Irishredhead21

Thank you so much for the heads up, @mac_tlc!! Sadly, timing doesn’t work for me this time around.

@mac_tlc Another fantastic review!! The next best thing to traveling along with you guys was hearing and seeing your enjoyment. (My bathroom scale claims I have even put on weight just looking at all the scrumptious food pics which seems more than a bit unfair though.) I will try to do a comparison similar to @Mrs_Tiki on my first Azamara trip in May, Looking forward with great anticipation to your next adventures. My best to your DW!

So excited that you and DW are off on what is sure to be another fabulous adventure!! Can’t wait to follow along!! Bon Voyage!!

@Mrs_Tiki Thank you for the great review but more importantly it was so great to see you both on the Ascent and I hope we cross paths again down the road!! Safe travels!!

It was perfectly cooked and tender. Just not what I was expecting.

With regard to timing, last night I went to dinner around 7:30 in Luminae. From start to finish was about an hour and I have never had so many people come by to check on me. Between the Maitre d (twice), the head waiter, assistant waiter, bread person, and sommelier (who stopped by four times) it was a constant blur of well intentioned souls making sure I had everything I needed. I finally started taking smaller bites so my mouth would be empty to respond to all the kindly inquiries. I had the short rib appetizer, the “strip steak” (or we could just call it the mystery meat because although I don’t proclaim to be a butcher, it was definitely not a strip steak) and Daniel Boulud’s milk chocolate pill for dessert. All were quite tasty. A very nice first dinner that left me somewhat amused, but I also feeling well looked after.

Thank you so much for the heads up!! As of now, I’ll be going on my (at that point) second cruise with Azamara in April 2025. Sounds like a great deal though! See you guys on Sunday!

Terrific, well balanced review. Thank you for taking the time. So happy you enjoyed your cruise!!

Sorry, to get back to the subject of this thread, I have two Sky Suites booked in 2024 for very good prices and I do not plan to downgrade them based on recent reviews. However, I am now bracnhing out to other cruise lines.

Ok you guys. @mac_tlc @Lastdance Now I’m an official stalker!! Just booked the Vista TA in Fall 2025 as well. Prices look decent even for a solo like me with everything that is included. I always deeply appreciate your very generous heads up!

Well done!! Great price! I totally missed out! Would love to book another TA for a good price in the fall of 2025. Fingers crossed and eyes peeled.

Such a clever, funny, and engaging review!! I laughed out loud numerous times. Thank you!!

Thank you for your wonderful review. I especially enjoyed reading about all the excursion details and useful information about getting around in the various ports. Cheers!

Thank you! It was a blast and I highly recommend it!!

Hi Gang!! Yes, super sleuth @Silkroad found me (Kathleen). Great review, @KKB. I loved meeting you and the rest of the CC gang including @mac_tlc, @GenerationX (I actually had to stop myself from asking for your autograph) and @Mrs_Tiki and you were all so welcoming although I don’t post often. I was lucky enough to have some further interactions with some of you during the week and loved our conversations. I hope we all cruise again at some point in the not too distant future! This was my third cruise ever (first two were on the Apex last year—British Isles and the TA from Rome). I certainly loved the Apex and now adore the Beyond. I’ve been splurging on suites so far albeit well priced ones after the restart (and with a little help from my new friends on this last one) but that may come to abrupt end in the near future. Even so, the memories will live on and are definitely priceless. I didn’t know if I would get the whole cruising concept, but boy was I ever wrong. It’s a downright blast! I will share one story. I only took one excursion this time around, the Celebrity “Mexocology” excursion in Cozumel. Our soon to be very merry band of travelers were met on the pier very early in the morning by a man who gathered everyone and put us in taxi vans for a short drive to Dolphinia (where people were engaging in various adventures such as cooking classes and swimming with the dolphins). It is now only 8:30 am and we were split into groups of eight. My group was warmly greeting by a man named Luis who handed us each a fruity margarita. We then followed him up a flight of stairs and were shown to our workstations where we would work in pairs and make our drinks and guacamole with fabulous fresh ingredients. The next three hours are a bit of a blur—you’ll understand better in a minute—but I know we made at least five full-sized drinks (stopping midway to eat our guac along with various other delicious tidbits that we were given). Around 10:15 after we made all our drinks, which culminated in a final shot of mezcal which we clearly needed, we sat down to order lunch from a provided menu (I had delicious fajitas) which allowed us time to also finish all the other drinks we had made. I felt enormously close to the others in my group who were complete strangers a mere two hours before — as one tends to do after sharing copious amounts of alcohol that early in the morning! (At one point, I’m pretty sure I even considered proposing to our leader, Luis, because I thought how nice it would be to have access to those fancy drinks all the time.) Anyway, we were back on the ship by 11:30 am. And I was back in bed by 11:33. It was a heck of an excursion and I shall always remember Cozumel with warm, albeit slightly muddled (get it — a cocktail joke), fondness. 🍹🍹

Fabulous, detailed review. Well done!!