Just off Refection NYE cruise

[20pluscruises]

Someone had to do it (REVIEW WITH PARAGRAPHS)

 

Okay here is a brief report from our 4th X cruise, this time on Reflection for their Dec. 28 cruise called their New Years Eve cruise.

Easy getting on even with the ship coming in 2 hours late due to medical emergency requiring a stop in Nassau. In port at Noon and in our room at 1:10.

We had Conciege Verandah mid ship room. Big bathrooms and plenty of storing in room. Nice balcony. TV was great. Bed slept fantastic. Where do they get those oh so soft duvet covers?

Food in MDR all week and never had a bad meal. Steak perfect and high quality. Escargo every night was a surprise to me so I went for it. We had an assorted cheese platter brought before the bread each night and even that was great. Breads are quite good and fresh compared to other cruise lines. Even had different kinds each night. Loved the changing salad dressings. Wife had shrimp cocktail each night and it was great.

We had the free classic drink package for booking very early and we used it. I had 50 drinks and my wife had 25 in those 7 days. Always got the recommend chef's wine by the glass every night and they kept it full. On our week was the CEO of X and his entire family of about 50 from Mexico. They said beside us in two huge tables. They were really well dressed in the finest new styles from France and Italy. Captain also had his family onboard that week.

Now here is the good news. After Host Annie said she heard constant RAP music her week the previous month, we heard none. I do know what real RAP is and what we heard was up to date modern pop/rock music. The one girl even sung Katy Perry's new Lion song and did it really good. We heard some current songs by Pitbull, Black Eye Peas, and other current artist but no RAP. While I am 61 and was raised on the Byrds and the Beatles, I do keep up with what's hot and Katy Perry is pretty hot but she is far from being considered a RAP artist. We did not hear excessive loud speakers throughout the ship. Could always find plenty of quite spots.

Not sure how many got this Classic/Premium drink package but never got in a line nor a wait of more than 3 minutes. Most bars (I went to all of them) were so empty I walked right up and was walking away within 3 minutes.

I went to the late night comedy show every night they had it and although it was standing room on by show time, I never had a problem getting a seat. They were great and so was the nice stripper! Glad to see X do this on their ships. Other shows were as good as any other cruise line and after 40 cruises we've seen a lot of shows.

I can say this was our best cruise in a long time and glad to be back on an X ship. Others complained of it being a dirty ship, we didn't see it. As clean as we've seen. Service staff was not overworked and during popular times at the bars they had extra staff onhand.

But if I had to tell complaints they would be this:

1) On this ship they no longer enforce the dress code especially on Formal night. Very disappointed to men only wearing an opened collared shirt with pants and sandals on Formal nights. Casual nights had lots of T-shirts and few jeans. I was expecting more from X on enforcing their rather lax dress code.

2) Hots tubs were not very hot and I felt over chlorine. When it continues to bubble up, it's too much. May be a safety/sanitary cause for this. The adult pool seemed really cool all week so I guess it's not heated but it was fresh water so no burning eyes!

3) The fresh squeezed OJ at $3 a glass (free for us) tasted watered down. In fact my wife said the regular OJ tasted more fresh to her. I never saw them actually squeeze any as they poured from a pitcher and I could see the water separation on top. HAL does not water theirs down so felt it was in poor taste that X would do it.

4) With only 2 banks of elevators (mid and forward) they were really slow. You would see some go by without stopping. For a ship this size and a full ship they were crowded a lot. While we expected more kids than normal due to holiday week, we did not expect X to bring on board kids that got a kick out of pushing the buttons for all the floors and then getting out.

We loved the CD Alexander, which he said was the youngest on in the fleet. Very upbeat attitude and loved his job. The Captain seemed to be all over the ship and we always spoke to him.

I will check back here for a few more days to answer any questions. After that we book another X cruise this summer to Bermuda.

 

Be very very happy the hot tub is over chlorinated...the week before the diaper brigade (several times a day) were taking dips in the hot tubs. Diaper and all.

[Texed]

F5,

 

Thanks for the review.

[daydreamer16]

Thanks for your review, now I want to try 50 drinks in a week!;)

[riclop]

What people where should not affect your cruise.

[LindaandJeff]

I hope everything you said about your cruise continues on. I have been getting worried because of some of the things I have been reading here on CC. I would love for Reflection to live up to our previous Celebrity cruises. But the cynical side of me says the fact that there were enough service staff working a holiday cruise that the CEO and his family and the Captain's family were on is not surprising. It's called "good planning"!

[AttilaTheFun]

Thank you for the review! Very well-balanced and reasonable :)

[CathyCruises]

What people where should not affect your cruise.

