GenerationX

Hello from onboard Beyond! I know we still have to talk about Jeremy and I’sq Tuscany day, but wanted to share a bit about our embarkation experience and first hours onboard while it’s fresh in my mind. We booked a private transfer to Civitaveccia with Transfer Service Rome. The driver arrived at our apartment about 15 minutes early and we were on our way to port in a spotless van by 10am. Traffic wasn’t bad so it only took about 50 minutes to make it to the port from Trastevere. When we arrived, the Retreat “priority embarkation” experience was literally nonexistent. After a porter took our checked bags, everyone went through the same security line, did check in and were given a little ticket with an embarkation group number on it and were told to wait in a sitting area until their number was called. No Retreat boarding lounge, etc Fortunately it was early and not very busy when we arrived, so we waited less than 15 minutes to board. When we sat down they were boarding group 55 and we had a ticket for group 60. Not having the Retreat embarkation experience wasn’t a big deal to me having paid such a low price for our moveup, and how quickly things went, but if I’d paid over 15K for a sky suite at regular price, it’d probably have put a little salt in my mouth starting the cruise. When we got onboard we went to our room and dropped off our bags then headed to my office at sea aka the martini bar. When we arrived I was greeted by some of the same bartenders who were working on my solo spring cruise. They were very exited to meet “Mr. Charla” 😂 and surprised us with special espresso martinis! I was also happy to see them still giving out Evian for premium package bottled water (I had read some reviews it was getting hard to find onboard). After a cocktail, we headed over to guest services to put some cash on our onboard account so it isn’t sitting in the safe and convert some more from USD to Euros for port spending. This is one of those places where MSC still beats out Celebrity for me. In Yacht Club, the concierges have full banking capabilities. They can do currency exchange and account cash transactions without having to go stand in the line at guest services. Once again we were lucky having boarded early though and the wait in line was only about 10 minutes. While we were doing our transaction I heard a man at the next desk ask about changing his stateroom and be told that the ship is completely sold out for this sailing and no cabin changes or upgrades are available. After getting money in order, it was off to grab our traditional first peaches and bourbon in the Retreat lounge and head to our first meal in Luminae. We got there about 12:45 (lunch served till 1:30) and were seated quickly. On our way in the hotel director for the ship was greeting guests as we came in to dine. When we said hello he looked at me with a big smile and said “welcome onboard! first time sailing with us on Celebrity?” and Jeremy choked on his sip of peaches and bourbon. As we were walking away “FINALLY! There’s somebody who works on this ship who doesn’t know you already!”. For appetizers Jeremy had the ceviche which he cleaned the bowl of and I tried the short rib borscht. I’m used to having borscht be served cold but this one was warm. I liked it much better than the chicken consumme that often makes an appearance on the Luminae lunch menu though. Jeremy said his Luminae burger was good as always. My steak in my steak frites was a bit overdone. As is my custom I asked for it with the truffle fries that come with the burger rather than the thick wedges. We had my edge class traditional first night dinner reservation at Eden so decided to save our appetites and skip dessert. Speaking of which, we are all dressed and ready for said dinner! I even found the perfect Eden themed dress on a clearance rack for $18 and paired it with my favorite necklace, made from the first cut of steel for Beyond’s hull. Stay tuned for a catch up post about our last land day in Italy yesterday and a report on our stateroom and the “modified” sky suite experience thus far. Pics from our first hours onboard as well as elite plus captains club event schedule below.

Thank you! You are so right. It was odd, this morning for the first time in all my cruises I was a little sad to be getting on the ship. We could’ve easily spent a whole week just in Rome really enjoying the city. I could’ve spent a full day in Vatican City alone. We’ve decided that next Europe trip our goal will be to save away vacation time at work so that we have 5-6 days in Rome on land pre-cruise.

Happy Embarkation Day! It’s map dress time in Roma!

