GenerationX

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.

Good Morning from Cozumel! Today in the US we observe our Veterans Day. I want to say a big thank you to all those following who have served our country and/or are members of military families and to those no longer with us who made the ultimate sacrifice. Today I’m especially thinking of my favorite veteran back home: My stepfather, a proud retired US Marine who has spent most of his life in service to our country in one way or another. After the Marine Corps, he spent almost 2 decades working for Boeing on the F-15 fighter project. For those onboard, FYI there will be a Veterans Day observance ceremony at 11am in the Grand Plaza. I’ve dressed accordingly. 🇺🇸 Coming later today: a report on last night’s food and fun!

Thank you! I’m so sorry, cancer is such a cruel monster. You’re so right about my friend though. Even before she got sick she was all about living life to the fullest. I considered postponing this cruise when she decided to stop treatment but she flat out threatened me that “if you stop living to stick around and watch me die, I swear I will come back and haunt you for the rest of your days”.

Last night’s Raw on 5 dinner: For comparison, I was overall underwhelmed by Raw on 5 on Edge. While the sushi roll I tried was decent, I found the Japanese hot food options extremely limited and nowhere near as well executed as the dishes at Sushi on 5 on S and M class. This time, the hot food was much improved from Edge! There are a number of items on Beyond’s menu that Edge didn’t offer so that’s what I decided to try. I started with the miso soup, which was unlike any miso soup I’ve ever had. No seaweed to be found and I’m not accustomed to it having carrot and zucchini in it. It did turn out to be a very good soup though with a rich broth with a nice hint of ginger. Then I had the Beyond roll and the shrimp and scallop kakiage. The Beyond roll was meh. The spicy tuna on top somehow managed to be mushy and chewy at the same time. The kakiage though was really good! I almost wished I hadn’t wasted the stomach space on the beyond roll so I could’ve finished the whole thing. After dinner, I headed back to Eden for the ship production cast’s Eden show. As the app requested, I showed up and was seated at least 15 minutes before show time and got a nice seat at the bar. Unfortunately, I ended up not getting to see a good half of the show, because about 5 minutes AFTER the show started, a group of tall 20 somethings came in and decided that they deserved this front row view just standing for the whole show and directly blocking all of us sitting at the bar. When I tapped his shoulder and politely pointed out for one of the guys that they were blocking the view for all of the people behind them, who were actually on time, his response was “well there’s nowhere left to sit, soooo it is what it is” and then turned his back on us. Their parents must be so proud. 🙄 Anyway, what I could see of the show was great and the music was nice. After the show I took my little sea air break on the magic carpet which was on Deck 5. I remember the magic carpet on Edge being so windy it was impossible to enjoy while the ship was sailing. I don’t know if it’s because it was on a lower deck or design improvements have been made, but last night the wind wasn’t an issue at all. I’m currently relaxing on the pool deck with a French Caribbean after a delicious lunch in the Bistro. If you like mussels, be sure to try these! The broth they come in is outstanding and those truffle frites on the side are le chef’s kiss. After lunch I decided to spend a little more time in the AC and went for a quick cocktail in a quiet Eden and did a little reading in the Georgia O’Keefe chairs. I’ve only seen 2 or 3 servers working for the entire pool deck, but I have a chair close enough to the pool bar that I’m fine to burn a couple of calories getting my own drink. The wait when I go up hasn’t been more than a couple of minutes. Soon I’ll head up to sunset bar for sail away then head back to the room for a little late afternoon nap before dinner at Le Voyage.

