Live (sort of) from the Beyond. Our last minute trip

[abbydancer2003]

Beyond Day 8 Sea day 3 June 30

 

Normally I make notes at the end of the day so that I can write the day.  I managed to erase everything, so just some highlights.

 

We did get up breakfast.  After that we attended the naturalist talk on sea turtles.  Her name is Justine Nadeau from Quebec. She was good, but not as good a Celia on Solstice.

 

After that, up to the pool for exercises, and chilling with Glen.  

 

We eventually went to lunch, where I had the Bib Lettuce Salad, the Herbed chicken breast, and coffee Panna Cotta.  It’s good without the chocolate sprinkles.

 

During lunch the captain made an announcement that due to the Hurricane, we’re swapping Bonaire and Aruba, so Aruba on Tuesday and Bonaire on Thursday.  So we’ll be going west to east instead of east to west.

 

The problem is that we have a privately booked excursion in Bonaire.  So I sent them an email from the restaurant.

 

After lunch I went to the lounge to move my Rooftop Garden dinner reservation to Aruba night, since that’s the latest port, and I don’t love the Luminae menu.  They did offer me a free phone call, which I said I’d use if necessary.

 

Back at the room, I tried using Facebook messenger to them, but the response was an auto response to use WhatsApp.  I did that, and they said they knew and we got it worked out.   

 

Once I finished that, I released that we were supposed to meet cruise critic friends in Al Baccio at 3.  It was now 3:15 so I ran down and met them.  Glen followed and we had a very nice chat until it was time to get dressed for Evening Chic and the Retreat Soiree. They did decided to go for pancakes in Aruba with us.

 

On our way to the Soiree, Captain Leo was in the elevator with us.  He consented to a picture, which Janelle took.

 

 

We stayed at the lounge for a while.  We did meet a couple of the housekeeping managers.  Also the captain and the hotel director stopped by.  All of them told us to contact them if we need anything.  Really?  The problem would have to be very big for me not to start with the retreat concierges, or other lower people.  I’m just saying.

 

We decided not to go see Stage Door again, but found that the Eden production cast was doing a show in the Club called The Jazz Joint at 7:45.  We had some time, so I thought we’d go to the Magic Carpet for a drink.  Nope, way too windy.  Instead we went to Al Baccio, and then to the club.  We waited a few minutes for them to open the doors, but got seats in the front.

 

 

The show was high energy and fun.  I got pulled on stage to watch the two male aerialists, and they gave me a rose, which is in the room.  It was a fun show.

 

 

By the time the show ended, it was time for my birthday dinner at Le Voyage.  It’s very close, as the back wall of the Club is the back wall of Le Voyage.  

 

We were seated promptly and offered a complimentary glass of champagne.  I don’t particularly like champagne but this was quite tasty.  I believe it was Veuve Clicquot, which is pretty much well above our package.  Oh well, it was good.

 

We were also given asparagus wrapped in eggplant as a starter.  Also very nice.

 

Glen started with the roasted beet saiald, and I couldn’t decide between the onion tart and the beef tartare, so he gave me both.  The onion tart wins.

 

For mains, Glen tried the 5 spice duck  Pithivier, which may mean in a sesame seed pastry.  

 

 

This time I had the chicken with morels mushrooms.  It was good, but I think the filet is a better option.

 

 

The little things on top are potatoes.

 

For dessert, I went with the pineapple mille-feuille, which was very good.  I think I had it last time.

 

 

 

Glen got rather brave, and tried the Pavlova with vegan meringue.  Apparently made with soy milk.  He’s lactose intolerant, so has soy lattes a lot, so I guess it didn’t bother him.

 

 

After dessert, there were baby Madelines and some chocolate and fruit squeres.

 

Isn’t it cute?  We tried to pack it up in the napkin, but the repacked it to a little bag.

 

 

After dinner, they brought the check - for the full amount.  Two problems.  First, we had a dining package, and second, even if we didn’t, we’re elite + so we should get a small discount. 

 

They took the bill back, and brought another one back with the 20.00 per person upcharge, which is listed in the terms.  They also put a tip on top of that, so 48.00 total.  I guess we don’t get our discount on that.

