Some very personal musings about our Beyond cruise....

[KKB]

Have sailed 17 criuses in 18 years--7 on Celebrity in the last 8 years.

Did 2 weeks on the Edge last summer w/ Captain Kate--BEST CRUISE EVER.

Food was consistently fantastic in MDRS. Buffets are buffets--no complaints.

Eden restaurant was AMAZING. (yes, comfy seats in the bar area are non-existent). 

Sailed Apex in March--ALMOST as good as Edge. I think we just missed Captain Kate.

 

Anyone can have a bad moment or several. Things happen. 

The wire incident is obviously concerning & not handled with the professionalism & urgency it should have been. I would write to Celebrity about it.

 

That aside, everything else is situational or personal preference.

The walkway to Eden is odd on any ship--not in anyway affects my cruise.

Food can occasionally come out less than perfect, but ESPECIALLY now in the world of staff shortages everywhere. If it's happening consistently then it's an issue.

As far as buffet not hitting the OP's specific preferences, not surprising.

They try to meet a wide variety of preferences, but won't always hit them all.

I MUCH prefer being served at the buffet, even if it is a bit cumbersome--but that is MY preference. 

I know that won't be the case next week on Princess.

 

Some of our fav cruises were RCCL ...but so was our least fav. (tho Eclass now wins for me)

I figure most things that didn't go right are situational--that the next time I sail, it will be different employees, different passengers. Could be better, could be worse. 

 

We have a tentative Beyond cruise booked in Feb. My Eclass obsession continues.

Yes, I can get a balcony for the same price on Sclass; but this is for the SHIP. 

 

But OP, this may cause you to never sail the Beyond again or perhaps give up on Celebrity.

Your perogative.

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by KKB

[Cap_D]

One additional observation two frequently CC members seem to only compare experiences relative to other cruise experiences. The reality is is that celebrity competes with the real world not just itself. Case in point OVC competes with the buffets across the world including for instance the Caesar Bacchanal buffet in Las Vegas. In other words everyone should stop lowering their expectations and expect more given the cost. Staffing shortages are no excuse for wires in fish, and over abundance of stews, using the OVC as the staff cafeteria, lots of staff just mingling around all the time but not really doing anything, undercooked food consistently, or any of the other issues that OP and others have experienced. We observe plenty of staff on Edge in fact so many that they made excuses for each other.  If the local Whole Foods or Kroger has sushi and high quality produce then there's no reason why the most expensive ship in the fleet can't have a similar level of quality especially when it docks literally once every 24 hours at a place that also has those resources available, in a quarter of the labor costs.

[Barwick Cruiser]

2 hours ago, George C said:

Edge ships to a certain extent is a two class ships, suites definitely seem to be a priority for edge class . I know if someone is a upper class suite did complain like Dani , more attention would have been paid, this goes for other lines also.

Although quite possibly true and realistic I find this sad. My holiday dollars are as dear to me as I’m sure most who spend to stay in a Suite. Haven’t found a disconnect between staff and non-suite passengers on our previous sailings, hoping this was a one off and guess I’ll find out when we sail Eclipse in September 🤞

[misha1]

Ugh, swipe left.  What a downer report.  

[Oville]

12 hours ago, chemmo said:

We have found everything a bit more hit and miss on land…some restaurants/hotels as good as pre covid but others having reduced service, reduced menu options, increased cost or kept cost similar but then certain things that were previously included (breakfast, parking) are now add ons.

 

When we next board Celebrity there are issues I can be tolerant about….a slightly longer wait for service, some issues with certain wines or spirits but I would expect the OV to supply decent potato salad and have fries ready! I would also not expect a piece of wire in my food.

 

For me, I felt a degree of alarm about the reported noise levels. I like noise sometimes but it is the quiet ambiance of areas of the ship that tend to be our go to places…

Have you read numerous reviews like this about the Beyond?