Good morning from Costa Maya! I managed to pull it together following last night’s festivities and meet Red for breakfast in Blu. Once again when we arrived at 8:15, it was relatively quite and service was extremely prompt. By the time we left a little before 9, the place was packed with a line out the door to be seated. The meat and cheese plate and asparagus frittata were both as good as they look. After breakfast I was supposed to head to the spa for a facial, exfoliating body scrub and hot stone massage. However the spa called and said the crew would be conducting safety drills this morning so there would be lots of loud alarms/announcements going on and recommended rescheduling so that my service would be peaceful. The hostess at the spa was extremely apologetic about the situation and was able to help me move the appointments around my schedule for the next couple of days. Instead, I went to have some English Breakfast and put out a few work fires at Al Bacio where once again service was quick and with smiles and there was no issue finding a seat. For those like me who often have to do some work while on vacation (hey, the cruises don’t pay for themselves), a cool new addition at Al Bacio that I don’t recall Edge having is this long work station table with compartments in the center with different types of outlets (US and European) to plug in your laptop. Once the drill completes at 10:30, I’ll head to the spa for my facial (massage and scrub are moved till tomorrow) then I managed to snag a reservation in the Celebrity app for lunch at the bistro today. This afternoon I think I’ll do some reading on the quieter port day pool deck then tonight is Red and I’s dinner in Le Voyage followed by the full moon deck party! Also a quick but very sincere apology to my Gatsby party friends following that I didn’t make it to silent disco after the late show last night. When I checked my phone after the show, I got some sad news from home that a friend of mine lost her long battle with cancer yesterday morning. She stopped treatment last month and we all knew the day was coming soon, but after hearing the news, I felt like I just needed to spend a little time solo getting a little sea air on the magic carpet and then head to bed. This is the second woman friend my age that I’ve lost to cancer and it keeps me ever mindful to never take my health for granted. Red and I were saying at breakfast this morning that we will continue to unapologetically cruise as much as our bodies, wallets and work schedules will allow, because life is short and “someday” is never guaranteed. The last text my friend sent me was on Sunday night and said “Have a fun cruise! Post lots of food, oceans and sunshine for me and eat and drink all the good things!” In her memory I plan to continue to do just that, nonstop, for the next 2.5 days. Ok, sorry for waxing philosophical there for a moment. Back to lighter topics: I know I still owe a report on last night’s dinner and show and on my stateroom (including how my relationship with this whole infinite veranda thing is going). I promise I’ll catch up on those this afternoon while I’m sipping my poolside cocktails on this beautiful day to be alive.

A quick update from chic night: We had a great little Gatsby party in Eden and everyone looked FABULOUS and were so much fun!!! Once the pre-7pm dinner/show rush cleared out, the Eden bartenders were able to catch their breaths and really interact with us and were so entertaining and accommodating! Wouldn’t you know it, I could drink anything I want in Eden EXCEPT for the Forbidden fruit, but I just couldn’t resist the temptation. After Eden I went to check out the new (and in my opinion, improved) World Class bar space and had a cocktail with my next door neighbors till it was time for my dinner reservation at Raw on 5. Full dinner report to come!

READY FOR AN EVENING CHIC GATSBY PARTY!!!

Thank you! Oh yes, not to overhype it, but wait till you see my Gatsby gown for evening chic night tonight. 😁

