KathyC

Depending on where you are embarking or disembarking, you can take a train to the port.  We flew into Anchorage, and took the train from Anchorage to Seward where we got on the ship.  If you are disembarking in Seward, you can do the opposite.  If you are round trip from Seattle or Vancouver, not going to work for you, sorry. 

Depending on where you are embarking or disembarking, you can take a train to the port.  We flew into Anchorage, and took the train from Anchorage to Seward where we got on the ship.  If you are disembarking in Seward, you can do the opposite.  If you are round trip from Seattle or Vancouver, not going to work for you, sorry. 

Honestly, being very slow to plan and prepare.  I'm not overly enthused about this trip, but hope I will once we get in the air.  I'm most excited about England and less about Norway.

I watched some port videos on YouTube about a month ago, and took notes.  Bought Skylift tickets (Olden) direct from them yesterday.  Only "excursion" we're doing, other than the ship airport transfer that stops at Stone Henge on debarkation day. 

Am in the process of thinking about what to do with our day in London on Saturday.  Plane lands around 6am, not sure how long it will take us to get to hotel.  Probably won't pre-book any transport that day just in case there are delays. Kinda bummed that there is not changing of the guards on Saturdays.  May just pick up tickets for the Hop On/Off bus, and use it as we please for the day.  Gotta research it more to see if it's worth the cost. 

Need to look at the train schedule and pick up tickets for our train from London to Southampton on Embarkation Day.  We purposely chose the 12pm arrival time, so we'd have a bit of extra sleep time.  So that is my first priority. LOL 

I used Trainline when I visited the UK, so that's likely what he was referring to.

Glad you enjoyed her!  We loved our time spent last October.  The Rooftop Garden Grill had the best food we found.  So good.  We're on Summit in a couple weeks, curious as to how different she will be post-restart.  Last time she was shiny & smelled of refurbishment.  😄 

Summary:  We sailed the week of 5 March 2023 with about 3200 fellow passengers.  Celebrity Beyond lives up to its name.  Its design and service goes beyond earlier Edge and Apex ships. Port visits included:  St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Puerto Plata DR.   At first glimpse, Beyond fixes some of the “nits” that Edge and Apex rolled out with.  For example, the Martini Bar is positioned into the center of the atrium, making it a focus while adding more seating, the Sunset bar is made over to give a Moroccan feel with various levels of seating on the aft starboard edge, and most noticeable for Retreat members, there’s an additional deck that holds a pool and two hot tubs.   The Retreat hits new levels now contained within 3 - decks with Luminae positioned between the Retreat lounge and upper pool deck (Decks 15-17 forward).
 
Embarkation: Port Everglades Celebrity  terminal is  updated and easy to negotiate on embarkation day.   The suite lounge is comfortable, but even at 10:30 (the early boarding time) we couldn’t find any seating.  Service was great, but had to stand for about 15 minutes and embarkation commenced.  We were onboard before 11am.
 
Ship Experiences
Food & Dining:  We stayed in a Sky Suite so had access to Luminae and Blu for main dining.  Except for 3 specialty restaurants, we dined in those venues all week for major meals.  Also dined in the Aqua cafe, Eden cafe, and Oceanview cafe.  All venues were well maintained, but it was obvious the menu quality & strength has been reduced (just as on the Royal parent).  Its not the Celebrity dining of 5 years ago.   
 
Le Voyage - Daniel Boulud’s intimate signature specialty restaurant on Beyond (and highest price).  Features assorted entrees a tasting menu and chef’s table.  We’re not fans of Daniel’s stye of French cuisine , but we needed to try the new venue.  Restaurant ambiance and service is first rate; however, the food is ordinary.  I would give a 10 to service and an ambiance, and rate the food between 7-8. The restaurant is a small space in the on deck 4 that has a rather hard to see front outer sliding door (think Star Trek).  It opens into a small space with the maitre’d and you then pass through a second sliding door into a very intimate dining area with about 14 small tables.  A small private dining room off to the side can accommodate a 6-8 person chefs table.  Its a 2 hour experience and service is old school cruise line style.  But the menu being the weakest part of the experience.  Not bad, not exquisite, just about equivalent to a Luminae offering at a premium price.
 
Luminae - Visited for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  If you’ve sailed Celebrity with Luminae in the past, you’ll notice a weaker menu.  (In fact our honest waiters confirmed our observation on several nights).   The Baja Eggs content/presentation was different from what I was used to on other ships.  When I attempted to explain to the waiter, he didn’t understand what I was trying to communicate (new guy with little English).  Second issue with a lunchtime Margarita Flatbread that had a blue food residue on the bottom.  Not knowing what this was (as it looked like mold), we informed the waiter resulting on a visit from the chef.  He apologized profusely, but admitted the blue material came from a placing the flatbread on a dirty tray  (that’s called cross contamination in a US restaurant kitchen).  We found out a few of the staff were on first contracts.  Which explained the low energy service and wait times.  Lunches could go 2 hours.
 
