Beyond Awesome! Live from ABC islands September 7, 2024

[SGCruiser2013]

Dinner in Luminae last night was excellent. 

Turkey escarole soup

 

Caesar salad

 

NY strip done perfectly, 9.5/10

 

[Cruising89143]

Wow…….Refreshing to read a review where the world is not ending. Thanks for taking the time to share. 

[SGCruiser2013]

Welcome to Aruba! 
 

Was an interesting day, we did the De Palm island tour and will have lots to say about that in the morning tmrw. Two thumbs down. 
 

Dinner at Eden tonight and will have tmrw some editorial notes on the entertainment for the first half of the cruise. 
 

Meanwhile a beautiful morning and sunset. 

 

 

[SGCruiser2013]

DePalm Island shore excursion (Aruba) - well our luck ran out a bit as this was a thumbs down for us. Looking for some past reviews on CC, I don’t remember seeing a lot of negatives, however,  I also don’t think I searched thoroughly. We booked this excursion at a fantastic Black Friday rate and perhaps that was part of it. 
 

This may be old news to most of you well traveled here, but here are my observations:

 

First a brief map picture: 

 

 

The map tells a story looking at it with hindsight. First the Island is not very big. The right and left 20-25% of the island are not really useable beach. On the left side LOL, I don’t have a pic but there was a sign that said something like “Carnival passengers are NOT allowed to ride the Banana boats” 🤪. That leaves the middle maybe 50-60% of the Island for useable space. However, over half of that is prime space reserved for private cabana rentals. For an all inclusive place with a pretty high ShoreEx price tag, I wasn’t expecting this. There was no upgrade option with Celebrity that I remember seeing.
 

This dynamic then led to essentially a land war on boat arrival to find some of the limited space still available. Given it was a hot Aruba day and when you are on the island - you are there until end of excursion (from what I was told), finding some possible shade was a premium. We were lucky to maneuver quickly and found some shade under some trees for our party of four. 
 

 

The main problems with this were a) another big ship arrived first so the pickings were slim, and b) we got lucky being near first off Celebrity arrival and people behind us were even more challenged. Add in that this nice shade location was under trees with…birds on branches…and let’s just say that ended up being gross for many.

Food was average and mostly long lines for drinks. I’d rate 3/10, not recommended. 

Edited September 11 by SGCruiser2013

[SGCruiser2013]

Last night’s dinner was awesome at EDEN.

 

Shout out to these cruise critic boards. Initially we booked only Fine Cut and Le Voyage, and then one night at more casual rooftop garden grill which had a great pre-cruise special. But I kept seeing some of the posts about Eden including live from’s that said it was one of the best experiences. So we pivoted and booked Eden last night right before sunset. 
 

An amazing dinner. The service was impeccable and food was 10/10. One of the better cruise meals I can remember having. 

Mushroom huitlacoche risotto 10/10

 

Nova Scotia lobster casserole 10/10 huge portions and amazing sauce 

 

Butterscotch crème brûlée 9.5/10

 

DW had filet w mini wellington:

 

DW had strawberry and ice cream:

 

Our incredible sunset:

 

 

[SGCruiser2013]

Our Celebrity Beyond cruise has had some great entertainment! Here’s some of my $0.02 on the performers half way through:

 

Night 1 - Magician Matt Johnson. Show was definitely worth it. He infused a lot of comedy and kept audience attention. Tricks were generally good and interesting, with one or two great ones. Audience participation was best part imo. 7/10

 

Night 2 - “Arte” production show in the theatre. Very well done, entertaining throughout and great features of two very talented leads. A little quirky, and I thought the acrobatics could have been enhanced or profiled more. 7.5/10.

 

Night 3a - Jazz Joint production show with Eden cast. Held in the Club. WOW. Powerful energy, humor, incredible dancing and choreography, a sensual, cool vibe. One of my favorite shows I remember seeing at sea. 10/10. Note / have seen some previous posts on Club seating and would agree with them. It gets very crowded and the seating / visuals you may start with 45 mins before the show can be quite different than when show starts. Take care on this to plan ahead.