A very good afternoon to you from a gratuitously pampered Charla on the Beyond pool deck. A report on my day so far: This morning I had a very nice omelette at breakfast in Blu. I got there about 8:30 (half hour after opening) and the restaurant was already busy but I got a seat right away and service was very prompt. By the time I left about 9:15, it looked like there was a line of people at the host stand waiting for a table. I think I’ll plan to stick to earlier breakfasts at blu! After breakfast I went for a tea forte green tea at Al Bacio and bumped into @Buckeye94 who is sailing solo and joined me for morning caffeine and cruise chat. Even at prime coffee hours there were plenty of open seats and no delay in service. Very different from the crowded and hectic Al Bacio from my sold out Summit Bermuda cruise in July. After tea, I headed up to the pool deck and checked into Red and I’s cabana for the day. Hyper planner that I am, I also booked this sea day 2-person cabana along with my specialty dinning shortly after booking the cruise several months ago. When I did, the cost for a 2 person cabana was $150. A few months later I saw in the cruise planner that the price had jumped up to $250! They were out of the included bottle of Veuve rose, so gave us a bottle of yellow label instead. Unlike Edge, the cabanas on Beyond face in towards the pool instead of out to sea. This comes with pro’s and con’s. The pro is that it’s much easier to go in and out of the pool and participate in poolside activities. This included cruise director Luigi’s completely lit line dance party. The con, at least with the course we’re charting this cruise, is that there is a LOT less shade. Unlike Edge where my cabana was shaded for most of the day, this cabana was completely in direct sunlight until about 1pm. It didn’t bother me too much as the whole point of this cruise for me was to get some sun and heat while Missouri descends into cold and darkness (and I mean the weather, not the election, ha!). But poor Red who is quite fair skinned and burns easily decided to hold off till afternoon to join me so she didn’t bake to a crisp. Once Red came out, we ordered our included lunch from the Retreat deck lunch menu to be delivered to our cabana. The burger and chicken sandwich were just as good as they were when I was actually in the Retreat on Edge. Our cabana attendants kept us well supplied with cold towels and chilled Evian spritzers to keep us cool and topped off our Evian and champagne regularly. As the bubbles flowed, we made friends with the Florida couple in the next cabana who were being equally well “hydrated” by the cabana server team and next thing you know, we’re all shaking our hips to Pitbull. As I was lounging, I kept looking through the app schedule for today and the last sea day to see if any wine tasting events were being offered for our cruise (beyond the free captains club one). These usually don’t show up in the app schedule until after I board, but they’re still not showing any. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a celebrity cruise that had no wine events whatsoever, but I wonder if the reason may be a serious sommelier shortage. I’ve heard several people mention that they didn’t have sommelier service in MDRs last night. I’m going to finish another chapter in my book then head down to my room to take a little nap before it’s time to get ready for the captain’s club gathering and Gatsby party. Talk to you all later tonight!

It’s a beautiful morning at sea! I started my day walking a couple of miles on the jogging track. Red decided to sleep in as she was up late celebrating hitting a $1400 jackpot in the casino last night. About last night: The comedian show was ok. I wasn’t laughing uncontrollably but I enjoyed myself and I’ve also seen much much worse. The guy had some good jokes and for the most part stayed away from the sexist/offensive content. I just tend to start losing interest when a comedian’s set starts to be more audience interview/interaction based. There were drink servers in the theatre which wasn’t a thing on Edge. But that may have been COVID related. After the show we headed to dinner in Eden. Red and I are both well seasoned Celebrity cruisers and we both agreed that it was probably all-around the best dining experience we’ve EVER had on any Celebrity ship. Let’s start with the service. It was 5 star all the way from the moment we walked down the stairs. I have no idea how he knew who we were (I guess process of elimination based on 8pm reservations that had already checked in), but as we approached the host stand Petre greeted us by name and with a big smile and told us how pleased he was to have us on Beyond and dining with his team. We were escorted to a table right by the window where we could also see and hear the beautiful live cellist playing above. Our waiter Sham was fantastic and pacing of the meal was perfect. Apps came out within 10-15 minutes of ordering (they must’ve known we were hungry) then the other courses were well spaced to let us enjoy without feeling rushed but also not feeling like we had to wait for anything. The sommelier Ernesto gave perfect wine pairings included in the premium package for our meal courses. Speaking of the meal, lemme tell you about the FOOD! Everything we had was amazing. We started with the Bazaar Bowl, shrimp and crab cake. My pet peeve on crab cakes is when they’re 80% cake and 20% crab meat. The ratio on this one is completely flipped for ratio with plenty of juicy blue crab and the chipotle sauce and cured sweet pepper salad on the side made an unbelievable flavor profile. For mains Red had the sea bass and I had the lobster. I had heard that all seafood on ships comes on frozen, but Sham told us that the Canadian lobsters for this dish arrive to the ship live! It definitely didn’t taste like previously frozen lobster and swirled in the corn basil purée it’s perfection. Red left not a crumb from the sea bass or its ridiculous wasabi foam on her plate. For dessert we split the chocolate pie and strawberry pastry. I think we may have made poor Sham slightly uncomfortable with the faces and sighs of delight we were making while we ate. To make sure I’m not just blowing sunshine, I’ve seriously tried to rack my brain and think of something that I could critique or could have been improved about that dinner, but I am coming up completely blank. The experience was so top notch we reduced ourselves to begging Petre to find any time available for us to eat dinner there again before the end of the cruise. I regret (well not that much) to report that we won’t be eating at Rooftop Grill on night 4 and will be returning to Eden instead. We have more new dishes we want to try though so I promise there’ll still be new info to report. More to come from a great day at sea soon!

