Just off the Apex and it was Great!

[cmaleblanc]

Just finished our 3rd cruise on Celebrity. Second on Apex, and it was great! We had Cabin 8231, our first time in a IV suite, in the past we've done AQ and Concerige, but wanted to give this class a try. 

 

Good, first off noise None.. Zero... Not a creak or sound from the ship that wasn't expected out of 7 nighta we had two sea days, in both cases you had a creak that you'd expect but nothing that kept us awake, and not a on going sound just when the ship leaned to much to one side in the waves. Motion was typical for this time of year, with thr captain pushing her at night to make up time ans slowing down for meals and shows. We did on occasion hear our neighbours, but again only expected noise, like when they banged a door... Or when the washroom doors get away from you and they pull close fast. 

 

Crew was great as always. But, Celebrity is doing them a disservice. I'm not getting into a debate about tipping. That's discussed to much here, do what you want. My personal opinion is that we paid for gratuities to be included. That means I expect a 20% tip service from everyone. You do more than 20% you get extra from me. (my GF doesn't agree, but that's another story lol) because of staffing and the way that any time dinning works we never got to know anyone like we have on past cruises our room attendant Putu was Amazing! and we happily tipped him extra. Our waiters and bartenders on the other hand never got to know any of them well enough to tip them extra we went to the same bars and enjoyed drinks, and we shouted out a few in our post cruise survey, but none of them jumped out as amazing, and I think that was a result of how displaced everyone felt. Everyone was nice as always, but no one owned anything because everyone worked to many things. This of course is our perception, and other may feel different.

 

We had two major events while on the Cruise. SuperBowl and Valentine's. SuperBowl they did a great spread on Sunday. In the theater, outdoors and a cross the ship. The theater has good food, wings, hotdogs, chips, nachos etc. With full bar service. It was nice. But the theater in the Apex isn't designed for an event, so what we found is people got stuck at the doors on 4th trying to get food, and limiting the space to move around to get places. But decorations and broadcast was flawless.. Except for the outcome 😉

 

Valentine's day on the other hand, the ship seemed empty no special decorations or events. They didn't even serve lobster on Valentine's day. Formal night was also on the Tuesday not Wednesday. Seemed like a bit of a miss, but none the less we enjoyed it. 

 

I didn't play much in the casino, but came out with more than I went in with witch is always nice, BJ was fun $10min table and I played craps also $10min. Had some luck on both. The Casino host was actually around and at her desk most of the cruise. It was nice to talk to her and she did attempt to explain the new BCC vs Celebrity process for awarding points. She confirmed its 5 points per $1 on slots, and of course, nothing concrete for tables. I never go to the casino expecting to win, I don't gamble enough just like to toss dice once or twice on a cruise. 

 

Food was great as always, we had no problem finding something to eat at any point in the day or night while on board. I do miss the cook to order meat station in OV, I'm not sure how pre cooking things like steaks and leaving them on a hot plate helps with waste compared to on demand cooking, but hey its an option. We had dinner at Cosmo every night except our normal Steak house date night we do every trip. It was well managed, and staff checked in on us often to make sure things are going smoothly. We normally took 1 to 1.5hrs to eat, but at no point did they rush us out. Speaking with one of our waiters he did confess that they miss set dinning, as they use to get a break between seatings. Any time dinning is random, they get no break and it's harder to get to know guest like they have in the past. A feeling we also had, as I pointed out at the beginning. 

 

Anyway if you've read this far, sorry for the poor grammer, I'm writing this on my phone while sitting at the airport waiting for my flight home to almost 4ft of snow, thinking about all the shoveling I'll have to do after spending a week in 29oC weather. 

 

If anyone has any questions while it's fresh in my mind just post I'll respond best I can as we travel. But over all we still love Celebrity, I'm not trying to silence anyone who's had a poor experience with Celebrity, just share another view. We have a Panama Cruise booked in the Beyond in 2026 and can't wait to get on board, now hopefully the weather cooperates and the canal has enough water for our transit! 

[Texed]

Thanks for posting.  😊

[lola2013]

Great review…thanks.  I sailed on Apex in December and have the same SV booked for this upcoming December.  I loved everything about the cruise…I think it helps to have a glass half full attitude (in my case, it’s at least 90% full).  I don’t let the negative comments get me down.

