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Celebrity Beyond Announcement coming April 29, 2021


twangster

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9 minutes ago, twangster said:

Beyond is 20m longer, 1 deck higher.

Two level retreat is 40% larger, accommodates 292.  "A resort within a resort".  Round pool instead of square pool.

Luminae moves to deck 16, ~10% larger with increased capacity.

Sunset Bar is 81% larger.

Larger resort deck with 8 raised cabanas that face the pool.

Rooftop Garden with two cantilevered pools.

New Aquaclass Suite blends Aquaclass with Suites.  "Luminae with a side of Blu". Twenty suites in this class, sleeps 2.  Access to the thermal spa.  Retreat access. 

Grand Plaza 16% larger.  Martini Bar move to center.

New restaurant by Daniel Boulud "Le Voyage".

 

 

Good adds.    Lessons learned from the first Edge - hope they put more wind baffling around Magic Carpet so it can be used more for dining.  Once in the Retreat area, you tend to spend most of your spare time there as the bar and food service is far more responsive - more space is good welcome.    "Le Voyage" doesn't interest me yet - will need to see first hand.  - I found the Daniel B menus Chef's table and Luminae offerings  not be to all that great (IMO).  If you sail Celeb often - the DB offerings became too repetitive  (like the standard offerings in other dining areas).  Preferred when the ship executive  chef created their own specialty dishes that were different between ships and allowed their own creativity to show.

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15 minutes ago, twangster said:

Comparison grid to other Edge class

1412953217_EdgeClassComparison.thumb.jpg.01f3ecdae08d9b5cb68af8057be9c698.jpg

BEYOND_Reveal_Comparison_Grid.pdf 177.52 kB · 0 downloads

 

Movement of Luminae makes sense.  Retreat food was prepared in the Luminae galley so the movement will improve food quality, transportation (wait time) to the Retreat area.

Edge martini bar design was criticized because it lacked space and did away with the "ice top".   Sounds like they fixed the design in Beyond with the 360 design like in the legacy ships.  Probably left the ice top off as that's an additional health complication due to cleaning and sanitization. Now that's worth the high cost -- ?

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8 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

Movement of Luminae makes sense.  Retreat food was prepared in the Luminae galley so the movement will improve food quality, transportation (wait time) to the Retreat area.

Edge martini bar design was criticized because it lacked space and did away with the "ice top".   Sounds like they fixed the design in Beyond with the 360 design like in the legacy ships.  Probably left the ice top off as that's an additional health complication due to cleaning and sanitization. Now that's worth the high cost -- ?

1039377665_XBeyondGP1.thumb.jpg.657fe6ec363ba197329e6b4f6a3ee8f3.jpg

1159001827_XBeyondGP2.thumb.jpg.d45c5bdbbcc759ec5bf17f0e236651cb.jpg

 

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22 minutes ago, twangster said:

Comparison grid to other Edge class

1412953217_EdgeClassComparison.thumb.jpg.01f3ecdae08d9b5cb68af8057be9c698.jpg

BEYOND_Reveal_Comparison_Grid.pdf 177.52 kB · 0 downloads

 

+350 additional passenger capacity.  I wonder if they needed to add an additional lifeboat/tender/raft or increase capacity on existing boats ?   Practical crew/passenger capacity is limited by available lifeboat seating.

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8 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

+350 additional passenger capacity.  I wonder if they needed to add an additional lifeboat/tender/raft or increase capacity on existing boats ?   Practical crew/passenger capacity is limited by available lifeboat seating.

Larger ship so more lifeboats are likely.  

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

780497036_XBeyond1.thumb.jpg.bd96ed1b6d6397ec145225150aad2f7e.jpg

Those are substantial changes.   Interesting that much on the structural side with the stretch this early in that class.  (They fixed some passenger flow issues on Apex from what I could see on the deck plans - but this upgrade is beyond expectations (pun  intended).)  20m and additional deck - impressive - gotta charge extra for that   In 10-15 years, is that a revolution upgrade for Edge/Apex.

 

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13 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

Those are substantial changes.   Interesting that much on the structural side with the stretch this early in that class.  (They fixed some passenger flow issues on Apex from what I could see on the deck plans - but this upgrade is beyond expectations (pun  intended).)  20m and additional deck - impressive - gotta charge extra for that   In 10-15 years, is that a revolution upgrade for Edge/Apex.

