This article is President’s Cruise on Celebrity Beyond. It is about my experience sailing on the 2024 Celebrity President’s Cruise.
Each year, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity host President’s Cruises. These are cruises that are setup to celebrate the most loyal guests and they are hosted by the president of the cruise lines.
Think of them as a regular cruise on steroids. The cruise line will go all out to add special activities, entertainment and surprises for guests to enjoy on the sailing.
This was my first President’s Cruise. Given the experience, I would love to go on one again in the future.
Booking
I booked Celebrity Beyond using a travel agent group rate. I selected an Aqua Class Infinite Veranda room on the 10th floor at a cost of approximately $4,500 for two people. The rate included basic drinks and basic Wi-Fi.
I added gratuities and upgraded to premium drinks and internet. All in the cruise had a cost of about $5,000 so the six night sailing.
Celebrity Beyond
As the third Edge Class Ship for Celebrity Cruises, Celebrity Beyond is a modern cruise ship with an instantly identifiable Magic Carpet, which is a platform that extends of the side of the ship. The Magic Carpet is used for a bar and cocktail space, or a restaurant. In addition, at some tender ports, the magic carpet is lowered to sea level and it allows for a platform to board the tender boats.
I previously sailed on Celebrity Beyond in 2023 and had an incredible experience while Captain Kate was the captain and Luigi was the cruise director.
You can read about the experience here. Note: this is a very positive review; however, it truly was an amazing experience. It was difficult to find anything that was negative.
Room
I was in room 10254, an Aqua Class Infinite Balcony Stateroom on the 10th floor.
I am not a big fan of the Infinite Balconies on these Edge Class ships as it is basically a ocean view room with a window that drops down. It lacks the ability to actually sit out in the open air. Also when the window is down, the air conditioning turns off and the room gets very hot and humid. While it adds a little more light in the room then a typical cabin, I am just not a fan. I could see the room being better in Alaska or a cold weather climate. Currently you can sail on Celebrity Edge to Alaska and Celebrity Apex in Northern Europe which may be a great place to enjoy the Infinite Balconies.
The room was clean and comfortable and had modern decor.
The beds and linens were soft and the room was quiet throughout the sailing.
Restroom
The bathroom featured a shower with spa jets and multiple options for water flow.
It was nice having the options, however, in this particular room the water pressure for the spa jets was very low so it took away from the experience.
The sink area was large and offered plenty of space for storage.
The amenities included shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion and bar soap. The amenities had a food scent and was pleasant.
One area for improvement for the amenities would be the additional of liquid hand soap since the bar soap leaves lots of soap residue when using it.
Room Walkthrough
This is a video of the walkthrough of the Aqua Class Infinite Balcony room on Celebrity Beyond:
Power Ports / Security Issue
For power, there is one outlet next to the bed and then a power box at the desk. The power box has multiple US and Euro outlets as well as USB-A ports.
The ship does not have any USB-C ports. You will need an adaptor for cell phones and other devices since USB-C is the standard.
I normally bring along an extension cord like this one. It is generally one I have not had a problem taking on a ship. The cord does not have a surge protector on it and is cruise safe. I must have taken it on 15 or more sailings in the past few years without any issue.
In the case of this sailing, the power cord was removed from my bag while I was checking in. A note was left in the bag saying that it was a prohibited item. The note said that I would need to collect it after disembarking.
I made due without the cord during the sailing.
Resolution of Issue
At the end of the cruise when I went to retrieve the cord, the security staff said that they had no record of my room having the item taken.
I saw the cord on the table and pointed it out to the security officer.
The officer said that that was listed to a different room and different name. Security would not release the item to me even after I showed the claim ticket and receipt for the device.
The officer said I would have to talk to ship security to resolve the issue. I asked to speak to them and the officer called; however, the officer did not arrive.
After about an hour, I was asked to continue through the terminal to go through immigration before waiting in another area outside of security. I agreed but still had to wait another hour at that point.
After two hours, the officer arrived and I was able to claim the item. The officer required showing my original purchase receipt and signing off on several forms. This was the second time I provided the purchase receipt for the item.
This was unexpected and definitely not a good experience as a guest. I get that this was just an error of someone writing the wrong room number down on the item. The fact that I had to wait over two hours to resolve it was not reasonable.
