HAL fan tries Celebrity. My review if the Reflection April 5-12

[foodgirl]

Celebrity Reflection Review. April 5-12*

As a long time HAL cruiser I was curious to try another line. We are a married couple ages 46 me and 48 DH. As we cannot take longer cruises to Europe etc at this time due to work schedules we were getting limited as to what we could do with HAL and their Caribbean season was getting shorter. Having read much on these boards we decided to do a last minute (3 weeks out) on Celebrity. DH was not really excited at first because he loves HAL and knows what to expect so was a bit anxious. He is a smoker so was concerned about that as well.*

I won't review our travel to get to the ship as it was uneventful and not very interesting IMO. We arrived at the pier at 12:30 and dropped luggage and got in line. We waited 30 minutes to check in and quickly got to the ship. We met some folks in line that were part of a singles group of around 170 according to them. We saw them around them ship....more on that later.*

 

We booked an inside guarantee for a great price. Were in cabin 1031 which we found very convenient. The cabin was spacious and very comfortable. We had plenty of storage for our things. We loved the shower and that it didn't have a curtain. As a woman I really appreciated the bar to put your leg on for shaving. That was so nice. They also provided qtips and cotton balls. DH was so happy to see the larger TV as he watches movies at night before bed. The ability to book things and check your account was great. This is an area that HAL needs to improve. Our cabin steward Edwyn was one of the best we have ever had. We gave him extra tip to show our appreciation. We didn't see him much but every need was met in a timely manner and with a smile.*

 

Muster. This was a big change for us as we were in the main theatre and watched the safety video there. We were told where our lifeboat station was but didn't have to wait outside in the sun for everyone to show up. It was also nice to be able to hear the instructions clearly as it's sometimes noisy and windy out on deck with HAL.

 

The ship was beautiful and we were wowed from the moment we got onboard. I had researched the deck plans being the planner that I am so I told DH where the smoking areas were. I was really surprised by the number of smokers onboard. Every area where it was allowed was packed every day. I am sure it varies with every cruise but reading about how much non smokers love this line I was a little surprised. DH didn't have an issue and felt there was plenty of places for him to go smoke. He tries to be considerate of non smokers all the time anyway but wasn't sure how things would go on this non smoking crowd. It was one of the main reasons we hadn't tried Celebrity before. Just goes to show that things can get hyped over what is the reality many times. Enough on the smoking just sharing our thoughts on a much discussed topic.

 

We found our favorite spots on ship to hang out. DH fell in love with the sunset bar and we hung out there a lot. Obviously he liked the fact that he could smoke there but the view of the back of the ship was so awesome for sail away as you regulars already know. We did the drink package classic for DH and premium for me. I like my wines and totally loved having pellegrino and vitamin water between alcohol and with dinner. We loved cafe al bacio. The staff was awesome and the coffees and teas fabulous. They had our order after day one and I loved that they will serve you at the table so you don't have to wait in line. For those that cruise HAL I think this was an improvement over explorations in both taste of coffee and level of service. I also loved the fact that it was in the center of the ship so you could see other activity while there. When not at the sunset bar I lived in the solarium. As someone who can't stay out in the sun but loves the pool and hot tub I was in heaven. I read on my IPAD for much of every day and was so happy to not have to wear a hat or reapply sunscreen all day. The only gripe I had and it is small was there were no servers coming around to get drink orders like they do on HAL by the pool. Sometimes it can get annoying but I was being lazy and didn't want to get up. I got over it!! HAL has a center pool, the lido pool, that has shade but it is the family pool so I can't always relax even though it is not full of kids. Just noisier IMO.*

 

