Beyond LIVE Solo Retreat Review (4/9/23): A One-Woman Suite Show

[LisaLeone]

9 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Sigh, all I regretfully write to you this morning from a much less pleasant place than where I last left you…

 

Yes, my 3 month marathon of bi-weekly cruising has officially come to an end.😭

 

I can’t believe I actually have to wait months, MONTHS before I sail again (I know, your sympathy for me is minimal).

 

This morning as I was sulking on my veranda I saw the walkoff disembarks start at around 7:15.  

 

I was in no rush to catch my flight so after saying final goodbyes and thank you’s to my butler and stateroom attendant and giving them their envelopes, I went to one last breakfast in Luminae then headed down to the gangway.   I didn’t think a Retreat concierge escort would be necessary leaving later in the morning and I was right.  There was almost no line to get off at 8:45.

 

I didn’t get an offer of luggage valet service, even though I have a later flight, and no one else I spoke to last night did either, so I don’t think it was available yet.  It would’ve been nice since according to my husband I allegedly travel with my entire summer wardrobe in tow.

 

Instead when I got to the terminal, I found a porter to assist with my cargo and was through facial recognition customs in less than 5 minutes.  There were 4 ships in port this morning including Odyssey of the Seas so I wasn’t surprised to see Uber on surge pricing.

 

When I checked my bags for the flight, the AA agent checked to see if there were any earlier flights to STL I could jump on since I made it to the airport so early.  There was also an 11am flight through LGA that I could have booked, but I try to avoid booking flights that leave before noon on disembarkation day. Especially if I’m going over to MIA from port Everglades.  You never know what disembarkation and traffic will be like.

 

A few weeks ago my social media blew up about a disembarkation for MSC in Miami that was delayed almost 3 hours with no passengers even allowed off the ship till almost 11am.

 

Unfortunately today the ticket agent said that everything going to or through STL is completely sold out.  He said domestic departures have been particularly busy the past few days thanks to to rebooks from the 4 day FLL closure.

 

Oh well, at least I’ll have a nonstop and I’ve got the bartenders at the D30 Admirals club (who at this point recognize me, remembered my name, and asked where I cruised to THIS time, yikes 😬) to keep me company till my flight boards at 2pm.

 

In the meantime, let’s also take a step back and talk about my second dinner in Eden last night, which was every bit as good as the first.

 

For my starters I had the crab cake and risotto.  That crab cake is my kinda crab cake. 100% blue crab meat with just a little layer of crispy panko on top for crunch, with a slightly spicy chipotle Mayo and pickled peppers and onions on the side.

 

The risotto was also just as good as I remembered from Red and I’s November cruise.  Cheese and mushroom lovers, this is your dish.

 

This time for the main I had the lobster casserole.  For my southerners and midwesterners following “casserole” is a total misnomer for this dish.  You’re actually getting a whole, fresh Canadian lobster (I’ve been told they’re brought on the ship live) served over  a delicious sweet corn sauce with little chunks of thick pancetta and like 4 baby potatoes in it.  Far better than any casserole I’ve ever made!

 

The couple at the table next to me saw mine come to the table next to me saw it come to the table and commented how they should’ve waited for Eden to have lobster because they’d ordered it in the main dining room the night before and what they got was “a piece of lobster slightly bigger than my husband’s thumb”.

 

For dessert I also switched it up and had a deceptively rich lemon tart and Adrian the sommelier poured me a complimentary glass of 20 year tawny port to drink with it as I watched Beyond leave my week of Caribbean fun behind.

 

I’m going to head to the bar for a back to reality Bloody Mary, then will work on my catch up posts on my Cozumel excursion and specialty lunches onboard and a final thoughts post.  If there’s anything else I’m forgetting or questions folks have about things I haven’t mentioned, please feel free to jump in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 hours ago, GenerationX said:

I can’t believe I actually have to wait months, MONTHS before I sail again (I know, your sympathy for me is minimal).

