Vacation Nut

Two years ago on Reflection we paid $50 up charge for Murano on Xmas Day. It was wonderful and I had hoped to do it again. But this year, the special Xmas menu was $119 and was on Xmas Eve, while Xmas day was $70. We did not do it, and actually I thought the main dining room food every night this year was so much better than 2 years ago, so we were quite happy.

I was on the Dec 20th cruise too. In 14 cruises, we have only walked out of one other show, but this Neil Diamond impersonator was terrible. I agree he seemed drunk. His voice was awful and after 20 minutes we had had enough and left. I do hope Celebrity reads these boards and the company never employs him again. The first night comedian was OK as was the last night comedian. Both were entertaining enough for the audience to enjoy their 45 minute spots.

Interesting about anytime dining issues. We normally do anytime,  but could not this cruise and were allocated the 8:30pm seating instead. I think I will stick with set dining time from now on, there were no waits or worries about when to eat and fit in entertainment. We had a table for 2 and a very pleasant experience.

We have just returned from a Xmas cruise (20-27 th). It was wonderful, and although the CD Giuseppi ( also wonderful) said the ship was full with lots of triple occupancy, there was always masses of room on the pool deck and the other areas away from the pool. I was so surprised by this. The only crowded time was the evening arrival in San Juan when everyone wanted to get off at exactly the same time. They managed the crowd really well and it only took about 10 mins. By the way, we had a helicopter take off a passenger this cruise. The conditions were really bad, and the US coast guard and the captain, did a wonderful job. We have been on about 14 cruises and this is the fourth time we have had a helicopter evacuation of a passenger.

I am now looking forward to another Xmas cruise and maybe next time try Edge.

Having a lot of C3 cabins open isn’t unusal since Captains Club members can pay the C3 care but book a C2, so C1 and C2 cabins go before C3s.

On the celebrity website, you cannot book Equinox for the whole month of May, 2019. I assumed it was an extensive dry dock.

I believe this is the last week of the ship's refurbishment. It seems to be out of commission for the month of May 2019

It is too far to walk from the ship to old town. It is $20 taxi fare each way (ask for the clock tower). The traffic is heavy, but the journey is about 15 mins. Didn't feel unsafe at all.

Does your cruise ship have hop on hop off tickets for sale? I would do that. Cartagena is great, we loved old town, but you really don't have long to enjoy it.

It is fine, in fact it was my favorite stop of my recent Celebrity cruise. You cannot walk to the sites, however, but outside the gate there are many taxis and in December it was $20 to get into old town. When we were at old town we bought our hop on hop off ticket and that enabled us to take their shuttle back to the ship at the end of the day (you just can't take the shuttle from the ship to the old town, unless you buy the hop-on ticket from the cruise line).

Old town is lovely - get up onto the walls and walk around the city. You can certainly walk from old town to the fort, that's very doable. Lots of vendors trying to sell you stuff, but it was really a game waving them away. We loved Cartagena.

We were on board over Xmas and I agree about the Cardinals (and I am old(ish) ) I thought they were amazing. "Accents" were just hum-ho. Of course the Celebrity band was amazing particularly the saxophonist, the bass, the drummer, the guitarist and the pianist. I thought the trombone player and the trumpeter were less good, but when they played all together it was great. We enjoyed some good guest artists too, Jesse Hamilton was a standout.

We never used to make reservations for Select dining. We usually eat early and there was never a problem.

 

 

 

However, on our last Celebrity cruise, we did make reservations for the first night ....some here suggested doing that.

 

 

 

We ended up making reservations every night once on board.

 

 

 

At least on Reflection I think it was necessary. My husband left the dining room (for the men's room) once at 7 pm and he said it was a madhouse out there. Long lines and people yelling at each other.:eek:

 

 

 

So my suggestion would be to be safe and make reservations. You can change on board if necessary.

The dining Room is often chaos on the first night so I do a specialty restaurant. Then, i will call at 9am and reserve a time for day 2 and maybe 3, but as the cruise progresses walk-in without reservation seems to be no problem. We always had a table for 2 and met some nice people on adjacent tables

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No need to. They took my US dollars no problem. And I wouldn't recommend using ATMs anywhere abroad unless you were 100% certain they were from a trusted bank.

We just did the overnight stop at Cartagena with Reflection, and I agree don’t get local currency. Also be aware that their currency symbol on checks etc. seemed to be $ and when they price in US they write U$

The Fort entrance was $24000 which is about U$8

We sbsolutely loved Cartagena and took a U$20 taxi to Old Town. Paid U$20 for hop on bus there and rode around for 90 mins. At the end of the day there is a shuttle back to the ship if you have a hop on ticket.

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Anyone know what the entertainment is like on the Reflection, for example live band at the pool or live music at Sunset bar. Any info would help want to know if I should bring my dancing shoes or not.

On our cruise there was dancing in the grand foyer often. I thought they could have used the sky lounge more. The house band was great, as was the rock band, which often played at the poolside. We also loved the silent disco. Basically, on our cruise there was a lot of good music.