Food. Always a conversation. DH will not eat in the dining room and so we always eat at the buffet. We found the selection at every meal to be plenty every day. My only issue was omelette in the morning. I like them soft and no matter who was cooking it was always way over cooked and dry. Lunch and dinner was no issue at all. I found the choices on the salad bar and hot choices to be more than we have seen on HAL. We both loved that they had grilled meats to order and something carved every evening. Really nice. DH loved the pizza and we both enjoyed the burgers from mast grill although not nearly as good as the new dive in burger concept we tried on the Eurodam in December. It was really nice to have a coffee bar in the buffet so we could get our "good" coffee and not have to walk from another area of the ship to go eat breakfast. Always a gripe we had with HAL. There are so many choices on this ship and we talked to some who ate at Murano Qsine and the Lawn Club Grill. All said they enjoyed them. We didn't get to do those this time because we couldn't decide which one until the last night and reservations were not available. DH loved the gelato and had some several times during the week. It was located by the coffee bar on deck 5 which was very convenient. I tried a bite of the rum raisin and it was delicious. It was $4 for 2 scoops and he thought worth every penny. It seemed to do a brisk business every time we were there.*

 

Entertainment. IMO was so much better than HAL but then they aren't known for that. I enjoyed the production shows I saw and thought they did a great job. Loved having the bands play on the atrium level and you could sit in multiple areas to hear them and not be all crowded in one place. Joel Mason did 2 shows on this cruise. I went to see his Elton John show which I had already seen on HAL but loved it. He also did a new show that also very good. We enjoyed guitarist and vocalist Brandi Page at several venues on the ship. They had the marriage game which is always funny in the main theatre which was nice. HAL has it in the queens lounge typically and can get so crowded at times.*

 

Staff and service. We found the staff to be a little different than what we are used to on HAL and on the first day not sure we liked. The personality of the Phillipino and Indonesian crew on HAL is something we have always loved. But after the craziness of embarkation day and getting to know people we loved the crew. The guest relations staff was the friendliest and most helpful I have had on any cruise. The cruise director was Ian Cresswell and I thought he did a nice job when I saw him at shows. I don't put a great deal of concern on the CD as it doesn't make or break my cruise. We got to know the bartenders at the sunset bar. Thank you Sergio, Musa and Rey. They took great care of us and we also gave them extra tip at the end of the week which is something we had not done before for bartenders. The service was excellent and as soon as we showed up they had our drinks ready after day one. Awesome job!! The staff at cafe al bacio as I mentioned earlier was so great and the first time we have ever given extra gratuity to coffee staff. I apologize as I can't remember all the names but such good service.

 

Ports. Been to all of them and only got off the ship in St Maarten to do a little shopping. We stopped at San Juan and St Thomas as well. This cruise was about relaxing for us and that's what we did.*

 

The Lawn....had to mention this separately as I thought it was so cool. Bocci ball on deck and jazz on the lawn one night with wine and cheese. Such a great place to hang out. I had to lay on it a couple of times as I was on the ocean and rolling on the grass was so fun. I felt like a kid and DH laughed at me but I didn't care. The giant chairs were fun also and made for some great pictures. Also the alcoves that were available for rent looked really nice. I saw a few of them being used on sea days.

 

Drink package.... We both felt like we more than got our money's worth with these and were very happy to have purchased. Really nice to not have to sign the bill every time and worry about how much we have spent. No limits either which was awesome. DH had the classic package and thinks he will upgrade to premium next time to enjoy the waters and higher quality liquors. I was very happy with the wine list available by the glass much improved over HAL IMO.*

 

Shopping.... There were more options for shopping on this ship than what we see on HAL. I am a Michael Kors fan and had to be strong with a store on the shop. DH is a watch collector so he spent time in the Breitling and Omega stores. They also had a higher end clothing boutique and the usual makeup perfume liquor stores. There were also the usual cruise wear clothing along with costume jewelry cheap watch sets and the other souvenir stuff. Gotta have that rum cake don't you know. LOL. They had some nice children's things so I got a couple of things for my 6 year old niece. We didn't buy anything for ourselves this cruise but so nice to have more stores to browse in especially on sea days. We saw many people buying though.*

 

Dress code.....I asked about this before we left so I will give my observations. We saw many people dressed up for formal night. Quite a few tuxes and gowns. Everyone looked really nice. We don't dress up as we eat in the buffet but we did see many others in some form of causal dress all over the ship even on formal night.

