LongStrangeTrip19

These were included. Nice quality but they were all one size.

This is the villa we stayed at. Pricing looks like it may be discounted - I don't fully remember because we rebooked two trips due to COVID, Russia, etc so we had a balance of credits as well.

My wife had no issues with the vanity desk upstairs. It's right next to the window for light during the daytime and lighting was otherwise bright. Plenty of room and storage. During the day I also used the desk for doing work. Vanity in bathroom is a bit small but she used that as well.

That's what we did and we enjoyed it. It's a big island and I know there are some beautiful beaches and other towns to visit but given the time constraint of being on a cruise, we decided to absorb the culture and enjoyed it!

Yes, it was Rikito. I even have pictures of the front as well as the menu. Highly recommend!

We used cinqueterretour.it (CTT Tours). We made the reservation and they assign the driver just prior to the trip. The driver we had was Robert and I would highly recommend him. He was friendly but also very prompt and knowledgeable about the area. Getting on the ferry and knowing where to meet the driver can be confusing but the driver was very clear and we had no issues. Here is a link to the itinerary we had. https://www.cinqueterretour.it/en/private-tours/italy-shore-excursions/shore-excursions-from-la-spezia-and-portovenere/cinque-terre-and-portovenere-shore-excursion-from-la-spezia-with-private-driver/

Yes, we felt absolutely safe. We stayed at the Cotton House Hotel (https://www.hotelcottonhouse.com/) which was centrally located and walking distance to the Gothic Quarter. We were also walking distance (<1 mile) to Sagrada Familia, las ramblas, the harbor, and many restaurants and shops. I would recommend not staying right on Las Ramblas since it is extremely touristy and crowded so you get the usual riff raff there at night. Everyone eats dinner late in Barcelona so we found it safe walking around even at night. We took a cab several times and I don’t think we ever paid more than $10 euros to check out other neighborhoods, museums, parks, etc. We also had a car service for convenience from the cruise ship (20 min) and to the airport (25 min). We absolutely loved Barcelona and would highly recommend it as a safe city.

I added a detailed review of our trip including the ship and ports of call for anyone that is interested. I love reading about other cruisers experiences prior to going on a trip, so hope this helps anyone doing their research for an upcoming trip.

Yup - that’s it!

