Celebrity Reflection B2B Review 11/4 and 11/18

[Host Joe]

Celebrity Reflection 11/4/12-12/1/12 Back to Back Cruise Review by Host Joe

 

We just returned from an excellent and amazing journey for 27 days aboard the beautiful new Celebrity Reflection. This was one of our most memorable cruises out of 50+ cruises!

 

The Ship

We both absolutely loved the ship from one end to the other. The tweaks that they have made from her sisters were done very well. The decor while similar to her sisters is different enough to stand out in a beautiful way. One of our favorite changes on Reflection is at the outside area of the Oceanview Cafe where they removed the big bar and sofa arrangements and instead added a bunch more tables and chairs.

 

Dining

The addition of The Porch ($5 for breakfast or lunch) was a really great addition and very fun. The Lawn Club Grill was also a fun addition and a different experience. While we do not love the idea of getting involved with cooking our own flat bread pizzas or steaks, it was fun to watch others do it. The Opus dining room was wonderful as always and we had fabulous food and service. The Oceanview buffet area always had a huge selection of tasty and wonderful options. Qsine was an interesting experience... our first visit was confusing and our second we had a blast. For Qsine we feel that they are under-utilizing the iPads by not showing pictures of the courses so that you can understand them better. Tuscan Grill is still my favorite specialty restaurant and was excellent each visit we made. Murano was very good as well, although we were bummed that they took the filet mignon off the menu. We loved Cellar Masters and were there almost every evening before dinner enjoying the enomatic wine machines which are very fun!

 

Staff and Crew... and other passengers

From our waitstaff to cabin attendants to Guest Relations and everyone involved... they were all amazing! On this sailing the ship had a propulsion issue that caused one missed port (Rhodes) on our first leg of the cruise. They had to order parts for one of the azipods and we were forced to travel at a reduced speed of 18 knots. This was not a huge deal for us as it was an absolutely horrible weather day so it would have been a let down anyway. We also had a few late arrivals into ports but the Captain always made it up with extra time later in the port which worked great for us. On our second leg of the trip (transatlantic) we were forced to miss Tenerife due to the extra time needed to make the crossing. For this Celebrity was very generous and gave us onboard credit to help make it up.

 

We will never ever stop being amazed at the sheer audacity, rudeness and negativity of some of the other passengers on each voyage. The majority of people looked at the misfortune of the ship problem like us... the impact was truly minimal, the cruiseline did everything they could to fix the problem quickly and kept us as informed as they should at all times. Unfortunately the winers come out of the woodwork and choose to be rude and mean to the staff and crew which is so horrible. We witnessed some things that they staff and crew should NEVER have to take.... and each time they handled it with grace, professionalism and compassion.

For the back to back passengers we had to surrender our passports in a little room set aside for us our morning in Barcelona to pick up our new room keys. They line was pretty small but was hardly moving and we could not figure out why. We stood in line for about a half hour.. when we got to the front of the line we witnessed why the line was moving so slow. There were a group of passengers who were giving the staff a horrible time because they did not want to give up their passports! The guest relations manager, Alex was trying very hard to explain that this was due to the demand from Spain and had nothing to do with Celebrity. The people were holding up the line for all of us while absolutely ruining the staffs day with their vulgarity. We later wrote a letter to the Guest Relations Manager apologizing for our fellow Americans behavior while congratulating him on how wonderful he handled it. He was very grateful for the letter and I know it made his day much better!

 

My only wish is that passengers would choose to be grateful... for being able to travel, for being able to be on such a lovely ship and be pampered and have experiences beyond many peoples dreams. If you choose to be grateful each day it is amazing how much better your life is... and so are others lives because of the way you treat them. Enjoy your cruises and treat others as you would like to be treated. We actually followed behind nasty passengers several times and greeted the staff or crew with a smile and an apology for how they were treated followed by a thank you for all that they did for all of us. On many occasions they staff or crew member almost broke out in thankful tears. Enough said!

