Live from The Beyond, March 5th to 12th

[Moochi]

Bar ranking continued.

 

ALRIGHT BARS

 

Retreat Bar

The Retreat Lounge Bar has the most attentive service. Most times I enjoy great service, but when it comes to cocktails, drink quality is more important than great service, or at least i don’t like to compromise drink quality for better service. There are always servers circling around, and insist to bring me a new drink, before my glass is empty. They are so eager to help everyone, and get a bit upset if I stand up and walk to the bar myself. The problem is, these servers are not professional bartenders, so I can’t expect them to understand every little requests and preferences that I have. Most times I don’t even know who made my drinks, let alone building relationships with the bartenders so they know my preference. There is no seatings around the bar so I can’t sit there to chat with the bartenders either. We have ordered various drinks but the quality is inconsistent. We just got simple drinks like Dark n Stormy and Aperol Spritzs after day 2. The bar has limited ingredients in stock. Although I’m sure the bartenders will try their best to find the ingredients I like, but I don’t want to sound entitled and say, "Hi, I would like to have a manhattan. Could you please get a coupe glass from Le Grand Bistro, Rittenhouse rye from backroom because I haven’t seen it anywhere, and the cherry from World Class Bar please?" So, for the reasons above, although I was treated like royal in Retreat Lounge, I unfortunately can’t say the drinks there are my favorite.

 

 

ONCE AND DONE

Magic Carpet Bar

Beautiful and unique venue with fantastic view. Due to the limitation of the space, this bar is not equipped with many ingredients. Before visiting, I was really hoping to see the menu featuring VC champagne because I read somewhere that the Magic Carpet is painted the Veuve orange. There was only the normal Magic Carpet Bar menu when we visited and the drink husband ordered was just average.

 

Martini Bar

I know most folks here won’t agree with me as this bar is the center of the attention. I love the Martini Bar staff on Millie but the drinks were not great. We were not very interested in going to martini Bar on the Beyond because it’s always so crowd there and the live performance was loud. On the last day, we had an obligatory visit, just so we can review the drinks. I ordered a Martini with Gunpowder gin with a twist. I did not specify the ratio because I’m flexible on this, anywhere between 3:1 and 8:1 can taste fine to me. I want to see the bartender’s version. It is the name of the bar so they gotta make a fantastic Martini right? They have my preferred gin, Gunpowder, great. There is only one dry vermouth, Martini & Rossi, not great but it would do the trick. The bartender pulled out a Riedel extreme martini glass. Way too big for a Martini but sure. He started with chilling the glass with ice and water, great, we are on the right track. The he pulled out a shaker tin. I gasped. Please do not shake my Martini. The he free poured gin to the shaker tin. Oh no. The he added a splash of vermouth to the shaker tin. Oh no. Then he added ice to the shaker tin and closed it. Oh no. The he shook it. You better know what you are doing and know how to control dilution. You are either a genius that has practiced a million times of free pouring and dilution during shaking, or you are a really terrible bartender. Then he strained my drink into the empty martini glass with a hawthorne strainer. No double strain. The wash line was so high that the drink must be 7-8 ounce. At the end, he expressed a fresh lemon peel onto the drink. At least that part was done well. I tried a sip. It was thin, flat, and full of ice shards. I did not take a second sip. Husband ordered a Rusty Nail as always. Both ingredients were free poured over ice, and served without any stirring. I was not interested in trying his drink. He reported it was terrible. Sorry we just can’t like this bar, if they can’t get their drinks right.

[Ripheus]

DW and I still have a lot of catch up to do. But in the meantime, DW decided to try to replicate one of the cocktails we loved at WCB, Above the Clouds. Here is the video of @Moochimaking it. 

[DaKahuna]

45 minutes ago, Ripheus said:

DW and I still have a lot of catch up to do. But in the meantime, DW decided to try to replicate one of the cocktails we loved at WCB, Above the Clouds. Here is the video of @Moochimaking it. 

 

 I love your choice of rum .. Not easy to come by in VA. 

[Ripheus]

6 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I love your choice of rum .. Not easy to come by in VA. 

