Some very personal musings about our Beyond cruise....

[LGW59]

9 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Serious answer - No "relation" between the price and the overall experience. We very much wanted this itinerary, with Malta as the highlight. No direct flights between Malta and Israel, and DH, being a photography buff, was very keen to visit. Actually, we were booked for Sept. 2020 in the exact itinerary on a much older vessels, Royal's Explorer OTS.

 

Then we found the same itinerary on Apex, switched, only Celebrity changed this one to a Holy Land one. As much as I like my country, 3 days here were not that appealing 😉... By this time, price was the last of our worries, we just wanted to cruise [DH is twice cancer survivor, so our priorities are, may be, different than others, along with our advanced age].

 

We were happy to pay the premium, the time of the year was right.... and Malta really exceeded our expectations. So glad we succeeded in seeing it [even though I've got Covid two days after the cruise 😢].

 

 

Pls. cut me some slack here... I'm sure I didn't explain myself correctly -- frozen -- yes. As admitted by the cook, the process of "de-frozeing" the fish was faulty, resulting in a fish being hot on the outside, and deep frozen inside.

 

Also, my DH's "beef" about "fresh products" was meant about the variety of sea food easily purchased in a port like Rome, yes, frozen, which was no where to be seen all along the cruise.

 

Re: nothing happens when swallowing a metal wire. Duly noted. Silly me. I should have "consulted" Dr. Google immediately and let our worries to rest.... [slinking away in shame].

 

 

I so love your style, Dani!  On a totally separate off-topic matter, Malta, oh yes, def on our list.  My husband and I were to of spent our COVID delayed honeymoon with three weeks in Italy just this past June (we are delaying it now until spring 2023) and along with Venice, one of his must see bucket list items was to of been a few days in Malta.  I've been all over Italy several times, but never to Malta, we'll still get there, just a bit delayed.  Perhaps if/when time allows, you could give me your impressions of Malta, i.e. is two days enough time, what are the highlights/must-do agenda items?  TIA!! 

[dani negreanu]

18 minutes ago, LGW59 said:

Perhaps if/when time allows, you could give me your impressions of Malta, i.e. is two days enough time, what are the highlights/must-do agenda items?

 

Thank you. I think that 2 days are enough, for OUR interests. I know that there are caves, trip boats, etc. Beaches? For us, in our short stop, we were happy to spend an hour in M'dina, wish we had 2-3 hours there, Valletta -- there were churches (also in M'dina), but they were not our priority this time.

 

I suggest that Sue @sgmnwill give you some tips, since they've done a very nice excursion there.

 

I've made a short trip report on all our ports here --

 

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by dani negreanu
typo

[sgmn]

6 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Thank you. I think that 2 days are enough, for OUR interests. I know that there are caves, trip boats, etc. Beaches? For us, in our short stop, we were happy to spend an hour in M'dina, wish we had 2-3 hours there, Valletta -- there were churches (also in M'dina), but they were not our priority this time.

 

I suggest that Sue @sgmnwill give you some tips, since they've done a very nice excursion there.

 

I've made a short trip report on all our ports here --

 

 

I have to admit to a soft spot for Malta as I lived there as a very young child when my father was posted there with the RAF in the late 50s.

 

If you like scuba diving there are some good dive sites.  My DH is a WW2 and plane nut so he finds the whole history of the island during the war years fascinating. 

The harbour was stunning , as is the sail in and sail out . We did the Three Cities and Harbour cruise tour . If you Google Three Cities Malta it will give you an idea about this historic area.  After the land tour we transferred to a large boat for a tour of the very big harbour. The tour was excellent and I would recommend. 

We hope to return soon for a proper stay on the island 

Regards Sue

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

Pls. cut me some slack here... I'm sure I didn't explain myself correctly -- frozen -- yes. As admitted by the cook, the process of "de-frozeing" the fish was faulty, resulting in a fish being hot on the outside, and deep frozen inside.

 

Also, my DH's "beef" about "fresh products" was meant about the variety of sea food easily purchased in a port like Rome, yes, frozen, which was no where to be seen all along the cruise.

 

Re: nothing happens when swallowing a metal wire. Duly noted. Silly me. I should have "consulted" Dr. Google immediately and let our worries to rest.... [slinking away in shame].

 

-"Cooked" fish on the buffet that's still frozen in the middle, that is bad.

