Traveling Mike

There are lots of people like me that bounce between RCL and Celebrity. I go on RCL for things to do. I go on Celebrity to relax. RCL is more family friendly, and Celebrity is more upscale where I can enjoy the downtime.

I just got off the Celebrity Beyond for 19 days around Thanksgiving and the first of December. The 4 main dining rooms are slightly different with different staff. I ended up going to the one with the staff I liked the best. I had dinner reservations but that did not mean much. You can walk up to any of them and get seated with or without a reservation. The specialty restaurants were the same way. I had a 4-night dining package and was told by the maître d that I could just show up and they would find me a room. Like @SebagoSue said the Edan and Le Voyage are busy, and it would be safe to get a time once on board.

the only cruise line with a good Solo Travelers meeting is the Norwegian big Ships because they have a Solo Coordinator, and they also have a solo lounge. I have found the ones on RCL are not good but that does not main not to go. You will go to an open bar with lots of people. But go and hang out and look around. It is good if you can get a table and set by yourself. there are other Solo like yourself looking for other Solo Travelers you just have to figure out who each other are. Note: One of the best things to do is meet the other Solo Travelers on Cruise Critic or Facebook for your cruise before you go. Then setup a meeting time.

I always turn on airplane mode as soon as I get on the ship. I then switch off the auto time zone and make sure the time matches what is on the RCL App for ship time. Each port I double check my set time with the app ship time. Warning: The ship time can be different than the local time. Alway make sure you know ship time.

One Day Makes a Difference: I finished my first cruise that was a 9-day cruise to the ABC Islands. We unloaded the passengers and reloaded the passengers for the 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise. Moving around the ship I have not seen so many walkers, wheelchairs and scoters on a ship. I also looked around for the hundreds of Single Travelers that I knew were coming on the ship. The previous cruise had a good mixture of people in their 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70. There was enough kids on the ship where you knew they were there. This cruise was making me feel young and I am 63 years old. I also found out as the day went on that all the singles, I was expecting were singles in their 70s and 80s. Now you understand the difference between the two cruises the question is, why? With the help of a nice 25-year-old girl I meet that was a seasoned cruiser she pointed out my last cruise was Thanksgiving break, and this cruise was older people coming to stay away from the young people. Now that I understand the same ship, the same kind of destination and have completely different environments. I realize I need to think about that while I am booking going forward. One is not better than the other, but they are different.

My Back-to-Back process: On the morning of my last full day, they had a meeting with all the B2B people. On my cruise there were between 40 and 50 people. They let us know the process and answered any questions. The meeting was nice and short and to the point. Because I was staying in my same cabin there was nothing for me to do except to make sure my cabin steward knew I was staying. The people that were changing cabins just needed to pack their personal belongings and the cabin steward would take care of everything else and making sure it got moved. Most of the people I talked to were packing up their bathroom and drawers and leaving their hanging cloths. On the morning of disembarkation, we meet in one of the bars at 9:00 am. About 9:30 am they walked us all off the ship and just before we left the ship, they scanned our old room key and gave us a new one. We then walked off the gangway and into the terminal. We walked up to a Customs scanning camera, got cleared and made a U-turn back onto the ship. We scanned our new cards and were back on the ship. We really did not slow down much from the time we left the Club until I was back at the Martini Bar getting me a drink. Here are a couple of questions people have asked me: Q: Did they give you a special breakfast or lunch? A: No, we were on our own with the same as everyone else. Q: Did you get a discount or anything special on the second cruise? A: No, the price was a price, and they did not give us anything special. Q: Does the staff treat you differently because you are a B2B? A: Yes, just because they remember you from the previous cruise. It is not because you are special just because they know you.

I am on the Celebrity Beyond running the premium package. I have been doing most of my work in the Buffet area because they have nice, padded bench setting and there are people to bring me drinks all day. When I run a speed test it looks slow, but I have not seen any delay and I can stream movies without any lag time. Below are the results of my speed tests.

