GenerationX

Thank you! I will be sure to report when we sail NCL. I agree with you on the spa common areas on Celebrity. I was really hoping that with E class they would add hydrotherapy type spaces to the spa. It’s interesting though. I got a survey from Celebrity just the other day asking about my interest in various new spa amenities, including therapy pools and hot tubs, and how likely I would be to pay for access to them and/or book a stateroom that includes access. I wonder if Celebrity is thinking about adding some of these things? I assume it would have to be a distant future add though. Like maybe for the next class of ships. I assume Ascent is too close to done for that kind of major addition if it isn’t already in the plans and they haven’t even finished all the previously planned S and M class refurbs yet.

Good Morning from the Four Seasons St. Louis! I’m sitting in the restaurant having tea and a smoked salmon platter before heading to the spa for my pre-cruise facial and pedicure. I plan to wait to get a massage at some point while I’m on Silhouette. I had a massage appointment booked in advance through the cruise planner, then last week I played with dummy bookings for the cruise and spa and it looks like unlike my past two cruises, our ship isn’t going to be full this time (Retreat and Aqua are sold out, probably thanks to lots of move ups, but basic verandas and insides are plentiful) and there are plenty of spa appointments still available. So I decided to cancel and wait and see if any better deals are offered to book onboard and to give myself more flexibility in planning my onboard schedule. Speaking of onboard plans: As far as dining, I plan to take full advantage of my complimentary specialty dining privileges and plan to spend my lunches and dinners (other than maybe embarkation lunch) at specialty restaurants. I have reservations for dinner at Murano, Lawn Club Grill and Tuscan Grill. In a RS, if you want to make the specialty reservations pre-cruise without being charged, you have to either book them with the shoreside concierge (details on that coming soon) or wait and book them onboard with your butler or Retreat concierge. I had read that the shoreside concierge may not contact you until fairly close to sail date and I’d heard of rare instances of desired restaurants and dining times being fully booked when RS guests waited till then or onboard to book. So, hyper planner that I am, I took a tip from @Jim_Iain and booked and paid for my specialty reservations in the cruise planner well in advance to make sure I got the days and times I wanted. Then, when the shoreside concierge contacted me, I just asked her to assist with an OBC refund which she was happy to do. Worked like a charm, thanks Jim! Since I’m not spending any OBC on dining, I will probably take advantage of some wine events and see if I have any luck in the casino. I’m also checking off another Celebrity cruise bucket list item and signed up for the Daniel Boulud Chef’s Table dinner! Cozumel is a been there done that port for me so I’ll probably just run in to buy some tequila for Jeremy and then get back onboard and enjoy a quieter ship. I plan to spend a little more time off ship on the Divina sailing but we’ll talk more about that as that sailing approaches. Next up, more info on working with shoreside concierge.

Thank you Jim! And thank you again for the wonderful live report from Solstice. I will admit, the recent negativity started to get to me for a bit. Then I remembered a few years back Jeremy and I were coming up on a cruise on Reflection and there had been quite a few poor reviews of food, service, ship condition, etc. that had us considering canceling (back when cancel for any reason insurance was actually affordable). We decided to go ahead and sail and ended up having one our best cruises. Since it sounds like there’s folks also interested in the MSC leg, I think I’m leaning towards keeping the reviews in one thread after all. Mostly for selfish reasons. I think you’re right that once I switch ships, if I start a new thread on the MSC board, keeping up with two threads is likely to become a heavy lift and I don’t want to end up spending my whole second trip on CC (or the whole month after catching up)! Perhaps I’ll post a link over on the MSC board though so folks there who are interested can come to “our house” and follow along. I’m very jealous of your 3 in a row spring cruising plans, but also very much looking forward to all the review reading material!

My daughter was 9 when she did her first Celebrity cruise with me last year and she loved it. I had to practically drag her out of the kids club each day. I did a live review of our cruise on this board and happy to try and find it and post a link if you’re interested. There were only a few kids when we were on but she still found a playmate. But we were sailing while school was in session. There are a lot more kids on Celebrity (not as many as Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, etc. but more) in summer when school is out. She loved it so much we’re doing our next Celebrity cruise together in March and she’s already crossing off days on her calendar!

Thank you Cathy! I do plan to do a little bit of investing while I’m onboard about some of the cutbacks reported just for my own information for the times when budget doesn’t allow for sailing in Retreat. I’m especially interested to see what the dinner buffet situation looks like as that’s something that on longer itineraries, even if I’m in the Retreat, I really enjoy doing for a night or two to take a break from having to fancy up and have a longer formal dinner. I’ll be taking full advantage of my free specialty restaurant privileges this cruise, but will probably make a stop by the buffet each night on my way to specialty dine, just to see what the situation looks like (and if it all looks good, try to resist making myself a plate while I’m there).