Well, we’re back on our bus making our way back to Rome from Tuscany and I’m sure no one will be surprised to see that we have wine in tow. While my husband is snoring off his last glass of Brunello, a report on our Twilight Food Tour of Trastevere last night… The tour took us to several restaurants all around the Trestevere neighborhood. As we walked in between, our guide shared information about the neighborhood’s history and how it affected the local food scene over the years. It was sold as a small group walking tour with a maximum of 12 guests. Our group ended up being only 4 very friendly couples so it was very intimate. At each stop we had a generous portioned food sample, in almost all cases paired with wine, beer or a cocktail. About a few of the highlights: -Our first stop was a restaurant called Ercoli where we had seated service of a charcuterie and cheese platter paired with an aperol spritz. The mozzarella was the best mozzarella I’ve ever had. Apparently according to our guide, most of what we’re sold as “fresh” mozzarella in the US is anything but, and boy could you taste the difference. While we were there we got a glimpse of the amazing meat and cheese selection and some of the other dinner plates going to tables and it all looked so good, we’re planning to go back there and have a late dinner tonight. -We also stopped in a bakery called La Ranella that is known for supplying all of the breads and focaccia for the best restaurants in Trastevere. However they also sell (and we got to try) a porchetta sandwich made with super tender, juicy flavorful pork and a focaccia that was perfectly crunchy on the outside but soft as a cloud inside. -The next few stand and munch food stops were for pizza, fried artichoke and suppli paired with local beer, which weren’t bad but didn’t wow us either. -For our “entree” stop, we had a sit down meal of 2 different pastas at Peppo Al Cosimato. Both were ok but the pizzas I saw coming out of the wood fire oven and going to other tables looked amazing. I was wishing that could have been our pizza stop! Fun fact: our guide told us to beware of any restaurant in Rome claiming to serve brick oven pizza where you don’t see the oven in the dinning room. Apparently there are regulations in place that prohibit keeping the brick oven back in the kitchen, so if you don’t see one in the dining room, it’s most likely false advertising. To pair with the pasta, we were poured a red table wine from Vatican City that is produced and served under papal seal. Pretty good stuff too. It’s good to be the Pope. -By the time we ate and drank all of that, our group was pretty stuffed (and fairly well lubricated) and we were questioning the wisdom of one last restaurant for dessert and moscato, but our guide insisted we wouldn’t want to miss the experience and he was not wrong! The tour 100% saved the best for last as we visited Spirito di Vino. The restaurant is in a building which was a synagogue. The building was erected on top of an ancient Roman building. When we arrived we were invited down into the basement wine cellar of the restaurant to see the still standing ancient Roman foundation! Our guide pointed out a photo hanging in the restaurant of a sculpture of Apoxyomenos and told us that the statue, which now lives in the Vatican museum, was found during the excavation of the restaurant basement to make the wine cellar! For dessert we were served an incredibly decadent panna cotta paired with a glass of moscato. Actually I should say “glasses” of moscato because at this restaurant after they filled our glasses they left the half full bottles on the table and invited us to help ourselves to refills. After a couple of glasses, Jeremy called me out for starting to stare a bit too longingly at that photo of Apoxyomenos. I then promptly called him out for feeling threatened by a random Greek male model who has been dead for over 2,000 years. After all the wine glasses and panna cotta bowls were empty, our guide offered to walk anyone who needed it to the nearest taxi stand. Fortunately the restaurant turned out to be only a 3 minute walk from our apartment so we were home in bed in no time. Overall I was very happy with the tour and felt like we definitely got more than our money’s worth in terms of the amount of food and drinks provided. It was very walking intensive (great for counteracting some of the calories!) so it’s definitely one to wear comfortable shoes for and perhaps schedule for an evening when you haven’t already been tearing up the streets all day. Once our bus makes it back to Rome, our plan is to get some laundry put in while we enjoy some of our newly purchased wine. Then once we swap clothes to the dryer we’ll do as the Romans do and head to a 9:30pm dinner reservation at Ercoli. After dinner it’ll be straight to bed to get a good nights sleep before getting up early to pack and make our way to Civitavecchia! With all the amazing experiences we’ve had the past couple of days I almost completely forgot we have an entire 10 days of cruising ahead of us too! Final countdown is on to embarkation!

Sharing a link to the VRBO listing for our apartment for those who are interested. Please let me know if it doesn’t work. One thing to consider: the last couple of days it’s been a little warmer out and we’ve used the air conditioning in the afternoon. As is common in older Italian apartments, it is single room A/C units operated by remote control rather than central air. It’s been strong enough to keep us comfortable, but we have wondered how well it would keep the place cool in the sweltering temps of July and August. https://www.vrbo.com/en-au/holiday-rental/p1893811

