Meet Our Competition Winner | Jillian's Journey on Celebrity Apex
Celebrity Cruises are known for offering unforgettable cruise holidays across the globe, with ships that utilise the latest in technology and that boast stylish décor, dazzling entertainment and spectacular cuisine. With a fleet of 16, and one on the way (Celebrity Xcel) in 2025, they are continually improving the cruise experience that they provide guests.
Recently, one of our customers was lucky enough to cruise onboard Celebrity Apex, after winning a competition we ran on social media. The competition in question was to win a getaway with Celebrity Cruises sailing from Southampton to Europe in 2024, with the only exception that it couldn’t be in July or August. The winner, Jillian, selected a cruise departing in October, sailing from Southampton to the Canary Islands and Portugal in an Infinite Veranda cabin.
The Itinerary:
- Depart from Southampton, UK
- At Sea
- Porto, Portugal
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Las Palmas, Gran Canaria
- Santa Cruz, Tenerife
- Funchal, Madeira
- At Sea
- La Coruna, Spain
- At Sea
- Southampton, UK
After enjoying her cruise onboard Celebrity Apex, Jillian had the following to say about the experience:
I started my cruising journey early. My first trip was on Queen Elisabeth 2 to New York. Little did I know that just a couple of years later, the iconic twin towers would be gone and our approach to the city by ship would have changed forever.
I have since totted up a fairly long list of cruise lines, ships and cabin options - spanning everything from Costa Cruises, to MSC Cruises, P&O Cruises, Marella Cruises and Cunard to Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises. I've stayed in cabins ranging from inside cabins to balconies, concierge and Aqua Class to a (probably one-time-only!) Grill Class cabin on Cunard’s Queen Victoria.
I have also been fortunate to visit some stunning destinations, including the eastern and western Med, Northern Europe, Norway, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Alaska and my recent trip to Portugal, Spain and the Canary Islands on Celebrity Apex.
This trip was special in many ways; the first and most amazing of which being that I actually won it in a Facebook competition run by Iglu Cruise (I mean who knew that people actually won these?!).
This trip also departed from Southampton – and although I am from Scotland, so the drive was a bit of a trek, leaving from a UK port was a delight – we just parked the car and we were literally on the ship twenty minutes later and headed to the buffet for the good times to begin.
Celebrity Apex also turned out to be quite a different ship to the other Celebrity ships I have been on (Celebrity Silhouette, Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Millenium). It is a new ship (I think 2021) and is very stylish and modern in design.
My Infinite Veranda Stateroom
One of the standout features of Celebrity Apex for me are the unique balconies found in many of the rooms. These are almost inside/outside spaces and lead to the cabins feeling much larger, lighter and definitely airier.
It isn’t easy to explain these (pictures are better than words so I’ve included some) but the balcony is basically an integral part of the room – there is a huge window that slides down from the top the normal balcony shelf level and opens the whole room up to the ocean views but there are also bi-fold doors that you can shut to effectively seclude the balcony area from the rest of the room. In short I think it is a very, very cool idea and loved the option of having a large breezy bedroom as well as the balcony space.
Infinite Balcony
The cabins themselves have lovely modern designs in cool colours (a little Ikea’ish perhaps for some) but I also love Ikea so no complaints from me. There is a huge TV opposite the bed and plenty free to view movies for sea days and a spacious bathroom (the biggest I think I’ve ever had) plus loads of storage – so on the whole I give the cabins a massive thumbs up.
Celebrity Apex’s Public Areas and Bars
The ship's public areas are all light, bright and exceptionally beautiful. I was especially fond of Eden, which reminds me of a tropical garden. The theatre is state-of-the-art with fantastic A-V features and the ship also has lots of pool options - indoor and outdoor - plus a plethora of indoor and outdoor bars.
Craft Social, The Magic Carpet and Le Club
Our cruise was full but there was still plenty of space for everyone, everywhere. Whether you wanted to cosy up in the Craft Social bar, pose in the Martini Bar, chill out in the main auditorium or Eden with some live music, laze around the pool or on the sundecks.
Dining Onboard Celebrity Apex
Like most cruise ships there are a lot of dining choices included in your fare, plus the option to try some pay for options if you desire. I have been cruising with Celebrity Cruises a few times and always found the food to be excellent, so I didn’t try out any of the pay-for restaurants on this cruise.
I opted for the “Select Dining Anytime”– which means you can eat anytime – you can pick a more traditional option of an early or late sitting but travelling with my husband we find that the option to eat anytime is a huge bonus for us.
