Wirral Girlie

@GenerationX sadly we are sitting in a very busy airport waiting for our flight home 😭 Lovely to meet you on the ship in the World Class bar and also to take your photos in Taormina!

Safe journey home tomorrow.

Kim x

Pictures of our deck 8 aft Deluxe Porthole verandah.... 8326

So we are sailing on the same Beyond 10 day cruise as Charla (GenerationX) who is doing her usual amazing live blog but I thought I would also add some words of my own!

We were originally booked in an oceanview on the 3rd floor but put in a moveup bid for a number of cabins. 3 expired but we were successful with the Deluxe Porthole view verandah for £200.

It's a great cabin on deck 8, starboard aft with a real balcony which we love. However, it does have the window washing equipment to the right side so you can't really see aft very well. I wouldn't pick this cabin in the future but would happily have one of the other porthole verandah cabins! 

So far we have eaten our evenings meals at either one of the MDR's or the ocean view cafe. We have enjoyed all our food, even the mashed potatoes, and particularly enjoyed Cosmopolitan last night, the sommelier and waiting staff were excellent.

Our favourite place to hang out and chill is on the rooftop garden, however since last year they have added a pickleball court so the afternoons aren't as peaceful as they were when we sailed last year!! But it's entertaining at times!

Our favourite bar has to be the world class bar, they do some lovely cocktails and if lucky you can get a seat overlooking the martini bar.

Shows have been great, we have enjoyed them all.

Captain Kate is lovely, so friendly to everyone and happy to have pictures taken with the guests.

Just 2 more days left of our cruise, we will be sorry to go home on Monday to a cold and wet UK!

56 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

 

Hello from Sicily!  I know I’m almost 2 full days behind in reporting, but we’ve been having the most incredible day and can’t wait to share!

 

This morning I was awakened by the sound of my better half telling me I’d better get it together because I’d overslept and we only had half an hour until our excursion assembly time.

 

Another thing I miss about butler service:  having someone to bring me a latte and danish from Al Bacio on these types of mornings when I’m in a rush. Fortunately I still have Jeremy…who will not be receiving a tip for his services. (I know, I still a full report on our thoughts on the reduced Retreat/butler experience too.)

 

The raspberry danish and vanilla latte hit the spot then we headed down for our excursion Taormina City on Your Own.  This was booked through Celebrity and really just a transfer rather than an excursion. There’s no guided tour (although Celebrity offers those as well) just a bus ride for the hour trip each way to and from port.  I also priced booking a private car for this trip and it was going to be about $250 US.  Booked during an excursion sale, the Celebrity bus transfer was a little over $100 total.

 

The ride to Taormina took about an hour then we had 3.5 hours to sight see, have lunch and then meet back for the bus.  The drivers warned us to be on time because the taxi drivers waiting at Taormina know most of the fares they pick up there are cruise passengers who missed their bus back and are distressed purchasers and the drivers price the ride to port according (he said they can demand 300-400 euros or more).

 

I did some research on Taormina in advance to find a good restaurant to treat Jeremy to lunch.  Regular followers know my love of fine cured meats and cheeses. The only person I know who loves these things even more than I do is Jeremy.  Looking online I found Circe Enofood & Lounge and made us an online reservation in advance.

 

When we got there the restaurant wasn’t full, but because we’d reserved they gave us one of the best tables in shade on the patio.

 

The menu is pretty much a Bible of cured meats and cheeses and they have several flights you can try of different selections from all over Italy.  You should’ve seen Jeremy’s eyes light up when our literal tower of mortadella, salami, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, pecorino and aged parmesan (accompanied by local olives, cured artichokes, honey and lemon preserves arrived at the table).  We also each got a focaccia sandwich that was so good Jeremy considered trying to smuggle the rest of his back on the ship. They were served warm and the locally made pesto on mine was unbelievable.

 

Jeremy got a prickly pear tequila cocktail and I tried a wine flight of premium Sicilian wines.  I fell in love with one that our waiter told us has won a number of international wine competitions. After my flight I couldn’t resist having a full glass of it.

 

The restaurant has a small shop next door that I stopped in to buy a bottle of wine to take home as well as a couple of jars of the amazing pesto and lemon preserves.

 

When I came back out, there’s the love of my life again holding a shopping bag out to me.  He said “just a little thank you for arranging such an incredible trip and buying me an amazing lunch”.  Sometimes the best bags don’t have to be designer!

 

I know, I know, the mush.

 

After lunch we walked around town a bit more and had gelato and listened to the street musicians.  We almost got a little turned around wandering up side streets, but luckily Taormina has a Louis Vuitton and a Dior and I can navigate quite well via shopping landmarks.

 

It was a very warm day but I made sure to bring a jacket anyway and was glad I did as many of the churches we wanted to look in required ladies to have their knees and shoulders covered.

 

We went to the scenic overlook to check out (actively smoking today) Mt. Etna and bumped into a couple from London that we met on the ship.  We all decided to grab an aperol spritz at a nearby piazza and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and laughing.

 

At one point, the men’s spritzes kicked in and they decided to try and serenade us ladies with their own rendition of “That’s Amore”…that’s when we cut our husbands off for the afternoon.

 

The great part is with all the Italian food and drink, Jeremey and I both managed to nap pretty hard on the bus ride back to the ship, so now we’re fresh as daisies!

