Beyond LIVE Med Review 10/20-10/30: Tales from our Suite Roman Holiday

[theopup]

Love you review today, the winery looks very beautiful.

 

”Jeremy and I found a cute little table for 2 under an olive tree and held hands while sipping and eating overlooking the vineyard”

 

That made me smile. My husband and I have been married for 47 years ( together for 50), and would be doing the same in a setting such as that.

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

He was just interested and when I told him joked that next time he would salute me.  LOL

Ha ha! This is where my mind immediately went when I read this...

[GenerationX]

Taking a step back in time to report on our day in Olympia yesterday.

 

As I think I mentioned, the morning started off a little rough.  Because we had such an early excursion meeting time, we ordered room service breakfast on the hang card the night before.

 

I was in the bathroom finishing brushing my teeth when I heard the order arrive.  In the time it took me to rinse and spit I came out and Jeremy was once again alone in the room, with a room service tray stacked with still covered plates.  Jeremy said it wasn’t our retreat host (stateroom attendant) who delivered it and the guy just came in, sat the tray down without even asking/checkin if everything we ordered was there and disappeared in a flash.

 

Oh friends, gone now is my favorite way to start a sky suite day.  My butler showing up at the door with a big smile.  Setting the table and uncovering and setting up all our plates while asking about our plans for the day and what they can do for us today (laundry/pressing/in room snack requests for the afternoon). Pouring our first cup of coffee for us from the carafe and asking if everything we expected is there (and if not prepared to immediately run and get it).

 

Now we get $2K basic veranda room service treatment at $20K sky suite prices. 😢

 

My toasted bagel was ice cold and tough.  

 

My milk came in a little carton but with no glass to pour it in (I guess I was supposed to modern luxuriously take it to the head like a 2nd grader having tray lunch at the school cafeteria 🤦🏾‍♀️). But it was kind of a moot point anyway because when I touched the carton it was also near room temp, and I wasn’t going to risk drinking it not knowing how long it’d been sitting unrefrigerated.

 

We were supposed to have 2 charcuterie plates but only 1, with literally 3 pieces of salami on it, arrived.

 

At first Jeremy couldn’t find any salt or pepper for his eggs, then we found one little paper packet of each stuffed in with the sugars packets for our coffee (those cute little real salt and pepper shakers the butler used to set up on the above mentioned table setting along with a pretty flower in a vase? No mas).

 

Overall, a pretty disappointing start to the day, but luckily things got better once we were on our excursion.

 

We did the tour of ancient Olympia and Folklore Dance excursion offered by Celebrity and it was incredible. Our tour guide was very friendly and really knew her Greek Mythology and ancient history.  We were given earpieces for our tour around the ruins so we could hear her presentation even when we stepped off from the group a little bit to look at other things.

 

Jeremy was still hurting from his night before and lackluster recovery breakfast so I couldn’t convince him to run the 100 meter against me in the ancient Olympic running stadium.  Instead I made him photograph me as default victor at the finish line.

 

After a very thorough, about an hour and a half walking tour of the ruins, we headed to a restaurant about a half hour away for the dance presentation.  The excursion was advertised as including “a glass of wine and a Greek snack” while watching the performance.  We arrived to a full plated lunch and multiple pitchers of wine at the tables which were refilled when emptied…I’m learning a new culture. The Greeks, they don’t play on the food or wine portions.  I’m here for it.

 

The traditional Greek dancers were great and we were so enthralled watching them we didn’t even notice that shots of Ouzo had been placed in front of our lunch plates at some point.

 

Once shots were consumed with an Opa! The guests were invited to join the dancers on the floor to amp up the party. Regular readers know I’m not one to pass on an invitation to a dance floor, especially when I’ve been plied in advance with food and wine.

