New to Celebrity, just booked The Retreat on Beyond. I have a couple questions and any tips or suggestions welcome.

[Cashsmoney]

  Hello, I just booked my first Celebrity cruise on in a sky suite on the Beyond. Over  the past few years we have sailed on  Royal’s Suite Class, The Haven on NCL, YC on MSC, MegaRockstar on Virgin Voyages, and just got off The Disney Wish so we are no strangers to cruising. How does it compare to any of those? I keep seeing people compare The Retreat to the Yacht Club and some saying the YC is a better experience now that has me worried because YC was my least favorite experience. However that cruise might have been a one off, it was during Covid and up to our sailing the ship only had like 500-700 guest on board but then our sailing was spring break and it jumped to over 3,000 and they were not prepared. So I’m giving it another go this Thanksgiving.

 

   How is Celebrity for kids? I have a 9 and 11 year old and normally we have sailed the mega ships with all the kid friendly activities, but we have done enough water slides I think we can try something new. 
     
  Also can you have a drink near a hot tub or pool? It drove me crazy MSC did not allow this.

 

   Also what’s the best way to book dinning on the edge? The dinner on the magic carpet.

 

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I'll answer the middle question:  Yes, you can have drinks near the hot tubs and pools but they will be in plastic and not glass.  

I've had waiters deliver drinks to me while I was IN the hot tub.  🙂

[jelayne]

You can book specialty dining, including Dinner on the Edge,  in the Cruise Planner on the website. 

[NanaChar]

The best cruise we ever had was when we had our grandkids with us, 5 & 7.  The Kid's Club was amazing and kept them busy during the day.  And since there are so kids onboard Celebrity, they were treated like royalty.  The crew went out of their way to serve the kids.  
For everyday dining, you don't need reservations in the Retreat.  Come when you want.  Other specialty restaurants cane be done on their website or thru their app.  The Magic Carpet, you can purchase, but I don't think they give you a date until you are on the ship.