Thank you! I’m very interested to see how the MSC leg goes. I do love Celebrity, but the Retreat pricing is starting to get to a point where I feel like it’s fiscally responsible to start at least checking out other options. It’s hard to envision that we’d completely stop sailing Celebrity, but would be good to know if we’d also be happy with spending not that much more to go on a premium line like Silversea or saving the difference for more travel and going with MSC’s very attractive pricing for Yacht Club. I’ve been following the MSC boards and reviews for the past few months and feedback has been very mixed. But a lot of the negatives sound very familiar to what’s been going on with Celebrity (cutbacks, extra fees, understaffing, inexperienced crew, etc.). MSC also offers so many more sailings and itinerary options in Europe and that’s something we really want to start doing regularly in a year or two (once my last student loan is paid off and we can afford overseas business class airfare). If Yacht Club turns out to be something I can be happy with it would open a whole new world of options for us!

Thank you! I have never sailed NCL but it is on my list to try. My cousin and her husband are loyal NCL cruisers and Jeremy and I have agreed to try an NCL Haven cruise with them if they’ll try a Celebrity Retreat cruise with us (I suspect we’re both expecting/hoping to convert the other couple 😂). The cards haven’t lined up for the four of us yet in terms of price and schedules, but we’re hoping to get both cruises in before end of this year.

Hello and Happy New Year CC! Guess who’s on final countdown to her first cruise of 2023? That’s right, in 2 more days I’ll fly to Miami to board my favorite Celebrity ship: the Silhouette! Thanks to booking during a great solo fare sale, I’ll also be doing something that I’ve never done before (and don’t think will be within my cruise budget again for a very long time the way prices are trending): sailing in a Royal Suite! As they say in the infomercials…but wait, there’s more! This sailing is only a short 4 night trip to Cozumel sandwiched between sea days and there wasn’t another Celebrity sailing scheduled from MIA or FLL that would allow me to make a b2b. So instead, when Silhouette returns to Miami, I’ll be heading to a different pier to try out a new cruise line and sail in a Deluxe Grand Yacht Club Suite on a 4 night sailing on MSC Divina. I’m very much looking forward to being able to do a side by side, live comparison of Retreat vs. Yacht Club suite life. I plan to keep writing up my impressions of the comparison of the two lines in real time as I go along, since I think that gives me the most accurate picture. Memory is a funny thing…after the fact, one negative experience on night 4 can suddenly have you changing your recollections of how good the previous 3 nights really were. I’m not completely sure though what to do with this review once I swap ships. My thought is that the options are either: 1: Wrap up the Silhouette review then swap over to the MSC board and start a new live review thread there. Then maybe come back here post-cruise and write a final summary comparison post on the cruises and Retreat vs. Yacht Club; or 2: Just keep posting on this thread throughout the MSC cruise so all of the info is in one spot (and anyone not interested in the MSC half/comparison posts can of course unfollow as they wish and no offense taken). I tried to search CC for helpful precedent on which approach is more customary but came up empty. I think I’m leaning more towards #1, but I’d very much appreciate opinions from folks planing to follow along on which way to go with it, so please don’t be afraid to comment and share your thoughts on how I should handle! In the meantime, for those who haven’t followed other live reviews I’ve done, a quick about me: I’m Charla! Married lawyer, 40, from outside St. Louis, Missouri. Well seasoned Celebrity cruiser (Elite). I usually do 2-3 solo or semi solo (with my dear friend and fellow cruise/spa/casino enthusiast from Indiana (CC alias Red) in another cabin) cruises a year. Other than that I either sail with my husband Jeremy or as a mommy-daughter trip with our 10 year old (CC alias Gen Z or Mini Me). This cruise, Red will also be sailing in a Celebrity Suite. However she’ll be heading back to Indy on the 16th to take care of some urgent family matters, so I’ll be fully solo on Divina. In the next day or two I’ll do a couple of posts about my plans onboard and pre-cruise planning, including details on working with shoreside concierge (a new experience for me as this is my first time sailing in an upper suite). As always please feel free to jump in with any questions or comments. If you’ll be onboard too, please also don’t be shy about sharing your impressions as well and if you see me around the ship come say hi! I can’t wait to start another cruising adventure!

I may also be in the minority, but I agree with you. Maybe it’s partially because I’m the person in my house who (a) really cares about neatness and therefore (b) in every day life ends up doing most of the straightening up required for me to really relax, there’s something that feels very luxurious about coming back to the room at night and finding everything already tidied up and prepared just right for me to just munch a chocolate while I put on pajamas and then climb in bed. Our favorite all-inclusive resort chain does a turn down service that even right now I think is a little above and beyond Celebrity. In addition to the bed prep, curtains, bathroom tidying, lights dimming, etc. they also spray a nice fragrance in the room (upon request) and put on relaxing spa music on the TV to greet you when you walk in. I don’t think that this change would run me off from Celebrity completely since we do prefer to sail in the Retreat when budget allows. That said, on the occasions when we’re on a more limited travel budget and the price between a resort and a non-Retreat Celebrity cruise is comparable (which is not uncommon), this would probably be a significant checkmark in favor of resort for me as I weigh pros and cons.