 

My sympathy is for us because we have to wait MONTHS before we can read about a next adventure with Charla!

[dlh015]

Truly one of the most engrossing 'Lives' I've followed! Thank you so much for sharing your incredible adventure!!

 

Safe journeys home!

[irvington]

This was really fun. Thanks.

[Sadebud]

On 4/16/2023 at 11:18 AM, Azulann said:

Yea, I am looking forward to your posts about Salsa etc excursion in Cozumel ! 

Love your luggage!  

Your Eden dinner looks fabulous. Now I want lobster. But its is snowing here in the North today.

So enjoy your trip reports as always. I feel like I am on a cruise with you when I read them. 

I forgot, but which ship will you be on when you and Jeremey go to Europe this fall? 

If you  are stopping in Liverno and want to do a private tour including wine tasting. I have the best guide ever. He is a sommelier/ tour guide in Tuscany. 

 

Charla,  excellent trip report as always!!  Am sad it will be a few months before your next one!

 

@Azulann we will be in Livorno in November and looking for something interesting to do there other and Florence/Pisa.  May I send you an email or would you be willing to send me your guide's info? s a d e b u d at a o l. com

[barbpretz]

Thank you, Charla - I have very much enjoyed this detailed and entertaining review.  I'm still very much looking forward to your report on Cozumel and the "Salsa and Salsa" excursion.  Having that to look forward to makes me glad that (at least for us readers) this trip isn't quite over yet.  

After that, I'll just have to go back read any of your previous reviews that I may have missed!

Thanks again!

[rollie]

Hi Carla, it was so cool to meet you on board.  You are a fun person to be around, and we enjoyed our time with you.  Happy travels.

 

Rollie

[boxkite]

Charla, very much enjoyed your cruise live report.

 

Of course we are all waiting for the "Salsa and Salsa" excursion report!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures and review!

[DingoMom]

Thank you, Charla!! I really ❤️ your live reviews!! How about that Salsa review?

[luvcruzing]

I’m guessing that @GenerationX isn’t getting your messages.  Maybe this will help.  Hopefully she’ll reply soon.

[tandarosen]

On 4/16/2023 at 8:18 AM, Azulann said:

Yea, I am looking forward to your posts about Salsa etc excursion in Cozumel ! 

Love your luggage!  

Your Eden dinner looks fabulous. Now I want lobster. But its is snowing here in the North today.

So enjoy your trip reports as always. I feel like I am on a cruise with you when I read them. 

I forgot, but which ship will you be on when you and Jeremey go to Europe this fall? 

If you  are stopping in Liverno and want to do a private tour including wine tasting. I have the best guide ever. He is a sommelier/ tour guide in Tuscany. 

 

We'll be traveling on the Beyond next month with a stop in Livorno.  Would you mind sharing your guide's information?  If you don't want to post here, you can send to tracey.rosen at gmail.com

[Azulann]

1 hour ago, tandarosen said:

We'll be traveling on the Beyond next month with a stop in Livorno.  Would you mind sharing your guide's information?  If you don't want to post here, you can send to tracey.rosen at gmail.com

I did try to find Guido Bandelini online. He was a tour guide in Tuscany . Saw images of him , a lot older but could not find his web site.  
my tour was in 2008 and my friends in 2015 . 

[tandarosen]

16 minutes ago, Azulann said:

I did try to find Guido Bandelini online. He was a tour guide in Tuscany . Saw images of him , a lot older but could not find his web site.  
my tour was in 2008 and my friends in 2015 . 

No worries!  Thanks for looking!

[GenerationX]

Hi CC! Long time no see! I think I may be about to medal in tardy completion of a cruise review.

 

I am so so sorry I’m just now coming back to finish this one up.  It turns out, when you put all of non-urgent work and life on hold while you go on a 3 month cruising binge, when said binge ends the real world hits long and hard and with vengeance.

