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

[chemmo]

What a fantastic day you have had!
 

I have a sneaky feeling you will both be enjoying a couple of weeks in Italy (minus a cruise) in the next year or two…Your love of wining, dining and soaking in the atmosphere of the places you visit shine through…

 

We have been lucky to enjoy several land tours in Europe over the years and along with the history, architecture and art the highlights for us have always been the little local restaurants in the back streets off the main tourist areas…I fondly remember one little restaurant we wandered into in Crete…We ordered a drink then saw another table getting some very tasty looking little plates of assorted starters and decided to ask for the menu. As we spoke no Greek and our hosts spoke very little English at first there was some confusion…We finally worked out there was no menu it was ‘Papa’s choice of the day’ (a set three course menu)…The wine was house wine and at the end of the night Metaxa came without being ordered…We arrived at about 8pm and left at midnight….One of the most magical and romantic meals ever.
 

Much as we love cruising and find it a great way to get a flavour of a country you do really need to revisit your favourite spots on a land tour…I think you will need to do some homework when you get back home…

[GenerationX]

You see that girl? The one sitting in the retreat lounge sipping a mimosa with a look of utter discontent and resentment on her face?

 

Yep, ‘tis I and the cause of my lamentations is the fact that as I sip, my AirTags show that our suitcases are making their way from the belly of Beyond to be evicted onto the pier.

 

You may be saying to yourself: “wait, how are Charla and Jeremy still sulking about in the Retreat when it’s nearly time for the next lucky cruisers to board?”

 

Well, Jeremy and I are staying a night post-cruise in Rome to take an early morning flight home tomorrow, but I booked the room with points so purchasing guaranteed early check in wasn’t available.  

 

Instead, we are taking advantage of the Extend Your Stay program that Celebrity offers in Europe.  For an additional charge, we are allowed to stay on the ship until 2:30pm.  For the retreat extend your stay, we still have our premium beverage package (as evidenced by said depression mimosa which shall not be my last of the morning) and access to all retreat areas with the exception of sit down lunch in Luminae.  We also get premium wifi use until we disembark.

 

Last night a letter was left in our staterooms with wristbands for us to wear on the ship today and instructions for this morning.

 

After breakfast we went to an excursion desk in the club where we had to turn in our seapass cards and passports to ship security.  Then we were given new temporary retreat seapass cards to use while onboard.

 

Our passports will be returned as we disembark.

 

Especially for retreat guests it seems like a nice option that I wish was offered in Port Everglades.  I’ll take sipping mimosas by the retreat pool and snacking on canapés and a lunch of brick oven pizza from oceanview over subpar margaritas and chicken strips at the airport TGIFridays any day (and I think it costs about the same).

 

It’s also fascinating watching the crew go about the process of turning the ship over for a new round of guests.

 

More catch up reports to come soon as we enjoy our last few hours on Beyond.

 

 

 

[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

[cruisebeachgirl703]

One of the great things about you Charla is you know how to get it done. 230 p.m. disembarkation is awesome. Good for you two. Going to miss all the beautiful pics and stories to go with. Keep us posted today. 

[hcat]

Enjoy the last overnight of your fabulous trip..Loved the blog!

 

Hope you'll be home in time to see Gen Z in her Halloween costume..as  reality sinks in!

[chemmo]

Safe and pleasant journey home, thank you for a wonderful vicarious vacation!

[DaKahuna]

 So sad that your current journey is over so soon.  It really does not seem like it's been a full seven days.  I hope you and Jeremy have a pleasant stay in Rome and a safe, uneventful trip home.  

 

[WNCtourist]

What a fast trip -- even for your devoted readers!

[RedneckBob]

What a great daily summary of your cruise. First followed you on the Beyond a year ago before our cruise on the B.
Your cruise brought back many memories of our cruise to the same region several years ago. We probably visited the same olive farm as you did!

We really like Taormina! We were on a private tour and tour guide offered us something extra on our tour in Taormina. He asked us if we would like to go to a famous church near the city where Michael Cortelone got married! We passed!

Safe travels home.

Edited October 30, 2023 by RedneckBob

[Lastdance]

So many places in this world are magical, especially when shared with someone special.  You and Jeremy had a vacation that went by way too fast, but...will be continued at a later date.  Getting off a cruise is always sad, but a b2b, or b2b2b2b...makes it a little easier.  Here’s to both of you and those special 7 days afloat.😍

The “Extend Your Stay’ is never long enough either, is it?

Edited October 31, 2023 by Lastdance

[maggieq]

@GenerationX safe travels home and thanks so much for sharing your cruise with us.   😊 

 

Of course, we do need to know when to tune in next……..

[LizikinsLivesToCruise]

Feeling sad along with you that this adventure is coming to an end. You visited some of my favourite places in the Med. Thank you Charla and Jeremy for sharing your vacation with us. Have a safe trip home.

[Sadebud]

Another great Live, Charla.  Thank you!  We are headed to Rome in 20 days (but who is counting?) for 3 days prior to getting onboard the Enchanted Princess for our TA back to Fort Lauderdale!  We are taking a walking food tour as well....to say I am excited is an understatement.  Have a safe trip home!!!

[bjahil47]

Enjoy your last night abroad!  Safe travels home and that’s for taking us along on the cruise!

[Jim_Iain]

Charla -  can't believe your adventure is slowly coming to an end.   Enjoyed reading of Jeremy and your wonderful adventure.

 

[Cap_D]

18 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Charla -  can't believe your adventure is slowly coming to an end.   Enjoyed reading of Jeremy and your wonderful adventure.

 

Thanks, @GenerationX and Jeremy.  

[Cap_D]

@GenerationXlooks like the JJ Cruise YouTube duo were broadcasting live during the changeover and will be on today's sailing. 