Wooohooo! Go Julie, go! I’ve been anxiously waiting to see this review start. It was so wonderful getting to sail with you on Beyond! Thanks so much for taking us along. Bon voyage!

Thank you again for taking us along on another fantastic review! It looks like you and Iain had a fabulous time. BTW I am 100% team Iain on that sky bridge thing. I’m terrified of heights. Thousands of feet up with nothing but a sheet of glass between me and the law of gravity? No, thank you. Please let us know when it’s about time to start lurking the Ponant boards for your review of that sailing. I’m torn between Ponant and Silversea for an Antarctica bucket list sailing (really wish Celebrity had a true Antarctica immersive itinerary, but alas no dice). There’s a decent price difference so I’m very interested in hearing feedback on the line from frequent Celebrity cruisers. Welcome home and happy holidays!

Wow, to think of all the time and money I invested in law school when clearly the REAL dough is in gambling and mixed martial arts… Setting a google alert for “Is Frank Fertitta III single?” so that I’m prepared in case Jeremy should ever leave me. 🤣

Yasss! I’m so looking forward to going along on another Jim and Iain cruise! And this one will be especially helpful as I’m doing the Mexican Riviera cruise on Solstice in March (but with Catalina and Cabo as ports). I’ll have to make a stop for live review reading wine on my way home from work today! That passenger count sounds heavenly to me, especially just after coming off the nearly full Beyond. Safe, smooth, healthy travels and thank you so much for taking us along!

Final Thoughts on Beyond And Future Cruise Plans: Overall, I loved Beyond as a ship and will definitely sail on her again. In fact, I think she may be my new second favorite ship in the Celebrity fleet. I remember sailing on Edge and thinking I didn’t like the specialty restaurants on E class as much as the ones on S and M class. On Beyond, the specialties, especially Eden and Le Voyage, are a big part of what is drawing me back. I think those two restaurants were some of the best food I’ve had on any Celebrity cruise ever and the dining experiences there are so special. I will probably wait another year though before I sail Beyond again to give the ship more time to work out kinks and get staffing numbers and training better up to speed. Were there occasions when service was slower or less attentive than what I’m used to on Celebrity? Absolutely. At the same time, I never once saw a crew member standing around doing nothing or not trying their best to hustle and help passengers. That makes me think that most of the service issues are due to staffing levels and/or inexperience, both of which (hopefully) will be worked out with more time. While as mentioned before I wasn’t in love with the infinite veranda, otherwise I really liked my room (especially the more spacious bathroom and shower) and the upgraded app functionality allowing me to control lights/temperature from my phone and to open my stateroom door using my phone (which is usually much easier for me to get my hands on than fishing around the bottom of my tote for my tiny sea pass card). I think my plan for the next Beyond cruise will be (since I’ll be waiting a while) to try and save and deal hunt for an opportunity to sail in the Retreat next time. Which reminds me, my upcoming cruise plans are all about Retreat time… In January, Red and I will reunite to sail semi-solo in the Caribbean on my favorite Celebrity ship, the Silhouette! This cruise itinerary will have a couple of “firsts” in it for me that I’m very excited about: -First, thanks to a very good booking deal, I’ll be sailing in a royal suite for the first time. Red will be in a lowly Celebrity Suite but I’ve promised her that I won’t forget my friends amongst the common folk in my stately accommodations. 😂 -Second, this Silhouette itinerary is only a 4 day cruise and I’ve come to a point in my cruising addiction where that is no longer a sufficient fix. As a result, I went in search of another 4 or 5 night cruise on Celebrity out of Miami or FLL that I could combine with this one, but alas, came up empty. But I wasn’t going to let that make me get back on a plane to winter after only 4 nights at sea. Instead, when Silhouette returns to Port of Miami, I will be taking a very short Uber ride a couple of terminals over to sail for another 4 nights in a Yacht Club Grand Suite on MSC Divina! I’ve never sailed on MSC before and it will be interesting writing a live back to back (or I guess technically this would be a side by side) comparison review of the Retreat suite experience on Celebrity and the Yacht Club suite experience on MSC. Although I’m not sure if technically I’m supposed to move the review over to the MSC discussion board once I swap ships. Once I return from Silhouette and Divina, I’ll be on land until mid-March when Gen Z and I will fly to LA to spend her spring break on a mother-daughter cruise to Cabo on Solstice! When I announced said cruise to her, she was very quick to confirm with me that: (a) we’d fly first class; (b) we’ll be in a Celebrity Suite; and (c) our cruise will be at least 7 nights this time. Tread carefully in introducing your children to the cruising addiction, my friends. Between the suite cruises and her love of horses, I am watching my dreams of spending our retirement on a yacht in the Maldives slip ever further away from my grasp. Anyway, after that, the plan right now is to be on land through summer while we invest in some home improvements, then take a TBD fall cruise to celebrate Jeremy’s big 40th birthday in October. Thank you so much to everyone who followed along. I hope my review was as at least half as entertaining and informative as the ones I so enjoy reading between cruises. To everyone sailing soon, I hope you have amazing cruises! I’ll be going back through to try and answer any questions I may have missed and if there’s anything else that anyone has questions on, I’m always happy to help! Bon voyage! (BTW This was one of the coolest moments of the cruise for me: Sitting on the newest ship in the fleet and watching her older sister, Infinity, sail through her wake at sunset.)