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, Oville said:

Have you read numerous reviews like this about the Beyond?

No, I have read relatively few, I do not think there have not been that many as yet….

 

However, I do value the opinion of the OP…
 

In a previous post I did suggest it would be useful if more people reported (from all ship categories) about their recent buffet experiences. 
 

Re noise levels, I seem to remember a couple of posts re noise levels in speciality restaurants on Edge class. As yet we have not yet traveled on E class so have no personal views or opinions.

[Germancruiser]

I sailed on Apex´Maiden Voyage and agree with most of the points the OP states- loud music, no connection - or at least to less connection with the Sea. Eden is a wonderful Idea- but the decor- the 70s gone very wrong!- well each his own i suppose.

The wire incident is very unfortunate, I agree. But one should keep in mind- real people- humans are responsible- and humans make misstakes! Those things should not - but they do happen!

The reaction to that I found overly drama drama drama!

Edited July 5, 2022 by Germancruiser

[grapau27]

21 hours ago, sgmn said:

So I was on the same cruise as Dani (really enjoyed meeting you and DH).

We ate most of our evening meals in the four included dinnng rooms. There were good things about the cruise but also disappointing things, and the food generally was one of the disappointing things IMO. 

Most of it was ok, occasionally very good but never outstanding. 

We're pretty easy going and for the first time in all our cruises had to send a meal back because the steak was cold. When it came back the six artfully arranged chips  (frys) it came with were hard and unedible. My husband said some flavouring on the steak would be nice, it was bland.

On Silhouette in May we always asked for extra veg, we didn't bother on Beyond as it was always very undercooked 

There were some good things.  The bread baked fresh on board was lovely, 

Fresh stir frys in OV was nice as were the ice cream and freshly made pizza. . My husband liked the Mast Grill for lunch . I liked the freshly made coffee in the spa cafe for breakfast and enoyed the fruit plates there. 

We didn't do any specialised restaurants 

 

First time in an infinity balcony which we Iiked, made the room much  bigger. Our room attendant was excellent as always. 

I also enjoyed the long pool for doing lengths and the sunset bar was our go to bar, staff were great and the views stunning. 

My husbands biggest concern was no forward facing top deck lounge for non suite guests, probably a deal breaker for him. 

 

Entertainment was generally good, especially Elements which was probably one of the best shows I've seen on stage. I also found the sound too loud though.

Captain Kates talk on the last day was interesting and well worth attending 

The sculptures and art work were interesting, would be nice to have more information about them .

We did find the seating in Eden uncomfortable and it didn't really work as an entertainment venue as limited capacity and sight lines weren't good. 

Ports were fab and our one ship tour in Malta was excellent and good value

Other ports we did our own thing 

Thank you Sue and Dani for your excellent reviews of Celebrity Beyond.

We have sailed on many ship's during their maiden season's and there might have been a small problem here and there but usually they pull out all the stops to make a memorable cruise and often put a lot of their best crew on the new ships.

These issues you and Dani encountered usually come from poor higher up ships management and we are certainly in no hurry to get on Beyond.

Graham.

[grapau27]

20 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Thank you for your kind words.

 

No, we would not book an E class again.

 

The "premium" rates for this class of ships is high, and for Beyond -- beyond a reasonable price. Our C2's cabin's rate fluctuated between 10K and 11K [with the 3 perks -- free grats, classic beverage and free wi-fi -- and refundable deposit].... As I've mentioned in my long post above, we don't drink [hubby may enjoy a "social" glass of vine] and being "Elite" we had some free drinks anyway. The "free" wi-fi turned out to be very basic, no pictures and videos to be sent. Free grats were always a perk from our travel agent, so, basically, we paid a LOT more for nothing.

 

On a humorous note, I'm sure that hubby and I are on a Celebrity "persona non grata" list, after insisting that the "wire incident" will be taken seriously.... 😉

Hi Dani.