I realized I really did not tell you details on my cruises. Here is what I am doing. If you have any questions, please ask. 9 Night Aruba, Curacao & Cayman Cruise Edge Single Stateroom with Infinite Veranda Fort Lauderdale, Florida Sea Day George Town, Grand Cayman Sea Day Oranjestad, Aruba Willemstad, Caracao Sea Day Falmouth, Jamaica Sea Day Fort Lauderdale, Florida 10 Night Ultimate Southern Caribbean Edge Single Stateroom with Infinite Veranda (same cabin) Fort Lauderdale, Florida Sea Day Sea Day Philipsburg, St. Maarten Roseau, Dominica Bridgetown, Barbados St. John's Antigua Basseterre, St. Kitts Sea Day Sea Day Fort Lauderdale, Florida

I am confusing the dinner crew. There is way too much food on the ship, so I have been going to dinner and only getting a main course. Tonight, dinner took me 20 minutes from start to finish. It is not like I am not eating. Today was one of my workdays. I got up this morning and went to the Buffet and found a good table with the soft bench. Then I spent the next 6 hours working on my computer. I am a computer programmer, so it was real paid work. I was also able to attend three different meetings. I did not eat any meals, but I started with Bacon/sausage and toast. that lasted the first 2 hours. Then I got some fruit and grapes for the next two hours. Then the last two hours was meat and cheese. Now it is 7:30 pm and I feel good about what I got done today and am going to bed early. Tomorrow, I have a shore excursion that starts at 8 am and lasts 6 hours.

I have done it on both the Millennium and the Reflection. Both ships it was a great experienced and had good food. The main difference in those two places and this one was location. If you get a chance to see it where the location is acceptable, I would recommend doing it.

Summary: Worst Dinner all cruise and I paid for it I have purchased a 4-specialty dining package for both of my cruises. I have already used 3 of them and went to 3 out of the 6 restaurants. I am sure I had dinner at the best one Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud but tonight I had dinner at the worst one including the free ones. That dinner was at Le Petit Chef™. I have done the restaurant Le Petit Chef™ on two other ships and loved it. Le Petit Chef™ is as much for the show as for the food. I do not expect 5-star food, but I expect good food. The first issue I had was when I showed up and found out they have it one floor above the Martini bar that was playing live music and everyone was there to talk, be loud and get ready for their dinner. The Martini bar is in the center of the ship where it goes up several floors. I sat down at the table they assigned to me, and I could not hear the music inside the restaurant because of the noise outside. After about 15 minutes someone came by to see if I wanted a drink. About 15 minutes later the waiter came by to explain the menu to me and get my order without me having time to decide. That was the last time I seen the waiter. The drink person came back a few times but not the waiter except to drop the plate and run off without talking to me. On the third course I had to wipe the crumbs off the table where it did not get in the way of the show (myself). The seafood appetizer had been cooked to long and everything was tuff. When I got to the desert the ice cream was iced up like it was in the freezer too long. The surprising thing is the ship makes ice-cream every day and I have had lots of it during the cruise and have not seen this issue. I know this review is going all over the place. I am sorry but I am just confused about what happed tonight. I tried to keep my expectations in check, but it did not work. The noise outside was too loud and did not allow us to enjoy our show / meal. The service was lacking. The food was subpar and part of that was caused by service of the food. Summary is do not eat at this restaurant on the Celebrity Beyond.

Summary: The Nightly Shows. (I will finish reviews after I see them so check back on this post) Day (1): Jakub Trasak does known songs on the violin. I made it though the second son before I left and found something else to do. There were many people I heard talking about how good he was. In my opinion he did songs that I was not interested in and he did not do them very well. Both songs were boring to me. When he talked to the audience it was in a monotone voice and put me to sleep. This was not for me. Day (2): Production Cast “Stage Door”. I was too tired to attend and went to bed. I was told it was a good show. Day (3): Randy Cabral is a comedian that does juggling. He was a good jugger but most of his show was his comedy. I would not say he was great, but he was entertaining. If I had not seen this type of show I would have said it was good but I have seen a few different people on cruises that do the same thing. Day (4): The group “Uptown” does Soul and R&B music. It was three boys in their 20’s that were very good entertainers. They did a good show with comedy throughout the show. They worked the audience a lot and their signing was not bad. Day (5): Production Cast “Elements”. This was a very good show and I wanted to watch it a second time. It was singing, dancing, acrobatics and visual effects. The show went though all the elements and made you feel you were part of each one. During the water element they had video in the background of going up a river and it felt like the entire theater was moving down the river. There was two performers on top of poles that came into the third row with their movements. Do not miss this show. Day 6: Steve Caouette is a stand-up comedian. He was very funny and relatable. He worked the crowd and most of it was on the fly. He talked to the crowed all night and was very funny. I am going back to see his other shows while on the ship. Day 7: Savanna Smith is a singer. Las Vegas type music. Day 8: Vinny Grosso is a comedian magician that has a headline show in Las Vegas. Day 9: Production Cast “Arte” Note: there was a Production Show “The Jazz Joint” held in “The Club”. The club is a bar that they do all the trivia in. It is not a big place. The night they did this show it was packed including standing space. The show was great and, but you need to get there really early. The best seats are next to the main floor and then next on the upper floor on the rail. If you are back from the main floor people showing up late will try to stand in front of you. Do not miss this show.

