as a regular balcony.

We had a sky suite, so didn’t have an infinite veranda.  We had a regular one.  I will post cabin pics next.   We did meet others onboard with them, and all enjoyed those.  A couple were surprised how much they liked them.  The only caveat they had was that a few times, we were getting gusty winds off the Atlantic, so that side was locked down when the winds were gusting.

 

I want to try an infinite veranda one day.  Ken is wary, like you, but I personally think we would enjoy the additional ‘space’.

[barbeyg]

We had Sky Suite 10208, opposite end of the ship from Luminae and the Retreat Lounge. I did that on purpose to get us to walk more. 🙂  Pics of our cabin:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by barbeyg