Kevin

I have booked my first Celebrity cruise. While going through my options I looked at booking a Magic Carpet Sky Suite and the adjoining Edge Stateroom with Infinite Veranda on the Beyond. While I want to have access to the Retreat, I don't want to have access if my adult kids do not as well. While going through the booking I managed to get the two rooms selected I wanted and was happy to see the option to upgrade the Infinite Veranda room to The Retreat. I selected The Retreat and went through the rest of the options and completed the booking. Now I am second guessing if the second cabin really has access to The Retreat. I didn't take any screen captures when I did my booking but was able to get the website to behave the same way today for another attempted booking. Here is what it says just before completing the booking for the non suite room. It once again mentions The Retreat. I tried to call Celebrity but they are closed for the night. By booking the connecting rooms do both get The Retreat access or will I be really disappointed?

It was $195.30 through ResortPass.com. $90 a person plus platform fees. Apparently you can just walk up and buy it for $80 with no platform fees. We didn’t want to risk walking up and getting turned away.

Thanks

Can beds in infinite balcony cabins on Celebrity Beyond be made as 2 twins? Will be our first time on Celebrity and trying to figure out the bed situation for my adult children who will not want to share a bed. The web site always refers to them as a king.

Just back from my first Margaritaville at Sea cruise and had a good time! My expectation for the trip was that I was getting transported to a beach day in the Bahamas. I feel like I got more than a ferry experience, I got a true short cruise experience. Boarding was easy. We showed up about 1pm. The whole boarding process took about 30 mins. We have waited longer on other cruises. There was no pressure to buy the drink package or make dining reservations while in the terminal. Once on board we were able to go straight to our cabin. That was nice. There was a sewage smell in the hallways near our cabin but not in our cabin. That smell was only there on embarkation day. It was great that the bed was a full sized bed and not two twins pushed together. Everything in our cabin worked, though the refrigerator had been removed, not that we needed one. We like it cold, the cabin was not cold, just cool but we had brought a usb powered fan and some magnetic hooks that we used to create our own ceiling fan. The mandatory lifeboat drill was done at the muster station, which are all located indoors. We arrived 15 minutes early so we could have a seat. At our muster station the guides struggled to get everyone quiet so the announcement could be heard. It took about 20 minutes once started to complete. There did not appear to be a process to ensure everyone attended. We never ate anything at the buffet except deserts and ice cream. The food looked good though, I was surprised to see the panini station, the sandwiches made looked good. There was also a pasta bar that looked good. I had not read or seen any reviews that mentioned either feature of the buffet. The desserts at the buffet were good. I also got a soft serve ice cream which was served by the staff like RCCL. So much better than what can be on the self serve Carnival ships. We split a burger and fries from the 5 o’clock somewhere bar. It was tasty. We ate dinner both nights in Fins. I had a pineapple chicken the first night that was great and a bbq pork chop the second night that was pull apart tender. Service was quick and attentive. We liked the two production shows. They have a couple, aerialists, strong man and woman, not sure what they are called, that are part of both shows. Their part of the show was incorporated very well into the musical part of the shows. There was also a comedian who did a family friendly show that was meh and a late night adult only show that was much funnier. We also watched the Quest game show. It was very similar to RCCL’s version of Quest. I was expecting more raunchiness based on the level of drinking on the ship but it was comparatively tame compared to what I have seen on RCCL. We also attended karaoke and dueling pianos. Both had lots of audience participation and were entertaining. We walked out of the casino up $60. For our day in Freeport we had an all inclusive day pass at the Grand Lucyan at Lighthouse Pointe. We were off the ship by 8:45 in the pouring rain and tried to get a private cab. We ended up with a semi private cab for the way there and a private ride on the way back but were charged $30 each like it was private. Annoying but our fault for not insisting on a full private cab. The resort was great. After checking in we went to the breakfast buffet. It was really good. Cooked to order omelets, pancakes, bacon, potatoes, pastries, cereals, fruit, and more. After eating we went to the beach and got a couple chairs under an umbrella on the beach. Drink servers came immediately to take our orders. We were some of the first there and drink service was very fast. Then many more people showed up and drink service slowed way, way down. The lunch buffet was good as well. I enjoyed the chicken fingers. There was also nachos, French fries, hamburgers, hotdogs, turkey sandwiches, fruit, and salad fixings. In both cases it was all you can eat. Towels were plentiful and easy to get. There was a DJ who played lots of beach games with the guests. Water balloon toss, musical chairs, dance contests, etc. The weather turned out sunny to cloudy while we were at the resort. Much better than the pouring rain when we left the port and arrived back to at the port. Dress was very laid back on the ship. There were people in bathing suits at dinner if that is something that would bother you. Lots of people wearing the provided robes around the ship as cover ups or coats. Lots of Hawaiian shirts worn Magnum PI TC style, fully unbuttoned. There were a lot of groups on the ship having what seemed like good times. At least five different bachelorette groups and three different just married groups. I witnessed one very angry guest trying to get a refund for the all inclusive day at Taino Beach Resorts. He had booked swim with the pigs which was cancelled due to weather, Taino was a second choice for an excursion. He described it as a stank a** resort with a swampy pool. He was irate and wanted his $392 refunded. Not sure he got his money as I left before it got really ugly. I was at guest services because I had received a letter stating there was an issue with my credit card. Turns out they just needed to swipe it again as the swipe was lost from check in. Debarkation was a little slow. We skipped breakfast as we planned to eat at the SkyClub at the airport. We entered the line on the ship about 8:15. They had not started letting the faster to chill people off yet. As the line started moving there were many people turned around to fix payment issues at guest services. Around 8:45 we walked off the ship and entered the CBP line for passports. I had not brought our Global Entry cards. There was zero line for those people with their cards. We ended up out on the curb at 9:15. There was very little room in the terminal for people so they were holding you on the ship until room opened up to queue in the terminal. We grabbed a taxi instead of calling for an Uber or Lyft because it was right there, no wait. The cost was $45 with tip. Uber and Lyft would have both been in the $34 range with tip. At the airport we got some breakfast and then volunteered to be bumped. Luckily we were bumped and received $800 each to catch a flight 5 hours later. The $1600 from Delta puts us way ahead for the trip. Ultimately I enjoyed the trip. The ship is old but in decent shape. There are places that could be improved. It rained almost all the time we were sailing so we didn’t get to experience the outside of the ship. The layout was odd but that is because that is how ships were laid out 30+ years ago. I would not want to be on the ship for a longer cruise. It is fine for the 2 day itinerary it sails. I wouldn’t hesitate to go again as long as I could go to the Grand Lucyan again. We had a great day on the beach.

The battery in a fan of this size is virtually the same size as a phone battery. I am not sure how successful the cruise lines would be if they banned all cell phones.

I've only been with Harmony and Mariner. It did not feel crowded at all. My kids did the water park and did not experience any long waits.

I was the contestant on stage. I ended up taking $188 as my offer. If I had stopped one round sooner I would have had over $400. I had picked $.01 for my suitcase so I could have ended up with much less. I had a great time. If I remember correctly there were two people who won more than I did and about 10 who won something.

We had a 35-40 minute drive to the train.

I wanted to add I don't remember if they had seatbelts, I know I did not wear one and neither did anyone I noticed on the bus.

We recently took this excursion and smaller van buses were used that seated 15-20 people. Looking through my pics the van buses looked like this:

It was a menu. I guess the traditional menu.

Yes. Table service.

This week it was open 8 to 9:30 or 10:00.

Yes

When flights are delayed, the Covid test time requirements are always extended. I imagine that cruises work the same way. You just need to meet the original requirements.