- Purchasing food from ports other than the embarkation port isn't something big cruise lines like to do unless it's an one off special that's incredibly rare.  They have existing contracts with the suppliers at the embarkation port to bring on frozen food on pallets.

- With the metal wire, the human body is pretty resilient and odds are no medical attention would be required; its not very dangerous and if it was, there's medical on board and like you eluded to, you could always sue.

[HMR74]

Just curious as I did not see the date of this particular cruise in any post (as I quickly ran thru the posts) but what was the date--I assume recently , but I hate to assume.

 

I am concerned even before this that the "vibe" on E class is different that the vibe on S  class, and while I like Reflection,  which will be revolutionized before the 2023 Med season, next years Reflection  itineraries were not as desireable to me as Beyond or others by X, and I went into the Beyond 2023 sailings open eyed on higher prices (which are now much higher).

 

Being optimistic, (and formerly in restaurant business) I will attribute most problems to a new ship and still messed up crew staffing, however, I have 6 months before final payments are due.

 

So I have time to process and evaluate all this being able to see reviews coming.

 

I already had a back up plan for a land based trip tied to the post cruise Italy stay which adds Greece and Israel.

 

The X CEO Med 2022  Cruise on Beyond has yet to occur, I beleve. She should be made aware of the problems. Hard to fix problems you do not know about and sometimes the customer is best at pointing out the problems.

That said, I heard complaints about APEX internet and I wrote management -----and mgt "assured me"  that it will be fine, thus I feel real assurred, lol; Can't wait till Starlink internet is available onboard.

 

As to the Captain, the person in charge is responsible for the entire shindig,  so somehow this needs to get to Capt Kate  now , before LLP  is there. If Kate does not know about the problems then whats missing is some sort of communication format so she or he can see if something is happening thats out of the norm expected.

 

Unless there is an expectation thats its ok for a certain number of guests to dine with wires in  the still frozen fish. It's like the 5 second rule for food thats fallen on the floor.

 

edit: btw, what gets measured gets done in any business. Everybody in the chain of command should have to sign off on something  that goes wrong (of magnitude of the type like wire in food) , to make people accountable. Yes, we know 9,000 full meals are served on a typical day on a 3,000 person ship. on certain things there needs to be zero tolerance for errors.

Edited July 6, 2022 by HMR74

[cruising sister]

On 7/5/2022 at 3:05 PM, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I have been on six X sailings since the restart, never saw any of the crew encourage or enforce social distancing.  Elevators being a major culprit.

 

  

  

 

You'll need to increase your sailing budget to find a boutique luxury cruise line who buys fresh fish. The standard process is all food comes aboard frozen on pallets at the embarkment port; I sailed Crystal in 2017 and they stated all their food has to be frozen prior to coming on board for safety reason.

 

  

 

I do understand the disappointment of finding a foreign item in ones food and being told issues will be elevated but they aren't.  They did offer free(?) medical support and two comped meals.  I believe the bigger issue is swallowing a metal wire as far less dangerous that most realize.  Furthermore, like anything, if one is injured from a sailing as pointed out, one would sue anyways, not sure why that's even worth mentioning to the officer who attempting to make the passengers happy.

 

Best to “google” correctly metal brush wire is dangerous. they are very different from thin braces wire. 
 

Wire bristles from grill brushes can snap off, land on the grate and find their way into grilled meats, public health experts warn. If ingested, these bristles can tear up a person's throat and digestive tract, causing potentially life-threatening injuries.Jul 2, 2015

 

BBQ Grill Brush Wires Causing Big Health Woes - WebMD

[cruising sister]

9 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Serious answer - No "relation" between the price and the overall experience. We very much wanted this itinerary, with Malta as the highlight. No direct flights between Malta and Israel, and DH, being a photography buff, was very keen to visit. Actually, we were booked for Sept. 2020 in the exact itinerary on a much older vessels, Royal's Explorer OTS.

 

Then we found the same itinerary on Apex, switched, only Celebrity changed this one to a Holy Land one. As much as I like my country, 3 days here were not that appealing 😉... By this time, price was the last of our worries, we just wanted to cruise [DH is twice cancer survivor, so our priorities are, may be, different than others, along with our advanced age].

