Here we go again... LIVE from Beyond, February 19, 2024

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, mac_tlc said:

his post is mainly for @Jim_Iain, who has taught me to appreciate doors !!!

 

Love the doors..... You have a great eye.    When living in Dublin, Ireland,   Iain bought me a book - Doors of Dublin.     Dublin is amazing and it is common that every door is painted a bright color -  I guess to make up for the grey skies.

 

Thanks for your wonderful post.    I have been enjoying it with my morning coffee.

 

 

Edited February 24 by Jim_Iain

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

4 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Next, headed back to the port and wandered through the eco park —-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all a great tour and one I would highly recommend. Group was small, Dora is a wealth of information on her city and its history. She also communicated frequently pre-cruise via email to confirm everything. It was $80USD per person, paid in cash after the tour was over. 
 

mac_tlc

 

Thanks for the review.  Glad to hear she goes to La Popa first.  Later in the day, you will not get good pictures from up there.

 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Love the doors..... You have a great eye.    When living in Dublin, Ireland,   Iain bought me a book - Doors of Dublin.     Dublin is amazing and it is common that every door is painted a bright color -  I guess to make up for the grey skies.

 

Thanks for your wonderful post.    I have been enjoying it with my morning coffee.

 

 

 

Loved the door photos!  I too love doors and have many pictures.  Started out taking pictures of door knockers and then branched out to including the doors.

[Lastdance]

I also love taking photos of doors throughout my travels, not to mention that when I was little, trying to open those was a fascination from the age of 2.  Yes, many times I found myself in trouble, but that didn’t stop me, at least not for several more years.  Some of my most beautiful door photos have been from Israel, Russia, China and Malta, but there are beautiful doors everywhere. I also love stairways and arches, not to mention the history behind all of these, as they all tell a story if you have the time to listen.

Edited February 24 by Lastdance

[TheHawk1]

5 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

I guess it’s only illegal if you get caught. One other lounger in the Solarium the other day had an “Out of Office” sign on it when unoccupied. I didn’t grab a picture but I’m sure it will be back.

 

Crew were walking around and cleaning in both areas and walked past them just as I did.

 

IMHO, it’s systematic of people today. I paid, I get to do as I please. Unless enforced it will only get worse.

 

Scoff at Carnival, but they just rolled out a plan to address it, where the chair police will put a note on an occupied chair with the time the note was placed and noting the time, 40 minutes later, when the stuff will be moved. Let’s see how it works. Companies are just so concerned with alienating their customers, even when the customers are wrong.

 

mac_tlc

It would be better if you took a picture while they were actually sitting there.  A little public shaming never hurts to call attention to such rude behavior.

[mac_tlc]

57 minutes ago, TheHawk1 said:

It would be better if you took a picture while they were actually sitting there.  A little public shaming never hurts to call attention to such rude behavior.

I did think about that….

[mac_tlc]

Welcome to Aruba!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got off the ship a few minutes after 4, as did almost everyone else it seemed. Headed out to find the Dutch Pancake House:

 

 

 

That will be breakfast tomorrow morning!

 

 

 

Sitting here :

 

Having a couple Landsharks before heading back. There were a couple of stores on the main road we want to visit and rumor has it they may close at 6. 

mac_tlc

Edited February 24 by mac_tlc

[39august]

I asked on another thread, but no answer. Is there a bar in the casino, please?

[abbydancer2003]

19 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Welcome to Aruba!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got off the ship a few minutes after 4, as did almost everyone else it seemed. Headed out to find the Dutch Pancake House:

 

 

 

That will be breakfast tomorrow morning!

 

 

 

Sitting here :

 

Having a couple Landsharks before heading back. There were a couple of stores on the main road we want to visit and rumor has it they may close at 6. 

mac_tlc

The Dutch Pancake House is my go-to in Aruba.  It's a great choice.

[mac_tlc]

1 hour ago, 39august said:

I asked on another thread, but no answer. Is there a bar in the casino, please?

Not in the casino but right next to it.  Craft Social Bar.

 

 

[smeck]

I was a suite guest on the beyond and ate at Blu twice.  Both times we were seated right away and never saw a wait.  Blu was our favorite restaurant. 

[RK-NC]

7 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

IMHO, it’s systematic of people today. I paid, I get to do as I please. Unless enforced it will only get worse.

 

Agree. We are novice cruisers and are kinda shocked to read about chair hogs. I did a google search and see that it's a hot topic across the board, not just on Celebrity. Wondering if it happens in other areas of the ship, like the buffet? And I'm just really hoping that the Retreat sundeck will be a lovely, easy and relaxing experience. 

[hcat]

Great pics.. I am naming today's color...ARUBA BLUE!

[parrothead33]

8 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

I guess it’s only illegal if you get caught. One other lounger in the Solarium the other day had an “Out of Office” sign on it when unoccupied. I didn’t grab a picture but I’m sure it will be back.

 

Crew were walking around and cleaning in both areas and walked past them just as I did.

 

IMHO, it’s systematic of people today. I paid, I get to do as I please. Unless enforced it will only get worse.