 

Meet and Mingle Parties

On our first leg of the cruise the Meet and Mingle was held at 7:45pm and unfortunately we were at a specialty restaurant that night so we could not attend. We did go to the Meet and Mingle on the transatlantic though. Their were at least a couple hundred Cruise Critic members there. I had decided to do something which I have done several times on other cruises and take my own personal time to request some Cruise Critic gifts (luggage tags, hats, etc.) and then transport them inside my luggage all the way to Europe at my own expense to give out during a fun and upbeat trivia game that I created. Here is where my true disappoint began. While the majority of the passengers at the meeting were very nice and fun there were many that were unbelievably rude and nasty to me and the staff. I had one gentleman and his wife that were literally hollering at me while I was on the dance floor with a mic in my hand that it was “unfair” that we had not chosen them to answer the trivia questions followed by the gentleman standing up, pointing and nastily telling me that I should be providing all of the members with gifts... Unbelievable! Unfortunately I think this is the last time I will take my own personal time, effort and money to transport gifts to do this sort of thing at future Meet and Mingle parties. Furthermore I learned the several entitled members were among the rudest and nastiest to the staff and crew and that the staff did not even want to be involved with the members because of how they were being treated by them. This makes me very sad. Again... if people would just choose to be grateful and kind their life would be so much better!

 

Captains Club

We love our Elite perks and are very grateful that Celebrity offers them. On our second leg of the cruise there were over 1,000 elite members which made it impossible to have the Sky Bar as the happy hour location from 5-7pm each evening. Instead they generously gave each elite member 3 drink coupons per day to enjoy free beverages throughout most of the bars and lounges. We LOVED this option as we were able to join our non-elite friends for drinks instead of having to go to a certain exclusive bar. We were amazed at the complaining and entitlement of many of the passengers about this situation... the bartenders and servers worked like dogs serving members drinks as fast as possible throughout all of the venues that we visited.

 

Summary

In this short review I cannot emphasize enough what a wonderful experience it was. The ship was amazing, the ports fantastic, the staff and crew blew my mind with their friendliness, professionalism and compassion and the food was outstanding. I have no complaints and only praises for Celebrity Reflection and our 27 days aboard! While we ran into a few fellow passengers that choose to be miserable, we also found the positive side by affecting the staff and crew with positivity which then made up for any ill feelings we had about those situations. Again, I am grateful to travel aboard such a gorgeous vessel with the best of the best! Please remember to not get caught up in negativity aboard your cruises and realize that people who choose to live that way ruin their own life experiences and do succeed in making some others miserable along the way.... I hope that each of you reading this review get to experience the beauty and experience of Celebrity Reflection and realize just how lucky we all are to do such cruises when many others can never do it in their lifetime...Happy cruising! :)

[Lois R]

Hi Joe, thanks for the review.:)

 

There is a saying,

"You can't fix stupid"....sounds like it fits the folks you encountered:mad:

 

Glad you enjoyed Reflection though. I will be on her Wednesday for

3 nights and really looking forward to it:)

[Host Joe]

Awesome Lois! Enjoy her... I am sure you will see many of your favorite staff and crew aboard... there was a collection of some of my very favorites onboard!

[seabreeze78]

What a nice review and some great observations. Sailing reflection next Dec. cannot wait. We were on the Eclipse and were amazed by how rude some of the people were acting..people who know better. :)

[Keith1010]

Host Joe, welcome home and I am glad that you enjoyed the cruise.

 

Your point about other people is well taken. With each passing year we have come to realize that life is short, and that we should be very appreciative that we are able to cruise and we should be understanding of the few minor items that can go wrong.

 

Wonderful review.

 

Thank you.

 

Keith

[NorthCarolinaBelle]

Host Joe, thank you so much for your review! We are going on Reflection on January 11th with friends who have never cruised before. We have never been on a large ship and are somewhat nervous about getting lost!

 

Your comments about some people's negativity really hit home with me. One lady at our table on my last cruise had nothing nice to say, and complained about everything. She really put a damper on the atmosphere at the table, although the rest of us tried to make up for her.

 

One question: do I need to make reservations for the shows each night? Any other advice you think of would be welcome, as well! Thanks again for the great review!:D

 

Leigh

[Host Joe]

Thank you Seabreeze and Keith, much appreciated! My only hope is that just by chance some may read my review and realize just how much people affect others and how they can live a happier life. For those who already do... they will smile and appreciate what I have written!;)

[Azulann]

Thank you for your review of the Reflections.

The good, bad and the ugly seems to lie with the people not the ship itself.

So sad that on a new ship , the behavoir of some passengers created a headache for the staff in many areas.

Giving over your passport for a certain ports is very common. What don't people understand?

 

Have only sailed on the Equinox in the S class, so look forward to the Porch on future cruises.

Your trivia contest with CC items sounded fun. But again some rude folks can spoil it for the many.

 

Having read the many thread lately of the Transatlantic crossings, I have come to the conclusion that this type of sailing is not for me.

 

I will continue to book on very port intensive cruises.Maybe the rude, boorish,

passengers do not pick these cruises or they are too tired to complain after a long exhausting port day.