 

We were happy to pay the premium, the time of the year was right.... and Malta really exceeded our expectations. So glad we succeeded in seeing it [even though I've got Covid two days after the cruise 😢].

 

 

Pls. cut me some slack here... I'm sure I didn't explain myself correctly -- frozen -- yes. As admitted by the cook, the process of "de-frozeing" the fish was faulty, resulting in a fish being hot on the outside, and deep frozen inside.

 

Also, my DH's "beef" about "fresh products" was meant about the variety of sea food easily purchased in a port like Rome, yes, frozen, which was no where to be seen all along the cruise.

 

Re: nothing happens when swallowing a metal wire. Duly noted. Silly me. I should have "consulted" Dr. Google immediately and let our worries to rest.... [slinking away in shame].

 

 

Don’t slink away. You were correct in being concerned. There is a reason that have cautioned against using metal wire brushes. 
 

Wire bristles from grill brushes can snap off, land on the grate and find their way into grilled meats, public health experts warn. If ingested, these bristles can tear up a person's throat and digestive tract, causing potentially life-threatening injuries.Jul 2, 2015

 

BBQ Grill Brush Wires Causing Big Health Woes - WebMD

[Aldo7777]

47 minutes ago, HMR74 said:

Just curious as I did not see the date of this particular cruise in any post (as I quickly ran thru the posts) but what was the date--I assume recently , but I hate to assume.

 

I am concerned even before this that the "vibe" on E class is different that the vibe on S  class, and while I like Reflection,  which will be revolutionized before the 2023 Med season, next years Reflection  itineraries were not as desireable to me as Beyond or others by X, and I went into the Beyond 2023 sailings open eyed on higher prices (which are now much higher).

 

Being optimistic, (and formerly in restaurant business) I will attribute most problems to a new ship and still messed up crew staffing, however, I have 6 months before final payments are due.

 

So I have time to process and evaluate all this being able to see reviews coming.

 

I already had a back up plan for a land based trip tied to the post cruise Italy stay which adds Greece and Israel.

 

The X CEO Med 2022  Cruise on Beyond has yet to occur, I beleve. She should be made aware of the problems. Hard to fix problems you do not know about and sometimes the customer is best at pointing out the problems.

That said, I heard complaints about APEX internet and I wrote management -----and mgt "assured me"  that it will be fine, thus I feel real assurred, lol; Can't wait till Starlink internet is available onboard.

 

As to the Captain, the person in charge is responsible for the entire shindig,  so somehow this needs to get to Capt Kate  now , before LLP  is there. If Kate does not know about the problems then whats missing is some sort of communication format so she or he can see if something is happening thats out of the norm expected.

 

Unless there is an expectation thats its ok for a certain number of guests to dine with wires in  the still frozen fish. It's like the 5 second rule for food thats fallen on the floor.

 

edit: btw, what gets measured gets done in any business. Everybody in the chain of command should have to sign off on something  that goes wrong (of magnitude of the type like wire in food) , to make people accountable. Yes, we know 9,000 full meals are served on a typical day on a 3,000 person ship. on certain things there needs to be zero tolerance for errors.

Ha ha reminds me of  the wee screeching one on. Derry Girls !

[hcat]

We appreciate  this honest review from a frequent cruiser and  fellow Cruise Critic poster.  Sorry for all the negatives you encountered, esp the wire in the food..dangerous!  We will be careful with food, loud music etc when we sail on the Beyond..only 5 days..in Nov. Seems the " covid excuse" is now replaced with the "supply chain" excuse..not just on land!

 

We sailed on EDGE twice and loved it..esp the 4 mdr plan that came with our Sunset Veranda.  I too hated the dark hallway which I named the.."creepy forest" in my early reviews....no clear pathway, low light, hard to see anything and  folks in scooters racing through..We did our best to avoid it and have already noted to avoid the  even  worse looking  similar area  on BEYOND.  We will also leave any shows or areas with music that is  amped up. Bad or the ears and ruins the  music.

 

Hoping we will find nice spots for quiet and relaxation , and some good spa treatments on BEYOND...the Art collection and plantings on EDGE were outstanding,  so hope BEYOND will offer something similar...the Eden cafe was great for lunch and also the Bistro..light and brighy..great soups and salads ( upcharge worth it)

 

 

Hope you will post some photos b/c they are usually quite beautiful!

