Beyond LIVE Semi-Solo AQ Class 11/8/22

vickykay · November 12, 2022

We had the same thoughts and experience when we sailed in an IV this past Feb. We did think they would be great for cool weather cruises when the balcony is not used that much and it does make the room seem bigger.

ecslady · November 12, 2022

Enjoyed reading your thoughts on the IV veranda. Did it once, not sure I would do it again. I do think it might be nice for a cold weather itinerary, like the baltics or Norwejian fjords where it's not so hot and humid and you still want a view.

chamima · November 12, 2022

Thanks for the balanced review of the IV. You've basically confirmed what I thought.

Your pictures of the bathroom got me thinking - is it still possible to get the small bars of soap if you request them?

kwokpot · November 12, 2022

2 minutes ago, chamima said:

Thanks for the balanced review of the IV. You've basically confirmed what I thought.

Your pictures of the bathroom got me thinking - is it still possible to get the small bars of soap if you request them?

Yes, you can get as many bars of soap you need.

GenerationX · November 12, 2022

35 minutes ago, ecslady said:

Enjoyed reading your thoughts on the IV veranda. Did it once, not sure I would do it again. I do think it might be nice for a cold weather itinerary, like the baltics or Norwejian fjords where it's not so hot and humid and you still want a view.

Thank you, that is a very good point.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t know if Celebrity plans to send an E class ship to Alaska, but if they did, I would probably book an IV in a heartbeat for that.

When we did Alaska we preferred to do aqua to a suite anyway to have more budget to invest in shore activities and it would be a very cool experience seeing the glaciers and mountains up close while standing warm in my room in my bathrobe.

GenerationX · November 12, 2022

There’s something very bittersweet about a sea day when you know the ship is dragging you back towards real life. 😭

Although, based on my scroll of social media this morning, it looks like STL got 4 inches of snow overnight, so I’m counting my blessings. For some odd reason, my husband doesn’t seem to be responding to my texts with my selfies from the pool deck Bellini in hand 🤔😂

Speaking of said sea day pool deck it’s a little before 10am and it looks like there are still plenty of loungers, but shaded ones are in short supply.

Blu was a bit busier at early breakfast this morning but service was incredible. Within 5 minutes of sitting I had a yummy raspberry danish, hot coffee, a Blu parfait and some fresh fruit, all served with big smiles and warm personal greetings.

My toasted bagel came out still warm and with the cream cheese nice and soft and spreadable.

I wasn’t planning to start drinking till I got to the pool deck, but my lovely assistant waiter Aranza reminded me that this is the last full day of my vacation and I should really enjoy myself. She made a very good point.

I’m gonna take a dip in the pool and read a chapter in Dangerous Crossing then I’ll catch you guys up on yesterday and dinner in Le Voyage night before last (spoiler alert: my personal opinion is that it’s worth every dime they charge for it).

Happy Saturday and for those following from the snows of early winter, stay safe and warm!

Jazzbo · November 12, 2022

I am so sorry for your loss, Charla. Cancer sucks!

CruisinBanka · November 12, 2022

5 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Thank you, that is a very good point.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t know if Celebrity plans to send an E class ship to Alaska, but if they did, I would probably book an IV in a heartbeat for that.

When we did Alaska we preferred to do aqua to a suite anyway to have more budget to invest in shore activities and it would be a very cool experience seeing the glaciers and mountains up close while standing warm in my room in my bathrobe.

Celebrity just announced they are sending the Edge to Alaska for the 2024 season so you might get your chance!!!

TravelingCircusof5 · November 12, 2022

If on your explorations you find more good places to work-from-ship, please do post. My husband will need to delve in for a couple hours each day, and turning the stateroom into an office is less than ideal. Have a great time!

timf264 · November 12, 2022

Do you happen to know if Dymytro (Bartender) is on the Beyond?

FSUfan16 · November 12, 2022

We are loving your review! Thank you for posting! It looks like you are having a wonderful time. Sorry to hear the sad news about your friend. My husband is from St. Louis also and they did get a lot of snow this morning!

Can you tell me more about the Great Gatsby party? My husband and I will be on the Beyond December 4th. Is that something extra that you signed up for? How did you find out about it?

Also, once we board can we book shows in the app?