 

What I wasn’t expecting was: 1) My wall flower husband to voluntarily take up the invite too (must’ve been the Ouzo); or 2) to end up being urged by the restaurant staff with a couple of other women to go dance right on top of the lunch tables, in a way I haven’t done since my days attending a very different type of “Greek” party at Northwestern University (definitely the Ouzo).

 

After the lunch, the bus made a 20 minute stop in town for souvenir shopping opportunities then dropped us back at the ship.

 

Holy cow look at the time! I better pull myself out of the bath and my husband out of bed and get us ready for our dinner!  More to come after I fill myself with wine and seafood!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hcat]

OPA!  Great Party..

sounds like a great excursion!

Edited October 23, 2023 by hcat

[Azulann]

Now you love Greece too plus Roma. When I was there  for an excursion on Crete, we sampled Ouzo at a winery where they made it. Guide told us they had men's versions and woman's version. It is used for toasts when at a party, baptism, wedding and even after funerals. 

I see your cruise is turning into LOVE CRUISE🥰 which is marvelous.🥳 Cruising in Europe is totally different in in the Caribbean.  In Europe it is all about the posts and excursions, history , food  and people you meet.

Edited October 23, 2023 by Azulann

[Norwaylady]

OPA @GenerationX!

 

Sounds like your tour was a hit🙌

Love following😍

 

But that breakfast😵‍💫😳😩

OMG, for those that have followed me, they know I like my roomservice breakfast (even if we sail in kettle class🤣 my budget and taste for travel says I can't do suite life if we are traveling as we do now) That just looks so miserable!

I would not be half full or half empty glass on that delivery, just very sad and not a happy camper🙄 

 

Hopefully it can only go one way from here! To the better and perfection in service and delivery🙌

[Cap_D]

One of the current bullet points for The Retreat is a "Luminae room service breakfast menu."  Stating the obvious, but what @GenerationXand Jeremy were brought for breakfast does not seem as good as any U.S. domestic airline lounge or budget hotel.  How does it qualify as anything from Luminae or that they would want to market as such?

 

 

 

We noticed this poor quality on certain days of our cruise in April 2023.  The room service was very inconsistent, and the Butler didn't really help.  Missed an excursion when he was massively late one day, and we resorted to marching up to Luminae for self service while family was preparing. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Cap_D

[dock]

@GenerationX, was room service complimentary, even for Hot Items.

What speciality coffees are available in suite? 

Thanks.

 

[Mrs_Tiki]

Charla, I have savored every word of this wonderful review! Happy birthday to Jeremy!

 

Your positive attitude in spite of the diminishment of the Retreat experience is admirable, but I am among the many that agree with your assessment that X is not delivering the value that we have come to expect. But with sailings sold out, it's hard to counter the supply and demand principle.

 

Mark and I just returned from our first Seabourn cruise and would be happy to return. However, most of their sailings are longer than the 8-day Pacific Coast repo that we just completed.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise, and I truly hope that our paths cross again! (In the spirit of @mac_tlc, we'll save you a seat in the Retreat Lounge on Ascent, January 21, 2:00 pm...)

 

PS - Have you met Captain Kate?

[cruisebeachgirl703]

"Oh friends, gone now is my favorite way to start a sky suite day.  My butler showing up at the door with a big smile.  Setting the table and uncovering and setting up all our plates while asking about our plans for the day and what they can do for us today (laundry/pressing/in room snack requests for the afternoon). Pouring our first cup of coffee for us from the carafe and asking if everything we expected is there (and if not prepared to immediately run and get it)"

 

That is disappointing. But not surprising. 

[cruisebeachgirl703]

"Oh friends, gone now is my favorite way to start a sky suite day.  My butler showing up at the door with a big smile.  Setting the table and uncovering and setting up all our plates while asking about our plans for the day and what they can do for us today (laundry/pressing/in room snack requests for the afternoon). Pouring our first cup of coffee for us from the carafe and asking if everything we expected is there (and if not prepared to immediately run and get it)"

 

This is disappointing but not surprising.

