On Beyond TA……Issues

[hcat]

Years ago ( before the all included resort rage, )  we visited a resort in Antigua. All staff grats were included..no extra tipping permitted.  Everyone was friendly but service was abysmal!  Same concept perhaps..but on X we are allowed and do tip extra...for good service,

[swooldri]

The Beyond's TA was always scheduled to end in New Jersey.  Nothing has changed.  They are and were scheduled to arrive on Monday.

[stevenaha]

I have friends on board ship and just checked with them.  They are on the retreat sundeck enjoying drinks.  No damage.  The only thing she said that happened was, "We had rough seas the first night out from the Azores and the wine fridges in the Retreat were damaged. They lost  a fair number of bottles of wine. But that is it"

[canderson]

14 minutes ago, stevenaha said:

I have friends on board ship and just checked with them.  They are on the retreat sundeck enjoying drinks.  No damage.  The only thing she said that happened was, "We had rough seas the first night out from the Azores and the wine fridges in the Retreat were damaged. They lost  a fair number of bottles of wine. But that is it"

Given what some have reported about the supply of good wine aboard, that *is* a disaster! 🤪

[adolfo2]

2 hours ago, drakes2 said:

There's no such thing as a free drink. Even the ones served to Elite and above guests during HH are not free. They are a part of the loyalty program and have been paid for in some way. 

They're kinda "FREE" for those who pre-purchased/received the Classic or Premium beverage package when they booked. Even though Celebrities all inclusive pricing is now a thing of the past I believe that the vast majority of those on board have either the Classic or Premium alcoholic beverage package.

 

The crux of the conversation was that it's NOT in Celebrities best financial interest to push the pre-paid/free drinks as they will make more money that way. More roadblocks to the "FREE" drinks is more money in Celebrities pocket 😉

[morpheusofthesea]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

Years ago ( before the all included resort rage, )  we visited a resort in Antigua. All staff grats were included..no extra tipping permitted.  Everyone was friendly but service was abysmal!  Same concept perhaps..but on X we are allowed and do tip extra...for good service,

Along the same 'vein', have been reading posts that those that purchased advanced spa packages are finding all the best times are being 'saved' for those that get on board without packages.

[NMTraveller]

On 10/19/2022 at 10:32 AM, Sascol said:

The ship is SUBSTANTIALLY overbooked for the number of staff employed. Some examples would be sitting in the martini bar area to get a drink. 15 minutes to get a server that I had to flag down myself then once the order was placed, another 20 minutes to get the drinks. This was not a one  time thing and it is happening at multiple bars/lounges. 

 

 

Just curious if you have sailed E-class before or if this is your first time?  Before Covid the martini bar on E-class took a long time to get a drink and it was overcrowded...

 

Now on S class the service was pretty good...

[hcat]

1 hour ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Along the same 'vein', have been reading posts that those that purchased advanced spa packages are finding all the best times are being 'saved' for those that get on board without packages.

I have always booked two services ( massage and facial)  on line ahead ....and reserve a time at port pricing.( ship must be in port)

Discount is the same as E +,   and  I  prefer having  a set reservation time..not sure what the adv spa packages include I am not able to compare..,,

[jelayne]

The Martini has 4 bartenders but the Grand Plaza is much much larger than the seating area around the Martini Bar on either S or M class.  The real issue is not enough waiters to take drink orders for those seated at the tables in the Grand Plaza and the 2 tiers of seating above the main floor.  Those drinks come from a back bar when that slows down people line up to order from the Martini Bar.

[dlh015]

2 hours ago, morpheusofthesea said:

Along the same 'vein', have been reading posts that those that purchased advanced spa packages are finding all the best times are being 'saved' for those that get on board without packages.

How would those making those posts have access to the appointment information?? Seems like that would be insider information (times being saved). It would more likely be posts from folks who couldn't get the times they wanted...

[jelayne]

5 hours ago, canderson said:

Given what some have reported about the supply of good wine aboard, that *is* a disaster! 🤪

So far every wine or champagne we have requested in the Retreat/Luminae has been available.  The only time we have had difficulty finding a particular champagne we asked a bar manger where we could find it.  It showed up on ice on our cabin the next day. 

