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This was a getaway of many firsts for us: not only was this the first holiday season ever that we spent Christmas and New Year’s away from the comfort of our home, where we normally preferred to be during the holidays; but it was our first real vacation that we have taken in almost three years and our first cruise vacation since the summer of 2019. And, was also our first time sailing with Celebrity Cruise Ship. So, we were due to get back in the saddle of traveling again!
But wow! It was absolutely glorious to spend the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 aboard a cruise ship where we soaked up the luxury of complete rest and relaxation – having nothing planned, other than the most difficult decisions of wondering what outfits we were going to wear to dinner, which onboard bar to head to for pre-dinner drinks, and what island we’re exploring next besides sleeping in and vegging out.
We’re incredibly grateful to have spent the rest of twenty-twenty-two in such a restful way! This was one of the most challenging and wearisome years yet, so quality time together, away from life’s exhausting daily schedules to indulge in our favorite way to vacation and decompress, was the best present we could have given to ourselves. We’re still daydreaming about this much-needed downtime and have already planned our next cruise vacation.
Okay, so here’s our photo diary from our eleven-day holiday itinerary sailing the Celebrity Edge to the Panama Canal and South Caribbean.
First, let’s start with how beautiful the Edge class ship is with its chic modern decor. Being one of the relatively new cruise ships to debut in 2018, as would be expected, everything is shiny and new – something we appreciated very much. We especially valued all the elevated modernized features that made our traveling experience aboard this ship much more palatable. There was so much to take in, from the beautiful artwork throughout the ship to the appealing open outdoor spaces that incorporated a rooftop garden and lounge that evoke the feeling of an urbane city hotel with ocean views. The ship also features the unique Magic Carpet, a floating glass bar suspended off the vessel’s side that can move between decks and soars thirteen stories above the water. It effectively serves as a temporary deck extension and acts as a dining and lounge area perfect for catching the breeze of each island’s port while imbibing on your favorite drink at sea or docked.
Rich and I stayed in one of the staterooms with Infinite Veranda. The larger and very comfortable staterooms seamlessly connect the indoors and outdoors with the touch of a button, where your entire living space becomes the veranda, allowing you to enjoy unhindered, open-air access right out to the water’s edge. There are many modern amenities throughout the stateroom. We loved the big flat-screen TV across from the bed and the video-on-demand service, which is so nice for when you have some downtime or want to curl up in your cabin and catch up on some movies. Our two wound-down movies at night were Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (if you haven’t seen it… I highly recommend it), and It’s a Wonderful Life. The room also has well-executed, clean, brand-new bathrooms, that are on par with many high-end hotels. Double plus!
While part of the fun of cruising is getting to visit different countries, as serious foodies, the dining experience is one of the most important highlights of any voyage for us. Celebrity Edge boasts 29 different restaurants, bars, and lounges to satisfy any foodie’s palate. Unlike other cruise ships we’ve been on before, the celebrity edge ship offers not just one but four complimentary main restaurants, each with its distinguished design and ambiance. Eight restaurants are set aside as specialty dining, giving you a more intimate high-end experience for an additional surcharge. We ate at seven (only because we couldn’t get into the eighth one), starting with our first night onboard dining at Fine Cut Steakhouse. Let’s say, out of all the restaurants, our favorite one that we enjoyed the most and stood above them all with great food and service is, Le Grand Bistro. We loved this French-inspired restaurant! It was beautifully designed and well executed from the well-chosen music that transports you to a quaint NYC or Parisian restaurant. The delicious meal offerings on the menu and the cocktails were always incredible. The staff in this restaurant were so friendly and personable and made us feel special. They even always seated us at what became our favorite cozy ocean-view table. We ate there several times and were sorry to have given it a try much later during our trip. On our last day on the ship, we not only went back to this restaurant for lunch but made a reservation for one of their dinner concepts ‘Le Petit Chef and Family dining experience, where they bring the table to life in a fusion of entertainment and dining – featuring an animated “smallest French chef” that moves around your table and prepares your upscale, multi-course meal with the help of 3D projection mapping. This was our ultimate highlight and a superb way to end our last night aboard the ship. The other spot worth mentioning is…
This airy, open, and impressively spacious, eye-catching grand martini bar that spans three decks are designed with multi-story LED lights synchronized with music. Though fabulous, it didn’t quite call out to us. So, it took us a good while into our voyage before trying out this bar since we tend to gravitate to cozier and charming speakeasy-style bars, which this ship doesn’t offer. Also, you’re only left with a few other alternatives, as this bar serves as the central system of this ship. However, the atmosphere was great, with singers and musicians that come on during the late afternoons into the evening performing right in the center of the lounge, combined with the bartender’s energy showing off their signature moves – flipping bottles in the air, balancing bottles on their heads, and arms, and filling a line of martini glasses in a single pour. The bartender, Christopher from Jamaica was the friendliest and brought the greate energy. Despite having trouble finding a seat before dinner, we still enjoyed spending time at this bar.
