mperrizo

After a long day of travel on Saturday we have made it to boarding day! Last night we arrived later than planned at around 12:30am on Sunday and stayed at the Embassy Suites 17th street. Uber was taking a long time to connect to a driver last night, so we were able to get a cab without any lines for just under $15.00 prior to tip. Check-in was smooth but we arrived after midnight, and we were the only ones in the lobby. We also use the Hilton app to avoid even stopping at the counter. In the lobby you will find the typical open-air atrium of most Embassy’s that host the managers reception at night and breakfast in the morning. The hotel décor is a little bit dated both in the lobby and in the rooms., but it was fun to see the atrium still decorated for the holidays. Though the stay was short we did get out for a walk around the grounds and area. The pool is great for the size hotel and the complimentary breakfast was okay with your standard Embassy Suites items and stations. I am still baffled though why it seems every Embassy cannot make decent coffee using the instant machines. The hotel is probably 80% or more Cruise passengers, the breakfast area seemed to be overtaken in waves of people. In addition to this I noticed signs already set up for transportation for Princess and Royal in the lobby as this may also be a pre stay hotel booked through some cruise lines directly. We explored the general area and next door was a great local coffee shop called Grind and Press. In addition, when we were out for a walk this morning, there is a Publix and Winn-Dixie for last minute items you may have forgotten or did not want to pack, a total wine if you want to take a nice bottle on board and several restaurants and bars if you have time. A little further away was also a Walgreen’s. We also found a nail salon close by that we stopped in for a last-minute pedicure. DW was pleased and said she would recommend “Jade” if you are in a pinch. The massage chairs were nice for me. As part of our walk this morning we did go up 17th street to try and get a better view of the ships that we could see from our room, in addition to the Celebrity Beyond I believe there were 4 other ships in port. Celebrity Reflection, Enchanted Princess, Royal Caribbean Odyssey of the Seas and a Holland America Ship that I believe was the Nieuw Amsterdam. Though our check-in time for the Beyond is 2:00pm we plan to start heading to the port around 12:00 and can waste time in the terminal if need be. The normal checkout time at the Embassy is 11:00am which we were able to get a later time of 1:00pm with no issues. Next up Embarkation!!!

Hello everyone! After being a longtime reader of reviews, I felt it was time to give it a try for our upcoming experience on the Celebrity Beyond January 8 to January 22 (B2B). I will try to make this a live review but not at the expense of our vacation. Before we set sail a little bit of background: For DW and I this will be our first cruise on Celebrity and our first B2B we are normally RC cruisers and have reached Diamond Plus, we average two cruises a year. We are working professionals and live in Detroit, Michigan young 40’s. We travel extensively for work, so we are seasoned travelers. This is an adult’s cruise for us without our 16-year-old son for our 10-year wedding anniversary. The cruise was booked just 5 days prior to the first leg of our B2B. These dates were originally supposed to be spent on a bucket list trip to the Galapagos, but the operator of that trip had to place the vessel in drydock for emergency repairs and canceled our sailing. Though there were other operators available including Celebrity we could not find an itinerary that matched what we had booked and decided to delay for a year or so. Booking last minute, we were looking at two primary options a B2B on RC Odyssey of the Seas and this B2B on Beyond. We originally wanted to go on Odyssey, the prime reason we were leaning Royal was the itineraries available and our comfortability with the product and status in their loyalty program. One of the B2B legs sold out so before it happens on Celebrity Beyond we booked. The Beyond had several rooms available that would allow us to not move rooms during the B2B, though this meant not having a suite, balcony, or a verandah. We have discussed enquiring when we boarded if other options are available, but we all know how that will go so I am not sure that we will bother. We have booked an ocean view on deck 3 just a little forward of midship on the port side category 07 with the all included package on celebrity. Shortly after booking we upgraded to the premium drink package as well as premium Wi-Fi for me as I will need to work a few days. Booking these packages via phone for the upgrade, we had to remind them about the Elite discount. We have a dinning plan booked for the second week of 5 specialty restaurants and will focus on the public dinning during the first week. To get to FLL we will leave from BOS Saturday late afternoon with a connection in ATL, due to work commitments we needed to leave out of BOS instead of DTW. We have a pre night stay booked at the Embassy on 17th Street in FLL. We prefer to stay at the Bahia Mar Doubletree due to its proximity to some great views and our favorite place for fish tacos in Florida, Bo’s Beach Bar, but with a short stay this time the Embassy is always great. The itinerary for this B2B is Eastern with port visits in St. Maarten, St. Thomas, and Puerto Plata with 3 sea days mixed in followed by a Western itinerary with port visits in Nassau, Costa Maya, Cozumel, and George Town with 2 sea days. Our scheduled check-in time for the 8th is 2:00pm to 2:30pm, which I believe is the last boarding time as the paperwork says all aboard by 2:45. We plan on showing up a little early and if we need to wait until our boarding window will be happy to do so. Looking to posting more as the trip begins.