[DaKahuna]

@GenerationX  Have you given any thought to how and with whom you plan to express your dissatisfaction regarding the inferior quality and service of your breakfast? 
 

[mac_tlc]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

@GenerationX  Have you given any thought to how and with whom you plan to express your dissatisfaction regarding the inferior quality and service of your breakfast? 
 

Early and often come to mind. Celebrity needs to hear it, whether it changes things or not, both on the ship, in the survey and an email afterwards. 

 

As Charla said, this is not a $20K experience or even close. 

 

mac_tlc

[Covepointcruiser]

You are on a new ship, the Apex, where there are entirely too many sky suites.   If even 50% ordered room service breakfast, the staff was overwhelmed.    Celebrity has generated this problem by having too many sky suites and not enough staff.    I didn’t realize that Zenith cruises also had access to the special seats in the theater in addition to the Retreat Lounge.   Do they also get fee room service.

[calicakes]

@GenerationX

 

We did that same food tour in September(2022).  We had some different stops than you did, but our guide( Walter) was amazing and we had a great time.  I loved that company so much, we did another food tour in London last January.  Going to book something in Paris for December too. 

[calicakes]

On 10/19/2023 at 1:04 PM, luv2camp04 said:

Love the review of your Evening Food tour.  I've been looking at something like that for our cruise out of Rome next year.  Do you have the link to the tour you used?

 

Thanks!!

 

Not sure if Charla answered, but its EatingEurope.com and Its the Twilight Trastevere tour. 

Use code Travelmore for 10 percent off( they gave me the code after our tour)

[abbydancer2003]

7 hours ago, GenerationX said:

 

 

Oh friends, gone now is my favorite way to start a sky suite day.  My butler showing up at the door with a big smile.  Setting the table and uncovering and setting up all our plates while asking about our plans for the day and what they can do for us today (laundry/pressing/in room snack requests for the afternoon). Pouring our first cup of coffee for us from the carafe and asking if everything we expected is there (and if not prepared to immediately run and get it).

 

Now we get $2K basic veranda room service treatment at $20K sky suite prices. 😢

 

 

Like others have said, please bring this to someone's attention.

 

That said, I generally don't do room service breakfast, but I almost always call the butler for coffee.  At least half the time, they come in with a tray, and just leave it.  Sometimes they pour the coffee before they leave it.  And once our butler would come in every morning with what we started calling first breakfast - pastries, coffee/tea and juice, and set it up.  That was one time.

 

I do feel your pain.  I think we had better service when my sister and I ordered room service on our first cruise in concierge.

[zitsky]

Charla, please keep the mushy stuff going.  My husband isn’t that romantic unless we’re watching movies at home.  He’s not one for public displays of affection.  Does Jeremy have a single brother?  😂

[GenerationX]

Good morning friends! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of my favorite things about cruising is waking up to new wonders outside my window very day.

 

Yesterday it was mountains of the Greek Isles.  This morning, poof! Croatia!

 

My day hasn’t gone as planned thus far sadly.  I woke up to some work emails about issues that I had to deal with before the Eastern time zone comes online this afternoon, so I had to skip our booked walking tour of Dubrovnik.  

 

I guess there are pros and cons to embarking on our world travels pre-retirement.  On the one hand, our travel insurance is dirt cheap and our knees are still in decent shape (although if Jeremy follows the genetics in his family he’s only got about a decade left in his).  On the other, sometimes I miss a country to deal with an urgent contract review.

 

I told the birthday boy to go ahead on the tour without me and spent my morning with my laptop and white chocolate mochas in Al Bacio.

 

Now that work’s done, followers of my solo travels know that I’ll have no trouble making “me time” lemonade out of lemons on Beyond.  I’ve just settled in at the rooftop garden to sip a mimosa and watch The Little Mermaid.  Then I’m going to try and treat myself to a French lunch at Le Grand Bistro which the app says will be open for port day lunch.

