Royal Caribbean Cruisers -- How Are Things Where You Are? (was "Routine" ​ 😁 ​day in lockdown... how was yours?)

[ReneeFLL]

11 hours ago, Ozark_Kid said:

The first Skyline stop I remembered to just get a small 5 Way if I am getting a couple coney dogs.  This time I got a regular 5 Way and 1 Coney Dog.  Way to much.   So much for losing 10 lbs the last few weeks.

 

 

What is a 5 way? 

[Coralc]

Did anyone ever read, "The Kraken Wakes" also retitled as "Out of the Deeps" by John Wyndham? It is a scary long form novella from the 50's. It is the first time I heard the term. 

 

I love all of his books. He also wrote "Day of the Triffids" and "The Midwich Cuckoos" which was later made into a really bad movie entitled "Village of the Dammed" 

 

I read all the time. Presently reading Brad Meltzer, "The Lightning Rod". 

 

And BTW, there was an article about Ashley from BD today. (On Yahoo) She is raking in the money from her "Only Fans" account. (Soft porn) and didn't like the Bravo editing, but she appreciates the publicity. 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Coralc

[taznremmy]

9 minutes ago, Coralc said:

I read all the time. Presently reading Brad Meltzer, "The Lightning Rod". 

After Harlan Corben, Brad Meltzer is another one of my favorites.  Happy 4th Patti!

Pat

[Bailey & Sophie]

13 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

BD in Thailand has some amazing scenery. There was a lot of drama with that crew. Rhylie can't just take an order and shutup. Laura can't just do her job either/

 

Had Kraken last night in Coco Logo. I am happy that I could turn you on to that great rum.

 

 

 

Since you stated that you wanted to start your own You Tube channel for cruising I just wanted to give you some advice coming from a person who has done video production for the last 40 years. Robotic voices are a turn off to viewers. You will get more views if you use your own voice and make it conversational. People want to hear your take on things. Robots are not personal, you can be personal. If you say you don't have the time how do you expect anyone else to take the time to watch your video? I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just trying to help you produce the best video you can for your audience. 

 

 

Totally agree. If I start to watch a video with a computer generated voice I stop watching.

 

 

 

I love this series. It's so good.

 

 

 

Below Deck 9 seasons

Below Deck Med 6 Seasons

Below Deck Sailing 3 Seasons

Below Deck Down Under 1 Season

Below Deck Adventure Season 1 Coming

 

 

Ashley was a mess. I can understand why she ditched the reunion show even though she signed a contract to appear. She knew she was going to get a lot of grief.

 

After ditching the reunion, Ashley is now on FansOnly. She made over $50,000 the first month.

[Coralc]

14 minutes ago, taznremmy said:

After Harlan Corben, Brad Meltzer is another one of my favorites.  Happy 4th Patti!

Pat

Thank you, Pat! Happy 4th to you. I still think Greg Isles is one of the best authors. Natchez Burning series will be a classic. Even Bill was sucked into it. His characters are so well formed, that you actually feel awful when things happen to them.  

[Bailey & Sophie]

5 hours ago, singinalot said:

 

 

 

 

Beautiful pictures! Happy birthday.

What is that green cheese? It looks interesting.

[Bailey & Sophie]

8 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

LONG - that's my "style". I know... my kids always say to me: "Fast forward, mom". So, fast forward, pls. 😁

 

Some very personal musings about our Beyond cruise,

 

“Personal” because we look at our cruises from a different perspective/point of view – we don’t participate in a lot of ship’s activities like Trivia/L&M/Quest, etc. Also, comedians/one man shows, all of them necessitating a good command of English. We go only to the big musicals, and on this cruise, DH had to leave after a few minutes, the strong sound being too much for his hearing aids.

 

We don’t cruise for the beaches/hot weather, drinks and we gamble very small amounts (like 5-10$ pp per evening) just for fun. Usually bets of 1 or 2 cents 😊 On this cruise, after 3 long “dry dock” years, we found out that the minimum bet was raised to 75 cents, so our 9$ were quick to disappear.

 

Then, why are we cruising? Mainly for the itineraries. Sometimes – for the ship. This time we found an excellent combo – interesting itinerary and a new class of ship.

 

… and, for the food, mainly on Celebrity.

 

Therefore, our criteria of judging if we enjoyed the cruise is much more limited – itinerary, food and ship.

 

What we liked about Beyond?

*the lower staff (servers, waiters, cleaners, sales attendants, casino staff) were all excellent, always smiling, always willing to help.

