Celebrity Reflection January 14 to 21 2017

[hockeyguru32]

Trip, thank you for the kind compliment!

 

I am reading this via Google Chrome which I just downloaded to see the old CC format which was taken from me earlier today. My Safari browser shows the new "white" format which has people up in arms. I posted a complaint earlier today to Laura S.

 

It's midnight in my city and too late to write but I will get back in the saddle in the morning and continue.

 

I notice one thing missing from my posts in the new format-the titles I use to set the tone or to put up a song lyric which people then have to guess for terrific prizes, which I never actually send out.

 

Oh, the humanity!

 

Cheers!

 

Norris

 

 

Not true Norris I have a few virtual pillow mints

[Bimmer09]

Lest I forget it, here is our pier photo in Cozumel. You saw us get off the ship at dawn but the "Professional Photographer" from the ship wanted to make it look like midnight apparently...

 

 

Cozumel was now in our rear view mirror and so we took another blissful nap which is what ship cabins were designed for.

 

Our 7 p.m show was Savannah Smith whom we had never heard of but that goes for most shipboard entertainers if not all.

 

As is often the case in the 7 p.m show,when many are eating, the theater was half full which has to be deflating to the artist standing in the wings. She was backed by the excellent sight-readers of the Reflection Orchestra and performed as if the theater was packed-a trouper who is probably used to cruise ships at 7 p.m.

Being Opera lovers we know singers and voices and this woman has a huge voice with a wide range

 

 

Her favorite singer may be Celine Dion and she can do her songs justice. She has a ton (I didn't weigh it and am just guessing) of vocal and physical energy as she moves around the stage.

 

The high notes of Celine and the bluesy raunch and power of Melissa Etheridge - thrilling voice!

 

By the way before the show a recorded voice tells us not to use flash but encourages us to take photos and video and share them on Social Media. I like that! I didn't have my camcorder in the bag but I would in future.

 

Live band on stage sound like they tour with her.

 

 

 

A fantastic high energy show. She works in Las Vegas.

 

Our next highlight would be our first visit to Qsine. We were going to try it on Silhouette but I wanted to try the MDR on our last night. The MDR was a bit of a disaster.

 

Let's go eat!!

[Bimmer09]

Qsine

 

This is the place where the tables have mismatched chairs and the menu comes on an iPad which includes video of some of the dishes.

 

Here is the menu and there are a lot of yummy combinations on it. I see nothing on here I wouldn't order and intend to eat my way through all of it over time. We chose 6 of the treats to share.

 

Front page of the menu-want Mexican food-tap the Piñata. Spicy? The Volcano. Grilled? Tap the Weber.





 



 



 



 



 

 

When you see something you must have just add it to favorites and show that to the waiter when ready to order. The food will come in courses, piping hot or cold as the dish demands.

[Bimmer09]

 



 



 



 



 

[Bimmer09]

 



 



 



 



 

 

Wait! There's more!

[Bimmer09]

 



 

 

We came up with 6 choices from this tempting menu;

 

The Greens as Carol always has to have some salady things

Spring rolls served on springs

The deep fried munchies

The Persian kebobs

The Chinese sampler

The Indian sampler (of course!)

 

and we prayed we would have enough room for dessert.

 

The room wasn't packed (a good thing for service) but it was lively as people were tucking in and chuckling at some of the presentations.

 

 

 

The deep fried munchies

 

More....

[Bimmer09]

The poorly focused Persian kebobs

 

Our Indian sampler

 

The Chinese food came in little Martini shaped cups (trust me there was food in there)

 

 

 

It was a great little feast-just enough food and every dish was enjoyed as was the attentive service.

 

Dessert? We had to. This Rubik's Cube thing unfolded to show us our options but I saw something on another table that I had to try-a Silver Bullet which contained strawberry, coconut and mango gelato with chopped berries on top. Deeeeelishus! Carol had Vanilla Gelato.

 

 

More...

[Bimmer09]

The Silver Bullet

 

 

 

Carol's gelato was served in a bucket

 

 

After dinner our waiter brought us Strawberry Fields-chocolate covered strawberries to round off our meal.

 

 

A very enjoyable experience at $45 a head but that was paid for by our $550 O.B.C.

A band was playing in the atrium (as always in the evening)

 

A walk on deck and then a walk to bed. We'd be sailing towards Grand Cayman while we slept....

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris, love your reviews. Got hooked after we met at the M&G on Emerald TA fall 2015. I worked on cruise ships back in the mid 80's and was a CD and Purser in my former life as well. Any chance you knew Rob Lowenburg on SON. He was in the deck department in fall 85. We're on Reflection next Saturday for our 1st Celebrity cruise and looking forward to exploring the ship and its specialty restaurants and bars. Your review and pics have peaked our interest. Thanks for your efforts.

 

 

Pam I had to scroll back a long way to find your post as I have been charging full speed ahead with the review during any spare time I have.

