Helipad - Reflection

[indycrew]

Is it possible to go out on the helipad on the Reflection? Several ships we have sailed had "secret doors" to get to the front of the ship...but once there benches, etc. available for a late night star-gazing glass of wine???;)

[wwcruisers]

I haven't sailed on Reflection yet, but generally speaking, access to the helipads on X ships is by invitation only. On our recent Pacific Coastal Cruise on Millie, we were thrilled when the Captain opened the helipad to the passengers, for our sail under the Golden Gate Bridge! :cool:

[CRUISE HAPPY 99]

We were allowed on the heli pad on the Summit back in 2007 as we went

through the Panama Canal. It was great.

[Fblack]

We were allowed on the heli pad on an Alaska cruise to see the Glaciers. The area is usually closed off. And they had lots of crew and security when we were out there.

[PSCruiser]

The helipads are generally closed off. Interestingly, when we had a medical emergency on the recent Equinox TA, which required evacuation using a helicopter from Maderia, the helipad was not used, and instead a basket was lowered to the jogging track at midships.

[Royalpair]

On Summit in 2011, we were on the helipad on our approach to Quebec City. I do remember on Adventure of the Sea, the last night, between St Thomas and San Juan, we sat on the helipad. Of course, the ship was moving so slow, I thought the crew was rowing :)

[TravelerThom]

Is it possible to go out on the helipad on the Reflection?...

Technically, if one subscribes to the definition of a helipad as "a landing area for helicopters" Reflection does not have a helipad. The first three S-class ships have helipads, but Celebrity came to the conclusion that most rescue helicopters were too heavy to land on that pad, and that even if they were light enough to land, they still mostly operated in hover / winch mode. So Silhouette and Reflection have a fixed, rather than collapsible, fence surrounding their lift point. However if you ignore the large painted "Do Not Land" deck signs, it looks pretty much like the helipads on the other S-class ships.

 

I concur that as far as I have seen all Celebrity helipad and dedicated heli lift points are in secure areas, and only occasionally available to specifically invited and supervised passengers. On RCI I think all helipads except Oasis class are available almost all the time [may be closed during heavy seas, and obviously closed during helicopter operations]. Not sure why the difference.

 

Thom

[travellink]

There were guests on the Helipad for our arrival in San Juan during our Reflection Dec 15 sailing .

[indycrew]

Thanks everybody for your input. We really enjoyed being out in the evening on the helipad with a glass of wine and the stars. Can't remember what ship it was on, I was thinking the Equinox, but possibly not!...ahhhh...;)