 

Once that was all fixed, we left.  In the room there was a birthday card with flowers from our retreat team.  IT was a very nice end to my birthday.

 

 

[DaKahuna]

It sounds like you were well taken care of for your birthday, as it should be. 

 

 

[jelayne]

Captain Leo is our favorite.  Unfortunately we join the Beyond in Mid August and he leaves at the end of July😢.

 

Thanks for sharing your vacation with all of us.

[kluv2cruz]

5 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Celia on Solstice

She was amazing and passionate and educational!
 

Someone locally said they saw “killer whales” the other day and I involuntarily did a oooohhhh suck in of my breathe…. Celia taught me well.

Edited July 5 by kluv2cruz

[dazey]

regarding elite benefits question be advised that the happy hour benefit from 5 to 7 does now include embarkment day.  we noticed this on our recent eclipse cruise that the first day exception was not listed and confirmed it to be correct our first day.  good news.

 

apologize for no caps - issue to be resolved

[kabmab]

9 hours ago, jelayne said:

Captain Leo is our favorite.  Unfortunately we join the Beyond in Mid August and he leaves at the end of July😢.

 

Thanks for sharing your vacation with all of us.

But then Captain Kate returns, not all bad.  We're looking forward to having her again near the end of August.

[jelayne]

47 minutes ago, kabmab said:

But then Captain Kate returns, not all bad.  We're looking forward to having her again near the end of August.

I know, sailed with her a few times.  

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

11 hours ago, jelayne said:

Captain Leo is our favorite.  Unfortunately we join the Beyond in Mid August and he leaves at the end of July😢.

 

On the 27th?

[abbydancer2003]

Beyond Day 9 Sea Day 4 Jul 1

 

Today is our second pre port sea day, so we decided to sleep late and just go to the Elite Breakfast in the Grand Bistro.  It was a little odd, in that the brought around a pastry tray, and they had the menu.  Or original plan was to order the pastry plate and the fruit plate.  They also had regular coffee.  We got pastries, coffee and juice, and then nothing.  Eventually a server took our order, so we just got fruit, and I got a bagel with cream cheese.  No refills on coffee, so this is probably our first and last time there.

 

Before moving on, I’ll try to reconstruct thoughts on the President’s cruise.  

 

We didn’t know it was the President’s cruise before we booked it.  There were pluses, minuses and just things.  The ship was decorated with a flower theme, and there were a few special events.  We didn’t do all of them, but we did a couple.  The “Conversation with Celebrity” was interesting, but not as interesting as it could have been, since most of the questions were either easy or something they weren’t answering.  The Bimini beach event was good if you’re the sort of person who likes day passes at beaches.  There honestly weren’t a lot of minuses.  The biggest one was the night that her highness decided to eat in Luminae, and took our wait staff.  So would we book one again?  Yes, but only if it was one we wanted to book anyway.  We wouldn’t book for the President’s cruise, but we also wouldn’t decide not to book if it was the Presidents cruise.  We won’t be doing next years, because it’s Norway, and we’re doing that in August of this year.

 

Now back to your regularly scheduled update.

 

 

After breakfast, we went back to the room, but Frank was doing his thing so we went to the lounge.  I decided that to work on the blog, I’d need coffee, and I wanted regular coffee.  So I went to the buffet, and got two to-go cups of it and brought it back. 

 

Before lunch time I headed to the sundeck to do my morning exercises.  The pool was busy.  Several people having conversations, and a family with kids.  Honestly, while I have nothing against children (I was one myself quite a while ago), I don’t know why they use the retreat pool.  It’s tiny and I think they might have a better time splashing around in the bigger pool, and they might meet other kids.  

 

After pool it was lunch time.  Before we headed to lunch there was an in room announcement from the captain.  That’s usually worrisome, but this time it was just a weather announcement that we were missing the hurricane, but we’d have sea motion and wind until late evening.  No additional itinerary changes.

