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The advice on board our celebrity cruise last week in Europe was to take photo ID (and proof of covid jabs which we had on our phones). We took our driving licence

Easy to catch the ferry to Capri for a great day out

Thanks Graham, it definitely was My worse thing I brought home was too much weight 😫 on a strict diet now

Here are a few pics of the ports of our Greek and Malta cruise. The port for Olympia. We've been here before so just stayed in port and wandered through the lovely little port area RHODES we spend the day exploring the city but didn't have enough time to do it justice Santorini, beautiful day, took the ferry to Oia Mykonos, took the ferry to Delos and then spent time in Mykonos Athens, took the bus into the center, saw the changing of the guards and as very hot and we've been to Athens before we went to the cool acropolis museum Malta- did a wonderful cruise excursion, called three cities and harbour cruise, wonderful day, our best port

Sorry to hear about Owens injury. I missed out on two weeks CC so missed this. Hope he's not in any pain, the young heal fast, though annoying to happen right at the beginning of the school holidays

Your son sounds wonderful Greg and what great presents, may have to pinch the whisky kit idea

This was a preview show for Elite and above. They asked if anyone wanted photos with them at the end. I went up too but the photo looks awkward 😬 and I deleted it 😅

Yes Greg, RCs Diamond = Elite on Celebrity. This is the highest you can transfer too, your points start at zero though. You get happy hour drinks menu unlimited between 5 and 7 (not first night), but if you've got always included drinks package it doesn't really make any difference Other perks are one bag each wash and fold laundry, Elite breakfast with speciality coffee and mimosas. Plus meet the officers evenings, 90 min each wifi and a few other things

Yeap but you could add in the most of London, the South, part of the Midlands and a lot of The West of UK to be within a 'local' two hour drive of Southampton. We're only a small island

We did this last week. Ferry to Oia was already pretty full so only had to wait a few min before departing On return we were going to walk down . We have done this twice before. For context we are in our mid 60s and have found it pretty easy, though I wouldnt want to do it in the dark. Anyway after a late lunch we walked to the steps but was surprised to see there was no queue for the cable car at all. But there was only two ships in port.

The entertainment on Beyond was very good but on silhouette more like on Royals smaller ships . No big west end theatre shows or ice shows . Lots of two or three piece musical acts in the lounges, not so raucous as the Schooner bar or pub on RC . Whimsical Alice in wonderland themed show in Eden. Very good acrobats on board I don't book suites but I think the entry level sky suite gets full suite benefits with full use of retreat suite area and suite restaurant and bars. And with 'always included' you get drink package and wifi too We're looking forward to returning to Royal after a break of three years

The art work and statues all around the ship were pretty spectacular but kinda made for Instagram generation I think 😁

Good luck, hope you make your flights and cruise OK. Can you swap to an earlier flight? It's not quite as bad as the media is reporting. Our BA flights to Rome on the 12th June and back from BCN yesterday were both on time and it only took 10 min to get our bags in LHR. Having said that I'm quite happy we haven't got any more flights planned over the summer

Some pics of the Beyond ship Pool deck, see the hot tubs on the stems Lobster night in the MDR Sunset and moon rise One of the shows, Elements, spectacular Short video of the empty theatre VID-20220615-WA0009.mp4 Captain Kate Solarium Pool deck One of the infinity pools sunset bar Martini bar 🍸

Great news Graham. I've had a dodgy knee for years. I had an x-ray about 7 years ago and they said there was a bit of wear and tear and gave physio Maybe I should go back again to the docs about it. Doesn't stop me going on long walks but I'm slow going up and down steps now

