cruisellama
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Posts posted by cruisellama
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May want to check of Uber can service the port. I heard Lyft was credentialed for Galveston passenger terminal. (It may be an old rule and I don't know how they'd keep an Uber from the passenger drop).
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22 hours ago, JeffB said:
Thanks for the great Beyond review crusiellama. We've got 4 Edge Class cruises booked. Three on Apex and one on Beyond through January 2024. On our first Edge Class Cruise (Edge, Athens, June 2022) it took some getting used to the new design but we did. Just sailed Apex in January and had similar reactions to yours and another poster who found The Retreat "too crowded." Agree with that. Nice to hear Beyond has added a 3rd deck to The Retreat. The Retreat Lounge wasn't the "step above" you would expect for the premium being paid and Luminae was by far not our favorite restaurant - that would be Normandy. But as you noted, the staff that served us across the ship were outstanding and service at a high level. Glad to see the Martini bar improved as both Edge's and Apex's are small and there is insufficient seating. The special effects in the main theater were also a noteworthy addition to ship board entertainment.
There's no question that Celebrity's food quality has declined post COVID interruption but is entirely satisfying. I tend to stick to long time menu "favorites" and I enjoyed them. The roasted pork chops is one of them. The Chilean Sea Bass was Branzino and that particular fish filet was thin. Lobster tails on Lobster night in the mains are smaller (tender and succulent) but the Beef Wellington is still very good.
WIth Celebrity trying to position itself as a "premium" line, the concept of "X" signifying excellence, Lutoff-Perlo might want to consider shaving the company's margins a bit to preserve the concept of "X." I know that's not what stockholders want and she's under pressure to keep margins high. Still, tread cautiously there. Competitors are offering similar premium cruises at lower prices. We've got a Princess cruise scheduled in June (Caribbean Princess) and booked the equivalent of Celebrity's Sky Suite (not as big, same perks but fewer amenities and called Club Suites) for around 60% of the cost of Sky Suite on an Edge class ship. Don't know about others bu, given the premium, I'm loath to book a Sky Suite on Millenium or Solstice class ships given the plus-up of the "suite life" on Edge class.
Watch item: We sailed in a Sky Suite and gratuities are included. We watch our cabin balance while sailing, and we were seeing a $21/pd/pp charge on certain days, then later -$21 for each of the daily gratuity charges. Once we disembarked, we received the final folio which included a $21/pd/pp daily gratuity charge. I called Celebrity while I was still in the airport. The agent was congenial, but claimed a review couldn't be conducted until 4-5 days after the cruise (and she promises to research, then call back. She did, 4 day's later, and by the end of the conversation she agreed we were improperly charged and processed a refund for $294 after a lengthy apparently manual process. She noted I would see a refund in 4-5 weeks. Other observation, despite having a "final" folio summary charge posted to my credit card, I had 3 additional "pending" card charges that were already comprehended in the final folio summary, but still listed on the card account as "pending". So 3 in a "post status" while being told by the Celebrity agent, they'll drop because they were already comprehended in the "final statement". Still waiting for the drop, but this is the second time in 6 months something like this has happened with Celebrity. A comprehended charge will be carried for about a month, then drop. As this is the second occurrence in 6 months, I'm wondering if it's a nefarious scheme to bump/squeeze bump monthly revenue to show a higher review for period of time. Multiply by a couple of thousand of guests at sea and you're recording/churning a nice bank month-to-month on these floating (to be retired) charges. And sometimes, the guest won't watch expiration and they get a tip. Long story short - just watch the card charges as you're sailing..
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50 minutes ago, SpicyCherry said:
Nice review....We will be on Beyond next year. We were on Edge in December and loved it. Glad we have something even better to look forward to. The addition of Blu access is exciting. On Edge, we didn't eat as much as we should have at Luminae and regretted that because we found the food amazing. We also did the Chef's Table and it was a nice experience. While on Infinity, we ate at Blu and enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!!!
If you wish to dine at Le Voyage, reserve as soon as possible. They sell out very quickly. It's a small venue with only 2 seatings per night. Takes about 2 hrs.
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41 minutes ago, BB1 said:
We were on Apex and really enjoyed it. My only issue with the retreat was that it was too crowded. Did they change anything on Beyond to help accommodate the number of people in the retreat. We could never find chairs in the shade so we would go to the solarium. This was fine since we thought the solarium was very nice but the retreat is still nicer.
Yes. Added an additional deck. Retreat area encompasses portions of deck 15, 16, 17. Deck 15 is the Retreat lounge as on the Apex, but a little larger enclosed as the patio is converted to inside space. Deck 16 is additional Retreat sun deck with a connection to Luminae (more lounge chairs). Deck connects with the previous with stairs or elevator and provides additional sun deck, bar and two hot tubs. Shortfalls on Edge and Apex are corrected on Beyond and soon to sail Ascent.