I definitely think you should forward your post to the Celebrity CEO so they know what is happening on this new ship.

Your experience has certainly given us an eye opener on Celebrity.

Best regards.

Graham.

[grapau27]

19 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

An issue for us as well. My wife had a stroke three years ago and since then cannot tolerate a lot of mixed noise and especially loud noise. Celebrity used to provide a more tranquil up market experience and noise could be avoided but this no longer appears to be the case.

I'm so sorry to hear about your dear wife's stroke 3 years ago 

I sincerely hope she has totally recovered.

Take care.

Graham.

[mfs2k]

This is a hard post to read as we are booked on Beyond in October and it’s fully paid for. I’m in the “positive vibes only” mode in my brain. 
I’m sorry your experience was so disappointing. 

[LGW59]

2 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Thank you Sue and Dani for your excellent reviews of Celebrity Beyond.

We have sailed on many ship's during their maiden season's and there might have been a small problem here and there but usually they pull out all the stops to make a memorable cruise and often put a lot of their best crew on the new ships.

These issues you and Dani encountered usually come from poor higher up ships management and we are certainly in no hurry to get on Beyond.

Graham.

Poor higher up management for sure.  Even though the captains priority is running the ship, IMO she/he is where the buck should stop, posing for photo ops is all well and good but I’d much rather they sort their priorities and put the focus where it should be.  Dani’s situation was a dismal failure!!  All you folks who spend your time posting and contemplating who the captain, CD, chief engineer and the list goes on and on…clearly it has zero bearing on the day to day situations such as what happened here.  Glad I’ve canceled my upcoming cruises for this year.

 

[cruising sister]

9 hours ago, chemmo said:

No, I have read relatively few, I do not think there have not been that many as yet….

 

However, I do value the opinion of the OP…
 

In a previous post I did suggest it would be useful if more people reported (from all ship categories) about their recent buffet experiences. 
 

Re noise levels, I seem to remember a couple of posts re noise levels in speciality restaurants on Edge class. As yet we have not yet traveled on E class so have no personal views or opinions.

I just got off the Infinity and the buffet was not good. It was its maiden voyage back in service so I was not expecting perfection but it was far from it. Very limited selections and not very tasty. Inconsistent protocols on self serve or not. Zero upper levels circulating to see how things were going. We were about 3\4 full for the sailing and there was always room to find a table. I am sure people found other places to eat. We did the mid cruise survey and they did do a few suggestions like hand sanitizer at entrances so I know they read them.  The excuse of supply chain issues does not excuse poor preparation of the food they have. Unfortunately for my waistline the baked goods were good. 

[TeeRick]

31 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

This is a hard post to read as we are booked on Beyond in October and it’s fully paid for. I’m in the “positive vibes only” mode in my brain. 
I’m sorry your experience was so disappointing. 

Just set your expectations and you will likely have a great cruise.  BEYOND and the E-class ships are a very different breed and were not designed for a few of us older (ahem!) traditional Celebrity cruisers. They were designed to attract a younger demographic and new/newer customers.  And suite customers.  We sailed on RCCL for years right into their mega-ship phase.  Now those ships are noisy and loud and activity filled.  We still sail them when we are looking for that type of vacation.   E-Class ships are not in that category but definitely more active and noisy than S-Class and M-Class.  All that being said, no excuse for poor Celebrity service on any ship.  

Edited July 5, 2022 by TeeRick

[PTC DAWG]

1 experience EClass, Apex this past March, really enjoyed most things about the ship.  No issues finding quiet when I wanted it.  
 

OP seems fairly dramatic with the complaints to me.  YMMV. 

[carolina_yankee]

I'm new to Celebrity with our first cruise on the Apex scheduled for November. My comparisons for service will be Disney Cruise Line (5x) and Avalon Waterways river cruising. My biggest concern before reading this was connection with the ocean. It was obvious from the deck plans that this was going to be iffy and it seems to be true. For the most part, I'll be fine. We have an Infinity Verandah (looking forward to it, recognize its pros and cons), so the major disappointment is lack of access to the bow for photography reasons. I'll just have to be challenged to find other views and will likely spend more time take aft-photos to get the wake!