Thank you! Tonight I will try to go by Craft Social and take a photo of the price list for the top shelf spirits and ask about the Louis.

We walked past the restaurant a few minutes after noon and I didn’t see a line but there were quite a few tables already taken. It was about 1pm when we went back to try and get seated. I think it’s a very smart idea to try and be at the restaurant right at noon or even a few minutes early to have your best shot at getting in.

Happy to share! I decided to bid for an upgrade for two main reasons. The first is cabin space. From the YouTube videos I watched, the solo infinite verandas (which was my original cabin class) are substantially smaller and have much less storage space than the AQ rooms. The second reason was that while I don’t plan to use Blu much for dinner, I do plan to go quite a bit, if not every day, for the breakfast. When not in a suite I’ve never been very impressed with room service breakfast on Celebrity and MDR breakfasts have often felt hectic.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Beyond is off on n her first Caribbean sailing! She must have some good stabilizers because I real thought I’d be feeling the motion a lot more. I’m dressed for dinner and having a cocktail at Craft Social while Red finishes booking an Ascent cruise at future cruise. Btw, the bartenders here make a mean rye Manhattan, included in premium package. They also have what looks like a nice selection of up charge spirits for the connoisseurs following. After Red finishes up we’ll head to the comedian show then dinner in Eden.

Based on the announcements the Captain has made so far it sounds like we still plan to sail shortly (that is if these last 15 people who still haven’t completed muster get on with it). I expect we’ll have a rocky night getting south quickly before the weather hits though. I’m changing my shoe plans for tonight’s dinner in Eden to flats. Not risking a sprained ankle first night of the cruise!

Good afternoon from the Magic Carpet! I gotta find some wood to knock, but the radar for our sail away today is starting to look halfway decent! While I finish my post-lunch T&T. A report on my first few hours on Beyond. We had an 11am assigned arrival time and got to the port about 11:15. Document checks and security went lightening fast as usual, then we had to sit and wait in the boarding area for about 20 minutes before our group was called to board. It was at this point that I made a rookie mistake not worthy of all my cruise experience. I am not a buffet lunch on first day of cruise person. I’ve never had it not be barely controlled chaos. Red and I’s plan was to do a specialty lunch $30 cover at Le Grand Bistro. For some odd reason, you can’t make specialty lunch reservations in advance on the cruise planner on any celebrity ship (HUGE miss in my opinion). I KNEW this ship is sailing close to full. I KNEW how booked the specialties have all been for dinner for months. All this told me the smart thing to do would’ve been to make a B-line for the bistro for lunch immediately after getting our sea passes and dropping bags at our room. Alas, as we entered the grand plaza to head to lunch, the siren song of ice rattling in martini shakers called to us and Red and I decided to go have a quick martini before lunch. This turned out to be a lovely idea in that service at the bar was prompt and with a smile, and my passion fruit martini was delicious and hit just right. It turned out to be a terrible idea in that by the time we pushed ourselves away from the bar and went up to LGB, they were completely full for the duration of lunch service. Knowing we had only so much time to get food into our bodies before the martinis realized they had the place to themselves and starting behaving accordingly, we steeled our nerves for the buffet. On the plus side, with the high ceilings and spacious layout of the buffet on E class, it didn’t feel as much like a claustrophobic cattle call. However, it was definitely still bedlam. The poor servers and managers were trying their best to keep up but it was like they were trying to put out a brush fire with a bucket brigade. Many stations had empty dishes and then when refills were eventually put out they were mobbed and emptied almost instantly. When we did get some food, it took a little while to find a table and we finally stalked down a dirty one to sit at because we didn’t want our plates getting cold. We stood by it for a couple of minutes waiting for one of the clearing staff running around to come offer to wipe it down for us before we sat, but eventually gave up. Given the chaos I didn’t really expect to be offered in seat drink service, and I wasn’t wrong. Lesson learned. Don’t dawdle on sit down lunch options when not in concierge or a suite. We went ahead and made a reservation for lunch at the Bistro on day 4, so I will still get to have it! Negatives aside, most of the food we did manage to get at the buffet was very good. Red really enjoyed the pizza and I had a well-seasoned thin lunch steak and green beans with steak fries. After lunch I checked in at my muster station and walked around the ship checking out a few of the sights. From what I’ve seen so far, Beyond is a gorgeous ship. I’m very amused though that: 1) on the pool deck, Celebrity is bringing back conversation pits (Red and I are taking bets on which overserved passenger will be the first to fall in; and 2) the ship comes with a built in field sobriety test on the pathway from Blu to Eden! After I finish this beverage I think I’ll go see if my bag’s been delivered and if so do a little unpacking before our sail away meet up. More to come later tonight!