President’s Cruise Key Highlights
The President’s Cruise on Celebrity Beyond was a lot of fun overall. Several things stood out which made the cruise amazing:
Unique Decorations
Throughout the cruise, on the ship and even in the terminal, there were plenty of additional decorations.
Fresh flowers and plants were found throughout the ship adding some additional upscale feel and tropical vibes.
Even the decorative element at the pool featuring an elephant received flowers and tropical attire.
It was refreshing seeing these additions throughout the sailing.
Coco Cay Themed Sail away Party
Perfect Day at Coco Cay is Royal Caribbean’s Private Island Destination in the Bahamas. Coco Cay was also the first port of call for this sailing.
The sail away party had a Coco Cay theme and featured Coco Cay drinks such as the Coco Loco. Snacks from the Coco Beach Club were handed out by servers throughout the open decks for sail away party.
One of the coolest things was that Laura, the president of Celebrity welcomed guests onboard. Laura surprised guests with prizes of cabanas at Coco Cay.
Two or three of each type of Cabana on Coco Cay was given away. The cabanas included locations in Hideaway Beach, Coco Beach Club, South Beach as well as the over water ones. How awesome for those that won!
Perfect Day at Coco Cay
The first port of call was Perfect Day at Coco Cay.
I love visiting the private island for Royal Caribbean! It is so nice that a stop was added for summer 2024 on Celebrity Beyond and Celebrity Reflection sailings.
It was fun getting some sun and spending time in the water at Hideaway Beach. Hideaway Beach is the adults only area on Coco Cay. I paid $49 for passes.
Celebrity offered a special water flying and jet ski stunt performance for the President’s Sailing.
It sure was a great party at Coco Cay!
After hanging out at Hideaway Beach, I was treated to some good views of the ships: on the walk back.
Epic Sea Day Fun
Sea Days are always jam packed with activities on cruises. In the case of President’s Cruise, they went above and beyond.
The sea day was packed with performances from the USA Olympic Swim Team performing synchronized swimming routines. In addition, a world record hula hooper was onboard and several other special performers.
Both sea days had fun experiences which were Epic.
Celebrity Beyond even had a West End / Broadway performer onboard the ship!
Private Beach Party at Bimini Beach Club
The largest event for the President’s Cruise was the takeover of the Bimini Beach Club!
Celebrity covered all the drinks and offered gourmet food at the event.
You may recognize the club. Virgin Voyages rents it out on Caribbean sailings and calls it Virgin Voyages Beach Club.
When Virgin uses the club, guests have to pay for drinks. It was a nice addition that Celebrity made for the President’s Sailing.
They even setup a private Laura’s bar for some craft cocktails by the Martini Bar Bartenders!
Celebrity put on a great party at the pool.
I spent the day in the ocean enjoying the beautiful water and great tunes from the beach club!
Fireworks
The Celebrity President’s Cruise 2024 went out with a bang with an incredible deck party and fireworks display.
It was the perfect well to toast to an amazing sailing!
Dining
During the sailing I primarily dined at Blu which is the included restaurant for guest staying in Aqua Class.
The service was excellent and the food was great.
The servers will even bring you items from the other main dining restaurants! That is a nice touch in case you want to try something from those menus.
Fine Cuts / Specialty Dining
One of the evenings, I went to the Fine Cuts Steakhouse, which is a specialty restaurant. Fine Cuts is located above the martini bar on deck five. I paid $82.80 per person to dine in the restaurant ($69 + 20% tip).
Unfortunately, the service experience in the steakhouse definitely lacked.
The food was excellent including this steak and side item.
While the food was food, service wise, there was some significant delays during the meal which detracted from the experience overall.
In addition, the wine server provided a great welcome. Unfortunately that changed after learning that my guest and I were only drinking the included wines by the glass.
The reason that I bring the service issues up is the fact that guests are paying a lot for dinner. The service experience was a step down from Blu throughout the sailing. Since guests pay a lot more to dine in specialty you would expect the experience to meet the additional cost. This unfortunately was not the case on my sailing.
Celebrity Beyond
I honestly loved sailing on the President’s Cruise! I hope to go again on a future one!
Next year the Celebrity President’s Sailing is on Celebrity Apex on a eight-night sailing to Norway on May 17, 2025.
From beautiful days at sea with epic activities and entertainment to two amazing beach experiences it sure was awesome!
Have you ever sailed on a Celebrity President’s Cruise?
How did your experience compare?