 

I'm hoping that being off season, supply constraints will be less of an issue and staffing levels will be closer to norm (as well as better training). I'm prepared for some hiccups there. I'm a little disappointed to hear about the buffet quality, and again hope that it's due to supply and demand more than an erosion of quality. Disney buffets were good, not great, so as along as they meet those standards for breakfast and lunch, I'll be fine.

 

I'm looking forward to the dining most of all and this is why we specifically chose Edge class. Over 7 nights we will visit three of the specialty restaurants and each dining room once with squeezing in Raw on 5 somehow.  We're younger - some music and crowd noise won't bother us, but if it bleeds in enough to the restaurants to disrupt the ambience, that won't be fun.

 

We also have a HAL midnight sun cruise lined up for next summer (chose HAL for itinerary, pricing, and reputation in that order) so we do prefer more sophisticated but casual cruising without going all Downton Abbey every night, enjoy a bit of whimsy and fun entertainment but not Carnival-style, and we also love connection with the ocean. We'll see.  

 

We've embraced the attitude that these are not trips but adventures. We like adventure, so that will open us up to finding the fun in the novelty and rolling with the punches a little bit. As long as we can relax on Apex and tour fabulous ports on HAL Rotterdam, all the while enjoying ocean air and good food, we'll be fine.

Edited July 5, 2022 by carolina_yankee

[chemmo]

9 hours ago, Germancruiser said:

 

The wire incident is very unfortunate, I agree. But one should keep in mind- real people- humans are responsible- and humans make misstakes! Those things should not - but they do happen!

The reaction to that I found overly drama drama drama!

If I read correctly the OP was initially upset because she was worried  some wire could have been ingested and then secondly the fact that it was not escalated to the management team. She was not looking for compensation or grovelling, she was looking for the incident to be investigated. She wanted the incident investigating in the same way all of us who may fall over a trip hazard would want it investigating to ensure it didn’t happen to others.
 

Having the attitude that ‘mistakes happen’ so don’t worry results in careless procedures and more mistakes happening…

[Pinboy]

1 hour ago, LGW59 said:

All you folks who spend your time posting and contemplating who the captain, CD, chief engineer and the list goes on and on…clearly it has zero bearing on the day to day situations such as what happened here.

" Dani’s situation was a dismal failure!! "

Agree, Big Time--- really too bad -- just awful !!

I hope Top Management will do the " right thing " and provide some form of compensation.

( Off Topic )

 ''spend your time posting and contemplating who the captain, CD, chief engineer "

BE Careful------( LOL ) I know a guy who questioned  , etc, etc--- 

And, about complaining that "the buffet was horrible, no selection, food not prepared properly "--

somehow, we always found something to enjoy from the large selection of food. ( except the behavior of some Slobs ).

 

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

Just set your expectations and you will likely have a great cruise.

 All that being said, no excuse for poor Celebrity service on any ship.  

Some people are only happy when, if, they find " something " to complain about.

( No reference to Dani's  experience ).

Who knows, maybe they really like chocolate covered strawberries, cheap wine , a Celebrity beach bag, or even reading a form " Sorry for the inconvenience " letter ??

We have cruised enough to " go with the flow " and have never received less than excellent service 

on any cruise ---- perhaps, it's the way we treat Staff who " bust their butt " for us.

 

 

 

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, chemmo said:

If I read correctly the OP was initially upset because she was worried  some wire could have been ingested and then secondly the fact that it was not escalated to the management team. She was not looking for compensation or grovelling, she was looking for the incident to be investigated. She wanted the incident investigating in the same way all of us who may fall over a trip hazard would want it investigating to ensure it didn’t happen to others.
 

