1 year late, our Eastern Carib. honeymoon on the Reflection

Well, it's been one year exactly since our delightful honeymoon sail on Reflection (4-6-2013). Please excuse my tardiness in posting. I joined CC just prior to the trip and have since gotten increasingly addicted to this site. After reading so many, I am now feel ready to post my own abbreviated version. A huge shout out to CrusingGatorGirl, as her engagement cruise post was so inspiring, I felt moved to try my own! Even though it's a year late, I know many people on here may be just about to embark on the same itinerary and I wanted to share a few things we did and places we enjoyed. I know I LOVE seeing pictures so I will post lots :-)

I am Valerie, a music teacher currently living about 60 miles north of Atlanta, at the foot of the lovely Blue Ridge mountains.

I grew up here, but my husband (Marc, classical musician/teacher) and I both went to school and worked in New York City for seven years and then I was in grad school in the Boston area after that. Because of this, we REALLY love a diverse range of foods, meeting lots of people, and have a deep appreciation for craft beer. We also love wine! Marc, a native of Miami had done day cruises and lots of fishing boats! I had cruised several times with my family, (think extinct Big Red Boat, Norwegian, etc.) and one cruise on the Century when I was 15 years old. It was this experience on X as a teen that influenced me to book them again for our honeymoon. As a fifteen year old, I remember the great itinerary (got so tan in the Cayman Islands), food (midnight buffet!), and service most. Also, possibly because I had a huge high-school-girl-crush on our MDR waiter, ha! The beverage package was the other thing that really influenced us. Our other top contender was Royal Caribbean, but it would have been the same price and NO beverage package.

We were married in November of 2012, but due to my schedule as a teacher, we had to wait for my spring break to do a whole week getaway. Pictured below, there we are on our wedding day :D

We left for Miami on Friday, April 5th, which was the last day before my school system's Spring Break. My dad drove us to the airport and picked me up from my school. I swear, I jumped and “woo hoo”ed when I left the front office!! I bet I was the most excited one in that building, including all 1000+ students! Side note, every time a student would mention they were spring breaking on a cruise, I would have an inner freak out and immediately ask them which line and where they were going. The LAST people I wanted to share my honeymoon with were my students. EEK! Luckily (for me), they were choosing other lines. We made it to Hartsfield-Jackson and had an uneventful flight to Fort Lauderdale. Marc's wonderful family picked us up and off we went to their house to spend the night before our cruise the next morning.

I am not a morning person, but I jumped out of bed the morning of our cruise! It was a perfect Miami day. As we reached the port and I saw the ship, I got more excited than I thought I could be.

I know it's not a great pic, but it was the first glimpse of our ship!!

Boarding was very easy. I didn't know to order luggage tags, so we approached the first worker we saw for instructions. There was no line and he was able to help us write on and attach tags, no problem at all. We did wait in a small line to drop our luggage, but no big deal. The line for check in was pretty fast. Security was so much more laid back than we expected. It was super fast. We then the took several excited photos as we approached The Reflection. When we actually set foot on her, we were so taken aback to be offered sparkling wine! What a great welcome!

Cheers!

After getting a bit turned around, we found our stateroom and it was all ready for us. We were in room 3111, an Ocean View. We loved the room and found that it had everything we needed. It did take me a while to find the hair dryer, but one quick call to our stateroom attendant resolved that! By the way, it's in the desk drawer, ladies. - obvious, I know. I don't know if that' s normal or not.

Taken from the door of 3111

And here's one taken from the window.

After getting unpacked and settled in, we went off to explore, eat, and attend the muster drill. Our first impressions of the ship included: pristine, modern, HUGE, and artistic. We loved the paintings and sculptures. One of our favorites was the giant tree, several stories tall. Drinks were plentiful and we definitely indulged. I tried out all kinds while DH stuck with his trusty Jack and Cokes. We ate at the Oceanview Cafe and found lots we both liked. While tables were packed, we did manage to find one next to a window. I discovered the baked potato bar, which was there very often if not all the time.