Ciao from our truck stop breakfast in Umbria on the way to spend the day in Montepulciano! I don’t think I’m going to have as much trouble losing my cruise weight after this trip as I thought. After eating like this, I don’t think I’ll be able to stomach that dense dry cardboard we Americans dare to call bread for months. I’m so sorry I haven’t checked back in sooner! As soon as we got out and about in Rome we fell down a Holy Roman rabbit hole of art, history, food and wine. I can’t believe how much we’ve already done and how much I have to share! I’m going to have to pare down the pictures so I don’t break cruise critic. I’m struggling with where to even start with filling everyone in. I’m thinking while we make our way through the Italian countryside, let’s start with our incredible first full Italian day yesterday . For the morning I booked a half day private golf cart tour of Rome through Viator. I was thinking it’d be a great way to make sure we get at least a taste of all the key sites we wanted to see in an efficient way and I was right! Our guide Lisa picked us up in a very comfortable cart equipped with bottle water, umbrellas and rain walls that could be put down on the sides (which came in handy when showers moved in right around the Vatican). Even if weather had been perfect, having a guide was definitely the way to go. Lisa knew so much about the historical significance of the things we were seeing, we not only saw a lot more but got a lot more out of it. We managed to hit all the big spots: -Colosseum -Pantheon -Trevi Fountain -Circus Maximus -Vatican City We also saw the ruins of Julius Caesar’s Palace and the forum where he was assassinated. She also took us to a few less traveled spots, like an orange tree garden hidden behind a church that had a beautiful overlook of the city. The tour was fully customizable so Lisa was happy to add or skip any stops we wanted. When there were places we wanted to stay and look around longer, she’d drop us off at a convenient spot and then park and wait for us. After our morning of sightseeing, we had lunch at il Barroccio a few blocks away from the Pantheon. The restaurant is definitely a tourist hangout (in fact, shortly after we were sat, a massive MSC excursion group was marched in to dine in an upstairs room) but the Italian food was very good and the service was excellent. When the MSC group arrived, the manager came over to our table bearing a complimentary order of bruschetta (oh, btw Americans, we also know nothing of proper tomatoes and olive oil) and apologized that the kitchen may be a little slow. We assured him we were in no hurry and planned to enjoy a bottle of wine and multiple courses and rest our feet from our long morning of sightseeing. He responded “ah good, you already learn to eat like Italians!” He asked if we were on our honeymoon and I said no but we weee celebrating Jeremy’s birthday. After our meat and cheese platter and pizzas (both fantastic), the manager reappeared with a complimentary tiramisu and poured us shots of limoncello to drink to Jeremy’s good health. After lunch, we walked around to do a bit more sightseeing on our own. I’d mentioned to Lisa in the morning that I was very interested in historical churches and artwork (she assured me I was in the right city) and before we left her for the morning she wrote down the name and addresses of a few she recommended we check out. My favorites was Basilica S. Maria sopra Minerva (so named because the church is built on the ruins of a temple to Minerva) where we stumbled upon sculptures by Michelangelo! On our way back to the apartment we went for a walk along the Tiber then went for a happy hour aperitivo in Piazza Di Santa Maria a few blocks from our apartment. In case I hadn’t fallen in love with Rome already, the city sealed the deal with the fact that happy hour here comes with a full table of delicious complimentary snacks! If you like something light and fruity, please allow me to suggest this peach aperol Paloma at Bar Santa Maria. After our drinks and snacks it was time to get ready for our twilight food tour, which Ill share a full report on later today on our drive back (if I’m not too tipsy from wine tasting). Salute from Italia!

Safe smooth travels! I hope we get to meet you onboard!

You guys, I feel like I’m living in a dream! Jeremy and I were just woken from our afternoon nap by the sounds of ringing church bells echoing through the cobblestone streets outside our apartment. Speaking of said apartment, when we finally made it here (Rome morning rush hour traffic is no joke. Easily as bad as Chicago), our hostess Antonella met us at our taxi and she and our driver helped bring our luggage into our gorgeous traditional Roman home for the rest of the week! Can you believe we got this massive apartment for hundreds less than we would’ve paid to stay in a 1 king bed room at a Marriott? The apartment is on the second floor but fortunately there was a small elevator so Jeremy didn’t have to lug my heaviest bags all the way up. There are a few stairs inside the apartment and up to the doorstep, so this probably wouldn’t be the best choice for anyone mobility challenged. The second bathroom has a European style washer and dryer which I’m going to have to google up some directions on how to use. But will definitely come in handy to be able to do some laundry before we get on the ship. Antonella showed us around and left us a sheet with some suggested restaurant info and a number where we can reach her with any questions or issues at any time. We’re going to shower and dress and head out for an early dinner and exploring in Trastevere. Then we’re planning to grab some gelato and maybe some suppli (watch, I’m gonna gain back all 12 pounds I lost in preparation for this trip in like 48 hours). We’re still recovering a bit from our long trip and not getting much sleep the past week getting ready (plus a 2 week European tour is a marathon not a sprint) so our late evening plans tonight are to be chill and break open the welcome vino that Antonella left us and enjoy the evening breeze on our terrazzo.