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, cruising sister said:

Best to “google” correctly metal brush wire is dangerous. they are very different from thin braces wire. 
 

Wire bristles from grill brushes can snap off, land on the grate and find their way into grilled meats, public health experts warn. If ingested, these bristles can tear up a person's throat and digestive tract, causing potentially life-threatening injuries.Jul 2, 2015

 

BBQ Grill Brush Wires Causing Big Health Woes - WebMD

 

I'll bite...Typical WebMD click bait article which is intentionally vague for the views, even what you quoted, the words "IF" and "CAN" appear without mentioning how often "if" and can" happen.  This pointless worse-case scenario article doesn't give any numbers to how often they "CAN tear up" a persons insides, unlike my article which listed the numbers.  By no means am I saying it's impossible to get injured, simply saying odds are low that bad things will happen if one does.

[cruising sister]

17 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I'll bite...Typical WebMD click bait article which is intentionally vague for the views, even what you quoted, the words "IF" and "CAN" appear without mentioning how often "if" and can" happen.  This pointless worse-case scenario article doesn't give any numbers to how often they "CAN tear up" a persons insides, unlike my article which listed the numbers.  By no means am I saying it's impossible to get injured, simply saying odds are low that bad things will happen if one does.

I guess my real world experience as a doctor says it can and has happened to a patient I cared for. I immediately went home after my shift and tossed out my wire grill brush and bought new scrubbing tools for my kids too. The poor kiddo had to go to surgery to get it removed from her esophagus. This is not an isolated incident. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

15 minutes ago, cruising sister said:

I guess my real world experience as a doctor says it can and has happened to a patient I cared for. I immediately went home after my shift and tossed out my wire grill brush and bought new scrubbing tools for my kids too. The poor kiddo had to go to surgery to get it removed from her esophagus. This is not an isolated incident. 

 

We know the worst case scenario (this) and the best case scenario (nothing happens), the question is, how often will someone need medical attention after ingestion?  I posted an article that states if someone ingests brace metal wire (which is typically far more rigid than a brush bristle), which is capable of tissue puncture, 80-90% of incidents won't need medical attention.

[HMR74]

Best off if you are lucky when something like the wire is ingested.

 

I am really surprised, thinking about it, that they do not have an "error on the cautious side"  policy/process (good business practice to bring one down to the medical facility for an evaluation asap.

 

Also perhaps part of this is the stock prices of cruise companies have tanked, and RCL is by far in better shape than NCL or CCL. Short of cash balances; would not be a surprise

.

Mr. market knows what's happening.

[sgmn]

6 hours ago, hcat said:

 

We sailed on EDGE twice and loved it..esp the 4 mdr plan that came with our Sunset Veranda.  I too hated the dark hallway which I named the.."creepy forest" in my early reviews....no clear pathway, low light, hard to see anything and  folks in scooters racing through..We did our best to avoid it and have already noted to avoid the  even  worse looking  similar area  on BEYOND.  We will also leave any shows or areas with music that is  amped up. Bad or the ears and ruins the  music.

 

Hoping we will find nice spots for quiet and relaxation , and some good spa treatments on BEYOND...the Art collection and plantings on EDGE were outstanding,  so hope BEYOND will offer something similar...the Eden cafe was great for lunch and also the Bistro..light and brighy..great soups and salads ( upcharge worth it)

 

 

Hope you will post some photos b/c they are usually quite beautiful!

Here is a pic of the dark mirrored corridor that leads to Eden. It does look quite beautiful but it definitely is a hazard. Those big golden blobs are hard.  I saw an elderly man walk into one of the mirrors thinking it was an exit. Its actually darker than the pic shows.

Loved how they're changed the lawn to plant islands with seating. Great for watching the outdoor movies. Loved the outdoor sunset bar.  Loved the stage and entertainment,though some shows were a bit loud. Missed the sky lounge and no forward facing top deck lounge 

[sgmn]

7 hours ago, HMR74 said:

Just curious as I did not see the date of this particular cruise in any post (as I quickly ran thru the posts) but what was the date--I assume recently , but I hate to assume.

Dani and I were on the same cruise and I had some lovely conversations with her and DH. 

It was 13June for 10 nights 

[sergel02]

I was in the Beyond recently and really loved it. It was probably my favorite cruise ever.