Celebrity Beyond - 10/03/2022 - 9 night France, Italy, and Spain Overall, I would give our cruise a 9.5/10 which is top notch in our book. Starting in Rome and Barcelona was icing on the cake and made it a truly special vacation. If anyone has any specific questions or would like to know restaurants, tours, etc. by name - do not hesitate to reach out. Sailing in early October, we still had warm comfortable weather with much smaller crowds than peak season. This was an ideal time to sail. Review is subjective and I’m happy to answer any questions. I wrote this up pretty quickly so forgive any misspellings or errors. Beyond Ship - This ship is amazing and quite an improvement over previous Celebrity ships we sailed. There is ship has a comfortable and luxurious layout, beautiful attention to detail, and scupltures/art everywhere. Ship Highlights: Beautiful artwork, scupltures, and greenery. Lots of beautiful nooks and crannies to explore and plenty of places to find a quiet, calm place to relax. It was also nice having a separate Retreat portion of the ship that made it easy to find chairs, swim, or go in the hot tub without too much of a crowd. Eden is absolutely beautiful as a restaurant and venue. Edge Villa Suite - We decided to stay in an Edge Villa because of the layout of having an upstairs/downstairs with separate full bathrooms. There were 3 of us sailing (1 couple, 1 single) and this gave us plenty of room to stretch out and have our own space. The Villa itself is absolutely stunning. Celebrity definitely gives you extra attention when you stay in this Suite and the design really enhanced the experience of our cruise Edge Villa Highlights: Lots of room, many include extras including access to the thermal suite, premium restaurants at no charge, private entrance to the Retreat deck, some priority when boarding the ship and disembarking at ports. The hot tub was great to enjoy early mornings and sunsets and everything was private. The upstairs bathroom is especially large for a cruise ship and has a separate tub and shower. There is also private access to the retreat deck from the 2nd floor. Edge Villa Lowlights: We had high expectations due to the price and exclusivity of the village (please keep that in mind). We were a little disappointed when we first walked in and found a pill on the ground, a microfiber cleaning cloth, and water marks on all of the glass surfaces. We also had a hard time with our Butler who forgot things several times, had many mix-ups when making our dinner reservations, and overall just didn’t give us as good of service as we’ve experienced on sailings with lower level suites. We tried to book reservations through the Retreat Concierge to avoid dealing with the butler and this ruffled some feathers which was unappealing. Overall, we would’ve been happier if the Butler was more behind the scenes and just made sure our trip went as smooth as possible. The room steward was excellent and we enjoyed seeing him everyday. We were surprised to find there were some extras included (thermal suite, no charge meals at Le Bernadine, etc.) that were not well highlighted and we had to ask several people until we got a confident answer. Despite the lowlights, we have very few complaints and had a great experience. Entertainment - we managed to attend at least 1 performance of every show and entertainer. I’ve been on several cruises and this one stood out; not a bad performance. Entertainment Highlights: Every performance was excellent and there were several dancers/singers that stood out in both the theater and Eden venues. We made it a priority to go to a performance of every show just to see some of our favorite entertainers. The lighting, stages, choreography, etc. were all top notch. We were the last sailing before crossing the Atlantic so many of the performers had family or friends sailing so it was special watching them interact with their family after performances. Entertainment Lowlights: None! The last performance of the cruise had a few drunk/rowdy gentleman that wouldn’t stop talking, dropping drinks, and hollering at the performers. I wish they had been escorted out but it didn’t impact the performances at all. Restaurants - We did not have a bad meal on the ship; however, there were a few that could use some improvement . Staying in the Edge Villa we were lucky enough to eat at the premium restaurants for lunch and dinner free of charge and tried at least 1 meal at almost each one. We also enjoyed the Sunset Cafe (Buffett) a few times and almost every day for breakfast. Restaurant Highlights: Eden and Raw on 5 were great meals and we went multiple times. Le Petit Bistro was great for lunch. Restaurant Lowlights: The biggest disappointment in terms of food was the Retreat Lounge. During the day its mostly charcuterie and random snacks like tuna (canned) empanadas, cucumber sandwiches, and other odd items. Whenever we stopped for pastries in the morning, they tasted like they were a day old. We would’ve thought that this lounge would’ve been a step up given how much you pay for suites. The staff was excellent, however. We also only had 1 meal at Luminae and it was sub-par. The restaurant itself was a little stuffy and food was just ‘meh’. Even the menu items that were from Daniel Bolud were lacking. After eating at Luminae, we canceled our reservations for Le Voyage and instead went back to Eden. The menus for Luminae and Le Voyage were fancy but not as appealing as we had hoped. Captain - We were really looking forward to having Captain Kate McCue as our captain; however, we found out once onboard that she was on vacation during this sailing. Major bummer for us but we actually spotted her a couple times on the ship in normal clothes. We didn’t want to bug her for a picture or anything so we let her enjoy her time off. The captain that took her place for this sailing was good and had a great sense of humor. Ports of Call - In general, we like to explore and always book guides/cars directly. We’ve found this to not only be more affordable but also have a much better, more private experience regardless of the port. Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy - I would highly recommend staying in Rome for a few nights beforehand if you’re able. We love exploring Rome and despite being there several times before we never ran out of things to do. This also gave us a chance to relax between the long flight from NY and getting to the ship in the morning of 10/03. The port is about an hour drive from Rome so having some extra time really relieves any stress of travel. I would recommend booking a car service in advance from the airport to your hotel in Rome and then also from the hotel to the port. Ajaccio, France (Corsica) - We didn’t know much about Corsica but enjoyed our visit there. We decided not to book any excursions here. The ship docks at the port and its quick and easy to disembark. We enjoyed exploring the streets on our own including visiting a few landmarks related to Napoleon. We did walk to the nearest beach to check it out but did not go swimming. The beach we saw just an ordinary beach but there were a few dozen people from the ship that seemed to be enjoying a swim. The town is pretty small so we walked most of it and felt we got a good sense of the culture there. In retrospect, I wish we had grabbed lunch here but did get in some shopping. Portofino, Italy - Portofino was every bit as iconic as we thought it would be. We hiked up to Castello Bruno for some beautiful pictures and then walked around the town. You tender into this port but overall only took about 15 minutes. The town is small and quaint and we decided to hike up to the beach at Paraggi which was refreshing and calm. The ‘hike’ is about a mile, mostly on cobblestones/pavers and has some inclines but affords beautiful views of houses, the land, and the ship at tender. The beach itself had a small public area but we decided to rent chairs through a local restaurant. Being October, many of the restaurants at the beach were shutting down for the season and not crowded. The water was also a little chilly but refreshing. We paid $30 euro for 2 chairs and towels but I read beforehand that chairs can get extremely expensive during peak season and the beach can get crowded. La Spezia, Italy - This is another port where you tender but is quick and easy. We booked a private guide (driver) that was excellent. He drove us about 30 min to Portovenare to explore the little village before getting us on the ferry to Cinque Terre. The ferry took about 30m and cost $30 euro per person for an all day pass. We got off at Riomaggiore to explore, then Manarola, and Vernazza. The views at each village are absolutely stunning. We went in October and it was still pretty crowded - I can’t imagine the ferries and villages during peak season. Our driver met us at Vernazza, drove us to a monastery to take pictures, stopped at a