Celebrity Reflection January 14 to 21 2017

[Bimmer09]

The Pourch is on the other side, same place as the Studio 2 pics up.

 

I'll have a pic of the Porch later. It's an inviting room.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

I have and will be on every ship that was in port with you(with the exception of the X factor). I will complete the Davina in April and Vista in October this year.

 

Wow! Nice to see you mixing up the lines. How did you like the Escape?

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Hi Norris,

 

I am a newbie to your reviews and am just in awe of all that you have posted and your photos have certainly helped me get excited for our Reflection Trip (2/11/17). Your itinerary is the same one we will be following. A question....is there any chance you have and/or would be willing to post the dailies/Celebrity Todays from your Reflection trip?

 

Thank you so much for your review and I am eager to share with my husband (we are sailing for his 50th). I received notice of your review from another Celebrity CC board so excitedly clicked over.:D

 

Hi and thanks for reading the review. I have all the copies of Celebrity Today even though I never read them as I just drift through each day. I bring a highlighter for Carol and she combs the pages and alerts me to things we should see. I hadn't planned to put them in the review as it involves a lot of scanning but I'll perhaps give it a shot.

 

Wait! Saved by the bell....here's a link to what you are looking for from a guy who was on my cruise....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2448178

 

Carol is Miss Sea Day and I am Mr Port Day. There is so much going on on these ships that I would need a spreadsheet to organize my day and I'm all about drifting on a cruise on sea days. Up early in the dark, take photos, drink coffee,chat to a stranger, move around the ship taking more photos, lunch, nap,sit on balcony for ten minutes, go to deck 5 for a cigarette, pass bands playing but I seldom stop for a few minutes and never watch a set for 45 minutes, work on photos on the computer, go online and post on Facebook, change for dinner, eat, see a show, sit on deck 5 smoking and looking at the stars, bed, deep sleep. That's my routine. Port days have more structure as I am forced to keep a schedule.

 

I hope the link helps.

 

The part I highlighted in red-another Celebrity board-I'm confused. Do you mean the Princess Board?

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Carol was relaxing in the Alcove on a beautiful-weather sea day as we sailed along the North Coast of Cuba.

 

 

She was going to wait for the cheese plate for lunch but I had to go to the Oceanview Cafe where I knew there would be my favorite cuisine-Indian food! Hooray!

 

Yes at 1p.m it was very busy but a man's got to eat...

 

 

I picked up the phone and had a cold beer delivered to the Alcove.

 

I was very impressed by the Internet speed up there. We had unlimited use as a perk. On Princess we get 150 minutes as Elites/Suites but the speed is like the old dial-up days. Kudos Celebrity!

 

Indy is still on our trail

 

 

 

Relaxing at the Sunset Bar

 

 

Later, on the balcony we enjoy our fruit and cheese plates. The Butler, Dominic from India, had called to introduce himself and when he asked if there was anything we needed I ordered drinks and he was there in a jiffy. A very personable fellow, bright and bubbly and dying to do something for us-always! He also dropped off another bottle of the Welcome Aboard "Champagne"

 

 

Tonight was Evening Chic night when people would dress up in more Formal duds and have portraits taken on the nice staircase near the atrium on deck 3. This started as early as 4 p.m. As we had the Alcove until 9 carol thought we could relax there, go see a show, eat at the Mast Grill which I had heard good things about and then go see that comedian we had missed on Embarkation night in his Adult Show. That plan worked for me. The First show, called Broken Strings was at 7 p.m and we left our perches at the Alcove to go see it, dressed casually.

 

LCG was serving dinner but we were planning on Burgers and Fries!

 

At the starboard entrance on deck 5, the upper deck of the Reflection Theater, all the butlers were lined up and looking spiffy. Dominic welcomed us and led us to the roped-off center balcony seats for suites....

[lola2013]

You are making me more & more anxious for my upcoming Reflection cruise.........33 days and counting!!!