Hello everyone! I’ve finally found time to come back after a busy couple of weeks at home to finish my Beyond cruise review! If my notes were correct, I think what I had left to report on were second dinner in Eden and the spa. Since my Thanksgiving holiday workload has me dreaming of being onboard having a nice massage right now, let’s start with spa. I booked my treatments prior to the cruise on the cruise planner during a 20% off promo. In the old world of cruising and even my first few post shut down cruises on half full ships, it was pretty common for me to see spa staff all over the ship (including in Retreat areas) trying to sell treatments and occasionally offering even better discounts than booking pre-cruise. My last few cruises though, not only has their been no onboard pushing or dramatic extra discounts offered, I heard people say on Beyond that they had trouble getting their desired treatment type/time booed onboard because the spa was full. This cruise I had my usual Elemis superfood facial, sea salt body scrub and hot stone massage. The spa on Beyond was very similar to Edge. The only difference I noticed was that whereas for my treatments on Edge I was not offered pre or post treatment use of thermal areas, this time on both occasions my therapist did offer. I’m not sure though if this was because I was aqua class this cruise (so access to thermal areas were included as a perk generally even without booking a spa treatment). I’ve always thought that with what Celebrity charges for spa treatments, pre/post treatment thermal access should be included with the service, like every other “luxury” day spa I’ve ever been to. Based on my experience on Beyond, I wonder if the reason they don’t do that is because of just how crowded the thermal areas get already just with aqua class and pass purchasers. I popped in for a few minutes after my facial and it was unfortunately kind of loud (people taking in normal voice, but it echoes) and busy and didn’t seem like a very relaxing atmosphere. The space looked beautiful though and I think would be very relaxing when not so many people were there. As for my treatments, my scrub and massage were wonderful. My masseuse was friendly and attentive to my pressure change requests and didn’t try to sell me any products at the end of my services. My facial though…the woman who did it was very polite and friendly, but the service itself turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I’ve had the same facial several times before on other ships and it’s always worked very well for my combination skin. This time though, within 3 hours after the facial I was having the worst breakout I’ve had in YEARS. I’m not exaggerating when I say my face looked like I was a 14 year old girl in the midst of puberty. Fortunately, it settled down quite a bit after another day of my usual face routine, but I kind of wished I had a veil to wear to dinner that night. When I was back at the spa the next day, I asked if there had been any change in the products used for that facial and was told there hadn’t been. But out of an abundance of caution, I’m going to save my facials for my monthly spa trip on land going forward (a shame because the Elemis one on the ship is $75 cheaper than the facial I like at my spa at home). Moving on to happier reports, Red and I’s second night of dinner at Eden was just as good as the first both in food and service. A Heads Up: when we got our menus, we noticed that a few dishes that were on the menu night 1 were no longer there and there were a couple of new things that weren’t on the menu the first night. Our server told us that this is because many ingredients used in Eden’s dishes are fresh rather than frozen, so over the course of a cruise, less hardy fish/meat/produce may not hold up as well and once it is no longer up to the chef’s quality standards, it’s pulled from the menu. This was the case with Red’s sea bass from night 1, which she was sad to learn she wouldn’t be able to get again. Fortunately though, in addition to having repeats of a couple of our favorite dishes from night 1 (including the sleeper hit, the Bazaar Bowl) we still found other good new food. My lamb was outstanding and Red said her filet was very good. We also split a roasted veggie couscous that wasn’t on the menu night one and was very flavorful and refreshing. For me though, the real star of the meal was the mushroom risotto. OMG, I would cheerfully pay twice the cover charge for Eden just to be able to stand in the open kitchen with a glass of wine in one hand and a wood spoon in the other and just go to town eating that risotto right out of the pot. Speaking of wine, it was my turn to treat Red to a bottle, and Ernesto came through once again with a perfect red for our meal plus give us a lesson in how to use that fancy decanter. When I think back on my cruise on Beyond, our 2 dinners in Eden are some of the biggest highlights that jump out to me. While I enjoyed Eden on Edge, I really hope they at some point change that menu to match the one on Beyond because this one was next level. Please excuse me as I drool over my Eden dinner pics as I sit here planning to reheat leftover turkey and green bean casserole for lunch. Up next: one last post on overall thoughts on Beyond and future cruise plans.