Thank you. We found it in DC last Summer. 

[DaKahuna]

4 minutes ago, Ripheus said:

Thank you. We found it in DC last Summer. 

 

 I avoid DC if at all possible.  I may have to talk to my local ABC store and see if they can get it for me. 

 

[Moochi]

Back from dinner and drinks for more bar reviews.

 

ONCE AND DONE CONT'D

The Club Bar

We went there once for Bug Trivia to see Bug Naked and Captain Kate. It was a very cute event and everyone oohed and ached a lot. We sat at the bar as the main room was full. I ordered a Paradise City on the menu. It as Barcadi silver, watermelon liqueur, pineapple juice, and grenadine. The taste is alright. Barcadi is not the best choice of the base liquor in here, as it's a bit too harsh. Also a straw doesn't look pretty in a rocks glass, although it's helpful to strain out the small ice cubes. Hubby got a Dark n Stormy. He reported it was overall drinkable. But there was too much ice and the drink was over diluted very quickly. I don't think we will stop by the bar just for a drink unless going to The Club for an event.

 

Cafe Al Bacio

They make good coffees and the service was always good. Hubby ordered an Irish Coffee and it was not as great as it could have been. We had the privilege of having great spiked coffee at the Retreat Lounge so Cafe Al Bacio was once and done deal for us. 

 

Le Voyage

We went to LV for dinner one night. They have a very long and impressive wine list, as well as a cocktail menu. As we were on a mission of finding the best cocktails or cocktail bars on the ship, we just had to test their mixed drinks. We ordered the Rum Voyage and Rye Compass to go with dessert. Not impressed. They were both watered down and weak in flavor. The beautiful Riedel rocks glasses and large ice cubed didn't save the drinks. Next time when you are in LV, stick with their wines.

 

We can't rank the rest bars. Either we didn't order the right drinks to judge the quality, or we didn't have a chance to visit them.

 

What's the verdict? 

 

If you like properly made craft cocktails, visit Craft Social and World Class Bar. They each have their own specialties, but both make fantastic drinks. If you are more adventurous and want to try drinks you don't see elsewhere, check out Eden bar. 

 

 

[Moochi]

19 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I love your choice of rum .. Not easy to come by in VA. 

We found it in Potomac Wines & Spirits in DC. I go to a Japanese salon called Ozuki in Georgetown. I always go to Il Canale for pizza afterwards. The liquor store is across the street in the same block from the Italian restaurant. Check it out if you have never been there. The selection is great the the owner is awesome. 

[DaKahuna]

2 minutes ago, Moochi said:

We found it in Potomac Wines & Spirits in DC. I go to a Japanese salon called Ozuki in Georgetown. I always go to Il Canale for pizza afterwards. The liquor store is across the street in the same block from the Italian restaurant. Check it out if you have never been there. The selection is great the the owner is awesome. 

 

 We have not been there.  I'll have to surprise my wife with a trip to the Japanese salon.  She's Japanese and always complains that she can never get her hair done correctly. 

 

 

[Moochi]

2 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 We have not been there.  I'll have to surprise my wife with a trip to the Japanese salon.  She's Japanese and always complains that she can never get her hair done correctly. 

 

 

She will love that place! After many failed attempt to find someone who can cut my very thick hair "correctly" and not in DC (nobody wants to drive in DC), I always had to go back to Ozuki Salon.

[BecciBoo]

Wow that French Martini is calling my name!

[TeeRick]

11 hours ago, Moochi said:

What's the verdict? 

 

If you like properly made craft cocktails, visit Craft Social and World Class Bar. They each have their own specialties, but both make fantastic drinks. If you are more adventurous and want to try drinks you don't see elsewhere, check out Eden bar. 

Thanks for your bar reviews and rankings and providing your reasoning.

I agree with the three bars that you list here.  Love the World Class Bar.  I would add the Martini Bar to my list but only at a time when it is not crowded, busy and noisy - ie, not early evening when everyone is there before dinner.

[Moochi]

First day back to work. I had a hard time rolling out of the bed this morning, although we have already done spring forward when arriving St Maarten almost a week ago. 
 