*the pool – was the longest in comparison to every other ship. I’ve managed, early in the mornings, to swim some nice laps.

*all night light in the bathroom.

*the infinite veranda makes for a bigger room, but, if one of the cruisers is an early raiser and wants to spend time on the veranda, the light wakes up the other.

 

What we didn’t like?

Soulless. Too dark. Too much “real estate” taken by very high-end shops (Cartier, Bvlgari, Montblanc. Le maison du chocolat – always empty), and not enough connection with the sea. A dark mirrored corridor, which I’ve found down right creepy, fearing I’ll find myself stepping right into one of the mirrors.

 

 

Unless we travel with family/friends, we usually prefer to dine at WJ/OVC. We’re "in and out" quickly, can try different dishes, mainly the stir fry, which we highly prefer.

 

Quite from the beginning we were disappointed in the quality, quantity and diversity of the OVC’s food. There were a lot of heavy stews, unappealing for the most of time.

 

I found myself making one round, two rounds, trying to map the dishes I’d like to sample, and found myself “settling” for a grilled steak, chicken breast or burger…. In very contrast to all other cruises, where I’d make a round and say to myself: “ohh, sheperd’s pie, ohh, meat lasagna, ohh, seafood salad, ohh, this pad thai looks sooo good”.

 

DH was even more disappointed, since he mainly eats fish, seafood and salads. Usually, he’s going to the salad bar, and comes back with a huge amount of leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, hummus, etc., his usual Mediterranean staple at home. Here, he found himself asking for two slices of this, two leaves of this, a spoon of this -- a rather tedious “affair”. Meantime, a line is forming after him, close enough to defy the purpose of being served in the name of “social distancing/ Covid”.

 

The first grilled fish he asked for was  half frozen… The second – the same. He showed it to the server, who promptly left the serving and went in search of the “culprit” (the cook). Another line after DH. Someone appeared from the kitchen, and agreed, that, indeed, the fish was not properly unfrosted and grilled. Meanwhile, another “in-charge” saw the “fuss” and wanted details. DH explained the “case” and wondered why, 1 day after we left Rome, which is a fishing port, there are only deep frozen fishes on board, not to mention calamari, shrimps, mussels, etc. The standard reply, which we were going to hear repeatedly, was “difficulties in the chain of supply”.

 

After 2 days of “buffet” diner, DH wanted escargot and we went to one of the 4 “free” restaurants. The escargots DH got were tiny and the meal was no more than OK but, as expected, took a lot of time.

Back to the buffet.

After another 2 days of disappointing food at the buffet, DH wanted a proper grilled fresh fish and we opted for “Cyprus”, which offered a grilled seabass.

 

While DH was eating the seabass, I suddenly saw him confused, murmuring “a bone” and taking something out of his mouth… turns out if was not a bone, it was a 1.5 cm long piece of … wire !!! He gently placed it on the bread plate and we called the waiter, who immediately called… whoever. DH, of course, was distressed. What if he ingested another, smaller, piece of wire and he didn’t feel it??

Me? I was speechless and worried sick.

 

After a few minutes of looking one at another and pushing aside the beginnings of our entrees, the head waiter appeared with an “explanation”… the piece of wire comes from the brush used to clean the grill…”   Ahhhh, now we were “relieved”…

 

We were so outraged, we just left the restaurant and went outside, to try to understand what just happened, and moreover, what IF another piece of wire was ingested?

 

When we got back to our cabin, a bottle of white vine was waiting for us, along with some chocolate covered strawberries from the Cypress’ manager. The cheap bottle of wine really irritated DH: “I don’t want their vine, I want this going up and reported to the higher management, so that it will never happen again!!!” “It should have never happened in the first place” !!!

 

So, first thing in the morning we went to GS with the vine in tow. Asked for “someone in charge”. The GS was reluctant, asking our room #, saying: “it is mentioned here”. I took the “helm” and said that we want to be sure it is “mentioned” up to the B&F director, and besides, we want to return their vine. Even if it’s just a “gesture”, might as well find out if we drink vine, and find something “neutral”, but that was not really the issue. We just felt that the vine was CYA.

 

After a few minutes, the Cypress’ “in charge” came, claiming that it has been “reported”, “measures are being taken”, and, get this: “should you need medical assistance, we’ll be more than happy to provide it”. DH replied that “should I need medical assistance, I’ll be in big trouble, and Celebrity in an even BIGGER trouble”. He took the vine back, DH telling him that it was offending to receive a cheap bottle of several dollars by way of apology, instead a letter of “we will thoroughly examine what went wrong” which surely will be more to the point.

