Our 50 Night Reflection Odyssey

[Beach Ball]

Only if you weigh less than .01 pounds... Weight restrictions are closely monitored by the resident expert packer..

 

For anyone else about to travel on various X ships, this will be the last update to the Who's Onboard Matrix until I return. Thank you to all who have posted updates for the success of this project.

 

Thanks for updating the chart. Thank you for all your hard work. Enjoy your fabulous trip. We will be on Reflection in February and we can't wait. Have a fantastic time.

[Waihekean]

Another Wow, what an itinerary!

 

You must be one of the few that soon will get to know the Reflection well. Enjoy her and tell us your tips, we are all eagerly awaiting.

 

Bon Voyage, have a great experience and lots of good weather.

[Royalpair]

I notice a bit of rain in your weather forecast. Please get that out of the way before we board on Nov 4 in Venice :D. Looking forward to seeing you again.

 

Mary Kaye

[TommyD3]

Hi Arno,

 

I hope that you and Joanne have a wonderful time.

 

We are off in 2 days to fly to Barcelona for the Solstice for 6 weeks ending in Singapore. We will miss you since I remember that you were originally booked on that itinerary. It looks like we will be stopping in Egypt after all. My son will get to see the Pyramids and we will all get to see Luxor & Petra for the first time (plus Dubai:)). Will you be going on the Constellation in Dec - April? We booked some in Dec/Jan since they are offering free gratuities plus $200 OBC even for 4 night cruises.

 

Have fun !!!

[C 2 C]

Reflection Oct 13,2002.

Preliminary report:

The ship is beautiful,

The ship is not perfect.

If you are looking to be disappointed, you will be no matter where you go.

If you want to luxuriate onboard, you can do so.

Is there any place I would rather be: no way!

Oh Celebrity, the least you could have done is to make the rain go away.

This is Catain Pagonis' baby. He states that it sails and handles better than any other S-Class ship, the latest in German engineering.

I've heard that some people are prejudging without having set a foot onboard. I'm very happy to be where I am, and all the criticism in the world, of my choice of ship, will not affect my enjoyment in the least. I'm so sorry that anyone thinks that this ship is inferior to their expectations. I'm luvin it! (has someone said that before?)

"Welcome to Celebrity Wi-Fi

Internet link is down. Please try again in a few minutes."

11:49 pm Sat, post Captain's Table.

 

Bye for now..

[Lois R]

Hi Arno, glad things are going well:D:):D

[CaptData]

Sounds like you are enjoying the ship already. Have fun.

[Keith1010]

Enjoy and thanks for your posts.

 

Keith

[Welland]

Reflection Oct 13,2002.

Preliminary report:

The ship is beautiful,

The ship is not perfect.

If you are looking to be disappointed, you will be no matter where you go.

If you want to luxuriate onboard, you can do so.

Is there any place I would rather be: no way!

 

 

 

Good to hear from you Arno. Glad you and Jo-Anne are enjoying.

 

One of two things; you are really into happy hour at the Elite Lounge or you are truly relaxing onboard. Your preliminary report for Reflection is dated October 13, 2002! M, you had a vision 10 years ago about the ship. We know you are awesome but you've really outdone yourself this time. :-)

 

All joking aside continue enjoying your travels and time on board the ship. We look forward to more updates.

 

(Quote) Bye for now.

[Host Anne]

Hi Arno ~ thanks for posting! We all appreciate the updates. I just spent the last couple of hours going through Andreas Depping's photos of REFLECTION! Stunning!!! I would be MORE than happy to be sailing with you and Joanne on your 50-night adventure. It doesn't get any better!

 

Keep enjoying and thanks again for taking the time to post.

[librarylady19]

I'm captivated by Andreas' photos and can't wait to hear more about your experiences on board.

 

I did not expect Reflection to be even more stunningly elegant than the other S class ships. I'm so impressed that I'm booking a cruise tomorrow for January 12. (Just need to comvince our friends to join us to make it perfect).

 

in the meantime, I'll be looking forward to further reports from you Arno.

[travelberlin]

Hi Arno, I am glad you are enjoying it. Looking forward to board the ship in Venice in some weeks. How was your flight from home?

