Stunning ship with amazing entertainment but that's all.
Celebrity Beyond Cruise Review to Europe - Western Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 22
9 Night Italian Riviera & France (Barcelona Roundtrip)
Sail date: September 15, 2022
Ship: Celebrity Beyond
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 2 years ago
Review summary
For the record, this is the first time in my life that I have written a complaint. I work in the industry and understand that things can go wrong. But there were just so many huge fails that I felt the need to say something. I design hotels for a living and travel all the time and thing was honestly all around horrible. Thank goodness the ship was pretty, and the entertainment was great, but overall this ship needs a ton of improvement. For our cruise, we were short over 1,000 passengers. I can’t imagine how bad the experience would be had more people been on board. Overall, my take away of Celebrity was as a cruise line you need MAJOR improvement.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Now for where the ship needs improvement, biggest fail was the food. The food was horrible. I ate in several dining rooms and my favorite food on board was no joke the fresh pineapple and the hard boiled eggs at breakfast. Most of the food was completely tasteless. For this caliber of a ship, I expected the food to at least be edible. No joke this is the first vacation that I have ever lost weight on as the food was that bad. I spoke with other guests daily trying to find something good to eat and everyone I talked to said the same thing, the food is disgusting and/or tasteless. When booking, I was so excited to see an ice cream/gelato shop. That was a major disappointment as here we were in the area of the globe with unbelievable food and the gelato tasted like something you would get at a nursing home. The bread and croissants were not local at all and tasted like something old from the grocery store. I'm not a drinker, but I did upgrade my drink package to the premium no alcohol package, that was a major let down as I dreamed about getting smoothies each morning. First, there are barley any selections for smoothies and second the two I tried were the worst drinks of my entire life, no joke. The drinks were served not even slightly frozen but rather were served warm.
Onboard Activities
Lots of fun activities aboard.
Entertainment
In terms of entertainment, the nightly shows were fantastic and Tim, the cruise director was a lot of fun.
Service and Staff
Staff was all very friendly, but if you have an issue or problem, no one can help you.
Ship Quality
Stunning design and very clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
Good size, very functional.
Ship tip
Great itinerary, but the food is awful. Best food on board was the pineapple and hard boiled eggs.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Shore excursions, the trip to Cassis was awful. To begin, the tour guides mic didn't work on the bus and she didn't care. Then the bus driver got lost on the way. From there, the tour guide gave everyone numbers in case of an emergency to call given by Celebrity. Everyone in our group took a photo of the sign. While in Cassis, my 70 year old mother fell and we needed help. I tried calling the two numbers provided and both phones were answered by a french speaking person, I asked for english and they hung up. I tried each of the phone lines several times and got no help, to say that was majorly distressing is an understatement. Once we took care of our emergency, we went to the meeting spot to meet our tour guide. While waiting there, we ran into some others on our tour who mentioned that the tour guide changed the meeting location while everyone was touring. Come to find out, more people like us also weren't informed and about missed the little train to the bus. The tour guide didn't do a head count once on the bus and without other passengers speaking up that people were missing, we would have left without them. Worst tour I have ever been on in my life.
We did our own personal driving tour for the day with a private driver, it was fantastic. We visited a perfume factory, the villages of Gourdon and St Paul.
Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy
Great tour guide and a fun tour. We covered a lot of ground visiting a few of the Cinque Terre villages.
The farmhouse tour to Tuscany was also not great. To begin, our printed tickets said to meet ashore. That was a bit confusing as that day there was also a free shuttle, so we didn’t know if ashore was just off the ship or if it was at the shuttle stop. We went the shore excursions desk to ask and they were closed during the day. We then went to ask guest service and they said they didn’t know but to arrive early asking someone on the gangway. At the gangway, we asked five people and got three different responses. Good thing we planned extra time and found our tour, but that should be basic information for your team members. Then once we got on the tour, the tour guide slept on the bus to and from where we were going and gave zero information. Then at the farmhouse, where we were told via printed material it would be a horse drawn carriage ride, it was really a wagon ride down a dirt driveway.
Expensive transportation to get into Rome, $100/person to simply take the express train there for the day.
Amazing tour guide. We visited the Amalfi Coast and did the motor coach tour with the boat ride and lunch. Also visit Pompeii.
Disembarkation
Then came booking our transportation from the ship to the airport, I followed the code provided and filled out the online form requesting transportation well before the deadline. Thankfully, I was smart and screenshotted that my request was received. Come Friday when our luggage tags arrived, we had tags for self service walk off. My mother went to guest services where they said oh, I’m sorry for the mistake and sent her back to the room with new tags. I then looked at the tags and the sheet provide and realized all they did at guest services was give my mother tags for a later self service walk off time. I then went down to the desk and showed them the proof that I submitted my forms and they they finally gave us the correct luggage tags. My day at sea was further ruined as I was unable to check in for my flight as Celebrity had provided the wrong confirmation codes for our flights. Our flights were purchased thru the cruise line. Worried that we may not have a flight home, I then spent 2 ½ hours looking up alternates to get us home if at the airport we couldn’t solve things with the airline.