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39 minutes ago, SebagoSue said:
Thanks so much for the great review and pics @cruisellama! I can’t wait to check out the new Retreat setup next month. One question….do you know if they were still allowing some more “classic” type foods to be ordered at dinner in Luminae? Thank you!
Yes. You can still get escargot, French onion soup and order from the children's menu for the filet. As on other lines, the menu is getting less impressive. Even our wait staff was brutally honest on some evenings, steering us to the "classic" selections. Staff was excellent across the ship. The all seemed to be in a good mood. Other surprise was we were told on day 1 by our butler that we had full access to Blu (lunch and dinner). I thought that was stopped, but not on Beyond. Some nights they had a nicer menu. Also you could get through breakfast much faster than Luminae. (more servers)
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Chic night is as formal as you want to make it. Primarily I would call it business casual , especially in the Caribbean. No requirement for a dinner jacket unless you want to wear one. We just got off Beyond from Ft. Lauderdale, and I didn't see a single tux. Saw some suits and sport coats, but a most just wore open collar shirts (many with tropical floral patterns) w/o a jacket. (and that was in Luminae).
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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)
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There will also be warnings against leaving clothing (swim wear) on them overnight to prevent them getting blown away, but we've never lost anything. We saw someone put up a cloths line on an Adventure balcony. Its was funny, but looked a little RV park-ish.
- WAAAYTOOO, FireFishII and rjweber3
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22 minutes ago, NotPayinExtra said:
Plenty of people work hard in this country and others as well to support families. It's never great when people get downsized out of work. They are not unique.
Reduced staff yes, but they are unable to hire the staff as easily as in the past (so I don't think its intentional (yet)) If the line discovers they can maintain guest satisfaction with less, of course they will feel no pressure to increase. If service is noticeably degraded, and they see increased guest dissatisfaction, they would move to fix the issue. Those with more cruises under their belt will notice, but first timers will not know the difference. Let's see what happens over time.
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On 2/26/2023 at 12:14 AM, TheRick said:
We cruised twice last year on Royal after not cruising for many many years. We recently booked a cruise out of New Orleans for May of next year. Unfortunately Royal is limited on New Orleans departure and not offering when we can go. We booked on another cruise line. I went to an unnamed message board to ask a question and received nothing other than rude or smart ass comments. I miss this message board where I have always received polite, informative responses to my questions. I just want everyone to know how much I appreciate how helpful everyone here has been to me, even when I asked stupid questions.
I've observed that on a few cruise related FB groups. Nonsensical information source.
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47 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:
This is a great thread. I was so confused by Global Entry before reading this - I thought it was a program to help at International airports when you were traveling overseas. I was really confused when we went to Switzerland this summer via Germany, that there was no where for use to use our Global Entry. And then when we came back to the US, there were no lines and our home airport didn't even care that we had it (they honestly didn't even do customs, we just breezed through everything when we got back, except collecting our luggage!)
Now it makes more sense - that you use it when returning from International travel, especially when it is really busy. If we had flown back at a busier time at our airport, it might have been helpful to us then. We only paid $15pp extra for the Global Entry than we would have for just Precheck, and we've used Precheck many times. Unless you are flying into one of the few airports overseas that has opted in, the Global Entry doesn't do anything to help speed things up when you first fly in to your destination. I was so envious of all the EU passports just scanning and breezing through while all the non-EU passports were stuck in a huge line at Frankfurt.
Has Frankfurt upgraded to the face recognition stations? I've experienced those at other airports and lines really moved fast (except when people didn't follow the instructions for the reader to work). Somewhat unnerving when your face is so quickly recognized in a European airport.
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Here's a website that might offer more photos from that cabin. https://cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/index.php If not, then you can take pictures, upload to that site and they'll pay you .50/accepted photo.
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GE is a US Customs & Border control managed program for entry into US entry areas. So helps when you return from a non-US point of travel to US territory entry point. It includes TSA pre-check, but it's actually a Customs & Border control program. Had it for awhile, but when overseas travel diminished I just went to TSA precheck. But GE works really well. TSA pre-check is actually more practical and less expensive if you mainly fly domestically. The GE card is a nice gov't issued ID, but passports are still primary overseas.
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On 2/22/2023 at 5:20 PM, JasonOasis said:
I'm thinking of trying Celebrity as well.
I'm on Symphony right now and Royal has gone all in on family cruising. I've never seen so many children especially on the suite deck.