We attended a sail away party at the Sunset Bar. This was one of our favorite spots by far! There is no way to explain the feeling of sail away. I know you are all familiar with that sensation! It's anticipation to the extreme, and the feeling that you will be totally unplugged with no stress for the next few days. Ahhh!

See you in a week, Miami!

Thanks for posting. Nice pictures.

Our first full day was a sea day and we ate late breakfast at the buffet and then scouted out the pool. The lower deck of the pool was packed, not a lounger in site. The upper deck was almost empty because of the intense wind. We braved it for a while, but it was causing me to have difficulties reading, so we left. We had a very relaxing day exploring the ship and fell in love with Cafe al Bacio. It was another favorite location on the ship, and I loved the specialty coffees that were included in our classic alcohol package. I knew from CC that the items in the glass case were free, so I enjoyed lots of those as well :-) Here are a few pics of the ship.

These pics were all taken from around deck 15 and all but the last were taken either in the lawn or at the Sunset Bar, which is at the aft of the ship.

Our first experience in the MDR that night was overall good. We loved the attentive service as well as the food (Cobia was my favorite!). We had two main issues that caused the experience to be good not great. First, it was often very hot (especially on formal night for the men in suits). The tables were also very close together. As it was our honeymoon, we had requested a table for two. While our request was technically granted, we were in a table for two in the middle of another table for two and a table for four. The tables were so close that one could not step between them, and it was impossible not to hear conversations an, unfortunately, arguments from neighbors. While we thought of it more as free entertainment, it was a bit uncomfortable at times and certainly not the intimate experience for which we had hoped. I now know that I could have spoken with the maître d' about this. Live and learn! We think we'll do select dining in the future to avoid this potential issue.

Puerto Rico

We docked around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. It was so exciting to come upon the beautiful shoreline so slowly! The water was so blue, I just wanted to dive in!

We didn't have plans, except to just walk around and explore. We did just that. We had a drink at a bar and met a nice couple from our ship. We did look at a few menus as we walked, but everything in OSJ was pricey. We continued to walk and take in the sights. I was surprised at the steep hills. We popped in a few touristy shops, but they were all pretty much the same and nothing grabbed us. Marc did purchase a new cap, as his was swept from his head as we were walking out of the ship. If I had this port to do over, I would book some kind of an excursion that would take us out of OSJ. Top of our list was hearing some live music, but we couldn't find any, probably due to the time of day. Had we been willing to forfeit our dinner time, I'm sure we would have been successful.

A few pics from OSJ

Awesome! We were on the exact same cruise last year, and we're going again this Saturday!

Puerto Rico, Continued

Our favorite views were from this little plaza a short distance from the port. We really didn't wander too far. I don't remember what it was called but there was a statue of Francisco de Miranda. It offered a beautiful view of The Reflection.

And back to the stunning Reflection :) We loved the ice cold towels handed out to everyone as they came back in.

Late Night Entertainment

While we never stayed for a complete show (next time), we did really enjoy the comedian on board doing the Sin City Comedy. She was fantastic! The burlesque show wasn't bad either! We enjoyed the Sky Lounge until 1-2 am almost every evening. We especially liked the Latin Dance night! The small dance floor was usually more full than not. The one thing that worried me when booking X was the fear that there would be no nightlife. My fears were unfounded :-) We also enjoyed late night room service and the few things for us night owls out at the buffet.

Thanks for letting us share your cruise.

BTW, your wedding gown is beautiful.

