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Celebrity Reflection January 14 to 21 2017

Bimmer09

By Bimmer09,
in Celebrity Cruises

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Bruinboy

Bruinboy

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Yay, Norris once again!!!! Thanks for the invite over at the Princess Boards. I surf both, so would have probably found you over here, but felt special having an invitation to join this blog/review. I learn so much about cruising and the enjoyment of life from your posts ... as well as your humor. Let the fun begin.

 

Richard

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

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Good morning and thanks to all who have responded so far. I usually respond immediately but having gone to bed early last night and waking up at 5.30 to continue the review prior to taking the car in for service I found that our wi-fi didn't want to play ball and spent a frustrating hour restarting the router, tapping it with a hammer, shaking it etc.

 

To start your reading day with a long list of thank-you posts is not good so I'll sprinkle in my responses between photos of our journey.

 

With that said here is the first which shows the time of 3.39 a.m on our day of departure from Chicago. We had a 7.30 flight to Miami.

 

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With cat sitter arranged we got in a pre-ordered cab at 5 a.m and set off for O'Hare airport. We breezed along the highway and commented on how smooth the traffic was. A police car whizzed by with his lights flashing and we soon ground to a halt in 5 lanes of red tail lights. At the first opportunity our driver left the highway and took back streets to get ahead of the blockage, most likely an accident. The Wayz app showed the extent of the holdup. We kept our eyes on our watches and to our relief we made it to the airport before 6. With TSA Pre, security was a breeze and we were soon walking under the tarmac to Concourse C which is a major trek.....

 

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Soon we were up in the air and leaving Chicago and the freezing cold below

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After a couple of hours the scenery below changed

 

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At this point a child from the bowels of Hell began a lusty screaming fit in First Class. Maybe he was being attacked by someone with a branding iron from the Lazy Z ranch or a swarm of bees from the overhead compartment but not even my Bose Noise cancelling headphones could dim his high decibel output. His parents pretended not to be with him.

 

Soon we were on the ground and making the long trek through Miami airport and reached baggage claim just on the outskirts of Fort Lauderdale.

 

Alas Carol's luggage was still in Chicago but we were assured it would be sent to our hotel later that afternoon. I recalled the luggage loading geniuses who delight in body slamming each suitcase onto the conveyor belt as it makes its way up to the aircraft hold.

 

We took the $35 fixed rate cab fare to South Beach. Originally we had booked the Marriott Stanton boutique hotel but once Carol saw it on our Streetwise Miami laminated map she realized it was a long walk to the Art Deco district and so we changed to the Ritz Carlton which was right smack in it....

 

Norris letting you know that all the air pics were taken with an iPhone

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Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

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Norris, amigo, reporting for duty. I have been on the Reflection twice (in Aqua), Solstice last September (Aqua), and will be on Silhouette in 2018 (Sunset Veranda). We like the Reflection better than the Solstice because of the Lawn Club Grill, but other than that, about equal.

 

Will be on the Star Princess for the second time (mini-suite) in two months and hoping for improvements.

 

So carry on and "let me entertain you" as the song goes.

 

Buenos dias Senor Crucero!

 

You will be delighted to learn that we eat at the Lawn Club Grill TWICE.

 

Norris, having just exhausted his Spanish.

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Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

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I am very much looking forward to reading your review over the next few days. We will be aboard the Reflection in four weeks and this review will just whet my appetite a little (or at least I hope it will!).

 

My goal is to have this done in 4 weeks but I have to do battle with (a) wi fi signals (b) Flickr © iMovie (d) work.

 

I have a ton of photos to work on in Lightroom as I shot everything on RAW files this time and rarely used the auto mode on my cameras. I am pleased with the results so far and the extra effort is proving worthwhile. I spent an hour yesterday on one photo as I am no expert in Photoshop-the one of the ship with the name reflected.

 

Stay for the long haul if you can and thanks for reading this far.

