RK-NC

First of all, I'm so sorry to read about your accident and hope you recover quickly! Laughing about the music in Antigua. We were on Beyond April 12-22 and as we walked into port there, they were playing "God Bless the USA" - a song we love but not exactly what we expected to hear on a Caribbean island! I hope your stateroom has not suffered from creaking and popping?

You might want to read through this thread:

We found Cosmopolitan to be quite elegant! We don't eat at chain restaurants so can't make a comparison there. But the reason we kept coming back to Cosmo (over Luminae) was our amazing waiter who gave us several nights of enjoyable dining.

@cheeseheads4ever If our pending charges had not disappeared, I was just going to dispute them through our credit card. We did this once with a restaurant that double charged us and it was very easy online through our credit card account. It has become absolutely ridiculous to call "customer service" almost everywhere nowadays.

There are just 2 within the premium package - Pina and Fig. I had Pina and did not care for it at all. I think it was the fennel. They all have some sort of earthiness ingredient. I really wanted to splurge for one of the $20 ones (especially the smokey one) but decided against it after trying Pina.

Is it still pending? See my post #27 - we had 3 separate charges that we had no idea what they were but they just disappeared within 24-48 hours. Maybe wait it out to save the hassle of a phone call? We've had the same happen with other charges in the past (not from a cruise) good luck.

Yes, that is what we encountered - have never seen the desk top set up before. I am SHOCKED about the geo-tagging!! 🤯 Thanks for the head's up!

We left Beyond on 4/22 and had 3 separate pending charges on our CC and had no idea what they were. Within a couple of days, they disappeared and the one charge that moved off of pending was what we expected. We took photos of our statement on the stateroom TV night before disembarkation along with a photo of the mini bar items (didn't use anything) just in case because of this thread so thank you. You've really got to cover your... nowadays. We had a similar worry at an accommodation on the way home that had a crazy extensive mini-bar situation that we didn't touch but were afraid we would get charged for!

Some are higher but we always stuck with the ones $17 or under as they were included in the premium drink package. We are not cocktail drinkers at home so the prices were a bit shocking!

Well, yesterday was day 100! But she is staying on for a couple more cruises so apologies, didn't mean to spread incorrect info. Sounds like Captain Giuseppe is also onboard - that would be great to be on a "pair of captains" cruise!

Just off Beyond sky suite on Monday and we were pleasantly surprised that our stateroom attendant and/or butler replenished water everyday. We were prepared to bring our own from the Retreat Lounge refrigerator but never had to. We had 2 large glass bottles of Evian on the first day and about 6 plastic water bottles that were replenished daily. We left our bottle of champagne behind! Have a great cruise!

A few extra thoughts: Soup - Celebrity makes some great soups! We had soup in several different venues and all were good. I'm an avid home cook and soup takes work and know-how. Dessert - always best in the dining room. By the end of the cruise, I decided the Oceanview desserts were just "eye candy" and not worth the calories to me. The cookies in Eden Cafe - yum! 🍪🍪 The pastries/desserts in Al Bacio were always tempting but nothing is really memorable for me. Cocktails - we tried several signature cocktails and found some favorites. I did not care for Pina in Eden at all. Fig is the only other one included in the premium beverage package. Beyond Signature at Sunset Bar and Orange Crush at The Club were favorites! Eden - we loved the relaxing vibe there! And we loved Eden Cafe (wish it were open on port days for lunch) Blu - is a pretty restaurant! We enjoyed breakfast there (this is the blueberry yogurt parfait) and wish we had gotten there for dinner. The negatives - our creaking, banging, snapping, and popping stateroom 😠, the public areas of the ship were too warm for us 🥵, stateroom controls on the app did not work for us, lack of a music channel on the TV (at least we couldn't find it) 🎶 The door into the bathroom - DH rigged this bungee cord to hold it open Happy cruising to all! 🚢

Thank you all - such a relief to know. I read another thread about disembarkation in New York and we think it will be best to self-assist (that is what Celebrity calls it). We did that in Port Everglades and were on our way out of Ft. Lauderdale at 7:30am (drove to the port) Had to get moving early and have a quick breakfast but it was worth it!

Rebel moved over to Beyond after your sailing I guess! LOVED them - they did 2 shows and we were blown away!

Catching up on your live report - we were on Beyond 4/12-22 and saw this same thing. We would always count seats if we went into a row to make sure we left an even number. We also saw some seat saving. The majority of people we met were kind and considerate. I don't think we met a single crew member that was unkind or unfriendly which made a huge impression on us.

Will we disembark in Southampton after the eastbound crossing? Go through immigration? Thank you! We just returned from a Southern Caribbean cruise from Port Everglades where they use facial recognition and disembarkation was very easy.

Thank you for this question! We just talked about it and day 8 in St. Kitts is our #1 favorite memory. (see post #51 for a recap) St. Kitts is a beautiful island and we really enjoyed Mr. Thenford Grey of Grey's Island Tours. We left our hearts in St. Kitts and hope to return one day. #2 favorite was day 6 Barbados (post #34) We originally planned to stay on the ship and so glad we didn't! The walk into town was so nice and the rest of the day was relaxing.

