We were now about to now cross the Pacific on the beautiful Celebrity Edge. It was to be an 18 day cruise with 13 sea days; the longest cruise we had ever been on. We would cross the Equator and International Dateline, visit New Zealand and Tahiti before pushing on to Hawaii.
The Edge was launched in 2018 as the first of a new class. It carries 2900 pax with a crew of 1300. At 130,000 tons it is slightly bigger than the Solstice with about the same number of pax. Everything on board is different. It represents Celebrity’s attempt to move up from a “premium” cruise line to a “luxurious” one. In our view they greatly succeed. This was to be the best cruise we have ever gone on!
We decided not to opt for the drink package due its high cost. Instead, we brought on many bottles of wine that were duly detected by scanning but never objected to by the security staff. We were going to celebrate our 40th anniversary again and also Dave’s birthday. This excuse seemed to work with them.
The shows on the edge were fantastic. We would alternate between the 7 and 9 pm shows depending on our dining arrangements. We saw large cast stage shows, comedians, singers, instrumentalists, acrobats and even a hypnotist. Many of the entertainers were from Australia and were very talented.
The port stops were Bay of Islands and Auckland in New Zealand and Raiatea, Moorea and Papeete in Tahiti. In New Zealand we wandered around, enjoyed the local sights and bought some great wine. In Tahiti we took an outrigger boat excursion, Dave went snorkelling and we went to several little beaches that were absolutely beautiful and later picked up some souvenirs. We did not particularly like Papeete the capital as it was jammed with traffic, noisy and too darn busy. Moorea and Raiatea were simple, calm and stunning. Sadly, our ship was too big to put into Bora Bora, the jewel of Tahiti. Hightlight was probably the quiet little beach stop in Raiatea – calm, uncrowded, pristine.
The food of course is the best part of a cruise. The Edge has 4 separate dining rooms, 4 or 5 specialty restaurants and of course the Oceanview Cafe buffet. We frequented almost all of the restaurants. The service, food selection and quality were truly amazing. Best meal was filet mignon and lobster tail in the Finecut Steakhouse on Dave’s birthday. Our anniversary dinner in Eden was very memorable too.
The best part of this cruise were the 13 sea days. With nothing to do but relax and enjoy the ship’s amenities, we got quite into a calm state that lasted for weeks after the cruise. Never bored, we found somewhere on deck to relax before we went for our next meal. The walking track was a long one and well laid out. The hot tub was never crowded. The pool was large and inviting. The last night there was an all white party on deck with live music. The 7 piece orchestra on board was consistently 5 star. Our only complaint was the wifi would often drop out as we moved around the ship forcing us to log in again.
The cruise ended in fantastic controversy. Approaching the sacred and pristine Na Pali coast off Kauai, our ship’s captain Matt decided to do a 360 Deg turn. We were very close to shore to start with. In our view, as the 1000 ft long ship spun around, we went well within the 1000 foot minimum distance that ships are supposed to keep from shore.There was nothing unsafe about it but it did stir up the sea bed and visually disrupt the sacred nature of the area. Captain Matt said after that he was not aware of the 1000 foot limit. After an investigation, the State of Hawaii recently decided not to pursue charges and I speculate that Celebrity promised not to do it again. It was surreal and stunning how close we were. It gave us something to talk about and boast that we were there lol.
We disembarked in Honolulu, rented a car and drove to the north shore of Oahu for some fresh shrimp and a swim. We stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation and then headed back to the airport. Had a very smooth flight home via Vancouver. What a vacation! Thanks for travelling it with us!
Trip By The Numbers
- Solstice cruise to Sydney 4525 nm = 8,380 km
- 13 nights, 4 ports, 9 sea days
- Edge cruise to Honolulu 6319 nm = 11,702 km
- 18 nights, 5 ports, 13 sea days
- Total distance travelled by air from Ottawa to Mexico to Singapore to Honolulu to Ottawa 29,000 km
- Total trip distance 49,077 km
- Circumference of earth 40,077 km
- Days away from home counting Mexico 138
- Our longest and best trip ever
- Keep on travellin’ folks!
mattersofthemoment 