Celebrity Beyond. July 2nd -July 11 review

[KKB]

1 hour ago, LeafsFanNL said:

I'm sorry.  That's a picture of the sunset bar on the Infinity.  I should have mentioned that in my post

Yeah looking at the Beyond photos it looks like just the bar is shaded (still an improvement over Edge/Apex). 

Original photos looked like they were going to add shade like Infinity.

WTH made them decide to remove it??!!

[techfashion]

On 7/20/2022 at 2:35 AM, LeafsFanNL said:

Day 1, July 2nd.  

 

We had a 12:00-12:30 pm boarding time.  We took a taxi,  picked up the other two and quickly arrived at the port.  I was pleasantly surprised how close the taxi was able to get to the ship.  Check in was very fast, the only hiccup was that the lady at the desk was less familiar with people who were boarding with certificates of recovery then people with antigen tests.  After a few minutes we boarded.

 

It was obvious from the start that there were  not so many people on the ship.  The number I kept hearing was about 1600.  

 

My wife had been on the Edge in early 2020, and was not enthralled by the infinity balcony.  We ended up booking what I think of as a porthole balcony on deck eight, forward.  Here are a few pics. The other couple had the standard balcony.  I have to say I preferred ours.  

Hi, we were on this cruise too. We had Retreat room, a Royal suite. It was great. I heard that there were 1700 passengers so that is close to the number you heard. It definitely felt quite spacious and at times unoccupied. Pros and cons to that.

[techfashion]

We ate in a couple of the specialty restaurants and really enjoyed them. The steakhouse had excellent fish as well as steak. Excellent service too. If you can get a view table by the window, that enhances the experience.  In Le Voyage, the specialty restaurant inspired by Daniel Boulud, the tasting menu with wine pairing was outstanding! Just excellent dishes, choices for each course, impeccable service. It was a bit pricey but really an elevated dining experience.

 

Also, we found the ship to be so smooth. Of course the Med is a usually calm but we almost never felt any movement. Even with a forward cabin.

[LeafsFanNL]

Day 3.  Villefranche.

 

The four of us had booked a four hour excursion to Nice and Eze.  We tendered into Villefranche from the ship, but had to walk about 500M through the town to get to the bus.  As an aside, I think Villefranche would be a great place to just disembark and wander the streets and alleys. 
 

We took about a 30 minute ride into downtown Nice.  We wandered around the town and fairly quickly found ourselves on the beach.  We spent about 45 minutes there and the ladies, being prepared, went for a swim.  
 

Another ride on the bus ended in the parking lot below Eze. Like most days it was 30 degrees plus, and the hike up to the village was somewhat intense, although not very long.  Eze is worth the trip. Beautiful place.

[LeafsFanNL]

4 hours ago, LeafsFanNL said:

Day 3.  Villefranche.

 

The four of us had booked a four hour excursion to Nice and Eze.  We tendered into Villefranche from the ship, but had to walk about 500M through the town to get to the bus.  As an aside, I think Villefranche would be a great place to just disembark and wander the streets and alleys. 
 

We took about a 30 minute ride into downtown Nice.  We wandered around the town and fairly quickly found ourselves on the beach.  We spent about 45 minutes there and the ladies, being prepared, went for a swim.  
 

Another ride on the bus ended in the parking lot below Eze. Like most days it was 30 degrees plus, and the hike up to the village was somewhat intense, although not very long.  Eze is worth the trip. Beautiful place.

Some pictures from this day

[Jokerkimmie]

Can you please advise where you got a Covid test in Barcelona pre-cruise?

[Michidoeme]

We had very good experience via https://democratest.com/.  They have several locations in Barcelona (some are not open during weekend).  Reservation online.  We went to the one close to Las Ramblas/Ronda Sant Pau.  Was a bit difficult to find because it is a dental/veneer clinic and the Covid test was not indicated outside.  Cost ca 25 Euro and we waited about 25 min for result they send per email.  Just that they don t speak much English so not much conversation possible.

Edited August 5, 2022 by Michidoeme

[LeafsFanNL]

16 hours ago, Jokerkimmie said:

Can you please advise where you got a Covid test in Barcelona pre-cruise?

Hi,

 

as we had both recently recovered from Covid, we didn’t need to get tested.  Our travelling companions tested with one of the distance tests and an iPad

[Jokerkimmie]

Thanks for the information LeafsFan. Do you know if your companions used a Canadian proctored test? If so, do you know the name of the company?

[DC1andDC2]

5 hours ago, Jokerkimmie said:

Thanks for the information LeafsFan. Do you know if your companions used a Canadian proctored test? If so, do you know the name of the company?

@LeafsFanNL, we would also like to know if your travel partners used a Canadian proctored test (such as those sold by SwitchHealth).  We will be boarding Beyond on Sept 15th and plan on booking a test at one of the Democratest testing centers in Barcelona but were wondering if we should bring SwitchHealth proctored tests with us as a backup plan.  The problem is that we've read contradicting info regarding those tests being accepted because the actual tests kits SwitchHealth use are not FDA approved and Celebrity policies state the test kits used must be FDA approved.

[LeafsFanNL]

Hi,

 

I'm pretty sure it was a SwitchHealth kit.  I know they had issues with the technical side of things.  I know that looking back on it, they would have got a local test.  Many people on the ship went that route, and were happy.
 

[LeafsFanNL]

Day 4 Santa Margarita.

 

We tendered into Santa Margarita early in the morning to catch a tour of the Cinque Terre.  A bus trip of about an hour to a village named Levanto then followed.   We then took a short train to Monterosso al Mare.  We walked through the village, did a little tour, then went to the beach where my wife took a little swim.  I stayed on the beach, which upon reflection was a mistake, I should have cooled down.  After a while, we shopped a bit and had some focaccia.  We took a short run on a boat which took us to Vernazza.  It was here that the crowds were really overwhelming.   It was a beautiful place, but way too many people.  The heat had also caught up to me.  I ended up pouring a couple of bottles over my head.  This helped, and we shopped a bit and had more focaccia.  

 

From our 2019 cruise experience, we had learned that a four or five hour excursion was the length we preferred.  This one had to be an eight hour trip, due to the distances, so we had to live with it. Our excursion took us to only two of the Cinque terra.  We were told that you can't do more than two of the villages from Santa Margarita.  Looking back on it, we should have done this excursion from La Spezzia, which is much closer, and allows you to see three of the villages, but spoilers, it wouldn't have mattered.