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Cookie002

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  1. Thanks for the info, we don’t want to be in party central! I like the gothic area as well, but did not think about metro stops. I will adjust my parameters.
  2. Well, I don’t want to spend 500 a night, but 300-400 maybe if it was excellent?
  3. Hi there i am looking for peoples input about the best hotels in Barcelona with an excellent location for walking. We are going to stay a week next October, and I am looking for something that has great location and character, relatively reasonably priced, and we always appreciate breakfast included… things have changed so much since Covid, I would appreciate anyone weighing in, even though there are older threads on this. thanks so much!
  4. We went on a cruise last May 2022, and the last stop was in Barcelona. I used tours by locals and booked the most amazing tour guide I have EVER had in my 20 years plus of traveling. i think there is a post on her on this forum that I put up in June. But I am jumping on this thread today because guess what- going back to Barcelona next fall with another couple, and we absolutely will book her for every day we are there. (I put my request in before making this post- she can be hard to get) Here name is Florenta Vinas. I found her on tours by locals. We did a six hour walking tour with her on our first day in Barcelona and OMG, she was amazing! she mixes in art, history culture, politics, food, markets, cooking and shopping in such a spectacular, professional and interesting way. Things are not ‘canned’ where every 6 hour tour is the same, she moderates and modifies the tour (in my opinion) on the fly. She noticed I had a fascination of shoes and brought me into the coolest store where they custom make espadrilles to order, right there and immediately! We were in good shape so she modified our Montserrat tour to include a freakin gorgeous hike in the mountains for a couple of hours because we would love that. i feel like I am giving away insider information by dropping her name here, but honestly our experience with her was so amazing, and I am sending all my friends and loved ones that are going to Spain in the next year or two, to spend time with this absolute sweetheart. She also has created self walking tours for Barcelona!
  5. Hmmmm, a comment some of the issues I see stated by some great posts above are not a problem on the beyond. Celebrity took care of it. The location of Luminae is in the heart of the retreat area. The size and gorgeousness of Luminae is impressive- tons of window seats, tables amply spaced apart, noise levels more than acceptable. The lounge had AMAZING offerings all day long. A couple of times we made it our lunch destination because we were eating at weird times (after 2 pm because of the spa and the like) They also had lovely pre dinner options. It was our breakfast stop too. Loved the lounge offerings, loved the gorgeous seating and views in the lounge, and loved the lounge staff! I will absolutely agree that Luminae is NOT the reason, or even the main reason for booking retreat. And with the phenomenal public pool and solarium with the multitude of amazing seating and atmosphere across the ship, either shaded or in the sun, well the retreat private pool are is not the main reason either. Both are nice bonuses. For me, it was about the cabin, and the service, and the lounge. That made it worth it to me. JMHO
  6. Ok, weird perspective of mine, but here goes… if dining across the board on the beyond is excellent, no matter what venue, then as long as Luminae matches the experience (alas it maybe did not in my limited experience) but if it matches it, then why care? You have a veritable smorgasbord of unique dining opportunities on the ship. Why just stick with the one? The retreat class has certainly other reasons other than dining that make it lovely. The concierge staff, the extra pool area, the lovely bar, the wonderful snacks and service in the lounge, the beautifully designed and ample cabins, the room service, the retreat host, the priority when tendering… I think I would be bored returning to the same restaurant every night. I loved the variety of places to eat on the ship. But maybe I am just weird like that.
  7. Hi there . I wanted to put my two cents in regarding Luminae and celebrity, and Oceania. We just finished an amazing cruise on the Beyond, and did the retreat level on a sky suite at the aft of the ship. Luminae was gorgeous, tons of window seats, and the service the times we were in there (only three times on a nine day cruise) was amazing! Loved that. Food however was not amazing. It was good. But we only ate there three times, so, you know, did we give it a fair shake? Maybe not. Why did we only eat there three times? Because the meals we had elsewhere were fan freaking tastic! And we decided to explore many venues to really get an idea of the offerings of this ship. And I will tell you, in my opinion, do not book retreat level on the Beyond for the food. There are many reasons to book retreat, but food and good pool lounger locations/social gathering areas are NOT a reason. Raw on five was amazing! The ocean view cafe was fabulous, along with service. The spa cafe bites located in the solarium was wonderful. The Cyprus main dining room with the Greek specialty dishes was amazing. Blu was fantastic. But the very best was Eden. OMG, some of the best food I have had, land or sea. The only bad meal we had was at fine cut, but that was mostly because of service (and less then Keg quality ribeye) This was my first time sailing celebrity. I have sailed oceania before, and we have an oceania booked for fall of 2023. But I am going to tell you, celebrity food on the beyond across the board, whether in the cafe, or specialty restaurant, or small venue, beats oceania HANDS DOWN. The food is perfectly cooked, the menus and dishes are varied, and the quality is amazing. If we could find a comparable itinerary in sept 2023 on celebrity, I would be changing cruises. we have booked the Panama cruise in 2024 on the beyond.
