Beyond 10/26/22 sailing, some observations

[kwokpot]

On 11/2/2022 at 1:09 AM, nimiq said:

How is the wait time in the MDR for folks without reservations ? 

 

Has anyone tested the pagers at the Martini bar, Eden or World Class Bar ?

The wait times in the MDRs have been either non-existent or under 10 minutes. Yesterday was the last Chic Night and although my parents had zero wait at Cyprus and had good service Blu was another matter. Although we didn't wait for a table at 7pm service was extremely slow. They were all working very hard but it took the sommelier 30 minutes to get to our table. It took 75 minutes to have one appetizer and entree. We skipped dessert and coffee because we wanted to get to the theater to get seats for the show. 

[kwokpot]

*The infamous brownie that used to be exclusive to Eden Cafe is now also available at Cafe Al Bacio. It's yummy yummy but doesn't look exactly the same as on the Apex and Edge. Those brownies had a extra baked top layer. These on the Beyond don't have that extra browned top layer. Decadent nonetheless. 

[kwokpot]

*Photos of the Sunset Bar. It's a huge space, with multiple seating areas and levels. On the Port side there's a ramp off of the main pathway to the actual bar that goes to lower level seating areas, with further steps that lead to the outdoor seating area of the Oceanview Cafe. The Starboard side leads to the Rooftop Garden Grill and the Garden itself.

 

The Sunset Bar itself is covered with a solid roof overhang. There have been reports that it still gets sun. What people don't understand is that there's no way to control the angle of the sun and how and when it's going to hit the bar. If designers compensate for every sun angle you'll have a bar and seating areas that's covered 24/7.  

Edited November 3, 2022 by kwokpot

[Ex-Airbalancer]

That is pretty nice ! 
I didn’t like The Apex Sunset bar set up 

[kwokpot]

On 11/2/2022 at 12:57 AM, nimiq said:

Can’t wait to board her November 20th. I love attending a great show fêter dinner on a ship. It’s just makes it a perfect night. Would you happen to know what time are the Mai. Theatre shows at ? 
 

Thanks 

Sea ya 

Eric

The main theater shows are at 7 and 9. 

[PTC DAWG]

Sunset bar looks nice..I have yet to visit one I didn’t like..I do like the fact that they aren’t all exactly the same across the line..

[KKB]

On 10/30/2022 at 6:17 PM, Jeremiah1212 said:

The Craft Social crowd has to be due to the ballgame. In May it was a ghost town. In fact I think on my prior E class cruises it’s precursor, the Casino Bar, was also pretty deserted until late night. 

Huh. On our 2 weeks on the Edge Aug. 2021 (about 1/3 full) & Apex in March (2/3 full) that bar was always busy! I do miss the video poker on the Apex.

[Jim_Iain]

On 10/31/2022 at 8:13 AM, kwokpot said:

It can be said that Europeans use less personal paper products than Americans. It could be attributed to different plumbing standards and the use of bidets in some Southern Europe countries. In any case next time you're in Spain or Italy checkout a grocery store and look at the paper products section. TP is in much smaller rolls, firmer in composition, and smaller in dimensions. In Spain many hotels supply TP that has 30-50 squares. 

https://www.urdesignmag.com/tips/2020/09/26/6-big-differences-between-american-toilets-and-european-toilets/

I was thinking back to the 70's and 80's   (showing my age).    French toilet paper you would have to buy at a public toilet and they would give you one square that was like wax paper.   In Italy -  I swear a sheet of Sear's and Roebucks catalogue would have been softer.

 

I've lived in the UK and Ireland and maybe just what we bought it was just like home.

 

I do remember the rolls were smaller in Spain and Italy now that you mention it. 

[Jim_Iain]

 

@kwokpot  Really enjoying your live post.   The ship is beautiful and your photos are really bringing it to life.   

 

The photos of the Huge Halloween Party Crowds are incredible.    Looks like New Year's Eve at a NY Hotel

 

[dlh015]

I'll add to the accolades! Nicely done!!

[TravelingCircusof5]

Did I read that they are not honoring people’s specialty dining reservations? That they were all lost with the fixed dining times? Hopefully that was an isolated incident, but 🤷‍♀️. Just wondering if it is pointless to make a res or just chance it and wait until onboard. 

[KKB]

24 minutes ago, TravelingCircusof5 said:

Did I read that they are not honoring people’s specialty dining reservations? That they were all lost with the fixed dining times? Hopefully that was an isolated incident, but 🤷‍♀️. Just wondering if it is pointless to make a res or just chance it and wait until onboard. 

I believe they just dropped dining times in MDRs, NOT specialty dining.

No early/late times, just anytime for all.

