I just finished Celebrity's survey that they email you post-cruise, but it did not give me a chance to say what I really wanted about this much anticipated cruise. Instead, this is going to be a really long review so I can get it all said!

As an introduction, I am soon to be 65 and my husband is soon to be 68 with our son who is 18 and starting college in August. We live outside Philadelphia and have been retired for a few years. So after our Med Cruise from Barcelona to Venice on the Constellation in July 2019, I booked a British Isles and Iceland cruise on the Reflection for July 2020. Our son was going to be 16, so instead of a Royal Suite, I booked a Corner Aft Sky Suite with an adjoining (through vestibule) stateroom for him. I was assured it would be no problem for him to join us in Luminae when he chose to grace us with his presence for meals (usually only Dinner, and then begrudgingly, once he found his friends onboard in the Teen club). Then COVID happened and our 9 month old granddaughter (we have two older, married daughters) was scheduled for surgery to correct a congenital heart defect in July 2020. We cancelled just 48 hours before all cruises were cancelled for that summer, so we got FCC rather than a refund. I have to say it felt like our money was being held hostage, but I truly did not want to see Celebrity, or other cruise lines, go bankrupt (like some private tour companies did in Iceland, taking my refunds with them).

Finally, there was an Ireland/Iceland cruise on the Apex 26 June 2022 that had some of the same port stops as our original Reflection Cruise and booking an S3 Sky Suite along the Magic Carpet with an adjoining inside stateroom for our son used up MOST of our FCC. I had been wanting to try an E-class ship since the Edge was announced, so this seemed to be the right choice for our FCC. Surely COVID would be a distant memory by 2022, I thought. Our son turned 18 in October 2021 and I was unable to see his reservation or link it to our own, despite the fact that we were paying for it. It wasn't until our cruises showed up on the app on my phone that I could book shore excursions or make dining reservations for him after linking our reservations. On a more positive note, he was finally given his own Captain's Club number and credited for all the cruising he had done with us thus far, making him a Select member. The itinerary was altered, dropping the overnight in Akureyri and adding Isafjordur in Iceland. Dublin (which we had been to before) was replaced by a sea day, making it a total of 6 days at sea for a 12 day cruise! That may be okay in warm climates, but really a bummer when it's too cold to enjoy the outdoor areas on the ship. I understood that was because of the impact Brexit had on cruise ship berths in the now more commercially busy port of Dublin, but for the life of me, I don't know why Cobh was switched to Dunmore East. Having already done Waterford and Blarney Castle, there weren't too many excursion options that appealed from Dunmore East. It was a quaint town, but I would have liked to have gone to Cork. But, I get ahead of myself. Read more