Ciao from Rome friends! We and all of our bags made it out of FCO in less than 20 minutes including a bathroom stop and now we’re in the taxi on our way to Trastevere! Can I just say, Flagship Business Class has spoiled flying for me forever. You guys, I saw a lady boarding the plane wearing an exquisite Hermès dress that I’ve seen in Vogue that costs like 3 of our mortgage payments and I think she may have been traveling with Isaac Mizrahi. I asked Jeremy if he could confirm my star sighting but his response was “who’s Isaac Mizrahi?” Men…sigh…🤦🏾‍♀️ But let me back up and share from the beginning of our Flagship experience. At ORD, the Flagship Lounge is one floor below the Admirals Club and shares an entrance from the terminal. When we came in the shared entrance and scanned our boarding passes, we were given black laminated Flagship Lounge invitation cards to be given to an attendant waiting to greet passengers getting off the elevator on the flagship lounge floor. We actually started our long layover a floor up in the admirals club though thanks to a very happy coincidence (that I think also says something about the extent of our cruising addiction). I made a wheels up social media post about our flight and ORD layover before we took off from St. Louis and as we were coming off our STL to ORD flight, we were surprised at our arrival gate by friends we made on my 40th birthday Bermuda cruise on Summit last year! They saw my post just as they happened to be arriving in the same airport a few gates down from a trip to Ireland!!! We all had a catch up drink in Admirals Club and shared lots of hugs all around, then they headed to make their domestic connection while we went to see how the 1% does airport lounges. When Jeremy and I walked in the Flagship Lounge we were greeted with flutes of champagne (took me back to the old Celebrity embarkation days, but with actual champagne) and given a tour of the lounge when we told the attendant it was our first time visiting. There are make your own cocktail stations and a full buffet of sushi, salads and hot food that is much elevated from the food stations and the always a line a mile deep guacamole kiosk in Admirals Club. I tried a little bit of the hummus, Caesar salad and the white wine chicken and all were very good. Jeremy spotted Patron on the make your own cocktail bar and his eyes lit up like Gen Z’s coming in the living room on Christmas morning. When it was time to board our flight, as evidenced by his face in the photos, it was very clear that my husband had no idea what all “board and turn left” entailed. Nobody tell Jeremy but I got this upgrade for a very good price and I’ve now been made some marital promises in exchange for this expression of love that well outweigh my ticket investment. We were greeted on boarding with welcome glasses of champagne which were refilled regularly during boarding. Dinner was served in courses with warm bread service. Jeremy and I both had the cheese enchiladas which didn’t wow me but still definitely beat out any first class meal I’ve had in non-Flagship. The star of the meal was the ice cream sundae dessert course. After eating and a couple of glasses of cote de Rhône, I put my seat into lie flat, curled up in my Casper pillow and blanket and slept like a baby until the lights came up for breakfast service. Nice little transition into Rome time. Apparently Flagship is where AA has been hiding the decent eggs at breakfast too! The only complaint I have is that wifi didn’t work for the entire flight. As a result, there’s some work I was hoping to wrap up in the air that I’ll have to take care of once we check into our VRBO. More to come later today from Rome!

You know us too well! We aren’t even off the ground in STL yet but already on our second round of mimosas! 🥂 Ill be sure to give a full report on the Flagship experience!

Buongiorno! Today is the day!!! Jeremy and I are in the car on the way north to STL. This morning before we left home, he got to open his smaller surprise birthday gift from me. (Guapo is our nickname for his alter ego that comes out when he gets on the tequila.) He immediately put it into his suitcase. I can’t wait to see his reaction when he finds out about my other surprise gift when we get to the airport: I upgraded our flights out to Rome to Flagship Business Class! For the trip to Rome we fly STL-ORD-FCO with a 3.5 hour layover in O’Hare (an hour of which I presume we’ll spend doing the delightful O’Hare domestic to international terminal excursion). Flight options back from Rome were much less abundant at the very end of the tourist season. The only option that got us back to STL before November 1st has us flying Iberia code share from FCO to MAD then back on AA from MAD to PHL and PHL to STL. Normally I feel ok trusting the bag tracking function in the AA app. But for this big of a trip and the number of plane changes we’re doing, I decided to invest in AirTags on our checked luggage just in case. As of now, both our flights are showing on time departure. Please send good vibes our way for safe, smooth travels!

Oh Dawn I’m so sorry to hear about your accident! I don’t think my writing can ever compare to being on a transatlantic cruise, but I’m glad I can do a little something to take the edge off! I hope you continue to heal well and quickly! I’ll be thinking of you enjoying tropical shores on Beyond in January when I’m up to my ankles in snow!

Current Situation: Just a couple of 40 somethings drinking bubbly, binge watching Italian food travel shows on the DVR and packing enough luggage to stay in Europe for a solid month. First thing tomorrow morning we leave for the airport!