Thank you for your time! Enjoy your cruise!

GenerationX · November 12, 2022

While I’m enjoying a happy hour champagne and chambord with a mild ocean breeze in my favorite quiet little nook outside of Eden, a back in time post about dinner at Le Voyage:

The restaurant is off the grand plaza, but it’s well sheltered from the loud music and hustle and bustle by not one but TWO sets of automatic double doors.

When we sat down, Red and I were greeted with complementary welcome glasses of Veuve Clicquot (this ship clearly knows my love language) and an amuse bouche of a roasted eggplant purée with cured olives and Moroccan spices.

We asked our server for his recommendations for the best dishes to try and our sommelier for the best wines to pair them with and we didn’t get any bad advice. I think Le Voyage and Eden are where they’re hiding the server and sommelier A-teams on this ship!

For our starters we had the shrimp and the crab salad and finished both. I didn’t think the crab was quite as good as the crab in the crab cake at Eden, but it was sweet and juicy and very refreshing paired with our dry white wine for the course.

For mains, Red generously treated me to some of her casino winnings and bought us a nice bottle of Cab to go with the lamb chops (me) and filet (Red). At our server’s recommendation, we also split the wonderfully creamy and not at all stingy on the lobster risotto. The lamb chops were so good I stopped regretting missing the ones at Rooftop Grill. I’m not usually a sauce on steaks person but Red was sopping the sauce around her steak up with bread after she finished it, so it must’ve been good.

Then came time for dessert. A word of caution for future Le Voyage diners:

Up to this point, portion sizes for the meal had been pretty manageable. So we didn’t hesitate when after we ordered the kumquat confit and cardamom ice cream, our server suggested that we also try the raspberry sorbet. It’s hard to tell scale from the photos but when these desserts came out we quickly realized that things had escalated to Cheesecake Factory portion sizes. Our sever also failed to mention that the dessert course would come with a complimentary basket of warm, powder sugar dusted ridiculously good little beignets and a plate of chocolate petit fours.

I have no regrets on going all in though, because all 3 desserts were so beautifully presented (check out that generous 24 carat gold garnish on the sorbet 😮) and tasted great.

Just my personal opinion, with Celebrity going for this whole “modern luxury” vibe, Le Voyage is the restaurant where they really hit the nail on the head on that. I think I shall call it “Murano Version 4.0”.

The experience was so nice that we asked our server yo give our personal compliments to the chef. He did us one better and brought the chef out so we could quickly thank him personally for the meal on our way out. We were one of the last tables of the night and the chef was wrapping up his shift and must have been tired, but he was nice enough to stick around and have a little chat with us and our sommelier about their experiences meeting Chef Boulud (he was on the ship briefly while it was in NYC) and his recipe and wine pairing philosophies.

After dinner, Red headed off to bed and I went to see my old friend Rendy from Summit at the martini bar for a passion fruit martini then put myself to bed too.

I have to apologize to the readers who enjoy my usual late night dance party antics. With everything that’s gone on for me in work and personal life recently I just haven’t felt much up to shutting down the dance club much this cruise. We’ll see how the vibe is hitting me this last night though!

A few days on a Celebrity ship is such good balm for the soul.

Edited November 12, 2022 by GenerationX

GenerationX · November 12, 2022

2 hours ago, TravelingCircusof5 said:

If on your explorations you find more good places to work-from-ship, please do post. My husband will need to delve in for a couple hours each day, and turning the stateroom into an office is less than ideal. Have a great time!

When there’s not something going on in the grand plaza, Al Bacio is great for a quiet place to work. Also, most days Eden hasn’t really had much activity till early evening, especially if I go up the ramp to the second level and wifi is still pretty strong up there l. If he doesn’t mind working at a lower, cocktail height table and/or with his laptop on his lap, I’ve found that to be a good back up work location.

GenerationX · November 12, 2022

Things I Should be Doing:

-Checking in for my flight tomorrow

-Starting to pack

-Getting ready for one last dinner on Beyond

Things I’m Doing Instead:

-Listening to live cello in Eden

-Drinking kir royales

-Watching one more beautiful sunset at sea

I’m doing walk off luggage so I can pack before bed/early morning. Life is too good for goodbye preparations right now.

abbydancer2003 · November 12, 2022

Hi,

I started reading this a few days ago, but I'm still behind on email, so didn't check in again until now. Thanks for taking us along.

