Jaworskym

There are chairs and umbrellas to rent at Paradise Beach for a hefty price. One guy I talked to said it was $50 for the day. You could probably haggle with them. Also, there were a handful of food/drink trucks right there.

We've on on the Reflection twice in the past year, one a standard balcony the other in Aqua class. First was 7-day Eastern Caribbean, second was B2B 3 day-4 day Bahamas with Bimini and Coco Cay. The Reflection is in great shape. If I had to be critical, I'd say stateroom colors show their age but had to dig deep for that. Its definitely not as fancy as Edge class but I doubt that is a concern for avid cruisers.

We did a similar B2B in May, with just one Coco Cay stop. Turnaround day was a breeze. We went to Blu for breakfast and made our way to the Tuscan Grill at 9am. They escorted us off the ship to customs waiting area at 9:30, then back on the ship at 10:05. We had to change rooms down the hall a bit but the Cabin Steward brought our bags over around 10:30. Got unpacked again and it was pretty sweet wandering around the ship from 11-12 without a crowd. You can go to Resorts World at Bimini but we decided to try Paradise Beach, which is the public beach at the end of the pier. Set up camp on a big rock under the the pier and had a great 3 hours at the beach. Even better, didn't spend a dime

Decks 9-14 are all staterooms which make a difference if concerned about noise a deck above or below. We stayed in an aft stateroom on the Encore that had a much larger balcony vs midship 11th deck on the Bliss. That plus what Keith mentioned above are good starting points

The District is my favorite place on both Bliss and Encore. It gets more crowded over the course of the week as word spreads. I've seen some of the best entertainment on the high seas at The District and their bar menu isn't bad either. Its also a nice place to hang on a sea day in the afternoon as the observation lounge fills up fast. Great place to chat up with fellow cruisers

We were on the Encore back in Oct and saw a bit of the Northern Lights around 1am while in route to Juneau. You'll need to be a serious night owl and have clear weather to have a chance. Its worth it check out either from your balcony or better aft Waterfront as someone else mentioned.

I’m retired USAF and enjoyed the military appreciation service on the Encore back in Oct. I put the NCL challenge coin on my desk along with many others. Archie was still playing at The District on your sailing. We probably caught five hours of his shows that week, great performer. I’m afraid I would eat too much at the Brazilian steakhouse anyway so wouldn’t try that. Cagney’s was really good on the bliss and encore. Good tip on reservations for the Jasmine Garden. For a short sailing like this, I don’t mind not having a comedian or magician, and can spend that time at the martini bar or sugarcane

Hmm, as long as Shane keeps the drinks flowing, we can be friends. I’ll leave it at that. Big fan of the Martini Bar.

Thanks for confirming the glass showers. Makes a difference on a cruise ship. Haven’t really done the whisky bar, may have to try

Hello folks. We've been looking at short notice weekend trips for Oct/Nov and NCL Jade has some going out of Miami. We've been on the Bliss and Encore and am curious about a smaller NCL ship. I'm not concerned with the departure port, itinerary, or excursions and probably won't spend a dime after boarding other than tips for great service. What's the ship like, is it easy to get a drink at Sugarcane or Martini Bar? Is it difficult to get into MDR or the Garden Cafe? How does Cagney's compare vs the big ships? I read the Jade was refurbished in 2022. Do balcony rooms have glass or shower curtains? We took Celebrity on our last short cruise so I know how it measured up. Any advice would be great. Thanks

Looks like Archie's tour playing The District six nights a cruise is over. Hope he shows up on a ship again. Thank you for posting the Freestyle Daily

Someday we'll do an itinerary that has a full day in Victoria. As it is with NCL, we treat that stop as a long sea day. The walk to the center of town is nice weather pending and takes about half an hour.

Is Archie still playing at The District? We sailed the same itinerary on the Encore back in Oct. Archie and the Mojito Bar were the onboard highlights.

If you're willing to spend a little more or have the flexibility to go short notice, Celebrity Aqua Class is the way to go. Its the same sized room as regular veranda but you get exclusive access the the Blu restaurant and the Persian Garden. I've been on the Reflection twice recently and have done multiple Alaska trips on NCL. The Blu restaurant serves up better cuisine than anything I've had on NCL outside of Cagney's. Aqua Class decks are also conveniently located. Le Petit Chef is a nice experience to try once on Celebrity. The included beverage package on NCL works out to be considerably cheaper than Celebrity offerings although I was able to get a 35% discount about 2 weeks out from sail.