Good morning from my pre-cruise spa day! How bad is it that I spend enough time here that when I pull up to the valet stand, the attendants open my door and immediately say “Welcome to the Four Seasons Ms. Claypool. Headed to the spa again today?” Jeremy, son of two accountants, says he’d love to get an afternoon perusing my solo checking account (not a chance, buddy) to see how much of my market share this spa, Celebrity Cruises, Total Wine & More and Amazon are splitting on an annual basis. 😂 In any event, while I’m starting my day the right way, a little about our plans for our 2 weeks overseas! Let’s start with a disclaimer. As you can probably tell from this shot, this review is not likely to be one you’ll want to read on an empty stomach. Food and wine pictures will abound. During our pre-cruise time in Rome I’ve made us reservations at several restaurants I’ve been dreaming of trying ever since seeing them on my favorite travel shows (thank you Tony Bourdain and Stanley Tucci!). We also have some excursions planned that I booked through Viator, including a night time food tour of the Trastevere area where we’ll be staying (neighborhood suggested by a sorority sister who grew up in Rome). I made a rookie mistake when it came to planning accommodations for this cruise. I didn’t get around to looking into hotels until early summer. By then, every hotel for our dates that was centrally located was either completely booked up, cost over 600 Euros a night, or had TripAdvisor reviews that are still giving me nightmares. Luckily I quickly found a solution via VRBO. We’ve rented a charming traditional Roman apartment in Trastevere that’s just steps from lots of great restaurants and night spots! Our host Antonella has been super responsive and helpful and has even arranged a taxi to meet us at the airport. A quick caution if you’re thinking about VRBO for a Rome stay: be sure to not only look at the reviews and ratings, but also at the dates they were posted. There was an apartment we were in love with that seemed to have great reviews, then I looked closer and realized that they were all reviews from pre-pandemic. I of course understand there was a good long gap there where Italy was in total lock down and no one could go to even write a review. But we all know how much an accommodations experience can have changed since the pandemic. We didn’t want to take the risk on a bucket list trip. I’ve been told that Rome is extremely English speaker friendly, but for me part of the fun of international travel is learning the local language, so I’ve been learning Italian for about 6 months using Babble, watching Italian language movies/documentaries on Netflix with subtitles and a bi-weekly “speak Italian only” wine and canapé date with my mother in law (Jeremy is particularly nervous about which words I’ve learned from that last one). I also found an Apple Music podcast that teaches Italian for travel that I listen to on my drive to and from the office every day. The ports for our cruise will be Olympia, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Sicily, Naples and Florence. Between our onboard booking offer and cashing in points from our Celebrity credit card, we had quite a bit of onboard credit, so we ended up booking quite a few excursions through Celebrity. Our interests trend towards food, wine and historical sites so our adventures will feature those heavily. We’ve also booked specialty dinners at Eden, Le Voyage and Raw on 5 (not my favorite specialty, but this man still owes me a seafood tower that I never got on Apex, and I didn’t get where I am in life by not collecting on debts). We also had a butchers cut reservation just because Jeremy liked it so much on Apex. But I cancelled it after we got our move up because on Beyond at least, the Luminae food beat my butchers cut experience by a mile. So now I have more OBC for sea day massages for my sore legs and wine events! I’ve been lurking weather reports and it looks like at least the first part of our trip is going to be relatively warm for fall (temps in high 70’s Fahrenheit) but grey and very rainy. Luckily I have made solid investments in several very cute but lots of walking comfortable waterproof fall shoe options and an adorable Burberry rain coat I got for almost 80% off via rewards redemptions and final sale discounts at Neiman Marcus! My wardrobe for this trip is heavy on layering options. Lots of dresses that will be comfortable in warm temps but can still work for cooler weather when paired with boots and/or leggings and a cute sweater or jacket. The fun part will be hitting the maximum 50lb per checked bag weight limit for Iberia airlines (which we have to fly as a codeshare on the way back from Rome) with room to spare for the additional shopping I plan to do abroad. We are flying home on Halloween and I tried my best to convince Jeremy that we should dress as Waldo (of Where’s Waldo?) and Carmen San Diego for the journey, but I was sadly overruled. Well I’m off for my body scrub, facial and pedicure! As always please feel free to jump in on the review with any questions/comments/suggestions. Less than 48 hours till wheels up for Rome!

Me: Oh by the way honey I’ll be home from work a little late. I have to pick up my dry cleaning and then run to the mall to finish my cruise shopping. Jeremy: What do you mean “finish” your shopping? The Amazon and UPS trucks have been delivering packages every day for a week! You can’t possibly need anymore stuff for this trip! Me: Oh you’re absolutely right. I’m pretty much set, I’m just getting a couple more small things… Behold my couple of small things!

Actuallu our bid was $1300 total ($650 per person). We ended up getting an S1 sky suite so not bad I think to jump from AI aqua at that price. It does appear that all of our AI aqua perks carried over. I did pay to upgrade us from classic to premium beverage package. It was a little over $400 even with my Elite Plus discount, which at first seemed a little steep to me, but then I looked at what Celebrity is charging a la carte these days for a premium beverage package on a 10 night sailing. 🤯 Looking forward to hearing what you think of your yacht club experience. What ship will you be on?

Aloha! Looking forward to having you along with us! I thought of you during the wildfires in Hawaii. I hope that you and all of your friends and family are doing ok.

Oh I remember this group of peaches and bourbon party animals quite well! If only all sailaways were this much fun!

Oh yes! I FONDLY remember our amazing Gatsby party on Beyond! I’ll be looking forward to hearing what you think of Ascent in January. If we get exceptionally lucky in the casino this cruise, we may try to join you! 😁

Ciao! Looking forward to sailing with you! Yes please do find us onboard, we’d love to meet you!

