A much needed relaxing break

Celebrity Edge Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

chuckvtt

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 92

Overall rating:

4.4 out of 5

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 07, 2019

Ship: Celebrity Edge

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Overall, a very relaxing trip on a great ship. Some of my friends preferred the Solstice-class ships that we have sailed on many times before, I believe just due to familiarity. We've also noticed a progressively reduced sizing of cabin footage from Millennium-class, to Solstice-class, to this new Edge-class but that is only due to a crowded, competitive market trying to maximize margins. And unless you're planning on staying in your cabin the whole trip, it should not be an issue especially with the latest design having many areas to relax outside of your room. The ship never felt crowded or confining.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

On the new Celebrity Edge, they've done away with the Grand Ballroom main dining room and instead broke the open seating arrangement into 4 different themed restaurants; Normandie, Cosmopolitan, Tuscany, and Cyprus. At each restaurant, 75% of the menu is shared between the 4 restaurants with the standard menu that does not change daily and the portion which is different. Then 25% of the menu is set to the theme of each of the 4 restaurants and is the same items each day. So on any particular day, you can go to each of the 4 restaurants to see what is different that day, or you can go to a particular restaurant because you want to experience their individually themed menu and/or to have the same thing again. For example, the lamb shank at Cyprus was great and I had it twice in the 7 days.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

To be honest, my wife and I really did nothing but relax and hang out with our cruising friends at Cafe al Bacio (which has much more seating now than on the Solstice-class ships), Martini Bar, and some of the other lounges and seating areas. The Magic Carpet, while "cool", wasn't a huge draw for me, maybe because the weather was a bit hot and humid to my taste, so I stayed in the air-conditioned ship. There is less pool deck area because a portion of the top deck is partitioned off for the suite guest in their Retreat area. The "martini-glass" jacuzzis was a nice change, relaxing in the sun, a deck above the other pool-going patrons, so it was not as crowded or noisy. My friend who does yoga and meditation classes said the "quiet" room was a bit small, especially at the start of the cruise.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Because I wake up at 3 am when not on vacation, I rarely stay up to catch the evening shows. I did see the comedian on the first night and he was fine. There was a speaker from NASA during one of the days and if I had paid attention to the daily newspaper or used Celebrity's new phone app, I probably would've known about it ahead of time rather than just catching the end of it, so that's on me.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

I think the staff is still getting used to the ship. I came across some of the staff from previous cruises and as usual, they gave me great service. But sometimes when asking for directions or for help, some of the staff seemed to be at a loss for how to direct me. As a silly example, I asked someone working the toaster in the Oceanview cafe for sourdough toast, he told me he didn't have any. The next day, a friend tells me they have it across the way from the "toaster" at the bakery, but they were at a loss to make toast there until I told them that putting it in the panini griller would be fine for toasting the bread. Little things, but which can distract from the relaxing nature of vacation, lol

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Brand new ship from November '18, great condition and great design, we especially loved how this ship seemed to use a lot more bay windows to let natural light in the gathering areas.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

We booked this trip at the last moment to see friends that were on the ship so this was our "cheapest" accommodation, an oceanview cabin. Maybe it was that all we wanted to do was relax and hang out with friends that this cabin was perfect. My wife usually at some point on the trip wants to relax and enjoy the ocean by herself on the balcony, but since this was only a 7-day trip, that wasn't an issue. And for some reason, the room "felt" bigger even though the square footage is actually smaller. Also, liked that the bathroom didn't have cabinets with doors, but a lot of shelving so easier access to everything.