Day 4 in Cozumel: After walking my mile on the jogging path, and breakfast in Blu, I went to do some work in Al Bacio then attended the ship’s Veterans Day observance ceremony. The service was short but very tasteful and well attended. Afterwards I spent some time reading in Eden then met Red for lunch in the Bistro. The service was a bit slower than the day before, but that could be in part because Red was 20 minutes late for our reservation and I (also not being one to sit and wait for tardy meal company while my stomach growls) went ahead and ordered a starter before she arrived, which seemed to kind of fluster and throw off our service team. While we were sitting at lunch we saw a group of about 30 crew members in different uniforms (looked like everything from culinary to maintenance/engineering) being led by two officers on what looked like a tour of the ship. I imagine they are new crew starting their contract. I heard buzz at the sunset bar that over 200 new crew started contracts on Beyond when she arrived in FLL and about 100 more are starting on the cruise after ours. I suspect many of the service issues others have experienced on the ship have been at least in part due to the number of new crew members. Unlike some of my fellow passengers, I’ve tried not to let the few instances where I’ve experienced less than perfect service get to me very much. After all, I think of sailing on a brand new ship, especially on its very first revenue sailing ever on an itinerary, kind of like being someone who buys the latest version of the iPhone the minute it comes out. If you’re going to be an early adopter, you have to go into it knowing and expecting that you’re buying something that probably doesn’t have all the kinks worked out yet. As far as food, the only thing we had that was a letdown was the French onion soup. While the cheese on top was good and warm, the soup inside was room temp and under seasoned. Lesson learned: stick to the lobster bisque! I think the escargot in the bistro is even better than the MDR escargot. Even more garlic and cheese flavor. Red ordered the crepe which I’d never tried before. I think for future sailings I may skip an entree and just have that crepe, mussels, escargot and lobster bisque. You know, just a light lunch. After the spa and afternoon rain cleared, I went up to the sunset bar for sail away and had one of their new signature cocktails, the Mediterranean T&C which is included in the premium beverage package. Definitely worth a try for my fellow gin drinkers. The rosemary, olives and olive oil infused gin are a great flavor combination. Did anyone know that they offer Mediterranean food at the sunset bar for additional charge? Has anyone tried it? I never saw any coming out on this cruise. The options look really good. I thought about trying to order something but every time I was up there the bar staff and servers were so mobbed, I felt bad about trying to throw a food order at them. On a future sailing I would love to skip a dining room dinner one night to spend the evening in a comfy sun dress eating 2 or 3 of these “Sunset Bites” in the sea air instead. After we sailed I went down to the buffet to get a snack of the (highly addictive) pizza and bumped into @julia and her husband Chuck who are just the coolest and got to watch sunset with them. Once I’m home and settled, Jeremy and I are going to start looking at options to cruise with them in the near future! Next up: Report on Dinner #2 in Eden.

