sptrout

When I prebooked reservations for a Beyond cruise this past January for Le Voyage & Eden I did not remember anything about the prices including tips. In both restaurants all of our service people refused tips saying that they were prepaid. They absolutely refused, even the wine service. Not even given a paper receipt so no place to add tips and I do not carry cash on cruise ships. Excellent service in both restaurants, would have gladly gave tips.

While on the Beyond this past January, we noticed a sewer-like smell in our Retreat S1/Corner Aft Cabin (deck 12). We also noticed it in the hallway on Deck 3 when walking to the main entertainment area & Martini Bar. We mentioned the smell in our cabin to the Retreat host and later received a nice FCC for our trouble. Worked out great since we had already booked another Beyond cruise for this coming January and our TA was able to apply this credit to our 11 day sailing. This FCC, along with the what would now be considered an unbelievable fare, makes our upcoming cruise a great buy. With today's SS and above pricing we are probably priced out of any more Retreat sailings. Time to move on to other lines even though we will be Elite+ when we return from the upcoming Beyond cruise. Been sailing with Celebrity since January 1995. BTW - - The sewer smell was noticeable, but it was nowhere near a level that we would have considered moving to another the cabin even assuming that one may have been available. Beyond only has a few S1 cabins in the aft facing area, so it was a great location otherwise. Although it is a long walk to Luminae and other Retreat areas.

We stayed in a corner aft SS cabin on the Beyond this past January. Great cabin, but I cannot compare its size with other SS. However, it seemed to be about the same as the same location that we stayed in on the Reflection one year earlier. The only downside is the very long walk required to get to the main Retreat areas especially Luminae. We are booked this coming January for 11 nights in a SS cabin midship. I will miss not being in an aft cabin, but not the walk to Luminae.

Oh yea, at least once before maybe twice. No separate rooms the last time. Cannot remember our previous stay(s). Like I mentioned may have been a first floor room location issue. It was very small. I recommend that anyone staying there confirm the room size before moving in.

Cannot comment on walking distances, but I do have concerns about the Hyatt Place Hotel. The last time we stayed there (about 1 1/2 years ago) we had a very small room (1st floor). Very limited open floor space for luggage, and more seriously the area around the main sink was so limited that only my DW had room for her stuff. I had to use the bar/utility sink for my stuff. Overall, a very poor experience. Maybe just a 1st floor room situation because we did stay there previously and do not remember any problems. Just be careful, or pack lightly.

Not necessarily. The last few Celebrity cruises I have carried on in my CPAP case a long extension cord and security never mentioned it; probably because it was in my CPAP case. To be clear, I had already made arrangements with Celebrity for distilled water and an extension cord so I had no plans to use it. I only had it incase there was a problem at the pre-cruise hotel, which there was not.

Agreed, you can you OBC. However, when buying any pre-cruise items I have found that it is very easy to misunderstand the checkout page and automatically charge it to your CC. The default payment method during checkout is for the system to choose your CC, you have to look carefully to make sure that your OBC is being used as your payment method.

Best work of fiction that I have read in a long time. Nothing like what is described on the Celebrity Beyond. I wonder if the writer has ever been on a Celebrity ship?

Same thing for our 1/8/24 Beyond cruise. Assuming that it eventually works, it will be very handy.

We have also been to the three islands quoted above. Of the three Dominica would be my first choice due to its tropical beauty. Grenada is also very nice and as you may remember the US has a history (war) with this island. Very peaceful now with one of the nicest beaches anywhere. The beach is very close to the medical school that was the reason for the war (to save the US med students; if they actually needed saving LOL). Once you see the beach you will know why the med students liked the location of their school. Martinique is very French like Honolulu Blue said. French is certainly their first language (maybe Creole is really first), but English is not widely spoken at least when we visited many years ago. Beautiful island with one of the highlights being a tour to an old city that was destroyed by a nearby volcano; now domart or maybe extinct). It would require a tour to go the city remains IMO since it is several mile from the port. Nice tour with stops along the way. When we were shopping the sales folks spoke French only and did not push any sales. Would be hard to due to the language barrier. All three of these islands are worth visiting at least once. Repeat visits for Dominica and maybe Grenada.