 

That said, i did have some negatives somewhat similar to yours. We cruise similarly, mostly focusing on food, shows, and itinerary.  I found the food in the buffet good overall but it lacked variety compared to other premium lines. 
 

The sound in the theater was loud and I had issues with it, but it was fixed by the last night. Wish it could have been earlier.

 

I liked the mirrored hallway personally and found it fun.

 

I didn’t find the ship soulless (always curious how people define this) or dark but I do agree there were too many shops, especially high end ones. I get they only need a purchase every now and then to make money but it felt like too many shops where the space could have been better used.

 

I found lots of places to sit, and many pretty quiet. The plaza was really loud though.

 

I thought I was the only one noticing the fish smell in Eden. Made it hard to sit there. 
 

 

 

 

[chamima]

On 7/5/2022 at 6:26 PM, zitsky said:

I guess I missed the place where everyone on board and on this forum saiid “mistakes happen”?

 

Didn’t she get an apology and one or two free meals plus a bottle of wine?

 

Finding something in your food is serious and should be handled properly.  It seems to me that the complaint was that the issue didn’t go high enough.  Does the Captain or CEO usually get involved in food issues?  I’ve only been on one Celebrity cruise so I don’t know.

 

 

I don't think she EVER even insinuated that the issue should go to the captain. She did say it should have been escalated to the Food and Beverage Manager, which seems totally appropriate.

She wasn't looking for compensation - rather she wanted assurance that this wouldn't happen again. The poster earlier who is a physician said that after she saw an injury from a metal brush she went home and threw out her metal brushes - I think that might have been the response Dani was looking for.

 

And to Dani - thanks for the review. I don't think the E-class is for us either. My husband is a vegan and I don't eat meat or seafood so all those restaurants are meaningless to us. We cruise for the sea and all of those indoor spaces just don't provide that.

And, BTW, your English is great!!!

[cluso]

10 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

I'll bite...Typical WebMD click bait article which is intentionally vague for the views, even what you quoted, the words "IF" and "CAN" appear without mentioning how often "if" and can" happen.  This pointless worse-case scenario article doesn't give any numbers to how often they "CAN tear up" a persons insides, unlike my article which listed the numbers.  By no means am I saying it's impossible to get injured, simply saying odds are low that bad things will happen if one does.

 

Years ago we stopped using wire brushes after finding loose wire bristles on the grill.  Due to this issue, while shopping in stores/online, you will find all kinds of scrubbers without the wire bristles.

[A&L_Ont]

25 minutes ago, cluso said:

 

Years ago we stopped using wire brushes after finding loose wire bristles on the grill.  Due to this issue, while shopping in stores/online, you will find all kinds of scrubbers without the wire bristles.

 

We use a wood one in this house to avoid that issue. 

[A&L_Ont]

On 7/5/2022 at 9:42 AM, chemmo said:

If I read correctly the OP was initially upset because she was worried  some wire could have been ingested and then secondly the fact that it was not escalated to the management team. She was not looking for compensation or grovelling, she was looking for the incident to be investigated. She wanted the incident investigating in the same way all of us who may fall over a trip hazard would want it investigating to ensure it didn’t happen to others.
 

Having the attitude that ‘mistakes happen’ so don’t worry results in careless procedures and more mistakes happening…

 

Your response is spot on IMO. 

[zitsky]

2 hours ago, cluso said:

 

Years ago we stopped using wire brushes after finding loose wire bristles on the grill.  Due to this issue, while shopping in stores/online, you will find all kinds of scrubbers without the wire bristles.

I looked at grill brushes a few months ago.  Still not sure to search for to find a brush without wire?  15 years of grilling and never had this problem.  But we don’t use the grill every day.

[PTC DAWG]

2 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

 

We use a wood one in this house to avoid that issue. 

Splinters are possible from these kind…fact is, stuff happens…nothing is fool proof. 

[Provence55always]

My husband use's a wire brush but he tells me he always cleans down the grill with kitchen roll after doing this. We will have to rethink this.

[zitsky]

7 minutes ago, Provence55always said:

My husband use's a wire brush but he tells me he always cleans down the grill with kitchen roll after doing this. We will have to rethink this.

What is kitchen roll?  Paper towels?

[Provence55always]

Just now, zitsky said:

What is kitchen roll?  Paper towels?

Sorry……yes.