Good morning friends! What started out as a beautiful sunny Florida morning is quickly turning grey and windy. It’s starting to remind me of summer in the Midwest right before all weather heck breaks loose. I suspect our captain will be loading up Beyond and getting her outta dodge as quick as possible this afternoon before the next big round of storms hits the Florida coast. I hope things here don’t take too much of a beating. In happier news, it’s almost time for Red and I to board the Beyond! We spent the night last night at one of my go to hotels for PE sailings: the Hyatt Place in Dania Beach. The hotel is clean and reasonably priced and there’s lots of good food options in walking distance. For those who are shuttle folks the hotel offers both an airport and cruise port shuttle. There’s also an espresso bar and no frills complementary breakfast which Red and I grabbed a quick bite of after I finished in the gym this morning (trying to get a little ahead of my cruise calorie consumption, probably a futile exercise, but I feel better knowing I made the effort). I’m in my map dress and my new cruise tote is packed (Below Deck fans, don’t you just love it???) Our $22 UberXL just arrived and we are off to the port! Next time you hear from me we’ll be on Beyond!

Miami at last! Currently in my Uber (albeit in heavy rainy traffic, but hey, I’m here!) making my way to Red and I’s hotel in Dania Beach in FLL. For all the strife getting onto it, once my flight took off, it was a smooth experience. In the past when I had a flight that was severely delayed, first class was not re-catered for the new departure time. I was fully prepared to have my pre-reserved 5am flight breakfast of a smoked salmon bagel and fruit at 2pm. This flight though they did switch it to lunch and had a choice of a small (meh) shrimp salad or a fruit and cheese plate. Our first class flight attendant was friendly and attentive and as you can see, had a very loose wrist with the wine bottle. About half of our half full flight looked to be uniformed AA crew who were going to Miami either to meet new assigned routes due to crew staffing hiccups elsewhere in the system today or heading home for their days off 24 hours late after being stranded in other cities due to flight issues last night. AA must have had a rough start to the week in the Midwest. The young woman flight attendant sitting next to me was in the latter group and we ended up chatting and hitting it off. I found out that in addition to being a flight attendant, she’s also studying to get her commercial pilot’s license! She had some great stories from some of her flight school experiences. We ended up exchanging Insta handles to keep in touch. How I do enjoy meeting interesting people when I travel. Red’s Southwest flight to FLL had no delays, so she’s been in and settled for several hours. She went to dinner without me given my late arrival but we plan to have a reunion drink once I get checked in at the hotel. Then I’ll head to my room, take care of a few last work emails, and maybe order an Uber eats snack in PJs before an early bedtime. Talk to you all on Embarkation Day!

Ok guys, things are looking up: I’m at my gate. 10 minutes to boarding. We have a plane and we have what looks like a full flight crew waiting to board. All signs pointing to wheels up soon! 🤞🏾

Im so sorry to hear you got sick! I will definitely email you next week once I get home and settled. Nothing treats post cruise withdrawals like starting to plan a new one. 😁

Same here! I usually fly AA because they have the best premium cabin price and most direct flight options from STL to the places I fly most. I used to fly Delta a lot and was very happy with them, but then they started routing almost everything that leaves STL through Atlanta…and there are few airports (with the notable exception of CLT) that I dislike more than ATL. When the nicest thing I can say about an airport is that they have a decent P.F. Chang’s, that’s saying something.