Celebrity Reflection - What a wonderful vacation

Sincere thanks, Cruise Critic members. If it wasn't for all your amazing advice and comments, our cruise wouldn't have been as great!

DH and I sailed away on the Reflection to the Eastern Caribbean from Dec. 10th to 17th. This is only our second cruise, but we both felt it was the best vacation we’ve ever had! We typically go to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, but I think we will be cruising from now one.

Check-in was a breeze, with virtually no wait time. We had SAS Transportation pick us up at the Rodeway Inn in Ft. Lauderdale to bring us to the Port of Miami. We arrived at the Port around 12:15 p.m. and had no line-ups.

We loved our cabin 8242 – with a balcony, mid-ship. The room was spacious enough for us, and the bathroom was a great size. We loved having the balcony and spent a lot of time there. I brought one book with me to read, but got through that fairly quickly. I took a tour of the Library and found some great reading material.

The ship was beautifully decorated for the Christmas Season. The amazing display of gingerbread houses was amazing. Poinsettias filled the spaces everywhere. What a beautiful ship she is!

Seas were a bit rough for the first few days. It was slow-going for the ship and we didn’t arrive in San Juan, PR until 6:30 p.m. Very disappointing… we didn’t bother getting off the ship, but you can’t control the weather!

I am extremely susceptible to motion sickness and took Bonine once in the morning and once before bedtime and it worked like a charm.

We had the Classic Drink package and this suited us just fine. We aren’t big drinkers. Had it not been a free perk, we wouldn’t have bothered. It would be less expensive to pay as we go. However, bar service was great wherever we went.

We planned to try Murano and Tuscan Grille, but honestly, we enjoyed the food in the MDR so much that we decided not to bother. I had OBC set aside for the two restaurants, but the food and the service was over and above at the MDR. We had Select dining and never had to wait more than 5 minutes.

We typically had breakfast at the Oceanview Café. They had a wonderful selection of foods, but nothing was ever hot enough by the time you found a table. A couple of times we ordered room service for breakfast, but it was pretty cold by the time it reached the cabin.

If you are looking to do any shopping on the ship, wait until the last day or two. Everything is drastically reduced!

We went to a couple of their shows… The Tenors of Rock were fantastic. We really enjoyed them. Blind Vinyl, the house band, were amazing. A very talented group of performers who played just the right kind of music!

A nice surprise was the Movie Theatre, where we went to see “Jason Bourne” and another movie (can’t remember the name!!!). It was a fun time to end the evening…

We went to the Solstice Deck one day. The wind was so bad, that we had to put our heads down to walk into it! If we had one of our little granddaughters with us, we would have had to hang on to them tight, for fear of being blown away.

We did self-disembarkation, as we had a 12:50 p.m. flight out of Ft. Lauderdale. SAS Transportation was there to pick us up and we were at FLL by 7:30 a.m.!!!

The Celebrity Reflection has impressed us so much that we can’t wait for our next cruise. I think this will be our type of vacation from now on!

We'll be on Reflection in April. Thanks for your review.

Jules815, I'm actually on the Celebrity website looking to book our next one!

I see you have a lot of cruises already in your travels. I will be interested to read what you think of the Reflection!

Enjoy!:)

jamurray49...thanks for the great review. I leave in 60 days (but who's counting) on my first Reflection cruise (having already sailed on Equinox and Solstice). I'm happy to hear that you had a great time...it is so easy to become a cruise addict!

Susan

Susan, I hope the review helps in some way...

We have been travelling for over 30 years, mainly staying in the Dominican Republic at the resorts, but this cruise vacation has us on the waters from now on!

Enjoy your upcoming cruise on the Reflection!

jamurray49...thanks!

I feel like we mostly know our way around the Celebrity ships, but we're looking forward to the Alcove, which we rented for one sea day. This is going to be a total "R&R" trip for us...nothing planned but beaches for sun & fun.

By any chance, did you go to the Lawn Club Grill? That's the only specialty restaurant that we want to try.

Thanks.

Thanks for the report. Glad to hear SAS is still doing a great job.

Hi Lola2013

Lawn Club was on our list of specialty restaurants, but the MDR food and service was so fantastic, we decided not to bother. We had rain for a few days and evenings which entered into our decision not to try the Lawn Club. I did hear it was very good!

Hi Bob! I think it was just lucky for us that we never had to wait for SAS. The vehicle was full so I think it was already on its way to us when I called.

I must admit it was a tight squeeze and the driver was going quite fast for the flow of traffic, but I know he has done this thousands of times and we were in good hands.

Very polite and extremely helpful! Plus, $30 (+ tip) for two people from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami is amazing!

 

We had the Classic Drink package and this suited us just fine. We aren’t big drinkers. Had it not been a free perk, we wouldn’t have bothered. It would be less expensive to pay as we go. However, bar service was great wherever we went.

Glad you had a great time! My family and I were all on the Dec 17-24 Reflection sailing. Our experience basically matched yours.