My Americano doesn’t taste as good as in Retreat Lounge. Wonder what coffee beans they use. 

I’m making Korean style hot tofu soup for lunch. While waiting for the soup to finish cooking, I would like to review the new Daniel Boulud signature dishes on Luminae dinner menu. 
 

The chilled corn soup appetizer is not as good as I hoped. The toppings are great, but the chilled corn soup part is lacking flavor. It doesn’t taste like the fruity fresh sweet corn, or the sticky glutinous corn. I don’t have refined taste to tell what it really is, although it doesn’t taste bad, just not enough corn flavor. 
 

The duck leg confit “char sui” entree is pretty tasty. The duck meat isn’t juicy or silky, is more firm yet tender, with a little bit chew, but doesn’t get stuck between teeth. The skin is a bit too rich though. The flavor is similar to char sui but could use less sugar and more salt for more balance. If you like the pork char sui from local Cantonese joint, I think you would enjoy this dish. But if you are not a big fan of sweeter sauce on meat, you might want to pass.

 

I did not get the dessert as I wanted try the almond cake. 

[miched]

You need to get one of these super automatic coffee machines.  We bought one after getting use to the Americanos on Celebrity.   Since we bought it it has paid for itself a few times.   The Americanos are also a lot better than Cafe al Bacio.   Just press a few buttons.  
 

https://www.jura-giga.com

 

Below is a photo of the product counter on our Jura GIga 5.  The new version GIga 6 is about the same except it can be controlled by Wi-Fi and the screen is a little different.   it is available on Costco website for $200 cheaper.   I think it is $4700 instead of $4900.    

We have made almost 10,000 cups of espresso and hot water to make the Americano.    It has 2 grinders.   We keep decaf in one and regular in the other.    We are able to mix the amount of decaf to regular.   Since getting this the only time we buy from a coffee cafe is when traveling.  
 

Celebrity uses Lavaza beans.   Don’t know what the roast is.   Lavaza makes a lot of different  roasts.  
 

happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

[catgirl411]

47 minutes ago, miched said:

You need to get one of these super automatic coffee machines.  We bought one after getting use to the Americanos on Celebrity.   Since we bought it it has paid for itself a few times.   The Americanos are also a lot better than Cafe al Bacio.   Just press a few buttons.  
 

https://www.jura-giga.com

 

Below is a photo of the product counter on our Jura GIga 5.  The new version GIga 6 is about the same except it can be controlled by Wi-Fi and the screen is a little different.   it is available on Costco website for $200 cheaper.   I think it is $4700 instead of $4900.    

We have made almost 10,000 cups of espresso and hot water to make the Americano.    It has 2 grinders.   We keep decaf in one and regular in the other.    We are able to mix the amount of decaf to regular.   Since getting this the only time we buy from a coffee cafe is when traveling.  
 

Celebrity uses Lavaza beans.   Don’t know what the roast is.   Lavaza makes a lot of different  roasts.  
 

happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

Omg! I am obvious out of my league here. Are you serious…a $4,700 coffee machine!  I’m sure it makes amazing coffee but that amount represents a serious portion of a week’s cruise fare. You must really love coffee!

Edited March 13, 2023 by catgirl411

[Moochi]

44 minutes ago, miched said:

You need to get one of these super automatic coffee machines.  We bought one after getting use to the Americanos on Celebrity.   Since we bought it it has paid for itself a few times.   The Americanos are also a lot better than Cafe al Bacio.   Just press a few buttons.  
 

https://www.jura-giga.com

 

Below is a photo of the product counter on our Jura GIga 5.  The new version GIga 6 is about the same except it can be controlled by Wi-Fi and the screen is a little different.   it is available on Costco website for $200 cheaper.   I think it is $4700 instead of $4900.    

We have made almost 10,000 cups of espresso and hot water to make the Americano.    It has 2 grinders.   We keep decaf in one and regular in the other.    We are able to mix the amount of decaf to regular.   Since getting this the only time we buy from a coffee cafe is when traveling.  
 