Summary: the Theatre The Theatre on the Beyond is much different than any other I have experienced. To start out it has a round stage and not the typical square one. the backdrop is not a curtain it is a round wall that does state of the art graphics. In last night's show we had the feeling that the entire theater was moving forward floating down a river. With the round stage it feels like the performers are coming out into the audience. The shows have been very good (in most cases) and last night it was good enough that I wanted to see it a second time. Later this week I will give a review of all the shows.

Summary: Christmas Season has Started

Summary: We had a wedding One of the people from the Facebook group got married yesterday. I have heard about weddings on the ships, but I always assumed they were like Las Vegas where they were drive through weddings. One of the couples on our Facebook group (471 people) only had about 8 friends and family on the cruise. They decided to invite everyone they had been chatting with for months. About 40 people showed up and made a nice wedding. They had it in the Blue restaurant and it was setup for a wedding. The ship captain was there to perform the ceremony. He was there early, and we got to chat with the ship captain, the groom and best man while waiting for the ceremony to begin. It ended up with everything you expect from a wedding except for the reception. They had the wedding, did the cake then did pictures. Most of us ended up going to the Martini Bar to have our own reception.

Summary: Food Expectations can be out of line with your life This is a blog about my cruise experience. Today the quality of food came up with 3 different people/groups in discussions I was in. The first was a man in his early 50's that came sat next to me at the Martini Bar. This was his first Celebrity cruise and he asked me what I thought about the food. Before I could answer he told me that he felt the food was subpar, and he thought Celebrity food was much better. The I had dinner with two couples that were in their 80 that have been cruising forever. They asked where I ate my Thanksgiving meal and when they found out I was at the specialty restaurant they both had the opinion that specialty restaurants were not worth the cover charge. The last one was a just now I had 3 girls in their teens that was asking me where to find good food in-between meals. Now I am going to share my opinion on food on cruise ships and this cruise ship. They way I look at food on a cruise ship is the food better than what I get at home. Sence I am the cook at home most of the time it is yes. The second level is the food better than what I get at Denny's or the local restaurant. It is like looking at Pizza; I like Little Cezar's but I also like Me N Eds Pizza, but I do not expect them to taste the same. Overall, the food on the Celebrity Beyond is very good. I do not cruise for the food, but it is much better than I would eat at home or get on most other cruise lines. Someone pointed out that you do not have to pay and upcharge and eat at Specialty Restaurants, but would you eat at a 4- or 5-star restaurant back at home for $40 or $50. Last night I had dinner at a restaurant that would cost me $150 or more back home and it only cost me $35. Back home I would not be eating at a 5-star restaurant because of the price but on the cruise ship I can because I only see the upcharge. I know the other meals are free, but I choose not to look at it that way. The hamburger place by the pool is very good. I would rather have an In-N-Out Burger, but they do not have it on the ship. The one on the ship is about the same as I can cook at home, and I am happy with that. The pizza place is both really bad and really good. I have been there in the middle of the day and the pizza had sat there for 20 minutes and it turned to soft flappy cruise. For a think cruise handmade pizza that is not good. I showed up at 12:30 am two nights ago and got one just out of the pizza oven and it was the best pizza I have had in a very long time. Today I went by there at the start of lunch, and they pre-made pizza's getting ready for the start of lunch rush. I knew better than to get it. Instead, I asked them to create me one with all the meats from the for different pizzas they were cooking. I sat and waited for them to make it and had a great pizza for lunch. I have had really good food at the main dining rooms. The main dining rooms are different from what I am used to. There are four of them and each one is the same and different at the same time. They all have a few items that are just for that restaurant but then 80%of the menu is the same in all of them. I have found from past experience to ask the waiter. The first night I thought I knew what I wanted but when I asked the waiter her steered me away from the items and we selected something else that was very good. Tonight, I did the same thing and the waiter told me I had great selections. The appetizer was not very good but that is because it was octopus and I found out I do not like octopus. The main dish was lamb shank, and it was very good. The problem I see with most people that are unhappy with cruise food is they have very high expectations and they do not help at meeting them. They want to sit down and get served 5-star food prepared the way they like it. In my opinion most people would be much happier if they lowered their expectations and worked with the cruise to find high quality food that they like.

