hurwitz5

Sailed on the Eclipse (2 weeks) and Reflection (1 week) this past January. The Mast Grill was always busy. People enjoyed the burgers and hot dogs. I don!t eat fast food at home, but my DH and I thought the quality of the burgers and hot dogs was very good - better than expected.

We enjoyed the Mast Grill burgers and hot dogs on the Reflection last January. The Grill was open until 6:00 pm (vs. 5:00 pm on the Eclipse. Since we had late seating, we would get a burger or hot dog at 5:15 and then enjoy dinner at 8:30. My DH will be upset if we now have to pay for these tasty snacks.

We've done the 14 day Eclipse 3 times. The ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) are wonderful. We had an overnight in Curaçao- 2 full days. It's nice to not interrupt your trip in the middle - you lose a day.

We have been on almost 40 cruises and have booked an inside cabin for most of them. We sail 2 or 3 times a year. On our last cruise in January 2017, on the Eclipse 2 week Caribbean cruise, we met a few couples who were doing back to back cruises in an inside cabin. Two couples were from Long Island, NY and another couple was from Chicago. Their game plan was to be out of the winter weather for 4 weeks; the inside cabin afforded them their getaway. We are sailing on the Reflection in October (Mediterranean) and we booked an ocean view cabin because it was cheaper than the inside cabin. It will be our third cruise in 2017.

We took an all day tour from Celebrity. We docked in Naples and did/saw all the following from 7:30 am until 7:30 pm. 2 hyrofoil rides: Capri and back, plus some time there; tour inside Pompeii, delicious lunch at a hotel on the Bay of Sorrento, tour of Cameo factory, tour of inlaid wood factory. It was a beautiful day - saw a lot of amazing things. And bought a cameo and some inlaid wood pictures and an inlaid wood music box.

Love seeing the beautiful Summit. Our son and daughter-in-law are on the Summit this week. Glad the weather is good.

We booked this Western Mediterranean cruise and then found out that it is a Reunion Cruise. We are Elite. What benefits can we expect on this cruise?

Are there any gifts or special events, etc.?

We sailed on the Eclipse in January 2017. We really enjoyed cruise director Eddy Jenkins, a fellow from Wales. We liked his sense of humor and his lectures on art and history - very bright guy.

We live in the Philadelphia area and have thought about driving to the cruise port in Fort Lauderdale. Thus far, we have flown from Phillie to Fort Lauderdale. Please describe how long your drive took, where to stop, etc. From your posting it appears that you drove straight through, without stopping overnight at a hotel along the way. Any suggestions regarding making the drive as easy as possible.

Perhaps the bar service is slow because so many passengers have drink packages. Celebrity saves money by serving fewer drinks. There is no financial incentive for Celebrity to hire more servers to provide more drinks to people with drink packages.

We don't care for tendering so we did not get off the ship in Coco Cay. Happy to hear a pier is being built so that we can enjoy that island. We docked in Labadee during our January cruise on the Reflection. It is an easy beach day. It is a beautiful island and it was the highlight of our cruise. It was so nice to just walk off the ship and find a spot on the beach - much easier than having the get a taxi to the beach. Having clean bathroom facilities and a barbecue lunch added to the experience.

We had booked 3 cabins on a Princess cruise about 10 years ago. We were taking our adult children with us on the cruise. About 2 weeks prior to the cruise, Princess called me and asked if we would change to another cruise in a few weeks due to overbooking the ship. The deal was very good and we would have jumped at the change, but we had 3 cabins and the work schedules of of our children to consider, so we turned Princess down. Princess's offer was very tempting - a big cabin upgrade (from an inside to a minisuite) and they were willing to pay the airline change fees.

The Reflection is the newest ship of the "S" class. We have sailed on all of the "S" class ships. There are about an extra 100 - 150 passengers on the Reflection. The Sky Lounge is smaller, but there were other things that we liked better on the Reflection than other "S" class ships. We enjoy eating on the back deck - outside the Buffet. The bar has been removed and there are a lot more tables for your dining pleasure. Also the stairway up to the Sunset Bar is better - and the Sunset Bar and the seating near it are nicer. I also like that the Buffet is on the same deck as the pool, so it is easier to bring food and drinks back to the pool without walking stairs. We sailed on the Eclipse and the Reflection this past January. Our experience was that the food in both the MDR and buffet were better on the Reflection. Perhaps there was a better chef and kitchen crew. The Mast Grill (hot dogs and hamburgers) was kept open an extra hour- until 6:00 pm - on the Reflection. We enjoyed this since we had late dining - a hot dog or burger at 5:00 pm hit the spot.

We cruised on the Reflection in January. Tenders are used in Grand Cayman. Our ship used the large tenders from Grand Cayman - not the ship's tenders.