 

We’re going to go have some tea in the retreat lounge then maybe hit the pool for a bit.  Tonight there’s a silent disco party just for retreat guests.  We also just got a call from the retreat concierge saying that the maitre d has approved our request to invite some new Australian friends we met onboard yesterday who are on their honeymoon in a standard IV room to dine with us in Luminae tonight (with cover charge and gratuity of course).

 

Ciao for now from the best day ever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pleased that at least one of the pictures I took turned out for you!! 😍

@GenerationX lovely to meet and have a little chat with you and Jeremy in the World Class bar last night.

Hopefully see you around the ship again!

Kim and Shaun from the UK

We are on the same cruise too!!

I love reading your reviews, you put so much time and effort into sharing your experiences with everyone.

We sailed on the Beyond last September and loved it so much we had to do it again.

I'll look out for you onboard 😍

Thanks for updating us. We board Beyond on the 20th and fortunately (or not!) I came down with covid a few days ago. Luckily, and maybe thanks to 4 vaccinations, it's been no worse than a bad cold. 

Hope you recover quickly and I'm looking forward to the rest of your review.

Ooh fabulous, we are doing the same itinerary in a few weeks on 20th October and were also on Beyond last September and had an amazing time!

I'd also be interested to know about the ports and what you have done there. We have been to some of them before so just looking for some ideas.

Look forward to the rest 9f your review.

Thank you!

1 hour ago, champagnecruiser said:

Our cruise planner is showing 50% discount on Beverage Packages this morning. We are sailing Equinox in November 2023 back to back and both cruises show the discount.

I don’t have exact amounts at the moment but original price was

Premium approx £105 pppd now £52 pppd

Classic approx £86 pppd now £43 pppd

We are in U.K. 

 

Posting this as we have benefited from these alerts from fellow cruisers in the past! Thank you again Rich Yak!

 

 

Thank you so much for this!!

We are on 10 day Beyond in October and refused to pay £105 pppd 😬

Just booked the premium package at £1055 for the 2 of us..... the other half can now drink as many Earth drinks as he likes in Eden, I'll just stick to champagne!!!! 🍹🍸🍻🍷

This is for our Beyond sailing on October 20th, found this and there is also a premium package under the main dining section for the  Cypress MDR, same for Cosmopolitan.

There are wine packages available when I look on the app under dining. Choose a restaurant and go to menus and you can see the wine list for each restaurant. Scroll to the bottom of the (long!) list and there are options to buy 3, 5 or 8 bottle packages. I assume you can only buy them onboard.

Do check the wines included in the packages, am not certain there is even much of a saving when you look at the prices on the wine list.

Hope this helps!! 

My original query was about Raw on 5 on Beyond which is no charge to make a reservation and is a la carte pricing

55 minutes ago, hcat said:

Is that an a la carte venue otherwise?

 

If you have  time can u check if colored resin ship model is sold in the store..need it for grandchild gift. Thanks

Yes Raw on 5 is a la carte but I had seen some posts here re an all in price on some days.

And yes I will have a look for the resin ship and post details back here. We sail next Thursday 15th.

Thanks for replies.... We join the ship next Thursday so will report back to let people know if they are offering the $35 deal 

Hi, we are sailing on Beyond next week. Does anyone know from recent experience if they are offering the $35 all you can eat deal at Raw on 5?

Many thanks!

Thoroughly enjoying your review..... Especially as we will be in the exact same cabin doing the exact same itinerary in September!!! 

I have even had a rethink about some of our planned tours thanks to your review!

Many thanks....

Wirral Girl (not that far from Ireland🥰)

8 hours ago, Lunastella said:

Where did we stay?

-        Sunset veranda (aft) on deck 12

Looking forward to the rest of your review!

We too are doing the exact same itinerary in September, also in a deck 12 Sunset Verandah..... We will be in 12288 and am interested to know whether you were bothered by noise from the deck above?

Thanks x

How is you SV cabin. We have one on deck 12 for September, it was the only SV that was available.

Which deck are you on? 

We are hoping deck 12 won't be too noisy with the outside area of ocean view above us!

3 hours ago, Cruise Critic Chris said:

Sunset veranda 

 

 

Thank you so much for all these great pictures. 

We shall be in a sunset verandah on deck 12. Is this particular cabin on deck 12 and if so, do you know which cabin number it is?

Also very pleased to see that the chairs are improved too!!

Many thanks for sharing with us.

We are booked in a Sunset Verandah on deck 12 and would like to know what furniture they have eg just table and chairs and is it the same style of chairs and table as on Edge and Apex. Also some interior and balcony pictures of a sunset verandah would be very nice!

Thank you 

The OP said Dublin had been replaced with Liverpool on their cruise so that is why I commented re-Liverpool.

Liverpool is a great port to visit, there is so much to see within walking distance of the ship and it's not just all about the Beatles!!

The Albert Dock area is good for eating and drinking and the Maritime Museum is really good, well worth a visit. 

There is so much wonderful architecture, the Museum of Liverpool, Central Library, St George's Hall the Walker Art Gallery, the 3 Graces on the Waterfront to name a few.

I live 'over the water' on the Wirral and love living so close to this amazing place 🥰

Thanks for the heads up. We are on Beyond in September and pleased to have booked a few of the specialty restaurants using our OBC.

Was also very happy to grab a Sunset Verandah that became available a few days ago too!

Just a mere 7 months until we sail 😍

That was 199 Euros for each massage not both!!!

In August we were on the Mozart, I had a facial which cost €249, my partner had 2 massages at €199.

I seem to recall a pedicure was €69.

All prices on board are in Euros.

Hope this helps

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