terraced garden to explain the local culture and then took us to Corniglia for the best gelato I’ve ever had and another iconic village. On the way back to La Spezia, the driver also stopped to show us the mountains in the distance known for Carrera marble and take a few more pictures. Overall, we loved Cinque Terre and cannot wait to go back. Villefranche, France - Villefranche is a stunning port that is a gateway to the French riviera. This is another tender port but again is quick and easy. We booked another private guide here and had a great time. We didn’t speech much time in the port but drove up to Antibes to check out a local market and understand the local culture and artistry. From Antibes we drove up to St Paul du Vence which is an absolutely stunning town. Every corner of this town was magical and we enjoyed doing a little perfume/cologne shopping and just exploring with our guide. We heard that normally this village is packed during peak season but October thinned out the crowds enough that you could explore at your own leisure. From here we drove down to Nice to check out some landmarks as well as sample local cuisine at the market. From here we drove up to Monaco where we parked and walked around, checked out the church and saw a changing of the guards at the royal palace. We then stopped at Monte Carlo for pictures and another history lesson. Monaco and Monte Carlo were on our bucket list but my honest opinion is that you really only need to see them once. On the way back to port, we stopped one more time at Eze (eagle nest village) that was another charming town with great views. We did a short hike down Nietzche’s trail (this is a strenuous path but we wanted to say we checked it out). We decided to skip any perfume factory visit here. There were several large tours that stopped here and we heard many mixed reviews. On the way back to the ship, we saw more great views of the water and our ship at tender. Marseille, France - Marseille was interesting. It’s a relatively large city (~850,000 population) and lots of graffiti. We had heard mixed reviews of the city so we decided to hire a driver that took us to a few other places and generally skipped Marseilles. We drove about 35m up to Aix-en-Provence where we got to see several markets (clothing, fruits/veggies, flowers, seafood, etc.). This is a college town so many young people and a nice dip into the local French culture. We did a short walking tour that took us through a cathedral, saw a few different landmarks then walked up to Cezanne’s studio. The weather was overcast so we decided to head up to a local winery called La Coste (10m away). This winery was excellent and completely changed my minds on Rose. Even though it was October and leaves were changing, we were lucky enough to see a few small lavender fields that were still purple. I cannot imagine how stunning Provence is during the spring/summer. La Coste has 5 different restaurants ranging from quick bites to a Michelin starred restaurant. The location is beautiful, wines were excellent and our meal at the mid-range restaurant was one of the best of the trip. After leaving the winery, we got stuck in a bit of traffic that slowed us down. We still had a chance to stop at the Cathedral Marseilles which was beautiful and the view allowed you to see just how big Marseille is. The cathedral was really crowded with tourists so we took some quick pictures then headed back to the ship. Since Marseilles is generally a port where you stop from 8am - 5pm, I would highly recommend to give yourself ample time to get around. This is a big city and there can be traffic if you’re in a car. At Sea - We did as much as possible on the ship this day. Our only regret is that there were not more days at sea to explore the beautiful ship. Palma de Mallorca, Spain - Mallorca is one place we cannot wait to go back to. This is another port where you dock; however, the island is big and there is simply not enough time to do everything. We had originally planned to go to the beach but decided to explore instead. We took the Celebrity shuttle to Catedral-Basílica de Santa María de Mallorca. We were able to buy tickets ($8 euro per person) on our phones just prior to entering the cathedral. This cathedral was stunning and has an interesting history with Guadi. The stain glass and some of the interior details are stunning and was my favorite cathedral prior to going to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. From the cathedral we walked into the windy streets of Old Town. We stumbled into the Arab Baths ($3 euro) which were interesting but not worth going out of your way for. We did a little shopping on the main strip (pearls are a big item here) that was a little touristy and the walked to the trendy neighborhood of Santa Catalina. This is similar to the West Village in Manhattan. Great restaurants, some shopping, and generally a safe place to walk around and explore the local culture. We had the best meal of our entire trip at a random Italian restaurant here. After lunch and some shopping, we decided to walk back along the marina to the ship and forego the shuttle. The walk was nice and took about 45 minutes. There are over 300 beaches in Mallorca and so many areas to explore that we unfortunately didn’t have time for. We all agreed we would make a separate trip here at some point in the future. Valencia, Spain - This is a port where you dock but there is a long shuttle bus (30m) to old town that costs $10 euro a person. There is a free shuttle option as well but it takes longer and requires you to transfer to a public bus. I was a little disappointed that this is a port that’s only 8am - 5pm as the shuttle eats up a lot of time. Also, Celebrity provided little to no instruction on the shuttles and where it drops you. The shuttle dropped us just north of the old town which was a longer walk than we planned to meet a walking tour guide we hired. Even from the shuttle stop, it was a bit of a walk into the heard of old town and we had to use our phone gps to navigate back to the bus stop. We had a bit of anxiety about getting back to the shuttle so we left early to make sure we made it in time. We booked a 3 hour walking tour that was perfect for our interests. It was long enough to explore a big public market, history of Valencia during the civil war, a quick view of the train station, city hall, the bull ring and several cathedrals. Our tour guide was very interesting and explained much of the culture including literary (Hemingway) history, philosophy, music, and politics. For some reason it’s also not highlighted that the cathedral here has many Goya paintings, a relic (the arm) of St. Vincent, and the HOLY GRAIL (the actual cup from the last supper). While visiting the church with the holy grail, we did the walk up to the tower to get a 360 view of the city. This is another fairly large city but the old town makes it seem deceivingly small. Every city/town I’ve been to in Spain have been enjoyable and I think Valencia is big enough you could go back to several times and see completely different sites. Barcelona, Spain - Our cruise was sadly ending but we enjoyed Barcelona so much that it’s our new favorite city. We are already planning a trip back to Barcelona. In terms of the cruise, this was a nice port to end up at. The last night of the cruise we got asked by so many servers to give them positive reviews that it was a little bit of a put-off but completely understand that it means a lot to them. We had to have our bags out in the hallway by 10pm the night before and off the ship around 7:30am. We didn’t see our butler in the morning and once you’re off the ship, there we no priority treatment in the terminal. This terminal was fairly straightforward but it was a little chaotic and took about 15 minutes to find the right baggage carousel. We had arranged a driver ahead of time to take us to our hotel. We were lucky enough to stay here for 3 nights at the Cotton House Hotel. This hotel is in a great location and is absolutely stunning - I cannot say enough good things about the hotel and their staff. I’ll spare much of the details of Barcelona but will say that you must check out the Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi sites if you have the time. It’s worth doing a tour at Sagrada Familia so that someone can point out the incredible detail. The inside of the church is absolutely stunning and was a highlight of our trip. If you have time you can check out Guell Park and several other Gaudi sites across the city. Take your time, enjoy the culture, absorb some local music and dancing, visit one of the large public markets and do not be afraid to try new food. If you’re into cocktails, Barcelona has the #1 cocktail bar in the world (Paradiso) but also several other top notch cocktail bars such as Dr. Stravinsky. Be prepared to wait into lines 2+ hours but worth it if you have the time.