Summary: First Impressions When I got to the Fort Lauderdale Port (Port Everglades) both the Celebrity Beyond and Celebrity Ascent (Maiden Voyage) were in port. I was shocked how the Beyond looked so much bigger than the Ascent. My curiosity made me look it up and the tonnage is almost the same and the maximum passengers is on 700 smaller. I took a look at my pictures and figure it is because the Beyond has the bar hanging off the side and the shape of the ship is different. Walking around the ship the first day many of the things and places looked familiar even though I have never been on the ship. I have only been on the Celebrity Millenium and Celebrity Reflection and both of them are older ships. The cruise line has done a good job of updating the ship but keeping a familiar feeling. Now for anyone that has never been on a Celebrity ship. Their ship does not have toys to play with. they do not have water slides, rock climbing walls and waive runners. They have things like the Martini Bar. Everyone hangs out and listens to the live music. The bartenders are the best on the ship and entertain you while you meet new people and relax and enjoy. I was surprised that the casino was not real big, but it looked just like the one on the Reflection. The one big difference that I noticed and really like is guest Relations is not a big desk with everyone behind it. It is a bunch of small desks with people stepping out to help you. it is more personal and less intimidating. The food has been everything from good to great. The buffet has been OK and I stay away from it except for breakfast. The main dining room was pretty good, but I have only been there one night. The hamburger place next to the pool has been very good but I have been a good boy and eat the hamburger patty with no bun. I limit myself to a few French fries. last night I had Dinner at Le Voyage by Daniel Boulud. It was every bit of a 5-star restaurant. I love everything they brought me. I was trying to decide between 2 deserts, and they brought me 3 deserts. I will be back there a couple more times and take some pictures. Now it is time for dinner... see you later tonight.

Summary: Sleep does wonders I am sorry for taking until the third day to update my trip. I have taken a 2 to 3 hour nap every day. I have also got 8 to 10 hours sleep every night. I have kept my alcohol to one drink a day and drank lots of water. I have not been doing lots of the events (trivia, game shows...) that I normally do. Now today I feel like a real person. I figure I was on autopilot and was going through the steps. Now do not get me wrong, I was not doing my job or coaching subpar, but my entire life revolved around work and water polo. I have gone 4 days without working and I have not done that in a lot of months. Now I would like to give you some advice from someone that knows nothing. Break your routine up with something different. If you are working make sure you take a weekend day and get away and do something you normally would not do. If you are retired make sure you break up your routine. Go visit your family that you have not seen in a while. Go someplace that you would never go by choice. Take your spouse on a real date (drive in theater and make out). The main idea is do something to break your routine up. now on to the ship experience

I will be creating a Cabin review video in a couple of days. I will post it on this blog but until then I would book this cabin in a heartbeat.

After taking a nap today and decompressing a little i am coming to realize you are correct. To many hours and no decompression time. I have done Thanksgiving on Norwegian and Royal, and their Thanksgiving is turkey and ham but no pumpkin pie. They were prepared like a chief trying to be fancy and not trying to be as good as moms Thanksgiving meal. I am hoping Celebrity does a better job.