Retreat Lounge :  All good and exceeded expectations with service and food / drink offerings. Three deck areas:  Lounge, sun deck, and pool deck with pool and hot tubs with connectivity to the Luminae on deck 16.  (The arrangement is far more efficient arrangement than the new suite neighborhood on Wonder of the Seas configuration).  The total area seems large enough to accommodate everyone.   The availability of pool, hot tubs, and food within the private area allows guest to pretty much homestead in the Retreat.
 
Blu :   A lighter (maybe healthier) breakfast and dinner offering for AquaClass guests.   As suite guest, we also were given unlimited access and found the menu to be more attractive than Luminae on several occasions.   Service was also a little faster allowing you to not get too bogged down at a sit down dining venue.
 
Le Petit Chef:  French “like” cuisine with a clever animated table projection story about the creation of the dish.  The meal contained 4 courses and a projected petit chef walks you through the making of the particular dishes and his path to becoming a chef.   Kids would love it.   Its more about the show than the food.  Food was OK, but again, nothing you could not experience in the complimentary Normandy “French” restaurant.  In viewing the menu, it seems than many of the items are actually available as complimentary menu items in other venues.  Box checked.
 
Raw on 5:   As we enjoy shell fish, we really enjoyed Raw on 5.   We are raw oyster fans and had our fill.  They offer an Imperial Tower which is a seafood extravaganza of crab legs, oysters, lobster clams, shrimp, fish that will challenge 2 to finish.   Sushi is also offered with pricing well in line with what you would pay off the ship.
Oceanview Cafe:  Main buffet.   Nice offerings, but not as many as pre-Covid.   More of less on the serving tables.  Also noticed they would let stations go “empty” about 20 minutes prior to closing so you were out of luck if you got there too close to closing.
Onboard Activities
Entertainment:  Very ample.  Three theater productions, a couple of aft Eden productions and top liners.  Ship entertainment venues offer great screens for effects and the production teams know how to make best use of the “special effects” offered by the screen.
Service & Staff:  All good - no complaints.   They all worked to keep you happy.  They all seemed happy and enjoyed being with the guests.  Very attentive butler and room steward keep the room ship shape and ensured we had coffee first thing in the morning.
Ship Quality:   The newest and brightest in the Celebrity fleet.  Ship is fantastic and it seems they applied practical lessons learned from earlier Edge class ships.   Lots of space and filled with very nice art.  Edge deck plans exhibit a noticeable amount of asymmetry so you find there are not necessarily direct walking paths from bow to stern on certain decks forcing you to go up - go straight - go down to get from bow to stern,    Just takes some thought to select decks with straight paths between forward and aft section of the ship.  Elevator capacity seemed ample for the 3200 passengers if you avoid dinner rush.  Elevator capacity is being challenged on all ships pushing capacity.   We did notice the ship structure itself was obviously “noisy”.  When the sea state increased a bit, everything seemed to “creak” in the cabin.   In fact just walking the decks you could hear creaking and cracking everywhere you walked (like the rigging on a sailboat) .  We overheard one family saying maintenance showed up at their cabin and made adjustments to panels and doors that were apparently loose.  Appeared to be a feature on the ship.   I wondered if its still under warrantee.
Cabin/Stateroom: 10-215 port side Sky Suite with ample floor space and comfortable atmosphere.   Balcony was sufficient with lounge, chairs and small table.  Like the cabin, would stay there again.  Only nuisance was the creaking and cracking when seas were a little rough.  Room had plenty of light, and a very nice bath with a tub.
Summary:  The best in the Celebrity fleet at this time.  Outshines Edge and Apex.  Service was superb.  I don’t think the food is at the same level as experienced prior to Covid (menus are weaker).  But I believe that’s probably across lines and ships.  I would sail Beyond again and look forward to Ascent.  Footnote:  If you want a real balcony room on an Edge class ship, you have to book a suite.  All other outside rooms use what’s called an infinite veranda which encloses and integrates the balcony area into the room.  Instead of an open space, the window can be opened to the outside.  As someone who’s used to balconies, and after seeing family members IV cabins,  I would not book one myself.  (Would bite the bullet and move to a Sky Suite)

Summit is usually Terminal G, that is the only place I ever see Celebrity at Miami.  

Thank you so much for your response, it really does mean a lot to me because I am getting to the point where I know I'm going to have to leave Royal. I just feel like Royal is going all in on family (children) vacation, and the traditional off season where children are in school is nearly no more.  My husband and I tried MSC a few years ago before the pandemic.  We did 3 cruises on MSC and ended up coming back to Royal because MSC wasn't a good fit for us.  I think I'll give Celebrity a try in 2025, I already have a couple cruises booked in 2024 and I'm trying to leave the remainder of 2024 open for Utopia but I'm going to look at Celebrity for our cruise in February of 2025.