 

Speaking of food, let’s talk dinner at Raw on 5 last night…

 

This is one of those restaurants that I’ve really struggled to find the stride in on previous E class cruises.  Im pleased to report that night was a vastly improved experience though!

 

Let’s start with the service.  Remember my first cruise on Beyond with my girlfriend Red where in this restaurant I had to serve as my own sommelier, and the service was so slow we had to be “that woman” and complain to a manager?  Well this time our waiter Dennis from the Philippines was excellent.  Friendly and attentive and made great recommendations on the best dishes and rolls. If you go to Raw ask for him.  Our sommelier Ryan magically appeared over my shoulder each time my glass was low and before I had time to get a “thank you” out it was already refilled. The only bummer was that Decoy wasn’t restocked this cruise (grrrr) so I had to settle for the Kendall Jackson Elegance Pinot. 

 

We had the Beyond Roll, miso soup, shrimp and lobster wontons, calamari and steak.

 

The only thing that wasn’t fantastic was the calamari.  It was a little over done and the batter was bland. Fortunately it had really good dipping sauces to save it.  Sauces so good Jeremy asked to keep them at the table so he could dip his beyond roll in it (Dennis even offered to bring him sauce refills).

 

Speaking of the beyond roll, when I had it last cruise it was a hot mess.  Not rolled well, falling apart in my chopsticks and way too much Mayo garnish with chewy tuna on top.  This time we finished it in 10 minutes.

 

The wontons are the same wonderful ones served in Sushi on 5 on S and M class.  I plan to continue my endless campaign to get the pork ramen and shrimp tempura ramen from Sushi on 5 also promoted to Raw.

 

Be sure to ask for a side of rice to go with the steak and eat it with some of the wonderful veggies and sauce! My only complaint is that the veggie to steak ratio was way off this time.  More meat please at $19 for the dish.

 

The kakiage is one of my favorite Raw on 5 dishes and I think it’s only available on Beyond (someone please report on whether it made it to the Ascent menu).

 

After dinner, we had a couple of drinks at the martini bar and listened to the house band, then headed back to the room for an earlier bed time.

 

Well, I’m off to see a man about a bowl of lobster bisque.  After lunch I’ll settle myself in at the retreat lounge to share more until Jeremy gets back from his explorations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GenerationX]

8 hours ago, zitsky said:

Charla, please keep the mushy stuff going.  My husband isn’t that romantic unless we’re watching movies at home.  He’s not one for public displays of affection.  Does Jeremy have a single brother?  😂

Oh you’ve just inspired me!

 

As a matter of fact Jeremy actually does have an eligible bachelor younger brother and Jeremy’s mom would very much like to see him settled down and making a generous contribution to the grandchildren effort given Jeremy and I’s lackluster performance in that area. 😂
 

Why didn’t I think of this before, we can find John a match on Cruise Critic and expand the family cruise addiction!

 

If anyone following out there knows a single, marriage minded lady in her late 20’s or early 30’s in the Midwest (preferably with Elite Celebrity status or better 😂) who likes cats, modern art and classic rock music, please speak up so we can get this going!

[GenerationX]

17 hours ago, RichYak said:

Ha ha! This is where my mind immediately went when I read this...

I nearly choked to death on my Chandon laughing when I saw this. In retrospect if the worst had happened, I suppose there are worse ways to go. 😂

[cruisebeachgirl703]

Great food pics! Your breakfast fiasco deserves mentioning. Enjoy every moment.

[hcat]

sorry you had to miss your excursion but sometimes work does that... tech makes it possible to function from a distance but never really shuts down!  

 

glad you had an improved experience at Raw. Oddly .It was one of the dining  highlights of our BEYOND Gatsby  cruise...

 

We dine early,  and were pampered with great service and amazing dishes....maybe having  early  res was the key..By the time we finished..the line was out the door..only those with  res were being seated, and the servers were getting overwhelmed..

