Pre-Inaugural Cruise on the Celebrity Edge
11/27/18 to 11/29/18

Click on the above link buttons that will take you directly to a particular page or area of the review; or you can just click through to the next page at the bottom of each page.
Page 1 – Embarkation & Restaurants,
Page 2 – Lounges, Entertainment, Eden, Rooftop Garden, Retreat & Outer Decks
Page 3 – Spa & Other Venues
Page 4 - Cabins
Page 5 – Dining and Shows (including Eden show)

Dining

With this being only a 2-day cruise, we didn’t get to experience many of the restaurants; but what we did try were just outstanding. The specialty restaurants were by invitation only, so we didn’t get to try them. Although, one of the activities on the second day was the Taste of Edge, where we could go to each of the restaurants and get a sample of one of their specialties. As expected, they were very good at the specialties and complementary restaurants. With this being our 51 cruise and 22nd on Celebrity, I have to say that Celebrity has certainly stepped up their game in the food department. Celebrity has always been better than most of the mainstream lines; but it is even better on the Edge.

Main Dining Rooms – We were assigned to the Normadie Restaurant the first night and Tuscan Restaurant the second night. This gave us the opportunity to try the exclusive items for those two restaurants. The menus are the same each night in the four restaurants, except for three exclusive appetizers and three exclusive main courses. They are the same ones each night, where the other items change as is normal. Because we were on a cruise designed mainly for travel agents to experience the new ship, each of the restaurants also had a Taste of Edge menu with a single appetizer entre from each of the four restaurants, to provide us with the ability to try something from each of the restaurants. When I asked the waitress about this menu, she said that I could order all four, since they were small amounts. I made the wrong assumption that they had a small taste of each of the items on one plate. When she brought the first one, I realized that she was going to bring four full size appetizers to me. I knew not to eat each one of them, since I also had a dinner coming. They were all delicious. It will be a challenge choosing which restaurant to go to in January. I am glad that we have select dining, so we can try each one.

As shown earlier in this review, each restaurant has its own unique style and is beautifully decorated. I like this new concept for Celebrity. Being in a smaller dining room with some different menu items is a real plus for us.

Oceanview Café – We only got to eat one breakfast and one lunch in the buffet. This ship seemed to have more items to choose from, with several stations with different food types like Asian, Mexican, Indian, pasta, pizza, rotisserie and others. The food islands were well spaced out and easy to find with the large signs above them.

Luminae - With us being in a suite, we wanted to try Luminae. We weren’t allowed to go there for dinner; but we were allowed for lunch. There were some nice items on the lunch menu; but we didn’t want a full meal. We just had the Luminae Signature Burger. It was a very large burger and quite good; but not a light lunch. Photos of the meal items we had are with the menus; but I thought it was worth putting the Luminae Signature Burger photo here too.

Activities

Conversation with Celebrity – Since most of the passengers on this cruise were travel agents, there was an hour of Q&A in the theater with Celebrity CEO Lisa Lutloff Perlow and some of the other executives. It was nice to give people a chance to ask questions and hear what was happening from the top. Most people were praising the job that they have done with the Edge. One thing that impressed me that Lisa said was that the crew quarters have been significantly upgraded on the Edge and they are almost as nice as the passenger’s cabins. As some of the other ships get upgrades, they plan to improve the crew facilities on them also. Someone asked about the inability to use the shareholder benefit on most cruises; since it irritated their clients, since they can use them on other lines. Lisa said that they are aware of this issue and will hopefully have something to announce in the first quarter of 2019.

Entertainment

Eden Show - These photos and video are from the show that was performed in Eden. I don't know if it is the same show that will be performed for future cruises; but I would assume that it is similar.

Below are two videos from the show that show better what goes on during an Eden show.

With this being a very quick cruise, I didn’t have much time to check out the entertainment around the ship much; but I did go to the two evening production shows. As mentioned earlier the theater is amazing and an outstanding place to enjoy the shows and other activities put on there. These shows were designed to take advantage of theater in the round concept with the large panoramic video display behind and around the stage. These two shows are also geared more to the younger audience that Celebrity is trying to capture. The shows will be loved by some and despised by others; but there is plenty of entertainment on the Edge if the shows don’t appeal to you.

We didn’t get to see much of Cruise Director Maarten Bruels. But he did seem to have a good personality for the job. I hope he is still on for our January cruise on the Edge.

Jewelery Box – I was not crazy about the production show that had a story line. The story can be difficult to follow, especially since it can be a challenge to understand what the performers are saying. The video behind the performers with a lion talking to them was interesting and impressive, except he might have been given a deeper, more masculine voice. The singers had great voices and the dancers were just outstanding. For many people, I am sure that they loved the show. I enjoyed watching how they were using this new type stage; but unfortunately for me, I didn’t know the music, so I didn’t care that much for the show. Every once in a while, it sounded like they were going into a song I knew; but then it went into something else. I have a feeling that perhaps the music was created by Celebrity for this show. The lighting and sound were just outstanding though.

Hype – This show is described as “Fearless musicianship comes together with visual excellence to create this authentic music experience that will energize and inspire all.” This was a much better show for me, since I was familiar with most of the music and there was no story line, just performances. I found it unusual that most of the songs were sung by one guy. He was good; but the other guy and girl didn’t get near as much performance time.

With Edge’s outstanding sound system, it really did enrgize the audience. There were people standing up and dancing and others really getting into the beat of the music. I enjoyed the show; but I know that others didn’t care for it, by watching the number of people leaving before it ended.

Disembarkation

With this being a special cruise with a reduced passenger count, there was no disembarkation slots assigned. We just left when we were ready, as long as it was before 9:00 AM. I was surprised at how difficult it was to drag our wheeled luggage on the thick carpets throughout the ship. They are both of the 4-wheeled spinner type. I ended up having to just tilt and drag them on two wheels. It was quite a long walk to get through the terminal to the passport scanning. Once there, they used facial recognition. The machines had issues with some people, which slowed it down a bit; but it went quickly. Of course, with the cruise not stopping at a port, there were no issues about declaring purchases for duty.

The only issue we had was that with most of the people getting free parking at the garage, it took quite a while to get out. We normally use offsite parking, which we believe is much easier, faster and cheaper.

Recap

All I can say is that the Edge is an amazing ship and we look forward to spending a lot more time on her in January.