[NMTraveller]

2 hours ago, jelayne said:

The Martini has 4 bartenders but the Grand Plaza is much much larger than the seating area around the Martini Bar on either S or M class.  The real issue is not enough waiters to take drink orders for those seated at the tables in the Grand Plaza and the 2 tiers of seating above the main floor.  Those drinks come from a back bar when that slows down people line up to order from the Martini Bar.

Yep.  Perhaps one of many reasons I prefer S class.  Plenty of small intimate bars with enough help.

 

Martini Bar on E class is just too packed and busy.

Edited October 23, 2022 by NMTraveller

[Ex-Airbalancer]

6 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Yep.  Perhaps one of many reasons I prefer S class.  Plenty of small intimate bars with enough help.

 

Martini Bar on E class is just too packed and busy.

Also the  music from Martini is heard in Al Bacio and the acoustics are terrible in both bars ! 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Our TA was email with a client on the cruise 

“We’re both fine, had a couple days of rough seas a couple of days ago but calm waters the last 2 days. I heard a wine rack in Luminae fell over, one of the whirlpools lost 2 plexiglass panels and is still closed, we had all toiletries in bathroom fall on the floor and shampoo/ body wash hit the shower floor.

Lots of creaking on the ship, broken glasses / dishes along with bottles of wine/liquor.  

Heard several people complained about the creaking noises in the cabins and have been offered cruise credits.

It seems if you complain about anything you can OBC or partial refunds.

service has definitely not been up to Celebrity standards, especially on this leg - definitely short staffed.  No cutlery in Ocean View day 2 for lunch, same today,  day 11, thought maybe whatever the issues they would have figured it out by day 11.“

[chemmo]

10 hours ago, jelayne said:

So far every wine or champagne we have requested in the Retreat/Luminae has been available.  The only time we have had difficulty finding a particular champagne we asked a bar manger where we could find it.  It showed up on ice on our cabin the next day. 

How nice!

 

It is little touches like this that make a cruise special. As a guest who enjoys the occasional sweet sherry pre dinner we often find it hard to get (especially on Caribbean itineraries). A few years ago I asked in Michael’s if they had it. They didn’t, no big deal, I ordered something else. The next evening the bar tender proudly announced he had found two bottles. One of which he had put under the bar so no one else would see or request it from the shelf and the other he asked what other bars we went to regularly and he would arrange for it to be there. That bit of above and beyond service often turns a good cruise into an exceptional one.

[canderson]

5 minutes ago, bdstickks0944 said:

 

More complaints by Karen’s 

Nothing whatsoever wrong with commenting on the acoustics of the design of public spaces.  E class ships in particular seem to have issues of this sort with what would/should be a quiet venue (e.g. dining) becoming subject to the noise of a loud adjacent area, even between decks when there are open areas between.

[blaine31587]

For those onboard how has the Wi-Fi particularly the Premium Wi-Fi been?

 

Thanks 

[Sascol]

On 10/21/2022 at 1:34 PM, crusinthrough said:

Why wait 15 min for a server to come take your drink order?  Is it easier to order one from the bar and go  back to your table?  I understand the convenience of someone bringing you a drink but when a convenience becomes an inconvenience it's not worth it.

 

Valid question…folks around me started doing that. The wait at the bar to get a drink was just as long plus you also then lose the seat you had.  

[jelayne]

28 minutes ago, blaine31587 said:

For those onboard how has the Wi-Fi particularly the Premium Wi-Fi been?

 

Thanks 

It was very good for the first 5-6 days when in Spain and Portugal.  Crossing the Atlantic it has been hit or miss. We had about 36 hours of bad weather, some cloudy, foggy days which probably hasn’t helped.  Connecting or staying connected was sometimes a challenge.

[blaine31587]

Thanks!

[Sascol]

15 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Just curious if you have sailed E-class before or if this is your first time?  Before Covid the martini bar on E-class took a long time to get a drink and it was overcrowded...

 

Now on S class the service was pretty good...

I have. Did a similar transatlantic on the Edge in 2019. No issues like this at all. To be fair, the last 2-3 days the service has improved a bit. The cruise after this one is 3 nights for travel agent reps. It would be in their best interest to work this out prior to that cruise. 