[d4m]

Hi Joe, thanks for the review.:)

 

There is a saying,

"You can't fix stupid"....sounds like it fits the folks you encountered:mad:

 

One of my favorite sayings. I loathe those few passengers who consider themselves above the staff and stay as far away from them as possible. However I would have to do the same as Host Joe and apologize to staff for the obnoxious behavior of those who consider themseves superior.

 

Great review Host Joe!

[portofrome]

Welcome home and thanks for the review.

[gambee]

Thanks for the review, very informative.

 

 

It is a pity that some of our members are like that :(

[BugsyCruiser]

Great review Joe! Finally gonna get to experience the S class ships firsthand in a few months. I'll have to try out Reflection in the future. The only thing I hope for as maybe they can start alternating itineraries when she is in Miami instead of just doing only the eastern Caribbean?

 

I'm like you and many others.... just amazed and at many times disgusted by how some passengers act on these cruises towards the staff and crew. You're on vacation for crying out loud. I'm reminded of the people who on my Oasis cruise said the ship was terrible, weather was terrible, food was terrible, crew was terrible. I thought did they take a cruise in an alternate universe or something?

[Host Joe]

Host Joe, thank you so much for your review! We are going on Reflection on January 11th with friends who have never cruised before. We have never been on a large ship and are somewhat nervous about getting lost!

 

Your comments about some people's negativity really hit home with me. One lady at our table on my last cruise had nothing nice to say, and complained about everything. She really put a damper on the atmosphere at the table, although the rest of us tried to make up for her.

 

One question: do I need to make reservations for the shows each night? Any other advice you think of would be welcome, as well! Thanks again for the great review!:D

 

Leigh

 

Hi Leigh, you do not have to make reservations for the shows.. there is always plenty of space to see any of the shows.

[Host Joe]

Thank you everyone for taking the time for the positive feedback! I truly appreciate it.. and all of the positive members we have. It is always a shame when the few negative people get so much attention!

[Cybercsp]

Thanks for taking the time to post your observations. I am really looking froward to my upcoming Reflection cruise...our first time on the S class ship. It sounds like we have a lot to look forward to! On previous cruises, I have observed Celebrity staff members confronted by difficult passengers, and marvel at their grace. I am so sorry that your attempts to create were ruined by a few. I concur that anyone blessed with the financial resources to be able to cruise should display that "attitude of gratitude."

[C 2 C]

Hi Joe:

 

It's amazing that no matter how often one cruises, that we meet wonderful people enjoying every day on board, while others are determined to be miserable and get satisfaction from berating staff.

The unfortunate aspect of continuous days at sea is that the malcontents cannot be disembarked for their behaviour.

[Host Joe]

Hi Joe:

 

It's amazing that no matter how often one cruises, that we meet wonderful people enjoying every day on board, while others are determined to be miserable and get satisfaction from berating staff.

The unfortunate aspect of continuous days at sea is that the malcontents cannot be disembarked for their behaviour.

 

Hi Arno! As always it was a pleasure to see you two onboard!

[Miss SeaBee]

Beautiful review, Host Joe! I can't wait for my April sailing on Reflection! I am always so grateful for the opportunity to travel on a beautiful ship, and I also never understand the kind of behavior toward staff that you witnessed. I will definitely make a special effort to let the crew know how much I appreciate them.

 

Question about lunch venues on embarkation day: Do you remember if the Porch is open for lunch? I think it would be a great lunch alternative to the buffet.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to post a positive review!

[snow bunny]

Thank you for showing the cruisers here how to behave and to keep life light! We too are always stunned by some of the behavior of fellow cruisers but take the high road as it is nicer up there! Have not booked anything yet on the Reflection but will be looking into her sailings for 2014.

 

Snow bunny

[anandaindonesia]

Host Joe, thank you for the inspiring review.

 

Kudos for what you did for the crews.

[librarylady19]

thank you Joe for your wise words. I have been quite perplexed by the tone of some of the comments on CC lately and very sorry to hear about the behavior of some entitled passengers.

You have a great attitude and I'm sure the crew really appreciated your kind words - a wonderful example for others to follow.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review.

[Bailey & Sophie]

Joe, thanks for your very professional observations. It is a shame that people think they can be so rude to others. However, if any of them read your review, they probably won't see themselves as the offender.

[2ndsailing]

Thanks Joe for your review. We're on the Reflection next fall for a Mediterranean and transatlantic cruise.

[BugsyCruiser]

By the way Joe, I like your attitude especially when it comes to dealing with the staff and crew. Maybe if some of these people had your attitude they wouldn't have such a "miserable" time of their cruises