Beyond - Live Post Aug 8-18 Greek Isles and Italy

[ev8876]

We are just off the August 8th sailing.  Approximately 83% capacity.  Around 2,900 passengers.  Spectacular itinerary and most beautiful Celebrity ship I have ever been on.  We had a sunset veranda on deck 9.  We loved it!  Didn't mind all the extra steps either.  Was good for us!  Yes there were a lot of teens on board but we had absolutely no issues at all with them.  They were all having fun.  Was the pool crowded on the 2 sea days?  Absolutely but that's what I would have expected.  The solarium pool always was quiet with plenty of loungers and room in the pool.  There were definitely a few chronic complainers about the crowds on sea days but perhaps they shouldn't cruise in Europe in August!  I think some people think ships should remain at 50% capacity.  Well that's just not going to happen.  I actually enjoyed seeing all the people having fun into the late hours of the night.  I was on the Reflection in January with 800 guests and it was a ghost town.  We were a group of 4 and made reservations in advance of sailing for most all our dinners and had no waits at all.  Those with no reservations arriving at the dining room between 8-9pm seemed upset they had to wait a while.  Normandie was our favorite for main dining.  Rooftop Garden Grill for specialty dining although Eden was a close second.  We didn't care for Raw on 5 but are not big sushi eaters.   Planning is everything.  Entertainment was great.  Weather couldn't have been better.  Enjoy the Beyond.  She is spectacular.

[sgmn]

On 8/17/2022 at 12:42 PM, garyl62 said:

I've read other social media posts from people saying there are a high number of teens or young adults on board and the pool has been very crowded and people have been partaking in disruptive activities there during the day. Additional comments were posted about how things were getting out of hand in the lounges or bars in the evenings. Are you seeing anything like that or is it just a few people complaining and blowing things out of proportion? Thanks for your reply. 

The pool (there are two small plunge pools too) is great for doing lengths and exercising as it's quite long for a cruise ship pool, but often there were groups of youngsters having fun with balls in the pool. Just have to swim around them and hope you don't get hit by the ball. 

I guess early morning would be a good time if you wanted to do lengths in peace.

The Solarium pool was quieter but not so good for proper exercising 

It is school holiday time now so the ships will be full and there will be more kids than at other times 

Edited August 19, 2022 by sgmn

[sgmn]

2 hours ago, ev8876 said:

 We were a group of 4 and made reservations in advance of sailing for most all our dinners and had no waits at all.  Those with no reservations arriving at the dining room between 8-9pm seemed upset they had to wait a while.  Normandie was our favorite for main dining.  Rooftop Garden Grill for specialty dining although Eden was a close second.  We didn't care for Raw on 5 but are not big sushi eaters.   Planning is everything.  Entertainment was great.  Weather couldn't have been better.  Enjoy the Beyond.  She is spectacular.

We also prebooked all our dinner times and didn't have to wait to be seated.  I would of liked to of tried some of the specialty restaurants but left it too late to get the three dinner package and IMO the prices on board were high. But we were happy in the main with the included restaurants. 

I agree the entertainment was amazing, especially the Elements show

[sgmn]

Thank you OP for a great review, love reading of others experiences 

Sounds like you had a good time 

[ev8876]

2 hours ago, sgmn said:

The pool (there are two small plunge pools too) is great for doing lengths and exercising as it's quite long for a cruise ship pool, but often there were groups of youngsters having fun with balls in the pool. Just have to swim around them and hope you don't get hit by the ball. 

I guess early morning would be a good time if you wanted to do lengths in peace.

The Solarium pool was quieter but not so good for proper exercising 

It is school holiday time now so the ships will be full and there will be more kids than at other times 

I walked the jogging track every morning around 8am (loved the 2 level track).  The main pool was very quiet at that time and 5-6 people every morning were swimming laps.  The young people didn't get up that early!

[Lena11033]

Sorry for the delay I had some real issues after a few days posting from my phone but am in the UK now so the hotel I'm at has better speeds and also I have a laptop

 

Day 4 was Rhodes, I did the best of Rhodes tour with the ship. We left from the ship area and did a drive before exiting and walking around the old town for a bit before lunch. I liked the lunch as we got to try some dips, saled, meze, a main meal and desert but there were a lot of people that didn't want to even try it. We did some more walking before getting on the bus again, we drove to a pottery place that showed up how they made the ceramics and then continued on to Lindos before climbing up to the Acropolis. All in all a great tour even if we climbed a hill in over 100f heat!

 

For dinner that night I went to Normandie, by far the worst experience i had. They did not have enough staff and they were essentially scrambling. I think they asked at least 3 times if I was alone before someone cleared off the second seat, it took a long time to get my order taken - the people next to me the waiter cleared their plates and when he came back asked what appetizer they waned when they were on desert. I had my appetizer, then the main came out and by the time my main was done the appetizer plate still hadn't been cleared. I waited a while for it to be cleared and for them to check what i wanted for desert but ended up leaving and going to the buffet. The food was fine just the wait staff were understaffed for the amount of people we had.

 

[Lena11033]

For the pool, honestly only time to use it was the morning. The teenagers in the pool made it look like club med with climbing on each other and jumping around - basically adults had to avoid the pool during the day when they were in there.

The solarium - I don't know what was going on in there but it wasn't a comfortable temperature and found it hard to breath in the room. I basically figured out day 2 I would not be going in any pool but just sit on a lounger.