Celebrity uses Lavaza beans.   Don’t know what the roast is.   Lavaza makes a lot of different  roasts.  
 

happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

I do want to upgrade my Breville barista express at some point but not ready to drop $4,700, yet. Or, I should say, would I rather having another week in the retreat, or an awesome coffee machine that I can enjoy for years? 🤣🤣🤣

 

Thank you for the info about the means. Just ordered a bag on Amazon. They have disappeared from my Costco. I remember it was more forgiving for my inconsistent shots and the coffee was not sour at all. Very beginner friendly. 

[miched]

2 hours ago, catgirl411 said:

Omg! I am obvious out of my league here. Are you serious…a $4,700 coffee machine!  I’m sure it makes amazing coffee but that amount represents a serious portion of a week’s cruise fare. You must really love coffee!

I enjoy this machine everyday and still able to take a cruise.   If it was between buying  another one or taking a cruise both of us would choose the coffee machine.  As you can see we already had 10000 cups of Americano from it.   Just put in the beans.   It grinds,  tamps, and dumps  and makes the espresso  with the touch of one button.   It also has a cleaning mode, and descaling. All you have to do is put in the cleaning tablets and press a button.  O   Figure out the math.  Right now the cost  is down to $.50 per cup plus the cost of the beans and the coffee tastes great.   It also has the ability to make cappuccinos, lattes and etc.   just hook up the milk container and push a button.  The more we use it the the lower the price per cup becomes.   I  bought it in 2015.   They have other models that don’t cost as much.  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅
 

 

[miched]

3 hours ago, Moochi said:

I do want to upgrade my Breville barista express at some point but not ready to drop $4,700, yet. Or, I should say, would I rather having another week in the retreat, or an awesome coffee machine that I can enjoy for years? 🤣🤣🤣

 

Thank you for the info about the means. Just ordered a bag on Amazon. They have disappeared from my Costco. I remember it was more forgiving for my inconsistent shots and the coffee was not sour at all. Very beginner friendly. 

I buy a lot of coffee from here.  Whole Latte Love

 

https://www.wholelattelove.com/collections/whole-bean-espresso-coffee

 

They carry Lavazza Dek decaf   Sometimes they have sales for 10% off.   The code is usually beans10.  There is free shipping for orders over $50 and have a reward program.   

 

Costco did carry Lavazza.   Problem is like many products they carry is if you see it and like it you should buy it as they might not have it again 
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[cruise often]

Does anyone know if the Retreat Lounge has flavored syrup to add to the premium coffee they serve. My wife enjoys a vanilla latte and I usually pick it up for her at El Bacio.

[Ripheus]

9 minutes ago, cruise often said:

Does anyone know if the Retreat Lounge has flavored syrup to add to the premium coffee they serve. My wife enjoys a vanilla latte and I usually pick it up for her at El Bacio.

 

I'm not entirely positive, but I believe I saw some Monin syrups behind the bar in the retreat lounge. 

[Ripheus]

Back to the cruise...

On Friday, after the whole day in Puerta Plata, DW and I had a wonderful dinner in Luminae. The sommelier brought us a sparkling rose to celebrate the day (he even brought it to us in the nicer-than-usual Riedel glasses from Le Voyage). We ordered a couple of apps from the always available menu: french onion soup and escargot. They were phenomenally delicious. DW also had the smoked trout, which was equally tasty. For entrees, both DW and I had double portions of the lobster. The lobsters were small, sweet, and tender. However, the sauce used for the entree was not nearly as delicious as that used on the appetizer earlier in the week. For dessert, we both opted to skip the regular desserts and stick with just gelato for DW and sorbet for me. 

 

After dinner, we went to Craft Social and World Class Bar for a bit. We also decided to pick up a bottle of the "Beyond" edition of Veuve Clicquot from Spirited. Although we we allowed to bring bottles we bought onshore back to our room, we were not allowed to bring this bottle back with us. They were kind enough to deliver it to our pile of booze on our dresser on Saturday evening though. We hit the hay a little early around 11pm and got a very restful sleep. 

[Ripheus]

Saturday...

