We expected Food, Service, the stateroom, the beauty of the ship, embarkation, debarkation, all to be excellent. The ship the staff the port facilities met or exceeded seated all of these expectations. An exceptional surprise, universally exceeding our expectations, was the quality of the service, the friendliness of the staff and crew, the excellent service from our cabin Steward Wayan, the dining room staff, Waiter Denis, assistant Dwight, sommelier, and Specialty dining staffs, Tari, the martini bar staff Anthony and JayDe, staff that we met in the Oceanview dining area were all exceptional. Always greeting with a smile, often, the second time, by name. There were frequent requests to assist, to bring something, immediately recognizing that you were waiting to order a drink, preparation speed and drink quality at the martini bar that supported the central bar concept, refill of wine glasses at dinner, etc., these were outstanding and go well beyond just the sheer beauty of the ship or even the excellent quality and variety of food. We have enjoyed good cruises on good ships with good staffs but Celebrity Cruises you have outdone yourself! Our most sincere thanks to the Celebrity Cruise Corporation, to the Captain and the senior officers for encouraging this outstanding performance, and to the staff for delivering on all things large and small that made our every moment on the ship a true pleasure.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We did all of the pre-boarding registration so our embarkation was non-stop with the final step being the computerized facial recognition. It was minutes from transfer vehicle to that welcome glass of champagne. Very Well Done!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The service in all of the dining areas was outstanding. We made a point of enjoying the variety of the Oceanview and the other dining areas and could not come close to experiencing all of the excellent variety on the Edge, it seems the only way to be confronted with repetition is if you choose the same items. Our MDR was the Cyprus and our specialty dining was at the Steak House, Eden, Raw on 5, and Le Petit Chef with all providing an excellent experience. Of course the Fine Cut Steak House and Raw on 5 were excellent in service, food quality, and food selection as you would expect from any fine restaurant. Eden and Le Petit Chef also provided very good food, however, the selections are limited as the food matches the environment in Eden and the show in Le Petit Chef. Eden provided an amazing presentation of specially sourced items and while there was a bit of immersion with the unusual, it never interfered with the service, your private enjoyment of the food, the excellent choices of wine, and each other.
Le Petit Chef at Le Grande Bistro
5 out of 5
Le Petit Chef is a synchronized menu to performance concept. In order to maximize the enjoyment, you must pick the recommended menu which is good but with the performance it becomes an exceptional experience.
Oceanview Café
5 out of 5
Amazing variety, very well prepared, with great service. There was plenty of seating except one day when we had to skip a port due to high wind and seas. On that day, we joined others that took our lunch and went to other locations to enjoy in comfort.
Raw on Five
5 out of 5
If you enjoy seafood or sushi, this is a must. On a longer cruise, 10 days or more, on our next Celebrity cruise, we might book Raw on Five more than once.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
The Fitness Center, the Spa, the Solarium were all well appointed, comfortable, clean, quiet, and totally enjoyable.
Eden
5 out of 5
The entertainment at Eden may be a bit different, however, dinner at Eden was an absolute pleasure. The menu was wonderful, artistically presented, and sourced from outstanding locations.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We caught all but 2 of the evening shows. All were very good to excellent. The theater's comfort, its layout making most of the seats very close to the stage with excellent sight lines, the accompanying outstanding live music and and the theaters awesome performance technology added to every show.
Entertainment from the musicians in other locations and the bar staff at the Martini bar also thrilled the audiences along with the service of great libations.
The Theatre
5 out of 5
Intimate, great sight lines, comfortable, a sound and visual treat for all types of performances and for the movies shown there. Several performances extended into the audience and others at the edge of the stage were just a few meters away. The shows for the most part, exceeded our expectations.
Rooftop Garden
5 out of 5
Beautiful and reasonably well shielded from the normal at sea winds. It is beautiful, a great place to enjoy a drink or a movie, and comfortable.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our Room Steward Wayan was very helpful, kept the stateroom spotless, and went out of his way to assist our every need. Throughout the ship whether at the MDR with Denis, Dwight and our sommelier, or at the specialty restaurants with Tari we had great service that was professional and friendly. We also had great service in the Oceanview whether at 06:30 grabbing a quick breakfast before gathering for a guided tour, or mid afternoon, we always had friendly helpful service. Val in the Ocenaview and Anthony and JayDe from the Martini Bar knew our names and preferences so we often could get our libations ordered with just eye contact and a nod. It was wonderful and we can't come close to mentioning all of the staff that made the cruise special.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
This one is easy. The Celebrity Edge layout from the Grand Plaza, the Martini bar to the main restaurants, the multi purpose Magic Carpet, etc., met or exceeded the very high expectations we had. Large fast elevators with their direction lighting, excellent direction displays in the hallways assisted the excellent design with excellent directions.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The size of the Infinite Veranda cabin was very nice at over 240 sq ft., was very comfortable with lots of storage, and it was maintained very well and was very clean. Count us among those that love the infinite veranda concept. Whether on a hot sunny day, or a day with bad weather, or breakfast with the ship underway, we were able to enjoy that space that is normally the outside balcony. When the weather permitted, or for early morning photography for example, or in port on a pleasant day, the enjoying the fresh air was just a push button away.
Ship tip
If you choose Le Petit Chef, be prepared to go with the recommended menu. Only the recommended menu is in sync with the very well and technically amazing show. There are alternatives but then you would be out of sync with the show.
We arrived a week early and went on guided and self organized tours. On our other ports our focus is the guided tours offered by Celebrity but for Civitavecchia itself, nearby Ostia Antiqua, and the tourist friendly, historically interesting, and beautiful nearby Rome makes this port a repeat bucket list destination.
We took Celebrity's tour of Capri. Capri is beautiful and the tour well worth the effort, but almost half of the time is transportation from the ship then by bus to the tour location.
We took Celebrity's excursion to the Flamenco Show At Son Amar. The travel was beautiful and interesting and the show with tapas and sangria was wonderful.
At this overnight port, we took we took Celebrity's excursion to the Abbey at Montserrat on one day and Gaudi's Barcelona the other day. Barcelona deserves an overnight as a worthy book end for embarkation at Rome. Both excursions were excellent and the Gaudi's Barcelona excursion, as we had hoped featured a guided tour through the Sagrada Familia. We last visited Sagrada Familia 18 years ago and it was amazing to see the great progress in the project.
We took Celebrity's guided tour of Monte Carlo. It was well done and gave us fabulous views, photo ops, entrance to the casino, and an informative guided tour experience.
We took Celebrity's guided tour of Florence: It was well done and while we had done this tour before, the guides provided so much interesting information and history, it was well worth the revisit.
The well ordered process along with the size of the ship and great service made disembarkation as easy as could be hoped for. To start the day, after we were ready to travel, we had a very nice sit down breakfast in the Cosmopolitan MDR. Afterwards we went back to our stateroom, no issues with elevators, and grabbed our airline carry-on bags and said goodbye to our cabin steward who was waiting patiently, but ready to add our cabin to the rooms in the changeover process. Once our debarkation number was called, from ship waiting area to picking up luggage, to seated on the bus was less than 10 minutes.
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