Some of the Elite benefits seen are advance discounts to upgrade drinks & wifi, special tours, like backstage (which was really fun I have to admit) special debarkation area, discounts on wine bottles, red rose in our stateroom.  
One thing I noticed on X versus RC is the emphasis on status.  On X, no one cares.  I've yet to see a Zenith walking around wearing a name badge.  No one talks about it, compares, brags, etc on X.  The only people who bring it up are RC cruisers.  LOL  Status is a different vibe all together. 
Edited to add: the wine tasting.  One of the bottles they served us retails at home for $400.  If you can find it.  

We went on our first Celebrity sailing just after we turned 50, and were more than ready.  Our kids were both in college at the time, and we had no need for "family" type activities.  Now they are both in their early-mid 20s, out of college with full-time jobs.  We prefer not having lots of kids running around when we are on our vacation to relax.  We don't need zip-lines, rock walls, ice skating or bumper cars. We've done it all, no need to again.  I still enjoy the silent discos, dancing in the club at night, parties on deck, and wonderful entertainment.  Celebrity gives me exactly what I am looking for.  Plus, the casinos are non-smoking so I can actually go in them!
The only thing I miss is the piano bar - live music is everywhere around the Celebrity ships throughout the day, but no one to sing along with.  That being said, I've sailed with many horrible musicians in the Schooner Bar.  One 10-night Serenade sailing we went once and never went back.  So I remind myself of that and I then forget I'm missing it.  I can't have Billy Pando on every sailing.  LOL  
Shorter sailings will be more active with a younger crowd, longer sailings will be more older, retirees who are available to go on 9+ nights, and the 7 nights will be a mixed crowd.  We did a 6 night repo and that crowd was super fun.  We kept the silent disco in the club going late one night, so they extended the food service in the buffet an hour as we were all coming out at 2am looking for pizza. 
My point is: you are ready for Celebrity when you find yourself without kids in tow, you've stopped playing mini golf & climbing the rock wall, and it's more about the food, the entertainment, and the sea.  Each Celebrity sailing we have been on has been a different experience. 

Here is cruise ship info for Miami Port and sometimes it lists which side of the ship will be parked along the pier.  You can change the date as the year moves along.  Not sure when January 2024 will actually be showing info but at least you can have this to check.
oops sorry I didn’t copy the link correctly.  Once I figure it out I will post.
Here it is:
https://wwwx.miamidade.gov/Apps/Seaport/dailydock/Default.aspx

My kids grew up cruising, and as adults now would rather go to other destinations when traveling as a family.  I'm sure if grandkids ever happen we'll consider Royal again. 

My kids grew up cruising, and as adults now would rather go to other destinations when traveling as a family.  I'm sure if grandkids ever happen we'll consider Royal again. 

My kids grew up cruising, and as adults now would rather go to other destinations when traveling as a family.  I'm sure if grandkids ever happen we'll consider Royal again. 

Gen X is getting up there in age, many of us are retiring now.  Once our kids outgrew the toys on Royal, we hopped to Celebrity and don't plan on going back. 

Well, except when travelling with the kids and grands. Then back to RCL. 
 

Gen X is getting up there in age, many of us are retiring now.  Once our kids outgrew the toys on Royal, we hopped to Celebrity and don't plan on going back. 

I have no idea.  I've never seen anyone wearing any type of status-related item. 

We loved Beyond.  Make sure you eat at Rooftop Garden Grill.

We were on Beyond for her repo from Cape Liberty to Ft Lauderdale, so our times were different. It was her first sailing in the US and the showtimes were a bit different.  But I would say that the 7 & 9 hours were most common.  But all shows are not in the theater.  Eden has some shows as well, and they are not to be missed.  Those varied by evening.  On our nine-night I think there was 3 or 4 different shows over five or six nights, not all were repeated or even offered more than once a night.  I didn't keep the daily schedules, sorry. So if you want to see everything, I'd go for the early seatings as much as possible.

Welcome to the Blog Hazel.  I'd suggest changing your title of this post to something other than "Mrs" or you won't get too many people that will click on it. 
I do not know the answer to your question, but thought I'd try to help you get one.  😉  
My guess, looking at the Celebrity website, is that they are testing out the port as there are a lot of cruises from there in 2024.
As for your Sept 30th on Millennium disappearing from the website, I would first check your app or cruise planner to see if it's still listed there.  If so, check with your travel agent to see if they know anything.  Sometimes sailings get hidden from the website for various reasons, IT has taken it down to make changes/additions, it's full, for example.  Last thing you can do is call Celebrity and ask directly if you do not have a travel agent.  
Good luck! 

When I said "we're done with X for awhile"  I apparently meant at least a year. My wife booked an 11 nighter on the Beyond for Jan '24.  Just will have to suffer through another X cruise...poor us. 😄

I think our May Ovation cruise is preventing that from happening.

Each ship has "the" bar to hang out at, and honestly it changes by sailing. On Summit, we rarely left the Martini Bar.  On Beyond, we barely went to it and stayed at Craft Social instead.  You find your bartender, and that is your place.  We usually bar hop the first couple of days until we find our spot.  Which bar we park at is usually fed by who we are sailing with. 

I find it refreshing that the drink package is the same price fleet-wide, and it's not dynamic where I need to log on daily to check pricing.