FreestyleNovice

Alcoves.

Just got back from Barcelona - Rome, no need for a sweater. The wind and speed of the ship will lower the feel temperature at night, for those quick after or before dinner strolls on the open decks there's no need for a sweater. Perhaps something like a light bolero to wear over a dress to cover up arms and shoulders, also good for dinner if the ship is too chill for your like. We appreciated the coolness of the ship after all the heat!

What are the odds when you open the curtains.. “Hello FreestyleNovice”

I am curious how someone can label their experience as terrible, given the fact that they state that in this thread. Which some us informed about. Pretty on topic. Poster demands that himself from others in a different thread. For me: I am quite happy with X, as I am happy with my local gas station despite higher prices they still provide what I need.. Things may have been better in the past but you can’t keep living in the past either. Or you can start your own cruise line of course.

Try the Nordic board but you probably will have to get to the city center or airport. Whatever you do, do book it with FULL insurance as the winds will blow any unattended car door further from their hinges than you might wish. Either yours or those who park next to you! Enjoy Iceland!

Above is from a different thread from @BlackLion 213, who probably labels me as a naysayer as per previous post. And: So, to contribute to CC; how bad exactly was your cruise to be called terrible? Sure must be worth to share..from what it sounds it is about a decline in service or standard. But is that terrible? That is what I am questioning. And that relates to this thread: is X pushing their loyal guests off ship? Whilst there are changes, costs cut, there still is this ship full of people serving you with a smile. We can’t control everything, if change is needed to keep the fleet going so it is, we have to roll with it right? The MDR menu is smaller yes, we noticed that this week on Reflection too. Had a great suite experience on the Edge including MDR visits for their daily menus last year. Would I hesitate to book Celebrity? No, but probably as we are exactly that younger demographic they are aiming for.. and yes on our own hard earned money. Airline fares are higher than ever, with less to offer. Will that keep us from flying too? I sincerely hope you find what you are looking for in a cruiseline, if it is Celebrity alike and has to offer extremely lots of value for money please report back here for all of us.

Thanks! Missed her by 10NM near dawn, at the horizon. edit: she docked at Salerno, south of Naples. Won’t be seeing her again I guess as we disembark in Rome tomorrow.

A bit of a kick @Jim_Iain but any recommendations on the Samsung model (balcony/CC) on Reflection? I might have missed a step or lost patience in the sequence.. It has a Royal Caribbean branded remote!

I thought the elderly learned us not to generalize..

We (Reflection) seem to depart 20:00, all aboard 19:30, setting course for Napels so hope to see a glimpse of her. Thanks @hallux!

Anyone knows if Viva will dock in Messina today/tomorrow or just passing the Strait? And her port of call this Sunday? We might be able to spot her from the Reflection today, perhaps! I am limited without my spy drone and sleuth & ship tracking setup..

I get you but did the poster elaborate? Terrible is a word I would avoid, the war in Ukraine a few clicks away from the Med is terrible. No cruise is perfect, having the freedom to worry about the small stuff is modern luxury. They still don’t make you row the ship, you are still voluntarily on board.

Yet here you are posting on the Celebrity board.. I am not defending them by any means but I would not call a cruise terrible unless it was one of those a drift Carnival poop cruises.

You are very welcome, whilst I hoped Viva would be different from Prima its build was less documented too. Often I had to double check which ship I was looking at on social media! That and a current busy offline life led to a less active thread, but fear not as we have read the the third ship will probably be a Plus.. and that is worth investigating and sleuthing! I am currently onboard a ship of what NCL now calls competition (Celebrity) so is there a keel layed yet now Viva has left? So to be continued.. Let’s hope for enough spies, rumours and leaks!

Taken quayside, facing the tender spot, to the left is the town:

One tender at a time, it’s indeed a crowded place with expensive yachts docked (the mega yachts anchor outside) all around, it actually is a marina you sail into.

They use this spot to tender.

If you fear that a TA might book you into a travel agent rate without you knowing it, presenting you an higher rate to pay: never happened to us and never heard about such. To qualify for say an Interline rate (travel industry, airline crew etc) you must show proof of employment which I guess goes to X too. Same goes for military and other rates. The big profits for a TA are price drops which don’t get to benefit their customers but the TA themselves. If a customer is not paying attention they can pocket the difference, found out about that one in a TA training document.

Still aluminum bottles on Reflection, current cruise.

Now onboard Reflection, been on Edge last year and not seeing a downgrade at all. Service, food, cleanliness, all great. Despite some pretty negative posts about declining buffets, etc. As above: life is short, enjoy it. I glad Celebrity managed to deal with Covid, without selling ships so we can still enjoy our vacations onboard their fleet.

Hmm. Seems to be a bit messy in CC.. This might be better, a .zip with all the new deck plans. joy.zip

Deck 5 & deck 6

Thermal suite:

The new H2:

Anyone know what are the passenger numbers are for recent Reflection sailings?