[Lois R]

I'm captivated by Andreas' photos and can't wait to hear more about your experiences on board.

 

I did not expect Reflection to be even more stunningly elegant than the other S class ships. I'm so impressed that I'm booking a cruise tomorrow for January 12. (Just need to comvince our friends to join us to make it perfect).

 

in the meantime, I'll be looking forward to further reports from you Arno.

 

Hi Sandi,:) wow...you are changing from Sihlouette to Reflection? Or

this is for Jan 2014?

[Host Joe]

Hi Arno, looking forward to seeing you aboard Reflection on 11/4 as we board for our 27- night adventure aboard Reflection!

[donnaw]

Thank you for getting the excitement levels up and working any bugs out before we get there! Someone pointed out that 5 weeks from now and we will have just finished late seating dinner. It is coming too soon and can't get here soon enough at the same time!

 

One question, library good? If not exceptional, I will load some more on the Fire.

[C 2 C]

Since our cruises were booked only a month ago, we will have the opportunity to experience 4 different cabin locations. This is a drawback when booking late in the hope of getting better pricing after final payment date.

Stateroom AQ 1552;

AQ1552 is conveniently located near the front elevators and has a larger angled balcony, the beginning of the wasp-waist of Reflection on the starboard side. There are a few minor changes, if memory serves.

· There is no longer a master switch to cabin lighting, a confusing set up when I first encountered it on Solstice.

· The glass door to the upper shelves in the bathroom is gone.

· The small drawer on the main cabinet is gone and there are now only 3 remaining large drawers for storage. We miss the small drawer because it is literally filed with our medicine containers and digging deep is not as convenient. The design is probably more convenient for most people for storage of various clothing items.

· The sofa is no longer covered in white leather as on Solstice but rather with a burgundy cloth. It is as hard and unyielding as its predecessor so we sit down slowly.

· The location of the safe is again in the main cabinet above the mini-bar fridge not in the main closet as on Solstice.

· The closet depth is still not designed to accommodate suit jackets without folding a suit sleeve before closing the door.

· In addition to the main bar to hang clothes, there are two fold down bars for more apparel. There are no shelves in the closet.

[Sinppu]

What?! You're not joking?? A 50-day cruise???

 

If there were a green-with-envy smiley and a crying one, I'd insert them both. What an Odyssey :D:cool::)

[C 2 C]

Since our cruises were booked only a month ago, we will have the opportunity to experience 4 different cabin locations. This is a drawback when booking late in the hope of getting better pricing after final payment date.

Stateroom AQ 1552;

AQ1552 is conveniently located near the front elevators and has a larger angled balcony, the beginning of the wasp-waist of Reflection on the starboard side. There are a few minor changes, if memory serves.

· There is no longer a master switch to cabin lighting, a confusing set up when I first encountered it on Solstice.

· The glass door to the upper shelves in the bathroom is gone.

· The small drawer on the main cabinet is gone and there are now only 3 remaining large drawers for storage. We miss the small drawer because it is literally filed with our medicine containers and digging deep is not as convenient. The design is probably more convenient for most people for storage of various clothing items.

· The sofa is no longer covered in white leather as on Solstice but rather with a burgundy cloth. It is as hard and unyielding as its predecessor so we sit down slowly.

· The location of the safe is again in the main cabinet above the mini-bar fridge not in the main closet as on Solstice.

· The closet depth is still not designed to accommodate suit jackets without folding a suit sleeve before closing the door.

· In addition to the main bar to hang clothes, there are two fold down bars for more apparel. There are no shelves in the closet.

October 15, 2012

The Cruise Critic Connections gathering was held in the Sky lounge at 10 am of the first sea day.

The Event Coordinator Evgeniya Paramonova, the Hotel Director, the Assistant hotel Director and even the captain put in an appearance for the inaugural CC meeting.

This afternoon 240 members showed up for the first Captain’s Club party and filled the lounge to its seating capacity. This was the first test of the sound levels in front of an audience. It was suggested that it was best not to sit in the front row. The third passenger to enter christened the lounge by pouring a whole beer over a chair. The band played well and had no need for microphones and some people did find it loud.