So just a recap of our Beyond cruise. It is a stunning ship. Very modern as you would expect. We quite liked the infinity balcony concept it made the room a lot bigger. Only downside when you opened the window the air con switched off and after a while it got quite hot. PROS I loved the main pool. It was longer than normal and good for actually swimming lengths The Solarium was lovely but I preferred to be in the fresh air in the hot weather. Loved the healthy options in the spa cafe with proper fresh coffee and we ate breakfast there most days Liked the included four dinning rooms with different themed cuisines . We had MTD and I prebooked our meal times on the planner Great entertainment with spectacular stage and theatre. In particular the last show 'elements' was out of this world Enjoyed our free Elite drinks between 5 and 7, usually in the open air sunset bar at the back of the ship. Our total spend on the 10 day cruise was only $280, we got generous pours and one or two drinks on top of the free Elite drinks were enough (we had the basic cruise no DP or WiFi, though we prepaid gratuities) Enjoyed the ships captains talk with Captain Kate. She explained how she got to where she is now, very interesting. Great role model for any girls wanting to get into the mainly male dominated world of ships officers Great stops . We had been to many before but Great to visit again, new to us was Rhodes and Malta as port stops though we had visited Malta before. We mainly did our own thing though took the ships transport to Athens centre and did a great ships tour in Malta. Loved the ice cold towels handed out on arrival back to the ship We got offered a ship tour of the kitchens which was very interesting . Two 'drinks with officers' evenings with cocktails and canapés (Elite perks) was nice We did an upgrade from infinity balcony to concierge class for £80 pp (10 day cruise) which gave us a better cabin position and a few perks All the staff were wonderful And of course the main 'pro' was meeting Dani and her DH Cons Not many, mainly disappointed in the food. It was a bit bland , though a few meals were very good. We didn't do a specialty restaurants, they were very expensive and no deals. But talking to two different people who did were disappointed. The shops were very high end and we didn't really spend anything on board We usually like to have little fun in the casinos and use to have limit of $10 a day on RC which use to last a while in the penny slots but find on Celebrity the money disappears in seconds so we have given up going. Noticed it was mainly empty every time we went by The afternoon snacks delivered to our concierge room weren't great and got left uneaten The free bottle of fizz left in our room was undrinkable and got left after one sip. A decent bottle of fizz would only be a few dollars so why this undrinkable sweet rubbish? There's no forward facing top deck lounge on Beyond, its all given up to a much bigger retreat area for suites This is a game changer for hubby and will probably stop us booking this ship again. Thought the staff were a bit short handed in the dinning rooms, though once we said we wanted a quick dinner to make a show and they gave us the three course meal in 50 min. Overall a great cruise, great weather and I would book again but hubby said he's missing RC, our last was 2019 and wants to go back to Royal next time I'll post some photos separately

Dani, it was absolutely lovely meeting up with you and your DH. We had some great chats and please please please if you are ever in the UK let me know. We're not far from London so can easily meet up there After meeting you I do regret not doing the 'Bella' cruise. You guys are going to have so much fun meeting up with everyone. Enjoy your time in Barcelona. I know its a bit of an enforced stay but it is a lovely city Back to reality and back on a diet !!! I put on a ton of weight 🙈

Not Reflection, but on Beyond today we had the last departure tag which was 8.30 departure. But we were asked to depart our rooms by 7.30. There is a Hilton attached to the terminal. About 15 min walk. You could check if they do a day room rate

We are RC diamond who have cruised three times this last year with Celebrity, twice on Silhouette and once on Beyond 1)Celebrity has a lot of 30 to 50 age groups (we are mid 60s) especially on Beyond 2) on Beyond last week and Silhouette we had their version of MTD and always got a table for two, though the tables are quite close together 3) I thought the excursions were quite expensive 4) yes, we upgraded from infinite balcony to concierge class for £80 pp on 10 day Beyond 5) no welcome aboard drinks. You get happy hour from Elite drinks menu from 5 to 7pm. There were two drinks with officers evenings where canapés were offered and cocktails (10 night cruise) If you are in concierge class you get snacks in your room every afternoon. IMO not very nice and left them most days. You also get a bottle of fizz . On Beyond it was undrinkable and after one sip we left it. Silhouettes was OK though We get a basic cruise without drinks package or WiFi (we prepay gratuities), so the prices are comparable to RC. On the Beyond Cruise that left today from Barcelona there were only 1680 expected on board so there may be deals

Currently on Beyond Greek Island and Malta cruise. Hardly anyone wears masks outside on land, and only occasionally inside shops, cafes etc. You are meant to wear masks on buses but a substantial minority do not. Celebrity has been quite firm with asking people to wear masks in the theater with no drink service but then packed people into Eden for a wonder at Eden event, shoulder to shoulder with standing room only, no masks requested or worn and full drink service. 🤷‍♀️

We're flying into Rome late the day before our cruise, staying at a airport hotel and travelling to Civataveccia the day of our cruise straight to the ship. Does anyone know if there is a wine shop in the port area before boarding Thanks