[Bimmer09]

On the Silhouette cruise in January 2016 there were no singing and dancing shows so we were excited to see one.

 

 

There's a plot summary there but even with a 250 mm zoom lens it wasn't that apparent-but who cares? We are not expecting Shakespeare but rather some good tunes and choreography and they certainly provided that in good measure!

 

As they do sometimes in Opera productions the curtain was already drawn and the stage was set...

 

 

Some pics from the show. The music was from within the past 10 years so instantly recognizable to us or to me at least as I listen to pop music on the car radio. Good singers, great band, great dancers,lighting, sound etc etc.

 

 

 

 

[Bimmer09]

Great review and very nice photos!

 

Thank you Sir! Glad to have you following along. I am looking forward to showing you the islands and way more photos of the ship.

 

So stick around!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

I know this is long and will become even longer as we've only been on the ship about 32 hours by now in the story.

 

To come in future episodes in no particular order;

 

Food porn (Annie rdsqrl pay attention!) Dinner in Murano and in Qsine (our first visit) and in Luminae and Lawn Club Grill again.

 

Segway porn in Cozumel

 

Norris speaks up at the tendering delay in Georgetown

 

Turtle and Stingray porn in Cayman

 

Jamaican bus tour with a beautiful beach stop (coconut porn!)

 

Getting back late to the ship

 

Every (?) public room on the ship. Other ships tied up alongside.

 

All sail aways

 

All shows in photos and some in video.

 

Labadee and boat tour featuring local fishermen

 

Returning to Miami in the dark

 

Norris is pulled aside by Customs and Border Patrol in Miami

 

Walking tour of all those gorgeous Art Deco buildings

 

Stunning sunsets and sunrises

 

Officers vs Passengers pool volleyball

 

and whatever else I stumble upon in my photos

 

So-eat your Wheeties and stay tuned!

 

Norris with thanks for watching!

[NLH Arizona]

I am sailing her this Saturday so I will be disembarking as you are boarding.

Hope you have a great time:)

Have a great cruise, Lois.

[Bimmer09]

 

I think I counted 24 people involved in the singing dancing and playing. There was a live band-The Reflection Orchestra augmented by other players from the ship. Some of them were on stage, while others, like the drummer here were in booths to the side of the stage.

 

 

Keyboards and bass in the starboard stage wing

 

 

The horn section waits for their cue

 

 

These two ladies were a string duo that played around the ship, often using backing tapes. I heard them do one of my favorite Led Zeppelin songs-Kashmir if you know it, in the atrium one day.

 

 

[Bimmer09]

 

 

 

Cruise Director Maarten, the tall Belgian, whose act includes moving just as I press the shutter button (doh!) reminds us that there will be a late night comedy show at 10.30 p.m.- Steve Couette-Unsafe Comedy.

 

 

Mast Grill here we come! The plan was to take our burgers and fries back to the Alcove.

 

Huh? It's closed?

(Carol checks hours in Celebrity Today copy) Yup! Closes at 6 p.m!

 

Damn! I thought it would be like Trident Grill on Princess serving cooked to order meaty treats until 11p.m!

 

You know what though? We ate a lot of cheese and fruit and I would be fine with just a scoop or two of gelato.

 

So we went for our gelato in Cafe al Bacio.

 

"Oh you say suites get a free scoop? Fine I'll have a banana and then a coffee one. "

 

"No you can only have one scoop"

 

"I understand so give me a free banana and charge me for a coffee one"

 

" I can only give you one scoop"

 

"Whatever, we can come back for a non-free second scoop"

 

It was good stuff.

 

Next up, our 2nd show of the evening

[long time lurker]

Thank you Norris for your excellent description and pictures of the Alcove set up. We actually have them booked for our entire sailing (our splurge on this trip as we are in a standard balcony). It sounds like the best location is closer to the LCG or at best maybe the center alcove for the best views and least disruption. Is that a correct assumption? You also mentioned that you requested the smoking side (of the Sunset Bar) as you are a smoker. Did you notice much smoke drifting into the lawn area?