Oh how the mighty have fallen…this time yesterday, my breakfast was being served to me on white tablecloths by a team of smiling faces. This morning, I’m queuing up for coffee and avocado toast and the Admiral’s Club bartender apparently expects me to PAY for my Bloody Mary. The best thing I can say about my current sad lot in life is that disembarkation from Beyond went very smoothly. I was a little sleepy this morning because I stayed out with some new friends for a martini or 2 after the 10:30pm production cast show in Eden. Then, as I was just falling asleep, apparently the Beyond gave herself a factory reset or something at 1am and all the lights and TV in my room randomly came on. 😂 I did walk off with my luggage this morning and it was much more organized and efficient than it was on Equinox this summer, even through my sleepy haze. Facial recognition was being used in T25 so getting through customs was a breeze. Self disembark started at 7:30 and I was at the curb waiting for my Uber by 7:50. I even managed to get my car order in before surge pricing started to kick in! On the ride to the airport I was reading through some social media posts about our cruise and saw a few comments that food on the ship was terrible and people managed to actually lose weight this week. They must’ve eaten in different restaurants than I did, and as I dressed this morning I could really have used having their problem. NONE of my shorts will button and I’m considering sending the Beyond’s head chef a bill for the new pair of Spanx I’m going to have to buy tomorrow. As I’m sitting here lamenting my once again common life, let’s go back in time in reverse chronicle order and talk about the rest of my last day aboard yesterday. After my morning at the pool, I showered and went to sea day lunch in the cosmopolitan main dining room. It was one of the same sea day lunch menus that was on Summit in July so I ordered things I’d enjoyed then and they were just as good on Beyond. Not Le Voyage or Eden good, but a free lunch will be free lunch quality. The room was busy but seating and service were prompt. I got there about 12:15 and was done with a few minutes to spare before my 1pm premium wine tasting. Speaking of which, remember how I said there were no wine events showing in the app? Well, while we were dining in Le Voyage, our somm Fabrize mentioned that he would be leading a premium wine tasting the last sea day and asked if Red and I would be interested in signing up. Apparently there was also a tasting on the first sea day that never showed up in the app. My advice for those sailing soon would be, if you’re interested in wine events and aren’t seeing them in the app once onboard, find a sommelier (I recommend one at Eden or Le Voyage if possible, they seem to be the most knowledgeable) and ask about the plan. Anyway, the premium tasting was $99 and all wines tasted sell on the ship for $200 or more a bottle. Fabrize gave a very interesting presentation on the wines and Red and I both really liked the champagne and all of the reds. The cheeses that came with the wines weren’t very exciting, just basic cheddars, Gouda and bleu. They went well with the wines each were paired with, but I thought I remembered on Edge the premium tasting having some really premium cheeses paired with it as well. Still to come: -Stepping further back in time to catch up report on day 4 (including my second lunch in the bistro and our second Eden dinner) -All about my spa experience on Beyond vs. Edge -Going back through the thread to answer any questions I’ve missed -Final thoughts on Beyond and future cruise plans

Greetings friends! Red and I just finished our final night dinner in Raw on 5. The good news is, the food was outstanding! The bad news is, the service…had hiccups. We had a little over a half bottle of wine left from our second Eden dinner (I know I still need to do that catch up post on that, stay tuned!) and our Eden sommelier Ernesto had arranged for it to be delivered to Raw for our dinner reservation time. Unfortunately, after a half hour sitting at our table at Raw, we still hadn’t even had a somm or drink server approach us and ask if we wanted anything other than water to drink. I finally saw the somm and waved her down after she delivered and poured a bottle of sake for a big table near us. She seemed very nice and friendly and brought the bottle to the table, then poured us each a small serving, and put the rest of the bottle on a serving station behind us…then ignored us completely….that is except until about halfway though our main course when she briefly passed our table, looked at our nearly empty wine glasses, and said “oh you have your wine right over there” and rushed away. 🤦🏾‍♀️ After more time passed and and not being one to sit and wait indefinitely for good wine that I’ve already paid for and is like 4 feet away from me while I’m still able bodied, I took that as my cue to act as our wine server for the remainder of the meal. I even had a little fun with it and managed to get a slightly irritated Red laughing about the whole situation. The somm did eventually come by one more time and ask if we needed anything…after we’d finished eating…and drinking the rest of the bottle of wine that I’d served us myself. We ordered the oh so good kakiage again to share to start, then had the imperial seafood tower, hold the raw oysters (neither of us are fans). Having had a bit too much happy hour before dinner, Julie also ordered a side of rice for extra alcohol soaking carbs. I was in the seat facing the raw bar and saw our seafood tower be made and just sit out at the service counter for about 25 minutes while our appetizer came and we ate it. Fortunately the tower was so well iced, it didn’t compromise the taste! The lobster, crab and shrimp were all great. I thought the ceviche was a little too bitter but Red enjoyed it. We both agreed the crab salad was top notch. Red’s side of rice never came, and she was starting to feel a little tired, so we decided to just get the check and head out rather than remind our server and wait for it. Actually, Red went up to the host stand to ask the manager for our check when we didn’t see our nice but very busy server again for a while and she was starting to feel like she needed to get to lie down. She said that the manager seemed shocked to hear that we weren’t satisfied with the service and that he didn’t even bother to profusely apologize (the lack of apology, quite frankly, is particularly shocking to me given the level of service I’m used to experiencing on Celebrity generally and the service I’ve experienced elsewhere on the ship all week, even when staff is stressed and/or short handed). Still, for now, I’m writing the service issues off ad “any service team can have a tough night/table”, especially with today’s staffing challenges and, from my perceptions over the past few days, what seems to be a large number of especially demanding passengers. I also noticed the sommelier giving what looked like very attentive service to some other tables (just not us) so maybe we just fell through the cracks somehow. Plus at the end of the day, the good food and wonderful company of a dear cruising friend who I won’t see again till we both sail semi-solo on Silhouette in January (oops, there I go getting ahead of myself again!) sent me away from dinner a happy woman overall. When I’m blessed to sail Beyond again, I wont hesitate to give Raw on 5 one more try. I mean I don’t even know if my marriage would survive my husband being denied the opportunity to try that seafood tower!

