Desertbelle

On the Reflection in April I drank quite a few Cucumber Basil martinis....so good and so refreshing. I miss them so much!

Hi' date=' I see that you stayed in cabin 2016 this April and am wondering how you liked it. We are staying in the same cabin in September and I must admit that I am a little worried about noise. My husband is a restless sleeper and I hope that being under the pool desk won't be an issue.

 

Did you enjoy the larger balcony? Any other feedback you can provide? Might you have any pictures of the cabin?

 

I hope you enjoyed your cruise and don't mind the questions.[/quote']

We were in cabin 2106 (not 2016). And it was perfect.

 

Not noisy at all. One time I heard what sounded like a chair getting moved above us for a few seconds, but without a doubt the cabin was very quiet.

 

The balcony was large and I especially liked that the wind on the balcony was minimal because of it's shape. We used it quite a lot.

 

The Spa is just steps away (out the door, a few steps down the hall, and across the elevator bank, and there it is)...made it very easy to get to the Persian Gardens, which we used a few times and loved. And if you are Elite, the evening cocktail hour is in the Sky Lounge which is one flight up (stairs or elevator) and a few steps away....also a lovely place to hang out during the day.

 

I would take this cabin again in a heartbeat!

Just a quick note to say 'hi' Lisah! we had a wonderful cruise with all the fun folks from our cruise critic group. I miss our craft group. I didn't do much crafting, I was too busy just enjoying the company. I was pretty sick when we finally got home and it took antibiotics, prednisone and breathing treatments to even start getting better. I feel like I'm reliving this cruise through your posts. I think the only thing we would do different would be to do the cruise westward instead of eastward. It would have been great to get the port intensive part done first, to have the wonderful days at sea to rest up. As we go through our pictures, we'll send them on to those we toured with. That may not happen right away since we're planning our next cruise to Alaska in August with our grandkids. Its our 7th cruise to Alaska, so we can pretty much do it with our eyes closed, but planning for a 6 and 8 year old is proving challenging and lots of fun too.

I am so sorry to hear you were sick on your return, that sucks. I had terrible jet lag, but skipped my normal post-cruise crud.

I agree, I think we will only do westbound TA's from now on...looking at the TA on the Reflection the fall of 2017. It is really nice to have those sea days to rest and recover from all those tours and ports! We had such a wonderful cruise vacation and we enjoyed our time spent with you and Dave! :)

I am assuming you will be less than 24 weeks pregnant on this cruise, since that is the limit the cruise line puts on pregnancy, and at that point in the pregnancy normal massages are totally OK. If you are healthy enough for cruising you are healthy enough for a massage.

Of course, there may be some positioning issues, but that is easily remedied, ei if it's uncomfortable on your stomach, don't lie down on your stomach. Also, if it becomes uncomfortable in any way, tell the masseuse to go softer or move her focus or stop altogether. Easy to do. :)

I am speaking from 35+ years as a midwife and I have never had a woman suffer any damage or complications from a simple, normal massage. Certainly checking with your midwife or OB would be best, but I would never restrict one of my patients from having a massage on a cruise at less than 6 months pregnant and no pregnancy complications.

People who are making it sound like you are some kind of a criminal or horrible mother to even think of "indulging" in a massage are showing their ignorance of the process of pregnancy, turn a deaf ear and have a wonderful cruise. :D

On our cruise to Russia we booked the ship tour to Moscow, which was amazing, and was on the first day....all day, about 18 hours long, but worth it! One of the best things we have ever done on a cruise. Moscow is incredible. The Kremlin was spectacular. So much to see and take in, I was overwhelmed but very happy.

None of the private tour operators wanted to do a 1 day, second day, tour, and we called them all, so we booked a private car and driver and a tour guide through the cruise line. There were three of us and we had our own car and driver and a guide for the whole day and went wherever we wanted and stayed as long as we wanted. Plus, the guide was able to prearrange things like the Gold Room at the Hermitage and front of the line entrance to other locations. We wanted to see Impressionist paintings, so she took us directly to that area of the museum...we lingered a long time. She took us to a wonderful local restaurant for a great lunch. It was fabulous!

