Desertbelle

On the Reflection transatlantic ending in Rome in April the "Chic" nights were a very mixed bag. I saw very few tuxedos and even fewer elegant formal gowns. The majority of men were in shirt and ties, maybe with a suit coat/sports coat, and women in pants and sparkly tops. Some people weren't even that "dressed up". But, as far as I could tell, everyone looked well groomed and clean, and were having a great time. :)

"Distrust of Celebrity", an award winning, very prominent and well-loved cruise line, seems like a very flimsy excuse to cancel a cruise. Perhaps your friend was looking for a reason to cancel. IMHO a 28 day cruise to Asia could be rather intimidating for a first time cruiser and maybe he/she was having second thoughts/cold feet. Even an experienced cruiser might feel like that is a lot of cruise.

P.S. It IS the travel agent's responsibility to be your go between with the cruise line, and she should have known the answers to your questions or found the answers for you.

It was a nice benefit while it lasted, but for us, an easy one to get over. With being Diamond and Elite members we get plenty of nice benefits from the company. If the stock is selling for around $100 a share, that's more than 5 times what we paid for it, not bad.....maybe we will sell it and take a really nice cruise! [emoji41]

oh, that's such a shame.

 

 

 

We are new to celebrity ( only one cruise on Shillouette so far ) and we have Reflection booked for August.

 

We are still finding our feet with the do's and don't s on Celebrity but last time we found the self-service restaurant very busy on embarkation day. I had been reading about Bistro on 5 and was looking forward to 'muscles and chips' on embarkation day this time round. It looks like this won't happen now.

 

 

 

I have seen people say the MDR is sometimes open on embarkation day / sea days.

 

Does this ever extend to Blu being open as well? ..or is it going to be another crush in the self-service restaurant!

You could eat lunch before embarking and then you wouldn't have to worry about eating until dinner. It seems a shame to start a wonderful cruise with such a negative impression as being crushed in the buffet.

We found Sushi on 5 to be delicious and I never spoke to anyone who tried it who didn't enjoy it. The Lobster Ramen is worth the visit on its own.

On the Reflection transatlantic we just left a few days ago they had someone from Tuscan Grill offering 50% off as we returned from our port excursion on the last night of the cruise. We took it. :D

We got to sit at the aft window enjoying our meal, as we sailed away from the port, a spectacular way to end a cruise!! Best sail away ever!

Do they have hot sake?

 

Their a la carte prices are ridiculous, but I like hot sake if the ramen isn't too expensive.

They had several choices of hot Sake.

We were on the Reflection 4/9 thru 4/25 and had lunch twice at Sushi on 5. We enjoyed the service and the food. Their drinks were good too, especially the spicy grey goose one!

Oh yes, that drink was seriously yummy!

We ate at Sushi on 5 on the Reflection earlier this month and it was very good. The Lobster Ramen was excellent. We tried to get back to eat there again but we never had the time. I wanted the Lobster Ramen one more time!!

Hmmmm. Interesting. They've taken it away from the ship I'm going on next. Did they know I was coming?? Lol. I am a little messy.

 

And now I'm jealous of you reflection people that got to enjoy that deliciousness!!!! [emoji173]️[emoji173]️[emoji173]️

 

 

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Then you are really going to hate to hear that we ate at the Tuscan Grill 3 times during our cruise.....I am already craving that onion soup!! :)

I had it on the Reflection cruise last week. It was delicious.

All the products smell like cucumber, which is not my favorite smell, so I was glad I brought my own products.

You will be spending hours and hours cruising in the Norwegian Fjords, so the idea of standing up on deck for all those hours sounds cold and exhausting. I suggest a balcony on either side (the views are the same, as you will see one side going in and the other going out). We loved sitting in the warmth of our cabin, watching out the doors, with occasional visits out on the balcony to enjoy the beauty.

One of the fjords we were in we were still heading out after "dark" (the sun barely goes down, it was still rather light outside at 2 am) and it was so cool to step out on my balcony at 2 am, with the sun barely under the horizon, and seeing the last of the fjords. One of our greatest cruises.

We've had sail times be at the same time as dinner, it's a choice you can make. Watching the sail away through the dining room windows is rather nice also.

