mac_tlc

So the laundry is almost done and the Beyond has departed on its next sailing. Here is my finale. I often think of something later and will add it if it pops up. And so, some final thoughts, observations, and future thoughts. The Ship : What can I say, we love E-class. Well maintained, looks great. There were some areas we didn’t go to, like Martini bar, World Class Bar, Eden. But, that’s us. We have never fancied sitting at a bar. If we are sitting somewhere, its Café alBacio and we were there often. Since we cancelled our dinner at Eden and given my wife’s mobility challenges, we never went to Eden. When in Retreat, we always get a cabin very close to the front elevators. We have now been in cabin 10123 on all E-class ships. The location makes it very manageable for us. Service: Fabulous. Other than the one hiccup at Fine Cut, everything was as we expected. Smiling crew and some familiar faces which is always great. Food: Unexpectedly, we ate at Luminae 9 of 11 nights. We did not expect to go that often. But the serving team – more familiar faces --- made it fun to go back each night. Rozi, our waiter, along with the team of Made, Nicole, Victor and McLarin did a spectacular job. We had great service, great food and great conversation. We had planned to go to Blu but, honestly, the nights we compared menus we both would rather go to Luminae. TBH, my wife’s mobility challenges mean there has to be a good reason to head to the back of the ship. The only food hiccup was Fine Cut and I went into more detail on that in the body of the review. We loved Rooftop Garden Grill, both for dinner and lunch. This was the first time we have been there and we will definitely go back. We only went to the Oceanview Café a couple times – and only when there was no other option. We used to love the buffet, not anymore. Too hard to find a seat and too many people going in every direction. The food and selection were good, its just not the atmosphere we like. My continuing complaint about the 9:00am cutoff for a sit down breakfast continues in full force. We solved that problem by getting room service almost every morning. Even if we had to pay the service charge in a non-Retreat cabin, we would probably do it. Makes our mornings much more relaxing. Entertainment: This is where Beyond shines. Wonderful production shows, 7 (I think) headliners, the entire Eden production cast and shows, numerous trivia and game shows every day, plus all the other nightly events. We enjoy dinner, a show, a game show, maybe some casino time, every night. For us, the E-class ships provide plenty of what we like to do. The Retreat: It’s hard to separate the experience from the cost but I will try. We spent a lot of time talking about this..what do we like, not like, what parts don’t we utilize, etc. One of the things we like the most is the larger cabin. This is rarely mentioned when discussing the Retreat but for us it’s a big deal. Retreat Sundeck? We probably only spent 10 minutes up there. Retreat Lounge? We like it, the size of the room, the vast array of windows on both side (on Beyond and Ascent). As I stated, we don’t want to sit at a bar so the lack of bar seating is not an issue for us. It’s a comfortable place to go and its quiet. Emily and Anna Maria were great servers and we never waited for a refreshment. The butler situation is in flux and all I can say is that if it gets back (or close) to what it was before the failed experiment, its another plus. We adapted to the current setup. Yes, we did get our cheese and cracker every day at 3, yes the stateroom attendant handled the laundry and the room was spotless. We miss the daily interaction and conversation – and the suggestions of what can be done for us. As I have said before, the current setup pushes the responsibility to the guest. It was better the other way. Future plans: I could talk for ever on this one but I’ll get to the point. We love the E-class Retreat and would be perfectly happy there. However, the costs have made it almost prohibitive. To do the Retreat we either need a sweetheart deal, like we found on Beyond in 2023, Ascent in 2024 and Xcel in 2026, or we need to go to S class, although those deals are not that prevalent either. I do have my eye on a couple of S-class sailings in Spring 2026 that are below $400 per person per day. Here is some hard price data that I have compiled for Spring 2026. Silhouette -- 3/29/26 -- $393 Silhouette – 4/4/26 - $386 Apex – 4/4/26 - $632 Apex – 4/11/26 - $602 Ascent – 3/27/26 - $544 Ascent – 4/4/26 - $553 Silversea Silver Ray – 3/10/26 - $505 Seven Seas Grandeur – 3/14/26 - $667 Viking – 3/29/26 – $387 (Deluxe veranda) Viking – 3/29/26 - $481 (Penthouse Veranda) Icon of the Seas – 3/21/26 - $1,193 (Grand Suite) Icon of the Seas – 3/21/26 - $853 (Sky Junior Suite) I threw in the Icon just so all the others look reasonable! All of the above are “comparable” to me because I am considering all of them. We did purchase two “Book Later” certificates ( well, they screwed up and only did one, but I hope to call C&A and get that remedied). Which ones will we do? Don’t know. There are also a couple of Spring transatlantics we are considering. Stay tuned – our future is always in my signature. mac_tlc

