North Sea

Our last day onboard.

There are heaps of activities so after breakfast we did some duty-free shopping and then went to the theatre for a presentation on whales. The speaker was passionate about all thing's whales. It was worth watching.

The Celebrity Apex is only a few years old, so the decor is really modern, and the technology is a step up on our past cruise ships.

All the restrooms have touch free door openers. Your room has an internal verandah with an electric window, so you choose to have sea air or close it if it is chilly.

With sunset at 11:30pm and sunrise at 4:20am the block out blind is also electric. You can operate all these things from your phone on an app that also tells you every activity, location and start time.

Gone is the big formal dining room. Now there are four themed restaurants. You can dine at Normandy (French), Tuscany (Italian), Cyprus (Greek) or Cosmopolitan (international). Half the menu in each is the same standard fare but the other half are specialty dishes from that country. You really are spoilt with choice and the quality of food has been great.

There are also other fine dining restaurants that you pay extra to eat in.

The main buffet is open all day. Bread is made and baked in front of you. The main meals are plated for you by the staff, but salads and wet dishes are still self-serve.

You have multiple bars to choose from. There isn’t a pub but there is a small sports bar. All the bars have live musicians from midday. One bar hangs on the outside of the ship and moves up and down the floors.

The designers even put a garden on the top deck and the plants elsewhere are all real. Our cruise had 2600 on it but capacity is 3500. You really don’t feel cramped with the Apex configuration.

The concert tonight was a rock tribute. All the shows have been of a very high standard.

The kids get a Camp Out option. There is an area set up outside with tents. This cruise wasn’t really for kids though.

We received a note from Celebrity saying Rotterdam Central station is completely closed this weekend for renovation. The tickets we bought back home have us leaving there. After some fast footwork we cancelled and rebooked at the next station down the line. Rotterdam station is huge and much bigger than our Southern Cross station at home.

All packed now and bags are collected. Big travel day tomorrow.Read more