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When we left Reflection on Jan 2, all the decorations were still up except for the gingerbread snow scene, which took up a lot of room in the Grand Foyer. But I did wonder if they kept them up because they knew the ship was going into dry dock on Jan 9th and they were just waiting until then.

The highlights for me were:

Hammocks on the lawn

Murano.... amazing

Aqua spa cafe early in the morning

Solstice deck for a lazy sail away

Lawn Grill

 

Honestly, there are so many books and crannies, it is just lovely.

 

 

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That should be nooks and crannies:)

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Great photos!

 

 

 

We cruise Reflection in March for the first time although we are regular X cruisers!

 

 

 

What would you say are the not to be missed places, events activities....I don’t think we are likely to see Santa though!

The highlights for me were:

Hammocks on the lawn

Murano.... amazing

Aqua spa cafe early in the morning

Solstice deck for a lazy sail away

Lawn Grill

Honestly, there are so many books and crannies, it is just lovely.

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Just in Cozumel and did a fabulous excursion on Fury Catamaran with snorkeling and beach park. I would highly recommend this if you want suggestions.

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I have only just downloaded the App, so I hope you don’t mind me adding a few more photos of our Xmas cruise.

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We took the Xmas/ New Year cruise and I thought the ship was beautiful.

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I came off Reflection on Jan 2 and was talking to stateroom attendant about refurb. He told me how busy they are during the 10 days, things like cracked sinks and worn chairs get replaced and the cabins are completely scrubbed.... I forgot to ask if cabin carpets were changed, ours was fine, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were. Actually, I thought Reflection looked fantastic.

Our last day of the cruise and it is a Sea day. We started in the gym , which at this late stage in the cruise is much emptier. We then spent two glorious hours on the hammocks by the lawn before lunch. The flow of people in Oceanview is exceptionally smooth and the variety and quality very good. They have had a lot of lamb in various guises on this cruise and that is fine with me. Then we went to a 2:30 hypnotist show. The theater was packed and he was excellent. Tonight we hit Qsine and there is a final party in the grand foyer.

This cruise has been fabulous. A word on dress. It is relaxed, as long as men wear pants and either long or short sleeve collared shirts (polos) there is no problem anywhere, any night. There have been people dressed up, but all in all it is just nicely dressed. I love the informal but respectful atmosphere. I hope everyone in the future enjoys their cruise as much as we have.

Was there a lot to see just walking around Old Town without the hop on/off?

Old Town and the Fort (just outside Old Town) is about 3-4 hour Sightseeing if you dont stop for a drink. You only really need the hop on to get to the new town, but that’s all shops and hotels and beach. I would definitly do a hop on to get the lay of the land, then spend time inside the City walls ( where the hop on cannot go) by yourself—— walk the walls and look out over the ocean,that and the little streets are very pretty. If you like SAN Juan then you may like this even more.

Just spent the day at Grand Cayman. Tendering was easy, we took the first one at 8:00. The bus taxi was great$5/person and dropped Us at Calico Joes. The taxis were all lined up for our return. Great day.

Last night was good too, with an excellent female vocalist, then a silent disco in the Solarium, followed by karaoke with the band in the sky lounge. I will never accuse Celebrity of being dull in the evenings again :)

Costa Rica .... because i really am scared of snakes we did the canal tour and short walk ( really was short). We did see sloths, monkeys and the guide was very good... Limon was closed as it was Xmas day, not much there.

Panama we did the canal on the ferry going through the locks. It is a long day as you drive 1 hour to the ferry and then cruise down the canal going through 3 locks which can take a while. You end in the Pacific Ocean at Panama City and then Bus back 75 mins. I did enjoy it.... lunch provided on the ferry and a running commentry.

Cartagena we did by ourselves, you do need to take a Cab to the Old Town $20. There we bought a hop on hop off for $20 each, good for two days. We did a complete circuit, then went on to the fort. After that we walked back to Old Town ( easy) had a lovely drink and then walked to hop on stop 1 just by the harbor outs ide City walls. ( there is a red awning) and there Take a shuttle back to ship.

Second day we a taxi to Old Town again and walked the City walls, then took hop on shuttle back... you can not get the shuttle from the ship to town unless you buy it from the ship.

Last thing, Colombia uses $ sign for their currency so $25.000 to go into the Fort was actually $8 US approx (1US$ approx $3000)

Could you please tell us the time of the Shows in the Theatre.

 

We are trying to plan if we go before or after dinner.

Yes the shows are 7:00 and 9:00 and because we are select dining we have sometimes eaten at 7:30 or after the first show at around 8:15. Other than the first night, it seems to be easy to walk in without a reservation and the ship is full.

Just on Reflection now having been in CostRica and Panama. Didn’t see one mosquito, but i had repellant with me. I think that if you do excursions you really don’t go to places where you might pick up food borne illness. I didn’t even think about vaccinations for this cruise... maybe there are months when there are more insects than right now.