mac_tlc

Great picture of the Vista. We should be on her this November for 15 days from Rome. Its great to see that "a&l_1720" is back home !!😉. Looking forward to the next week. mac_tlc BTW - not to sidetrack but did you pull the trigger on Beyond for July???

Thank you. It was a lot of fun. We really like the E-class ships. mac_tlc

It's partly pricing as to why we have no Royal cruises on the books for the first time in 20 years. Its also the emphasis on 3/4 nighters. No desire for that. Finally at a point in life where we like to choose a suite. Icon, Wonder, Star, Utopia suite prices are beyond crazy. Frankly, any Oasis class is also much more than other options. Only "reasonable" one is Harmony out of Galveston but not interested in departing from there. $1,000+ a day for a GS to not worth it to us. Icon/Star sometimes approach $2,000/day for 2. Last week I had a Villa Suite on hold on Symphony for July 2025. It was 70% more than the Villa Suite we sailed on Harmony in 2022. I couldn't pull the trigger though due to the price. The next day, it was still available and the asking price was $8K more than what I had held -- a full 100% more than the Harmony in 2022. Moved most of our recent sailings to Celebrity, but they are drinking the "corporate suite price KoolAid" and we are looking elsewhere there too. mac_tlc

Took me a day to find this and I'm already on page 3?? I'm in !!! Have a great time .. mac_tlc

But boy did they have a hike to get to that Retreat sun deck! We could never manage an aft SS. More of what we would use is up front. We will keep looking for a deal and maybe grab our favorite, 10123. The extent of the chair hogging really startled me. Celebrity knows it’s a big issue —- Captain Kate opened her talk on the last day at 10:15am thanking everyone for coming and giving up their loungers by the pool. Even she knew that any attendees just left a towel behind…. mac_tlc

@CruiseDoc79, The forward looking Retreat prices are giving us pause as well. DW loves the E class so we may “downgrade” to a sunset Veranda, if you can get one, or maybe a porthole veranda. The issue we have with those is it’s a walk to the elevators and with my wife’s mobility challenges, that is not ideal. mac_tlc

Duh! post has been edited !!!!

I have signed up for Go Green for our January 2024 Ascent, February 2024 Beyond, August 2024 Edge and 2026 Xcel sailings. Didn't get the Ascent points, just got the Beyond points this week when the regular cruise points were credited. I called the Captains club and spoke to someone and explained the issue. He put in to get the Ascent points. That was last Saturday so I’ll give them a little time before so call back. mac_tlc

So, we are now back home in the grey chilly dreary state of CT. Not a bad drive up. For those interested in such things, we head up I-95 from FL into SC, then hop on I-26 to Columbia, I-77 to Charlotte and beyond (see what I did there?) to I-81 in Virginia. Finally to I-84 in Pennsylvania. One overnight in Salem, VA. Total time on the road about 21 hours. A funny thing happened on the way to a final invoice for the cruise. As you may recall, we went to the Rooftop Garden Grill on day 11 for lunch -- had about $100 OBC left at that point. Figured we would use about $60 for RGG and have about $40 left. So, we went to the casino and downloaded $40 😉. We waited and waited for the bill at RGG, finally flagged someone down and asked for the check. I figured I had to sign something. The hostess wandered over and said, no you are good to go.. What ? Ok, I figured they had our room number and the charge would appear. Wrong assumption. Nothing ever appeared. Sounds awesome, but I don't like leaving money on the table and when I saw the invoice on embarkation day, it was too late to "play" more in the casino. so I had a -$66 OBC balance 😔. Luckily (?) we missed Grand Cayman so those port charges were refunded to our account as refundable OBC and were credited to our credit card, about $25. Still not quite sure about RGG but oh well.... Next up is Alaska in August on the Edge. My son and DIL will be with us with two sunset verandas. mac_tlc

Inside the port area in Falmouth, there is a small building called the Patty Port. Look for the red picnic tables off to the side. It is very good. We have often seen crew members grabbing a quick patty there. mac_tlc

Thank you ! Here were the concierges last week:

We were in 9154 in January and April last year, opposite side of the ship than you but almost directly opposite. We did not have any noise. Just got off Friday, had cabin 10123 which is almost directly above 9159, no noise. Over on the Oceania boards there are many complaints on Vista of "thin walls" and being able to hear your neighbors conversations and TV. Seems these newer ships have challenges. mac_tlc

Thank you for the Viking info. The one that concerns us the most is the entertainment aspect. Although we also loved the Beyond the Podium speaker on Celebrity and Viking touts their lecturers so I am sure we would like that. My wife likes the casino more than I and she has indicated a willingness to forego it. We were looking at the PV2 for a trip that long, and its $481 pppd, still less than the Apex or Ascent SS, comparable to the Silversea Port-to-Port fare but more than the Silhouette.