We went to see a production show on formal night and sat in the balcony DH wore nice shorts and dressy shirt with collar. I was concerned about this after reading on the boards and Celebrity website that it wouldn't be allowed. He said he would leave if not ok but we saw many others dressed the same. Obviously the crew/captain decide this for each cruise as is not the policy. I wore a maxi dress every night and was perfectly ok wherever we went. We did stay at sunset bar a lot on formal nights and everyone there was casual in evenings so if you are like us and don't do the dress up thing it's a great spot to hang out and you can't beat the views. The lounges on the main decks around the restaurants were more dressed up so there is something for everyone IMO.*

 

Disembarkation. We always do self disembarkation and this was the easiest and fastest we have ever gotten off the shop. I liked that we went to an outside deck instead of winding through the hallways which are narrow on HAL. We breezed through customs and were on our way by 7:30.

 

Overall. We fell in love with Celebrity and booked another cruise for next year on the Silhouette. We took advantage of the pick your perk promo with the drink package as well as onboard credit which was awesome. While there were some things we didn't like they were small and not deal breakers. DH said the wait for elevators was annoying and that was probably his biggest gripe so not an issue really. We will still cruise on HAL but not as often just because we will now have more options that we can do in 7 days. Celebrity is a good fit for us and we are so glad we tried it out. Someday we will do the longer cruises but until we can it's nice to have choices. As we had already purchased drink packages and paid gratuities we had a very small bill at the end with only a clue of gift shop purchases and some gelato for DH. I think I covered the bulk of things. If anyone has questions let me know. I really appreciate reviews when I cruise so I hope mine was helpful to so,e of you. I have to give a shout out to Jessica who we met on the cruise and staying in touch with. We hope to cruise with you again.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

It was wonderful.

Glad you enjoyed Celebrity. I keep telling DH that we need to try them.

[foodgirl]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

It was wonderful.

Glad you enjoyed Celebrity. I keep telling DH that we need to try them.

 

Give it a try. I am so glad we did. DH was reluctant as well as he really loves HAL. It was more similar overall than different.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ...

[whogo]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[zookiebird]

Thanks for the great review. One of the best, most objective one I have ever read.

[Typhoon1]

X has an excellent reputation as a premium cruise line. We would not hesitate to cruise with them.

[rjrpar]

X has an excellent reputation as a premium cruise line. We would not hesitate to cruise with them.

 

X is not a premium cruise line. It is a very nice mass market line just like HAL, Royal Caribbean, even Carnival. We have been on X and RCCL often and differences between the two are minor. Some X fans will insist the food is better but again, very similar. I think newer ships and more emphasis on entertainment on RCCL and X make for a slightly different experience than HAL.

Never been on a cruise I didn't enjoy.

[canadianbear]

Great reading your review-good details and observations etc. We also have become comfortable with HAL but are branching out to try Princess on a quick 5 night cruise. Hope our experience is as good as yours on Celebrity.

[POA1]

Thanks for your review!

[Windsailer]

Really appreciate your review. I, too, am trying Celebrity out after my next two HAL cruises. Celebrity seems to have more overnight stops in the ports I am interested in. I also have a DH who refuses to go to the MDR so your description of the buffet was very helpful.

[scopewest]

Thank you for your review. It's nice to hear that you ate at the buffet and felt comfortable on formal nights walking around the ship not dressed to "code." DH wants to try another line after our next HAL cruise so now I may start looking at Celebrity.

Edited April 20, 2014 by scopewest

[foodgirl]

Thank you for your review. I've stayed away from Celebrity due to my perception of the formal dress code. It's nice to hear that you ate at the buffet and felt comfortable on formal nights walking around the ship not dressed to "code." DH wants to try another line after our next HAL cruise so now I may start looking at Celebrity.

 

We were concerned about that as well. Many were dressed up but plenty were casual. We did not feel out of place at all. Check them out. We really enjoyed it

[foodgirl]

Really appreciate your review. I, too, am trying Celebrity out after my next two HAL cruises. Celebrity seems to have more overnight stops in the ports I am interested in. I also have a DH who refuses to go to the MDR so your description of the buffet was very helpful.

 

I had read from some on the celebrity board that dinner was limited at the buffet. That could not be farther from the truth. As we always ate at the lido on HAL we found there to be more selections every day especially at dinner. The only area that did not have as much variety was the international which was Indian everyday but we don't eat that typically anyway.

[foodgirl]

Thanks for the great review. One of the best, most objective one I have ever read.

 

Your welcome. I tried to notice everything as I was comparing the lines for myself and others here.

[iancal]

Celebrity actually has the ideal combination of both.

 

We feel quite comfortable walking around on formal nights when we are dressed casually. Over the past few years we note the number of cruisers in casual attire on formal evenings is noticeably increasing.

 

Celebrity asks for formal attire in the MDR on formal nights...not throughout all areas of the ship. And casual attire is fine in the showroom balcony.

 

We have never thought Celebrity as no smoking ships even though we are non smokers. Quite the opposite since there are several places for smokers-just not on verandas, and thankfully not in the casino.

 

Not sure about Princess any more, but we will be finding out fairly soon.

 

Thanks...a very objective review. Now...you need to try a Princess ship and do the same review format!

Edited April 20, 2014 by iancal

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your Celebrity review. We have tried them and did enjoy all our cruise on them but still Hal fits our needs better.

[donswife]

I may have missed this in your review, but how did you feel about the larger ship siz and passenger count compared to the HAL ships? Thanks for your review.

[Hlitner]

Loved your review. Very to the point and we think quite accurate. We are 4 Star HAL cruises and Elite Plus Celebrity cruisers (and are again cruising both lines this year) and enjoy both lines. We think you did a great job capturing some of the good points found on the Solstice-Class ships. Your comment about the Celebrity smoking policy is interesting. HAL smokers are generally not happy with no smoking on balconies, but since you had an inside cabin that is a non-issue. We are non-smokers, do respect smokers rights, but find that Celebrity has tried to accommodate smokers in a way that allows non-smokers to avoid any smoke. And we do agree that the Sunset bar is a wonderful venue. Even though I detest the smell of cigarette smoke, we have sat back there with smokers with little problem since the air flow usually mitigates most smoke related issues.

 

Hank

[KirkNC]

For many reason some of which you sight we have found ourselves splitting cruise time between HAL and X. They both have things we like and things we don't. Glad you had a good time.

[cruisemom42]

Your review is nearly point-for-point what we experienced on our Silhouette cruise over New Years. Nicely done!

 

I will add that the dining experience we had at Murano's specialty dining was one of the best I've had at sea (if not the best) and was head and shoulders above the Pinnacle Grill as I experienced it on Westerdam.

[sppunk]

I just wish X had smaller ships. :(

[foodgirl]

I may have missed this in your review, but how did you feel about the larger ship siz and passenger count compared to the HAL ships? Thanks for your review.

 

I meant to mention that. I was concerned about the size of the ship but we never felt crowded anywhere really. The main pool deck seemed like it was but we stayed in the solarium so not an issue for us. All other areas were ok with us.

[foodgirl]

Your review is nearly point-for-point what we experienced on our Silhouette cruise over New Years. Nicely done!

 

I will add that the dining experience we had at Murano's specialty dining was one of the best I've had at sea (if not the best) and was head and shoulders above the Pinnacle Grill as I experienced it on Westerdam.

 

We heard that Murano was excellent. Looking forward to trying it out on Silhouette next year. We have had hit or miss experience at Pinnacle on several HAL ships.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.......helpful information.