Notagoose

Had an amazing cruise on Beyond over Christmas in an infinite balcony. The ship is gorgeous and there are so many amazing spaces to explore as a non-suite guest. I can't fathom spending tens of thousands on a suite when I can just have extra vacations instead. 🙂 (Some people can do both -do suites and multiple vacations- but I am not one of those people!)

I was on a sold out holiday cruise on the Beyond and was VERY worried everywhere would feel overcrowded, but honestly, it was fine. Sometimes a wait for elevators, and chair hogs were definitely out, but otherwise I never felt overwhelmed. Always managed to find a chair on deck (maybe not near the pool, but still) or in the buffet, and there were always quiet spots to get away from people if you wanted to (as I am prone to want). Beyond is a gorgeous ship - you will have an amazing time!

While a tux and formal gown would indeed stand out on 'chic' nights now (which you may enjoy - if so, go for it!), a shirt/tie and a cocktail dress would blend in nicely and are way easier to pack.

Aruba is very safe. If you like the beach, grab a bus or taxi and get dropped off at Eagle Beach. There's a nondescript food truck that sells cheap and delicious food near the Chalet Suisse restaurant if you get hungry, and you can rent chairs/umbrellas or palapas from a few different vendors. It's quieter and nicer (imo) than Palm Beach, although if you want lots of action, Palm Beach is the place to be. In Curacao, it's easy to explore right from the port, lots of little shops and restaurants in easy walking distance. We actually went to the Rif Mangrove Park which is just outside the port security area to your left. It's a small park with some interesting birds, if you're into that sort of things. We found it to be a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, although it got HOT! Bonaire has wonderful snorkeling, the best I've done from among 20 or so islands. If you want to do it on the cheap, there are places to snorkel within walking distance from the ship, or you can book with a reputable vendor. I wouldn't personally see any need to book a ship excursion for any of the ABCs, but do what feels most comfortable for you!

There's a site I can't mention where TAs provide quotes for the cruise/date/cabin type you're looking for, and it's an easy way to see if there are good OBC deals to be had. On my holiday cruise this past December, we were quoted $650 OBC as well as a group rate for an infinite balcony on Beyond which was 2k less than the Celebrity website price. The OBC ended up somehow being $1050 by the time we cruised (I didn't ask questions! Maybe they caught a price drop?) Sometimes I request quotes and nothing is better than what's on the Celebrity website, but it's always worth trying.

We liked the Rooftop steak better than Fine Cut on Beyond but that may just be our preference. You do need a reservation ahead of time though. I didn't think they took reservations that late but you should be able to check on the app.

We preferred Normandie, both for decor and for the service. For some reason we got better service there. I'm sure that was just luck of the draw, but we gravitated there for that reason. Tuscan was our least favourite, again due to service. I'm sure if we had been seated in a different section, we would have had a different experience, but we got a terrible waiter and that made us hesitant to return.

I had a hot chocolate there on Beyond in January.

I would have paid good money to witness this.

I can only speak for myself, but while I wear a dress every night - fancier ones on chic nights - I just don't understand why people let how someone else is dressing affect their cruise enjoyment so much, especially when most (not all - but most) are *actually following the cruise line's guidelines*. If you feel the cruise line's standards are too low, maybe give a different line a try and save yourself some aggravation. I did see the buffet supervisor run a barefoot, shirtless, sopping wet teenager out of the Oceanview buffet on my most recent cruise, so you'll be delighted to know there are still *some* standards. 😬 I had never seen a cruise employee so angry!

On my recent Beyond cruise, the earliest available time for anyone to board was 11:30 a.m., and some people were online at midnight to get the earliest slot, so very possible they were all taken up by 6 a.m.

You are not stuck. Just show up at your desired time and you will be given a pager if there's a wait. I never made a reservation on our holiday cruise (sold out ship) on Beyond and never had to wait, but others have reported waiting a bit. It depends on the size of your party as well. If you're with a larger group, I suggest you go to one of the MDRs upon boarding to set up reservations. Also, there's an early show if you ever decide to eat late.

Absolutely not worth it, in my opinion. I've done it once, and won't again unless it's a negligible difference. The only thing I remember being different is a bottle of cheap sparkling wine and also they would drop off a mid afternoon snack of cheese and crackers. I can go get that myself in the buffet for free if I really have a hankering for a pre-supper snack (which I really don't, usually). Look at the list of what's offered and decide if it's worth it to you, and make sure to compare it to the non-concierge class rooms because many of the things listed are also just regular offerings for all rooms.