And I didn't even know I wanted to go to Bermuda 🤣. Thanks @RichYak

Here is the link to the Viking cruise. Caribbean & Panama Canal - Itinerary - San Juan to Los Angeles, California | Viking® (vikingcruises.com) We have not sailed either but are thinking about branching out. We do have two Oceania cruises on the books on their new ship, Vista. Both are TA's. The November 2025 has great pricing. Like you, I am not sure it's a fit but I'll never know if we don't try. Often, the Viking sailings are very very port intensive -- that's not our sweet spot. This Panama Canal only has 5 ports. For some that is too many sea days -- we like those. mac_tlc

What date is your Sun Princess sailing? I understand the house thing. Both our kids bought houses in 2020 —- no travel money spent that year, so…….. The Viking sailing was actually a 16 night full transit of the Panama Canal from San Juan to LA. It was the only Viking sailing in North America released so far for March 2026. Silversea was a 10 day Caribbean. If you really want to see a good price, their transatlantic right after the Caribbean one was less than $350 pppd. And it’s on their newest ship, the Silver Ray which debuts in 2025. mac_tlc

Thank you, Patty !

We sailed Ascent last month and just got off Beyond today. We have our first HAL cruise in January 2025 on the Koningsdam, 18 day R/T Hawaii from San Diego. Looking forward to a new line. Any comparative info would be appreciated. mac_tlc

In case anyone is wondering, I wanted to add MSC Yacht Club and Oceania to the Spring 2026 comparison but they have not released itineraries out that far. The other option we are considering is the New Sun Princess or Star Princess. mac_tlc