Things I Should be Doing: -Checking in for my flight tomorrow -Starting to pack -Getting ready for one last dinner on Beyond Things I’m Doing Instead: -Listening to live cello in Eden -Drinking kir royales -Watching one more beautiful sunset at sea I’m doing walk off luggage so I can pack before bed/early morning. Life is too good for goodbye preparations right now.

When there’s not something going on in the grand plaza, Al Bacio is great for a quiet place to work. Also, most days Eden hasn’t really had much activity till early evening, especially if I go up the ramp to the second level and wifi is still pretty strong up there l. If he doesn’t mind working at a lower, cocktail height table and/or with his laptop on his lap, I’ve found that to be a good back up work location.

While I’m enjoying a happy hour champagne and chambord with a mild ocean breeze in my favorite quiet little nook outside of Eden, a back in time post about dinner at Le Voyage: The restaurant is off the grand plaza, but it’s well sheltered from the loud music and hustle and bustle by not one but TWO sets of automatic double doors. When we sat down, Red and I were greeted with complementary welcome glasses of Veuve Clicquot (this ship clearly knows my love language) and an amuse bouche of a roasted eggplant purée with cured olives and Moroccan spices. We asked our server for his recommendations for the best dishes to try and our sommelier for the best wines to pair them with and we didn’t get any bad advice. I think Le Voyage and Eden are where they’re hiding the server and sommelier A-teams on this ship! For our starters we had the shrimp and the crab salad and finished both. I didn’t think the crab was quite as good as the crab in the crab cake at Eden, but it was sweet and juicy and very refreshing paired with our dry white wine for the course. For mains, Red generously treated me to some of her casino winnings and bought us a nice bottle of Cab to go with the lamb chops (me) and filet (Red). At our server’s recommendation, we also split the wonderfully creamy and not at all stingy on the lobster risotto. The lamb chops were so good I stopped regretting missing the ones at Rooftop Grill. I’m not usually a sauce on steaks person but Red was sopping the sauce around her steak up with bread after she finished it, so it must’ve been good. Then came time for dessert. A word of caution for future Le Voyage diners: Up to this point, portion sizes for the meal had been pretty manageable. So we didn’t hesitate when after we ordered the kumquat confit and cardamom ice cream, our server suggested that we also try the raspberry sorbet. It’s hard to tell scale from the photos but when these desserts came out we quickly realized that things had escalated to Cheesecake Factory portion sizes. Our sever also failed to mention that the dessert course would come with a complimentary basket of warm, powder sugar dusted ridiculously good little beignets and a plate of chocolate petit fours. I have no regrets on going all in though, because all 3 desserts were so beautifully presented (check out that generous 24 carat gold garnish on the sorbet 😮) and tasted great. Just my personal opinion, with Celebrity going for this whole “modern luxury” vibe, Le Voyage is the restaurant where they really hit the nail on the head on that. I think I shall call it “Murano Version 4.0”. The experience was so nice that we asked our server yo give our personal compliments to the chef. He did us one better and brought the chef out so we could quickly thank him personally for the meal on our way out. We were one of the last tables of the night and the chef was wrapping up his shift and must have been tired, but he was nice enough to stick around and have a little chat with us and our sommelier about their experiences meeting Chef Boulud (he was on the ship briefly while it was in NYC) and his recipe and wine pairing philosophies. After dinner, Red headed off to bed and I went to see my old friend Rendy from Summit at the martini bar for a passion fruit martini then put myself to bed too. I have to apologize to the readers who enjoy my usual late night dance party antics. With everything that’s gone on for me in work and personal life recently I just haven’t felt much up to shutting down the dance club much this cruise. We’ll see how the vibe is hitting me this last night though! A few days on a Celebrity ship is such good balm for the soul.

There’s something very bittersweet about a sea day when you know the ship is dragging you back towards real life. 😭 Although, based on my scroll of social media this morning, it looks like STL got 4 inches of snow overnight, so I’m counting my blessings. For some odd reason, my husband doesn’t seem to be responding to my texts with my selfies from the pool deck Bellini in hand 🤔😂 Speaking of said sea day pool deck it’s a little before 10am and it looks like there are still plenty of loungers, but shaded ones are in short supply. Blu was a bit busier at early breakfast this morning but service was incredible. Within 5 minutes of sitting I had a yummy raspberry danish, hot coffee, a Blu parfait and some fresh fruit, all served with big smiles and warm personal greetings. My toasted bagel came out still warm and with the cream cheese nice and soft and spreadable. I wasn’t planning to start drinking till I got to the pool deck, but my lovely assistant waiter Aranza reminded me that this is the last full day of my vacation and I should really enjoy myself. She made a very good point. I’m gonna take a dip in the pool and read a chapter in Dangerous Crossing then I’ll catch you guys up on yesterday and dinner in Le Voyage night before last (spoiler alert: my personal opinion is that it’s worth every dime they charge for it). Happy Saturday and for those following from the snows of early winter, stay safe and warm!