 

Quite reluctantly the “in charge” offered a free lunch at either Le Fine Cut or Raw 5, and we agreed to Raw 5, being seafood and fish.

DH was eating bananas from the fateful evening, in the hope that his intestine will “weather” any stray wire…

 

A day after the “wire”, I went to a “senior officers” meeting with Elite, +, etc. members.

 

While I was sitting by myself, people watching, one of them came, randomly, to ask me “how do you like the cruise so far”? Big mistake on his part, HUGE…. I made a “so-so” movement with my hand, being masked and him also. Didn’t want to elaborate… but he was so surprised and, seemingly, interested…

 

I told him that the food quality, diversity, quantity is sub par for a Celebrity cruise, and us being foodies, are underwhelmed. He wanted examples and details, which I supplied.

 

Turns out he was the “procurement” officer, which enraged me more. I told him that there is no quality control whatsoever on the food, fruits in particular, and some products should never reach the buffet [overmature watermelon and kiwi coming immediately to mind]. Told him that, obviously, being veteran Celebrity cruisers, we have the “means” to compare.

 

He said that they pride themselves in the quality of food on Celebrity, being one of the things which set them apart from other cruise lines. I just gave him THE LOOK “not happening here”.

 

When I told him that I’ve heard the same from others, suite guests/Luminae, Le Voyage, The Fine Cut, etc., he excused himself and went in search of the F&B guy, and brought him to me.

 

At that moment I decided to check if our plea that the “wire incident” will go to the “top” was granted and was shocked to see that he never heard of it. Immediately he profusely apologized and asked where we’re going to eat tonight, wanting to see for himself that DH is OK.

 

Told him we had a reservation for Raw 5 [which was made before the free lunch offer]. He promised to be there. He wasn’t… but he comped us the dinner…. And we were glad he did, since, how DH said it so succinctly: “the lobster tail was from the runt of the litter” [and the oysters were far from fresh]. On the “free” lunch, we ordered only fried items and they were good.

 

There were other food disappointments, where you see “grilled steak” advertised, but no steak on the grill. When you ask about it, they search one in their drawers, put one on the grill and tell you to come back between 7 and 10 minutes… Fries? “We’re waiting for a new batch, come back in 5 minutes?” NO!! Someone should monitor the popular items like fries, and the moment it seems that in a few more servings, they’ll be out of it, to already bring a new batch.

 

The last “straw” was potato salad. With no fries available, I’ve tried my luck with the 2^nd best… Long line, since the potato salad is with the “made to order sandwiches” and it takes time. I’m getting the last batch. Yay!! Sit down to eat, the potatoes are undercooked…

 

I calm myself, and go back for another batch. Same “quality”. Ask a waiter to call someone “higher”. A nice and seemingly harassed lady arrives. Stoked her fork too. “Yep!!, not cooked at all”…

 

“What’s you room number”?? That was the SP. Can’t figure it out what my room # has to do with the undercooked potatoes, overmature fruits, not properly unfrozen fish, etc.

 

It’s not that someone called and apologized or explained.

 

To sum it up, on previous cruises, at dinner you saw lots and lots of officers eating at the buffet. There were always stir fry stations, pasta stations, grill stations with every imaginable meat or fish being done on the spot.

 

There were officers patrolling the buffet and keeping eye on everything. If a tray was about to be 2/3 finished, immediately a fresh one was brought, so there will be no delay and waiting.

 

Not on Beyond. Not even one.

 

DH, ever the cynic, predicted that in the last day, Celebrity will pull all stops and gave us a meal to remember. He was right… In the last day lunch there was a “buffet extravaganza”….

 

  

A few words about Captain Kate. I’ve told the concierge on the first day about my “romance” with “her”, and asked, if possible, for a few seconds meet. I thought that, after innocently investing so much time for her “snacks”, the least will be a souvenir pic with her. The concierge was amazed at the quality of the scam, and promised a short meeting.

 

There were 3 meetings of Elite and up with C.K. She made a few seconds appearance, tightly surrounded by her fellow officers, to the point of reminding me the security surrounding the PM of our country… Not approachable, not visible. The one meeting the concierge promised had a few of us aligned in order to meet her. I was the last one in line. A couple before the couple in front of me decided to monopolize her, and, sadly … it was time for her to say a few words and no time for us. The concierge apologized and said to wait there, C.K.’ll “see” us later. The couple before me gave up and, when C.K. finished in a few seconds, she brushed me aside like I was an annoying fly, and… fled through a side door.