 

For our Ascent cruise we will be in BLU and have Specialty res at FINE CUT EDEN and ROOFTOP.. but  def hope to visit Raw and BIstro for lunches..(use our E + discount)

 

Hope your brother in law appreciates the match making! 

Edited October 24, 2023 by hcat

[GenerationX]

Another of those things I love about cruising on Beyond:

 

When your husband goes to Croatia without you, you can console yourself by popping down to Deck 5 and taking yourself to France for lunch.  I mean I ask you: does life get much better than lobster bisque, Tuesday lunch special  coq au vin (with a requested side of the duck fat frites) and crème brûlée washed down with a couple of glasses of Bordeaux with views of Dubrovnik’s bay?

 

Right around the time I was talking myself out of licking my crème brûlée ramekin clean, I got a text from Jeremy saying he was back from his excursion and starving.  

 

I asked my server Ahmed if he could pack up one of the sandwiches and some of the charcuterie and cheese in the deli case at the bistro for me to go and then I surprised Jeremy with it when we met at sunset bar.  

 

While Ahmed was wrapping the massive turkey and brie sandwich, the LGB chef was standing nearby and mentioned it’s one of his favorite foods onboard and that the pastry chefs baked the baguettes for it just this morning.  I could tell just from the sound and smell when Jeremy bit into it that it was a very good sandwich on very good bread and my thoughts were confirmed when Jeremy consumed the entire thing and then sucked the remnants of its raspberry spread off of his fingers one by one.

 

The prosciutto, salami and cheese were equally quickly demolished.

 

Jeremy is going to send me pics from his walking tour so I can post, but he said it was incredible. I completely forgot he’s a big Game of Thrones fan (not I, I’m a Below Deck/Bridgerton/The Crown kind of girl) and a lot of the series was filmed here. He really got a kick out of seeing some familiar locations pointed out by the guide.

 

He did say that he’s ready to hit the tub, as it was a strenuous hills and steps intensive 4 hour hike up and around the walls of old town.

 

We’re going to wash down our lunch with a round of red sangria then hit the hot tub!
 

 

 

 

 

[GenerationX]

Sigh, an unfortunate quick update from Beyond.  As I was getting ready for dinner, we heard Captain Kate’s voice come blasting into the suite.  

 

I knew something big must be up, because non-urgent announcements aren’t usually pipped into staterooms themselves.

 

It turns out that due to the weather forecast of thunderstorms and 50mph winds, it won’t be safe for Beyond to make the sail into the channel at Kotor tomorrow or to operate tenders to shore. 

 

The ship will be anchoring further out for a couple of hours in the morning to do a crew transfer (I presume using a vessel that can safely operate in those conditions), then we’re having a bonus sea day.

 

All guests with Celebrity excursions are being refunded automatically to their stateroom account via OBC.  This is a port where we’d booked an independent tour, but  fortunately the cost should be covered by a trip interruption claim on our travel insurance policy.

 

It’s disappointing for us as we’d been told by so many how beautiful Kotor is and what an incredible experience the sail in is and we were really looking forward to it.  But I totally understand that weather is one of the few elements of my cruise experience Celebrity actually has zero control over. I’m also all good on risking my life or any of the crew’s being tossed around in a tender in the kind of swells that 50pmh wind is going to produce.

 

Plus at the end of the day, we still have some incredible Italian ports ahead of us!

 

Just for informational purposes as I know some folks following are planning to do this itinerary in the future, I’m sharing the info on the planned Retreat priority tender operations for Kotor that we received this morning.

 

The menus for Blu and Luminae both weren’t exciting us much for tonight (I assume they saved the dulls for tonight since we’ll be in port until 10pm and many have dinner plans ashore) so we’ve made a last minute booking for the Rooftop Grill so we can drown our sorrows in some dry rub wings and lamb chops.

 

Fingers crossed life is back to smoother sailing soon!