Reflection 11 Night Eastern Med - Just Back!

[hansolosmom]

Kruzgal is right it was a day or 2 in advance. We had a letter delivered to each cabin. I'm sure we were informed as soon as the company learned of the strike and confirmed we were able to switch days in Athens and Mykonos.

 

Just to add on to this, the letter we got was poorly written & we didn't understand it meant a change in dates until the captain mentioned it in his noon announcement.

 

When I found out I emailed both the tours I was working with - PrivateGreekTours in Athens already knew about it & had sent an email saying everything was fine with our tour on the new date. St. John's in Mykonos was also ok with the change but it took a couple email exchanges with them to get it right.

[CruiseImage]

The Captain was Athanasios G Peppas - not sure about the Hotel Director.

 

The HD is still Julian until 9th August when he signs off. Seeing him when's he's home, his replacement is not known yet.... they leaving it a bit late

[CruiseJunkie33x]

Hello, We are booked on the Oct. 21st, 2013 11 night Eastern Med on Reflection. I have a few questions for you guys.

 

Firstly, What kind of weather should we expect at that time of year? I am so nervous that it is going to be cold and rainy the whole trip.

 

Second, I assume the formal nights will be on 2 of the 3 sea days, does anyone know which ones? I want to prebook my specialty reservations, but we always try to dine in the MDR on formal nights.

 

And Finally, has anyone reserved one of the Alcove cabanas on the Lawn Club? We were considering renting on for all of the sea days to function as a home base for everyone to meet up at during the day.

 

Thanks in advance, we are so excited about this cruise, our first in Europe!

 

Best,

~mark

[wedding96]

When they changed the itinerary, they allowed passengers to use the satellite phone on board at guest relations FREE OF CHARGE to contact tour operators, guides etc in Mykonos and Athens to inform them of the change.

[hansolosmom]

When they changed the itinerary, they allowed passengers to use the satellite phone on board at guest relations FREE OF CHARGE to contact tour operators, guides etc in Mykonos and Athens to inform them of the change.

 

I didn't know that - how did you find that out? I used my Internet minutes to email

[kruzgal]

Hello, We are booked on the Oct. 21st, 2013 11 night Eastern Med on Reflection. I have a few questions for you guys.

 

Firstly, What kind of weather should we expect at that time of year? I am so nervous that it is going to be cold and rainy the whole trip.

 

Sorry, but I can't help with this one as I have never cruised the med at that time of year. I am guessing it could go either way - partly down to luck.

 

Second, I assume the formal nights will be on 2 of the 3 sea days, does anyone know which ones? I want to prebook my specialty reservations, but we always try to dine in the MDR on formal nights.

 

The formal nights were on the 2nd night and the 10th night - both sea days.

 

And Finally, has anyone reserved one of the Alcove cabanas on the Lawn Club? We were considering renting on for all of the sea days to function as a home base for everyone to meet up at during the day.

 

They were extremely quiet on our trip. Maybe wait and see what the weather forecast is like then book onboard? You won't get much use if the weather is bad.

[hansolosmom]

Hello, We are booked on the Oct. 21st, 2013 11 night Eastern Med on Reflection. I have a few questions for you guys.

 

Firstly, What kind of weather should we expect at that time of year? I am so nervous that it is going to be cold and rainy the whole trip.

 

Second, I assume the formal nights will be on 2 of the 3 sea days, does anyone know which ones? I want to prebook my specialty reservations, but we always try to dine in the MDR on formal nights.

 

And Finally, has anyone reserved one of the Alcove cabanas on the Lawn Club? We were considering renting on for all of the sea days to function as a home base for everyone to meet up at during the day.

 

Thanks in advance, we are so excited about this cruise, our first in Europe!

 

Best,

~mark

 

I can't remember the first formal night, I think it was the 2nd sea day, but the 2nd formal night was the last sea day.

 

Not sure about the weather, I don't think it'll be rainy, it may be cool.