  8. To be honest, we did not catch a lot of shows. We tended to eat at 8:30 and the main shows were usually at 9 (only one show per night because of low pax numbers) we did catch an awesome show at Eden with the dancers, that was at 10:15 pm the martini bar show is always entertaining too. I know that is not too helpful, but that’s all I got!
  9. Hi guys just an observation that might be a tip for people booking the beyond for a Mediterranean cruise. 4 of the ports of call, the beyond is docked in freight receiving areas of the port, so not pretty views, and can be a little noisy all day/night long with those cargo bins being moved around (guess- she is a big girl and needs a big berth?) Anyways I noticed that the port side always got the not so nice view, and the stars board side always got the water view. I am guessing she parks the same way at all ports. So maybe starboard is the more desirable side of the ship while sailing Mediterranean. This is just a guess on my part, but I feel it’s accurate…
  10. We just had the most amazing tour and guide in Barcelona Yesterday. Florenta was so amazing, I need to stop everything and tell anyone who is planning on traveling in Barcelona to take a tour with her. I have done a lot of private tours over the last ten years, and I need to tell you this was the absolute best private tour I have ever had. She was the perfect mix of knowledge, history, culture, sharing of her own life living in Barcelona and what that looked like, FUN, and so many surprises along the way. I have not even described half of the tour below… We started the walking tour in the gothic quarter and saw some amazing streets, churches and palaces. Florenta gave us the history, but also a glimpse of what life was like back then. We visited the palace steps where christoper Columbus returned from the new world with all of his gifts to lay before queen isabella. We walked in the heart of the political area to see government buildings and got a taste of what politics were like right now, and an interesting insight on the referendum that happened in 2017. Also learned about what happened in the Great War and World War Two with Spain. Lovely coffee stop mid morning! Then we went down to the main market, and what a place that was! Indescribable. We learned about different foods that were popular, and how the north of Spain eats a little differently from the south of Spain. Then, we went to a lovely cafe and had tapas for lunch. Florenta ordered for us, and it was amazing. The most tender beef I have ever eaten! Gorgeous shrimp, and then there was hot pepper roulette- one of the peppers in the dish was hot, you would not know until you ate one! Then, strolling down the Main Street looking at dueling architect styles. Fascinating. Ended up at Gaudis cathedral- we learned so much, and the passion of Florenta explaining everything to us, her knowledge and love for the various artists work nearly brought me to tears. I have a picture of her business card, and I encourage anyone to book her if she is available (she is busy so book well in advance!) We have one more tour with her tomorrow, visiting Montserrat, hiking, and then a seaside village for paella. I will post a review and some pictures later. Hope it’s ok to post a review on a specific guide, if not let me know mods….
  11. No idea, and we are off the ship!
  12. Hello Just to let you know, we disembarked the beyond today, and I have a few comments regarding Fine Cut. We ate there last night, and were somewhat disappointed. It seemed very disorganized and a little chaotic, although I think there were only twelve or 15 tables open ( we dined later at 8:30 and there was only 900 on the cruise itself) Appetizers were very good and came out somewhat promptly. I had the Caesar and my friend the tuna tartar. They were both very good, but not spectacular- (now I am judging everything to Edens level) Here is the weird thing, it was over an hour after our appetizers to get our main courses. And we just could not figure out why, as the restaurant was pretty much deserted. And, wait staff just avoided the table in this period of time pretty much. steaks arrived, and they were good ( but no wow factor). other thing, we ordered a mid range bottle of wine, and it took two people and 25 minutes to located that bottle. The day before, we met a couple who said they were very disappointed in Fine cut, it took them an hour for their meals, the gentleman said he thought it was because he ordered the prime rib and told us not to order it. We didn’t, and there still was a long wait so I am not sure what is going on. I had the rib eye, good- and truffle fries (mediocre) my friend had filet mignon (good) and mushrooms (good) Pictures enclosed for reference. It just surprises me to see such total disorganization and poor service in one specialty restaurant and see the pinnacle of food and service in another - Eden. Just one girls opinion
  13. Ok, small update. We were talking to some staff about how quite this cruise is do to low numbers of staff, and found out that the next cruise directly after us was supposedly have 1500 and then the cruise after that about 2000.. I think by July, the ships will be very full, but that’s just a guess on my part.
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