Celebrity Apex Sunset Verandah

Stateroom – The stateroom was a decent size, although the wardrobe was a little small, not much hanging space for dresses and was quite awkward to get to as the door opened in a narrow area by the side of the bed. The safe inside the wardrobe was extremely small. The shower was a good size with an opening curved door, no curtain. The balcony is probably the same width as a standard balcony but is much much deeper offering sun and shade. It is all immaculately clean and of course new and well cared for by Hector who took care of us very well. We didn’t order breakfast in our stateroom because we could see anywhere to eat it as there wasn’t a table, just a small one on the balcony more like a foot stool. It is a good view and decent balcony but the nearest lifts are quite a way but good if you want to get your steps in.

Public areas and Restrooms – Beautifully designed, all immaculately presented and comfortable variety of seats. The restrooms are spotless and the entrance and exit doors are hand sensor so no need to touch.

Food – First night at Normandie one of the included restaurants provided adequate selection, excellent quality and plentiful. All of the included restaurants have not disappointed. The buffet has also been good but that is helped by the reduced capacity on the ship. The only criticism was the poached eggs were cold at the buffet on three occasions but apart from that, couldn’t fault it.

Drinks – Looking at a drinks menu on you phone in the sun is not always that practical or convenient when you don’t carry a phone with you all the time. I wish they could have a drinks menu stood in a plastic block that could be easily sanitised or just do what the dining rooms do and provide a basic paper copy. Choosing a Cocktail or Martini is like shopping, I want to be inspired to try something different.

Staff – They are very attentive and friendly, we were very lucky because there was 900 passengers to 900 crew so service and attention was good. We had a problem with noise in the ceiling of our stateroom my husband went to the guest relations desk and before he got back to the cabin the staff were already there. Very prompt and efficient.

Entertainment – The entertainment was excellent from musicians around the ship, the show and guest entertainers, all exceptional. The theatre is state of the art and provides wonderful stage settings. When not in use the theatre is lit up like an aquarium.

Poolside – As the ship was well below maximum capacity there were plenty of places to sit on a port day but on sea day all the socially distant sun beds by the pool were taken. May not be very pleasant at full capacity. We sat on Deck 15 near the spa tub convenient for shower and toilet but nobody came round for drinks orders, I suppose the only way to order is to use your phone. I preferred to sit away from the pool because some of music was quite loud and I think aimed at a younger passenger (I am 54).

Excursions – we took a cooking excursion to a Greek home on Mykonos. The owner did a humorous but very informative demonstration on Greek food using volunteers from the group to assist. The bus had socially distance markings of X on alternate rows and seats.
On Rhodes we just picked up the Hop On Hop Off bus at the port exit and then we had a wander around (€12 per person Red Route for 1 hour). There was no social distance all seats were in use and taken
Dubrovnik – we opted for the ships shuttle in to town ($12 pp day pass) There was no social distance, all seats were in use none were X out.

WIFI – we had the regular unlimited WIFI (not streaming) but found it to be slow especially in our stateroom it did improve whilst port. If you have a btinternet email address it is really problematic, it is painfully slow. When we changed our package over to our iCloud email address it was totally different. The i-lounge staff are very helpful and persevered until they have resolved issues but they were always busy with guests which speaks for itself. It wasn’t too much of an issue for us as we like to forget technology whilst on holiday. I hope one day the drinks menus will appear back on the tables as I do not carry my phone with me every evening.

Overall – The ship is a designer’s paradise something different around every corner and wonderfully presented. A week wasn’t really long enough to experience all the areas. We have been used to smaller simpler ships and they benefit in other ways in that all the staff know your name by memory not by technology and you can get from one venue to another quickly. It is a personal preference on what suits you.

COVID-19 – The Lateral Flow test in Athens was very efficient and the result was fast. They give you a ticket with a number and you had to wait to see you number appear on the screen which meant that your test was fine and you could proceed to boarding. For return travel, on day 2 or 3 the ship asked everyone to make an appointment for return home test, best to go as soon as possible to get a decent time slot so as not to interfere with any excursions. The result is provided as a hard copy in cabin. The ship has all the social distancing measures in place but you will always get those who don’t want to comply. We had no qualms about stepping off the lift if too many got in, better safe than sorry. For the airport try to have paper copies of proof of Vaccine, Negative test results, Locator form with QR. If you don’t have paper ensure you have a photo on your phone, or photo or file on your iPad. They do not want you opening links at Airline checking, it all needs to be ready or you can’t join the queue.