Disappointed

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 79

Review summary

I apologize in advance for the overly detailed review. At the cruise critic event on board, the Captain requested that we be specific on issue we found with the ship. Also, we are loyal Royal/Celebrity cruisers with over 30 Cruises and we just want to insure other cruisers are informed before selecting the Edge. Embarkation: Very quick and easy. You could drop bags in the room as soon as on board. Infinite balcony Stateroom: Our first infinite balcony room on deck 6 forward had a view of about 20’ of blue painted steel. We had to argue with guest services to have our room changed to a new room. Changed to a deck 9 Infinity Balcony. The room was nice except the “balcony” was useless. This should have been called an ocean view with opening window. We liked the extra space but was not a balcony. When the window was open, the room instantly filled with humidity and the air conditioning turned off. There were times in port when the window would not open. When sleeping at night, other cabins close by would open or close the windows made so much noise it would wake you up. The fake doors to the balcony would barely close, get in the way and did nothing to stop the room overheating. Storage in the room was strange. The new room layout Royal uses on Symphony, Harmony and Anthem is awesome. This is a step back. Only room for about a foot of hanging items without hitting an immovable bar. Lots of very small cubbies that could not fit much. Designers went for look and not function. The bathrooms on the ship were the largest and best laid out on any ship. Unfortunately, the shower did not drain and flooded the bathroom because the perimeter drain was tied to the shower drain. Also, the spray nozzle in the shower was broken so the shower head would not stay in place. This is not what we would expect for a new premium ship. An odd annoyance was no indicator to put on the door to let the attendant know you were not in the room. They had to knock to see if the room was open to make up. Also, no towel animals. Dining: Ocean view Café was excellent. We did not specialty restaurants only because we liked or fixed seating table. The dining on the ship was a real disappointment since we did not rotate restaurants we were limited to the same food menu. I asked about prime rib or beef tenderloin but was told we can only get this if we leave our table and go to another restaurant. We ended up eating the same meals almost every night. Most nights our server steered us away from at least three dishes that other diners complained about. Food was mediocre at best. In the past, Celebrity food was a step up from Royal but this was a step down. Pool Area: We again were subject to the ‘new’ cruise experience were the only shade on the pool deck was located in the Cabana area that had to be paid for. The design of the hot tubs were ridiculous. These were located in full sun two stories up from the pool deck. In order to get to these, you had to walk up two flights of stairs or go to the forward elevators. Once of the two sets of stairs was through the smoking area. The music played at the pool was bizarre. For some reason, there was a jazz fusion band playing rather than a Caribbean band. Another strange item was serving glass bottles of beer to people in the pool. Retreat Area: One of the most annoying things about the ship was the Retreat area. All front views out of the ship were cut off unless you were in a suite. You cannot take the forward elevators up to deck 15 or 16. You must get off at 14 and walk up the stairs. On other Celebrity ships, this area is a lounge open to all. Ironically, we spoke to many Suite guests who complained of no shade in the retreat area as well. I get the need for additional revenue but to cut off over half of decks 15 and 16 is a bit much. Public Spaces: The Magic Carpet was nice. The Destination Gateway is a great idea. This ship was nice but not up to Latest Royal levels. The layout of all seating in the public spaces were all very low and very uncomfortable. The rooftop garden had awkward wooden seat that you could not sit on and cushioned seats with what looked like oil stains. The normally nice sunset bar had no shade and uncomfortable seating again which ruined the experience. Eden need to be repurposed. Very bizarre. Crew: Best crew we have experienced. Everyone we encountered were attentive, friendly and polite. Casino: Non Smoking which was awesome! Entertainment: The guest entertainers were great except when the played in the rooftop garden as it was blazingly hot with no shade and uncomfortable seats. The onboard entertainers, though talented, were a real letdown. Why would you put a jazz fusion band on the pool deck rather than a Caribbean band?? The on board shows were bizarre and was embarrassing to watch so many people walk out. Bingo was replaced with Deal or No deal where we give $25 to the cruise line and one person in the room wins $100? How is that fair? There were a few other that won a $10 match casino play! The best show was the Captain Dimitriue’s talk. Shops on Board: The stores were overpriced, no post cards of the ship, no Christmas ornaments of the ship, and no reasonably priced tee shirts. I have never had a hard time spending my on board credit and basically wasted it to use it up. The shop workers asked us to put this in our review as they are hurt by poor sales due to lack of merchandise. Debarkation: Customs and emigration had the facial recognition terminals which was a breeze. Until we got to our luggage. We stood and stared at our bags forever 15 minutes but were not allowed to touch them. Very disorganized luggage handling. They need to stop over at the royal terminal next door to see how it is done. To sum up, we paid a premium for this cruise in anticipation of the best cruise ever. It turned out to be the worst. I have written this review in the hope that this class of ship can be turned around. We love sailing Royal and Celebrity but will not be back to this Class without major changes.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

Key West, Florida

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

Cozumel, Mexico

George Town, Grand Cayman

Disembarkation

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