 

One could argue it's in its own class.  

Freedom class versus Voyager class is basically a difference of 27m stitched into the middle.  

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2 hours ago, twangster said:

One could argue it's in its own class.  

Freedom class versus Voyager class is basically a difference of 27m stitched into the middle.  

I would agree with that.  Probably politically incorrect to bring that topic up in a Celebrity leadership/board meeting.  

Could you imagine the conversation between leaders.

Just built 2 and fielded 2 Edge class ships, oops there's been a lot of feedback about the ship, not all stellar.

    "We can tweet the design"

"You mean we have to change the carpet on the next one?  

   "Nope we have to stretch it 20m and add a 17th deck, and fix all the interior passenger flow issues."

 "That sounds like new ship class."

  "No we'll keep the big elevator on the side, and call it Edge class like the other 2."  (Or call it Edge class 2.0)

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https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24879-kulovaara-continuous-improvement-at-royal-caribbean-group.html

“Safety and sustainability are really at the core of everything we are doing,” said Harri Kulovaara, executive vice president maritime and newbuilding, Royal Caribbean Group, speaking at the unveiling of the Celebrity Beyond.

Of note, the Beyond is bigger than her sisters, the Edge and Apex, and has been stretched as the vessel is 20 meters longer with 179 additional staterooms.

“Continuous improvement is very much the mantra,” he added, noting that with each new ship, the company looks to get more efficient.

Pushing the envelope technically results in better ways to build the ships, he continued, using better materials and better construction methods.

“Energy efficiency is an area where we (have looked at every detail),” Kulovaara noted.

He said that with each new ship, the company wants a 10 to 20 percent improvement in energy use per guest.

“We are going through all the emissions the ship is creating and looking at technologies that are available and trying to implement them.”

Future-proofing is also key, he added.

“We are looking at various materials we are putting into the ship not only from the building point of view, but from the lifecycle point of view,” Kulovaara said.

“We are looking constantly, even beyond where we are now, where we can go further and how we can implement a pathway to decarbonize the future.

“How can we not only reduce the emissions that are there, but also bring in future fuels that would be carbon free or carbon offset … we have a large group of people working on this on a daily basis.”

Beyond

Kulovaara said that the idea of stretching the third of the Edge-class ships started being talked about in 2017.

“We took the better part of a year in order to think about alternatives,” he said. “Which are the most magical areas of the vessel? Where do we believe we have the opportunities?”

He said the company came up with six or seven options to make the ship bigger before getting together with designers and the shipyard, Chantiers de l'Atlantique.

“On a monthly basis we got together, we looked at the various options and we slowly started to select one or two options and develop them further,” explained Kulovaara.

This meant bringing together multiple departments across the Royal Caribbean Group, Celebrity Cruises, the shipyard, suppliers, designers and naval architects.

“It involves a very diverse groups of expertise which all need to work seamlessly together and share the same drive, passion and interest in constantly going beyond,” he added.

 The Celebrity Beyond sails on her first cruise April 2022.

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20 hours ago, JLMoran said:

But to do that without actually giving better itineraries or onboard perks / amenities is stupid. Making drinks, WiFi, and gratuities included offsets that to a tiny degree, since as you noted many times in other threads that was basically already a perk once you hit Elite or Zenith, or stayed in any suite.

I imagine there are a lot of Select, Elite, and Zenith members who are fuming over these changes and getting ready to change lines. Princess and HAL will be more than happy to welcome them.

Good point.  Azamara offered overnight port stays, more immersion, and with the smaller ships could access smaller less traveled ports.  I don't see Edge 1.0 & 2.0  class being able to do that.   Quickest way to achieve return on investment is collecting a higher fares - which is the path they're showing with Beyond.  Twangster's Beyond observations are spot on when comparing to SS fare base for similar length cruises.  Certainly has me rethinking whether I would book Beyond (unless there's some price contraction).  One of the keys to stellar service is higher crew to passenger ratio and while Celebrity is very nice,  its still a mass market line.  Butler service in Retreat level is not as personalized as Star Royal Genie. As I rant, I would like to point out the Edge class "infinite" balcony rooms are a disappointment to those who have sailed with actual open balconies.  That design is somewhat a step back from early year Celebrity marketing of maximizing balcony options to passenger. Marketing to a new generation, but the older generation has the $$ at this time (at least for a while longer).

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