Having the attitude that ‘mistakes happen’ so don’t worry results in careless procedures and more mistakes happening…

I guess I missed the place where everyone on board and on this forum saiid “mistakes happen”?

 

Didn’t she get an apology and one or two free meals plus a bottle of wine?

 

Finding something in your food is serious and should be handled properly.  It seems to me that the complaint was that the issue didn’t go high enough.  Does the Captain or CEO usually get involved in food issues?  I’ve only been on one Celebrity cruise so I don’t know.

[jelayne]

On 7/4/2022 at 8:33 AM, dani negreanu said:

 

Thank you for your kind words.

 

No, we would not book an E class again.

 

The "premium" rates for this class of ships is high, and for Beyond -- beyond a reasonable price. Our C2's cabin's rate fluctuated between 10K and 11K [with the 3 perks -- free grats, classic beverage and free wi-fi -- and refundable deposit].... As I've mentioned in my long post above, we don't drink [hubby may enjoy a "social" glass of vine] and being "Elite" we had some free drinks anyway. The "free" wi-fi turned out to be very basic, no pictures and videos to be sent. Free grats were always a perk from our travel agent, so, basically, we paid a LOT more for nothing.

 

On a humorous note, I'm sure that hubby and I are on a Celebrity "persona non grata" list, after insisting that the "wire incident" will be taken seriously.... 😉

Serious question -  The unfortunate "wire incident" aside would you have ended your cruise feeling better about your experience if the price had been in the $5-6K range?  I have often wondered how  price impacts the assessment of the overall experience.

 

 

[sgmn]

6 hours ago, TeeRick said:

 They were designed to attract a younger demographic and new/newer customers.  And suite customers.  

Agree, I said to hubby it's designed for the instagram generation, stunning to look at and the photos look good on your instagram account but not always comfortable or practical. 

Also really miss the forward facing top deck lounge that we found on Silhouette.  

My DH doesn't like too much sun and really enjoyed sitting in those rocking chairs on Silhouette sky lounge looking out over the bow of the ship.  

Having said this, all in all I did enjoy our Beyond cruise 

Sue

Edited July 5, 2022 by sgmn

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 7/3/2022 at 9:22 AM, dani negreanu said:

  Meantime, a line is forming after him, close enough to defy the purpose of being served in the name of “social distancing/ Covid”.

 

I have been on six X sailings since the restart, never saw any of the crew encourage or enforce social distancing.  Elevators being a major culprit.

 

  

On 7/3/2022 at 9:22 AM, dani negreanu said:

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”. 

  

On 7/3/2022 at 9:22 AM, dani negreanu said:

[and the oysters were far from fresh]. h there was a “buffet extravaganza”….

 

You'll need to increase your sailing budget to find a boutique luxury cruise line who buys fresh fish. The standard process is all food comes aboard frozen on pallets at the embarkment port; I sailed Crystal in 2017 and they stated all their food has to be frozen prior to coming on board for safety reason.

 

  

On 7/3/2022 at 9:22 AM, dani negreanu said:

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.

 

I do understand the disappointment of finding a foreign item in ones food and being told issues will be elevated but they aren't.  They did offer free(?) medical support and two comped meals.  I believe the bigger issue is swallowing a metal wire as far less dangerous that most realize.  Furthermore, like anything, if one is injured from a sailing as pointed out, one would sue anyways, not sure why that's even worth mentioning to the officer who attempting to make the passengers happy.

 

[CU64]

12 hours ago, carolina_yankee said:

I'm new to Celebrity with our first cruise on the Apex scheduled for November. My comparisons for service will be Disney Cruise Line (5x) and Avalon Waterways river cruising. My biggest concern before reading this was connection with the ocean. It was obvious from the deck plans that this was going to be iffy and it seems to be true. For the most part, I'll be fine. We have an Infinity Verandah (looking forward to it, recognize its pros and cons), so the major disappointment is lack of access to the bow for photography reasons. I'll just have to be challenged to find other views and will likely spend more time take aft-photos to get the wake!