 

I reserved an Alcove for the last sea day. I reserved it ahead of time. When we got on the ship, I found out someone had gifted us OBC so I tried to get one for another day and they were completely full except for the Athens & Mykonos days. We were so excited to have one, but on our sea day the winds were brutal, so they couldn't close the top. The guy told me if we didn't want it because of that, then we could cancel & get our $ back. After discussing it with the family we decided not to use it & we got our money back. They put it on our account. We didn't use all of it as it was almost the last day, so the rest was credited to my credit card.

[hansolosmom]

[

They were extremely quiet on our trip. Maybe wait and see what the weather forecast is like then book onboard? You won't get much use if the weather is bad.

 

Quiet? They were always occupied when we went by, other than after dinner, then it was deserted.

 

There were always people on the lawn too, or at least it seemed that way to me. Of course I thought there were people everywhere on that ship!

[Wine-O]

I didn't know that - how did you find that out? I used my Internet minutes to email

 

We skipped the port of Vigo due to a storm out in the Atlantic, and we had a private tour scheduled. I sent an e-mail to our tour guide and followed it up with a phone call when they announced we could use their sat phone for no charge.

[hansolosmom]

We skipped the port of Vigo due to a storm out in the Atlantic, and we had a private tour scheduled. I sent an e-mail to our tour guide and followed it up with a phone call when they announced we could use their sat phone for no charge.

 

They definitely didn't do that on our trip. They sent a letter which just said Athens would be our port of entry into the EU, so non-EU passengers had to give up their passports. It wasn't until the Captains noon announcement that it was explicitly stated we were changing port days. (Neither my husband or I got that from the letter). There was no announcement about using the ship phones.

[Wine-O]

They definitely didn't do that on our trip. They sent a letter which just said Athens would be our port of entry into the EU, so non-EU passengers had to give up their passports. It wasn't until the Captains noon announcement that it was explicitly stated we were changing port days. (Neither my husband or I got that from the letter). There was no announcement about using the ship phones.

 

Most of the times they don't pipe announcements into the staterooms. This was especially true of the Captain's Noontime announcements. I had to open my stateroom door and go out into the passageway to listen. Not sure if this was the case in your situation.

 

At least folks now reading Cruise Critic will realize that if this were to occur on their cruise, they should go to Guest Relations to make the phone calls.

[Lauren and John]

We were on the July 8 Reflection cruise with the Athens change. I actually received a text message while I was in port in Istanbul from our private tour operator in Athens (Athens Walking Tours) informing me of the change a full day before Celebrity informed me. However, when we did receive a note from Celebrity it included a line offering that the Guest Relations staff will help us make any necessary tour changes. The concierge at Guest Relations used his phone to dial our Mykonos destination so that we could tell them about the change. The process went smoothly.

[footer6]

As far as the weather goes, the last rain we saw on the July 8 sailing was embarkation day in Civitavechhia. There was quite a lightning display at sail away. We had no rain in Greece or Turkey. Our guide in Turkey (Kusadasi) told us it does not rain during the summer months.

We had 90 degree temps in Rome, mid to upper 80's in Greece and Turkey. Certainly, it could rain anytime, but we did not experience any rain for 11 days. You can check the Weather Channel forecasts for each location for what they are worth.

[Lastdance]

In Santorini we took the donkeys up and the cable car down. Personally, having riden up, I would not consider walking up or down. It is too slippery and there are donkeys going up and down. People walking were squashed against the walls of the path as the donkeys went by and for the people riding there is nothing you can do to avoid them. It was an interesting experience!

Please don't ride the donkeys...for various reasons! It is not good for the animals or for you!:eek:

[Lastdance]

Kruzgal is right it was a day or 2 in advance. We had a letter delivered to each cabin. I'm sure we were informed as soon as the company learned of the strike and confirmed we were able to switch days in Athens and Mykonos.

 

 

We had to skip Portugal due to a strike with their dock workers. Celebrity had been monitoring everything for quite a few days before, and we had at least a 2-day warning. I had a tour scheduled with the famous Alex, and was very sad not to meet him, but things happen!:eek: We went to another port in Spain instead. There was nothing else that could be done on this western Mediterranean cruise last September.

