Celebrity Reflection March 12 Mini Review

[RG306]

I debated about writing anything at all but the truth is I rely on cruise critic a lot during my trip planning (reading the good, the bad, & the ugly). So here's a quick rundown of our vacation & I hope it helps other people!

 

We flew into Miami the day before our cruise and our group of 8 used On Time Passenger Van for transportation from the MIA airport to the hotel, hotel to Miami cruise port, & back to FLL for our flight home. Jose was amazing as usual & I would highly recommend him.

 

We opted to stay at the JW Marriott Marquis. This hotel was fantastic. Great location. The rooms were very large & spacious. Staff were great. I posted earlier in the year that they have now introduced a $15 amenity fee. Well it was totally worth it. You get enhanced high speed wifi for up to 6 devices, 30 minutes of virtual bowling, billiards, golf with an instructor, a yoga class, etc. Our group took advantage of many of the amenities including playing basketball on the NBA sized court. Everyone had a blast & it was an awesome way to start the trip. The hotel is also very close to Bayside. Whole foods and CVS are around the corner (we requested mini fridges in the rooms & stocked up fruit & yogurt for the morning). Best part is that all 3 rooms ended up having port views & we could see our ship docked. A great place to stay & if we cruise out of Miami again, I'll definitely stay here. We got a great price using Marriott's look no further guarantee but deals are to be had through LMT too.

 

We did spend the afternoon at bayside. Had lunch at Tradewinds and then did the Thriller Miami tour. We got a great deal on living social & we had the best time. We sat in the back row & got absolutely soaked. It was a little tour/informational but a lot of high speed fun. Everyone in our group loved it! It's definitely a must do!

 

Now to the actual cruise, I was very excited about trying Celebrity. Our group has cruised Princess, Royal Caribbean, Carnival & NCL. The reflection is a beautiful ship. It feels modern & luxurious. Awesome first impression.

 

We booked 4 C2 cabins on the slant & hump of Deck 12 (it was the only location we could 4 side by side). We had the balconies opened up and it was such an awesome place for the group to hang out. 2164 on the hump (regular sized balcony, quiet, all shade or all sun depending on time of day/ship location), 2166 (massive balcony - perfect sun/shade ratio, very noisy due to flushing toilets above starting as early as 0600), 2168 (huge balcony - more shaded than 2166 but a little quieter), & 2170 (huge balcony - mostly shaded & quiet). We loved having all of us together & the larger balconies were a nice treat. I think next time I would book port side & try for a lower deck. We booked concierge for the 1,2,3 go promo. The foot stools on the balcony are great & the only real perk.

 

Our room attendants Michael, Norma & Nevis were amazing. Truthfully the best service on board.

 

Food was good - Room service, Oceanview & the main dining room. We didn't go to any of the specialities this trip. I wouldn't say it's better than the other cruise lines (some dishes absolutely) but overall just fine.

 

The drinks package was nice to have - I really appreciated that I could get a bottle of water & an alcoholic beverage at the same time. The 1L bottles meant I was actually consuming enough water during my day! We upgraded to the premium package for the better beer options, the martini bar & world class. The Martini bar is very busy - so you had to be there when it was slower to enjoy the "show". Otherwise they were just trying to keep up with orders. The martinis however are delicious. We went to world class once. Niksa had no personality, seemed bothered & unwilling to discuss the menu or make recommendations. Both drinks we had were good but we never went back after that. I don't think anyone in our group drank enough to justify the cost of the package, however it was nice not to think about it at all. I would recommend waiting a couple days before upgrading. I don't think we would have had we not upgraded right away.

 

I think what bothered me most was service. This is probably the worst service on a cruise we have ever gotten overall. Our dining room waiters were adequate - polite, friendly & efficient but they seemed to be too busy with too many tables to go above & beyond or get to know in anyway. The sommelier made good recommendations, fill out glasses once & would never come back. No follow up, no refills. The beverage server was the worst! My husband is a beer drinker & the MDR had no list. When he asked her what they had, her response was "I don't know, regular beer". She didn't know what premium beers were available & said tell me what you want & I'll check. She seemed put out & if they didn't have something she didn't offer a substitution. He often would go to cellar masters & get his own before dinner. For the minors at the table, she didn't even ask them if they wanted anything to drink until the dessert course some nights.

 

We found the activities to be limited (our group varies from 15-49). You had to sign up at the art studio day 1 otherwise classes were basically full. We also found that the ship had very distinct & intimate areas for activities/events - many just seemed out of the way. I loved the live music & dancing. The shows were downright terrible with exception of the comedy acts. We actually walked out of momentum & I have never left a show in my life. Royal Caribbean (especially Oasis class), NCL & Carnival have a leg up in this department.

 

The tendering in Grand Cayman was just awful if you didn't have a celebrity excursion booked. Poor communication. Lines snaking around and around. Took an hour to get off the ship. No numbering system or tickets. It was an unorganized free for all. Otherwise, the ports were great & we had an amazing time. Cozumel - we did a private jeep tour with snorkelling through Cozumel Cruise excursions. Ocho Rios - white river rafting, blue hole & Scotchie's with Marvyn Paradise tours. In Grand Cayman, we went snorkelling independently. Coco Cay was a nice beach day.

 

In summary, the Celebrity reflection left me feeling underwhelmed. I may have gone in with too high of expectations but I think not having good service is a major let down. I knew the ship would be more relaxed, which was fine because our ports of call were so active. So much of what was offered was at an extra cost or limited space, sea days could have been a real bore if it weren't for our group just enjoying each other's company on our balcony retreat [emoji4]

 

I wouldn't rule out Celebrity for future cruises but I think for the time being we'll be returning to Royal.