[theopup]

Thanks for taking us along with your journey, safe travels home.

 

Looking forward to your next adventure 

[lizinindy]

Did I miss the Le Voyage review? Love your writing style!

 

[GenerationX]

Well friends, I write to you today from dry land. Worse, not only am I on dry land, I’m not even on Italian soil anymore!  Actually technically I guess we’re in dry air.  We’re currently flying above the Atlantic for the second leg of our 3 flights home.

 

One World status was a real plus as it allowed us to use the priority check in lane for Iberia at FCO and avoid what looked like a solid hour long economy check in line.  Instead we got through with enough time to enjoy one last Italian espresso and prosciutto and cheese focaccia.

 

For our Iberia flight business class was sold out when we got rebooked so we booked their XL economy seats instead.  When we got on the plain we both said we’d hate to see how small the normal seats are if those are the XL’s.  We very much got the feeling we were on a Spanish version of Spirit.  It was only a 2 hour flight to Madrid and we slept the whole way, so we managed.  But I will be making note of the experience for when we eventually do a cruise out of Barcelona and it’s time to book flights.

 

FYI for non-Schengen passport holders, if  you’re flying through a connection at Madrid airport, be sure to pick an itinerary that has plenty of time between your flights.  Madrid airport is huge and getting to our gate for our next flight took almost a half hour even using the terminal tram.  Before we could even start that journey, we had to go through immigration and have our passports stamped, which was another 20 minutes of lines.  Others waiting next to us said that line time at connecting flight passport control can be much worse.

 

We had 2 hours between our flights and our Iberia flight landed right on time, but we only got to our gate with 10 minutes before boarding.  We used those 10 minutes to spend the last of our euros buying some fancy European potato chip flavors we don’t get at home.

 

Instead of spending this whole flight looking down at the ocean and wondering where Beyond is right this minute, I’m working on some back in time posts!

 

Day before yesterday we ended our time on Beyond with a couple of rounds of the rye sangria signature retreat cocktail and rum punch on the retreat deck and then headed to oceanview cafe for once last onboard lunch before we left the ship.  

 

I have to say, while extend your stay is such a nice perk to not be rushed off the ship, the down side is you get up close and personal with all the lucky people just starting their cruise and it stirs a next level amount of jealousy.  Not to mention, we were regularly mistaken for newly boarded or back to back guests.  Each warm smile and  “welcome onboard!” or “so glad you’re staying with us!” was like a dagger to the heart.

 

Disembarking was a little interesting because we had to leave down the same gangway that was filled with guests lined up going the other way trying to embark the ship.  We weren’t given any kind of escort to make the way for us so we just had to slowly work our way with lots of “excuse us” through the opposite direction traffic.  We got quite a few looks and even a few comments wondering what the heck we were doing going the wrong way.  I started replying with “we came all this way and got up there and they told us there’s no wine onboard for this cruise, so I’m out!” 😂

 

Our transfer driver was waiting right on time and took us to our post-cruise hotel the Hilton Rome Eur La Lama.

 

It’s a large relatively new convention hotel on the outskirts of Rome.  I think there are 2 hotels a bit closer to the airport, but the reviews on them were extremely mixed.  We didn’t need anything fancy to just get a chill dinner, sleep one night and shower, but mentions of room cleanliness and bed bug issues in some of the reviews (albeit a minority) made me nervous.

 

This hotel is still fairly close to the airport (about a 15 minute drive) and had much more consistent good reviews so I decided it was worth a few thousand more Hilton points.  I noticed that even though it’s a pretty new hotel, they use the Italian 3 prong outlets rather than the 2 prong.  I purchased both the 2 prong and 3 prong adapters since I knew we were renting an older Italian apartment pre-cruise and was glad I did.

 

Our room service meat and cheese, Caesar salad and carbonara dinner was nowhere near the top of the list of meal quality we had in Italy, but they were some of the better convention hotel room service meals I’ve had.

 

I think it will probably be our hotel of choice for future pre-early airport morning stays in Rome.

 

Next up: taking you all back in time to our last couple of days on Beyond.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

Charla and Jeremy home safely?

[boxkite]

Charla, thanks for sharing your wonderful trip to Europe!

 

Sure looked like Jeremy had a great time as well!

[asnaleah]

Thanks for taking us along with you Charla. Can’t wait for your next adventure!

[KKB]

On 10/13/2023 at 6:30 AM, mac_tlc said:

You bet I’m interested in following along! I still think fondly of our sailing on Beyond in April.

Remember?

 

mac_tlc

 

 

Awww...I miss this!

JUST catching up after getting home Weds from N. Europe cruise & found you! YEAH!!!

DD & I found Italy & Greece to be AMAZING...so I am excited for your experience.

I KNOW you are both going to have a wonderful time!

[KKB]

@GenerationX Thx for the lovely review!

I thought that dairy farm sounded VERY familiar...and when I saw the sign, YES! This is the SAME excursion DD & I took on a DIFFERENT cruise line in August...Hmmmmm.

The BEST ricotta I have EVER had...makes you realize how tasteless it is here.

We loved Sorrento & wish we had more time there.

Unfortunately we had a FULL bus & by the time we got to Pompeii we were DONE. 

We opted to hang out in the tourist area, peruse the wares of the locals & enjoy a couple cold drinks in the shade.

 (BTW if DD & BF should break up I'll let u know...that cruise & cat loving girl could be just the ticket for your BIL! LOL)

The further Retreat cuts make me glad we tried it when we did! 

BUT what a FANTASTIC trip for your both!

OH--when you get back to Rome, you MUST do the cooking class at Remissa Rosciolli! This was even better than our Trastevere walking food tour. (looks like a slightly different one than yours, but similar items offered)

Edited November 3, 2023 by KKB