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Live Review, Celebrity Beyond, December 11-18

Stealthdog

By Stealthdog,
in Celebrity Cruises

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Stealthdog "Live from...." Rare

Stealthdog

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LauraS
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"Yay! Another from Stealthdog! Thank you for generously sharing your time at sea with everyone at Cruise Critic!"

Stealthdog was awarded the badge '"Live from...."' and 5 points.

We are continuing the second leg of a B2B (or side to side) and board the Celebrity Beyond this Sunday in Fort Lauderdale.  We are currently finishing our first leg on the Royal Odyssey of the Seas.

 

This will be our 4th Celebrity sailing, and have also sailed Royal, Norwegian, and Disney.  I plan this review to be mostly live, but I might have some portions that will be done post cruise.

 

Some information in case people have specific questions about cabin, dining, status perks, etc:

- We booked a Concierge Class balcony but upgraded to Aqua Class in the bid-up process.  We are excited for that because we have only sailed Aqua Class on Celebrity.

- We will spend most of our time in the Blu restaurant but will try a few of the new MDRs and may go to one Specialty Restaurant.  If we do, it will probably be Eden.

- We bought the non-alcohol package and are bringing 3 bottles of wine on board with us (our TA has a fourth bottle waiting for us on board).

- We have Select status. 

- We purchased an internet package.

 

Itinerary for the sailing:

Dec 11 - Fort Lauderdale

Dec 12 - At Sea

Dec 13 - At Sea

Dec 14 - St Maarten

Dec 15 - St Thomas

Dec 16 - Who knows....keeps changing....looks like we are back to Puerto Plata

Dec 17 - At Sea

Dec 18 - Fort Lauderdale

 

We have been to St Maarten and St Thomas a couple times each, and Puerto Plata for both resort stays, and cruise stops.  We booked all of our excursions for this sailing thru a private vendor (Shore Excursions Group).  We don't know yet what we will do in Puerto Plata yet because the itinerary just changed again 2 days ago.

 

I'll plan to post menus, the daily, and the entertainment schedule.  Ask any question and I'll try to get the answer, post the picture, or provide whatever you want.

 

When this review is done, I'd like to do a follow-up comparison of the Royal Odyssey and Celebrity Beyond since they are both new ships in those fleets, similar sizes, and alot of people seem to have questions about differences between Royal and Celebrity.

 

Below is a link to the current live review of the Odyssey if anyone has interest reading about it.

 

Live Review, Odyssey of the Seas, Dec 3-11 - Page 5 - Royal Caribbean International - Cruise Critic Community

 

Edited by Stealthdog
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Stealthdog "Live from...." Rare

Stealthdog

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6 hours ago, FireEMT978 said:

Curious, as to what your "Observation" is, as to the average age? I'm going to be 52 on NYE! On, the NYE sailing. I'm really stressing, needing some "Fun" times. Not ready for retirement! NEED adrenaline!

 

Will let you know.  We are already in port on the Odyssey and watching the Beyond arrive now!

20221211_062555.jpg

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Stealthdog "Live from...." Rare

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7 minutes ago, maggieq said:

Does celebrity or rccl provide transportation between ships?

 

Yes.  There is a shuttle service.  Once we get our luggage, rccl will put us on a shuttle to get to the next pier.  Ill descibe that process once we are finished.

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YensidCA

YensidCA

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12 minutes ago, Mcgeneseo said:

I'm also on the Feb 5th sailing.  I wonder why Puerto Plata keeps changing.  I don't plan on getting off the ship much, but just curious.


I did not know this about Puerto Plata but I'm like you probably will not get off the ship on that day. That island does nothing for me. 

I would love for them to change it to Turks and Caicos as we have friends who live there. 

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kwokpot

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11 hours ago, FireEMT978 said:

Curious, as to what your "Observation" is, as to the average age? I'm going to be 52 on NYE! On, the NYE sailing. I'm really stressing, needing some "Fun" times. Not ready for retirement! NEED adrenaline!

 

What do you mean by "fun" times? I see you're mainly a Royal cruiser. The vibe on Celebrity is decidedly different. It's a much more laid back cruiseline. It's a 'make your own kind of fun' cruiseline. What exactly are you looking for?
 

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Lastdance

Lastdance

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I am certainly hoping that I love this ship, as have booked a b2b/TA for this spring.  Sunset Suite for first leg and SV for second.  In addition, I booked her for a 10 day Caribbean next December.  The pricing is absurd from what I paid on all three cruises.  $6,000 difference on SS alone!  I guess 'fun" is relative to each individual, but I love Celebrity's relaxed environment.

 

OP, I hope you have a lovely time on Beyond!

Edited by Lastdance
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Stealthdog "Live from...." Rare

Stealthdog

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6 hours ago, maggieq said:

Does celebrity or rccl provide transportation between ships?

 

It turned out being a little mess, but we got to the ship. 🙂

 

After getting the luggage and leaving the pier, we asked an employee for the port transfers, and they directed us to where all the shuttle buses are located.  The company RCCL contracts manages all the tranfers and buses.  They were really friendly, but it did not seem as if there was a standard vehicle used.  They have the passenger manifests for the airport transfers and a list of all the piers in port and where each ship is located.  After a couple of minutes of the staff debating, they put our luggage on an airport transfer bus and dropped us off at Pier 25 (Beyond's location) before leaving for the airport.  We were worried they would drive straight to airport and then bring us back after, but they took care of us.  It was fairly quick - maybe 10-15 minutes, but the distance between Pier 18 and Pier 25 is some distance and we were appreciative we didn't have to roll 4 suitcases on foot across the port.

 

While sitting in the waiting area to board the Beyond, another couple from a B2B on the Odyssey said they were put in a small van and transported over that way.  

 

 

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Stealthdog "Live from...." Rare

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1 hour ago, TravelingCircusof5 said:

I wonder what the deal is with Puerto Plata. I read on another thread that it is changing too. What would be the reason for that? Also, where do you check your cruise to see if ports are changing? 

 

We did not get much of an explanation when they first changed it a few weeks ago.  The message from Celebrity was Puerto Plata was "port congestion" that day and our port was being changed to Turks and Caicos.  We were notified 3-4 days ago that the port was being changed back to Puerto Plata again.

 

We were excited about the change from Puerto Plata to Turks and Caicos because we have been to Puerto Plata a few times (both land resort and cruise stop) and have never been to Turks and Caicos.  But, we are doing the excursion at Puerto Plata (some waterfall activity) that I was most looking forward to between the two cruises, so I'm ok with it back on. 

 

For your question 2nd question - you should receive an email from Celebrity if there are any changes to your itinerary.  If you booked through a TA, he or she will also receive notification of any change.

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Stealthdog "Live from...." Rare

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We have also made it a habit to bring 4 bottles of wine on board with us.  This is no different.  We put two bottles in one backpack and two in another backpack and went through security with no issues.  

 

We also were gifted a bottle from our TA (it was supposed to be Caymus, but it is Heitz Cellar and I have never heard of them).  

 

This may be our most impressive stockpile of wine on a cruise ship.  Not sure how we are going to drink all 5, but we will figure it out. 🙂

 

20221211_112113.jpg

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