Jan 15

Jan 15 Day One - Embarkation Port Everglades

PRE-CRUISE AT HILTON MARINA FT. LAUDERDALE

We flew into Fort Lauderdale yesterday and spent one pre-cruise night at the Hilton Marina hotel in Fort Lauderdale, which is conveniently located less than 10 minutes from Port Everglades. As a pre-cruise hotel, I would say the Hilton Marina is average. Room rates are about $225 to $250 per night and there is an additional $30 per night “resort fee” that is supposed to include shuttle rides to the beach, high-speed internet and $20 in food and beverage credit. Don’t get too excited about the $20 F&B credit though. The breakfast buffet, which oddly is set up in the hotel’s ballroom, costs $31 per person!

EMBARKATION PROCESS

We were assigned an embarkation time of 11:00am - 11:30am. We ordered a Lyft ride from the hotel and arrived at the port at 11am, right on time! We had completed the online check-in process through the Celebrity app prior to arriving at the ship.

When we unloaded our luggage, porters took our luggage which would later be delivered to our stateroom. We were directed to the check-in area, which was not crowded at all. It was about 10:45am when we arrived for our 11am scheduled check-in. We expected to wait the 15 minutes, but were allowed to check-in ahead of time. First, our negative Covid tests were checked before we were allowed to proceed indoors where we put our hand luggage through the x-ray machines and passed through the security checkpoint. Just a few steps ahead we met Annette, who checked our boarding passes and determined that we needed to check in at The Retreat check-in desk. So, we walked back through security to The Retreat check-in area. We completely forgot that we had access to The Retreat on this sailing and missed the special check-in desk.

Once at The Retreat check-in, our boarding passes and passports were checked and, within 5 minutes, we were being escorted on board Celebrity Apex. The check-in and embarkation process was extremely efficient and smooth.

*Rickee checks in at The Retreat check-in desk*

Once on board, we were invited to drop our hand luggage in our stateroom and then enjoy lunch. Staterooms are not typically ready until 1pm, but Celebrity does allow you to drop your hand luggage in your stateroom and obtain your room keys, which are in sealed envelopes outside of the stateroom. One of the stateroom attendants was making up our bed when we arrived, so we just dropped our luggage and headed to Oceanview Cafe for a light lunch.

Oceanview Cafe is the ship’s Lido buffet located on Deck 14 aft and it is perhaps one of the most elegant buffet areas we have seen on any ship. The decor is Celebrity’s signature contemporary but the high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling glass walls really make the space look open and impressive. Watch our YouTube channel for a more in-depth review of Oceanview Cafe.

Instead of long, continuous service lines, Oceanview has several serving stations, or islands. This breaks up the traffic and makes it unnecessary to stand in long lines for extended periods. Each station has its own cuisine, so at lunchtime you might find Asian cuisine at one station, the Bakery at another, and so on.

We enjoyed a light lunch today since we have a 6pm reservation for dinner at Eden Restaurant. I did try one of the Indian specialties on the buffet along with a slice of pizza. Rickee had some fruit and a baguette. Everything was fresh, reasonably hot for a buffet, and tasted good. Even though we are not big buffet fans, we will definitely re-visit Oceanview Cafe during this cruise.

*A huge pan of fried chicken at Oceanview Cafe*

After lunch, we headed to our AquaClass stateroom (10223). The stateroom was now ready to be occupied and our first task was to shoot video and photos for our YouTube review of the stateroom. Just as we were finishing up our video walkthrough, we were made aware that we had the opportunity to “move up” to a Sky Suite! With tomorrow being my birthday, how could we refuse such an incredible opportunity?

Before long, a butler arrived to escort us to our Sky Suite (10152) located on the same deck, but more forward. The Sky Suite is much larger at nearly 400 sq. ft., comes with butler service and a host of other amenities. Don’t worry, we will do a complete review video of both the AquaClass Infinite Balcony stateroom and the Sky Suite. So, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel (@cruisereport) and click the Notification Bell so you get notified of our upcoming videos on Apex!

We barely had time to explore all that the Sky Suite has to offer before we had to get ready for our 6pm dinner reservation. We changed clothes and decided to check out The Retreat Lounge for a quick pre-dinner cocktail. The Retreat Lounge is a private lounge located on Deck 15 forward and is reserved for suite guests. The Retreat Lounge is a very comfortable and relaxed space and we plan to spend more time there during the cruise.

*We enjoy Prosecco at The Retreat Lounge*

We arrived at Eden Restaurant in time for our 6pm dinner reservation. We were seated at the aft most window seat with a view of the ship’s wake below us. The sun was setting as we arrived and it was a magical view.

*The view from our table at Eden Restaurant*

We enjoyed our meal at Eden and will, of course, be delivering a full review on our YouTube channel soon. After dinner, we tried our luck at the casino, which was a painful reminder of why we should never step foot in a casino again! With our pockets a bit lighter, we decided to watch the Patriots vs. Bills on the television in our Sky Suite, so it was an early night for us!

Tomorrow is a day at sea aboard Celebrity Apex. More to come!