Thank you, that is a very good point. Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t know if Celebrity plans to send an E class ship to Alaska, but if they did, I would probably book an IV in a heartbeat for that. When we did Alaska we preferred to do aqua to a suite anyway to have more budget to invest in shore activities and it would be a very cool experience seeing the glaciers and mountains up close while standing warm in my room in my bathrobe.

An ultra relaxed GenX checking in here after sail away from Cozumel. Full post on my day today and Beyond’s spa experience to come. Just as I settled in on the pool deck this afternoon to grab a quick swim and an hour of poolside sun reading before my spa appointment, the only rain cloud in the ENTIRE Yucatán peninsula decided to settle directly over the Beyond and stall there for 45 minutes. I grabbed a blue note punch at the almost deserted wet pool bar and took it down to sit under the cover of my “veranda” which I was pleasantly surprised to find was not locked shut even with the rainy weather. Speaking of which, I think I’ve spent enough time with it now to talk about my feelings on this IV contraption. As I said at the start, I came into this whole thing not particularly excited to try the IV. I am surprised to be saying that I’m not as miserable with the thing as I thought I’d be. At the same time, I don’t think I’ll ever be rushing to Celebrity eagerly waving my credit card in the air to book one either. Not a ringing endorsement, I know, but here is where I’m at with it… On the down side: -As others have noted, the captain can lock the veranda shut at any time, but usually for cleaning or weather. This was the case on embarkation day, leading the IV to make a not great first impression on me. -While I haven’t experienced the creaking and squeaks that some reported in previous reviews, this thing is still not quiet when it opens and closes. Neither are the folding doors (which are not air tight BTW, see below for more details on the issues this presents) you can use to seal the veranda off from the room. This is not a huge deal for me sailing solo, but my better half tends to sleep in while I’m a morning person and I can see it being a way bigger disruption going through the noise of the whole process of opening the IV and blinds and closing off the folding doors behind me than it is when I just take 2 seconds to quickly slip out the sliding glass veranda door to read outside till he wakes. -If you’re in a port with flying insects, if you open the thing while in port, you’re probably gonna get bugs in your cabin. Yesterday in Costa Maya the outdoor decks were swarmed with flies. Many people I talked to said after having their IV open for a couple of hours yesterday they had quite a few flies in their room, even when they were out there with the folding doors closed (which makes sense as the gaps in the doors are plenty big enough for insects to get through). The IV is essentially the equivalent of having the sliding door on a regular veranda wide open the whole time. -As others have mentioned, if you’re sailing anywhere hot/humid, spending time on the IV makes climate control a real struggle. With the A/C locked because the veranda is open (and again, the folding doors not being airtight), the room gets hot and humid quickly on a sunny Caribbean day and at least in my room, it can take hours for the room to cool back down once you shut the veranda again. As a result of all of the above, I’ve only opened my IV for maybe an hour at a time and a handful of times during the cruise. On the flip side: -The big picture window really does make you feel like you’re right on the ocean and it’s a beautiful view to wake up to. -This may be a “con” for some, but I like that at night when the ship is going full steam, I can sit out there and hear the ocean without the wind blowing my hair all over the place. -I like that I can’t see or hear the people around me’s voices or scraping deck chairs on their IV’s. I know some have been open because again, it’s not a quiet opening process and I can hear other people’s windows going down. Ultimately, my catch 22 is, since all the non-suite true veranda staterooms are basic verandas, if I want to sail E class when I can’t afford a suite, the only way I can get aqua class/Blu is to have an IV. I think my decision for now is: The IV isn’t so awful that I’d say I’d NEVER sail in one again. BUT I would probably only do it for a cruise 7 days or less, in aqua, when I’m sailing solo, and only for a really good price like I got for this cruise. If I’m investing more money than that on a cruise and there’s an S or M class option that also works for my date/itinerary plans, I’m probably not going to spend the money to be in an IV, when the same amount or less can get me a proper veranda aqua class room or better on S or M class. Sharing some pics of my room below. I’m going to take a little power nap now, then get ready for our late second Eden dinner! Tomorrow is a sea day so I’ll have lots of time for catch up writing!

Thank you! Blu has been closing at 9am on port days and 9:30am on sea days. I don’t think you can reserve lunch at the Bistro before boarding. Once onboard you can either reserve in person at the restaurant while it’s open or book it in the app when you’re connected to ship wifi. The bistro menu is only available for lunch. At dinner the restaurant space becomes the Le Petit Chef dinner show which has its own separate, much different menu. The Le Petit Chef dinner you actually can book in advance in the cruise planner.