 

 

OMG...wow. I can not think of anything else to say. I'm so sorry this much anticipated cruise left such a bad impression.

[ReneeFLL]

@dani negreanu I’m sorry you had a terrible cruise after looking forward to it for so long. I can’t believe they treated you and your DH the way they did concerning the wire. Sad you didn’t get to meet CK.

[Coralc]

I do feel very badly for you Dani. It is awful when you wait all this time, and have high expectations, and then it all goes wrong. What a disappointment. And then covid on top of it. I'm sad that it was one of those bad cruises. I hope future ones will make up for it. But they haven't actually been trending in that direction. 

 

We have a B2B booked for March, but I'm not booking anything else. Too expensive, and we have to get the houses situation resolved. 

[NHProud]

11 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Your post intrigued me, so I did some research.  The hotel has had an interesting history.  I found this old picture, guessing from the 60s, that shows the original La Concha Hotel, which opened in 1958.  

 

Here is the hotel today.  The original building is still architecturally a lot like it was, although it had a major update done.  The huge seashell structure over the restaurant on the beach is still there.  The suite tower on the right in the picture below is new and now contains the casino.

 

 

 

According to Wikipedia, the original La Concha Hotel was united with the Condado Beach Hotel just down the beach to the west (now the Condado Vanderbilt) in 1973 and the combined entity became the Hyatt Puerto Rico.  In 1976, Hilton took over the property and built a convention center between the 2 hotel buildings, making it one large building.  It was then called the Condado Beach La Concha Convention Center.  The whole thing was taken over by Carnival Cruise Line and renamed to The Condado Beach Trio.  The La Concha wing of the complex was closed in 1995 and the Condado Beach Hotel wing was closed in 1997.  Both properties were abandoned for years.  The convention center between the original hotel buildings was demolished to make the park that now sits between the separate hotels.  Renaissance Hotels eventually bought the La Concha building, did a $200M renovation, and reopened in 2007.  Our room in the original building was very modern, and the public spaces were beautiful.  They added the $100M Suites Tower in 2010.  The Condado Vanderbilt reopened in 2012 after a $270M renovation.

 

Since you said that you stayed there 51 years ago, I'd guess that you were there before it was combined with the Condado Beach Hotel and was a lot like the first picture above. 

 

Ah, the things that you have time to do in retirement. 😁

We stayed at the Condado Beach hotel in 1995 and our friends were booked at the La Concha which was so bad they didn’t want to stay one night but were unable to find a room at another hotel.  Bring earplugs because the tiny coqui frogs are very noisy.   I enjoyed the Pablo Casals museum among other sights.  

[FromSea2ShiningSea]

@dani negreanuI am so sorry to read about your experience on this ship.  You were so excited with anticipation for this cruise and it ended up being one bad thing after another.  It's surprising that on a brand new ship, after all the hype, that it felt cold and soulless and the food was below standard.  

 

I had a similar wire story.  One time on my first meal in the WJ on embarkation day, I found a wire in my food.  I showed it to one of the head managers.  He was apologetic and asked & jotted down my cabin number.  Later, a platter of chocolate covered strawberries showed up in my room.  That was it.  I still have the wire.  I wrapped it up and kept it as a souvenir and a conversation piece.

 

As for Captain Kate, how disappointing that she didn't have time for you.  Did she come off as a warm and friendly person or just the opposite?

 

I hope you had a good time at the ports anyway and that you are fully recovered from Covid now.

[grapau27]

10 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

LONG - that's my "style". I know... my kids always say to me: "Fast forward, mom". So, fast forward, pls. 😁

 

Some very personal musings about our Beyond cruise,

 

“Personal” because we look at our cruises from a different perspective/point of view – we don’t participate in a lot of ship’s activities like Trivia/L&M/Quest, etc. Also, comedians/one man shows, all of them necessitating a good command of English. We go only to the big musicals, and on this cruise, DH had to leave after a few minutes, the strong sound being too much for his hearing aids.

 

We don’t cruise for the beaches/hot weather, drinks and we gamble very small amounts (like 5-10$ pp per evening) just for fun. Usually bets of 1 or 2 cents 😊 On this cruise, after 3 long “dry dock” years, we found out that the minimum bet was raised to 75 cents, so our 9$ were quick to disappear.