One bit of advice, and you may have figured this out already, but you are light drinkers, definitely opt for the $300 OBC instead of the Classic Beverage Package (or gratuities on 15+ night cruises).

My only real criticism on this last cruise were the premium package hawks on the first day or so of the cruise. I get the feeling that the bartenders and cocktail waiters make a nice commission of they get somebody to upgrade their drink package, because I was asked to upgrade constantly. But it died down after the first 24 hours.

jamurray49...

we are thinking Lawn Club since we have very generous OBC...the Alcove is pre-paid, don't need any excursions and I don't drink so I might as well spend the money on LCG. I understand they also do a lunch on sea days, which is very good.

Wow...I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Thanks again.

Thanks, "jamurray49," for your review, which will be helpful to us.

You wrote: "This is only our second cruise ... We typically had breakfast at the Oceanview Café. They had a wonderful selection of foods, but nothing was ever hot enough by the time you found a table."

We would like to give you (and other less-experienced cruises reading here) a tip on this subject -- having a warm buffet breakfast.

Over the course of more than twenty cruises, we have found the following routine to be wise to use. (If you always seem to be in a hurry when you arrive at the buffet for breakfast, try to get there at least five minutes earlier, so that you can follow this routine at a leisurely pace ...)

1. When you walk in, immediately grab your napkin (with the silverware it contains). Then go to get your cold drinks, if any, such as water and/or juice.

2. Find a table at which to sit, and leave the napkin, silverware, and cold drinks on that table -- along with any jacket, sweater, etc., that you may have worn or carried in. This will "claim" the table (or part of a big table) as yours.

3. Go back to the buffet and get any cold (or room-temperature) foods that you will wish to eat (e.g., bread, cereal, fruit, etc.) and take them to your table. Leave the foods on the table to eat later -- or eat all or part of them right away with your water/juice, if you wish.

4. [OPTIONAL: If you must drink something hot (coffee/tea) with all of your food -- rather than waiting to drink it with dessert, as we do -- go back to the buffet and get the hot drink and a saucer to cover it. Take these to your table.]

5. Having covered your coffee (if you have already gotten some), go back to the buffet and get your hot food. Take it to your table, and "dive in" while it is still hot. [We suspect that your food is cool or cold because too much time is passing between the time you receive it and the time you put it in your mouths. Following the above steps could decrease that time-span greatly.]

6. Another thing that you can do is this: After being served hot food, immediately cover it with a second (inverted) plate, to insulate it, before carrying it to your table.

Now we would like to ask you for a bit of information that you may be able to provide us ...

Although you already had a beverage package arranged before you boarded, you may have noticed whether or not various packages were being offered at a discount on (or even after) Embarkation Day -- either at a display table or via advertisements in "Celebrity Today" [CT].

We wish to ask you if, on the Reflection, the Premium NON-Alcoholic Beverage Package was being offered at a lower rate than usual? If so, how much was the discount -- in dollars per day or in percent? [The pre-cruise rate is $22 per day plus 18% service charge, for a total of $25.96.] If you have a fuzzy memory about this, but you can confirm it by looking through your CT issues (if you took them home), that would be very helpful to us. Thanks in advance.

We wish you many great future cruises!

.

jg51 - Thanks for the great tips! We did try that approach with the food - sometimes it worked, sometimes not so much!

Funny, we were never approached for upgrading our beverage package, so I can't comment. And, we didn't keep the CT issues.

I believe there is a fairly recent review on here that gave the cost of the upgrade to Premium drink package.

Glad you had a great time! My family and I were all on the Dec 17-24 Reflection sailing. Our experience basically matched yours.

 

One bit of advice, and you may have figured this out already, but you are light drinkers, definitely opt for the $300 OBC instead of the Classic Beverage Package (or gratuities on 15+ night cruises).

 

My only real criticism on this last cruise were the premium package hawks on the first day or so of the cruise. I get the feeling that the bartenders and cocktail waiters make a nice commission of they get somebody to upgrade their drink package, because I was asked to upgrade constantly. But it died down after the first 24 hours.

cybx, we actually had the Classic Beverage Package as part of our perks, plus $400 OBC which we used for Gratuities and shopping. I honestly thought we would drink more, as we typically do when staying at an all inclusive resort, but we just didn't. It was nice, though, not having to worry about what we were spending.

jg51 - Thanks ... Funny, we were never approached for upgrading our beverage package ... I believe there is a fairly recent review on here that gave the cost of the upgrade to Premium drink package.

We know that what we are trying do is rather unusual here at the forum, but we were not asking about "upgrading our beverage package" -- especially not an alcoholic package.

Instead, we were asking about coming aboard with NO package at all -- and being given a chance to purchase a complete Premium NON-alcoholic package at a discounted price (perhaps 20% off, which would come to 19.80 per day plus 18% service charge, instead of 22.00+).

Can you or any readers here respond to that? If so, many thanks.

We know that what we are trying do is rather unusual here at the forum, but we were not asking about "upgrading our beverage package" -- especially not an alcoholic package.