 

Scoff at Carnival, but they just rolled out a plan to address it, where the chair police will put a note on an occupied chair with the time the note was placed and noting the time, 40 minutes later, when the stuff will be moved. Let’s see how it works. Companies are just so concerned with alienating their customers, even when the customers are wrong.

 

mac_tlc

I was on Apex last April and they were doing the same thing as Carnival.  If you didn’t return in 45 minutes they removed the items from the chairs.

[39august]

Wow. I am so disappointed in bars on Beyond. The Craft Social is right next to the entrance to the casino on S class too, but there is a bar inside the casino.  Seems very few places to get a drink and chill out. I miss the Sky Lounge already!

[cinderellen]

11 hours ago, mac_tlc said:

Thank you for your kind words!

 

This is our plan for Aruba. Today we will hit the shops, tomorrow morning we plan on going to the Dutch Pancake House for breakfast, hoping it bears some resemblance to Pancakes Amsterdam in Amsterdam. 
 

We will walk around today and find it. 
 

mac_tlc

We are sailing out of Amsterdam in July and spending a couple days there prior. We’ll need to look for it. 

[MMMCruiser]

Great review.  I'm following along and hoping they do something about the chair hogs.

[DingoMom]

@39august, the Craft Social bar has drinks, as does the Martini Bar (one deck down) and the World Class Bar (one deck up). Also, on Beyond, I believe Al Bacio has the drinks on the Captains Club Elite Happy Hour menu.

[eyecantwait]

12 hours ago, Keys Kathy said:

Is this Feb 3rd? If so, we are on that one with some Canadian friends.

No, the 24th.

[mac_tlc]

After our foray on land, we headed back to the ship. As is always the case here, it was hot. We had dinner at Luminae around 7, which is quite late for us. I had a house salad , French onion soup and the eggplant Parmesan. It was very good. Unfortunately the phone stayed on the table and I forgot to take pictures. I really do have to concentrate more ……

 

After dinner we did something a little different—- we went up to the Solarium for a swim! We finally found a time when it wasn’t crowded 😂😂. 
 

Tomorrow we head out for breakfast at the Dutch Pancake House!

 

mac_tlc

[mac_tlc]

The Celebrity Today for day 7:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 25 by mac_tlc

[vickykay]

We love Dutch Pancakes -in Amsterdam and at the Dutch Pancake restaurant in Aruba.  Enjoy!

[Arzeena]

14 hours ago, RK-NC said:

 

Agree. We are novice cruisers and are kinda shocked to read about chair hogs. I did a google search and see that it's a hot topic across the board, not just on Celebrity. Wondering if it happens in other areas of the ship, like the buffet? And I'm just really hoping that the Retreat sundeck will be a lovely, easy and relaxing experience. 

Seen a lot of it in the Solarium Cafe....in Nov on the Silhouette, four elderly people "reserving" one table with towels and belongings and playing card games on the one right next to it. Many people having lunch in the solarium cafe were looking around for seats/tables to eat at and asked them if they could use that "reserved" table while they eat and then they would put every thing back (I also asked first but then sat on the small wall between pool and lunch area)...No! One of the ladies from the card playing group got very nasty at those who requested and started waving her cane at them. Verbal fight broke out when another couple just ignored them and sat to eat their lunch at their reserved table anyways. Crew member came to see, couple eating explained, he agreed that there should be no reservations and helped gather the stuff that was used to reserve. Well, where do you think they finally moved to ....Their "reserved" lounge chairs near the solarium pool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two tables for four and four lounge chairs...a bit too blatant! Provided some lunch time entertainment for me.
 

Sorry Mac, I apologize, I did not mean to interfere with your lovely review, just mentioned it since you observed the same seat "reservation" problem.

Loved the La Popa pictures. We did that tour with Claudia some years ago.

Edited February 25 by Arzeena

[mac_tlc]

41 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Seen a lot of it in the Solarium Cafe....in Nov on the Silhouette, four elderly people "reserving" one table with towels and belongings and playing card games on the one right next to it. Many people having lunch in the solarium cafe were looking around for seats/tables to eat at and asked them if they could use that "reserved" table while they eat and then they would put every thing back (I also asked first but then sat on the small wall between pool and lunch area)...No! One of the ladies from the card playing group got very nasty at those who requested and started waving her cane at them. Verbal fight broke out when another couple just ignored them and sat to eat their lunch at their reserved table anyways. Crew member came to see, couple eating explained, he agreed that there should be no reservations and helped gather the stuff that was used to reserve. Well, where do you think they finally moved to ....Their "reserved" lounge chairs near the solarium pool !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two tables for four and four lounge chairs...a bit too blatant! Provided some lunch time entertainment for me.
 

Sorry Mac, I apologize, I did not mean to interfere with your lovely review, just mentioned it since you observed the same seat "reservation" problem.

Loved the La Popa pictures. We did that tour with Claudia some years ago.

Feel free to chime in, more information is good!

 

mac_tlc

[mac_tlc]

So if you are wondering where the island goes on a Sunday morning, it’s here:

 

 

About a 45 minute wait, island time.

 

 

Here is the menu, it is extensive. Prices in USD.

 

 

 

 

 

But how far from the ship is it? It’s this far:

 

 

Edited February 25 by mac_tlc