We kept our ears open for info on Capt Kate's schedule but never heard anything. Yesterday was day 96 of The Captain's Log on YouTube. I'm wondering if she wanted to make it a full 100 days? That would mean this week's cruise would be the last one before her vacation. Thanks for following along with me @Arzeena

Just off Beyond on Monday April 22 in a sky suite. We booked it for the room design and extra space. Ended up not eating very often at Luminae and spent a limited amount of time on the Retreat sundeck and lounge. It was definitely a perk to eat lunch at Luminae on embarkation day plus priority embark/disembark but other than that, we would have been just fine in IV.

OK, here we go with the rest of the day. I pulled myself together, got a second iced coffee to-go and we headed over to the theater for the Beyond the Podium presentation on strange sea creatures. We went to every BTP talk by Caleb Crawford - he was awesome!! Following that was Captain Kate's Ocean's Ahead presentation with Q&A at the end. I originally planned to submit a question about the creaking and banging situation but ultimately decided that was better addressed through the survey that everyone receives after the cruise. (Already did it 😉) So, remember that note to the Captain I typed up at 3am? I quickly wrote it out and took it to the table where they were handing out paper/pencil and collecting questions. I was the first one in the "collection can" and I think I scared the activities staff when they saw how long it was! We really enjoyed Captain Kate's presentation and left just hoping they didn't throw away the unanswered questions/notes. Next up, packing. Let's just skip over that 🙁 In between packing sessions, we went to the Extravaganza Buffet for lunch. Wiwid had urged us to get there early because he said by 2pm it would all be a mess! Shrimp were great (though not very photogenic) Desserts were beautiful but I won't share a spoiler photo 😉 At 3pm we went to Caleb's last presentation on coral reefs where he showed video of his snorkeling "finds" while on our cruise! 😎 "Dinner" was at the Retreat Lounge afternoon bites - so relaxing and plenty to call a meal - then off to the last production show Arte (incredible!!) We returned to our stateroom to find this on the bed. We first thought it was a note from Butler Thad or Sheldon, room attendant until I opened it and found it was from the Captain! She thanked us for taking the time to write the note earlier. Her last words were "As my Mum would say, "no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted."" And that is what I leave you with and what I will be thinking about for the rest of my life. It's cliche but this cruise was life changing for us.

OK, here we go! A little recap of our last day (day 10, sea day). We got up around 8am and did 8 laps on the track. Wonderful weather - I bet the pool deck was packed all day! First stop after that was OVC to pick up some yogurt which we carried over to The Spa Cafe. (There are smoothies at the cafe but no yogurt) I had a zucchini muffin with my yogurt and DH had an avocado toast which he really enjoyed! Next up, Cafe Al Bacio for coffee and pastries. DH took the photo of me above just before "the special story" began. We were sitting there enjoying the view and the coffee (I LOVED the iced Americano and the glass they served it in) I had a chocolate croissant which was flaking all over the floor and I remarked to DH that I felt bad about making a mess. A few minutes later, Francine from Guyana shows up with her broom and dustpan. I said to her "do these pastries drive you nuts?" She said "no, not at all" and proceeded to tell us about WAYS (World At Your Service) which is a Celebrity "philosophy/training series/marketing" (I found a cool video about it on the Celebrity Facebook page) I thanked her for cleaning up my mess and tears started streaming because I had been up at 3am typing a note to send to Captain Kate praising the crew of Beyond. I was just feeling very emotional. We chatted with Francine for a while and found out she is returning home to stay in May or June (I can't remember exactly now) because she had been away from her partner too long and they needed to nurture their relationship. I don't know if it's coming through, but the whole exchange was just so special to us. If you are on a future Beyond cruise, please look for Francine! Also, Constance (she was in the ladies room near the theater at show times helping "direct traffic" They are unsung heroes to me.

Crossing fingers and sending up a little prayer for you. Something we've been thinking about....wonder what kind of noise issues the crew quarters deal with?? I so hope it's not an issue for them - they are so hard working. They need every minute of sleep!

Yes, I thought so too! We got a photo with her - I look like a whale beside her 😳 Enjoy the rest of your cruise!!

Good morning from the Old North State, home sweet home! I'm laughing because I called this a "quick live report" and it has turned into a slow report and probably more long winded than you bargained for! Hang in there, as soon as I get some coffee, I'm going to finish up. DH said, well, I guess I have to make the coffee today. No Al Bacio 🙁

We've made it to North Carolina - should be home sweet home around 5pm! We stopped for lunch in Florence, SC at 1720 Burger Bar and highly recommend it 🍔🍔 I never had a burger on the cruise so I was craving one. DH had the Luminae signature burger for lunch one day - he said it was good but needed more onion jam and sauce. Look who was hanging out in the back at the restrooms! 😎