 

Yes I recall our meeting and a good chat at the Meet and Greet on the Emerald Princess back in September 2015. I imagine you are on the Reflection as I write and hope you are enjoying your first X experience as we did

 

We feel very happy to have so far found two great lines to sail with.

 

Thanks for reading this and anything else I've written.

 

I don't recall Rob from the SON in fall 85 but imagine we shared the crew mess together. We had a few crew parties in there where the cheap booze, proliferation of guitars and singers/dancers made for a lively evening.

 

Which line were you Purser and CD for?

 

I hope to hear from you when you get back from your cruise and hope it was all you expected!

 

Cheers!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris: I'll be redundant here, but awesome photo review.

 

One question: last time we were on the Reflection, we enjoyed the nightly entertainment set at the Sunset Bar, right around sunset time (generally about 6:00 PM in the Caribbean). I have not seen any entertainment listed there in the dailies, even on sea days. Have they discontinued that? Sad, if so.

 

My apologies for taking so long to respond....

 

No entertainment at the Sunset bar on Reflection as the shape of the bar area now doesn't allow for one. There is more eating capacity and the stairwell to deck 14 has been changed and come sup through the bar deck.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Really enjoying your review Norris. :)

 

Do you happen to have a photo of the front end of the ship? Trying to find a picture showing cabin 2109. It's the most forward S1 on the port side.

 

Also, is Independence of the Seas larger than Reflection? What RC ship class would you compare to Solstice class, size wise?

 

Jules, I don't know if I have a photo of the front of the ship offhand. I think I can find a link to you by a very thorough member called Cruisetrail who highlighted most of the cabins on the Solstice class in photos with room numbers shown.

I'll dig around for it.

 

Indy (Freedom Class) is 154,000 tonnes vs Reflection's 122,000 so considerably bigger in every way. The next size down in Royal is the Voyager class @ 137,000 (Navigator of the Seas for example), still bigger. Then there's a drop off to the Radiance Class of 90,000.

 

I'll get back to you if I can help with your cabin question....

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Jules, here is the link I was looking for and which should help you....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1751328

 

This is Cruisetrail's monumental project from 2012.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Tuesday, dateline January 17th in the year of two thousand and seventeen. We are sailing East towards Grand Cayman. I am up on deck at the Sunset Bar.

 

Coffee in hand, enjoying the warm morning breeze.

 

Cameras are at the ready in case there is a sunrise worth photographing.

 

The first glimmers....

 

Looks promising

 

Norwegian Epic is close by

 



 

 

The view over my shoulder. I've made camp at the Mast Bar.

 

 

The dedicated walkers rack up the laps

[Bimmer09]

 



 

 

 

Dramatic clouds

 

[jules815]

Jules, I don't know if I have a photo of the front of the ship offhand. I think I can find a link to you by a very thorough member called Cruisetrail who highlighted most of the cabins on the Solstice class in photos with room numbers shown.

I'll dig around for it.

 

Indy (Freedom Class) is 154,000 tonnes vs Reflection's 122,000 so considerably bigger in every way. The next size down in Royal is the Voyager class @ 137,000 (Navigator of the Seas for example), still bigger. Then there's a drop off to the Radiance Class of 90,000.

 

I'll get back to you if I can help with your cabin question....

 

Norris

 

Appreciate the info Norris. Thanks so much.

[MisterMet]

Trip, thank you for the kind compliment!

 

 

 

I am reading this via Google Chrome which I just downloaded to see the old CC format which was taken from me earlier today. My Safari browser shows the new "white" format which has people up in arms. I posted a complaint earlier today to Laura S.

 

 

 

It's midnight in my city and too late to write but I will get back in the saddle in the morning and continue.

 

 

 

I notice one thing missing from my posts in the new format-the titles I use to set the tone or to put up a song lyric which people then have to guess for terrific prizes, which I never actually send out.

 

 

 

Oh, the humanity!

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Norris

 

 

 

[/.

 

Norris,

 

I'm not digging the format either.

 

 

SIZE]

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[MisterMet]

Trip, thank you for the kind compliment!

 

 

 

I am reading this via Google Chrome which I just downloaded to see the old CC format which was taken from me earlier today. My Safari browser shows the new "white" format which has people up in arms. I posted a complaint earlier today to Laura S.

 

 

 

It's midnight in my city and too late to write but I will get back in the saddle in the morning and continue.

 

 

 

I notice one thing missing from my posts in the new format-the titles I use to set the tone or to put up a song lyric which people then have to guess for terrific prizes, which I never actually send out.

 

 

 

Oh, the humanity!

 

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

Norris

 

 

 

 

 

Norris

 

I just finished reading a book I bought on a large ecommerce website that was a review of his 12 night BI cruise on the CB in July 2016. He was a "professional" writer. In this case, "professional" meant boring and Saharan dry. He mentions Cruise Critic in the book, but I'm guessing he's missed all of your reviews. He could really learn something from you![emoji1][emoji1][emoji1][emoji109][emoji109][emoji109]

 

Looking forward to a weekend of posts from you.