[Clarea]

Thanks for taking the time to report.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review.

 

Not every cruise ship or cruise lines works for each person.

 

Nice of you to share your opinion.

 

Keith

[SAC69]

I'm wondering if the service issue is related to most employees coming to the end of their contracts. I have to assume that they all switch out after the last cruise before the TA first week in April. I assume I will find put myself in 3 days.:(

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[MR_T]

Sorry to here you didn't have as great a time as you had hoped, we were also on the same cruise but had a completely different experience Vs yours, we had great service in all restaurants & bars (except the WCB for the same reasons as you) [emoji15], also we planned our tender depart and was on the first boat so couldn't be better, I did hear it was a bit manic a little later but I guess that's why we headed down early,

 

I'm hoping to finish my full review later today so will post this evening! [emoji4]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Grandmaanne7]

We were on the Reflection last month and found that the staff were truly overwhelmed far too often. We speculated that perhaps many staff were ill. I certainly hope that this is not the new normal. It is difficult to relax and enjoy oneself, knowing that it is at someone else's expense.

 

Sent from my SM-G386W using Tapatalk

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[RG306]

Sorry to here you didn't have as great a time as you had hoped, we were also on the same cruise but had a completely different experience Vs yours, we had great service in all restaurants & bars (except the WCB for the same reasons as you) [emoji15], also we planned our tender depart and was on the first boat so couldn't be better, I did hear it was a bit manic a little later but I guess that's why we headed down early,

 

I'm hoping to finish my full review later today so will post this evening! [emoji4]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

We still had a great trip :) I'm glad that you had better luck than we did lol

[MR_T]

We still had a great trip :) I'm glad that you had better luck than we did lol

 

 

Good to here you enjoyed it, maybe more the next time [emoji4]

[markluke]

Thanks for sharing - I was also on Deck 12 (in a Sky Suite) and had a very different experience overall.

 

First, I ate in Luminae just about every night.

 

VERY different with respect to drinks - if anything I had to decline wine refills because they were always coming around to top up. My kids drank chocolate milk and what they were served was honestly an amazing concoction - chocolate milk with whipped cream all dressed up, and they even brought them candy with it. We had the premium drink package and I'd say the dinner drinks alone (including a double espresso with sambuca with 3 coffee beans in the shot glass) paid off.

 

Service was absolutely impeccable and every meal was well-prepared, and I'm used to top restaurants worldwide (especially NY and Paris). Also, if there was anything special (or just usual) in the MDR you could get it also in Luminae. Kudos to Adem and Ryan for taking care of us at our table, and Laurence the Maitre D.

 

We ate breakfast every morning (except the last obviously) in our room, and it's nice having butler service (thanks Kannika!). All the food was delivered hot and set up on the balcony. On the last day we ate breakfast in Luminae and it was great.

 

Second, I did book an excursion in Grand Cayman (the Dr. Prager Submarine experience, which was good) so tendering was pretty painless with ONE caveat. People were very late getting to the Reflection Theater so we were late getting queued up, and late on the tender and off. Luckily they didn't rush the submarine ride but I was concerned about it. Celebrity needs to be a bit firmer rather than have 95% of the guests waiting for an extra 30 minutes because someone forgot to show up on time - the time stated on the TICKET.

 

One pet peeve that is worth sharing - the Dolphin ride experience in Cozumel. The place itself was great, the experience great, but I ended up not participating because of how they handle anything valuable. First, no liability (no surprise). Next, you have to rent a locker for $14. The locker door could probably be opened by a screwdriver and is flimsy. Fair enough, you get to keep the key, right? Nope, you have to take it off and put it in a storage area before swimming with the dolphins. I understand why you can't bring things into the water that can scratch them, but if you wear a watch, have designer sunglasses, brought a camera or a phone, carry your wallet, passport, etc. ALL have to go into the locker. I'm not saying that anything was stolen - but I wasn't willing to take the risk with a couple of expensive watches in my party. NONE of this was disclosed or mentioned in any of the documentation prior to arrival at the site.

 

We didn't do much in Jamaica, but a lot of people asked if I wanted a "big smoke". This was a good day to stay on the ship as we didn't plan an excursion.

 

Finally, we rented a cabana on Coco Cay, which was relaxing. This is a big advantage for suite guests as I asked my butler to arrange it first thing on board (even then some were already taken). While out on one of the paddle boats the seat broke and they were great about swapping it out for a kayak and extending the time an extra 30 minutes. The staff from Luminae were on hand at the private buffet, and the food was decent. My only minor complaint was that the drink menu was really limited.

 

My guests went to a couple of shows and enjoyed the comedians. We only went to the illusionist (Alex Ramon) who we felt was excellent - probably half magic, half comedy. I wanted to see the Beatles tribute so am curious if they were any good.

 

We spent some time in the shipboard arcade (air hockey with the kids) and also in Game On which is located on Deck 9 - they have some cool computerized table games plus traditional board games.

[wallysdtr]

I too was on this cruise. Aqua spa cabin on the hump.

It is disappointing to hear your comments about Niksa. He is, by far, my most favorite bartender. We met Nik a year ago on the sunset bar. He was most knowledgeable and funny. Not sure what made your time with him so bad. Not the same bartender to us.

We loved the cruise much better than our trip one year ago. Blu was fabulous with bresley and Jose our wait staff. Randy, the sommelier, was so attentive and shared a lot about the wines we were served at dinner.

Maybe your next cruise will be better.

[Newbury newbie]

Thanks to all who have been leaving reviews. We're on Reflection this Saturday and finding the different views quite fascinating. :):):)