I've been on both in the past 18 months and had a more enjoyable experience on the Encore, mostly due to the itinerary that included Glacier Bay. Bigger ships rarely make it to the Dawes Glacier. Positive for the Bliss; Spice H2O was much better use of space vs Galaxy Pavilion on Encore in my opinion. Other than those factors, the ships mirror each other. Expect the Observation Lounge and Garden Cafe areas to be very crowded at peak or near peak times. The sailing days are different and may impact your decision. Be prepared for Ward Cove. Good luck.

The Local is a great place to get breakfast if you you want try something other than MDR or Garden Cafe

Great to know Archie is still playing at The District. We caught his performance just about every night back in Oct.

Rock Star Captain, sure didn’t see that one coming

We were in 1656 and 1645, Aft. Both were great. Never heard anything from the pool deck. We had done regular veranda cabins on my previous Celebrity sailings. While cabins in Aqua, Concierge, and Veranda classes are pretty much the same other than in room amenities offered and a nicer shower, the deck location, Blu, and Persian Garden make it worth the Aqua upgrade.

We spent the week in Aqua Class on the Celebrity Reflection. Had never done less than 7 night or B2B, so there was a learning curve on some things. For example; we booked only 30 days out and couldn't get the same stateroom. The first leg was 3 nights and Sunday evening came up quick. It didn't end up being too bad as our cabin attendant moved bags and a stash of Vitamin Water to the other room and luggage was available by 10:30am Monday. On turnaround day, we vacated the stateroom at 7:30am, went to Blu for breakfast, and met at the Tuscan Grill at 9:00 to check in for B2B. At 9:30am we moved off the ship and into a customs waiting area for about 30 minutes before they gave us new key cards and were back on board right at 10am. I thought the stateroom would be cleaned by 11am but instead it took until about 1:30pm. As it was, we checked in on the cabin a few times over the next few hours as we wanted to give the new stateroom attendant time to do their work. In retrospect, it would've been better to unpack right when the bags arrived. Lesson learned. Otherwise, it was great being on a mostly passenger-less ship for about 90 minutes. The Pool, Passport, and Martini Bars were open early on turnaround day and Oceanview opened at 11:30. We'd been on the Reflection before and it hadn't really changed other than no Christmas trees as there were in Dec 2022. Aqua Class Blu and the Persian Garden were great as advertised. Of note, if you can get away from a show one night, you might get the Persian Garden all to yourself around 7-8pm. The service and food at Blu was better than anything I've had in MDR or specialty on NCL or other Celebrity ships. Outstanding work! Ship entertainment was very good in my opinion with Boy Band Evolution and the production cast performances of Broadway Cabaret and Elysium. I learned on the backstage theater tour that Elysium is due to close soon with an Edge Class production making its way to the Reflection. Cruise Director Brittany did a great job of moving the action along and Captain "Kirk" did a rock show with the orchestra one night. I sure didn't expect the ship's Captain to rock out like he did. It was a heck of a show. We had two stops in Nassau and got off the ship on the first leg for about 45 minutes to walk around the new pier area. We had no excursions booked. There was a great ice cream place we'd been to before, just to the left on Bay Street a bit off the beaten path. It was closed for the week so we got back on board. Bimini was beautiful. A lot of people went to Resorts World. I did a little research on YouTube and found Paradise Beach which is the public beach at the end of the pier. Under the pier, there's a bunch of boulders you can put your towels on to camp out which is what we did. Used the pier as an umbrella and saved some $$. Coco Cay was great! I was skeptical and quickly learned there was no reason to be. Again, I did a little research beforehand and found Cove Beach on the other side of the island past South Beach. Over the next 6 hours, there were never more than 20 or so people at Cove Beach. An oasis, for free. The South Beach Snack Shack was a 3 minute walk. Saw lots of fish and a couple stingrays who kept hanging out. Its nice that the beverage package extends to Coco Cay and I'd go back there in a minute. Respect to Royal Caribbean Group for the work they've put into that island. Lastly, we got a great deal booking short notice. If you've got the flexibility, booking 30-45 days out might get you a higher class stateroom for a better price.

We were on this sailing as the second half of a back to back. Nice details. I put my review on the "review" page. Wondering if its better to put it on the message boards like this to get feedback?

Hello, we’re doing a 3 and 4 night back to back next month on the Reflection. We’ve been on that ship before but haven’t done back to back or been in Aqua Class. Different staterooms. I know we can stay on board while they clear the ship, should have an easy route through customs, and will have a go bag with things we need while rooms are turned over. Any good turnaround day tips? Thanks

I’m sure it’s just for this group of performers. It takes a few weeks to a month of rehearsal before a production like that goes live. I’m disappointed but knew there would probably be some last minute changes for the final sailing of the season

I got the same email for 22 Oct. Did a little digging on Facebook and saw the cast of COM gave their last performance on the Encore 4 days ago.