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Trip

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Bimmer09]

At sea, on a really beautiful ship, with a decent cup of Italian coffee and some duty free smokes at half the price I pay in Indiana and a quarter of the price I would pay in Chicago ( tax grabbers!) if I didn't have a car, I'm enjoying the warm breeze and patting myself on the back (I'm double-jointed) for being up early enough to see every moment of that sunrise and looking around at the lawn and up at the big funnels chugging smoke I'm thinking "at this moment I am where I want to be".

 

If the day ended there I would go to bed happy and content, however it is only 6.30 a.m and I start thinking about the rest of the day that will unfold hour by hour after I finish talking to this nice gentleman at the Mast Bar whom I struck up a conversation with as I am from Northern Ireland and we always speak to strangers.

 

Let's see-I'll be having breakfast with Carol in Luminae (not Blu), then I'll watch the ship approach Georgetown which I last saw 30 years ago and whose Seven Mile Beach may still bear my butt prints.

Were going to see some turtles then some stingrays then come back to the ship on a tender, sail away with a cold Guinness at the Sunset Bar, take a nap to the sound of the wake, go to some show and have dinner somewhere nice, then another great sleep without the soundtrack of police and fire sirens which we hear in downtown Chicago.

 

The weather is perfection-mid 70's this early in the morn. I am wearing clean clothes and Armani aftershave and am healthy. Life is good is a mantra that I often hear myself intone inwardly.

 

That's just another day on a cruiseship. There's about 3,000 passengers onboard and 3,000 different experiences as we all spend our day differently but the outcome should be similar.

The major color is gone so I leave

 

 

A short while later Restless Norris as Carol calls me is heading back to deck 14 and the buffet to get more coffee. Here's the view as I wait for an elevator on deck 7. One of the 8 midship elevators was Out of Service since day one and would remain so for the week FYI.

 

 

 

Dessert Art as I enter the OceanView cafe

 

[LandonCat]

Hi Norris,

We are gearing up for our time on the Reflection in exactly one week and can't wait to eat at QSine. The pictures are making us drool profusely, thank you so much for your thoughtful posts and amazing information...what a treat! We will be sailing the same itinerary that you just finished. Any chance you have a link or know a way to get the Celebrity Todays for the cruise (we like to plan early). :rolleyes:

Thanks

[Bimmer09]

Hi Norris,

We are gearing up for our time on the Reflection in exactly one week and can't wait to eat at QSine. The pictures are making us drool profusely, thank you so much for your thoughtful posts and amazing information...what a treat! We will be sailing the same itinerary that you just finished. Any chance you have a link or know a way to get the Celebrity Todays for the cruise (we like to plan early). :rolleyes:

Thanks

 

Here's a link to the dailies from a post by David Kane who was on the same week as us...

 

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

 

Have a fun cruise and enjoy Qsine!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Once I had my coffee in hand I returned to Sunset Bar to drink it.

 

The Epic was now behind us

 

Suitably refreshed I went forward to take some pictures

 

 

 

 

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

As we were dropping anchor at Georgetown at 10 a.m we would have time today for a sit down breakfast and instead of Blu we decided to try Luminae.

 

 

 

Granola parfait

 

 

My apple and cinnamon crepe

 

 

Butter for my croissant-so cute!

 

 

Carol's well-done Belgian waffles with chicken sausage

 

 

A nice breakfast in a quieter room than Blu. We'll be back.

 

[p0240]

Hi Norris

Just remembered you were going on another cruise, as I was wandering through CC, the light globe went off - yes Norris - time to go again, so cap in hand I am late, so will head to page 1 and catch up, no doubt your review is as awesome as ever - will definitely report back if it isn't!! We have booked another cruise, first time on RCL in June 2017, just a short 5 day Asia tour from Singapore, at least it is only a 5 hour flight from Perth, rather than the long European haul. Doubt whether RCL will measure up to Princess or HAL, but for the price - why not try it.

Hope all is well with you both.

Pat

[LandonCat]

Here's a link to the dailies from a post by David Kane who was on the same week as us...

 

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

 

Have a fun cruise and enjoy Qsine!

 

Norris

 

Thank you Norris so much for this link, can't wait to print and start playing. Cheers:D

[Deck Chair Queen]

Hi folks it's Carol. I'm trying to keep up with Norris's review this time like the rest of you instead of reading it all when it's finished. You would not believe how conscientious he is about this. Although it is a labor of love, he gets up early on a work day to get to the computer and then writes some more after a long day at work. Plus days off.

 

I just wanted to note with regard to Qsine how excellent the food was and how creative the presentation, all in custom made platters and stands and vessels. I'm not impressed by gimmicks alone. We eat a lot of ethnic food living in Chicago and the ethnic dishes we had there stood up very well in comparison with the "authentic" stuff. Not so with Jamaican night at the buffet, but you will hear about this later.

 

Best regards, Carol

 

 

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