 

Night 3b - Charity Lockhart singer. One of the only Aretha tribute singers to be formally endorsed by the Franklin family. And WOW did she bring the pipes!! Took her a minute to get warmed up but she was hitting crazy notes by the end. Really special. 9/10.
 

Night 4 - Antonio Salci - pianist. “Unity” concert. This was probably for some people but not really for me. No doubt he is talented on the keys but lost me when he played You Are my Sunshine in the middle. Or maybe he lost me before that. 4/10. And that’s because of the great backup orchestra. 

We have really enjoyed the solo guitar players at Eden. Overall very impressed with the entertainment venues, diversity of choices and talent levels. 

 

 

[lola2013]

We saw Charity Lockhart o both legs of a recent B2B…each performance was outstanding.

[boxkite]

We also saw Charity Lockhart on our Spring Beyond cruise and she is fantastic!

[SGCruiser2013]

Catching up a bit … 

 

We had dinner at BLU on Wednesday eve. Hmm.. I was excited to try it but left quite disappointed. First, the service pace was very fast, it felt like they were wanting to “turn the table”. Also, the service friendliness was more variable. While the Maitre d stopped by and waiters and sommelier were cordial, it was more businesslike than in specialty restaurants or Luminae. 
 

Menu and pics:

 

 

Crab, tomato, avocado. Sounds great. But crab was more like chicken of the sea. 5/10

 

New England clam, good clam content but slightly watery 7/10

 

Duck breast was slightly overdone, on a bed of risotto that was tasty but kinda warmed over. 6/10

 

Could have just been an off night since I know a lot of people really like Blu. 

[SGCruiser2013]

Last night’s dinner a birthday celebration at Fine Cut! Or I should say FINE Cut, because it was excellent. 
 

Our wait service was friendly and super attentive. My brothers each had prime rib (pictured below) done on the rare side of Medium Rare (by special request). I had Lamb Chops with vegetables and mint jelly. +1 for having mint jelly and -1 for chops really being just one large chop haha. A full complement of sides and for this one we brought our own wines. 
 

Desserts were also special / particularly NY Cheesecake and Double Chocolate brownie. 
 

Overall 9/10! 
 

 

[DallasCruiseCouple]

On 9/8/2024 at 7:26 AM, depplep said:

We just got off that same cruise in July and loved Beyond, we missed Capt.Kate as she got on while we were getting off. I didn't know she did special occassion videos, that's cool. Looking forward to your review, have a great time.

Just checked on the cameo prices for Captain Kate (or other influencers) to do a video and it starts at $100. 

[DallasCruiseCouple]

On 9/9/2024 at 6:19 PM, mac_tlc said:

 

But this one is the winner: Taken at 8am, and it was like this every single sea day, usually by 7:30am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

mac_tlc

Was this a seating area up by the jacuzzi? I can't seem to place where this is located. I am sure someone asked the pool guys where the rest of the guests could pick up a reserved towel! LOL. This seems very "entitled" and I don't think I have ever seen this on Carnival, Holland America or Royal Caribbean but I guess there is always a "first"!!

[hcat]

great review.. good balance of pics and comments.

 

we agree about Fine Cut  and  Eden and have passed over Palm Island many times..hate to be stuck someplace!

[Purple Gallinule]

We are new to Celebrity (Princess Elite). Does Beyond serve breakfast and lunch in the MDRs? We are used to seeing breakfast everyday and lunch on sea days on Princess.

 

Thanks a lot.

[mac_tlc]

17 minutes ago, DallasCruiseCouple said:

Was this a seating area up by the jacuzzi? I can't seem to place where this is located. I am sure someone asked the pool guys where the rest of the guests could pick up a reserved towel! LOL. This seems very "entitled" and I don't think I have ever seen this on Carnival, Holland America or Royal Caribbean but I guess there is always a "first"!!