 

was the first day DW got up before me. I slept so well, I didn't want to leave the Exhale bed, even for a delicious breakfast of applewood bacon, english bacon, and hashbrowns at Luminae. But get up I did. And I ate, and ate, and ate. (Gotta maintain my svelte 350lbs! jk) However, they were out of DW's favorite pastry at Luminae - the almond croissant. So we made our way to the retreat lounge and found one or two there. One came back to the room with us, and I made the note DW posted above to keep our room attendant from robbing DW of her sweet bliss. DW laid down to sleep off breakfast.

 

Then it was time for lunch. DW had the borscht and I passed on an appetizer. For entrees, DW had the bronzino (fish, I think) and I ordered the steak frites with a side of lobster roll. When the entrees came out, the waiter gave DW the steak and me a lobster roll. It was quickly corrected, and we both ended up with a lobster roll. DW really enjoyed the borscht and fish. The steak was tasty, but I've found that none of the non-steak restaurants season their steaks before cooking. Oh, well, that's why there's salt and pepper on the table.  I thought the lobster roll was tasty. DW wasn't impressed. To be fair, hers had much more watercress and much less lobster than mine. I think Luminae tries a bit too hard with their lobster roll. It really just needs to be a soft roll, lobster, some mayo, a little citrus, and something crunchy like lettuce or celery. All the super fancy ingredients look nice but don't help the flavor of the dish. For dessert, DW had the peach crumble. I had the chocolate mousse with mango. Both were very good. 

 

In the afternoon, we made it our mission to go to the other bars we hadn't yet visited. DW has posted extensively about that above, so I'll leave it at that. I will say that seeing Captain Kate and Bug was fun and entertaining. I don't fully understand the cult of Captain Kate, but I'm glad she's a good sport about it and seems to have a good amount of fun with it. 

 

Next up...dinner (of course!) and a tour of the rooftop garden. 

[Ripheus]

Saturday afternoon...

 

TL;DR: Plants are nice. Celebrity's designers are clever. I'm a plant nerd, and I figured out where Celebrity gets its escargot. 

 

We proceeded with our mission to visit all the other bars we hadn't been to yet. When we made it to the top deck on our way to the Sunset bar, we started a side quest to document the Rooftop Garden. Now, the Rooftop Garden may be an interesting space to nearly everyone, but it is really special for me. As I've noted at least one other time, I'm a landscaper by trade. Specifically, I work in high end residential landscape maintenance. One of the things I absolutely love about Celebrity is its commitment to using real plants wherever and whenever possible. From the cut orchids in Luminae, to the living walls in Eden, to the Rooftop Garden and the planters around the Retreat Sundeck, Celebrity's horticulture team curates an excellent plant palate and layered design. 

 

 

There are a few aspects of the Rooftop Garden's planting that I find beautiful: 1) its simplicity, 2) its use to create practical and intimate spaces, and, 3) unobtrusive design of the surrounding area to protect the plantings. 

 

Celebrity has no chance to win any awards for innovative plant palate. However, the simplicity of the palate allows the horticultural team to swap out declining, diseased, or infested plantings quickly and without a gap being noticeable to all but the trained eye. Most of the plantings were a mix of boxwood, euonymus, yew, false yew, liriope, mondo grass, cheesewood, mint, lavender, rosemary, sage, Japanese holly, and, juniper. This may seem like a lot of different kinds of plants, but the average landscape typically has 20-100 different species of plants, and possibly many, many more cultivars. 

 

 

What they've accomplished with this simple plant palate and their free flowing design is a series of seemingly intimate spaces, separated from the bustle of the rest of the ship. However, if it were not for the sound-deadening aspects of the plant material, these spaces would neither look nor feel quiet and secluded. In other words, they've used plant materials to create expanded usable space from an otherwise (relatively) small and unused space. 