If you are taking a 5 night cruise because of a shortage of vacation days, I can understand that. If you are taking the short cruise to see if you are going to like it, I would advise against it. Chances are that you will love the cruise and you will be sorry to have to leave so quickly. The worst time on the cruise is when you get the disembarkation baggage tags 2 - 3 days before the end of the cruise. If you have a short cruise, you will receive the baggage tags shortly after your cruise has begun. I have also found that the work tension that I boarded the ship with took 3 - 4 days to dissipate. By day 4, I was first starting to relax.

We were on a 14 night Celebrity cruise in the Caribbean a few years ago. We spoke with the future cruise people on board regarding taking the same cruise the following year. The price for the future cruise was much higher than we had paid for the cruise we were on. We wound up booking the 14 night cruise for the following year about 3 - 4 months before the cruise and paid about $1000 less than quoted on board. We book with an online cruise agency and look for deals.

When we got 3 coupons each. We would get 1 alcoholic beverage each and use the other 2 coupons for cans of soda or bottles of water.

We love the shade on the S class ships - plenty of loungers by the outdoor pool and of course plenty of loungers by the indoor pool. My husband and I return home to New Jersey after 3 weeks on Celebrity cruises and 2 weeks in Florida with very little sun tan. As my husband's cousin says "the sun is not your friend. The cousin has lived in Florida for the past 35 years. Hope the Edge class ships have a lot of shaded areas.

We sailed on 2 Celebrity cruises in January 2017 - the Eclipse (January 8) and the Reflection (January 28). The CD on the first cruise was Eddy Jenkins. The second CD was Sue Denning. Both CD's had their strong points. I preferred Eddy, but Sue was also fine. He was better on stage, before and after the evening shows. I also enjoyed his lectures on culture and history, held during the Eclipse 2 week cruise. He had a dry wit and was very approachable- spoke with him a few times when randomly running into him on the ship. Sue Denning did a one woman show during our 7 night cruise on the Reflection. She sang some wonderful songs and told some funny stories- quite charming and talented. She wasn't as interesting in the Celebrity Theater, before and after the show. I also have sailed with CD Richard Spacey - he's a hoot.

The cruise lines do not recommend renting a scooter - too many accidents. If you are from the US, you are used to driving on a certain side of the road; in Bermuda they drive on the other side - so your instincts will be affected. You can purchase a bus/ferry pass and see all over the island - or take a cab or Celebrity excursion. It is a pretty and clean island - including seeing the beautiful pink sand beaches and rock formations- without ever going into the water. If you enjoy cruising and you can reach the port without flying, then Bermuda is a nice vacation spot for relaxation and a change of scenery. The museums and other attractions (caves, perfume factory) are fair - if that's your focus, then Bermuda might not be for you. My husband says that if those places were in the US, we wouldn't be inclined to visit them. The shopping is also limited and expensive. We have cruised to Bermuda and had a nice week, but it depends on your expectations. We view it as a easy cruise from NJ (we live there) to get away for a week.

We make sure our passports will not expire within 6 months of the cruises we take- don't want any issues. When we register on the Celebrity website, one of the required fields asks for passport information, including the expiration date. Wouldn't Celebrity contact the passenger if the passport isn't acceptable. I feel for the lady who missed her Mediterranean cruise because her passport was going to expire in less than 6 months.

Whenever I am in an air conditioned place (including inside cruise ships), I always bring along a fashionable jacket, sweater or pashmina. I like to be comfortable, so bringing along an extra covering gives me options. We sailed on 2 Celebrity cruises this past winter and found the temperature was not overly cold inside the Eclipse and Reflection. However, different people have different internal thermostats.

We had the black and white cookies at the buffet on the Reflection (January 28 sailing). I only saw them one day when they had a special New York City section of the buffet. Of course I had one and it was good. I didn't see the black and white cookies at the Cafe al Bacio that week or during our 2 week sailing on the Eclipse (January 8).

I buy black and white cookies from BJ's near our house in NJ. They are smaller than the ones on Celebrity, but they are delicious - icing over a cake like cookie.

Cruised on the January 8th sailing of the Eclipse (2 weeks) and on the January 28 (1 week) sailing of the Reflection. The food on the Reflection was better than on the Eclipse - both the buffet and MDR. The presentation of the food was also better on the Reflection. However, the brisket of beef served at dinner in the MDR during our 2 week Eclipse cruise was delicious- a new addition to the menu.

We are booked on the October 9 cruise on the Reflection. I didn't know that it was a Reunion Cruise when I booked it about 2 weeks ago. I read the link above that generally described a Reunion Cruise - some extra events, etc. if you have been on a Reunion Cruise, what were the extra events?