 

Instead, we were asking about coming aboard with NO package at all -- and being given a chance to purchase a complete Premium NON-alcoholic package at a discounted price (perhaps 20% off, which would come to 19.80 per day plus 18% service charge, instead of 22.00+).

 

Can you or any readers here respond to that? If so, many thanks.

I am on Reflection Saturday. I will try to keep an eye out regarding the Premium Non-Alcohol Policy, and report back.

I am on Reflection Saturday. I will try to keep an eye out regarding the Premium Non-Alcohol <Package>, and report back.

That would be marvelous, "reecesavage." Thank you.

Many thanks for your positive review. WE sale on the Reflection in April for a TA from Miami to Rome; I was worried that all the cruises in the Caribbean might cause a slight decline in the quality of the ship, but am guessing that is not the case; however, I most likely will be with a partially new crew. Nonetheless, I am really looking forward to being on the Reflection, as I love the S class ships and Europe is my favorite place to cruise.

Thanks for your honest and positive opinion about the cruise!:cool::cool: It is always nice to hear that your cruise was great quality...

Thanks for your thoughts.

I just did a review of Christmas week that's very similar to your experience, to include the bands! Like you, we had a great time.

Sincere thanks, Cruise Critic members. If it wasn't for all your amazing advice and comments, our cruise wouldn't have been as great!

 

DH and I sailed away on the Reflection to the Eastern Caribbean from Dec. 10th to 17th. This is only our second cruise, but we both felt it was the best vacation we’ve ever had! We typically go to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, but I think we will be cruising from now one.

 

Check-in was a breeze, with virtually no wait time. We had SAS Transportation pick us up at the Rodeway Inn in Ft. Lauderdale to bring us to the Port of Miami. We arrived at the Port around 12:15 p.m. and had no line-ups.

 

 

We loved our cabin 8242 – with a balcony, mid-ship. The room was spacious enough for us, and the bathroom was a great size. We loved having the balcony and spent a lot of time there. I brought one book with me to read, but got through that fairly quickly. I took a tour of the Library and found some great reading material.

 

The ship was beautifully decorated for the Christmas Season. The amazing display of gingerbread houses was amazing. Poinsettias filled the spaces everywhere. What a beautiful ship she is!

 

Seas were a bit rough for the first few days. It was slow-going for the ship and we didn’t arrive in San Juan, PR until 6:30 p.m. Very disappointing… we didn’t bother getting off the ship, but you can’t control the weather!

 

I am extremely susceptible to motion sickness and took Bonine once in the morning and once before bedtime and it worked like a charm.

 

We had the Classic Drink package and this suited us just fine. We aren’t big drinkers. Had it not been a free perk, we wouldn’t have bothered. It would be less expensive to pay as we go. However, bar service was great wherever we went.

 

We planned to try Murano and Tuscan Grille, but honestly, we enjoyed the food in the MDR so much that we decided not to bother. I had OBC set aside for the two restaurants, but the food and the service was over and above at the MDR. We had Select dining and never had to wait more than 5 minutes.

 

We typically had breakfast at the Oceanview Café. They had a wonderful selection of foods, but nothing was ever hot enough by the time you found a table. A couple of times we ordered room service for breakfast, but it was pretty cold by the time it reached the cabin.

 

If you are looking to do any shopping on the ship, wait until the last day or two. Everything is drastically reduced!

 

We went to a couple of their shows… The Tenors of Rock were fantastic. We really enjoyed them. Blind Vinyl, the house band, were amazing. A very talented group of performers who played just the right kind of music!

 

A nice surprise was the Movie Theatre, where we went to see “Jason Bourne” and another movie (can’t remember the name!!!). It was a fun time to end the evening…

 

We went to the Solstice Deck one day. The wind was so bad, that we had to put our heads down to walk into it! If we had one of our little granddaughters with us, we would have had to hang on to them tight, for fear of being blown away.

 

We did self-disembarkation, as we had a 12:50 p.m. flight out of Ft. Lauderdale. SAS Transportation was there to pick us up and we were at FLL by 7:30 a.m.!!!

 

The Celebrity Reflection has impressed us so much that we can’t wait for our next cruise. I think this will be our type of vacation from now on!

Great to hear and thanks for sharing. Cruising is great!

Good shopping tip there onboard on the last days! Thanks for your report.

... [We are] asking about coming aboard with NO [beverage] package at all -- and [whether we will be] given a chance [on Embarkation Day] to purchase a complete Premium Non-alcoholic Beverage Package at a discounted price (perhaps 20% off, which would come to 19.80 per day plus 18% service charge, instead of 22.00+). ...

I am on Reflection Saturday [January 7 to 14]. I will try to keep an eye out regarding the Premium Non-Alcohol Policy, and report back.

Hello, "reecesavage."

We wonder if you are back home now and can "report back," as promised.

If so, we will be very grateful.

Trying again ...

I did not notice any discounts for any of the drink packages. We purchased a premium non-alcohol package for our nephew and were given no discount.

-Reece