I did want to comment on the gatsby dress, which looked great on you. Is it from the Amazon site that has around 7 or 8 styles in different patterns and sizes? If so, I think one of the other ladies in the picture (one in black) is also from the same set. I have a blue one that was for a dance show. Sorry I wasn't there with you to wear it.

And so sorry about your friend. Hugs.

raudacruise · November 13, 2022

Loving your review. The Gatsby dress was fabulous—of course. I have a map dress too. So am I in the GenX club?

So sorry you lost your friend. The sea is indeed a comfort.

DH was only 55 when he passed from cancer. He was given 3-6 months, was gone in 3 weeks. Everyone enjoy life to the fullest NOW.

Stem to Stern · November 13, 2022

@GenerationXI am very sorry for your loss. Please accept my deepest sympathies.

On a higher note…your food porn is Triple XXX Rated. Can’t stop watching. Those desserts…😳🤤

GenerationX · November 13, 2022

Greetings friends! Red and I just finished our final night dinner in Raw on 5.

The good news is, the food was outstanding!

The bad news is, the service…had hiccups.

We had a little over a half bottle of wine left from our second Eden dinner (I know I still need to do that catch up post on that, stay tuned!) and our Eden sommelier Ernesto had arranged for it to be delivered to Raw for our dinner reservation time.

Unfortunately, after a half hour sitting at our table at Raw, we still hadn’t even had a somm or drink server approach us and ask if we wanted anything other than water to drink.

I finally saw the somm and waved her down after she delivered and poured a bottle of sake for a big table near us. She seemed very nice and friendly and brought the bottle to the table, then poured us each a small serving, and put the rest of the bottle on a serving station behind us…then ignored us completely….that is except until about halfway though our main course when she briefly passed our table, looked at our nearly empty wine glasses, and said “oh you have your wine right over there” and rushed away. 🤦🏾‍♀️

After more time passed and and not being one to sit and wait indefinitely for good wine that I’ve already paid for and is like 4 feet away from me while I’m still able bodied, I took that as my cue to act as our wine server for the remainder of the meal. I even had a little fun with it and managed to get a slightly irritated Red laughing about the whole situation.

The somm did eventually come by one more time and ask if we needed anything…after we’d finished eating…and drinking the rest of the bottle of wine that I’d served us myself.

We ordered the oh so good kakiage again to share to start, then had the imperial seafood tower, hold the raw oysters (neither of us are fans). Having had a bit too much happy hour before dinner, Julie also ordered a side of rice for extra alcohol soaking carbs.

I was in the seat facing the raw bar and saw our seafood tower be made and just sit out at the service counter for about 25 minutes while our appetizer came and we ate it.

Fortunately the tower was so well iced, it didn’t compromise the taste!

The lobster, crab and shrimp were all great. I thought the ceviche was a little too bitter but Red enjoyed it. We both agreed the crab salad was top notch.

Red’s side of rice never came, and she was starting to feel a little tired, so we decided to just get the check and head out rather than remind our server and wait for it.

Actually, Red went up to the host stand to ask the manager for our check when we didn’t see our nice but very busy server again for a while and she was starting to feel like she needed to get to lie down.

She said that the manager seemed shocked to hear that we weren’t satisfied with the service and that he didn’t even bother to profusely apologize (the lack of apology, quite frankly, is particularly shocking to me given the level of service I’m used to experiencing on Celebrity generally and the service I’ve experienced elsewhere on the ship all week, even when staff is stressed and/or short handed).

Still, for now, I’m writing the service issues off ad “any service team can have a tough night/table”, especially with today’s staffing challenges and, from my perceptions over the past few days, what seems to be a large number of especially demanding passengers.

I also noticed the sommelier giving what looked like very attentive service to some other tables (just not us) so maybe we just fell through the cracks somehow.

Plus at the end of the day, the good food and wonderful company of a dear cruising friend who I won’t see again till we both sail semi-solo on Silhouette in January (oops, there I go getting ahead of myself again!) sent me away from dinner a happy woman overall.