And so, as we have done most of the previous 10 evenings, we started at the attest Lounge for a drink and snack. Once again Emily took care of us. Dinner at Luminae: It was a double soup night with the smoked tomato soup and, of course, The French onion soup. Both were excellent. Final entree was the filet, with a couple shrimp on the side: Ae took in the last production show, Elements. While probably the most visually stunning, I like Arte better. Then it was back to the room to finish packing. So far, I think I have checked the drawers seven or eight times, only a couple more to go. What’s the over/under on checking your embarkation clothes? Has to be at least 5 . I don’t want to be “ that guy” who didn’t leave out what needs to be left out..😏😏😏 And so, we bid farewell to the Celebrity Beyond after a memorable 11 days. We visited three places we have never been and travelled as far south as we have been —- so far— and set foot on a new continent.. pretty cool. My final reflections, observations, thoughts, and discussion of future plans will be done tomorrow afternoon—- after a few loads have made it through the washer/ dryer!! Thanks so much for following along. I hope it was informative and maybe a little fun! mac_tlc

Lunch at Rooftop Garden Grill was quite good. And it appeared to be full. I started with the pulled pork trio: and the Watermelon and feta salad— with no olives: Main was the crispy fish sandwich. —- which I forgot to get a picture of— it was very good. For dessert: My wife — again— saw The Cookie!! Worth the price of admission to her. So, we got it to go sans gelato: The E-class ships are sure photogenic:: Next up: The Last Supper and evening onboard. mac_tlc

I walked past them this afternoon on way to the Rooftop Grill at lunch today. Was very tempted to snap a picture but I did not. mac_tlc

She sure does:

Few things more exciting than that last night before and morning of embarkation. Unfortunately we will be in PE tomorrow, probably around 6:30. Hope you have as wonderful a time as we have! She is a gorgeous ship with a wonderful crew. We hope to sail her again (but more about those thoughts in my summary, probably tomorrow afternoon). Enjoy!!!! mac_tlc

Celebrity Today for Day 11:

Yesterday featured a trip to the Retreat Lounge around 3:30 for the afternoon tea and a few snacks. A little later we reappeared there for a pre-dinner drink. At least when we have gone there, it has never been crowded and Emily and Anna Maria, the bar servers, have been prompt and gracious in taking our order and frequently checking back to see if we wanted a refill. Dinner was at Luminae: News Flash! I skipped the French Onion soup for the Creamy Tuscan Kale soup: A House salad finished off the starters and then, for the entree, the lamb: My wife had the lobster. She enjoyed it ! After dinner we went up to the Retreat sun deck which is quite nice at night. We then headed to the Club for the nightly game show, a Jeopardy like team event. Participation was good and it was a lot of fun. We enjoy the variety of game shows and activities in the Club. mac_tlc

Good morning from Sea….. our last day 😞 It’s shaping up to be a busy day.. First at 9: Followed by : And then : Thankfully they are all in the Theatre so no running around. After that we decided to try lunch at the Rooftop Garden Grill since we had some OBC to burn. mac_tlc

When in Rome….or Jamaica…. This was the sole goal for today and it was completed by noon !!! And it was $16 for two! I know @A&L_Ont appreciates the quest! The rest of the day was a lazy relaxing one, with an afternoon stop at Cafe alBacio for a Ceylon iced tea and awaiting our 3pm daily cheese and crackers, which have been delivered every day since we met our head butler. Maybe a little time was spent discussing future cruise options with the wife… Hmmmm… I wonder…. mac_tlc

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Here is the menu from the app for the current Beyond sailing:

Currently on Beyond and it’s offered on sea days . $25pp mac_tlc

The Celebrity Today for Day 10:

It looks like Margaritaville at the port is no longer:

Welcome to Jamaica! Hard to believe we have reached double digits and it is Day 10. We are really enjoying the longer voyage and, like many others. Wish X had more longer options. We have a visitor next to us, as you can see in the picture. Here is another one: Interesting that it is the Fantasy as I had been looking at doing our annual family cruise on Disney in 2025. What does that tell you about Royal’s pricing when they bring DCL into the competitive mix? I do currently have a 4-bdr suite ( we have 8 of us) on the Symphony of the Seas held for July 2025. I don’t know, though, the price is nuts for a week. Anyway back to the cruise at hand! Yesterday was a lazy sea day with a lot to do! It started at 9am with another talk from Rusty Farst, the underwater cave explorer. He has one left tomorrow and they have all been great and very well attended. At 10:30, thankfully in the same locale, CD Shawna talked for about 75 minutes on cruise ship life and the crew. Some funny anecdotes and stores and lots of factoids. The afternoon consisted of the Deal or No Deal games how at 1:30. I had bought some cards during a cruise planner sale a while back, we won $10! Woo Hoo!—— which we give back through the casino tomorrow I bet. Then at 2:30, Matt Johnson did a matinee magic show. Theater was just about full. Great tricks and a great showman too! Dinner was again at Luminae for one of my favorite menus: Dinner with a great view: I had the Burrata and French Onion Soup as starters and the Short Ribs for the entree. With some veggies on the side: After dinner we decided to skip the show and head to the Solarium, where there were plenty of chairs available !!!! mac_tlc