 

Norris

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Out on the Mira

Out on the Mira

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You said a kid was screaming in First Class, did you fly first class and your wife did not get her luggage? Thought your luggage would be priority if you flew first class. We are going on Celebrity Reflection on Jan. 28, and are flying first class, maybe I should rethink my packing in case my suitcase doesn't arrive?

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Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

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You said a kid was screaming in First Class, did you fly first class and your wife did not get her luggage? Thought your luggage would be priority if you flew first class. We are going on Celebrity Reflection on Jan. 28, and are flying first class, maybe I should rethink my packing in case my suitcase doesn't arrive?

 

No we didn't fly First Class but we sit up front in Economy Plus as we have legs and knees that will only bend backwards.

 

The net curtain between First and Economy Plus doesn't mask the sound enough.LOL.

 

This is only our first experience of United messing up the luggage and we fly them exclusively so I wouldn't worry and they did get it to our hotel at 4pm that afternoon.

 

Norris

 

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Eloise4Ever

Eloise4Ever

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Hello from your Irish fan club Norris :). I was excited to see that we have another one of your wonderful reviews to look forward to and sure enough, we already have a contender for the "most humorous post" award:

 

At this point a child from the bowels of Hell began a lusty screaming fit in First Class. Maybe he was being attacked by someone with a branding iron from the Lazy Z ranch or a swarm of bees from the overhead compartment but not even my Bose Noise cancelling headphones could dim his high decibel output. His parents pretended not to be with him.

 

I look forward to many more chuckles as you share your journey with us :)

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gold1953

gold1953

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You said a kid was screaming in First Class, did you fly first class and your wife did not get her luggage? Thought your luggage would be priority if you flew first class. We are going on Celebrity Reflection on Jan. 28, and are flying first class, maybe I should rethink my packing in case my suitcase doesn't arrive?

 

Fellow Nova Scotian will be on the cruise with you!! We are direct on West Jet on Friday morning.. Very excited .. my favourite ship!!!

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Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

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So we are at the Ritz Carlton and in our room, on a lower floor than we prefer but we haven't time to wait for a higher one as we are committed to a Segway tour at 2 pm.

 

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The room had a bed and some furniture

 

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The all important camera bag. I had rented a camera that I want to buy, a Canon 6D, and wanted to be sure by putting it through it's paces during the cruise. It's a Full Frame camera with wi-fi so it can be operated by a phone app and can transmit photos to my computer without wires. Alas the one that was sent to me had a problem with the wi-fi and when I contacted Borrowlenses they said they would send me a new one overnight to the hotel and by golly they came through. Fantastic customer service!! The wi-fi worked fine on the new one and I packed up the faulty one to ship back from a UPS store on our way to the ship next morning. I also rented a 16 to 35 mm Canon L lens and brought my regular camera, a Canon T3i so I could take zoom pics with my 55 to 250mm crop sensor lens which can't be used on a Full Frame.

 

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The bathroom

 

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Norris, uploading part of the Segway tour to Youtube (and praying)

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Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

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While iMovie and Youtube are still talking to each other I'll show you some more pics from the hotel. I loved the lobby and bar area....

 

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Bar area

 

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Mezzanine

 

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The hotel is a 2 minute walk to the soft sandy beach and 3 to the Art Deco area on Ocean Drive. Ideal location for us!

 

Norris

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pretty princess

pretty princess

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Thank you for doing this review I have read all your prior reviews and they are excellent!! love your photos and humor. I did this cruise last February, interested how your experience compares. The Reflection is a beautiful ship. Looking forward to my Equinox cruise in March, your review will make the wait much easier!!

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Debik

Debik

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Debik, I haven't seen your name before in one of my reviews so double welcome! My reviews are exhaustive in detail and exhausting to write (and maybe to read but you can't win them all).

 

I hope you stay for the long haul and that it gets your anticipation building.

 

I'm glad you like the photos!

 

Norris

 

Thank you for the kind welcome. I am in it for the long haul. Funny enough I keep checking back to see if there is anything new posted. Your pictures are amazing. Can't wait to read more and see more.

 

Thank you again for doing this.

Deb

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