 

 For lunch, wee headed to Luminae and today I had the bib lettuce salad and a grilled cheese sandwich.   I decided to have rice pudding for dessert.  I’ve been on X ships over 65 days so far this year, and the menus are getting old.

 

After lunch we took it easy.  I took care of some things, (I decided not to take a class during the summer this year), and relaxed.  In the late afternoon, checkin for our 8/16 Norway opened.  I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to access checkin while on a ship, but I thought I’d take a look.  

 

To my surprise, we have express passes and an arrival time of 12:30.  I’ve never had an express pass until I completed all steps (except the photo).  I asked the concierges, and they thought it was strange too.  Of course we couldn’t access check in to change anything.  Nor could I add the passes to my Apple wallet.

 

After a drink in the lounge we went to dinner.  I started with the Boulud corn soup with extra leeks (last time they didn’t put any in, so this was to guarantee they did) and no prawns.  For my main, I had the short rib appetizer with baked potato and sautéed spinach and bok choy.  It was very nice and small.  I’ll have to remember that one.  

 

Before bringing dessert, they brought a small chocolate cake, and sang happy birthday.  That was nice, but we did pass on eating the cake.  (Soon after they brought a chocolate cake to another table and sang happy anniversary to them.  We heard one of the staff asking what the next table for the cake is).  I actually had the orange sponge dessert.

 

After dinner we took a walk around the upper deck, and then went back to the room.  Tomorrow is Aruba, and the first of our 3 port days.  

 

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

Continuing to enjoy your review of your B2B and I agree with you that after a while the menu in Luminae does then to get old.  One of the reasons we enjoy the M and S class ships is the possibility of breaking the monotony with dishes from the MDR and sometimes Blu.  

 

Will your Norway cruise in August also be with Celebrity or will you be on another cruise line?  My DW and I have been talking about sailing Norway and seeing the fjords as we loved the Alaska inside passage and would like to compare.  

 

Do you have any other cruises planned  between your August Norway cruise and the April TP where we will be sailing with you? 

 

[DingoMom]

Hi Abby,

You mentioned a few days ago that you had your ‘half’ of a Luminae burger. This may be a silly question (sorry!) but can you actually order a small Luminae burger, or did you get a whole one and share it with DH? They are SO big!!

[chrismch]

Truly been enjoying your updates. I believe we will be enjoying our Beyond cruise next month. 

[abbydancer2003]

On 7/5/2024 at 1:41 PM, DaKahuna said:

Continuing to enjoy your review of your B2B and I agree with you that after a while the menu in Luminae does then to get old.  One of the reasons we enjoy the M and S class ships is the possibility of breaking the monotony with dishes from the MDR and sometimes Blu.  

 

Will your Norway cruise in August also be with Celebrity or will you be on another cruise line?  My DW and I have been talking about sailing Norway and seeing the fjords as we loved the Alaska inside passage and would like to compare.  

 

Do you have any other cruises planned  between your August Norway cruise and the April TP where we will be sailing with you? 

 

We have:  Scandenavia after 4 days in England (8/27), Galapagos in December and Ascent in January.  After that is the GBR and New Zealand in March/April.

 

19 hours ago, DingoMom said:

Hi Abby,

You mentioned a few days ago that you had your ‘half’ of a Luminae burger. This may be a silly question (sorry!) but can you actually order a small Luminae burger, or did you get a whole one and share it with DH? They are SO big!!

I ask them to cut it half horizontally when I order it.  He eats the whole one, although today he ordered it without the bun and said it was great that way.

[abbydancer2003]

Beyond Day 10. Aruba

 

Today is Aruba our first stop.  We woke up a little late for breakfast, so we called Godfrey for coffee.  While we were enjoying our coffee, Andrew called and said they couldn’t go until about 12:30, so we agreed to cancel going together.  

 

After coffee we got dressed, and decided to head out.  It was of course, even just before 10:am hot.  It was about a 15-20 minute walk at my current pace.  There was a line when we got there, and it took about 20 minutes to get seated.  Glen ordered the Dutch special savory pancake, with ham, cheese and a couple other things.  I had the Shawn’s sweet special - walnuts, bananas, honey and powered sugar.  It was very sweet, so I probably won’t order it again, but I did like it.