I was on Beyond for the holiday sailing, and there were a lot of children and families. We were seated next to a baby that cried quite a bit one night, while the mother tried to soothe him/her. It was annoying, yes, but babies cry and the parents were at least trying to rectify the situation. She eventually took the baby out of the dining room when it became clear the crying wasn't going to stop. We were WAY more annoyed by a large table in Fine Cut (comprised of 2 familes), where all the kids were over the age of 8ish, as one of the kids was super loud and obnoxious, and instead of telling him to keep his voice down, all the adults spoke louder so that they could hear each other above the kid. So there were 4 different discussions happening at that table simultaneously, each louder than the next. One table asked to be moved mid-dinner because they were so disruptive. We stuck it out but skipped dessert because it was extremely unpleasant. In my view, this is a situation where the person in charge of that restaurant should deal with the situation for the comfort of the other guests. I could tell the serving staff were not happy either, but these were retreat guests, so maybe more is overlooked for the high rollers. (I know this because the kid was VERY LOUDLY talking about the dimensions of the various suites, when he wasn't sassing the waiter). Most of the kids we saw were very well-behaved in the restaurants.

My profile on Celebrity's website shows that I have 3 past sailings (all longer sailings between 11 and 14 days each), but I still showing as being "preview" level. I emailed Captain's Club a few months ago, and they confirmed my correct number of points, but my profile still shows preview. Their emails to me show the right number, but it's extremely frustrating that my profile continues to have inaccurate information. Their whole website is hot garbage, in my (maybe not that) respectful opinion. Yesterday I was trying to price a cruise, and it prompted me to move to the Canadian site (as I'm in Canada), which I did, but as soon as I would put the search terms in, it would transfer me back to the US site, and prompt me to go to the Canadian site again. Over and over. I also can't find the price for WiFi and drink packages without having a cruise already booked, which makes it difficult to figure out whether "All in" is a better deal than "Cruise only". Sorry - your post triggered me a little after last night's frustration. 😂

For a lot of people, a cruise is a major splurge, and while they may have managed to scrimp and save to get on the ship, finding an extra grand to spend on drinks, etc. may just be too much. On my first cruise, roughly 20 years ago, I just did not have a lot of extra money for that stuff, so I would walk to the buffet for my free water/fruit punch/lemonade/whatever, and heck yes I bought a case of soda and slapped on a luggage tag. No shame! While I don't have to do that anymore, I still bring a Yeti-type insulated tumbler, because I like icy cold water when lounging in the sun, and I'm usually in some tucked away corner of the ship far from any server or bar.

We were on the holiday sailing on Beyond in just an IV room and received one. I missed it at first as it was folded and put on a shelf in the cabinet next to the closet that we didn't realize was even a cabinet until day 2. 😂 Maybe I'm imagining it, but it seemed a bit smaller than the ones I've received before (10 years ago mind you).

I was worried there may be long waits in the MDR when I recently sailed the Beyond over Christmas and NYE, but much to my delight, there was never any wait at all, despite the sold out ship. We had no reservations and typically went around 6:30, which I would think would be prime time, but we never had to wait longer than 2 or 3 minutes for them to sit a group in front of us or get someone to show us to a table. Granted there were only 2 of us, and larger groups may have a longer wait. We wondered if perhaps a lot of people were eating at the buffet since many had children with them.

People who are respectful and have common sense don't need such a policy, and those who aren't won't follow the policy anyway, and the staff won't want to intervene any more than they do with the chair hogs issue, as someone else mentioned. I'm just going to try to go to my Happy Place in my own mind when I come across this stuff and try not to let it get me worked up. I'm going on a Christmas cruise so I fully expect every Tom, Dick and Harry to be loudly facetiming all their relatives to send their holiday greetings. "At least I'm not at work. At least I'm not at work. At least I'm not at work." will be my mantra.

Oh wow - my friend and I went to Plaza Bonaire many years ago and it was only like $10 or $20 at most for use of chairs/pool/beach (did not include food and drinks, obviously). I was hoping to go again this year but we only have a half day and $125 is steep. It had great snorkeling right off the beach and the pool was nice.

This thread will probably be moved to the Grand Cayman thread, but what we do is bring an anti-theft locking bag and tie it to the chair, to put our phone and stuff in. We figure that if we spot someone running away with our lounge chair, we probably have time to run out of the water and chase it down. 😄 (Also, we're on your cruise - if we spot an Irish lady on the beach, we'll sit next to you and watch your stuff..lol)

January is a great time to cruise a Southern Caribbean itinerary. It may be a bit chilly in Fort Lauderdale or the Bahamas, but the farther southern islands like Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, are warm year-round. For me, a 10-12 day Southern itinerary is perfect - usually one or 2 sea days on the front end, which gives me time to relax and get into vacation mode, several port days in a row, then a couple sea days on the back end to let me unwind again as I get ready to go back to the grind.

I was really excited about the $650 OBC I got for our upcoming 11 night holiday cruise until I read this thread! 😂 In fairness, we're just in an IV and that's roughly 11% of what we paid in fare so we probably did pretty well. I think the most I had ever gotten before was something like $150 so I was stoked to book a bunch of specialty restaurants for "free"!

Oh I agree - I wouldn't have been able to afford our upcoming holiday cruise were it not for a TA's group rate plus generous OBC. I just find the rejigged sales amusing.

I'm no mathematician, but isn't this a worse deal than their usual 40% off every guest "sale"?🤔