Summary: Edge Single Stateroom with Infinite Veranda I am not going to talk much about the ship tonight because I have not had time to explore and experience. What I will talk about and show pictures is my cabin. I have got to spend time in my cabin and get a good nap this afternoon. I have an Edge Single Stateroom with Infinite Veranda. For a solo cabin it is very big. The only thing it does not have is a couch. I do have a balcony in the room that opens the room up. Celebrity is an upscale cruise line, and you can tell that by the cabin. I have 2 USB plugs next to my bed. At the desk is a box with 3 different power plugs and 2 USB plugs. The bed is nice and sleep well. I want to take the pillows home. They are big enough and are schrunchable. Later in the cruise I will be creating a Cabin Review Video and will share it with you. Note: The nap helped, and I am starting to realize my funk is caused by being overworked. I have done 6 months of 60-hour work weeks and the last 3 months with 25 to 30 hours of Water Polo coaching on top of that. I think I am just tired and need this cruise to decompress.

Summary: Not a bad day and great cruise port I checked before I went to sleep and the Lift from my hotel to the cruise port was only $8 and the shuttle was $15. I set my alarm for 10 am to give me an hour to clean up before checkout time. Now I did something every experienced cruiser knows not to do but I did it anyway. I packed my bag in packing cubes and did not leave cloths for my second day easy to get to. All of my shirts were in packing cubes at the bottom of the suitcase. I got to unpack everything to get one shirt that I could wear to the port. I scheduled my Lyft ride, and it showed up in 5 minutes (I picked the discount for waiting) and it was a very nice car and great driver. It took us about 10 minutes to get from the airport area to the Port Everglades port. At the port entrance we got in a line that was very slow. When we got the person at the gate we were asked for ID. The driver showed him his ID and I showed him my sea pass. that was not enough for him. I had to get in the car trunk and get my passport out of my backpack. Once at the Celebrity Cruise terminal 18 (the Ascent had 25) everything went really smooth. The people working the terminal were great and very polite and helpful. I got there at 11:30 am and almost was able to walk on. We just had a 5-to-10-minute wait in the main waiting room. Something I thought about... I think the workers are very polite because most of them are retired and do not have the stress of working life and enjoy what they are doing.

Summary: No sleep but great trip It took all night Monday night, but I got packed. it was the heaviest suitcase I have had so far on any of my trips. it is a small, checked bag and it was 42 lbs. I pretty much packed everything I own that can be worn in public that my 27-year-old would approve. The flight and transportation were the best of any trip so far. the only issue is my sons new Camero. It is a brand new 2024 Camero and he wants to drive it everywhere. The trunk is big but has a small opening. The bag just barely fit in. When I got to the airport there were no lines anywhere. Once on the airplane I was in Main Plus seats, and I had a 3rd grader in my middle seat. That gave me lots of room and gave me someone that I could talk to (I coach elementary and high school water polo). On the second part of my flight, I had the Main Plus seat and there were only 2 of us in the row of 3 seats. At the Fort Lauderdale airport I got my bag and as soon as I walked out the door to see where to find my hotel ride; to my surprise the van was right there with the hotel name on it. I got to the hotel about 10 pm and got to sleep for the first time in two days.

I leave tomorrow morning on a B2B Celebrity Caribbean Cruise. The booking is in a Solo Balcony cabin with premium everything and shore excursions in every port. It was an unbelievable deal that had premium everything and $1,500 OBC. I am a 63-year-old single man that has about 30 cruises under my belt. I cruised the first 10 with my first wife. I cruised the next 12 with my son as a Single Parent. The next 6 were as a Solo Cruiser and the last 6 have been a mixture of Solo and with my 26-year-old son. I have always loved cruising and loved planning them and going on them. I am past my planned retirement date and have a new plan on retiring November 2024. My work keeps making me offers where it is hard to retire. After I retire, I am planning on doing a lot of travel and cruising. For now, I work 60 hours a week and Coach Water Polo in my free time. Now you are wondering about my title... For the last few months, I knew it was coming and I leave tomorrow, and I really don't care. I am not excited and do not know what to expect. It is not that I do not want to go but I am not looking forward to the cruise like I have on all my others in the past. I go to the airport in 9 hours and have not packed yet. I did print my documents and cleaned out my backpack but have not packed anything back in it. I am setting her thinking I need to pack and get ready to leave but it is hard to get moving. I am writing this blog in hopes it will: Help me get excited. or Give me something to do. or Both If you would like to follow and see how it goes, I will keep you posted. Traveling Mike Celebrity Beyond November 22, 2023 - 9 Night Aruba, Curacao & Cayman Cruise December 1, 2023 - 10 Night Ultimate Southern Caribbean

What ship were you on? Carnival of the Seas?