CruisinBanka

Thanks Jim once again for sharing your cruise adventure! It’s always must reading and you never disappoint. Glad you and Iain are home safe and look forward to your next post! 

Been on both ships. The Beyond has a nicer Retreat lounge and sun deck with more shade. Also Luminae is nicer with more windows. Beyond also has LeVoyage restaurant and Edge does not. If none of this matters in your situation than the ships are pretty much the same. 

Thanks for your informative review! I enjoyed following along as we will be on the Edge in the Retreat for 14 nights Alaska soon. Safe travels home! 

I ordered the “rib eye” from Luminae on the first week of a B3B on the Beyond and it was so tough and chewy I never ordered it again the next two sailings. Definitely not the same quality of rib eye I received last year on the Edge. All part of Celebrity’s cost cutting. 

Thanks for your review. We just returned from the Summit in Aqua and although we had an excellent service experience, we were totally disappointed with the new BLU menu along with the food quality. Most nights we ordered from the MDR menu in Blu and had a lot better dining experiences in Tuscan and Le Petite Chef, so we are now questioning the value of Aqua and will probably book Verandas with dining package in future. 

We were also on this 9/10 Summit sailing and agree that the entertainment, crew, enrichment speakers, Cruise Director, and ocean view cafe food were all excellent. Our only disappointment was with the new limited menu selections in Blu and we were ordering off main dining room menu most nights. The entire staff and service in Blu was excellent as always. Tuscan was also excellent. 

Enjoy your cruise! Looking forward to your review and comparison to Celebrity. 

3 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here's an example of a Celebrity 7-day Alaska cruise RT Vancouver in April 2024 in a Sunset Sky Suite with refundable deposits. The per person cost not counting taxes and fees is $5,452. 

 

 

Here's is a similar 7-day Princess cruise in an aft-facing Vista Suite on the Ruby Princess with one of 3 perk packages to choose from, all with a refundable deposit, rather than being stuck with the Celebrity Premium All Included package when you book a suite. BTW you also get free unlimited laundry when you book a full suite on PCL ship. But you also don't get a butler, which is fine with us.

 

 

Then here is the per person cost for a HAL aft-facing Neptune suite on the Koningsdam. In this case if you book the cruise over a year out, you can either book it with a Cruise Only Fare or with the Have It All Early Booking Bonus, which in this particular case is $3,499 per person with a refundable deposit.

 

 

Hope this helps to compare costs on similar Celebrity, Princess, and HAL cruises. In our case we have booked the PCL one, to include the cruise before at as well as after it. 

Wow! What a price difference. Thanks for sharing Ken!

Thanks for doing this this live review! I have enjoyed following along. Enjoy the rest of your adventure and safe travels home! 

Enjoy your cruise! I know you will have a great time making lasting memories! 

We had an announcement around 2:00 am on a cruise, about a year ago on the first night of the cruise, saying we were going back to embarkation port for a medical emergency. Captain said they made announcement so guest would know why we were back in Ft Lauderdale. 

21 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I have to say that my downfall is Ice Cream and Gelato.   While  I don't drink I love the smell of Ameretto I could just sit there and sniff it for hours... LOL.....

I have the same downfall…… Ice Cream and Gelato. Where we differ is after sniffing the Ameretto a couple of times I would pour it over the Ice Cream! Lol

21 minutes ago, doccide said:

We were on the Beyond early August and had a fantastic voyage.  We would go the the Eden lounge at 6 for cocktails.  I was surprised that there were not more people in the bar.  Some nights only 3-4 people, but on average 10-15.  Great view from the back of the ship.  Also live music.  We would go to the Blu around 7. Never had to wait and most nights sat by a window.  Food was amazing!.  First few nights I asked for an ounce or 2 of blue cheese to put on my bread to have with the cabernet.  Shortly after I didn't have to ask.  They would bring it without asking. Blu for breakfast also very good.   We also ate at the Eden restaurant one night, which also amazing.  All in all a great cruise on a new ship with a great staff.

Glad you had an amazing time! We did a B3B on the Beyond in Feb/March and had an amazing time as well. We were in the retreat and the ship is absolutely beautiful. We also enjoyed dining at Eden and Le Voyage multiple times. We passed by Blu many times and it appeared to be a very pretty venue and never seemed that crowded. 

3 hours ago, Cruisegoer said:

I just can't believe what I'm reading!

https://profcruise.com/carnivals-new-dinner-menus/

I agree the menu looks more diversified than Celebrity. That said we did one Carnival Cruise, out of our 68 sailings, and that was enough for us. Never again. 

4 minutes ago, 1Virgo said:

believe they ate in MDR.  

 

We were on Summit in April/May and the food in the Blu was fantastic.     That particular Blu has won awards

Great! Thanks for letting me know about your recent experience. The Blu on Summit has always been my favorite and much better than Blu on S and E class in my opinion. More intimate and food and personalized service has always been great. Been on Summit in Aqua for 8 sailings, the last being Oct last year. 

38 minutes ago, gerelmx said:

They booked ocean view, No Blu

I am aware they were in MDR. We will be in Blu and hoping the food will be better than they experienced. 😀

Thanks for your honest review! We will be getting on Summit in a few days and hopefully the food will be better than you experienced in Blu. 

Zacappa old fashion at the World Class Bar. Yum!

We prefer Blu over Luminae. Service is great in both but we prefer the Blu menu. Also Luminae in E Class is noisy. 

6 hours ago, JCMass. said:

We would sign up for cruises from Boston to Europe and back.   Each year HAL does Voyage of the Vikings but it is 35 days round trip to Europe with many ports, it is very popular.  Something shorter like you suggest sounds great, and I expect would be very popular.  Boston is a popular embarkation port, the airport is just minutes away and there are lots of people who can just drive there.  

I agree! Boston is a great port and very underutilized by Celebrity. 

23 minutes ago, awhfy said:

I’d prefer San Diego to Hawaii rt!!

Fine by me. Count me in! 

I would like to see Celebrity bring back the LA to Hawaii round trip as well as add more ABC cruises. 

Definitely 7 days on Oasis but I would try my best to upgrade to a balcony!

Yummy…….good luck. Edible…..better chance. 

Enjoy your cruise!