Celebrity Apex - European cruise - Aug 25


Not our usual trip but my Wife hadn't been on a cruise for some considerable time ( I've never been )so off to Southampton. We parked the car just across the car park to the dock, its a short walk to the embarcation point and process and be greeted by this mammoth ship.

I had no real expectations as I hadn't been on a cruise before (it had never really taken my fancy to be honest) but I'll give it a go - Mrs R had chosen it, and she's normally a pretty good judge of character so we were off on a short European cruise from Southampton for three days and the weather looked promising.

After checking in at the many the check in desks, this is a well oiled process if you're not really too sure of what you're doing then just follow everyone else - there seemed to be lots of seasoned professionals on board - we definitely weren't one of those. You don't see your bags from the point you drop them off at the check in - they are delivered to your room later.

There a various tiers and packages you can get - choose wisely or end up paying for extras such as Wifi or drinks once you are there.

We made our way to our muster point and we were given a safety briefing and then we were allowed to go to our cabin which was towards the rear of the ship, but a nice room, double bed a separate shower/ loo -plenty of space - good enough for what we wanted with a balcony that was able to open up the automated windows - so you get a nice view and fresh air if the weather was good (it was warm and no lumps and bumps on the seas at any part of our trip the ship)

We went exploring just to get a feel the multitude of decks and areas which feels like loads but after a day or so its all very familiar 

As you would expect lots of restaurants A la carte and also a really good buffet that to be honest if you complained about the food I'm not sure where you've been living all your life, there was plenty enough of everything to satisfy every single taste and catered for. coffee shops, bakeries, ice creams, pizzas etc


The shows in the theatre

Balcony views


Nice views from the bar at the back


A bar that went up and down the side of the ship




 double bed

on the walking / running track top deck and main pool

a smaller pool / jacuzzi



bar

one of the restaurants 


Main bar

We were lucky when a lot of the sea cruising was at night and we were able to stop at two or three destinations along the way which was really nice.

The ship also had shops, casinos, where they could relieve you of lots of money should you really want. that  were quite busy as well the bars but also of the great range of drinks you could keep drinking all day and all night if you really wanted to but there's only a certain amount of alcohol you can soak up

One of the stops is Brugges which is lovely stop ( you book the day trip as extra and they bus you in, about 30 minutes)- we were really lucky it was lovely bright and warm day, so walking around was a pleasure , but I can imagine in the rain and cold this would be a different story















We made one more stop - I cant even remember where it was, but you could walk into the town and do a bit of shopping if you wanted - all the usual shops that you find in any European city to be honest.

Quite impressive piloting, turning the ship around and a tug boat salute saw us heading back to UK overnight


After breakfast it was time to get ready to disembark- this time you are left to your own devices with your luggage and you leave knowing the crew are just turning it all around for next punters

Did I enjoy it , yes I did , but three days was enough for me, maybe if I was in the carribean sun it would be different, I felt a bit couped up  - but that's just me ! I can see why people like it. I just don't think I would enjoy the sea days - I definately prefer the skies to the seas.

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