Cartagena Columbia: We took our time to select the perfect tour for this port (or so we thought). The tour description sounded interesting, with just the right amount of things we wanted to do. It was supposed to be a panoramic sightseeing tour of the walled city of Cartagena, with a few quick stops in between. In the beginning, we were to travel along mansion-filled streets to see one of their old forts. Well, they should have stated, ‘travel along the rattiest streets of collapsed buildings behind the walled city,’ because not a mansion was to be found, and when the bus let us out at the fort, we were attacked by a swarm of street vendors that made even taking one step impossible. The street vendors were so ruthless and unrelenting that we couldn’t explore or take many photos. They literally surround you to the point of suffocation and do not take no for an answer. We only had 10 minutes to roam around and couldn’t even last outside the tour bus (which didn’t matter because they came onto the bus) at this stop for more than 5 minutes because you could not enjoy the scenery due to their nuisance. The tour guide did nothing to stop them either. It appeared that they were all in cahoots. In fact, as the bus was about to leave the “fort tour,” some young lady with a backpack that was not part of our tour or cruise came onto the bus, that even the tour guy didn’t know (because he was asking her who she was in Spanish not realizing there were a couple of us that do speak Spanish)… we didn’t quite hear what she said to him… so he proceeded to lie to us by saying, “she was a doctor… then he switched to her being a nurse and had to be on the bus in case some people’s blood pressure dropped since it was so hot.” Mind you; she looked like she was barely 20…😲
The next stop was supposed to be through the walled city to see some of the old town heritage, with some of the pictures they highlight on the excursion description, but they went ‘around‘ the walled city. Weirdly, they happened to take us to this bus station instead, with more scenery of blighted areas with a row of a handful of shops where that young lady got off the bus and disappeared. He insisted that everyone on the bus only enter this one store because it was evident that the tour guide received some kickback from them. Finally, after this unsettling experience, it was off to the navy museum. This was probably the only part of the tour worth the price, which has nothing to do with the museum, but there was a minor 10-minute performance of native folk dances before entering the museum. Finally, after the museum, we were taken back to the port and dropped off at another location far from the ship. We had to walk through a lovely aviary that softened the blow of not being informed of this beforehand. The point of the drop-off was to make sure you ventured into their port store before going back onboard. But nowhere did we read that we’d be dropped that far away from the ship in the middle of scorching weather. Several older couples on the bus were bemoaning how they wouldn’t be able to walk from the drop-off point so far away from the ship. Suffice it to say this tour was quite a letdown and a joke. Stay away from this one.
A couple of people who were just as upset about this tour also said they were going to complain to the shore excursion staff, which took us a couple of days to find someone at their station. Because they strategically open only when people are getting ready for dinner, at dinner, or at the theatre and close before the theatre lets out. We had to skip pre-dinner cocktails in order to get them during their small hours of operation. The first lady I spoke with tried to convince us there was nothing wrong with the tour. I asked to speak with the manager. This guy David came out who was rude and seemed to have been more ready to impress his subordinate on how he would tell us the same thing. He even said to us that “this tour we picked was for pretty much-handicapped people who couldn’t get off the bus to walk. And I tried asking him how come that was not mentioned in the tour, nor did those “handicapped older ones” themselves even know that they were going to be dropped over 300 yards away from the ship. But they still insisted on trying to convince us that the tour was for invalids and couldn’t understand why we felt unsettled by having someone with a backpack that wasn’t part of the paid tour or cruise get on the bus.
We mentioned this to another manager onboard that told us he brought it to the attention of someone in that department, and he was told they would contact us, which they did not. Then, on our way to our Curacao tour excursion, we ran into Alexandra, whom we were told by other passengers, is over the excursion department and would be the one we needed to see. We told her about our Cartagena incident, and she told us she’d look into it and get back to us, and she never did. We’re hoping maybe she put a message or a refund for this one for us in a bottle, and we are still waiting for it to arrive on land.
Panama Canal: This was another area where confusion reigned supreme. There was nowhere in the excursion information that land tours were available for Panama. They evidently transfer you to land prior to going through the locks and pick you up on another side at the port later that evening. The only reason we found out was that it was mentioned by the cruise director that ‘folks would be going on excursions in the am’. Later during the cruise, we would speak with some guests that went on the tour and they said that it was not memorable nor as described, so I guess we dodged a bullet there anyway. The only positive here was chilling on the ship while going through the canal; seeing that firsthand was an experience!