I love Royal but it has been hard to relax on this cruise with all these children running around the suite deck. I have a few more cruises booked on Royal a few weekend cruises but the major cruises are Wonder B2B in October and Symphony again in January of 2024. I was going to book Icon for either the summer of fall of 2024 but I've held off thus far because it just seems to busy . And do I really want to cruise on the ultimate family cruise ship in 2024 and all the children that come along with the words ultimate and family (that is a lot of children) is the question I keep asking myself.
On the other hand I think Royal has paid attention to all the complaining about the food especially at speciality restaurants. On our longer cruises we always book the ultimate dinning package on weekend cruises we don't bother we just go to the main dinning room, and thus far Symphony has not disappointed even at Chops the food has been great. Its just the children and the amount of children on this cruise hasn't gone unnoticed at least by me.
If you're able to book away from holiday seasons and school breaks, you can mitigate being on-board with and overwhelming number of young ones. But even that strategy isn't holding well with the newer ships in the fleet. When we sailed Celebrity Apex in November, we saw more kids than we ever saw in the Retreat area. Most were really well behaved - a few "not so". Just a lot of demand and backlog folks are making up for lost time.
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I've used a couple of agencies in the past and not experienced what you describe. If you're getting what you agreed to pay for the cruise (and it's confirmed paid off), you're square with RCL. Guessing - maybe the TA's commission isn't wrapped into the price you were originally quoted. Can chalk it up to experience and find a new TA or book directly next time.
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16 hours ago, Ampurp85 said:
I just wanted to rant a little at the extreme tomfoolery of Club Royale.
These are my offers as a person who is prime, with almost 4000pts.
These are the offers of my Bff's mother who is choice with 1700pt.
2023 3-5 NIGHT SAILINGS OFFERINTERIOR2/23/202323SHC105$02023 MAX-BET MARCH SAILINGS OFFERINTERIOR STATEROOM ON SELECT SAILINGS2/8/202323MAR106$02023 MARCH-JUNE SAILINGS WITH NEW SLOTS ONBOARDINTERIOR2/22/202323SLT106$02023 6-8 NIGHT SAILINGS OFFER$300 OFF ANY SAILING BETWEEN 04/01/23 - 07/31/232/16/202323LNS107$02023 CASINO ROYALE FEBRUARY OFFERINTERIOR2/28/202323RCL206$02023 APRIL SAILINGS OFFERINTERIOR3/2/202323APR106$02023 APRIL - JUNE SAILINGS OFFER$300 OFF ANY SAILING BETWEEN 04/01/23-06/30/233/8/202323VAR207$02023 3-5 NIGHT SAILINGS OFFER$100 OFF ANY SAILING BETWEEN 04/01/23 - 06/30/233/9/202323SHC207$02023 SUMMER SAILINGS OFFERINTERIOR STATEROOM ON SELECT SAILINGS3/16/202323SUM106$0How does she qualify for 6 "free" cruises and all I have are $100s off????????????
Maybe you win too much?
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29 minutes ago, KathyC said:
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.
I don't think I've seen a Zenith name badge. Do they even have them? I know there are no pins.
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Was in the same situation last month. We had an early boarding time and played the 30min early benefit but the agents didn't even care.
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Gourmet? Guess it depends upon the definition. It's a nice opportunity to dine on some low volume, individually prepared menu items (instead of large batch cooking) plus a wine pairing. It's a fixed menu across the fleet so you're not getting an onboard chef to create an "original" dinner menu. It's a prepared and repeated dining experience (similar to a specialty venue). Generally very pleasant from dining to service. It's smaller group to share a meal and usually a pretty good time. From past experience, something you do every couple of years (as the menu doesn't change very often).
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We had lunch with a very nice Pinnacle club guest and during our discussion, I was surprised she was being apologetic about getting over the Pinnacle line from the recent double points offers as the shutdown was coming to a close. I think its great that folks were able to "ladder up" after the difficult circumstances, but I guess there are a few folks who want remind everyone they walked uphill in the snow both ways to the cruise terminal to get their status. Just roll with it.
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On 1/10/2023 at 10:40 AM, YoungFamilyExplorers said:
I’m sure that this has been discussed here before so thank you in advance for your help.
We’re planning a cruise in April on the Wonder and we need to catch a flight out of Orlando on the same day we return to port. I wanted to find out what time the earliest flight we could catch out of Orlando would be. I’m not familiar with the area nor the commute time between the port and the airport.
Also, when does disembarkation begin for families who need to use the porters.
Thanks!!!
The issue isn't transport to MCO (about an hour), the issue is MCO is a terribly outdated terminal/airport for the passenger loading of that resort area. TSA wait times can be crazy depending upon which airline/terminal you're seeking.
Sky Pad Will Discontinue the VR Bungee
in Royal Caribbean News and Rumors
Posted
I'm surprised its lasted as long as it has (after reading about the accidents). There are some pretty advanced VR simulations in the market place that make you feel like you're moving without actually moving.