 

Then, why are we cruising? Mainly for the itineraries. Sometimes – for the ship. This time we found an excellent combo – interesting itinerary and a new class of ship.

 

… and, for the food, mainly on Celebrity.

 

Therefore, our criteria of judging if we enjoyed the cruise is much more limited – itinerary, food and ship.

 

What we liked about Beyond?

*the lower staff (servers, waiters, cleaners, sales attendants, casino staff) were all excellent, always smiling, always willing to help.

*the pool – was the longest in comparison to every other ship. I’ve managed, early in the mornings, to swim some nice laps.

*all night light in the bathroom.

*the infinite veranda makes for a bigger room, but, if one of the cruisers is an early raiser and wants to spend time on the veranda, the light wakes up the other.

 

What we didn’t like?

Soulless. Too dark. Too much “real estate” taken by very high-end shops (Cartier, Bvlgari, Montblanc. Le maison du chocolat – always empty), and not enough connection with the sea. A dark mirrored corridor, which I’ve found down right creepy, fearing I’ll find myself stepping right into one of the mirrors.

 

 

Unless we travel with family/friends, we usually prefer to dine at WJ/OVC. We’re "in and out" quickly, can try different dishes, mainly the stir fry, which we highly prefer.

 

Quite from the beginning we were disappointed in the quality, quantity and diversity of the OVC’s food. There were a lot of heavy stews, unappealing for the most of time.

 

I found myself making one round, two rounds, trying to map the dishes I’d like to sample, and found myself “settling” for a grilled steak, chicken breast or burger…. In very contrast to all other cruises, where I’d make a round and say to myself: “ohh, sheperd’s pie, ohh, meat lasagna, ohh, seafood salad, ohh, this pad thai looks sooo good”.

 

DH was even more disappointed, since he mainly eats fish, seafood and salads. Usually, he’s going to the salad bar, and comes back with a huge amount of leaves, tomatoes, cucumbers, hummus, etc., his usual Mediterranean staple at home. Here, he found himself asking for two slices of this, two leaves of this, a spoon of this -- a rather tedious “affair”. Meantime, a line is forming after him, close enough to defy the purpose of being served in the name of “social distancing/ Covid”.

 

The first grilled fish he asked for was  half frozen… The second – the same. He showed it to the server, who promptly left the serving and went in search of the “culprit” (the cook). Another line after DH. Someone appeared from the kitchen, and agreed, that, indeed, the fish was not properly unfrosted and grilled. Meanwhile, another “in-charge” saw the “fuss” and wanted details. DH explained the “case” and wondered why, 1 day after we left Rome, which is a fishing port, there are only deep frozen fishes on board, not to mention calamari, shrimps, mussels, etc. The standard reply, which we were going to hear repeatedly, was “difficulties in the chain of supply”.

 

After 2 days of “buffet” diner, DH wanted escargot and we went to one of the 4 “free” restaurants. The escargots DH got were tiny and the meal was no more than OK but, as expected, took a lot of time.

Back to the buffet.

After another 2 days of disappointing food at the buffet, DH wanted a proper grilled fresh fish and we opted for “Cyprus”, which offered a grilled seabass.

 

While DH was eating the seabass, I suddenly saw him confused, murmuring “a bone” and taking something out of his mouth… turns out if was not a bone, it was a 1.5 cm long piece of … wire !!! He gently placed it on the bread plate and we called the waiter, who immediately called… whoever. DH, of course, was distressed. What if he ingested another, smaller, piece of wire and he didn’t feel it??

Me? I was speechless and worried sick.

 

After a few minutes of looking one at another and pushing aside the beginnings of our entrees, the head waiter appeared with an “explanation”… the piece of wire comes from the brush used to clean the grill…”   Ahhhh, now we were “relieved”…

 

We were so outraged, we just left the restaurant and went outside, to try to understand what just happened, and moreover, what IF another piece of wire was ingested?

 

When we got back to our cabin, a bottle of white vine was waiting for us, along with some chocolate covered strawberries from the Cypress’ manager. The cheap bottle of wine really irritated DH: “I don’t want their vine, I want this going up and reported to the higher management, so that it will never happen again!!!” “It should have never happened in the first place” !!!