So the laundry is almost done and the Beyond has departed on its next sailing. Here is my finale. I often think of something later and will add it if it pops up. And so, some final thoughts, observations, and future thoughts. The Ship : What can I say, we love E-class. Well maintained, looks great. There were some areas we didn’t go to, like Martini bar, World Class Bar, Eden. But, that’s us. We have never fancied sitting at a bar. If we are sitting somewhere, its Café alBacio and we were there often. Since we cancelled our dinner at Eden and given my wife’s mobility challenges, we never went to Eden. When in Retreat, we always get a cabin very close to the front elevators. We have now been in cabin 10123 on all E-class ships. The location makes it very manageable for us. Service: Fabulous. Other than the one hiccup at Fine Cut, everything was as we expected. Smiling crew and some familiar faces which is always great. Food: Unexpectedly, we ate at Luminae 9 of 11 nights. We did not expect to go that often. But the serving team – more familiar faces --- made it fun to go back each night. Rozi, our waiter, along with the team of Made, Nicole, Victor and McLarin did a spectacular job. We had great service, great food and great conversation. We had planned to go to Blu but, honestly, the nights we compared menus we both would rather go to Luminae. TBH, my wife’s mobility challenges mean there has to be a good reason to head to the back of the ship. The only food hiccup was Fine Cut and I went into more detail on that in the body of the review. We loved Rooftop Garden Grill, both for dinner and lunch. This was the first time we have been there and we will definitely go back. We only went to the Oceanview Café a couple times – and only when there was no other option. We used to love the buffet, not anymore. Too hard to find a seat and too many people going in every direction. The food and selection were good, its just not the atmosphere we like. My continuing complaint about the 9:00am cutoff for a sit down breakfast continues in full force. We solved that problem by getting room service almost every morning. Even if we had to pay the service charge in a non-Retreat cabin, we would probably do it. Makes our mornings much more relaxing. Entertainment: This is where Beyond shines. Wonderful production shows, 7 (I think) headliners, the entire Eden production cast and shows, numerous trivia and game shows every day, plus all the other nightly events. We enjoy dinner, a show, a game show, maybe some casino time, every night. For us, the E-class ships provide plenty of what we like to do. The Retreat: It’s hard to separate the experience from the cost but I will try. We spent a lot of time talking about this..what do we like, not like, what parts don’t we utilize, etc. One of the things we like the most is the larger cabin. This is rarely mentioned when discussing the Retreat but for us it’s a big deal. Retreat Sundeck? We probably only spent 10 minutes up there. Retreat Lounge? We like it, the size of the room, the vast array of windows on both side (on Beyond and Ascent). As I stated, we don’t want to sit at a bar so the lack of bar seating is not an issue for us. It’s a comfortable place to go and its quiet. Emily and Anna Maria were great servers and we never waited for a refreshment. The butler situation is in flux and all I can say is that if it gets back (or close) to what it was before the failed experiment, its another plus. We adapted to the current setup. Yes, we did get our cheese and cracker every day at 3, yes the stateroom attendant handled the laundry and the room was spotless. We miss the daily interaction and conversation – and the suggestions of what can be done for us. As I have said before, the current setup pushes the responsibility to the guest. It was better the other way. Future plans: I could talk for ever on this one but I’ll get to the point. We love the E-class Retreat and would be perfectly happy there. However, the costs have made it almost prohibitive. To do the Retreat we either need a sweetheart deal, like we found on Beyond in 2023, Ascent in 2024 and Xcel in 2026, or we need to go to S class, although those deals are not that prevalent either. I do have my eye on a couple of S-class sailings in Spring 2026 that are below $400 per person per day. Here is some hard price data that I have compiled for Spring 2026. Silhouette -- 3/29/26 -- $393 Silhouette – 4/4/26 - $386 Apex – 4/4/26 - $632 Apex – 4/11/26 - $602 Ascent – 3/27/26 - $544 Ascent – 4/4/26 - $553 Silversea Silver Ray – 3/10/26 - $505 Seven Seas Grandeur – 3/14/26 - $667 Viking – 3/29/26 – $387 (Deluxe veranda) Viking – 3/29/26 - $481 (Penthouse Veranda) Icon of the Seas – 3/21/26 - $1,193 (Grand Suite) Icon of the Seas – 3/21/26 - $853 (Sky Junior Suite) I threw in the Icon just so all the others look reasonable! All of the above are “comparable” to me because I am considering all of them. We did purchase two “Book Later” certificates ( well, they screwed up and only did one, but I hope to call C&A and get that remedied). Which ones will we do? Don’t know. There are also a couple of Spring transatlantics we are considering. Stay tuned – our future is always in my signature. mac_tlc

And so, as we have done most of the previous 10 evenings, we started at the attest Lounge for a drink and snack. Once again Emily took care of us. Dinner at Luminae: It was a double soup night with the smoked tomato soup and, of course, The French onion soup. Both were excellent. Final entree was the filet, with a couple shrimp on the side: Ae took in the last production show, Elements. While probably the most visually stunning, I like Arte better. Then it was back to the room to finish packing. So far, I think I have checked the drawers seven or eight times, only a couple more to go. What’s the over/under on checking your embarkation clothes? Has to be at least 5 . I don’t want to be “ that guy” who didn’t leave out what needs to be left out..😏😏😏 And so, we bid farewell to the Celebrity Beyond after a memorable 11 days. We visited three places we have never been and travelled as far south as we have been —- so far— and set foot on a new continent.. pretty cool. My final reflections, observations, thoughts, and discussion of future plans will be done tomorrow afternoon—- after a few loads have made it through the washer/ dryer!! Thanks so much for following along. I hope it was informative and maybe a little fun! mac_tlc

Lunch at Rooftop Garden Grill was quite good. And it appeared to be full. I started with the pulled pork trio: and the Watermelon and feta salad— with no olives: Main was the crispy fish sandwich. —- which I forgot to get a picture of— it was very good. For dessert: My wife — again— saw The Cookie!! Worth the price of admission to her. So, we got it to go sans gelato: The E-class ships are sure photogenic:: Next up: The Last Supper and evening onboard. mac_tlc

I walked past them this afternoon on way to the Rooftop Grill at lunch today. Was very tempted to snap a picture but I did not. mac_tlc

She sure does:

Few things more exciting than that last night before and morning of embarkation. Unfortunately we will be in PE tomorrow, probably around 6:30. Hope you have as wonderful a time as we have! She is a gorgeous ship with a wonderful crew. We hope to sail her again (but more about those thoughts in my summary, probably tomorrow afternoon). Enjoy!!!! mac_tlc