 

 

After finishing we walked back.  Once back on the ship, we went to the lounge.  When we boarded, our room steward told us there was a stain on the carpet by the refrigerator, and they couldn’t get it out, so on the first port stop they’d replace the carpet portion.  They were still cleaning when we got back, so we hung out in the lounge for a while.

 

Once we were back, I went to thle pool, wasn’t too bad, but a bit more crowded than I would have thought.  After I went to lunch, although Gen wasn’t hungry, so didn’t go.  It was the British buffet again, but no Yorkshire pudding.  

 

After that, I went back to the room, and around 4, Glen and I went to the mast grill for hot dogs.  They were OK.  I had half of one.

 

At some point, I took a picture from our balcony.

 

 

We did watch part of season 2 of the Mandelorian, since Disney Plus doesn’t need a VPN.

 

Our next event was the 7:30 show.  Tonight was a singer and an aerialist.  They are a couple, meet doing cruise shows, and decided that, to be together, they’d create their own show.  I think they’re called SkyNotes.

 

 

 

 

After the show, since there wasn’t a long introduction before it started as there was for shows last cruise, we had time to get to our 8:30 reservation at the Rooftop Garden Grill.

 

I started with the vegetable crudités, with baba ganoush and hummus.  Glen had the crispy cauliflower and we both had caesar salads.  Glen had brisket and I had a ribeye with baked potato, baked beans and creamed corn.  I had their cobbler for dessert.

 

After dinner we wandered around for a bit, still with Aruba off the side.  Curacao is only about 60 miles away, so we weren’t going fast.

 

Tomorrow is Curacao, where we have no plans.

 

*

[mac_tlc]

Was it the Dutch Pancake House you went to in Aruba? We discovered it on our trip in February. After visiting Pancakes Amsterdam more times than I care to admit when we were in Amsterdam, it was a great find! 
 

A couple of pictures for those who may be interested! 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 7 by mac_tlc

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

We have:  Scandenavia after 4 days in England (8/27), Galapagos in December and Ascent in January.  After that is the GBR and New Zealand in March/April.

 

 Color me extremely jealous.  Can't wait to follow along on your many adventures. We have a 7-day B2B on MSC Seascape in the Caribbean in September and then nothing until April.  

 

 

[chrismch]

Abbydancer... In a previous post, you mentioned going to a show in the theater at 7:3t0 pm. Is that the standard time for the shows in the theater? Is the 2nd show at 9:00? Trying to schedule our dinners so we can go to the shows there.

[abbydancer2003]

7 hours ago, chrismch said:

Abbydancer... In a previous post, you mentioned going to a show in the theater at 7:3t0 pm. Is that the standard time for the shows in the theater? Is the 2nd show at 9:00? Trying to schedule our dinners so we can go to the shows there.

On this ship, every show was at 7:30.  I don't know why, since on every other ship, including the Beyond in February,  it was at 7.  

 

and @mac_tlc  That is indeed the great Dutch Pancake House in the Renaissance outdoor mall.

 

 

[abbydancer2003]

Day 11 Curacao July 3

 

Today is Cruacao, and our plan was to pretty much stay on the ship.  

 

We woke up to being docked.

 

 

We started with coffee, and then went to breakfast.  After breakfast I decided to try to get some aged Gouda cheese.  The only place we’d found some last time was at the stands in the pier area.  Most we closed, but maybe one with cheese was open. 

 

I left the ship.  Today I noticed the signs for attractions.

 

 

This is for the oldest active synagogue in the Americas.  Someday, if we’re ever here on a Friday, and staying into the evening, I might go to services.  

 

I found the shop that had cheese.  They had the small wedges of aged Gouda so I bought one for us and one for Beth.  I decided to keep walking to the Fort.  I took a picture of the ship from the first stop on the short history walk out of the pier.  

 

 

I went as far as Del Sol in the fort shopping center.  I bought a few things, and while I was there, I thought maybe Arie and Cheryl would enjoy some as well, so I texted to ask if they’d like me to get them some.  They did, so after finishing at Del Sol, I got more cheese and headed back to the ship.  I got there around 11, so I went to the pool and did my thing.  

