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Beyond LIVE Med Review 10/20-10/30: Tales from our Suite Roman Holiday

GenerationX

By GenerationX,
in Celebrity Cruises

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GenerationX "Live from...." Rare

GenerationX

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Well hey there my fellow Celebrity cruisers!

 

Long time no see!  Man, it feels like a hundred years since my last Celebrity cruise (actually only been 5 months), especially with all the changes at Celebrity since then.  But we’ll talk about that later.

 

Would anyone like to join my better half and I on our bucket list fall 10 night cruise of Italy, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro?

 

A quick about us and why this cruise:

 

I’m Charla and the guest of honor on this cruise is my husband Jeremy.  We live on a small hobby farm about an hour south of St. Louis, Missouri.

 

We booked this cruise while onboard Apex in February celebrating my generous end of year bonus and Jeremy finally giving up his decades long smoking habit. I originally booked this cruise in an aqua class stateroom.  Then, a couple of weeks after final payment (and just after the changes to the sky suite benefits were announced, fancy that) I got an email about a “special promotion” on move up bids to sky suites, where celebrity would accept a minimum bid 50% less than what they previously wanted.  

 

I decided to put in a bare minimum, discounted move up bid for sky suite, aqua suite and sunset suite.  I decided it was worth the extra $1300 to me to have Luminae (whose food, service and ambience on Beyond delivered in such a big way on my solo cruise earlier this year), to not have to bicker with my husband about closet and drawer space (opportunities to avoid spousal debate are priceless in my opinion) and to have a bath tub where I can soak in my lavender bubble bath and Epsom salts at the end of our many hills and steps walking intensive port days.  
 

Plus as some may already know, the past year I’ve been spending some time with a cruising mistress (the MSC Yacht Club) and have also been sniffing around at the occasional ridiculously good solo cruiser offers on Viking and the potential to get far more luxury for not that much more money on a couple of the premium lines (a former Celebrity loyalist couple we’re friends with came back raving about their experiences this summer on Seabourn).  So I thought this would be a more cost effective way to compare the new sky suite experience to the other options out there. I’ll be sure to repor in detail on how this experience compares to my (amazing) Beyond sky suite experience back in April.

 

When I put the bid in there were about 15 aqua/sky/sunset suites in total left showing online.  I prepared myself that with so few suites available and low balling my offer as much as possible, it likely wouldn’t happen. Especially since said remaining suites were being sold for several thousand dollars more that the total of what I paid for our AQ room (I think at one point the aqua suites were priced over $15K).  But sure enough, last week I got an email saying my bid had been accepted.  It’s funny, it’s almost like people weren’t lining up to pay much much more for an experience that had just been announced as being scaled back. 🤔

 

This trip is Jeremy’s 40th birthday present, but we’re also celebrating his recent promotion at work.  Everything’s coming up Jeremy this fall, what can I say? I hope his good juju runs as far as the onboard casino!

 

This will be my third cruise on the Beyond and Jeremy’s first.  This will be the first trip to the Mediterranean for both of us.

 

Jeremy is half Italian-American (his mother is the first generation born outside of Sicily) so this is a bit of a heritage trip for him.  

 

Followers of my prior reviews know my strong affection for good red wine, the Italian fashion holy trinity (Gucci, Prada, Versace), fresh seafood, pasta and fine cured meats and cheeses of all kinds.

 

In other words, I’m pretty sure I’m headed to my mothership.

 

We are spending 3 days pre-cruise and 1 day post in Rome, but one of those days will be spent on a (very long) day trip to paradise (aka Tuscany).

 

In the next day or 2 I’ll share a little bit more about our plans onshore and onboard.

 

For now, we’re 3 days from wheels up for Rome and my to do list overfloweth!