St. Maarten

Our next stop was St. Maarten. Part French, part Dutch, this island had so much to offer. We took advantage of our beverage package and brought two large bottles of water off of the ship. I liked the classic package water just fine! Trust me, any water is good on the hot beaches of St. Maarten :-) I had booked a multi-part excursion from Bernard's Tours ahead of time after reading rave reviews here on CC. I highly recommend going with a guide or person who really knows their way around as traffic can be a total nightmare. This company lived up to each review – we were delighted with our awesome tour guide and all of the stops. It was easy to find our guide once on land and we only waited a minute before the other couple who had booked showed. It ended up only being the four of us. Here is a bit about the tour.

SXM Island Tour II

9:00 am - 2:30 pm

Beach Sightseeing and Shopping - $45/pp5 | $5/pp Deposit

All tours depart from the Cruise Information Center

Pickup at the cruise pier

Iguana Farm (getting off the bus is optional) [5-10 mins]

Stop at the French and Dutch border [2 mins]

Brief stop at Oyster Pond over looking the island of St Barths [5-10 mins]

Orient Beach where you'll be able to swim and have lunch [90-120 mins]

Marigot - open market (French Capital) [30 mins]

Maho Beach [40 mins]

Drive through Simpson Bay marina

Harold Jack Hill (View of Simpson Marina,Airport & Anguilla)

As soon as we hit the parking lot, the rain starting pouring down on us. Luckily, it lasted only for about ten minutes. Our guide narrated the drive so well, and I learned a lot about the island. I found the currency issues to be most interesting. The island currency is split, Euros on the French side and the Antillean guilder on the Dutch side. The latter is worth less, so it is best to work on the French side as it pays in Euros. This is best because utilities on the French side have to also be paid in Euros. It's very bad for people living on the French side and working on the Dutch side as much of their pay goes towards expensive taxes and utilities which must be paid in Euros. Our guide said he was lucky as he lived on the Dutch side but got paid via the French side Euro.

We didn't actually go to an iguana farm, which was actually great with us as it seemed something more geared towards children. We did stop along a sort of sea creature petting zoo just for about 10 minutes. We got to see Bernard himself doing some stunts with the animals.

This was really a beautiful stop and I enjoyed watching the clouds lift from the mountains much more than I enjoyed the sea creature part! But, I think if you have kids this would be a very popular few minutes.

We then stopped at the boarder for a photo opp.

It was on to Orient Beach after that. Frankly, this was what I was looking forward to most!! On the way we helped ourselves to the stocked cooler provided in our tour van. The best thing was the very strong rum punch. I don't know what was in it, but it was heavy stuff. YUM! There were also waters, coke products, and beer. We had about an hour and a half on Orient Beach and it FLEW by. I wish we had spent more there. We chose to rent chairs/umbrella for about $10 and that came with one drink each. Not a bad deal. There were some people selling various items but nothing intrusive like the sales can be other places. This was hands down the most gorgeous place I have ever been. I have never seen water like that. As you can see, the weather cleared up and was absolutely perfect. PARADISE!! To this day when I see my bathing suit I'm wearing in the pic below, it reminds me of that perfect water.

St. Maarten, Continued

The French side capital of Marigot was charming. We heard so much about Sarafinas bakery that we had to try it. Good idea as we were pretty hungry at this point, and the rum was strong ;-) Marc and I split a ham and cheese croissant and I had a chocolate croissant. It was all delicious. Interestingly, we could use our US Dollars there for a 1 to 1 exchange rate with the Euro price. Win! [/size]

We did some shopping in the outdoor market and didn't get anything. Back to the van we went.

Next up was the eagerly anticipated Maho Beach. I was very excited to see some low flying planes and we saw lots! They time the tours to the bigger jets, so we got to see an Air France flight come in.

v

St. Maarten, Continued again

The ride back was a very relaxed one. Despite just sitting around and being pampered all day, we felt tired! The ride back felt long but was enjoyable. There was a good amount of traffic. I loved seeing our Reflection from high above the port.

Tomorrow, St. Thomas!

Awesome! We were on the exact same cruise last year, and we're going again this Saturday!

That's great!! Have so much fun!! I wish I were going again. Great memories, I'll definitely be back.