 

So, first thing in the morning we went to GS with the vine in tow. Asked for “someone in charge”. The GS was reluctant, asking our room #, saying: “it is mentioned here”. I took the “helm” and said that we want to be sure it is “mentioned” up to the B&F director, and besides, we want to return their vine. Even if it’s just a “gesture”, might as well find out if we drink vine, and find something “neutral”, but that was not really the issue. We just felt that the vine was CYA.

 

After a few minutes, the Cypress’ “in charge” came, claiming that it has been “reported”, “measures are being taken”, and, get this: “should you need medical assistance, we’ll be more than happy to provide it”. DH replied that “should I need medical assistance, I’ll be in big trouble, and Celebrity in an even BIGGER trouble”. He took the vine back, DH telling him that it was offending to receive a cheap bottle of several dollars by way of apology, instead a letter of “we will thoroughly examine what went wrong” which surely will be more to the point.

 

Quite reluctantly the “in charge” offered a free lunch at either Le Fine Cut or Raw 5, and we agreed to Raw 5, being seafood and fish.

DH was eating bananas from the fateful evening, in the hope that his intestine will “weather” any stray wire…

 

A day after the “wire”, I went to a “senior officers” meeting with Elite, +, etc. members.

 

While I was sitting by myself, people watching, one of them came, randomly, to ask me “how do you like the cruise so far”? Big mistake on his part, HUGE…. I made a “so-so” movement with my hand, being masked and him also. Didn’t want to elaborate… but he was so surprised and, seemingly, interested…

 

I told him that the food quality, diversity, quantity is sub par for a Celebrity cruise, and us being foodies, are underwhelmed. He wanted examples and details, which I supplied.

 

Turns out he was the “procurement” officer, which enraged me more. I told him that there is no quality control whatsoever on the food, fruits in particular, and some products should never reach the buffet [overmature watermelon and kiwi coming immediately to mind]. Told him that, obviously, being veteran Celebrity cruisers, we have the “means” to compare.

 

He said that they pride themselves in the quality of food on Celebrity, being one of the things which set them apart from other cruise lines. I just gave him THE LOOK “not happening here”.

 

When I told him that I’ve heard the same from others, suite guests/Luminae, Le Voyage, The Fine Cut, etc., he excused himself and went in search of the F&B guy, and brought him to me.

 

At that moment I decided to check if our plea that the “wire incident” will go to the “top” was granted and was shocked to see that he never heard of it. Immediately he profusely apologized and asked where we’re going to eat tonight, wanting to see for himself that DH is OK.

 

Told him we had a reservation for Raw 5 [which was made before the free lunch offer]. He promised to be there. He wasn’t… but he comped us the dinner…. And we were glad he did, since, how DH said it so succinctly: “the lobster tail was from the runt of the litter” [and the oysters were far from fresh]. On the “free” lunch, we ordered only fried items and they were good.

 

There were other food disappointments, where you see “grilled steak” advertised, but no steak on the grill. When you ask about it, they search one in their drawers, put one on the grill and tell you to come back between 7 and 10 minutes… Fries? “We’re waiting for a new batch, come back in 5 minutes?” NO!! Someone should monitor the popular items like fries, and the moment it seems that in a few more servings, they’ll be out of it, to already bring a new batch.

 

The last “straw” was potato salad. With no fries available, I’ve tried my luck with the 2^nd best… Long line, since the potato salad is with the “made to order sandwiches” and it takes time. I’m getting the last batch. Yay!! Sit down to eat, the potatoes are undercooked…

 

I calm myself, and go back for another batch. Same “quality”. Ask a waiter to call someone “higher”. A nice and seemingly harassed lady arrives. Stoked her fork too. “Yep!!, not cooked at all”…

 

“What’s you room number”?? That was the SP. Can’t figure it out what my room # has to do with the undercooked potatoes, overmature fruits, not properly unfrozen fish, etc.

 

It’s not that someone called and apologized or explained.

 

To sum it up, on previous cruises, at dinner you saw lots and lots of officers eating at the buffet. There were always stir fry stations, pasta stations, grill stations with every imaginable meat or fish being done on the spot.

 

There were officers patrolling the buffet and keeping eye on everything. If a tray was about to be 2/3 finished, immediately a fresh one was brought, so there will be no delay and waiting.

 

Not on Beyond. Not even one.

 

DH, ever the cynic, predicted that in the last day, Celebrity will pull all stops and gave us a meal to remember. He was right… In the last day lunch there was a “buffet extravaganza”….

