LIVE!!!!! From the REFLECTION TRANSATLANTIC - CHICAGOPAUL -

[chicagopaul]

Hi Paul, As usual I am really enjoying your review! If you have time, would you please check on whether the Alcoves were changed to the rotating ones during the recent drydock?

 

 

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Thank you for following along. Unfortunately no rotating alcoves.

 

 

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[chicagopaul]

Paul, thanks for the reviews and answering questions. Looking forward to joining you on April 27, although I think I'll spend my vacation dollars in the other speciality dining venues.

 

 

 

Thanks for following along! I think we will hit Lawn Club tonight and then Murano tomorrow night. I agree it’s hard when you see the amazing options in Murano and then compare it to a pre fix menu. I do think Petite Chef is worth a try especially if it’s only $25 or on special. Keep an eye out on your pricing.

 

 

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[Cruise a holic]

following never did a repositioning , but perhaps someday

 

,

[Princess Fi]

 

Fig gelato is pictured above. Phenomenal. Get it. Get it. Get it. Edward had his usual vanilla gelato.

 

 

They brought a second round of double espressos by accident. Yes we drank them. Yes it kept us up!

 

Service was great in Tuscan. It took us a few minutes to initially meet our waiter but from then on everything was amazing. Our waiter was José from Colombia and he did a stellar job.

 

 

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Paul, have been enjoying your review. After our ice storm in the Toronto area last weekend you have been a pleasant diversion. My sister and I were on the Equinox in February and agree the gig gelato was amazing!!! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

 

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[CaptCrunch]

I have enjoyed this review so much. I’m going to be sad when your trip is over.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post so frequently.

[EnthDegree]

Continuing to enjoy your excellent reports. Just watched you sail out of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on their live webcam. Any word on Rich Spacey’s tour of duty end yet?

Keep up the good work and leave the girl in good shape for us boarding next month!

 

 

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[The German Guys]

Dear Paul & Edward,

welcome to Europe!

We following your posts since you left Ft. Lauderdale and we travel along with your path in our minds. We did the Eastern TA on the Reflection exactly 2 years ago and it was a fabulous cruise! We enjoyed the days at sea the most. It is just great to relax knowing that there is no early arrivals next days and it is all yours.

Very nice to read your views about the Petit Chef compared to Quisine. Think everyone should find out on his own what she/he likes and not to judge upfront. Sometimes it is time for a change and this is good. We like Sushi on Five and still so many miss Bistro on Five...

Our favourite is as yours the Lawn Club, Tuscan and we like the Luminae as well. Martini Bar never touched us too much. We like the World Class Bar and Lazar and Mixa are the best. Unfortunately both had been on their well deserved holiday while we had been on the ship in February.

On your cruise you will miss Villefranche at Côte d’Azur. This Port we loved the most of all on the TA itinerary.

So enjoy guys!!!

Udo + Bernd

[Chrissi3010]

Nice picture of the two of you. :-)

 

And also a question again: Where there any production shows so fare? I can't remember having seen any in the daily.

 

Regards

Christine

[BEAV]

Dinner last night was at Tuscan Grill. We started at the martini bar around 6:30 without any dinner plans. We figured we’d build up an appetite and just see what we could walk into. We had no problem getting a table for 2 at Tuscan around 8:15.

 

I'm curious if your last-minute decision to dine in Tuscan counted as one of the nights on your specialty restaurant package? I have a 7 night package coming up soon, and would like to leave at least a couple nights unreserved for spontaneity sake, as you did last night. I realize that can be a gamble, but I'm curious how you handled (one of the nights on your package or did you pay a separate one time fee?).

 

I've really enjoyed following your Transatlantic! ;p;p:)

[CruiseLifeIsTheBest]

So slowly but surely we’re running into bartenders we know such as Arya, Ruel, and Toni (bow tie Toni from world class). We also hear Milton is on board (Santa) as he just signed on this cruise but will likely be working Passport Bar.

 

Loving the review Paul! Have you seen Milton onboard? Had fun with him on last 2 Equinox cruises and was hoping he'd still be there for our next in fall. Oh well! If you happen to see him tell him the couple who brought him the Dancing Santa in January say Hello :)

 

Your review makes me want the next few months pass VERY quickly!

[awhfy]

Ah, fond memories of Buratta salad & fig gelato in Tuscan

 

 

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[h20cruzer]

Enjoying your review and especially the pictures. Is Santos in the World class bar, if so can you please send my regards.