[Bimmer09]

Thank you Norris for your excellent description and pictures of the Alcove set up. We actually have them booked for our entire sailing (our splurge on this trip as we are in a standard balcony). It sounds like the best location is closer to the LCG or at best maybe the center alcove for the best views and least disruption. Is that a correct assumption? You also mentioned that you requested the smoking side (of the Sunset Bar) as you are a smoker. Did you notice much smoke drifting into the lawn area?

 

Not a puff of smoke from Sunset Bar made it to the Alcove. On starboard side you'd be doubly sure.

 

Close to the LCG/The Porch you'd get the lunchtime noise so I would avoid that.

Center would be fine/ideal, no question.

 

Norris

[long time lurker]

Thanks for the good advice and all the lovely photos. It is great sailing vicariously with you!

[Walt fan]

Good afternoon Norris and definitely eating my Wheaties for the long haul. So enjoying every single picture and all of your humor. I have my sad salad and celery with hummus sitting in front of me after drooling over your LCG pics. My kind of food.

 

Love the story of your drummer days. I just talked to my youngest this weekend about all of the dips and turns and sideways life takes you and you just have to hang on for the ride. It makes life interesting. You have had many stories with you.

 

I am seriously hoping Celebrity will still have a cruise available I am oogling when I want to go in 2019. It ports out of Dublin. I will have to wait until some time in 2018 to book it to see if we can go then. Really, really, really hoping I can make this one a reality. Your Celebrity ship pictures make me have the wants even more.

 

Glad to see Carol chiming in on this one. Cannot wait for more!

 

Take care.

[hockeyguru32]

Wow! Nice to see you mixing up the lines. How did you like the Escape?

 

Norris

 

The Escape was gorgeous and MASSIVE. It was nice to try something different but the ship being so big I did feel kind of "trapped" like a fish in a tank because of all the high glass on the open deck areas. The pool area was all enclosed and decks 6 7 8 felt very congested at times when they had things going on. As far as variety of a la carte restaurants and entertainment it couldn't be beat. You had to book a lot in advance to get the restaurants as well as dinner times and show times you wanted. Staff was great. Best two feature on the ship was the school of fish embedded in the carpet to show you if your going upstream or not came in handy some days and the District Brewhouse with a great selection of beers from around the world.

[Lois R]

Have a great cruise, Lois.

 

Thank you:)

[deladane]

Yay! Another wonderful Norris review!! :D I can't wait to read along for the rest of your cruise! Thanks for taking the time to share with us :)

[Bimmer09]

The Escape was gorgeous and MASSIVE. It was nice to try something different but the ship being so big I did feel kind of "trapped" like a fish in a tank because of all the high glass on the open deck areas. The pool area was all enclosed and decks 6 7 8 felt very congested at times when they had things going on. As far as variety of a la carte restaurants and entertainment it couldn't be beat. You had to book a lot in advance to get the restaurants as well as dinner times and show times you wanted. Staff was great. Best two feature on the ship was the school of fish embedded in the carpet to show you if your going upstream or not came in handy some days and the District Brewhouse with a great selection of beers from around the world.

 

Yes it's a big ship, having seen it up close for the first (but not last) time. I love a couple of things about the design-the lifeboats hanging over the side so they are not blocking the view and are pretty much in a ready to launch position and the Waterfront concept would be a winner for me. The thing that would kill it for me is the top deck waterpark and ropes course taking up so much deck. But a great staff and so many food choices are appealing and reassuring.

 

Re the Brewhouse my goal is to find a bar that has just one draught pump on the counter. A black one with a cream colored logo. With a selection of ONE beer from Dublin...ahhhh! LOL! Variety is the spice of life. So far the Reflection is the biggest ship I've been on but we have the Regal Princess as our next step up in October.

 

Were the specialty restaurants worth the spend and how was the MDR experience?

 

Norris, who's British sister sails NCL. She did the inaugural TA on Escape.