 

  

A few words about Captain Kate. I’ve told the concierge on the first day about my “romance” with “her”, and asked, if possible, for a few seconds meet. I thought that, after innocently investing so much time for her “snacks”, the least will be a souvenir pic with her. The concierge was amazed at the quality of the scam, and promised a short meeting.

 

There were 3 meetings of Elite and up with C.K. She made a few seconds appearance, tightly surrounded by her fellow officers, to the point of reminding me the security surrounding the PM of our country… Not approachable, not visible. The one meeting the concierge promised had a few of us aligned in order to meet her. I was the last one in line. A couple before the couple in front of me decided to monopolize her, and, sadly … it was time for her to say a few words and no time for us. The concierge apologized and said to wait there, C.K.’ll “see” us later. The couple before me gave up and, when C.K. finished in a few seconds, she brushed me aside like I was an annoying fly, and… fled through a side door.

 

Wow Dani @dani negreanu.

For a new ship Celebrity have let themselves down and their offerings sounded really poor.

I was saddened for you and angry at how you and your husband were treated.

I hope you email the CEO at Celebrity giving him/her all the information and ask for compensation for how your cruise was ruined.

Graham 

 

[sgmn]

On 7/1/2022 at 7:56 PM, dani negreanu said:

 

Last time it was awful. I think we were more than 2 hours in plain sunshine.

 

This time was much more reasonable -- less than an hour, for 2 reasons -- less ships in port and many were on ship excursion and given vouchers for the cable car [like us]. So instead of paying/counting cash/credit card/whatever, they just scanned our vouchers....

 

As Dani said the best thing was only us and a much smaller ship in the bay. If you Google there's a website which tells you how many ships are booked in each day 

Late afternoon after a late lunch we were going to start walking down when we went past the entrance to the cable car and no queue whatsoever.  We got on the next one . A couple of hours earlier there was a fairly long queue.

It helped that we were in port until late evening so no rush to get back on board 

[sgmn]

17 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Garden Pictures

2 weeks ago and Now pictures

 

2 weeks ago

 

Now

 

 

2 weeks ago

 

 

Now

 

 

Lots of Zucchini, The Deer are enjoying them. Change up from the cracked corn.

I have a couple of good recipes for courgette cake and courgette soup 

[aussielozzie18]

We’ve spent the weekend relaxing indoors to due to weather warnings for the East Coast including Sydney that have been in place since Friday afternoon.  Heavy rain both days plus winds today.  Manly, Taronga Zoo & Mosman ferries were cancelled due to swell and there are evacuations in place in the flood prone areas of Sydney.  This will continue for the next two days.  Thankful we live in an elevated area and that we have no need to travel any distance.

Edited July 3, 2022 by aussielozzie18

[aussielozzie18]

DD and travel buddy picked up their hire car today.  They had booked a pick up truck months ago but on arrival at the car rental today they were told that they wouldn’t be covered under their travel insurance so they would only provide them with small 4wd which they had to wait around a couple of hours for until one was available.  This delayed the start of their road trip but the positive outcome was that crossing the border into the US was a breeze with border staff telling them that the queue was crazy a couple of hours prior. Arrived to their campsite to thunder and an impressive lightning show.

[sgmn]

Dani, I'm glad you told your story so well, we had several conversations with you and others about the food on board. Even people in suites or specialised restaurants weren't happy. We mainly ate dinner in the four included restaurants. The food was OK but nothing to get excited about. Gary has escargot a couple of times (normally his favourite starter) and thought the snails were  very small and below par. We're normally pretty easy going but for the first time ever Gary sent his steak better because it was cold (how is that possible).  When the second steak came, the chips were hard.  BTW there was just six chips artfully arranged on the plate. 

I did find the vegetables hard and very undercooked . I know this is common on ships but this was almost unedible. On Silhouette in May we always asked for extra veg, we didn't bother on Beyond.

There were some good things, sir fry in buffet, real fresh coffee in spa cafe, Gary like the burgers and chips in the burger place on the pool deck, cookies in the cafe.  I still managed to put on way too much weight but lost most of it in a week so think it was mainly water retention.

 

As to Captain Kate, I don't really do social media (apart from CC) so had no prior idea or thoughts one way or the other . Agree with a lot of what Dani said, she mainly appeared at the big meet the officers events and didn't appear until her stage spot and disappeared soon after . I did see her in the cafe on deck five. And we spotted her in the photo shop area and she was kind enough to pose for a photo with us. It's an awful pic of me so I won't post it here 😏

I did miss that there was no big forward facing lounge as the suites have been given a much bigger area up front over several decks. This will probably be a deal breaker for us. But we loved the sunset outdoor lounge at the back of the ship . 