Well hey there my fellow Celebrity cruisers! Long time no see! Man, it feels like a hundred years since my last Celebrity cruise (actually only been 5 months), especially with all the changes at Celebrity since then. But we’ll talk about that later. Would anyone like to join my better half and I on our bucket list fall 10 night cruise of Italy, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro? A quick about us and why this cruise: I’m Charla and the guest of honor on this cruise is my husband Jeremy. We live on a small hobby farm about an hour south of St. Louis, Missouri. We booked this cruise while onboard Apex in February celebrating my generous end of year bonus and Jeremy finally giving up his decades long smoking habit. I originally booked this cruise in an aqua class stateroom. Then, a couple of weeks after final payment (and just after the changes to the sky suite benefits were announced, fancy that) I got an email about a “special promotion” on move up bids to sky suites, where celebrity would accept a minimum bid 50% less than what they previously wanted. I decided to put in a bare minimum, discounted move up bid for sky suite, aqua suite and sunset suite. I decided it was worth the extra $1300 to me to have Luminae (whose food, service and ambience on Beyond delivered in such a big way on my solo cruise earlier this year), to not have to bicker with my husband about closet and drawer space (opportunities to avoid spousal debate are priceless in my opinion) and to have a bath tub where I can soak in my lavender bubble bath and Epsom salts at the end of our many hills and steps walking intensive port days. Plus as some may already know, the past year I’ve been spending some time with a cruising mistress (the MSC Yacht Club) and have also been sniffing around at the occasional ridiculously good solo cruiser offers on Viking and the potential to get far more luxury for not that much more money on a couple of the premium lines (a former Celebrity loyalist couple we’re friends with came back raving about their experiences this summer on Seabourn). So I thought this would be a more cost effective way to compare the new sky suite experience to the other options out there. I’ll be sure to repor in detail on how this experience compares to my (amazing) Beyond sky suite experience back in April. When I put the bid in there were about 15 aqua/sky/sunset suites in total left showing online. I prepared myself that with so few suites available and low balling my offer as much as possible, it likely wouldn’t happen. Especially since said remaining suites were being sold for several thousand dollars more that the total of what I paid for our AQ room (I think at one point the aqua suites were priced over $15K). But sure enough, last week I got an email saying my bid had been accepted. It’s funny, it’s almost like people weren’t lining up to pay much much more for an experience that had just been announced as being scaled back. 🤔 This trip is Jeremy’s 40th birthday present, but we’re also celebrating his recent promotion at work. Everything’s coming up Jeremy this fall, what can I say? I hope his good juju runs as far as the onboard casino! This will be my third cruise on the Beyond and Jeremy’s first. This will be the first trip to the Mediterranean for both of us. Jeremy is half Italian-American (his mother is the first generation born outside of Sicily) so this is a bit of a heritage trip for him. Followers of my prior reviews know my strong affection for good red wine, the Italian fashion holy trinity (Gucci, Prada, Versace), fresh seafood, pasta and fine cured meats and cheeses of all kinds. In other words, I’m pretty sure I’m headed to my mothership. We are spending 3 days pre-cruise and 1 day post in Rome, but one of those days will be spent on a (very long) day trip to paradise (aka Tuscany). In the next day or 2 I’ll share a little bit more about our plans onshore and onboard. For now, we’re 3 days from wheels up for Rome and my to do list overfloweth!

Ah interesting, we asked about this the first night at dinner and our server told us no, shrimp cocktail would only be available on the last night when it was on the menu. Now I know for next time to escalate it further up the chain! Thank you!

Remind me, what’s it called in literature when the weather reflects the mood of what’s going on in the story? It was grey and raining early this evening as I watched from afar on our hotel room balcony as Seascape headed back out to sea without us. Poor Mini Me couldn’t even bring herself to look. In happier memories, a little about our last few hours onboard: Gen Z got back from the behind the scenes ship tour yesterday very psyched and I was so glad she had a chance to do it. Apparently there was some mild drama at the start of the tour because when she and the Austrian family arrived at the meeting place, along with several other families that had even younger children with them, the tour coordinator said that the tour was only for age 12 and up. Apparently all of these families had booked the tour in advance and no one saw anything anywhere regarding this age restriction. Gen Z’s ticket was even arranged by the YC concierge mere hours before with no objections raised. Apparently there were multiple phone calls made while tensions with the families grew (many had cut their Ocean Cay days short for the sole purpose of being back for this tour) but in the end all children were allowed to participate. Gen Z said they weren’t allowed into the engine room but got to see the engine control center and that the highlight was a trip up to the navigation bridge where everyone got to meet Captain Tuvo. Austrian mom said he was very friendly and wonderful with all of the kids and took almost a half hour personally showing them around the bridge and answering questions about the ship. Austrian mom said Mini Me raised her hand and asked if she could honk the horn just once and that the captain laughed and of course denied this request. After Gen Z told me all about her tour, we dressed and went to one last YC restaurant dinner with our friends. The beef consumme soup was a little over salty, but the beef raviolis inside were very good. I would’ve liked to just have the raviolis with a splash of the broth on them. Gen Z and I both had a shrimp cocktail with shrimp that wasn’t quite as good as the ones in Butcher’s Cut, but nothing to complain about especially given this one was free. Gen Z commented how much she missed being able to have shrimp cocktail every night like on Celebrity. It was one of the few times I hear a Celebrity comparison out of her this week. Gen Z had her favorite salmon one last time and I had a double entree of a tender but extremely rich and filling slow cooked lamb shank and the potato gnocchi. I was tempted to try and bribe someone for the recipe for the tomato Basil sauce on the gnocchi. A perk of the YC restaurant/lounge layout on Seascape: While we had our coffees (and hot chocolate for the kids) and waited for the dessert course (Mini Me highly recommends the Ice Cream Pyramid BTW), Gen Z and her Austrian friend got to watch the light house show right from beside our table. Our servers Benedict and I Made were quick and gave good food and wine suggestions and took time to stop by and make napkin animals and do magic tricks for the kids. After dinner, Gen Z went to kids club while I got us packed up. Then when I picked her up we went for a just us girls night cap in the Top Sail lounge to listen to some live music together and drown our sorrows in Malbec and heavily whipped creamed hot chocolate and the late night sweets display. The lounge entertainment the last night was a vocalist and piano duo from Brazil that I’d also enjoyed listening to in the atrium during my champagne bar sessions. When they finished their set, we thanked them for the beautiful music and headed off for our last sleep on Seascape. Gen Z are going to order some Uber Eats for dinner in our pjs, then later tonight: a catch up post on our stateroom.