92EE10F9-B075-455F-BC77-33B8C1164D53.thumb.jpeg.c655ec3bad069cd423cf88ed2bf84815.jpeg

 

77076FC9-A194-4C0A-9099-92EDD623E0B0.thumb.jpeg.3aa41d1c38a1a70178e1fc044e11bc42.jpeg

 

B68439E0-5216-4116-95B4-A04700EA81AE.thumb.jpeg.14fcb3f8c842b5549a1f0df9db6e94bd.jpeg

 

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Lena11033 "Live from...." Rare

Lena11033

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Looking forward to your review.

 

7 hours ago, GenerationX said:

 It’s funny, it’s almost like people weren’t lining up to pay much much more for an experience that had just been announced as being scaled back. 🤔

 

Funny I can't imagine this happening 🤣

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hcat "Live from...." Rare

hcat

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Hi Charla

WELCOME BACK!

I will be looking forward to your posts!

 

We were with you on BEYOND..Gatsby Party  and all.  We enjoyed our Suite experience but are headed back to AQ Class on ASCENT in Jan...

 

Hope you and Jeremy have a great time!

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JDPCruisers

JDPCruisers

Posted
Posted
14 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Well hey there my fellow Celebrity cruisers!

 

Long time no see!  Man, it feels like a hundred years since my last Celebrity cruise (actually only been 5 months), especially with all the changes at Celebrity since then.  But we’ll talk about that later.

 

Would anyone like to join my better half and I on our bucket list fall 10 night cruise of Italy, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro?

 

A quick about us and why this cruise:

 

I’m Charla and the guest of honor on this cruise is my husband Jeremy.  We live on a small hobby farm about an hour south of St. Louis, Missouri.

 

We booked this cruise while onboard Apex in February celebrating my generous end of year bonus and Jeremy finally giving up his decades long smoking habit. I originally booked this cruise in an aqua class stateroom.  Then, a couple of weeks after final payment (and just after the changes to the sky suite benefits were announced, fancy that) I got an email about a “special promotion” on move up bids to sky suites, where celebrity would accept a minimum bid 50% less than what they previously wanted.  

 

I decided to put in a bare minimum, discounted move up bid for sky suite, aqua suite and sunset suite.  I decided it was worth the extra $1300 to me to have Luminae (whose food, service and ambience on Beyond delivered in such a big way on my solo cruise earlier this year), to not have to bicker with my husband about closet and drawer space (opportunities to avoid spousal debate are priceless in my opinion) and to have a bath tub where I can soak in my lavender bubble bath and Epsom salts at the end of our many hills and steps walking intensive port days.  
 

Plus as some may already know, the past year I’ve been spending some time with a cruising mistress (the MSC Yacht Club) and have also been sniffing around at the occasional ridiculously good solo cruiser offers on Viking and the potential to get far more luxury for not that much more money on a couple of the premium lines (a former Celebrity loyalist couple we’re friends with came back raving about their experiences this summer on Seabourn).  So I thought this would be a more cost effective way to compare the new sky suite experience to the other options out there. I’ll be sure to repor in detail on how this experience compares to my (amazing) Beyond sky suite experience back in April.

 

When I put the bid in there were about 15 aqua/sky/sunset suites in total left showing online.  I prepared myself that with so few suites available and low balling my offer as much as possible, it likely wouldn’t happen. Especially since said remaining suites were being sold for several thousand dollars more that the total of what I paid for our AQ room (I think at one point the aqua suites were priced over $15K).  But sure enough, last week I got an email saying my bid had been accepted.  It’s funny, it’s almost like people weren’t lining up to pay much much more for an experience that had just been announced as being scaled back. 🤔

 

This trip is Jeremy’s 40th birthday present, but we’re also celebrating his recent promotion at work.  Everything’s coming up Jeremy this fall, what can I say? I hope his good juju runs as far as the onboard casino!

 

This will be my third cruise on the Beyond and Jeremy’s first.  This will be the first trip to the Mediterranean for both of us.

 

Jeremy is half Italian-American (his mother is the first generation born outside of Sicily) so this is a bit of a heritage trip for him.  