I’m glad you enjoyed.

Happy Shoveling 😱

Susan

[vettegal99]

Just off Apex this morning as well.  Our first on Apex.  We’ve sailed on Edge several times.  Traveled with 2 other couples.  Stayed on Deck 11 Concierge 

Great stateroom attendant.  We made dinner reservations an each day ahead by phone.  Ate in Tuscan, First Cut and twice in Normandie.  The only disappointment was lunch in Eden yesterday…very disorganized.  Valentines Day at 5:15 in the Rooftop Garden 120 plus guests renewed their wedding vows.  This was being done fleetwide at 5:15pm.  Champagne and cupcakes served.  We received a very nice renewal certificate suitable for framing.  We had a great time on this cruise.  Looking forward to the next one. We were off Apex at 8 am very easy disembarkation.  

 

[Reel Love]

Thanks so much for the review and good to hear your experience was so enjoyable!  We are considering booking the Apex next so enjoying anything I can read about recent sailings on her.   Safe travels home!  

(PS.....4 feet of snow!  Wondering if you are from the East coast lol.  My brother is in Halifax and they've been hammered the last couple of weekends!) 

Edited February 18 by Reel Love

[cmaleblanc]

13 hours ago, vettegal99 said:

Just off Apex this morning as well.  Our first on Apex.  We’ve sailed on Edge several times.  Traveled with 2 other couples.  Stayed on Deck 11 Concierge 

Great stateroom attendant.  We made dinner reservations an each day ahead by phone.  Ate in Tuscan, First Cut and twice in Normandie.  The only disappointment was lunch in Eden yesterday…very disorganized.  Valentines Day at 5:15 in the Rooftop Garden 120 plus guests renewed their wedding vows.  This was being done fleetwide at 5:15pm.  Champagne and cupcakes served.  We received a very nice renewal certificate suitable for framing.  We had a great time on this cruise.  Looking forward to the next one. We were off Apex at 8 am very easy disembarkation.  

 

Yes! Great add, we had no vows to renew so didn't attend, but heard a few people talking happy that it went great! Have to agree about disembarkation, between the app and timing we had no issues so smooth, walked off around 8:30am, bags sitting in the right spot and right past CBP. Made it to the Airport in plenty of time for our normal 11:20am home. 

 

 

13 hours ago, Reel Love said:

Thanks so much for the review and good to hear your experience was so enjoyable!  We are considering booking the Apex next so enjoying anything I can read about recent sailings on her.   Safe travels home!  

(PS.....4 feet of snow!  Wondering if you are from the East coast lol.  My brother is in Halifax and they've been hammered the last couple of weekends!)

We are! My sister is also in Nova Scotia. We are in Newfoundland. First night sleep at home, and have to go out and shovel again, I'm going to need another vacation! 

[Reel Love]

52 minutes ago, cmaleblanc said:

 

We are! My sister is also in Nova Scotia. We are in Newfoundland. First night sleep at home, and have to go out and shovel again, I'm going to need another vacation! 

Lol..... well, very happy to hear that you made it home safely given the weather you have had to deal with in the East!   Again, great review and book yourself that next vacation!!!  🙂

[mafig]

Thanks for your review.  I enjoyed reading it.

 

I was glad that you had no noise issues.  Actually, I don't remember reading about a "noisy ship" until Beyond.  Apex did not seem to have a lot of issues.  Am I wrong?

[hcat]

Nice review..what was your itin?  

Glad you enjoyed it!

We are  booked for next January!

[cmaleblanc]

9 hours ago, mafig said:

Thanks for your review.  I enjoyed reading it.

 

I was glad that you had no noise issues.  Actually, I don't remember reading about a "noisy ship" until Beyond.  Apex did not seem to have a lot of issues.  Am I wrong?

I'm sure I've trad a few posts about the Apex as well but I think the majority has been on the beyond. Seeing as they are the same class, I figured I'd mention it. 

[cmaleblanc]

On 2/18/2024 at 12:31 PM, hcat said:

Nice review..what was your itin?  

Glad you enjoyed it!

We are  booked for next January!

We went through the Eastern Caribbean.  

 

Purto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maartin, and DR. 