 

Fortunately, I’ve now gotten myself caught up on things just in time to start prepping for another, long awaited cruise…but more about that in a minute.

 

First, for anyone still around and interested, I know I still owe a hefty bill in the form of the tale of how Cozumel got the better of me.  So here we go:

 

The Salsa y Sala excursion was sold as a “small group” tour which I’ve found can be a somewhat relative term with Celebrity.  This time I felt like it delivered on the promise as we were a group of about 7 couples plus me as a solo.

 

The description indicated we would start the excursion with a trip to a local market to buy ingredients for our cooking class later.  This was slight false advertising as when we got to the market we all just stood and watched while our guide bought like 2 avocados and a tomato from the first vendor stall (nowhere near enough supplies for all our participants).  

 

But after he finished paying for the small bag of produce he took us on a full walking tour of the market and shared some info on how different meat and vegetables are grown and sourced in Mexico.

 

It was clear that this was a real, local, working market and not a tourist spot. In spite of the oversell of the “shopping for ingredients”, it was very cool to get a glimpse of day to day local life in Cozumel in a location I probably wouldn’t have felt comfortable just wandering around exploring solo.

 

After the market tour we got back on the bus and had a short drive to Playa Mia park for our cooking and dance class.

 

The class was held outside under a pavilion with fans. It wasn’t a super hot day so I was fine but I could see the excursion being uncomfortable in heat of later summer.  The chef talked us through how to make authentic salsa, guacamole and pico de gallo with our own set of ingredients (pre set out so again clearly not from our “shopping trip”) and utensils at each of our places. While we cooked, servers came around liberally to bring cold bottled water, beer, margaritas, mojitos and tequila shots…good tequila shots…smooth tequila shots…too darn smooth tequila shots.

 

With a smaller group, the chef really had time to go around and observe everyones techniques and answer questions.

 

As we finished making our dips, we were each delivered a small tray of more Mexican snacks to enjoy with our chips and dips as well as, you guessed it, even more delicious margaritas and tequila shots.

 

Right about the time I started feeling like I could dance a lead in Chicago (the kind of false confidence only tequila can deliver) it was time to start the salsa and merengue dance class.  

 

Wouldn’t you know it, the young, attractive private chef who led our cooking class was also our dance instructor and since I was solo, I was designated to be his partner/assistant in demonstrating the steps…my life is so hard sometimes.

 

After about 20 minutes of dance (which was about as much as we could all take outdoors on stomachs full of Mexican food and cocktails) the class wrapped up and we we had about an hour and a half of free time to enjoy all the other amenities of playa mia at no additional charge.  There were pools and a kids water park as well as a complimentary buffet lunch restaurant and loungers with umbrellas on the beach.

 

Towels weren’t provided so I was glad I brought one from the ship.  I decided to get in some ocean time so I found a lounger under shade of a palm tree and took a sip in the sea.  

 

When I got back to my chair to relax an in seat drink server arrived and I ordered just a bottle of water to try and dry up a bit.  By then it was a hot day and these guys were trudging around with very heavy looking full trays of free drinks, so I tipped him well when he came back quickly with my water. In fact, I think I tipped a little too well because about 10 minutes later he was back at my side holding a big margarita and saying “I thought you might need some Mexican water too, senorita!”  

 

Not wanting to be rude, I quickly drank the margarita before it had time to melt and get watery…and did the same with the 2 additional unordered margaritas that appeared when my cup would get down under half full.  I think my total margarita consumption for the day was somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10, but I don’t go on vacation to do math.

 

By the time we had to back up and head back to our bus to the pier, I was contemplating crawling through the sand rather than walking.  When I got back to to my suite and got on wifi I vaguely remember FaceTiming Jeremy just to say hello and tell him all about my wonderful day.  He says it was one of the more amusing calls he’s gotten from me because “you were giggling and speaking Spanish half the time and trying to show me your salsa moves even though the camera only shows you from the chest up”.