 

Followers of my prior reviews know my strong affection for good red wine, the Italian fashion holy trinity (Gucci, Prada, Versace), fresh seafood, pasta and fine cured meats and cheeses of all kinds.

 

In other words, I’m pretty sure I’m headed to my mothership.

 

We are spending 3 days pre-cruise and 1 day post in Rome, but one of those days will be spent on a (very long) day trip to paradise (aka Tuscany).

 

In the next day or 2 I’ll share a little bit more about our plans onshore and onboard.

 

For now, we’re 3 days from wheels up for Rome and my to do list overfloweth!


92EE10F9-B075-455F-BC77-33B8C1164D53.thumb.jpeg.c655ec3bad069cd423cf88ed2bf84815.jpeg

 

77076FC9-A194-4C0A-9099-92EDD623E0B0.thumb.jpeg.3aa41d1c38a1a70178e1fc044e11bc42.jpeg

 

B68439E0-5216-4116-95B4-A04700EA81AE.thumb.jpeg.14fcb3f8c842b5549a1f0df9db6e94bd.jpeg

 

Very much looking forward to your great review and pics (I, with others, enjoyed your MS YC review). BTW, I was born and my mothers family were from a small community south of St. Louis, where y'all are doesn't have the initials BT does it?

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westcoastsue

westcoastsue

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Welcome back Charla - Cruise Critic isn’t the same without you! I just got back from doing New England/Canada on the Summit. Due to booking late we were in a lowly ocean view cabin (my husband called it the bilge!) but despite some obvious cutbacks in the MDR we could always find something to eat. The service on board, as always, was wonderful and we had a great time.

So looking forward to your live from the Med. Wishing you and Jeremy the best cruise ever.

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JDPCruisers

JDPCruisers

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57 minutes ago, westcoastsue said:

Welcome back Charla - Cruise Critic isn’t the same without you! I just got back from doing New England/Canada on the Summit. Due to booking late we were in a lowly ocean view cabin (my husband called it the bilge!) but despite some obvious cutbacks in the MDR we could always find something to eat. The service on board, as always, was wonderful and we had a great time.

So looking forward to your live from the Med. Wishing you and Jeremy the best cruise ever.

We are booked next year to New England/Canada on Eclipse. Having not cruised that itinerary before (had one but cancelled during COVID), so how were the ports and was it an overnight in Quebec?

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westcoastsue

westcoastsue

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1 minute ago, JDPCruisers said:

We are booked next year to New England/Canada on Eclipse. Having not cruised that itinerary before (had one but cancelled during COVID), so how were the ports and was it an overnight in Quebec?

This was my 4th Canada/New England cruise - as you can see I really like the itinerary! It is a quite port intensive cruise with an overnight in Quebec City. This year we were blessed with beautiful weather but that is not always the case. It can be cold, rainy and even snow depending on the date of your cruise.  We visited Bar Harbor, Halifax, Sydney, Prince Edward Island (our favorite)and Portland but ports can vary. People are very friendly in all the ports and there are a variety of excursion depending on your interests. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to try to answer them.

 

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JDPCruisers

JDPCruisers

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4 minutes ago, westcoastsue said:

This was my 4th Canada/New England cruise - as you can see I really like the itinerary! It is a quite port intensive cruise with an overnight in Quebec City. This year we were blessed with beautiful weather but that is not always the case. It can be cold, rainy and even snow depending on the date of your cruise.  We visited Bar Harbor, Halifax, Sydney, Prince Edward Island (our favorite)and Portland but ports can vary. People are very friendly in all the ports and there are a variety of excursion depending on your interests. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to try to answer them.

 

Thanks! I don't want to highjack Charla's thread so I might start another one to get your continued thoughts.

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DaKahuna Great Review Rare

DaKahuna

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Charla - Following along on your adventures once again and looking forward to reading all your wonderful comments.  I think you will find, as many do, the cruise will lead to another cruise in the Mediterranean and or future land based vacation, especially in Italy or Greece.  

 

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