Yes, it was all pricey, but I have no doubt we will never go to Russia again and it was worth every penny.

I know we all enjoy cruising but I still don't understand why people want to linger on the ship the last morning. You can tell they can't wait to get you off the ship. The entire vibe is totally different.

 

OMG, I would be so embarssed if they called my name asking me to disembark the ship.

We did it because I was with my elderly parents. The rest of our group had left earlier to go back home and our plan was to pick up a rental car and I was driving them to Bradenton to visit my mother's sister for a few days. We were in no hurry and my parents were enjoying the last couple of hours of, what turned out to be, their last cruise. We sat by the pool, drinking coffee, chatting about what fun we had and enjoying the Ft. Lauderdale sun, in no hurry to fight the crowds pushing and shoving their way off the ship and into buses and taxis.

They called our names very respectfully, "Would Mr. and Mrs. XX and Mrs. X please make your way to the disembarkation deck." We got up and walked immediately there. No crowds what so ever, just a couple of other late goers and off we went. Why would that embarrass us? It's not like we were hiding and they had to come searching for us. It was all very pleasant and I would give a leg to spend that couple of hours hanging with my parents at that pool on that ship again.

I highly recommend the tour to Moscow, usually offered through the cruise line. Next to Egypt, our other favorite, the best thing we have ever done on a cruise.

We tried to stay on a ship as long as we could. We sat at the pool. Around 9:30 am they called us by name over the intercom and asked us to immediately proceed to the exit. We complied. It was strange to see only a couple of dozen pieces of luggage left on that huge floor, made it easy to find ours. :D

We were on the Reflection for 16 days in April in a A1 and we didn't much care for Blu. The food range was from Very good to very bad, and the service wasn't anything special, not saying it was bad, but it wasn't any better than any of the other restaurants we ate at. The tables were rather crowded and the menu very limited. There were a few nights we read the menu at the entrance and didn't see a single thing worth eating....turned around and ate elsewhere.

Next Celebrity cruise we will go with a standard balcony and spend the money difference on specialty restaurants. We really loved the Tuscan Grill and Sushi on 5.

We just disembarked from Equinox on Monday, after having cruised a Transatlantic and the subsequent cruise following.

 

 

 

I usually spend quite a lot of time in the Casino. But both of these cruises were the worse payout situations, I've seen in many years. I love blackjack, but found the tables empty, due to the lack of winning hands by passengers.

 

 

 

Usually on Transatlantics, the casino is crowded and you can "hear" the excitement of passengers winning. This past cruise...crickets chirping...

 

 

 

The following Med cruise wasn't much better. Some more people playing, but not many winners.

 

 

 

But we still had a wonderful time on both cruises!

 

 

 

Karyn

The several transatlantic cruises we have been on the casinos are always on the quiet side. I think it's because there are many more retired folks on transatlantic cruises and they are a bit more careful with their money. On the Reflection in April we couldn't get a poker game going every night and we never had a full table when we did.

On shorter cruises with younger passengers the casinos are generally very busy.

What are the odds like on the slot machines? Is there a chance of winning anything or should I just save time and flush my money down the toilet:(

That would describe any slot machine at any casino.

You have to try the Lobster Ramen at Sushi on 5, OMG it was so good!!

Having just been on the Reflection in April, stopping at several EU ports, I can tell you that, without a doubt, the VAT on products onboard the ship was only in Spanish waters/port. Yes, it was while we were in Spanish waters also....which meant when we were sailing from Malaga to Barcelona the VAT applied. The other ports in France and Italy did not add a VAT.

Also, be aware that you can get this money back, it only involves a little paper work. Here's one link about it, but there are others: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/vat-refunds

My suggestion would be to not purchase anything while in Spanish waters/port. A few cents on a can of soda or a drink might not be worth it to you to avoid, but it wouldn't be a good time to buy products such as watches, jewelry, purses, etc.