 

Sharing some pics from all the Mexico fun as well as a few with the crew who took such good care of me all week below.

 

Ok, so yes, about future cruise plans!

 

First, in just 48 hours my Mini Me and I will be flying to Miami to board MSC Seascape for a 7 night sailing in their yacht club club!  I’ll be starting a live review on the MSC board most likely tomorrow if anyone is interested in coming along on a different cruise line.  I’m actually a little nervous about writing on a new board with lots of strangers. This will also be only my second MSC cruise, and first with a child in tow, so I won’t be able to share anywhere near as many pro tips as I can when I’m on Celebrity.  

 

After we return, I’ll be staying on land until Fall to prep for a big bucket list cruise…In mid October, Jeremy and I will take our first trip to Italy to do a 10-night sailing on Beyond to Italy, Greece, Montenegro and Croatia!  

 

We’re also considering spending Christmas or New Years this year at sea, but it will likely be a last minute booking depending on just how much money we end up spending in the homeland of Versace, Gucci and Super Tuscans.

 

Thanks as always to everyone who read along on my last solo cruise of the year and for anyone who won’t be coming along on Seascape, talk to you guys in October when it’s time to reunite with Beyond across the pond!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beachlover1989]

Thank you again for this wonderful review Charla!  I look forward to following along on your MSC cruise too with Little Miss Mini Me!

[hcat]

will look for your msc review..maybe can u post a link?

 

btw..grandson loved the Shark/Whale Exhibit in NYC..worth a trip..but he still prefers the ZOO 

 

[Ciaranaman]

What a great read for my lunch-time!  Thank you for your final review!  Sounds like you had a great time - your summary certainly made me 🤣.   I, for one, will be sneaking over to the Seascape forum to look for your new review.  Enjoy!

Bernadette

 

[Cap_D]

As an experienced and strong customer of Celebrity, any thoughts on all the recent threads about vaping, food and other cutbacks, CocoCay/cancelations of TA and Mediterranean reservations on Beyond in Summer 2024, and more? 

[lola2013]

Thanks again for taking us along.  I will finally be taking my first solo cruise in many years this coming December on Apex…beyond excited 😉.
Hopefully you are able to visit Sorrento when you get to Italy…my absolute favorite place on the planet!  
Susan 😎

[Laurab23]

So happy to read more from you. Please remind us and give a link for your next cruise. I will totally forget to check MSC to look for you.

 

Laura

[PSU]

Missed your review. Can’t wait to read the next one.

[Azulann]

 

 

So happy to find your latest post. I will  indeed go over MSC to rd your mother daughter cruise.

I thought of you on my Viking Ocean  cruise in June. Was in the  gift shop in the pier terminal on  Mariehamn, Arland Island in the Baltic Sea.

They had  full dresses of the map of the world for sale. I would have bought one but  did not know how to try it on, no dressing room. 

Cheers Charla!

 

[Mrs_Tiki]

Reading your new post brought back wonderful memories of meeting you and other new friends on the Beyond. Bon voyage to you and Gen Z, hope you love YC on the Seascape!

[DingoMom]

Can’t wait to pull up a chair with my coffee (or wine 🍷) and join you on the Seascape! Thank you!!

[Stem to Stern]

On 7/6/2023 at 11:47 AM, hcat said:

will look for your msc review..maybe can u post a link?

 

btw..grandson loved the Shark/Whale Exhibit in NYC..worth a trip..but he still prefers the ZOO 

 

Here we go….

Live Seascape YC (7/9-7/16): A Celebrity Loyalist Jumps Ship

Edited July 7, 2023 by Stem to Stern

[mac_tlc]

I was beginning to think you forgot us ! I’ll wander over to the MSC board and give you some support! I’m interested in your YC experience. 
 

Hope to cruise with you again…..

 

 

mac_tlc