[Bimmer09]

Yay! Another wonderful Norris review!! :D I can't wait to read along for the rest of your cruise! Thanks for taking the time to share with us :)

 

Well, well, look who's here?!

 

Dana, welcome! Is it Mrs now? Last September, wasn't it?

 

Great to know you are reading along.

 

Norris

 

[Bimmer09]

At home we like to watch some TV comedy before bedtime- a Colbert monologue, maybe a few skits from SNL or a quick Portlandia and at sea a few chuckles are a nice way to end the day.

 

We were back in our usual theater seats at 10.30 to see a very loud and funny comedian we had missed the night before.

 

 

Maarten introduced him

 

 

Have you seen this funny guy?

 

 

 

It's hard to describe his style but you don't want to be someone who gets to their seat once the show has started or leave to go to the bathroom while he's on...He also does amazing impressions of the sound of glass breaking which I had never heard anyone do realistically before.

 

He's not a joke teller....more of an observer of human behavior and he can have a room in stitches in no time.

 

It was late when it was over and before retiring we put out a Room Service breakfast menu in the hallway on Dominic's urging as we wouldn't have time for a sit down restaurant meal in the morning due to our first port excursion of the trip starting at 7.15 a.m, just 15 minutes after docking in Cozumel. We asked for a 6 a.m delivery.

 

Our first full day on the ship was over-gone in a frenzy of doing nothing but relaxing fun things. No hot meal to round out the evening but bellies full of cheese!

 

We would be riding Segways in the morning. What fun!! The Go Pro was charged and waiting and had a new Sandisk memory card primed and ready.

 

Slllllllllleeeeepppp!

[deladane]

Well, well, look who's here?!

 

Dana, welcome! Is it Mrs now? Last September, wasn't it?

 

Great to know you are reading along.

 

Norris

 

 

Wow Norris, you have a great memory! I did indeed get married last September :D I'm so glad I found your review to hold me over since my next cruise isn't until our honeymoon 8 months from now :eek: Thanks again for keeping me entertained!

[May B]

Norris, we were on Silhouette last January with you but didn't know it, until, preparing for Silhouette in Dec. of '16, I found your great review.

 

Now, lo and behold, you keep showing me in your photos of Independence of the Seas. We were in the Ben & Jerry's cabin on that very cruise! So that means that I also was cruising along towards Cozumel, just as were you there on your first at-sea day. What a small world!

 

Good job with all the teasers. Certainly a whole bunch of stuff for us to look forward to!

 

Thx so much for your reviews. Love your sense of humor, love your photos, love the whole darn thing! Keep enjoying.

 

Oh, and one more thing. I hope I'm still around when you reach retirement age and do a New Zealand cruise. I think you'll like Napier! among many other ports. :)

[CiaoGina]

Out of lurking here and enjoying the recap. I'm really needing a vacation to look forward to these days and observing these boards instead of the news is a great escape! 2 more months!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited January 31, 2017 by CiaoGina

[Bimmer09]

Cozumel was my favorite port when I visited it every Thursday for 44 weeks, now 30 years ago on the Song of Norway. The only people trying to sell me anything then were little kids building a Chiclets empire from the ground up.

The Mexican people were quiet but friendly and the swimming from the beach at El Presidente hotel was top notch. It was of course much smaller way back then.

More rustic.

 

We are here again today. We were last here in 2014 on Caribbean Princess.

 

At 6 a.m as requested our Butler Dominic brought us a fine tray of vittles from the impressive Room Service. Piping hot and delicious!

 

 

A hearty repast of fruit, cereal,boiled eggs for Carol, ham and corned beef hash for me, yogurt parfait and toasted bagels with good Lavazza coffee. Fuel for our Segway tour!

 

Having already showered and dressed for the day, including a fine film of OFF! mosquito repellent I was ready to spring downstairs to deck 5 with my coffee to watch our approach to the pier.

 

We are backing in guided by the pier lights

 

 

 

I move to the Starboard side

 

 

The view from our balcony