 

While in the room before lunch, I noticed a mural of baseball players across the street from the pier.

 

 

A little after 1pm, we headed to the buffet.  Today was a Caribbean theme, not my favorite, so more carved beef. 

 

 

After lunch I showed Glen the mural, and once we figured out that we did not have to walk all the way around the mangrove forest to get there (we could probably go out the car/bus gate) we decided to go look at them.

 

On the way out, I was able to get an unobstructed welcome to Curacao sign.

 

 

While looking at the mural, another gentleman taking picture told us that, per capita, Curaçao has the most professional baseball players.  Who knew?  We googled one and he’s still playing in the majors.  We were also told that teams from Curacao have won 4 Little League world championships.  

 

 

 

While walking, we noticed there was a sign for a Mangrove Park.  Apparently the grove of Mangroves is a park.  We decided to walk over.  

 

The cost was 15.00 US per person, so we decided to pump that into the local economy and go.  There are two ways to do it - walk or kayak (kayak ma be more but I don’t remember how much).  The walk is a loop, and they give you a bird picture list to use.  It’s about an hour walk.

 

We did see birds and mangroves.

 

Here are some birds on the ground.

 

Periodically, there were helpful signboards. They gave a lot of information about the mangrove forest.

From the boardwalk, we save a group of birds.  

 

Sometimes the boardwalk was a pathway like this.

 

There are three kinds of mangroves - red, white and black.  These are red.

 

The view near the end of the walking loop.

 

It was a nice walk, and maybe next time, we’ll kayak.

 

After the mangroves we were rather hot and tired, so we headed back to the ship.

 

Once back in the room, I did my exercises, and worked on the blog.  Today was the day I managed to delete my post, including the presidents cruise summary.

 

At about 7, we decided to go see the show Elements again.  This time, we went to deck 4, and watched from deck 4 in the front row on the side.  It’s a different perspective, so a good choice for a second viewing.

 

After that it was dinner time.  I had the burrata and the short ribs.  For dessert I had the coconut cremeaux.  All good, as usual.

 

Tomorrow we have to be off the ship at 8:30, so we headed back to the room and to bed.

[chrismch]

2 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

The cost was 15.00 US per person, so we decided to pump that into the local economy and go. 

Good for you! Hope the cheese you brought back was for someone on the ship and the cheese was still chilled. The worst food poisoning I ever got was from cheese. Bought it from a local farmer's market in Dublin and ate it through the day. By morning my stomach was feeling off. By the time I got on the plane I needed the restroom asap. Stayed there on and off for the rest of the flight. Worst flight experience ever!

[Texed]

We were on the same two cruises.  We enjoyed both cruises very much.  Thanks for your report.  😊

[depplep]

We are on Beyond this Saturday. Did they have the seafood buffet that I have seen reported on Ascent on the last day?

[abbydancer2003]

3 hours ago, Texed said:

We were on the same two cruises.  We enjoyed both cruises very much.  Thanks for your report.  😊

 

Thanks.  They were both very enjoyable.

 

3 hours ago, depplep said:

We are on Beyond this Saturday. Did they have the seafood buffet that I have seen reported on Ascent on the last day?

 

No idea, since it was a sea day, and we were in the restaurant.  Sorry.

10 hours ago, chrismch said:

Good for you! Hope the cheese you brought back was for someone on the ship and the cheese was still chilled. The worst food poisoning I ever got was from cheese. Bought it from a local farmer's market in Dublin and ate it through the day. By morning my stomach was feeling off. By the time I got on the plane I needed the restroom asap. Stayed there on and off for the rest of the flight. Worst flight experience ever!

The cheese is sealed, and went from refrigerator at the shop to refrigerator on ship.  It's been cool all the time.  Thanks for the heads up.  It's a refrigeratored.

[39august]

We were on Beyond a month ago, and yes, there was the "Seafood" extravaganza. Mostly what I saw were mounds of boiled shrimp. 

