Celebrity Apex is the second Edge-class ship — Edge, Apex, Beyond, Ascent in launch order — and the version that has had the most time to settle into a confident rhythm on Celebrity's premium European routes. Reviewed on the eleven-night Baltic Capitals rotation from Southampton in late June 2025, the sailing earned the highest single rating awarded to a Northern European cruise in this category in five years.
Itinerary
Southampton embarkation (with one sea day to Copenhagen), then a city-by-city tour of the Baltic capitals: Copenhagen, Tallinn, Stockholm, Helsinki, Visby (Sweden's medieval island), and Warnemünde (port for Berlin). Eleven nights with seven port days is a lot of sightseeing; pacing matters. We used the two sea days strategically as recovery days.
The Baltic capitals are city-by-city among the most rewarding cruise destinations in the world. Copenhagen is best done independently — walk Nyhavn, the Round Tower, and a good bakery, then tour Christiansborg Palace. Stockholm: book the Gamla Stan walking tour through the ship; it's actually well-done. Tallinn is a half-day at most — the Old Town is small and walkable. Warnemünde to Berlin is a long day (the train ride alone is three hours each way); it's worth doing but build in dinner time.
Cabins — The Infinite Veranda
We booked an Infinite Veranda Stateroom on Deck 11. The Infinite Veranda is the Edge-class signature cabin design: a sliding glass wall that converts the front of the cabin into an indoor-outdoor space. The wall fully retracts (with weather and underway constraints), turning the cabin into a single 240-square-foot indoor-outdoor room with a railing.
The design is genuinely transformative. We used the wall fully open in port (every morning), partially open underway, and closed at night. The interior space increases by about 40% versus a traditional balcony cabin because the seating area is part of the conditioned space. Storage is excellent. Bedding is the new Celebrity Cashmere standard — a meaningful upgrade.
For Northern European weather, the Infinite Veranda is less central than in the Caribbean — you'll keep the wall closed more often. But on the warm Baltic afternoons (and there were several) the open-wall configuration was a daily delight.
Food
Celebrity's Always Included pricing covers main dining room, basic beverages, gratuities, and Wi-Fi. We added a five-night specialty dining package ($249 per person) and used it across the week.
The standouts: Le Petit Chef at Qsine ($59 per person, projection-mapped tabletop animation that's much more entertaining than it sounds — the food is genuinely good), Tuscan Grille (the best Italian in the Celebrity fleet — order the steak, not the pasta), Fine Cut Steakhouse (excellent ribeye, $59 cover), Eden Restaurant (a tasting-menu format, $79 per person, the most refined meal of the week).
The four main dining rooms — Cosmopolitan, Cyprus, Tuscan, and Normandie — operate as four restaurants with overlapping menus and Celebrity calls them "the Restaurants." Quality is competent in the way Celebrity has always been competent. We ate three MDR dinners and were satisfied.
The Oceanview Café (buffet) is the standard mass-feeding operation, with notably better quality control than mass-market competitors. Eden Café (next to the Eden venue) is a quiet afternoon refuge.
Entertainment
The Eden venue at the aft of the ship is the most beautiful space afloat. A three-deck atrium of plants, curved wood, and floor-to-ceiling sea-facing windows, with rotating evening live music. We ended five evenings there.
The Theater hosts the Edge-class production lineup — well-staged but uneven across shows. We saw "Crystallize" (excellent) and "A Hot Summer Night's Dream" (less compelling). The Magic Carpet — the cantilevered platform on the side of the ship — hosts dinners and live music; it's an interesting space but not a production-show venue.
Value
Infinite Veranda for two adults in late June, booked seven months ahead, came in at $7,940 all in for eleven nights including the five-night specialty dining package and basic-tier Wi-Fi. That's $361/night per person — squarely premium-tier pricing.
Always Included pricing means the all-in number is what you pay; there are very few onboard add-ons that catch you off guard, which is a real comfort on a long sailing.
For the Edge-class flagship perspective in the Caribbean, see our Celebrity Edge Southern Caribbean review; for the same Northern Europe region at a different brand level, see Holland America Rotterdam Norwegian Fjords.
Overall
Apex is the strongest current expression of the Edge class — a cohesive design language, mature operations, and a properly polished food and entertainment lineup. The Infinite Veranda still feels like the most important cabin innovation of the past decade, even five years on.
Who It's For
Premium-tier travelers who want a port-rich Northern European itinerary; Edge-class loyalists; couples and small families who'll use the Eden venue and the specialty dining lineup.
Who It's Not For
Anyone shopping pure value (the premium tier carries premium pricing); cruisers who want a more traditional cabin layout (the Infinite Veranda is genuinely different and not for everyone); travelers who insist on a frontline production show as the entertainment highlight.
Editorial Cross-References
For the broader fleet context and itinerary calendar, see our Celebrity cruise line page. For broader planning context, see our luxury cruise lines guide.