Seems it would be easier to ask before. Why give the extra work to the cabin attendant of doing it again? I agree with the previous posters, call Celebrity if booked direct or call your T. A. and they can put a request in your file.

Not sure it's extra work for them, one way or another they are going to have to do it. Simply part of their duties.

Yup, you tell your steward and it will be done by the time dinner is over.

Yes, they are very quick about fixing this.

On our westbound transatlantic on the Radiance of the Seas last year, they took the hour away in the middle of the afternoon. So, at 2 pm, it became 3 pm. There simply wasn't anything planned on the schedule at 2 pm. The first day it was a little bit weird, but after that it was great!! No loss of sleep, and we didn't at all feel deprived of that hour.

This April on the Reflection they took that hour away at night and it was difficult....I could barely get out of bed before 10 am by the end of the crossing.

I agree I have booked cruises with carnival and royal this will be my first celebrity cruise and I have never had so much miscommunication. Every time I call I get a different answer. I hate that I can never call the same person back either. I will say thats one thing carnival has done right, you get to speak to the same person all the time and that makes a big difference in communication.

How does Carnival do that? Are there certain hours you can call? Or do you leave a message and that person calls you back? It would seem very inconvenient to have to always contact the cruise line at a specific time when that person is on shift? So eight hours a day and two days off a week?

I am not being argumentative, I really want to know how they pull off you getting to speak to the same agent every time.

On our TA that we just finished in April we booked when we saw a good price, about 10 months before the cruise and changed cabins 5 times. :D Every time I found a better one I liked we changed it. We finally picked ended up an AQ1 upgrade for $200 just before we sailed and got a wonderful location on the front hump across from the Spa and with the slanted huge balcony.

I would suggest you find one you like and keep watch on prices and cabins. A TA in the crappiest cabin onboard would still be better than staying home. :)

Good suggestion Margie

I did think about that but the only Internet package I can see is for the full trip. Also other posters have suggested internet speeds aren't good enough to stream live TV.

Will see what happens when I get onboard and if daily or even hourly packages are available. If we can't watch then it won't ruin the cruise. It would just be a nice bonus if we can :)

We were on the Reflection transatlanitic last month and the internet speeds were good, even in the middle of the ocean. They did offer 24 hour and hourly internet connections.

Yes, they did. It was their first sentence:

Sorry, I missed that. :(

The promotion they are referring to was available for a time to anyone booking an eligible cruise. I'm not sure there is much of a reason to book online these days.

So then what's the sense of booking on board then? I very rarely know what I want to do so far in advance, that's one reason we never book on board. I'm surprised so many do.

I am not sure this has anything to do with booking onboard. The OP didn't say it was an onboard booking, and the one we changed wasn't an onboard booking.

We made a booking with our TA during the promotion that gave us 4 different perks. A few months later we cancelled to book a cruise that would work better for us, and lost all but one perk. A few weeks later I found an even better cruise for us and it happened to be on Royal....so we lost all the perks. Like I said, I'm over it.

Maybe buy internet wifi that day and stream it on your tablet or laptop??

I don't see you getting to keep those original perks on a new booking. We recently changed our booking for a cruise next year and we had to give all those same benefits away....it hurt for a minute, and now I'm over it. :)

It was the same way when we had a boarding day and over night in Venice on the Millennium years ago. I am sure the reason is that there are a lot of people who take care of checking in, such as check in clerks, porters, ship luggage handlers, etc., and it would be very expensive to have all those employees hanging around and getting paid while people trickle in over 24 hours or more. Plus, the cruise line doesn't own or manage the terminal or the personnel at the pier, and whoever does run the pier activities probably tells Celebrity when they will have those people and the facilities available for check in.

Thanks for all you did to make our cruise great, Lisa! I love your photos, but it might be too soon for me to view them as I am missing that ship very much. :)