 

I'm hoping that being off season, supply constraints will be less of an issue and staffing levels will be closer to norm (as well as better training). I'm prepared for some hiccups there. I'm a little disappointed to hear about the buffet quality, and again hope that it's due to supply and demand more than an erosion of quality. Disney buffets were good, not great, so as along as they meet those standards for breakfast and lunch, I'll be fine.

 

I'm looking forward to the dining most of all and this is why we specifically chose Edge class. Over 7 nights we will visit three of the specialty restaurants and each dining room once with squeezing in Raw on 5 somehow.  We're younger - some music and crowd noise won't bother us, but if it bleeds in enough to the restaurants to disrupt the ambience, that won't be fun.

 

We also have a HAL midnight sun cruise lined up for next summer (chose HAL for itinerary, pricing, and reputation in that order) so we do prefer more sophisticated but casual cruising without going all Downton Abbey every night, enjoy a bit of whimsy and fun entertainment but not Carnival-style, and we also love connection with the ocean. We'll see.  

 

We've embraced the attitude that these are not trips but adventures. We like adventure, so that will open us up to finding the fun in the novelty and rolling with the punches a little bit. As long as we can relax on Apex and tour fabulous ports on HAL Rotterdam, all the while enjoying ocean air and good food, we'll be fine.

Great attitude 

[dani negreanu]

23 hours ago, chemmo said:

If I read correctly the OP was initially upset because she was worried  some wire could have been ingested and then secondly the fact that it was not escalated to the management team. She was not looking for compensation or grovelling, she was looking for the incident to be investigated. She wanted the incident investigating in the same way all of us who may fall over a trip hazard would want it investigating to ensure it didn’t happen to others.
 

Having the attitude that ‘mistakes happen’ so don’t worry results in careless procedures and more mistakes happening…

 

Thank you so much for reading me so very correctly. [I've mentioned before that English is not my mother tongue, and it takes me a lot of time to phrase myself exactly...].

 

You really nailed it, on all the points I've highlighted above.👍

[dani negreanu]

20 hours ago, jelayne said:

Serious question -  The unfortunate "wire incident" aside would you have ended your cruise feeling better about your experience if the price had been in the $5-6K range?  I have often wondered how  price impacts the assessment of the overall experience.

 

Serious answer - No "relation" between the price and the overall experience. We very much wanted this itinerary, with Malta as the highlight. No direct flights between Malta and Israel, and DH, being a photography buff, was very keen to visit. Actually, we were booked for Sept. 2020 in the exact itinerary on a much older vessels, Royal's Explorer OTS.

 

Then we found the same itinerary on Apex, switched, only Celebrity changed this one to a Holy Land one. As much as I like my country, 3 days here were not that appealing 😉... By this time, price was the last of our worries, we just wanted to cruise [DH is twice cancer survivor, so our priorities are, may be, different than others, along with our advanced age].

 

We were happy to pay the premium, the time of the year was right.... and Malta really exceeded our expectations. So glad we succeeded in seeing it [even though I've got Covid two days after the cruise 😢].

 

17 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

The standard process is all food comes aboard frozen on pallets at the embarkment port; 

 

Pls. cut me some slack here... I'm sure I didn't explain myself correctly -- frozen -- yes. As admitted by the cook, the process of "de-frozeing" the fish was faulty, resulting in a fish being hot on the outside, and deep frozen inside.

 

Also, my DH's "beef" about "fresh products" was meant about the variety of sea food easily purchased in a port like Rome, yes, frozen, which was no where to be seen all along the cruise.

 

Re: nothing happens when swallowing a metal wire. Duly noted. Silly me. I should have "consulted" Dr. Google immediately and let our worries to rest.... [slinking away in shame].

 

17 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said: