Les43

Yes you do if you are in a ‘lower’ suite such as a Sky suite or Celebrity Suite. The ‘higher’ suites have complimentary access

We sailed from Civitavecchia in July and the private transfer took us all the way to the terminal. I did hear of a few folks being dropped at the gate. I think it depends on whether the company you use has a permit or not. They have to show it to security to get access. We used Rome Cabs

Thank you and I’m really glad you enjoyed. Glad you liked our beautiful country too. It is a fantastic place to live and perhaps we do take it for granted!

Yes they did. I think it was on the Monday night after Malta so day 8- to coincide with the full moon. It appeared on the app just before the start of the cruise.

Hey! Thanks for the questions. Celebrity usually do some special offers for speciality dining while on board and we found they often asked if we would be interested. I would be inclined to wait until you board to see what you fancy. Our cabin was deck 10 midship and we could feel the vibration at some points. It’s didn’t really bother us though. The only time the sea was not flat calm was on the last sea day as we made our way from Malta to Barcelona. It was quite windy and the sea was a bit rough although nothing too bad. You can get sea sickness meds in the shop on board if you feel it while you are on the ship. Our taxi from Rome to ship took approximately 1 hour 20 mins although that was just after 9 in the morning. The journey depends on traffic at that time. I always like to get there early and so had booked the earliest arrival slot. Your timing will be fine to get there before the final call but I personally prefer to get there and have lunch onboard. hope this helps and have a fantastic cruise!

Fraid not. We researched it and it’s one way only.

We have just returned from a cruise on Reflection that visited Santorini. We had visited before and experienced the cable car issues on a Celebrity excursion so we decided to stay on board this time. From what I can gather from others, this was the picture last week: there were 5 ships in port and Fira was very very busy. the queues for the cable car up and down were very long at peak times and it was very hot with little shade there are a very small number of Celebrity excursions that will pick up by coach from the main port and return you there. They book up very quickly though. All other excursions have at least a return by cable car or stairs. There are 560 steps and these are also used by the donkeys. The walk up / down can be done but is not recommended. The strong advice is NOT to use the donkeys. you can reach Oia by speedboat from the old port but the return is by shuttle bus back to Fira and the cable car. There is no return boat from Oia to the tender area. in terms of priority for the tenders, that only happens when you leave the ship. On return it’s every person for themselves. Hope this is helpful

I think last time to depart was around 9am. You can pay to stay onboard in public areas, I think until around 10.30. It will come up under ‘excursions’ close to your date to sail. Have a great time!

They had 2. The first was on the first sea day (the Tuesday) and the 2nd was on the second sea day which was the following Monday.

I think you were wise to walk everywhere in Rome (despite the heat). We heard of people on our cruise who had been pickpocketed on the Metro. It’s notorious apparently. Your photos (and gelato) are bringing back lovely memories!

Thank you - glad you enjoyed! I also work in education in Scotland but have slightly more flexibility now as I am no longer in a school. As a woman of a certain age I share your pain! Looking forward to the rest of your review!

Enjoying your latest review. We have just completed the Greece / Malta 10 night cruise on Reflection which visited a couple of the same ports as Beyond. Will be interested to get your thoughts on those and the heat 🥵. I have also completed a semi-live review of that cruise.

It’s a wrap! Our cruise ended yesterday morning and we walked off the ship with our bags just after 6.30am. After such a relaxing cruise, the alarm going off was a rude awakening! I had organised a private transfer with Viator and they turned up on time and whisked us off to T2 at Barcelona airport. The airport was busy but the line to check in our bags at Ryanair was moving and we were soon through security and in the departure lounge. We had a bite to eat and a coffee and then headed to the gate. The flight boarded and left on time so all went to plan. The flight was scheduled to take 3 hours but only took 2 hours 25 mins so that was great although Edinburgh airport was chaos. They held us in the plane for half an hour while they decided which gate the plane was to go to and then the lines for passport control were very, very long as several flights had arrived at the same time. Once through that our bags didn’t take long and we picked up the car and headed home. We got home just after 3pm so not too bad. A few final thoughts then about our cruise. We both had a fantastic time and really enjoyed the 5 nights in Rome and the 10 night cruise. Celebrity were great as usual and we enjoyed Reflection for the second time. This was our first ‘retreat’ experience and we really enjoyed it. We loved the extra space in our Celebrity suite and also the separate bedroom although we thought the room was tired and in need of updating. For example, the seal around the bath was discoloured as was the shower screen and there were marks on the surfaces of the furniture and on the balcony furniture. We thought our Butler (Kate) was good although we are not convinced we made full use of her services. Our stateroom attendant was disappointing and appeared to have a bit of an attitude, especially one day when we wanted to change for lunch to go to Luminae and he was less than pleased as he wanted to clean the room. We also weren’t hugely convinced about the cleaning. There was dust on the bedside lights and on embarkation day we got the sense the cleaning had been rushed and not quite finished. The public areas of the ship seemed in good condition and we didn’t spot any issues. We thought the food was excellent and we really enjoyed Luminae. We thought it was better than the MDR. We also thought the OVC was great too and no reduction in choice or quality. Service was excellent and staff were very cheerful and helpful. The bars were good and the drinks plentiful 🤪. We did not go to any of the shows so can’t comment but we thought the live music was disappointing and a bit bland this time. One tiny observation, we were surprised not to see more changes as a result of the pandemic. We were really surprised at the lack of hand sanitising stations around the ship and the fact that staff were not reminding folks to wash ‘ sanitise. It was like Covid has never happened. We were not aware of anyone who was ill on the ship during the cruise although I did hear yesterday of one person who contracted COVID on Sunday. So, in summary, would we cruise Celebrity again? Oh yes and we are already considering summer 2025 ( we don’t like to cruise every year). Our one observation would be that we will avoid July in the Mediterranean again as the high temperatures were just too much for us. We will look at June or September. Would we book the retreat / suite class again ? Absolutely, we are converts especially with the extra space in the stateroom and the additional amenities. Although having looked at cruises in a Sky suite on the new Edge class ships, I think they are priced very high and way out of our league! Thanks to all of you for following along and to those on the cruise who have contributed. I have enjoyed writing my first semi-live review and will certainly try one again. I hope it has been helpful and has allowed some of you to cruise vicariously with us! Until the next time……….🛳️⚓️🛳️❤️

Tuesday (Malta) (at last!) Sorry it’s taken me a few days to complete the last few days of our cruise. Time seemed to run away with us and before we know it, we’re back home! Anyway, back to Malta on Tuesday - we have cruised to Valletta twice before to we knew the lay of the land. We planned to wander around the city as we had done the last few times. The ship docked around 7.30am and the vibration of the bow thrusters woke me up. When I looked out, I could see that we were docked close to the main access to the city at the Grand Harbour. The forecast was for another glorious, hot day (more on that shortly). We had breakfast in the OVC. It wasn’t too busy and we managed to find a seat quite easily. Not sure if I have mentioned this before but I do have a thing about the number of people who fill their plates sky high at the buffet with all manner of strange concoctions and then eat very little and leave most of it. The ship must have a huge amount of food waste. Tuesday morning was no exception and we saw several tables left with huge amounts of uneaten food. What a waste! Anyway, after breakfast we headed out and the temperature was already high. It was like walking in to an oven. We walked along the road to where the Barraka lift is that takes you up to the gardens. There were the usual taxis lined up looking for people to take tours and also some horses and carts. We were surprised at how quiet it was and there was no line for the lift. We headed straight up after paying our €1 each. When we got to the top, it was already busy with lots of people taking photographs from the viewpoint. Having visited the upper Barraka gardens before, we were looking forward to seeing them again, only to be hugely disappointed. This time the flower beds were empty and there was no display of colour. Any plants that were left were dead. The fountain in the middle was also empty 😔. Not sure if the extended dry period and extreme heat has impacted but it was a real shame to see it like this. Anyway, we walked on and decided to wander round the main streets and have a drink. By now the temperature was circa 40 C and were were really flagging. It didn’t take too long for us to realise that Valletta has changed a lot since we were there last in 2019. The streets were quite dirty with lots of litter and several of the shops and restaurants were closed and for sale. It was quite sad to see and we wondered if this has been the impact of the pandemic. Such a shame as the architecture around the city is stunning. We stopped in the main square and had a beer to cool off but it was so hot that even the attempts of the fan beside our table only served to blow hot air at us. We decided to cut our losses and wander back down to the waterside and back to the cool of the ship. We later learned that the temperature had topped 45 / 46 C. There is nothing quite like getting back onboard and feeling the cool of the air conditioning on the ship! We headed back to the OVC for some lunch and a drink. We spent the afternoon relaxing in our stateroom, reading and snoozing. It was too hot and sticky to sit on the balcony. We had been invited to the Retreat helipad sailaway but decided to give it a miss and stay in the cool. Dinner in Luminae was very nice and we ended the day with a nightcap in Michael’s’ club with Cranston. Although we were disappointed in Valletta this time, it was still a nice day.

Worry not……..Malta incoming shortly! 😎