Aruba Sunset Cruise: The beginning of this excursion was almost the end because the excursion personnel had a haphazard plan for managing the meeting location. They had a sign with an arrow on a board pointing to our particular excursion at a far distance, so we walked down only to be told that it was a different ship’s excursion. We had to walk back to the terminal, where we exited the boat and asked around to find out where our tour was leaving from and barely missed the departure by seconds. It was a fiasco! However, once that was all situated, and we finally got on the catamaran and heaved a sigh of relief, it turned out to be relaxing. The sunset in Aruba is beautiful; the moderate breezy temperatures and the calm waters make for a refreshing evening. It was far from the supposed ‘sunset cocktail cruise,’ where you’d sip on complimentary novelty drinks and enjoy Caribbean tunes. It was evident upon one sip that low-tier alcohol was used for the drinks appropriately served in those red plastic cups, not even the clear plastic cups they could have sprung for… given the excursion’s cost. You would have needed to pound at least ten cocktails to get a taste of alcohol. Again, another poorly described shore excursion.
Bonaire tour: This was a relaxing tour on a small bus that took us around much of the island. Aside from the appearance of a flamingo or two, an iguana or two, and a donkey or two, there was not much to look at on this tiny island. It would have been best to use this day as a sleep-in and relax on the ship day. Also, the tour guide made it clear that the locals there don’t appreciate all the ships dumping thousands of tourists on their little sacred island of only 22,000 inhabitants. Which honestly, is understandable. If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen my quick mention of stories of the little seaside huts that I’ll write about in a different post.
Curacoa: This was touted as a ‘taste of curaçao’ tour. Our bus journey began with driving over the island’s tallest floating Queen Emma bridge in the Caribbean, which took us to a small shopping village with restaurants for a walking tour. Our sweet tour guide attempted to share the little town’s history with us, but due to a lack of understanding of her, it turned out to be a haphazard and boring walking tour. We then headed off to the distillery, a prominent feature of this tour – a stop to “taste world-famous Curaçao liqueur” right from the source. Well, think of a little spittle cup from the dentist with a drop that barely moistens the tip of your tongue. That was the tasting we got. However, you did get a prominent taste of people all over you and on top of you in the shops, stepping on you with no cares in the world. Yes, plenty of helping of that! We all wondered how many tour buses full of people you can cram in such a small facility. Seemingly, hundreds are not enough because they kept pushing more people in. You couldn’t help but run out of the shops instead of purchasing anything. Although we miraculously managed to risk our lives to pick up a small box of the curacao liqueur sampling for a couple, we are friends with.
The next stop was for lunch at a beachside café at one of their most famous beaches, located at an outdoor resort mall, to have some local food. This was the highlight of this tour that sort of gave us a sampling of the taste of Curacao. Curacao’s food is an eclectic blend of cuisines that is as diverse as its culture and history and simply delicious. We shamelessly consumed a delectable homemade beef soup served with rice and beans, sweet plantains, and stewed potatoes with the right firmness yet well-seasoned.
Our excursion debacles with this cruise line remind us why we always opt for private tours when we take cruises. Except, this vacation was not one we wanted to wear ourselves out, covering the most ground like a fast-ticking clock with nearly no time to catch our breath. It was one for pure relaxation. Besides, we also had high expectations for the celebrity cruise line. Lesson learned.
Disappointingly, the service was below subpar, if that’s even possible. In all our twenty-three years of cruising, we never have come across such an indifferent and unfriendly frazzled staff. There’s no denying that the team works hard on these ships. Still, the staff’s demeanor is a reflection of upper management, based on our encounter mentioned above with the excursion personnel department. It was the first time (EVER) cruising to have encountered such rudeness with an employee onboard (referring to David, “the excursion manager” above). He could have been cordial and just lied to us by saying what Alexandra said, “I’ll look into it for you,” which she never did. But to treat us like inconsequential guests again shows this cruise line’s poor customer service quality. We even had a mishap with laundry. Only nine pieces of laundry were in the bag, and they lost my husband’s Levi’s jeans for a few days. It wasn’t until the last hour (after daily phone calls to guest services and our room’s steward) that the jeans were finally brought to us the afternoon before disembarkment the next day.
The nervous energy from the frazzled unfriendly staff left us feeling unsettled, so we didn’t get to use the spa at all during this cruise. Overall, despite the many faux pas that left a bad taste in our mouths, there were some positive moments that I’d be amiss if I didn’t give credit to. One, even though our attempt to attend one of the art auctions didn’t pan out, we were delighted to have been gifted a small artwork print from the gallery for guessing the price of an art piece which was a memorable memento to bring home. I can’t wait to get it framed and hung in our house! Receiving that small gift felt like a consolation prize after the first couple of times when they had us guess the size of the artwork but never told us that we’d have to be at the auction to find out if we guessed correctly/won. We assumed we’d get a call in our room to tell us whether we won. Two, there are several staff members I’d like to mention and give personal thanks for having treated us kindly and made us feel special: Danuta Nosidlak, hotel director. Nenad Rustom, head of restaurant operations, always ensured that we received excellent service at the restaurants. Criss, the waiter at Cosmopolitan restaurant, and the staff at Le Grand Bistro, especially Dan.
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