We also found a lot of the  lounge furniture in Eden looked amazing but was not comfortable. It also didn't work very well for shows as not enough room or good line of sight . 

Heres a pic of the dark corridor that Dani was talking about , all mirrors and big hard objects, it was a lot darker than the pic shows. I actually saw one elderly man walk into one of the mirrors thinking it was the exit . Its a bit style over substance 

Gary said,  let's go back to Royal next time, and I agree, though maybe this food issue is a thing on all ships now post covid. We haven't sailed RC since 2019

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by sgmn

[sgmn]

Went up to London to see son nbr 1 and family yesterday.  We looked after little Isaac whilst they were starting packing to move. They are moving away from London and closer to us which is lovely but will miss our visits and the vibe of London. Enjoyed playing with him in the parks and tea on the pavement cafes 

Edited July 3, 2022 by sgmn

[grapau27]

13 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Almost booked that ship, glad we didn't now after reading this.

+1

[Jimbo]

58 minutes ago, sgmn said:

Went up to London to see son nbr 1 and family yesterday.  We looked after little Isaac whilst they were starting packing to move. They are moving away from London and closer to us which is lovely but will miss our visits and the vibe of London. Enjoyed playing with him in the parks and tea on the pavement cafes 

What's in the tea pot?

[grapau27]

1 hour ago, sgmn said:

Dani, I'm glad you told your story so well, we had several conversations with you and others about the food on board. Even people in suites or specialised restaurants weren't happy. We mainly ate dinner in the four included restaurants. The food was OK but nothing to get excited about. Gary has escargot a couple of times (normally his favourite starter) and thought the snails were  very small and below par. We're normally pretty easy going but for the first time ever Gary sent his steak better because it was cold (how is that possible).  When the second steak came, the chips were hard.  BTW there was just six chips artfully arranged on the plate. 

I did find the vegetables hard and very undercooked . I know this is common on ships but this was almost unedible. On Silhouette in May we always asked for extra veg, we didn't bother on Beyond.

There were some good things, sir fry in buffet, real fresh coffee in spa cafe, Gary like the burgers and chips in the burger place on the pool deck, cookies in the cafe.  I still managed to put on way too much weight but lost most of it in a week so think it was mainly water retention.

 

As to Captain Kate, I don't really do social media (apart from CC) so had no prior idea or thoughts one way or the other . Agree with a lot of what Dani said, she mainly appeared at the big meet the officers events and didn't appear until her stage spot and disappeared soon after . I did see her in the cafe on deck five. And we spotted her in the photo shop area and she was kind enough to pose for a photo with us. It's an awful pic of me so I won't post it here 😏

I did miss that there was no big forward facing lounge as the suites have been given a much bigger area up front over several decks. This will probably be a deal breaker for us. But we loved the sunset outdoor lounge at the back of the ship . 

We also found a lot of the  lounge furniture in Eden looked amazing but was not comfortable. It also didn't work very well for shows as not enough room or good line of sight . 

Heres a pic of the dark corridor that Dani was talking about , all mirrors and big hard objects, it was a lot darker than the pic shows. I actually saw one elderly man walk into one of the mirrors thinking it was the exit . Its a bit style over substance 

Gary said,  let's go back to Royal next time, and I agree, though maybe this food issue is a thing on all ships now post covid. We haven't sailed RC since 2019

 

 

 

 

Several reports from people sailing on P&O that their Speciality restaurants are closed until further notice.

Apparently crew shortages and supply issues.

[Jimbo]

6 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

What is a 5 way? 

Five-way: spaghetti, chili, beans, onions, and cheese.

[grapau27]

11 hours ago, singinalot said:

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! It was a beautiful evening. My family, friends, and I went to Oystercatchers, a seafood restaurant on the water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_5073.MOV

IMG_5057.MOV IMG_5065.MOV

Beautiful photos Crystal.

Looks like you had an amazing special birthday.

Graham 

[Ocean Boy]

12 hours ago, NHProud said:

@dani negreanu  

 

About bad service , our cabin attendant did something which I found outrageous. I told my husband to go and report him and to take away his gratuity. Just his . He had reported himself and they wiped out all of my gratuities , offered me flowers and offered to remove him from our cabin .  

What did the steward do?

[molly361]

7 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

What is a 5 way? 

And is it like a 3 way??😇🤣