[Josie201]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

*Photos of the Sunset Bar. It's a huge space, with multiple seating areas and levels. On the Port side there's a ramp off of the main pathway to the actual bar that goes to lower level seating areas, with further steps that lead to the outdoor seating area of the Oceanview Cafe. The Starboard side leads to the Rooftop Garden Grill and the Garden itself.

 

The Sunset Bar itself is covered with a solid roof overhang. There have been reports that it still gets sun. What people don't understand is that there's no way to control the angle of the sun and how and when it's going to hit the bar. If designers compensate for every sun angle you'll have a bar and seating areas that's covered 24/7.  

Great shots!   Can’t wait to be there!  

[alyssamma]

3 hours ago, kwokpot said:

The wait times in the MDRs have been either non-existent or under 10 minutes. Yesterday was the last Chic Night and although my parents had zero wait at Cyprus and had good service Blu was another matter. Although we didn't wait for a table at 7pm service was extremely slow. They were all working very hard but it took the sommelier 30 minutes to get to our table. It took 75 minutes to have one appetizer and entree. We skipped dessert and coffee because we wanted to get to the theater to get seats for the show. 

Wait times vary based on when and where you go. We had a 20min wait at Cypress one night. Another night there was a 45min wait at Normandie. For that, we decided to eat at Cosmopolitan which had no wait.

 

And fyi, we've been able to order the specialties from any MDR regardless of where we are actually dining.

 

[alyssamma]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

I was thinking back to the 70's and 80's   (showing my age).    French toilet paper you would have to buy at a public toilet and they would give you one square that was like wax paper.   In Italy -  I swear a sheet of Sear's and Roebucks catalogue would have been softer.

 

I've lived in the UK and Ireland and maybe just what we bought it was just like home.

 

I do remember the rolls were smaller in Spain and Italy now that you mention it. 

Lmao, I'm so glad others commented on this. When I first asked the Q I was hoping it wasn't something obvious.

 

I guess in the US I see some thick and some thin rolls, based on brand and quality, so the TP here on Beyond doesn't stand out. Ditto for Europe. Not to paint the entire continent with the same brush, but talking specifically about Spain and Italy, I've always had US type TP. Maybe the rolls were a little smaller, but not more so than cheapo US products. But, I've never bought it from the grocery stores so could be completely different there. Also never sailed in Europe, so am unaware of how it may be on ships there.

 

[alyssamma]

On 11/2/2022 at 1:09 AM, nimiq said:

anyone tested the pagers at the Martini bar, Eden or World Class Bar ?

I can confirm they work at Eden.

 

[kwokpot]

*Disembarkation Information

See attached photos

[kwokpot]

19 minutes ago, alyssamma said:

Wait times vary based on when and where you go. We had a 20min wait at Cypress one night. Another night there was a 45min wait at Normandie. For that, we decided to eat at Cosmopolitan which had no wait.

 

And fyi, we've been able to order the specialties from any MDR regardless of where we are actually dining.

 

What times did you generally go to eat? We've been going around 7pm. I do see in this cruise lita of people coming at 8pm.

 

 

[alyssamma]

27 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

What times did you generally go to eat? We've been going around 7pm. I do see in this cruise lita of people coming at 8pm.

 

 

It has been all over the place for us. However, it seems that if one MDR is busy you can go to another without a wait. We've met others here that have done that. But if you want a specific place, you may have to wait.

 

A few times we went at 530 and there was no wait. We are going tonight around 8 so hopefully no wait 😀

[Hlitner]

I am really enjoying the "great toilet paper discussion."  Been on CC from the beginning and do not recall such an enlightened discussion about toilet paper.  Live and learn :).  On our 100+ cruises I must say we never counted or paid attention to the TP.  We simply expected our steward to make sure we never went without...and that has never happened.

 

Hank

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

On 11/3/2022 at 2:43 PM, kwokpot said:

*The infamous brownie that used to be exclusive to Eden Cafe is now also available at Cafe Al Bacio. It's yummy yummy but doesn't look exactly the same as on the Apex and Edge. Those brownies had a extra baked top layer. These on the Beyond don't have that extra browned top layer. Decadent nonetheless. 

 

After just getting off the Reflection yesterday, I thought I'd search this site and see if others had commented on the brownies @ Café Al Bacio. I assume that they're the same across the fleet. I only wish that I had discovered them during our first week onboard instead of the second week. Then again, perhaps that's a good thing. I stocked up on them and probably ate 10-12 this last week !!  Other than a couple of the muffins in the morning, pretty much everything else I tried there (a dozen+ items) looked great, but came up waaay short! They appeared first on roughly the second day (see below), and reappeared with a dollop of vanilla frosting around day 5/6. 

 

 

Tom

[helen haywood]

Just got off Beyond yesterday and for whatever reason, the shows were at 7:30 and 9:30.  Not 7 and 9.