Semi-live from the Edge | February 3-13 | Southern Caribbean

[OrcaGirl]

Sitting in the Oceanview Cafe, finishing up breakfast and waiting for our disembarkation number to be called. It’s almost time to say goodbye to the Edge.

 

I’ll post a wrap-up of our final sea day evening and disembarkation later once we’re at our hotel.

[catgirl411]

Going to miss your reports. I’ve been enjoying living vicariously through you! Our last cruise ended January 2nd and the next one isn’t until mid-Oct so that’s a big gap to fill. Thanks for your helpful, upbeat posts.

Edited February 13, 2023 by catgirl411

[poffles]

NOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!  

33 minutes ago, OrcaGirl said:

Sitting in the Oceanview Cafe, finishing up breakfast and waiting for our disembarkation number to be called. It’s almost time to say goodbye to the Edge.

 

NOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo  !!!  Gonna miss this 🙂  Was hoping you would have ended up at Rooftop Grill as I was curious to hear your thoughts given the two nights you went to Eden.  Thanks for taking us along with you on your cruise!

[Texed]

3 minutes ago, poffles said:

 NOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo  !!!  Gonna miss this 🙂  Was hoping you would have ended up at Rooftop Grill as I was curious to hear your thoughts given the two nights you went to Eden.  Th

 

We dined in Eden two times each on Beyond and Apex.  Excellent.  We dined at Roof Top Grill on both ships also.  RTG was much better than we were expecting.  😋

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for your live report.    Lot's of fun and LOVED the pictures.

[OrcaGirl]

Wrapping up the final sea day… 😢

 

After doing as much packing as we could, we made a last-minute decision to get a reservation for Raw on Five.

 

We typically skip cruise ship sushi because we have such good sushi in Vancouver, but wanted something different tonight.

 

The sunset roll was pretty good, the pork belly was delicious, the beef negimaki was unique and yummy, and the truffled albacore tuna was… interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

The dessert menu looked good but we didn’t want to stuff ourselves so we headed out for a final walk through the casino.

 

 

We finally used our $5 match play coupons, and won with both on roulette. I headed off to slots, the husband went to play blackjack. And we both lost our roulette winnings very quickly.

 

We headed to bed, set out our luggage, and turned on our TV for the first time all cruise just in time for the Super Bowl half-time show. Yay Rihanna.

 

 

Since we don’t actually care about football, once her amazing performance was done, we watched a White Lotus and fell asleep.

 

 

Random thoughts and observations

 

The Magic Carpet moved down to a lower deck at some point. But I missed it moving. It wasn’t used for a restaurant, looked like they were cleaning it.

 

 

The martini bar theatrics combined with the light show is really something. I wish we’d spent more time there.

 

Things I meant to do this cruise but didn’t: order room service breakfast; try one of the dot painting classes; enjoy a sailaway from the hot tub.

[OrcaGirl]

10 hours ago, poffles said:

NOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!  

 

NOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooo  !!!  Gonna miss this 🙂  Was hoping you would have ended up at Rooftop Grill as I was curious to hear your thoughts given the two nights you went to Eden.  Thanks for taking us along with you on your cruise!

We did want to try the Rooftop Grill, but by the time we decided to try there weren’t any reservations left and I kept forgetting to ask the concierge.

 

Oh well, a man’s reach must exceed his grasp else what’s a heaven for? (aka guess I need to take another cruise…)

[OrcaGirl]

Disembarkation details

 

We woke up at 7:30am, to the melodious sounds of trucks and yelling on the pier below.

 

 

We said goodbye to our beautiful cabin and headed up for coffee and breakfast in the buffet.

 

 

 

 

 

We had group 42, and headed down to deck 5 as the numbers got progressively higher.

 

 

Disembarkation itself was one of the smoothest I’ve had. We beeped our SeaPass cards, said goodbye to Guiseppe, and walked down the gangway.

 

 

The luggage room was well-organized, and customs used facial recognition and we didn’t even need to scan our passports or talk to an officer.

 

The rideshare pickup area was a bit more chaotic, just ‘cause it needs more space for cars to stop and load up. It would be easier if people and their bags didn’t crowd the curb until their ride arrived, but people gonna people.

 

But we got our Lyft, waved goodbye to the Edge and headed out to Miami Beach.

 

 

Random notes and observations:

 

I couldn’t get a photo without risking falling down the escalator, but the table of confiscated items was very prominent and seemed to be mostly power bars and electric appliances.

 

It was funny (to us) to see people bundled up in their Arc’teryx jackets and puffy sweaters. Sure it’s colder today, but it’s Miami, not Whitehorse.

 

I really hope we didn’t forget anything, but our luggage seems waaaay less full than when we started.

 

[OrcaGirl]

Final thoughts

 

Three things I loved about this cruise:

 

1. The Edge is absolutely beautiful.

2. Captain Tasos was delightful and memorable.

3. Eden was a top-notch dining experience.

 

Three things I’d change if given a magic wand that only worked on cruise ships:

 

1. Dinner in the buffet was sadly limited.

2. Service in the restaurants was slow/spotty at times, either due to new staff or not enough staff.

3. Three hot tubs is not enough.

 

Overall, we had an amazing time, and any issues/problems we had were minor and had no impact on our enjoyment.

 

We fly home tomorrow, and you can bet I’ll be watching for future opportunities to sail on an Edge-class ship again. Or I’ll follow Captain Tasos to the Ascent.

 

My next cruise is on the Discovery Princess, sailing to Alaska with my mom and aunt in late April. I’m sure there will another live from thread for that one over on the Princess boards if you want to follow along.

 

 

 

 

[bnurick]

36 minutes ago, OrcaGirl said:

Final thoughts

 

Three things I loved about this cruise:

 

1. The Edge is absolutely beautiful.

2. Captain Tasos was delightful and memorable.

3. Eden was a top-notch dining experience.

 

Three things I’d change if given a magic wand that only worked on cruise ships:

 

1. Dinner in the buffet was sadly limited.

2. Service in the restaurants was slow/spotty at times, either due to new staff or not enough staff.

3. Three hot tubs is not enough.

 

Overall, we had an amazing time, and any issues/problems we had were minor and had no impact on our enjoyment.

 

We fly home tomorrow, and you can bet I’ll be watching for future opportunities to sail on an Edge-class ship again. Or I’ll follow Captain Tasos to the Ascent.

 

My next cruise is on the Discovery Princess, sailing to Alaska with my mom and aunt in late April. I’m sure there will another live from thread for that one over on the Princess boards if you want to follow along.

 

 

 

 

Very much enjoyed your review and writing style. Agree with your top three, especially Eden. Safe travels.

Edited February 14, 2023 by bnurick

[mlbcruiser]

Great and very entertaining and informative review. Thanks so much! Things I was wondering about I now have information on, and in some cases you provided answers I wasn’t able to get any other way. 

[Missusdubbya]

Wonderful review, thank you!

[poffles]

8 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

My next cruise is on the Discovery Princess, sailing to Alaska with my mom and aunt in late April. I’m sure there will another live from thread for that one over on the Princess boards if you want to follow along.

 

Wouldn't miss it!  Love the writer 🙂 and love to read about cruise adventures when the writer is good.  Princess is a must try for me one day.

[parrothead33]

Thanks for the great review and pictures!

[StillLooking4Adventure]

Thans for an excellent balanced review.  Some on the Celebrity board will complain you didn't spend enough words on bashing limited menus and bad food. Seems like you didn't go away hungry. ☺️ We are excited to be boarding in 9 days. 

[terrydtx]

18 minutes ago, StillLooking4Adventure said:

Thans for an excellent balanced review.  Some on the Celebrity board will complain you didn't spend enough words on bashing limited menus and bad food. Seems like you didn't go away hungry. ☺️ We are excited to be boarding in 9 days. 

I think this was a great well written and honest live review and see no reason to complain by CC members. There has been enough bashing by CC members who have not been on a Celebrity ship this year to witness what is really happening with all the changes for themselves.

Edited February 14, 2023 by terrydtx

[dacsmom]

Thank you so much for taking all of along with you. I loved your review, and cannot wait to board the Edge next week.

[Hellgren]

Fantastic review and trip report.  Thank you for taking the time to inform and entertain us.  Really enjoyed reading about your experiences.  Looking forward to sailing on the Edge in April.

[Cruise till you drop]

Just curious on what 2 times each night that they performed the shows

[horseymike]

Wonderful Review. Thanks for all your time and effort to share your cruise with all of us.

[bebe08]

We were on the cruise with you @OrcaGirl and I really enjoyed following your reports of our cruise 🙂  Your report was fun to read and our experience was similar.  I will write a quick review of our experience soon.  Thanks so much!

[OrcaGirl]

5 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Just curious on what 2 times each night that they performed the shows

7pm and 9pm, except for on Superb Owl Sunday, when they had a 2pm show in the main theatre and then that performer had his evening show in the club instead of the theatre.

[txtechmk]

Loved reading your report!  And photos too!  We were on the Apex last May and loved it!