Ugh, this afternoon I am regrettably writing from dry land. Gen Z and I are all settled back in at the Hyatt Brickell for our post-cruise decompression night before flying home tomorrow. Disembarkation this morning went pretty smoothly. The YC restaurant was open for breakfast from 6:30-8:30. Since we were in no rush to get off, we arrived around 8am and shared once last meal with our new Austrian friends who are going back to back. They shared that they were given B2B vouchers and instructions in an envelope last night that said to hang out in the YC lounge after breakfast and at around 10am a butler would take them down to the terminal to go through the reboarding process. While we were finishing breakfast, Captain Tuvo was going around the restaurant table to table thanking everyone for sailing MSC, asking how their cruise went and taking photos. I’m sure he’s very busy on turnaround day so it meant a lot that he’d take the time to do something like that. When he came to our table, he remembered Gen Z from her bridge tour the day before (more on that to come) and said “something’s wrong, my passenger with the great hair is not smiling today.” I explained that she didn’t want to leave the ship, and he offered to let her stay and hang out on the bridge for a couple of more weeks. I was quite jealous that I wasn’t given a similar invitation! When Gen Z and I were ready to leave the ship a little after 9am, Charles met us in the lounge and took our carry on bags and escorted us down the elevator and as far as the security card scanner. They had a separate area roped off from general disembarkation for YC so we didn’t have to worry about edging our way past the line of non-YC people waiting to leave. When we were walking off the ship at about 9:15, I heard the loudspeaker announcing that they were calling luggage numbers up to 62. When we got to the terminal there were 3 different rooms of luggage and it looked like 2 of them were still pretty full. As was the case on Divina, there was no signage to help figure out where YC bags were and I had to ask a couple of attendants. It turned out to be at the very end of the very last luggage room before customs. Unlike Divina there was no butler in the luggage area to assist with finding bags and getting a porter, but we were some of the last YC bags left (perhaps why there was not butler) so they were easy to find and getting a porter was no problem. Our porter said things were much more hectic when disembark started at 7:45. Facial recognition was used for US passport holders so we got through customs in seconds and got a $15 Uber XL to the hotel. Upon check in, Gen Z promptly headed out onto our balcony and proceeded to look longingly accross Brickell bay to where the cruise ships are docked. She sighed deeply and said “You know, this time I’m not happy at all to be in Miami”. Same girl. Same. I know I have some posts still to do, including the rest of our day yesterday, a much overdue stateroom report and a report on our Puerto Rico excursion. I promise I’ll find time between consoling my child who is depressed because “someone else is probably unpacking in OUR stateroom as we speak”.