I doubt that there will be any topic that will gather more comments than the Sky Lounge. I find that the lounge is a more intimate setting with more opportunities to gather in small groups. It is much smaller than on other ships and will limit activities that filled the space before. There is nothing to be gained by criticizing the design because we will now have to learn to live with the decision made by the former president. I think that someone looked at all that space and felt that it was not generating enough revenue throughout the day and turned that prime viewing space into premium cabins. The ones who lose out are the elites who need all that space for free drinks. ;)

[Orator]

Since our cruises were booked only a month ago, we will have the opportunity to experience 4 different cabin locations. This is a drawback when booking late in the hope of getting better pricing after final payment date.

Stateroom AQ 1552;

AQ1552 is conveniently located near the front elevators and has a larger angled balcony, the beginning of the wasp-waist of Reflection on the starboard side. There are a few minor changes, if memory serves.

· There is no longer a master switch to cabin lighting, a confusing set up when I first encountered it on Solstice.

· The glass door to the upper shelves in the bathroom is gone.

· The small drawer on the main cabinet is gone and there are now only 3 remaining large drawers for storage. We miss the small drawer because it is literally filed with our medicine containers and digging deep is not as convenient. The design is probably more convenient for most people for storage of various clothing items.

· The sofa is no longer covered in white leather as on Solstice but rather with a burgundy cloth. It is as hard and unyielding as its predecessor so we sit down slowly.

· The location of the safe is again in the main cabinet above the mini-bar fridge not in the main closet as on Solstice.

· The closet depth is still not designed to accommodate suit jackets without folding a suit sleeve before closing the door.

· In addition to the main bar to hang clothes, there are two fold down bars for more apparel. There are no shelves in the closet.

October 15, 2012

The Cruise Critic Connections gathering was held in the Sky lounge at 10 am of the first sea day.

The Event Coordinator Evgeniya Paramonova, the Hotel Director, the Assistant hotel Director and even the captain put in an appearance for the inaugural CC meeting.

This afternoon 240 members showed up for the first Captain’s Club party and filled the lounge to its seating capacity. This was the first test of the sound levels in front of an audience. It was suggested that it was best not to sit in the front row. The third passenger to enter christened the lounge by pouring a whole beer over a chair. The band played well and had no need for microphones and some people did find it loud.

I doubt that there will be any topic that will gather more comments than the Sky Lounge. I find that the lounge is a more intimate setting with more opportunities to gather in small groups. It is much smaller than on other ships and will limit activities that filled the space before. There is nothing to be gained by criticizing the design because we will now have to learn to live with the decision made by the former president. I think that someone looked at all that space and felt that it was not generating enough revenue throughout the day and turned that prime viewing space into premium cabins. The ones who lose out are the elites who need all that space for free drinks. ;)

 

Obviously they will need to split the people into groups for the Elite Hours on your TA. I wonder how many separate groups they will need for perhaps 500+ people. Continue to experience and enjoy Reflection.

[FLJudi]

I'm hoping they put the retractable clothes line back into the shower like it was in M class ships. Such a little thing to make a lot of people happy. Am I happy?

[travelberlin]

How many elites are on board more or less? Were is the elite meeting for breakfast and cocktails taking place?

[rvlandandsea]

Now how will you and Joanne top this next year! I'm sure you will find a way. Have a wonderful cruise!

 

Johanne and Réjean

[chessbriar]

Happy Sailing Arno,

 

I hope you have a great cruise. Or cruises depending on how you look at it. 50 days, WOW. Would have been nice if you could have stayed on through the first Caribbean. It would have been great to see you.

 

Could you do me a little favor, could you check out the bartenders in the evening in the Molecular Bar and martini bar. Just looking for some old friends.

 

Bye for now,

Rick

[Andy]

Hi Arno,

 

Thanks again for your updates. Have a wonderful time on Reflection !

[Cruiser Susie]

Thank you for the updates, Arno! I am sure exploring such a lovely new ship is great fun, and I hope there's a good band for dancing for you and Joanne. Enjoyed the picture, too. I will look forward to your updates as you post them!

 

Continue to have a wonderful time!