It was close to the Sunset Bar. Near the stairs to the Oceanview Cafe there are some tiered areas, this is one.

 

I would head out about 6:30 - 7 while my wife was still asleep, grab a coffee at OVC and try to find a seat aft to update my LIVE thread. In this alcove, there were five or six others seats, only one of which was “unreserved” for me. 😂

 

 

mac_tlc

[boxkite]

43 minutes ago, Purple Gallinule said:

We are new to Celebrity (Princess Elite). Does Beyond serve breakfast and lunch in the MDRs? We are used to seeing breakfast everyday and lunch on sea days on Princess.

 

Thanks a lot.

Purple Gallinule,

Welcome to the Celebrity CC board!

At least one of the four Beyond MDRs has breakfast everyday. A MDR will also be open for lunch on Sea Days.

[SGCruiser2013]

1 hour ago, Purple Gallinule said:

We are new to Celebrity (Princess Elite). Does Beyond serve breakfast and lunch in the MDRs? We are used to seeing breakfast everyday and lunch on sea days on Princess.

 

Thanks a lot.

 

Boxkite response above for the win. An MDR open for breakfast and lunch on sea days and breakfast on port days. For our cruise, below is a pick of restaurants open and times for Aruba and today (sea day).

 

 

 

 

[KLM3164]

On 9/11/2024 at 3:52 PM, SGCruiser2013 said:

Butterscotch crème brûlée 9.5/10

 

I don’t get carrots on top of crème brûlée! 

[KLM3164]

@SGCruiser2013

If it’s not too much trouble, would you please post the list of activities for your last sea day, 9/14? TIA

 

 

[SGCruiser2013]

16 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

 

I don’t get carrots on top of crème brûlée! 

I know..weird! I didn’t eat them. They were caramel ones so might have been good. 

[SGCruiser2013]

We did Bonaire Cruisers west-south loop!

 

in Bonaire day before yesterday we took several of the recommendations here and rented golf carts with Bonaire Cruisers. Simple and easy to set up in advance. Short walk of maybe 2-3 blocks from the ship pier. Easy form to sign and we were on our way. 
 

All three port days have been very hot, including in Bonaire. Luckily it was a little windy plus the ride itself moves the air, but otherwise quite hot. We took the south loop first down the west coast of the island, and stopped at Ocean Oasis beach club. Did some dips in the water, had some lunch and a drink. Delightful…but hot. We continued south stopping every five or ten minutes. Traffic was not heavy. We stopped just after pink beach for a nice swim. The water refreshing, and so, so clear. We went further to see the old slave huts and finished at south of island with the wind surfers (amazing talent). 
 

We would definitely do this again. 8/10

 

Some pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SGCruiser2013]

Night 7 dinner at Luminae. All the hits. Lobster, lamb chops, baked Alaska. Rivals Eden b for best mean on ship. Lobster was delicious and lamb chops were cooked to perfection. Chops good in Fine Cut but totally perfect in Luminae 11/10

 

Octopus ceviche in shells 9/10 splendid

 

Lamb chops 11/10

 

Lobster in an awesome sauce, 9.5/10 only because Eden can’t be beat

 

Baked Alaska 9.5/10 scrumdiddly

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mac_tlc]

Enjoying the review! Brings back great memories of our sailing earlier this year. 
 

Eden is our favorite E-class restaurant. Never disappointed—- except by the current price.

 

 

mac_tlc

[SGCruiser2013]

7 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

@SGCruiser2013

If it’s not too much trouble, would you please post the list of activities for your last sea day, 9/14? TIA

 

 

Posting some snapshots of today daily:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SGCruiser2013]

Eden was awesome last night, again. I think definitely best restaurant on ship (that we tried). Such a cool vibe also - quieter area in back of ship, can hear the music playing on overlooking 5th floor, and the diversity of cuisine and menu choices is excellent. 
 

A couple pics of food that I didn’t repeat from the first time:

 

Aegean Sea ceviche 10/10

 

Atlantic salmon 9/10