[laluna215]

[quote name='midwestchick']
[SIZE=3][COLOR=blue]One question. Can you tell me if they had escargot and whole lobsters in the MDR?[/COLOR][/SIZE]

[SIZE=3][COLOR=blue] :D[/COLOR][/SIZE][/quote]
Yes to escargot and no to whole lobsters but a whole lobster tail on the 2nd formal evening

[laluna215]

[quote name='hansolosmom']We were on the same cruise. We got number 37 for the tenders and were off about an hour after dock time about 3pm. They started giving the tender vouchers at 8 am & I went down around 8:30 to get them. I was walking by about an hour later and someone was getting their tickets, I heard the lady tell them they were #67 and they would be lucky to get off by 4:30pm.

The tenders weren't bad. The true nightmare was the cable car. We waited over an hour to get up.[/quote]

OK, here is a dirty little secret Celebrity does not want you to know: Regardless of what your actual tender ticket number is, as long as you get in the line to the gangway with the rest of the restless cruisers, you WILL get on the tender. NO ONE IS CHECKING THOSE TENDER TICKETS. It's total chaos. So my advice, don't even bother getting a tender ticket, just head straight to the line and get off the ship asap because it's past 2 pm and half of the day is already wasted and you haven't seen any of Santorini yet!

[midwestchick]

[quote name='laluna215']Yes to escargot and no to whole lobsters but a whole lobster tail on the 2nd formal evening[/quote]

[SIZE=3][COLOR=blue]Can you feel my smiles? :D :D :D [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[SIZE=3][COLOR=blue] [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[hansolosmom]

[quote name='laluna215']Yes to escargot and no to whole lobsters but a whole lobster tail on the 2nd formal evening[/QUOTE]

You guys got escargot? We didn't. The ladies at our table asked our waiter every night if it was available & each time he told them no there's some kind of shortage of escargot. We did have the lobster tails. The other biggie was baked Alaska which everyone seemed to want. I think we had that the same night as the lobster tails.

[Aurelija]

Just got back from July 19th sailing. We did have escargot and lobster, and baked Alaska (wasn't that great to my taste). Tendering in Santorini was super easy. We got a tender ticket but there was no need for it. Went down to the gangway at around 7.45 am (before the public announcement), there were no lines and people were getting off, the tender boat was half empty when we left. We took the gondola up (again, no lines whatsoever) and walked down the steps at around 3 pm, enjoyed both experiences. Oia was fantastic, we got there on a public bus (very easy) before the crowds, really enjoyed exploring, took hundreds of pictures, walked down the cliff for a swim in super clear and refreshing water and then went back to Fira for the afternoon.

[mpbmark]

[quote name='CruiseJunkie33x']Hello, We are booked on the Oct. 21st, 2013 11 night Eastern Med on Reflection....

[/QUOTE]

There is an extensive roll call for this cruise starting [URL="http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1611260"]here[/URL]. It has 1577 posts to date but jump in anywhere. :D

[Back2reality]

Did you get to see the reflection suite?

[kruzgal]

No, but we were told during the karaoke in the Sky Lounge that they couldn't turn the volume up any more or they would get complaints from the suites adjoining. Such a shame they have wrecked the Sky Lounge with the addition of these rooms :(

[Back2reality]

[quote name='kruzgal']No, but we were told during the karaoke in the Sky Lounge that they couldn't turn the volume up any more or they would get complaints from the suites adjoining. Such a shame they have wrecked the Sky Lounge with the addition of these rooms :([/QUOTE]

Thanks, I decided to try one of those suites on my future cruise.

[laluna215]

[quote name='hansolosmom']You guys got escargot? We didn't. The ladies at our table asked our waiter every night if it was available & each time he told them no there's some kind of shortage of escargot. We did have the lobster tails. The other biggie was baked Alaska which everyone seemed to want. I think we had that the same night as the lobster tails.[/quote]

I guess we got lucky? It was on the embarkation day and my son def had escargot ... it was just that one night ... he said it was good ... it would not touch it lol