I booked the 11 night Beyond cruise months ago. I know looking at current 11 night Beyond pricing is about the same as a trip to the moon. It has jumped so high that we could not book this cruise and like you mentioned, the standard Sky Suites are gone and have been for awhile. The current best choice for booking the 11 night Beyond cruise today is way more than twice what we paid. The Aqua Sky Suite that you show (which the last time I checked was the only Sky Suite available) is price more than double than our SS1 cabin. The price that you show for a 7 night YC cruise is just a little less p/p than our Beyond 11 night SS1 cabin. Not to mention that we have considerable refundable OBC, which drive the comparison even farther down. Our Beyond pricing is so good that I hope that Celebrity does not figure away to cancel us since they could sell the cabin now for much, much more. Pricing is weird/out of control. I hope suite pricing comes back to earth soon. Otherwise our Celebrity SS cruising will be over, and maybe cruising in general cannot see going back to non-suite cabins.

We have sailed on MSC twice out of Miami, both times in the YC on two different ships. We felt at the time that the YC was great and certainly on par with Celebrity at least when booking their SS1 level. But, that was the good old days when the YC pricing was competitive with Celebrity's SS cabins. Then MSC jump their YC pricing up over the top of even Celebrity Beyond's SS cabins by a considerable amount so we switch back to Celebrity for a 7 day Beyond cruise this past January. Bottom line price was much less than MSC's YC. This coming January we are once again booked on Beyond for an 11 night cruise that is less than a 7 day MSC/YC price; much less. The pricing is really a crap shoot never knowing who is trying to be competitive, but for now Celebrity is much less for similar cabins and experiences. However, we got a real good price on our upcoming 11 night Beyond cruise; surprising good fare. Never know in this crazy pricing war.

I am not Turles06, but in their absence I will answer your question. Ships that do a "partial transits" enter the Canal through the first set of locks (1 of three locks at least in the old lock system) and then stop/anchor in Gatun Lake. At this time any passengers that have ship booked tours (and only ship booked tours) will disembark and be transferred over to a docking area on land via tenders or (Port provided tenders?). At this time you will join your tour and then later join your ship that is now docked at the Port of Colon. You will only go through the first of locks and do not sail any farther than a couple miles into Lake Gatun for disembarking tour passengers. Later the ship will pass back through the locks and then sail over to the Port of Colon, which is close by. Any passengers on tours will not join their ship until it is docked in the Port of Colon. I highly recommend that you take a tour otherwise you will spend all day just waiting on the ship, but able to view the return trip through the docks. Probably a boring day for many folks that would otherwise be able, if capable of, a land tour. A "partial transit" is kind of a play on words. The Panama Canal is over 50 miles; a partial transit will be around 5 miles. Therefore, without some kind of land tour you will miss most of not only the Canal, but of the country of Panama. Kind of like sailing into the Port of Miami, sitting in place for a few hours then sailing back out. Did you actually see Miami in this made-up scenario?

About 50 miles different. A full transit is the best if possible, but is usually a longer cruise than people can take for either time or money. If doing a partial transit make sure to take a tour of some kind to see more of Panama. A trip to the Pacific side of Panama is interesting since you you see among other places the old U.S. Canal Headquarters. We have been to Panama 5 times or so and the first time was a full transit. It was a 14 day cruise from San Diego to San Juan. Cruise ships were not allowed to disembark passengers at that time, nor did the ships actually dock anywhere. A long day that was mostly just sitting in Gatun Lake waiting for our turn to pass through the final set of locks. A long day, but unforgettable. If docking in Colon do not roam off by yourself more than the area directly visible from your ship. Colon is an industrial port city and is not a tourist destination. A ship's tour to about any place would be better than roaming around on foot through the city.

I agree with "miched" that unless you have seen the E-Class Thermal Suite that you may want to look before you buy. Another problem that we have smashed into is that when we buy a cruise pass we have never actually went to the spa (E-Class or S-Class) every day of the cruise. I think that we have left money on the loungers, sort of speak, every time. Also agree with miched that the loungers are not as nice as the S-Class Persian Gardens' loungers due to the issues miched mentions. We also had problems with the loungers not being available without a short wait. We have an 11 day Beyond cruise coming this January and the price for a spa cruise pass, as of a few days ago, is nearly $400 p/p. My wife who is the biggest fan of the loungers in the spas instantly said no way. No disagreement from me. We will be looking at other options to spend our considerable OBC. It is sad that Celebrity has not improved the Spas in the E-Class ships. With all the high tech stuff all over the ships the spa is a let down. The spas on MSC (newer ships) & Princess (Regal Class) are much better.

Nothing to do with cruise drinks, but for home if you like wines; checkout Dry Farm Wines. Very good wines from Europe, mainly France, that all have no more that 1 carb per 6 oz serving and less than 12% alcohol. We have been buying wines from them for a few years and have been totally satisfied. Not cheap, but not many low carb wines that are good. https://www.dryfarmwines.com/

Possible, but not likely on S-Class ships in our experience. While on Beyond there were waits of a few minutes a couple times likely due the larger passenger capacity and more sea day. Also, just two more beds than S-Class. If you are relatively sure that you will use all the days of your cruise to visit the PG, then purchase in advance for better pricing. We have purchased in advance the last several cruises and for various reason never made it to the PG all days of the cruise. Probably "left money on the table" sort of speak. We have an 11 day cruise on Beyond this coming January, not decided if we will buy a cruise pass or not. Besides the E-Class ships Thermal Suites (not called PGs on E-Class ships) are not as nice IMO as the S-Class ships. Will decide when they open up Thermal Suites for advance purchase (not available as of yesterday).

I do not recall ever having to wait when sailing any of the S-Class ships even on the Reflection. The E-Class ships only added two loungers to the larger ships. IMO, the E-Class Thermal Suites is kind of a let down compared to all the other areas of the ships.

If the Ascent is like the Beyond then the narrow, and close to the glass, will be the same. For us, the S-Class PG is better than the E-Class Thermal Suites.

There certainly was on the Beyond. Signs on the wall saying the maximum time allowed. The Spa was very busy and there are not enough loungers for the number of passengers on Beyond. We may be talking about two different things. There are time limits for the loungers in the Spa (if needed), but not for purchasing cruise passes. The website is weird; what else is new.

AQ Class still has full access. If I remember correctly the time limit was 30 minutes. There was a couple times when we stopped in and all the loungers were full. We just waited a few minutes and the room opened up without any staff intervention. There was no indication that the staff was timing anyone.

You are correct, if a cruise pass has been purchased you can come and go as you wish. If the PG is full when you stop by, you will have to wait, like anyone else, and hope that they enforce the time limit on the beds (no limits if not full). The time that must be picked when purchasing online is not enforced or even considered when you go to the PG. We had the same question when we pre-cruise purchased the Spa on the Beyond this past January. We went whenever we wanted.

"prim8keeper" posted excellent suggestions. I would only add that we have bought every day cruise passes on our last three or four cruises including Beyond this pass January. Every time we have "left money on the table" sort of speak by not being able for various reasons to visit the spa each day of the cruise (usually miss 2 days). We have an 11 day cruise this coming January again on Beyond, and I am not sure that we will buy cruise passes, although we do have a lot of OBC to burn. Will see....my DW has not voted yet and she is more of a spa fan than me. IMO E-class spas are not as nice as earlier Celebrity ships. Princess "Regal" class (our last Princess cruises) and newer MSC Ships both have spas that are much nicer than Celebrity's ships. As prim8keeper said, you may want to check the spa out before buying a total cruise package.

I have an old (5 yrs.+) Samsung Tab 7A using Android V12 and it is running the Celebrity App without any problems. I just checked the Celebrity App to make sure and it still works. Nothing special about this tablet, about as low on the capability pole as you can get. It other words, it was a cheap Costco buy, but is fine for running basic programs.

I tried this in our last pre-E-Class Sky Suite and it almost worked as you described; just needed a couple more feet. Would have likely worked in a non-suite cabin.