 

?????:confused:

[wpgcycler]

?????:confused:

 

:D I thought it was just me.

[F5Loar]

?????:confused:

I'm sure he meant "wear" referring to my comments about dress code enforcement. No it didn't bother me at all. I just feel I was way over dressed on Formal night because X is known to be quite a bit more formal than other cruise lines such as NCL or Carnival. It has been several years since we last cruised on an X ship and before the Tux and dark suits with ties for men was in the majority and jackets and ties making up the rest. Just shocked to see so many only wearing a dress shirt with docker style pants and no ties. I just couldn't do that when I knew it was asked nicely to do better. It's almost like they are making a statement by bucking the system in sorta of protest against the posted dress code guidelines. I would rather they stand outside the MDR with signs that say "No more enforcement of dress code". But my big beef is the extra expense all cruise lines go through to please these type folks, providing alternate casual dining elsewhere and then they don't go there to eat. It's a big waste of really good food. I say close the lido buffet, do away with the dress codes(since they can't enforce it anymore) and lower my next cruise ticket price from those savings. Change the dress code to "Come as your are" because that's what many are doing anyway. I think it is NCL that says on their formal nights "Dress up or not night". That seems to be what X is heading towards.

[F5Loar]

:) Just curious how you knew the CEO's family was dressed in the latest styles from Italy and France?? I would never have been able to figure that out! I guess I just don't keep up enough.:rolleyes:

Well, we asked one of the sons where they got some of their clothes/shoes and he told us the brand name and we looked it up online and got a general idea of what they were wearing and the cost. The men wore $1000 shoes and the ladies wore $2000 high heels. I guess I knew this type expensive clothing was out there for the rich and famous, just not in my hometown. The CEO dressed like a CEO and was the prefect gentleman and the family conducting themselves as you would expect. On New Year's Eve when the ship passed out the free champaign , he had his private butler popping the $100 bottles for his family. They stood out from the other 3000 guest.

[F5Loar]

Thanks for your review, now I want to try 50 drinks in a week!;)

I didn't set out to drink 50 but when the bill came I added up the 0.00 drinks and felt I did get my monies worth and will get the package my next cruise. When you start the day with a Bloody Mary, have a wine or cocktail at lunch, a few fancy drinks by the pool, a wine and afterdinner drink at dinner, another fancy drink during the show and then your night cap before bed, it does add up. I never felt "drunk" on this cruise but did sleep the best I've slept on a cruise. Must have been those soft duvets and mattress.

Edited January 10, 2014 by F5Loar

[F5Loar]

Hi:)....is there a way to re-post this into paragraphs? I guess my old

eyes are showing:eek:....it is too hard for me read it all:(

When I was typing I didn't think it was that long until I posted it and realized I said more than I should have. I didn't know I could go back and correct the format to make it easier to read. Thanks to the person who did that for me. I guess I look at this as more like a chat room and not my college essay paper to be turned in for a grade. I guess I got an "F" on this one. Sorry!

[Ciyra]

We appreciate your review, paragraphs or not. A+ for taking the time to share.

 

I had no idea that X had started having late night burlesque numbers. I think that's fabulous.

Edited January 10, 2014 by Ciyra

[F5Loar]

She was part of the comedy team that came out of Vegas. Very classy looking young woman who only did a PG13 tease by today's standards. Far from the X rated you would find in Vegas. In a way it was funny to see it mixed in with the two comedians. Both guys were top notch. The said they would repeat the same show 3 more times in the week doing the same act so others could see it in the small 250 seat lounge. I went all 4 times and they did not do the exact same act each time. The girl did however do the same moves but I'm not complaining about that. I enjoy adult comedy on cruise ships. Glad X is doing this.

[daydreamer16]

I didn't set out to drink 50 but when the bill came I added up the 0.00 drinks and felt I did get my monies worth and will get the package my next cruise. When you start the day with a Bloody Mary, have a wine or cocktail at lunch, a few fancy drinks by the pool, a wine and afterdinner drink at dinner, another fancy drink during the show and then your night cap before bed, it does add up. I never felt "drunk" on this cruise but did sleep the best I've slept on a cruise. Must have been those soft duvets and mattress.

 

 

 

Yes, it must have been the duvets!

 

My DH and I are very excited about the drink pkg? It's our first one!

[4cats4me]

I grade your review an A+;)

[Cruising89143]

Thanks for your review. Sounds like it was a great cruise.

[Lois R]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. And thank you to the

person who made it easier for me to read.:) oh....in my first post, I was

not trying to critisize you as a person.....I was just making a comment

that is was difficult for me me to read. Now in paragraph form?

I can read the review much more easily:)

 

Glad you had good cruise:)

Edited January 11, 2014 by Lois R