Apex’s dining experience is a bit different from the norm as you have the chance to choose between four different restaurants each evening (rather than one or two large dining rooms). Each restaurant has its own décor and short speciality menu linked to its theme e.g. in Cyprus restaurant there is a short Mediterranean-inspired menu and in Tuscan there are some Italian style dishes but they all feature a larger menu that comprises of choices that remain constant throughout the cruise e.g. New York strip steak or broiled salmon and a selection that changes each night.
The food was of a similar standard to my previous Celebrity experiences – very good (but not outstanding in my opinion) but the service and venues were outstanding. Also outstanding is the Apex buffet – the food here is world class and from every part of the world.
Not stuffing yourself to the point of bursting is a real challenge and this combined with the Scoops ice-cream parlour (also included as part of your fare) has led to a significant increase in my waistline (I definitely had to wear my looser dresses on the last few days). Like the whole of the ship – the buffet is immaculate clean and the staff are friendly and fun.
Entertainment Onboard Celebrity Apex
The onboard entertainment is varied and of a good standard. Plenty of live music to choose from in the different bars (the female guitarist/vocalist in Eden was superb) and the theatre features a different show every night – we saw a few different singers, a trumpet player, Motown tribute act, female illusionist and also the Celebrity singers and dancers.
All the shows last about 45 minutes and are on twice each night to fit in with the different dining times. One thing about Apex I really loved was the shows in Eden. These are usually a bit later at night – around 10.30pm and more adult circus in style. Fantastical costumes, sultry signers, eclectic acrobatic acts and aerialists. I really loved these slightly more anarchic performances which reminded me of some of my favourite shows from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Celebrity Apex's Theatre & Eden
The nightclub (called Le Club) was also good if somewhat under populated (most of our fellow cruisers on this voyage were well over seventy and not the late-night clubbing crowd). This particular itinerary did seem to have attracted an older clientele but there was still a smattering of forty-somethings and families and everyone we met was exceptionally nice, friendly, usually English or American and a bit more upmarket than the general cruising crowd.
There is also the usual mix of participative activities: quizzes, game shows, karaoke, bingo and things like archery, aerobics and pool games. I didn’t actually take part in any of these – my husband isn’t really a joiner but I’m sure they were fun.
The Destinations
I suffer from seasickness so the only thing that put me off this itinerary was the Bay of Biscay crossing which can be a bit choppy – but for us the whole trip was plain sailing. The ports of call were Porto, Lisbon, Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Madeira and La Coruna. I did like them all but fell in love with Porto and Madeira and will certainly be returning to both.
I do find the Celebrity shore excursions a bit pricey so we tend to book my own trips through Viator or Get your Guide. On this cruise I booked us a tuktuk tour of Lisbon, walking tour in Gran Canaria, Jeep safari in Madeira and segway adventure in La Coruna. We enjoyed them all but the stand-out was the jeep safari, run by a small family company in Madeira and a fabulous way to see the island.
Lisbon, Porto & scenery in Madeira
The ship offers a reasonably priced shuttle service into Porto – which is well worth taking and it's easy to explore many of the destinations on foot straight from the ship or to grab a taxi at the port.
Overall…
There really is a lot to love about Celebrity Apex- so much that I think it is actually my favourite of all the cruise ships I have travelled on but my top tips for cruisers on this ship would be:
- Go for an Infinite Balcony – even if you don’t love it as much as I did it’s a new experience.
- Opt for Select dining and enjoy choosing which restaurant you’ll try each evening.
- Unless you are almost tee total - take the drinks package - drinks on this ship on the pricier end and if you keep checking your emails you’ll get an offer for 30% off the drinks package price at some point.
- Plan your own excursions – it’s a bit more work but will save you a lot of cash and also enable you to directly support local businesses.
I really did have a FANTASTIC CRUISE and would like to finish with a huge shout out to Iglu Cruise – I use this company to book almost all my cruises and they are fabulous – online or on the phone – great prices, great service and great people. Iglu Cruise can also customise your trip – so if you don’t see the exact option you’d like, give them a call or drop an email and they’ll come back – you can ask for different airports, extend your stay with a hotel, get transfers all organised for you.
There is so much the Iglu Cruise team can help with and they are also very knowledgeable about the different cruise lines and destinations so can guide you to your perfect cruise.
Book Your Celebrity Cruises Getaway with Iglu Cruise Today
Here at Iglu Cruise, we’re so pleased that Jillian had such a fantastic time on her Celebrity Cruises’ getaway. Book your own Celebrity Cruises adventure with Iglu Cruise today and look forward to a holiday that you’ll never forget. Discover our range of Celebrity Cruises holidays, with something for all preferences and budgets!
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