[hcat]

13 hours ago, dlh015 said:

How would those making those posts have access to the appointment information?? Seems like that would be insider information (times being saved). It would more likely be posts from folks who couldn't get the times they wanted...

 Not able to answer specifically.

 

We went into our Cruise Planner/mgr online or from an e-mail link from X about using OBC for purchases.  Went there to use up some OBC for spa, photo and flowers..no luck with flowers..they wanted a Credit Card number..so we passed for now.

 

We ordered a Photo Book for $ 78.99..( says reg price $99.99 onboard)...."34 of your  favorite images" and also included are photos of the ship and popular venues.. no idea if these are an  added bonus or must be included in the 34 selected??? Seems ok for our short cruise.  I have some  BEYOND photos downloaded already, so hope we can  focus on  pics  with us in it..dh b- day cruise!.  We had great success with photos on both of our  EDGE cruises.

 

As to the SPA....Due to the elevated  pricing, even with a pre cruise discount, I downsized a bit. Mine is only a 5 day cruise,  so my  combo selection will work well.

 

I  pre-booked a 50 minute "couture combo face and body"  treatment  for  $150.99 plus mandatory  grat of $27.17.. All in total  $178.16.  I was able to pick my date and time. 

 

There were other options for spa packages  offered, but the website is so tedius to use, I did not look at them..

 

.Sorry I cannot  answer specifically about times reserved for non package purchasers...sorry.

[canderson]

42 minutes ago, jelayne said:

It was very good for the first 5-6 days when in Spain and Portugal.  Crossing the Atlantic it has been hit or miss. We had about 36 hours of bad weather, some cloudy, foggy days which probably hasn’t helped.  Connecting or staying connected was sometimes a challenge.

Service over the ocean will always be a bit more of a challenge.  Again, these are LOW Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, and as a result, the distance they view to the horizon is very limited compared to the higher, MEDIUM Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites spread around the equator that have been used for this purpose.

 

With a limited horizon, LEO satellites over the ocean have no line-of-sight access to the ground stations that provide the terrestrial link for the service, and in such cases, messaging would have to occur between satellites (eating up bandwidth) to reach a ground station that can service the requests for data.  Without massive data servers in space <g>, all of these satellite comm systems rely upon links to ground based systems to complete the connection.  Only a small fraction of the current Starlink constellation have the new laser intersatellite communication capability that would make this possible.

 

A bit of digging along the lines described above would uncover the fact that Starlink isn't capable of being used for mid-ocean communications just yet, and that the original system is being used in parallel as needed.

 

This is a case where it's going to take a while for the full constellation build-out to bring the kind of service that one could hope for mid-ocean. 

 

Here's a snapshot taken just now.  Clicking on it will bring up a big enough image to make sense of it.  Note the little orange markers on land.  These are ground stations that provide the terrestrial links to 'the internet'.  Notice also the green hexagons, indicating where service could be expected to exist, and that none of these are present out in the ocean.

 

 

For any who doubt, here is Starlink's own maritime coverage map.  As you can see, only areas near shore are covered for the reasons explained above:

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by canderson

[hcat]

3 hours ago, canderson said:

Nothing whatsoever wrong with commenting on the acoustics of the design of public spaces.  E class ships in particular seem to have issues of this sort with what would/should be a quiet venue (e.g. dining) becoming subject to the noise of a loud adjacent area, even between decks when there are open areas between.

Could not track back to the "Karen" comment by bsticks(sic) And the post may be gone???

 

Having sailed more than once on E Class, we know some of the issues first hand..

Not sure what that poster knows ...or their history on Cruise Critic..,or on X

 

Fair criticism and  is always welcome on Cruise Critic...hoping BEYOND will improve as things go forward....they did their best on EDGE to quiet down music during Fine Cut dinner hours..., and did some acoustic softening in BLU after we were there

[NMTraveller]

I would suspect that the loud and shouty vibe in Fine Cuts is by design.  X knows how to design quiet dining places.  For example Muranos.  

 

Loud and shouty is a thing with the younger generation.  For example dine at STK steakhouse in Las Vegas if this is your cup of tea.  It is not mine.