 

The final thing that impressed me was how the designers camouflaged their countermeasures to the harsh realities of being constantly exposed to wind, rain, salt, and heat/cold. The first, and most obvious, countermeasure used is the extensive use of planting walls and planters. Inside these planting walls and planters, the plants' roots are adequately protected, the irrigation system and the irrigation system can be hidden. Using these also allows the hort team to hide the fact that they're using primarily containerized plants, which allows them to quickly remove bad plants. The second countermeasure they use is the siting of the garden itself. It's located in the center-aft of the ship, between the smokestacks and the rear elevator banks. This site allows for longitudinal protection from the wind. For latitudinal protection, they use a very clever system of obvious windwalls at the outside of the ship along the waking paths/track and again between the walking paths/track and the garden. If you look closely in some of the pictures you may see that there are occasional breaks in the windwalls. These breaks do let air and wind flow freely. But here's where Celebrity got really clever. Those butterfly artworks located in and around the Rooftop Garden...yeah, those. They kind of look out of place in the space, except for Celebrity's propensity for zany art. Well, these monuments of absurdity are actually quite functional wind diffusers. It took me a minute to realize their function, but they are very strategically placed to catch any stray gale that may make its way into the garden area and slow the air speed down enough to mitigate leaf desiccation. 

 

I'd say that Celebrity's horticultural and design teams have been very successful at keeping the garden healthy. That's not to say there aren't some problems. And being the landscaper (and Cruise Critic) that I am, I set out to find them. Fortunately, I only found a few issues. There are a few plants that are suffering from powdery mildew. The euonymus, unsurprisingly, had the most powdery mildew issues. 

 

There were also more than a few boxwood and Japanese hollies that were suffering from mite infestations. Thankfully, they used Korean or hybrid boxwood throughout the ship, so there is little chance of seeing boxwood blight on these plants. Some of the yews and false yews had tip dieback as well, which is typically caused by fungal pathogens. The liriope throughout the ship almost universally had issues with rust and some had mild mite infestations. Most of the mondo grass had gray leaf spot, another fungus. And the mint was chock full of bacterial, fungal, and insect issues. Fortunately, the horticultural team seems to identify these issues and hide the worst of the affected plantings in inconspicuous places. I was a bit surprised with the dearth of snails on the leafy plants. But then I remembered all the delicious escargot... All kidding aside, I am amazed that they're able to keep the plant issues to such a minimum. I imagine the types of chemical and even organic controls they can utilize are severely restricted both from a regulatory and guest health standpoint. Next time I'm on the Beyond (or perhaps Ascent?) I'll have to make it a point to seek out the horticultural director.   

 

 

Overall rating: 436/10

[Moochi]

14 minutes ago, Ripheus said:

From the cut orchids in Luminae

 

I know you are a tree expert but I know more about orchids hee hee. These are dendrobium orchids to be more specific, or den when I don't know how to spell the word...

[Ripheus]

Well, I thought I was going to wrap up the daily reports tonight and wrap up with a general overview and my final thoughts tomorrow night. But the clock has advanced more than I'd like. Time for bed so I can be to work tomorrow at 6:45am. I promise I'll get caught up this week...maybe...

[DaKahuna]

10 hours ago, Ripheus said:

Then it was time for lunch. DW had the borscht and I passed on an appetizer. For entrees, DW had the bronzino (fish, I think) and I ordered the steak frites with a side of lobster roll. When the entrees came out, the waiter gave DW the steak and me a lobster roll. It was quickly corrected, and we both ended up with a lobster roll. DW really enjoyed the borscht and fish. The steak was tasty, but I've found that none of the non-steak restaurants season their steaks before cooking. Oh, well, that's why there's salt and pepper on the table.  I thought the lobster roll was tasty. DW wasn't impressed. To be fair, hers had much more watercress and much less lobster than mine. I think Luminae tries a bit too hard with their lobster roll. It really just needs to be a soft roll, lobster, some mayo, a little citrus, and something crunchy like lettuce or celery. All the super fancy ingredients look nice but don't help the flavor of the dish. For dessert, DW had the peach crumble. I had the chocolate mousse with mango. Both were very good. 

 

 

 

 I found this very surprising. Every time we have sailed Celebrity up to now, the lobster roll has only been available during lunch on embarkation day.  I am hopeful this menu change is fleetwide as I really like the lobster roll, minus the roll, served as a salad and completely agree about making it a simpler dish.  I guess that's why I like that they add lettuce when they serve it as a salad.