We had a sail away in the middle of the night once. We were sailing on the Legend to Hawaii out of Ensenada and there were multiple buses of people coming down from San Diego that had some issues, so the Captain announced that we would wait on them. We tried to stay awake to see the sail away but gave up around midnight.....woke up in the morning with no land in sight. :)

I would think there are far worse things for a company than to have too many loyal customers. And, I don't think Royal Caribbean wants to lose even one of them. :)

Just got off of Equinox today from a 10 day in Aqua. Tableside muesli is no longer available fleet wide in Blu, according to the hotel mgr. Their explanation was that it was a US Public health requirement that they are not allowed to serve uncovered food in a carpeted area due to bacteria that can evidently jump from the carpet to the food. I kid you not. These were almost the exact words of the hotel mgr on Equinox. He explained that this is a fleet wide direction from Miami. Funny, though. It didn't stop them from preparing Caesar salad table side in Tuscan Grille nor did it stop them from preparing lobster table side in Murano, both of which are carpeted restaurants.

 

 

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Oh no, bummer, I was looking forward to that! I'll probably live. :)

It's always amusing when people who say they aren't interested in something find it necessary to tell everyone how disinterested they are;)

I always find it interesting that people who aren't interested are so insulting about those who are.

And I think you are both correct! It's just fun to watch! :D

Like someone else said, even if there's a sofa don't count on it being very comfortable! There's so many places to go on board that I predict you won't spend as much time in the room as you think!

I think the opposite. We love spending time in our cabin and though the sofas aren't like home, they are fine for taking a nap, watching a movie, or reading a book....especially if the balcony door is open and the sounds of the waves and a cool breeze is coming in.

Hi Deserbelle

 

We have sailed Aqua for the past 6 cruises on X, and in reply to your tea question, and concurring with some of the opinions stated, I always found the carafe of flavoured teas to be bland and tasteless, and in fact, we refused it after the first cruise.

 

One of the best perks of Aqua was the daily bottled water, which was absolutely great to have stocked in the mini fridge...........alas that has been discontinued for some mysterious reason, and it will be missed!

 

I hope we have a good Aqua experience on this upcoming TA on April 9, as we will be joining you!

 

Looking forward to meeting everyone!

 

Marisa

I guess time will tell if I enjoy the flavored tea or not....just a little over a week to go!! Looking forward to meeting you! :D

We almost never drink bottled water, so we won't miss that. We like the taste of the ship tap water. I have the steward bring me ice twice a day and we bring our own water bottle to carry water around with us.

If you find the standard rates very low' date=' you are lucky.

 

[i']I find that I am paying more and more for the same cruises each year. And I am getting less.[/i]

In 2002, my husband and I took our sons, 18 and 21, on a cruise to the Caribbean, 7 days. It was our first and only cruise on NCL (the Sun, one of their older ships) and our first balcony. We got what we thought, at the time, a good deal on a balcony cabin for us, and an inside cabin for the boys. The balcony was $899 pp and the inside was $699 pp. We thought that a little over $100 a day for a balcony was reasonable. The cruise we are taking next week on the Reflection, in a Aqua Class cabin, is about $100 a day!! 14 years later and the prices are the same!!

I think that people who use the term "nickel and dime" have forgotten that the concept is to help people save money not spend money. These cruise companies have chosen to keep standard rates fairly low but give the option to get an upgraded product or a more customized product to others who don't mind spending more money. I wouldn't want my cruise fare to increase to give free alcohol to everyone, I hardly drink at all...if you want it, you buy it. Same with food....I wouldn't want my standard cruise fare to increase to upgrade the food in the dining room, we are very happy with it, so those people who are unhappy with standard dining room food have the option to increase the enjoyment of their cruise without my rate going up. I like the concept, my husband and I get to have the customized cruise we want without paying for things we don't care about and that makes our cruise perfect for us.

We will board the Reflection next week and I am looking forward to checking out Sushi on 5. I appreciate the suggestions of what to order. I think the Lobster Raman sounds delicious! I am especially looking forward to trying the drink called the Smashy Japanese.....yummm.:D

I'm looking forward to it. I hope they are doing it on the Reflection.

We have never found check in at the "special" lines.....Elite, concierge, or whatever...to be faster and at times they are even slower.....and generally, the difference is in a few minutes. It's not like the ship is going to leave without you. :)

Thanks for the replies, it sounds like something I would like, I hope they still offer it on the Reflection in April. :)

Daily delivery of flavored tea...what does this mean exactly. Is it a tea service brought to you daily? Or is it tea bags left in the cabin? Is it automatic or do I need to tell the steward I wish to have it?