When I’m blessed to sail Beyond again, I wont hesitate to give Raw on 5 one more try. I mean I don’t even know if my marriage would survive my husband being denied the opportunity to try that seafood tower!

dlh015 · November 13, 2022

It is sort of mind-boggling that something that tall (the tower) could sit for 25 minutes with no action towards actual delivery!

You are a good sport...and wonderful wine server...lol...

Jim_Iain · November 13, 2022

Thanks for another fun review. Really want to do Eden. They have really upped their game. We dined on Edge with their initial menu and while nice was more of a one and done. I really want to try their New England lobster -- looks yummy.

TPCRUISER2 · November 13, 2022

Thank you for taking us along for another great time. So sorry about your friend.

Edited November 13, 2022 by TPCRUISER2
Update

momofmab · November 13, 2022

Forgive me if I missed it, but did you utilize the thermal spa at all on your trip? Trying to determine whether a move-up to Aqua class is worth it 😊

I appreciate your review of the IV (good to know about the bugs and the noise with opening & closing it).

I agree with others that your food pics are incredible!

Texed · November 13, 2022

Thanks for posting your review. 😊

Arzeena · November 13, 2022

Just getting current on this reading. Love the pictures! Where and when is the next cruise?

Very sorry to hear about your friend.

GenerationX · November 13, 2022

Oh how the mighty have fallen…this time yesterday, my breakfast was being served to me on white tablecloths by a team of smiling faces.

This morning, I’m queuing up for coffee and avocado toast and the Admiral’s Club bartender apparently expects me to PAY for my Bloody Mary.

The best thing I can say about my current sad lot in life is that disembarkation from Beyond went very smoothly.

I was a little sleepy this morning because I stayed out with some new friends for a martini or 2 after the 10:30pm production cast show in Eden. Then, as I was just falling asleep, apparently the Beyond gave herself a factory reset or something at 1am and all the lights and TV in my room randomly came on. 😂

I did walk off with my luggage this morning and it was much more organized and efficient than it was on Equinox this summer, even through my sleepy haze. Facial recognition was being used in T25 so getting through customs was a breeze.

Self disembark started at 7:30 and I was at the curb waiting for my Uber by 7:50. I even managed to get my car order in before surge pricing started to kick in!

On the ride to the airport I was reading through some social media posts about our cruise and saw a few comments that food on the ship was terrible and people managed to actually lose weight this week. They must’ve eaten in different restaurants than I did, and as I dressed this morning I could really have used having their problem. NONE of my shorts will button and I’m considering sending the Beyond’s head chef a bill for the new pair of Spanx I’m going to have to buy tomorrow.

As I’m sitting here lamenting my once again common life, let’s go back in time in reverse chronicle order and talk about the rest of my last day aboard yesterday.

After my morning at the pool, I showered and went to sea day lunch in the cosmopolitan main dining room. It was one of the same sea day lunch menus that was on Summit in July so I ordered things I’d enjoyed then and they were just as good on Beyond. Not Le Voyage or Eden good, but a free lunch will be free lunch quality.

The room was busy but seating and service were prompt. I got there about 12:15 and was done with a few minutes to spare before my 1pm premium wine tasting.

Speaking of which, remember how I said there were no wine events showing in the app? Well, while we were dining in Le Voyage, our somm Fabrize mentioned that he would be leading a premium wine tasting the last sea day and asked if Red and I would be interested in signing up. Apparently there was also a tasting on the first sea day that never showed up in the app.

My advice for those sailing soon would be, if you’re interested in wine events and aren’t seeing them in the app once onboard, find a sommelier (I recommend one at Eden or Le Voyage if possible, they seem to be the most knowledgeable) and ask about the plan.

Anyway, the premium tasting was $99 and all wines tasted sell on the ship for $200 or more a bottle.

Fabrize gave a very interesting presentation on the wines and Red and I both really liked the champagne and all of the reds.

The cheeses that came with the wines weren’t very exciting, just basic cheddars, Gouda and bleu. They went well with the wines each were paired with, but I thought I remembered on Edge the premium tasting having some really premium cheeses paired with it as well.

Still to come:

-Stepping further back in time to catch up report on day 4 (including my second lunch in the bistro and our second Eden dinner)

-All about my spa experience on Beyond vs. Edge

-Going back through the thread to answer any questions I’ve missed

-Final thoughts on Beyond and future cruise plans