The ship is beautiful and so are all of the suites that I saw. The edge villa is really nice and Celebrity does a great job of making you feel spoiled. Definitely worth it if you get a good deal or an upgrade. All of the service staff really go out of their way and give you a little extra attention when you're staying in the villas as well.

I wish I had a picture for you but it is very low traffic. Each edge villa has a little fenced in area on the retreat deck that has a small loveseat, a pillow and some blankets. This is under an overhang and out of the way. We never saw anyone in this area including other edge villa guests. We only used that entrance a few times. It's a nice area but we either enjoyed our deck on the oceanside or used the downstairs entrance since it was close to the retreat lounge, elevators, thermal suite, gym, etc. It's a beautiful suite. My best advice would be to enjoy it and make sure you use all the perks including access to the thermal suite, no charge lunches/dinners at any of the premium restaurants, laundry service, internet, etc.

I wish I had a picture of where it opens up to but there was absolutely no one near where the suite opens up to the retreat deck. The entrances are talked away in a little cover where no one would really need to go near unless you were staying in a Villa. All of the chairs, hot tubs, pool, and bar are far away or on the 2nd floor of the retreat deck. I believe all of the Villas were full but we only actually ran into our neighbors once or twice by the elevators. Everything was very private and quiet.

I used the internet almost every day and didn't have a problem. I did see some other posts that complained about the speed. I have no idea where the routers are located so maybe location matters on the ship but I did move around in the public areas as well as in the suite and had no issues.

We enjoyed using the thermal suite mostly because it was quiet, relaxing and close to our room. There was also a deck you could access in front of the thermal suite that was always quiet and was the most forward deck you could access on the ship. There was almost never anyone in the thermal suite and it was open until 10pm so it was nice after a long day of walking to go use the steam room, sauna and heated chairs to unwind from the ports. I was surprised at how quiet the thermal suite was. It might've been due to the fact there were only about 2,200 passengers out of 3,200 or so on our sailing. I also found that a lot of guests got massages or other treatments but didn't really take advantage of the thermal suite.