[abbydancer2003]

Day 12. Bonaire. July 4 

 

We got up and ready early, so we headed to breakfast.  We planned to go back to the room and then get our bathings suits for our snorkeling excursion.  

 

We were able to leave the ship a couple minutes after 8:30, but the pier in Bonaire is very short pier, so we arrived at entrance in about 4 minutes.  My text from Wim (owner) was to meet at the jewelry store, but the confirmation said to go to the tents along the street.  We found a jewelry store at the pier entrance, but weren’t sure it was the only one.

 

Bonaire from the ship.

 

I went over to the tents and asked one of the vendors.  She said he now meets by the port entrance.  So I went back.  Glen checked and there was only one jewelry store, so we walked back, and he was there with a sign with our name and another couple on it.

 

Once Mike and Linda, the other couple arrived, he took us to the street where he had a van pick us up and drive us to the marina.  He met us there, and walked us through the hotel on the Marina to our boat.  This time, he was the skipper and his assistant was Staskia, from Vancouver.

 

We headed out.  While we were sailing to the snorkel spot, she pulled out a couple of brochures, and told us which spot we’d be going to (27 if you’re familiar with Boniare.  It’s 27 still if you’re not).  She also tried to help me use the snorkel, but it was still uncomfortable for me.  

 

Once we got to the snorkel spot, she took Glen and Mike out, and I took the snorkel off the mask, and went into the water.  I used a floatation thing and hung on to the rope behind the boat, and was able to look around underwater using the mask.  After about 5-10 minutes, I went back to the boat.  It was nice to be able to do that, and see a bit.  Linda stayed on the boat, and we had a nice talk while waiting for the snorkel to finish.

 

After they finished, they gave us tuna and brie sandwiches, watermelon and drinks.  We had a nice ride back.  After we left the boat, Staskia walked us to an area to wait for the van.  He came about 10 minutes after we arrived, and we went back to the pier.  I think we arrived just before noon.

 

 

Since I was still in my bathing suit, I went to the pool to do my thing.  (I did use the shower before getting in, since I”d just been in the ocean).  I did my execises and then had a nice chat with a fellow passenger about historical fiction.  Next I tried going to the hot tub, but it was cold.

 

I mentioned that to one of the guys there (one of the hosts for Luminae actually) but all he said was that it was a cold tub today.  

 

Next stop after changing clothes was the buffet.  Today was the American buffet, which meant burgers, ribs and bbq chicken.  I had some corn on the cob and creamed spinach, and then tried to make a soft taco or burrito from the fajita meat and salsa etc.  The problem is that the tortillas are cut in half, so you can’t really make either.  It wasn’t quite enough, so I went over to the grill area, got a very small (probably 3 oz or so) steak and added chimichuri.  I also grabbled a small piece of strawberry shortcake.  

 

We spent a bit of time in the room, and then headed to Al Baccio for a while.  Around 4, we were done, but decided to come back down for sailaway.

 

At around 5, I went to the exterior area of deck 5.  We watched for a while, but no pier runners.  On the way back in, we noticed the martini bar show was going on.

 

 

 

 

I told Glen if he could learn to tend bar, he could get a job, since he juggles.

 

Back in the room we got ready for dinner and then headed to the lounge.  It turns out it was silent disco there, so we stuck around, danced a little and then went to dinner.

 

For dinner tonight, I had the green asparagus, and roasted chicken (it was a bit salty, but not too bad).  Glen had the sirloin, and once again, well done on the outside.  He did bring it to Jesus’s attention, and that didn’t go well.  I suggested that next time, if he likes the presentation, change the steak for a NY.  That, I think is cooked differently.  

 

For dessert, we both had the blueberry mousse.  On the top the put a small stick of chocolate  for decoration.  I said they could leave it off, since I won’t eat it.  They didn’t, so I removed it and enjoyed the mousse.  No biggie.  However, our headwaiter Janice came by to apologize for the steak and the chocolate.  I wonder if we’re now red flagged as problem guests?

 

After dinner it was back to the room, and I noticed that our points for the Presidents cruise have posted.  Now we’re under 600 points to Zenith.  Whoo hoo.