 

All ports where great, Purto Rico was funny, because most people seemed to just get off the bus walk to the end of the dock to the Wallgreens, get a few supplied, and head back. We walked the boardwalk a bit, but it was dead, nothing was going on at all downtown that day. 

[hcat]

nice ports.

. We usually do not get off in San Juan unless we need the drugstore  (long walk).  Many on our recent ASCENT cruise also stayed on board.

 

. But on many past trips we have been on a night time tour., toured both forts, shopped Old City, eaten  at many places..so for us  it's been there done that..

 

Due to the schedule  we never had enough time to take the rainforest tour or bioliminescent bay..they sound great

[cw2go]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! 

 

I also just came off the same sailing. IMO it was the best post covid sailing of 4 that I've taken. 

The vibe was fun and the crew were amazing! Food options and portion sizes are much improved! 

 

Only thing in contrary that I want to mention is that they did have decorations for Valentines. Saw heart shaped balloons and cutouts throughout the shops and the martini bar area. 

 

Patty 

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

Any feedback on the entertainment and evening shows?

We’re sailing in March and the bands/shows are not even mentioned on the app for our sailing! 

[Dottymac]

Thank you for such a positive post. Great to read. 

[cw2go]

7 hours ago, NEW 2 CRUISIN said:

Any feedback on the entertainment and evening shows?

We’re sailing in March and the bands/shows are not even mentioned on the app for our sailing! 

 

I'm usually not wow'ed by the ship shows on Celebrity but Rockumentary was fantastic! 

 

Pool deck dance party was a huge hit! 

 

The guest magician was fun! 

 

Game shows were hit and miss. 

 

Patty 

 

 

Edited February 26 by cw2go

[CruisinShips]

Nice review.  We were on the Apex the week before and it was also one of our favorite cruises ever. Not for the ports, but just because of the ship itself and the amazing staff.

 

Is it me, or are we starting to see many more positive posts/reviews than we were seeing for a while?

[CruisingTheWaves]

On 2/19/2024 at 12:25 PM, cmaleblanc said:

We went through the Eastern Caribbean.  

 

Purto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maartin, and DR. 

 

All ports where great, Purto Rico was funny, because most people seemed to just get off the bus walk to the end of the dock to the Wallgreens, get a few supplied, and head back. We walked the boardwalk a bit, but it was dead, nothing was going on at all downtown that day. 

We love walking around San Juan. A few gems hidden in town so we make a few stops and head back to the ship! I like hearing that it was quiet, I believe we are the only ones in port when I sail.

[cmaleblanc]

12 hours ago, NEW 2 CRUISIN said:

Any feedback on the entertainment and evening shows?

We’re sailing in March and the bands/shows are not even mentioned on the app for our sailing! 

 

We didn't go to many shows ourselves this time, mainly because they were all the same as we had on the cruise the last time. We did see the comedian again, both the normal show and the Late-night adults-only show. Both are fun, but it's the same material as a year ago. 

 

as @cw2go mentioned, the Rockumentary was a great show again, this one has a little randomness to it, as you vote for the final song. We are the Champions who won this time. 

 

They offered Crystal and Tree of Life (I believe that's the name of it), both of which we had seen before, Crystal is a nice performance, we find the "tree of life" of whatever that production is, to be too abstract for us, it's one of those shows that the technology behind the production was more interesting than the production itself. So we skipped them this time. 

 

If you've never seen them, I recommend going at least once, in our case we took the extra free time and spent time at the sunset bar, or in the solarium when it was basically empty with people doing other things. 

 

On 2/19/2024 at 4:18 PM, cw2go said:

Only thing in contrary that I want to mention is that they did have decorations for Valentines. Saw heart shaped balloons and cutouts throughout the shops and the martini bar area. 

 

Thanks for the comment about Valentines, I did notice the balloons and I think a heart for people to take photos behind. But I was expecting more, our MDR didn't have anything special for the night. We did Specialty dining on Monday night instead, I was hoping that they would have a little more in the MDR for the special occasion.    

 

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

On 2/26/2024 at 7:39 AM, cw2go said:

 

I'm usually not wow'ed by the ship shows on Celebrity but Rockumentary was fantastic! 

 

 

AGREED!

ROCKUMENTARY was the entertainment highlight of the cruise for sure!!