No worries @CruiseDoc79. Always good to have other opinions and experiences. As was the case on our Ascent sailing last month, the variability in service is what drives people batty. On that cruise, we had a non-existent head butler and fabulous room steward. One of the couples sailing with us has just the opposite— same ship, same cruise, same cabin category. It really is something X needs to figure out. Our room steward has been great, done everything we asked, ice, laundry, clearing room service trays, etc. I would say the most frustrating thing has been the unavailability of loungers in the Solarium. We prefer that to the Retreat sun deck because there is zero shade in the Retreat pool. My wife has been up there for about 5 minutes. Your spa experience is unacceptable. mac_tlc

The show is Arte. Stage Door was earlier in the cruise and Elements in on day 11. All fabulous. Even on a 7 day cruise they do all three. mac_tlc

The Celebrity Today for Day 9:

Seems like I timed out on making edits so here is the Last paragraph on Fine Cut: While good, it can’t hold a spoon to the one we had on the Edge in 2022. That one has real hot fudge, lots of whipped cream and even a cherry on top. No hot fudge was to be found here, even though the menu description says so. A small dab of whipped cream and no cherry. But, hey, it is ice cream so all cannot be lost! While an OK meal, we will not be back for a while. Next time, we will try the filet at the Rooftop Garden Grill, which is cheaper anyway— and has a great watermelon and feta salad. While Fine Cut was a swing and and a foul ball, the show last night was a grand slam ! Arte — wow. We have seen it before and it was still fabulous! Some pictures highlighting that fabulous LED screen: It is shows like this that give us pause in going on a smaller ship with less entertainment offering or smaller productions. mac_tlc

Good morning from the Sea! Today is a sea day as we head towards Falmouth, Jamaica tomorrow. It must be a sea day😏😏. In fact this little seating area I am in has four couches and 8 chairs and the only unreserved one is the one I am sitting in. And I am alone. It about 6:45am ship time and we got our hour back last night so everyone is out reserving extra early. Curaçao was a great day yesterday, colorful, maneuverable and lots to see. We did Fine Cut last night and it was …….. OK. It was a roller coaster in fact. We had a 6:30 seating and arrived at 6:25 and were seated immediately. It then it was 7:15 before our order was taken . We had a good 50 minutes to stare at the menu. Our waiter mentioned that he had a larger table with some specific allergies that took him some time, he apologized. Here is the menu: For starters, I got the Wedge salad and the arugula salad (I can’t say no to goat cheese). Love this goat cheese fritters!! My wife was disappointed that they did not have the jumbo shrimp cocktail, so she went with the Lobster cocktail. An interesting choice for her since she typically never goes out of her way for lobster. She also had the arugula salad. She loved it!!! The starters were all exceptional and an A+. That arugula salad is one of the best salads we have had this trip. For our entrees we both got the filet, 9 oz. For the sides we got bacon mac&cheese, tots and asparagus. This is where the roller coaster went down the hill. While the filet was cooked as ordered and was flavorful, it was not hot enough to last the entire meal. Started out OK but halfway through, it was cold. Picture that sizzling plate at Ruth’s Chris that’s too hot to touch…. It was not that. In fact the plate wasn’t hot at all, even when it just came out. Even the sides, served in cast iron mini skillets which hold the heat better, were not hot at the end. My wife was less concerned about this than I was. She finished hers, I ate about 1/2. I mentioned it to the waiter when he picked up the plates. Later he said he mentioned it to the chef and the manager who both suggested they give us another one —too late for that. We had prepaid at a really good price. Dessert made the roller coaster go back up a bit. We both had the Ultimate Sundae.

We did not, although I’m sure we were pretty close to it. The streets on the old town can be pretty narrow — you never know what’s around the next corner! mac_tlc

About 2:00, we headed back. A few pictures along the way: Fine Cut tonight at 6:30!!! mac_tlc

Once on the “old town” side, we wandered around the narrow streets and of course stopped for a beer and took a picture here: A few other picture of the area: We stopped for lunch at Iguana Carfe, right on the water near the floating bridge: I had the steak quesadilla and the DW had a cheeseburger:

What a great time wandering around Willemstad, Curaçao. All of the sidewalks and walkways from the ship to the floating bridge and then again on the “old town” side of the bridge are very wheelchair friendly. Very few curbs, wide sidewalks. One of the easiest islands to maneuver around. And it’s a pretty island: While we were waiting at the floating bridge for it to open, the Explora 1 sailed into the harbor: Nice view while resting a bit: