Apex Live — July 31

[Beachlover1989]

Really looking forward to following along! We get on when you disembark and I’m anxious to hear about the temperature on the ship (for packing purposes).

[What A Market]

Luminae was absolutely packed for lunch. Huge line. Butler (Gordon) alarmed. Said the wait would be at least 40 minutes. Suggested Le Grand Bistro as an alternative. We were up for that, and he insisted on escorting us. It was a great option. First time dining in LGB. Dare I say it?!? The burger here is much nicer compared to Luminae. (At least by my sometimes faulty recollection.)

 

Photos from our table by the window. 

[What A Market]

Still dreary out there in Rotterdam. Nice in here though!

[CanuckCruizer]

1 hour ago, What A Market said:

On board!

 

Loads of people standing in the rain with their baggage. Unfortunately the porters don’t take bags immediately from you as you arrive. You get in line with your bags and at one single point you hand off your bags to porters. 
 

No signage outside for the Retreat guests. Fortunately, their were a couple of people yelling for Retreat guests and getting you situated in a specific line. 
 

Very very fast (and dry) after that for the rest of the check in and boarding process. 

What A Market - Glad you made it ok and thanks very much for doing this review. 

 

We are sailing on the Apex in September out of Rotterdam.  Reading the above concerns me.  We are going on a very long holiday and will have 4 large cases between the two of us.  Are there any carts available to put your luggage in, while you are in the lineup, as don't know how we are going to manage?  Failing that - would our driver be able to accompany us with the luggage up to the porters?  Did you see anyone doing this?

 

Do you know what time the boarding opened up as I don't think you mentioned your arrival time?  We have chosen the 1st time that was available - 11:30am - just wondering if they are open before that?  

 

Thanks very much.

 

Canuck

 

[What A Market]

9 minutes ago, CanuckCruizer said:

What A Market - Glad you made it ok and thanks very much for doing this review. 

 

We are sailing on the Apex in September out of Rotterdam.  Reading the above concerns me.  We are going on a very long holiday and will have 4 large cases between the two of us.  Are there any carts available to put your luggage in, while you are in the lineup, as don't know how we are going to manage?  Failing that - would our driver be able to accompany us with the luggage up to the porters?  Did you see anyone doing this?

 

Do you know what time the boarding opened up as I don't think you mentioned your arrival time?  We have chosen the 1st time that was available - 11:30am - just wondering if they are open before that?  

 

Thanks very much.

 

Canuck

 

Hello Canuck

Thanks for following. 
I get your concern from what I tried to describe. I did not see any carts. Not sure what others were doing at drop off. Our driver ignored everyone trying to flag his car into the drop off area. He pulled his car off on the other side of the road, had us jump out, unloaded our suitcases (four — two wheeled carry ons and two medium wheeled bags), stopped all traffic, then he and I wheeled the bags across the street. We were basically in the middle of the scrum at that moment. 
 

It was right about then that I heard a Celebrity concierge screaming for Retreat guests. 
 

Everyone in line seemed to have all their bags with them. 

[CanuckCruizer]

5 minutes ago, What A Market said:

Hello Canuck

Thanks for following. 
I get your concern from what I tried to describe. I did not see any carts. Not sure what others were doing at drop off. Our driver ignored everyone trying to flag his car into the drop off area. He pulled his car off on the other side of the road, had us jump out, unloaded our suitcases (four — two wheeled carry ons and two medium wheeled bags), stopped all traffic, then he and I wheeled the bags across the street. We were basically in the middle of the scrum at that moment. 
 

It was right about then that I heard a Celebrity concierge screaming for Retreat guests. 
 

Everyone in line seemed to have all their bags with them. 

Thanks for replying.

Was your driver able to accompany you as far as the luggage drop off or did he just take you to the lineup and leave you? 

We will have 6 bags (4 cases & 2 carry on and due to medical issues - I cannot "lift" anything, so my DH is on his own🙃)

Sounds like a gong show - lol.  We are in a suite too but obviously, that doesn't make a difference.  This is reminding us of San Diego terminal, where we paid a homeless man to help us - he actually volunteered as he saw my husband struggling - if it wasn't for him, I don't think we would have made it.

What time did you get there?

 

Canuck

[Boatharbour]

We left Apex this morning. When we boarded 12 days ago (at 11.30) I did see a worker using a trolley to help some passengers. Can’t say for sure if he worked for the port or had accompanied a  transfer. 

Bag drop off was outside the terminal, a few steps from the curb. There were two lines - those whose bags were tagged and those that weren’t. 
Passenger vehicles were directed to an adjacent car park to unload. 

 

[CanuckCruizer]

29 minutes ago, Boatharbour said:

We left Apex this morning. When we boarded 12 days ago (at 11.30) I did see a worker using a trolley to help some passengers. Can’t say for sure if he worked for the port or had accompanied a  transfer. 

Bag drop off was outside the terminal, a few steps from the curb. There were two lines - those whose bags were tagged and those that weren’t. 
Passenger vehicles were directed to an adjacent car park to unload. 

 

Boatharbour,

Thanks very much for your reply.  That sounds a "bit" encouraging - haha - fingers crossed!  Let's hope our driver can pull right up to there or we find a porter with a trolley, if we go early.

Canuck

[Jim_Iain]

I've pulled up a chair and looking forward to your adventure.  Was surprised to read about the baggage service.   We arrived Rotterdam x2 and departed from Amsterdam.    In Amsterdam they had a long line for people without tags but if you had you luggage you just put it on a conveyor belt like at the airport and it went into the backroom.     There were some porters curbside but very few.

[What A Market]

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I've pulled up a chair and looking forward to your adventure.  Was surprised to read about the baggage service.   We arrived Rotterdam x2 and departed from Amsterdam.    In Amsterdam they had a long line for people without tags but if you had you luggage you just put it on a conveyor belt like at the airport and it went into the backroom.     There were some porters curbside but very few.

Glad you posted Jim.  I was just getting ready to ask you a question.

I just downloaded the Windy App.  I think you may use that???

Trying to figure out how use/read.

I have it set to Waves for checking conditions. Photo of current conditions below.

Dark Blue means higher waves? Looks like right outside of Rotterdam is heaviest.

But what height be?

 

Thanks for help with this!

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by What A Market

[What A Market]

First drink at Martini Bar for this cruise. 
The room as a whole is stunning in a glam sort of way. Much much prefer the Solstice class ship’s Martini Bar for the ability to socialize easier with others at the bar. 

[What A Market]

In my morning (every morning) happy place — Cafe al Bacio!  I’ll spend a couple of hours here as Heidi usually sleeps in. Thank you Heidi!  If any of you have followed any of my previous Live cruise threads, you know this gets pretty repetitive. Lol

Edited August 1, 2023 by What A Market

[scrapcreator]

22 hours ago, What A Market said:

On board!

 

Loads of people standing in the rain with their baggage. Unfortunately the porters don’t take bags immediately from you as you arrive. You get in line with your bags and at one single point you hand off your bags to porters. 
 

No signage outside for the Retreat guests. Fortunately, their were a couple of people yelling for Retreat guests and getting you situated in a specific line. 
 

Very very fast (and dry) after that for the rest of the check in and boarding process. 

We were very fortunate. Our taxi driver pulled up just past that horribly long line and a young man with a hand cart and porter vest offered to take our luggage and pointed us to the door. We gave him a bit of a tip and were onboard in less than 10 minutes. Fastest boarding ever for us “regular folk”.

[What A Market]

Warning for chair hogs. These were placed on every open lounger in the Solarium. 

[hcat]

37 minutes ago, What A Market said:

Warning for chair hogs. These were placed on every open lounger in the Solarium. 

glad to see that.. esp in the Solarium where loungers are at a premium..Let us know if the staff follows through..they are often unwilling to "upset" the  customers 

[Crazy planning mom]

3 hours ago, scrapcreator said:

We were very fortunate. Our taxi driver pulled up just past that horribly long line and a young man with a hand cart and porter vest offered to take our luggage and pointed us to the door. We gave him a bit of a tip and were onboard in less than 10 minutes. Fastest boarding ever for us “regular folk”.

How are the menus in the 4 MDR's.  I understand they have drastically reduced the menu.

[scrapcreator]

43 minutes ago, Crazy planning mom said:

How are the menus in the 4 MDR's.  I understand they have drastically reduced the menu.

We are in Cosmopolitan tonight. I’ll take a photo of the Chic Night menu. Forgot to take one last night in Tuscan.

 

We’re currently unable to view menus on the X app or on the TV. 🤷‍♀️

Edited August 1, 2023 by scrapcreator
Add info

[Boatharbour]

59 minutes ago, Crazy planning mom said:

How are the menus in the 4 MDR's.  I understand they have drastically reduced the menu.

We were on the Apex prior to this cruise and were not impressed with any of the MDR menus.

Choices were reduced and the quality was definitely poorer than our previous cruise just prior to the pandemic. You won’t go hungry, but the meals are repetitive and uninspiring. 
Surprisingly after all I’d read on CC, the buffet at the Oceanview was good. It was busy most nights with a wide range of options. We ended up cancelling some of our pre-booked MDR dinners and either ate at the buffet or paid for specialty dining. Eden was superb and we enjoyed a nice evening at Fine Cut. 

[hcat]

what types of fish dishes were featured in the 4 mdrs..pls dont say tilapia..     we had wonderful choices on EDGE.. but thst was awhile ago!

[Crazy planning mom]

4 minutes ago, Boatharbour said:

We were on the Apex prior to this cruise and were not impressed with any of the MDR menus.

Choices were reduced and the quality was definitely poorer than our previous cruise just prior to the pandemic. You won’t go hungry, but the meals are repetitive and uninspiring. 
Surprisingly after all I’d read on CC, the buffet at the Oceanview was good. It was busy most nights with a wide range of options. We ended up cancelling some of our pre-booked MDR dinners and either ate at the buffet or paid for specialty dining. Eden was superb and we enjoyed a nice evening at Fine Cut. 

Thank you for sharing your experience.  This is disappointing.  Celebrity has always been known for their dining.  We were already planning to have  1 dinner in Buffet, 1 night in a specialty restaurant and 1 dinner in Old San Juan.

[Boatharbour]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

what types of fish dishes were featured in the 4 mdrs..pls dont say tilapia..     we had wonderful choices on EDGE.. but thst was awhile ago!

There was definitely salmon on the menu. 
Tilapia was spotted at the buffet at least once but they often had barramundi too at the grill.

Battered fish was featured several times. 
Shrimp cocktail wasfour small prawns in a heavy handed tomato sauce. 
The seafood broth entree in Normandie had had perhaps 6-8 very small pieces of seafood in it floating in a brown watery soup with two mussels. 

[terrydtx]

Following, we will be on the Apex in September from Rotterdam to Athens. We are booked in a Sky Suite. We are flying to Amsterdam 3 days early as we have not been before. We are on United BC going to Amsterdam and then BA coming home from Athens.  I am glad you had a good BA flight with BC.  Looking forward to your reports from a Retreat viewpoint. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by terrydtx

[bluwes]

Looking forward to following along. We’re on Apex next summer to finally sail to the Fjords following two cancellations during the Pandemic.

[scrapcreator]

Cosmopolitan tonight. Chic Night.

 

[helen haywood]

Yikes!!!  That’s QUITE a pared down menu!!  Thanks for posting it and I’d love to see other nights as well.