Norma

[chicagopaul]

Good Evening everyone. So it is 2:30am here. I suppose 3:30am with the time change. I’ll be up at my normal pool bar time don’t worry and I will answer all your questions! I made a nice donation to the casino. I’m thinking of all of you to help keep your cruise costs low! Haha.

 

Tonight we actually played some basketball and arcade games haha!

 

So with all this said I bid you a fair good evening and I’ll update you in just around 6 hours.

 

 

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[lobster129]

Good Evening everyone. So it is 2:30am here. I suppose 3:30am with the time change. I’ll be up at my normal pool bar time don’t worry and I will answer all your questions! I made a nice donation to the casino. I’m thinking of all of you to help keep your cruise costs low! Haha...

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LOL...and I thought you might be a late night Black Jack contender!:ship: :o

 

Becky

[hollyd12]

So I am jealous. My Husband and I did the TA last april. We had an amazing time. I was the winner of the dancing with the stripes. It was a blast. I'm enjoying your posts Have fun!

[chicagopaul]

Good Morning from the pool bar! Here is today’s Daily!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[lobster129]

Good Morning ChicagoPaul.:D Do you just not require much sleep? Perhaps it helps to be 30-something!

 

Becky

[chicagopaul]

Yesterday was Tenerife. We planned to get off the ship but we stayed on board. It started to rain and Edward did not want to get off the ship. Neither did I. So we stayed on board. We ate at ocean view which was pretty good. They had corn beef and cabbage. Corn beef was good; a bit dry but tasty. The cabbage with potatoes were excellent. The ship was completely dead. People really wanted to get off!

 

Here a few photos from the ship of Tenerife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Froxfield]

Thank you for your excellent commentary. We are very disappointed to see from the latest daily that the Qsine offering is yet again Le Petit Chef. It looks as though the regular Qsine menu is a thing of the past. Maybe we will think about cancelling next year's Reflection cruise as we had booked a Speciality Dining package with Qsine and Murano in mind. We neither of us care for the menu in Tuscan. It wouldn't leave us much in the way of choices!! So any guidance you can offer on the fate of Qsine would be appreciated.

[chicagopaul]

Yesterday afternoon / evening we watched the sail away from the balcony. There was not much for us to see from our side of the ship but we did see a couple oil rigs which I thought was pretty interesting.

 

 

After that we got ready for dinner. We made reservations at Murano for the following night so we could have our steak Diane. We sat with friends at Cafe Al Bacio around 6:15 for a while until the current Martini Bar crowd cleared out on their way to the show or dinner. We did our usual pre dinner martini. Our plan was to just walk into Lawn Club but our new cruise friend Nick, who is traveling alone, was going to head to Murano so we joined him and we were able to get in after only a 10 minute wait. They said we could have a seat in Ensemble while we waited. We ordered some wine and when the table was ready the MaitriD came out with a tray, took our drinks for us and escorted us in.

 

I started with the crab parfait. We then had the split lobster to share in the center and I followed that up with the lamb. I figured I’d try something different. My first bite of lamb was a bit tough but thankfully it was only a fluke. Every other bite was great. Our sommelier was extremely attentive and we enjoyed a couple glasses of various wines and a nice port with dessert (grand mariner soufflé for me).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[chicagopaul]

After dinner last night we we went to the Martini Bar for a cocktail. And then to the blackjack tables where I unfortunately was not shown any love. I think I’ve hit my loss limit for this cruise.

 

After the casino all was shut down so we wandered the ship and took a few photos.

 

 

 

After a little meandering we ended up at the basketball and arcade. Nothing says fun like a few poorly coordinated drunk guys in suede loafers and jackets playing basketball.

 

 

 

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[Cruise a holic]

Looks like you had a great day!

[chicagopaul]

Also I forgot who asked but there has only been one production show so far and that was Broken Strings. Tonight is Elysium.

 

 

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[chicagopaul]

Good Morning ChicagoPaul.:D Do you just not require much sleep? Perhaps it helps to be 30-something!

 

 

 

Becky

 

 

 

I usually do sneak in an afternoon nap. That’s how I keep functioning!

 

 

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[johhnnyt]

Also I forgot who asked but there has only been one production show so far and that was Broken Strings. Tonight is Elysium.

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As always , yours are my top tier reviewer status. Glad you mentioned that about only one production show, I usually try and see one per cruise and thought it odd that there didn't seem to be much action going on with the dancers/singers this cruise