An Aqua Sky Suite onboard Celebrity Beyond (2022)

I start with the Rooftop, this garden decorated with real plants and shrubs, where it is very pleasant to relax. Slightly larger, it offers a few more secluded corners to be able to hide even more in the greenery. The associated restaurant, the Rooftop Garden Grill, has been enhanced with a glass panel partition system as well.

Always equipped with a giant screen, you can come in the evening after dark (with a blanket, which is often essential!) to watch a different film every day. Or in the middle of the Roland Garros final, watch the women’s singles.

Moving towards the aft of the ship, the Sunset Bar (a classic of the company, on most of its ships) has been redesigned and enlarged. I had found that on the Edge and the Apex, this bar with a breathtaking view of the ship’s wake had lost its luster. Smaller, less impressive than these predecessors, it is obvious that Celebrity wanted to catch up with this advantageous update. More places, a variation of terraces in stairs opening onto the sea, a Moroccan-inspired bar (according to its designers)… a very interesting place, especially at sunset, of course.

On one side of the Rooftop Garden and just before the Sunset Bar, 2 small infinity pools have also been added. Something to have the impression of floating in the air when you bathe in it! The central pool, still as long for a cruise ship, has moved slightly away from the adjacent bar to allow more space and provide more tables and sofas at the Pool Bar. The 2 jacuzzis in the shape of champagne coupes are still there, on either side.

The Magic Carpet is also still there, able to move from deck 14 during the day to deck 5 at the end of the afternoon. Located on one side of the ship, it is a bar-lounge which sometimes also serves as a restaurant (Diner on the Edge, never tested). Having a drink here when the ship is at sea makes it easy to understand that the “Magic Carpet” (flying carpet) lives up to its name.

When the ship is at a port of call, but not docked, you have to use tenders to go ashore, and the Magic Carpet then becomes a pier by placing itself at water level and on deck 2, at the “Destination Getaway”. This makes using these shuttles so much easier!

To finish with the exterior parts of the ship, a short tour by the promenade, on deck 5, which is not the most impressive part. But you can discover many quiet and friendly little corners. Note that some of them are abandoned to smokers, which immediately makes them much less interesting.

The interior style is warm and there are many works of art that adorn the passages from one part of the bridges to another. Even the Eden, this lounge-bar-restaurant at the back of the ship clashes with its greenery and its armchairs-water lilies, but avoid the too flashy side of too many cruise ships.

I make an aside comment on the elevators. On most cruise ships they are quite well thought out, although sometimes not enough for the size of the ship or the number of passengers. I am surprised each time by these people who rush into an elevator that goes down (“going down” it says), with an down arrow that clearly indicates it, then who press on an upper floor… and who do not understand that ” it does not work”. It is special. And even color codes (green, it goes up, red, it goes down) don’t help them…

There are no more buttons in these elevators, replaced by a touch screen. Occasionally, the configuration changes, to indicate at which deck we can leave the ship, or on which floor the Magic Carpet is currently located, etc.

The theater is a jewel of technology. In addition to the stage, which extends to the center of the room, with its retractable supports, there is a system of 3 giant screens which form the background. In the assembled position, it is a screen that goes from one side of the stage to the other. But when they move, they allow configurations that every show knows how to take advantage of. The mixtures of high quality videos and real decorations have their effect and the show “Elements”, for example, is a great success.

More in the center of the ship, the World Class Bar, a classic of Celebrity’s Solstice-class ships, which was absent from the Egde and the Apex, returns on board. It overlooks the Grand Plazza and its famous Martini bar, completely restructured on the Beyond.

This Martini Bar had been criticized for not leaving enough seats around the counter. This is what Celebrity seems to have wanted to correct with a now central bar, and something to sit all around. The chandelier is now the center of criticism: it is less impressive than on the Edge or the Apex. Never happy, these passengers! However, the entertainment remains very popular, with the waiters juggling their bottles while preparing the cocktails, against the backdrop of a sound and light show.

Now let’s have a look at the restaurant side…

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