Well here I am, sat in Top Sail with a champagne cocktail in front of me and there is NOT a smile on my face. You know what that means? I’m being evicted from the Seascape tomorrow! 😭😭😭 On a positive note, I guess it’s a good thing that I’m this sad to leave, given that I came into this cruise a little worried about whether I’d be ready to commandeer a tender and drive myself back to Miami by midweek. I always tell Gen Z that trying new things can be scary and it probably won’t always work out the way you want, but it’s important to do because you may discover something you really enjoy. I’m glad I took some of my own parenting to heart and made final payment on this cruise. Gen Z is currently on the ship’s behind the scene tour which our Austrian friends offered to treat her to in exchange for me supervising their son on water slides for a while yesterday so they could have some couple’s time and inviting them to join us in our Ocean Cay cabana today. I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of it. Meanwhile, a little about our Ocean Cay day. This was one of the places where I very much saw the impact of bigger ship/bigger YC vs. Divina. After a butler escorted us down and off the ship about 10:30 (passengers were allowed off as early as 9:30), there was the same tent and lounge area for YC to wait for a golf cart to the YC portion of the island that we had on Divina. The difference was that this time there was a line 30 people deep out from under said tent waiting for the cart. There was only one dedicated YC cart going back and forth and whereas the wait for the cart on Divina was only a few minutes, this time it was 20-30. The backup was so bad that the butler loading the YC cart was taking handfuls off passengers over to the general passenger golf cart area and filling them with YC passengers too (you can imagine how well that was going over with the poor non YC passengers who had been patiently waiting for their carts). A similar backup happened on the way back to the ship (more on that in a minute). Moral of the story, when these bigger ships are on the island, there probably needs to be more than one YC cart running. When we got to Ocean House (the YC only beach and restaurant) I was sooo glad I’d booked that cabana. There weren’t 2 open loungers together anywhere to be seen. I took mental note: if I’m not booking a cabana, get to the YC beach first thing in the morning when sailing on a bigger ship. One of the YC concierges got us settled in our cabana and pointed out our cooler of cold water and bottle of chilled Prosecco then brought us a round of mimosas. Right around the time my mimosa got near empty…yes, I know, the review is getting predictable, Charles appeared from behind a palm tree and asked what he could bring us for our next round. We had a great time swimming in the ocean with Gen Z and her friends and even managed to see a few stingrays while snorkeling. Between swims the cabana kept us in plenty of shade and Charles kept us in plenty of margaritas and Virgin daiquiris. As many others have noted, the YC beach is pretty rocky and water shoes made it much more comfortable. Lunch was served from noon till 2 and we originally planned to go to Ocean House for our lunch about 12:30, but there was a line for a table that went down the golf cart path from the restaurant (again not a thing on Divina) so we waited until a little after 1pm. Even then the restaurant was still very busy but Arthur the awesome YC restaurant maitre d found us a shady table quickly. I started with the octopus and then had the mahi mahi while Gen Z got the carne asada and split the lobster roll with her dear old mom. The lobster roll was just as good as it was last time. The mahi and carne asada this time were just ok, the mahi was a little overdone and dry but had a good sweet salsa with it. The octopus was so incredible last time, but this time it tasted very fishy so I didn’t eat more than a couple of bites. I think the food quality drop may also have been a result of the need to churn it out in greater volume in the same timing. One thing I can say was still right on par was the service at lunch which was still very quick and friendly. After lunch, I could tell Gen Z was showing signs of being very near her sensory limit. It was bound to happen given how much more stimuli there have been on this cruise, the increased volume of social interaction and day after day of more noise, lines and crowded elevators/golf carts. Honestly, even with me making intentional time for low sensory breaks every day, I’m surprised we didn’t hit this point sooner. As we were waiting for a golf cart back to the ship she started to stim (she wrings and flaps her hands, paces and pulls at her hair) and started to say she couldn’t take the heat anymore. I thought about sending her into ocean house to the A/C to cool down, but I could already see people starting to crowd the cart boarding area like vultures around dying prey, and I knew if I sent her inside and had to run and get her when the cart came, I was definitely risking our spot in line. I also briefly considered just walking us back to the ship as it’s really only 15-20 minutes tops for able bodied folks, but the sun was out and there wasn’t much shade and then I ran the risk of a full on sensory meltdown going down on the side of the road. When a cart finally pulled up, after 20 minutes waiting, a group of YC guests were so eager to mob it I saw one lady who must’ve been in her 70’s try to grab and dive on the thing rear end first before it even came to a complete stop! I guess risking a broken tailbone (or worse) was worth it to be sure she didn’t wait another 15 minutes to get back to the ship. I wasn’t raised to throw elbows and shove elderly people out of my way, so when said folks mobbed the cart and I tried to set an example for her to not push and wait our turn, of course Gen Z and I were left standing with no seats left on the cart. At that second, who comes to the rescue but…yep, you know what I’m gonna say, Charles! He went a few rows back on the cart to a row of 3 people that could easily fit 4 if they put their beach bags on the floor rather than the seat and asked them to do so and slide together to make room for a child. The Austrians, whose culture I’ve learned over the past couple of days doesn’t do midwest nice in the face of rudeness (I’m here for it!) had gotten past some of the aggressive cart rushers and promised that they’d stay with Gen Z and get her up to our room safely for me. I gave her instructions to stay with them and go straight to our room, lock the deadbolt and turn on the do not disturb light and lay on the couch in the dark with a stuffie to cool down and decompress before the ship tour, and I’d be along very shortly. Since I wasn’t going on the tour with them, I didn’t need to be back at the ship at a certain time, and my primary concern was getting Gen Z to a place to decompress ASAP. After her cart left I started to just walk back to the ship, but Charles and Arthur assured me they were diverting another cart to come quickly and asked me to wait. The cart did come fairly quickly, but when it dropped us off back by the ship there was no butler escort or dedicated yacht club entrance and without those, this much bigger ship had a much longer wait to get through security and then to get an elevator up to our room (that process alone took me about 30 minutes). When I got back I found Gen Z safe and sound in the room and with a much needed recharge and excited to go on the tour of the ship. Overall while I’d say Ocean Cay was still a really nice experience, it definitely wasn’t as relaxing or luxurious on a bigger ship. I’ve heard there are plans to expand the YC area to accommodate the even bigger YC on the world class ships, but we shall see. Gen Z still said once she’d had time to calm down that she loved the island and that it was one of her favorite parts of our cruise. I’m going to finish my champagne then Gen Z should be back from her tour shortly and we’ll go to the room to shower and dress for one last YC restaurant dinner. I checked with the concierge and they said YC luggage doesn’t have to be in the hallway until midnight at latest, so I’ll take Gen Z to kids club and do most of our packing after dinner so at least one of us doesn’t have to be brought down by the preparations for our return to reality.