A Reflection of a Poor Start to a Caribbean Cruise

[RedneckBob]

Hi y'all, Redneck Bob hear! The following reflects (no play on words) my opinions only and may not reflect the other 3,022 passengers. Of course the names have been changed to protect me!

Me and the misses just completed a 11 day Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Reflection, 04/02-04/13/18. Now we have been cruising for over 42 years and this by far was the worst embarkation we had ever experienced. Let me set the facts as I see them:

Reflection was docked at Terminal 29 in Port Everglades on Monday, April 02, 2018. This is the worst Terminal at PE and no one knew including the Captain why we did not leave from Terminal 18, Home of those Huge boats; no ship docked hear on 04/02/18. Everything went smooth in the beginning; arrive at 10:30 AM, checked in in 10 minutes, sat down in Select Group boarding on ground floor and by 10:50 AM boarding began. We were all escorted upstairs to another large seating area and were put between chairs in another line to board; but no one was boarding. By 11:10 AM the place got real crowded; estimate 400-500 people waiting to board. Over a hour passed with limited boarding. Now there were more people coming upstairs into already a crowded room. I asked a rep and was told that when we checked in downstairs our pictures did not take and everyone had to show there passport and another picture taken after you exited the gangway onto the ship. Now it's 12:15 pm and people are getting a little restless. Finally it's our turn or line to board and all of a sudden hear comes the group of approximately 50 people from the ground floor breaking in line and heading onto the ship. Well this did not seat well with us even though we were all standing :D !

Next thing you know I could think of is, "This is Redneck Bob, Live at Five, reporting from the 2nd floor of Terminal 29. There's all type of screaming and yelling. Passengers waiting to board for 1-1/2 hours see others come from below to go ahead of them. I fear Terminal Rage is about to start". Then an agent on a microphone announces to the crowd that they are VIP people. What are we "chop liver" :eek: !

Once the crowd settles down, it's our turn to board. Just then the Fire Alarm goes off and everyone in Terminal 29 must exit the building including yours truly with almost 1000 others some who has been waiting almost 2 hours to board the ship. I knew the routine since the exact same thing happened two years ago in Terminal 26; fire alarm went off. Once outside everyone would have to go through one door and then through security again. Well the Fire Dept showed up, gave the all clear, and now had to get all of us back in the terminal through one door and then through security again. Well we finally got on board before the ship departed; but wait I just remembered we return on 04/13/18; Friday the 13th :eek: !

On the brighter side, it was a great cruise, great service, great food, great weather, etc, etc, etc

I'm Redneck Bob and I see it like I tell it, I mean tell it like I see it !

[Z'Loth]

Was one or two of the passengers named Murphy?

[CaptCrunch]

I will agree with Redneck Bob!! That embarkation was beyond belief in how disorganized it was after the fire alarm. There was NO ONE managing the situation and providing information. There were no Celebrity nor Port employees to be found when we arrived and dropped our luggage off - just a massive clump of people all trying to shove themselves through one door.

 

 

What if this was a real emergency and not a small fire in a restroom trash can?

 

 

I do not fault Celebrity at all - this wasn’t an issue within their control, but I hope this is a huge wake-up call to Celebrity and the Port Employees to put an emergency evacuation plan in place.

 

 

I’m glad it all worked out eventually and that no one was seriously hurt.

[RedneckBob]

Was one or two of the passengers named Murphy?

 

Who is Mr Murphy? I don't think he was on our cruise.

 

Oh I forgot to mention. By Day 7 of the cruise the boat had run out of Diet Coke. How can that happen? Then in Curacao Celebrity purchased Cairibbean Diet Coke. On the can was the logo "Taste of the Caribbean" with a small turtle. Did that mean every can contained some type of tropical creature :eek: By Day 9 the Diet Coke from Curacao was gone. Since I had the Classic Drink Package should I ask for a refund ?

[villauk]

Who is Mr Murphy? I don't think he was on our cruise.

 

Oh I forgot to mention. By Day 7 of the cruise the boat had run out of Diet Coke. How can that happen? Then in Curacao Celebrity purchased Cairibbean Diet Coke. On the can was the logo "Taste of the Caribbean" with a small turtle. Did that mean every can contained some type of tropical creature :eek: By Day 9 the Diet Coke from Curacao was gone. Since I had the Classic Drink Package should I ask for a refund ?

 

Cans of coke on Reflection on the Classic package - surely not ;p!

[helen haywood]

I was on this cruise as well. Luckily for us we just had a brief wait while second pictures were taken onboard. They did run out of Diet Coke. I was Coke Zero would be available “later.” Good thing is all sodas were given in cans not fountain drinks or poured glasses.

 

 

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[CHEZMARYLOU]

We sailed from Pier 29 on Silhouette with no issues. Also sailed once from Pier 18 and boarding was a hot mess, not the fault of Celebrity. Glad we don't drink soft drinks, so far they have not run out of wine. Hoping for a better experience than the OP had on Reflection in November.

[PhD-iva]

......so far they have not run out of wine.

 

 

Lol! There would have been a mutiny! [emoji33]

 

 

 

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[helen haywood]

A sober mutiny! The worst kind!

 

 

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[happicruzer]

Bomb alerts and fire alarms are outside of the cruise ship control. When either is tied into a Coast Guard inspection, embarkation will be a nightmare. Yes, it’s a horrible way to start your cruise, but I’m sitting at home and not on a cruise.

 

That will change in two weeks or so, it will be my time to board and hope that nothing impedes embarkation.

[Z'Loth]

Who is Mr Murphy? I don't think he was on our cruise.

 

Hmmmm..... I tend to live by Murphy's Laws along with Chaos Theory. It sucks when his laws happen to your getaway.

[Luvcrusn]

I'll see your embarkation story and raise. We were boarding Connie one Febraury morning for a Caribbean cruise out of Port Everglades. At about 7AM, while still in our hotel there descended from the heavens a horrible thunderstorm complete with tornado. Power went out, alert sirens blared all over the city. We could see Connie from our room (definitely shouldn't have been standing near the window)! Well, things settled down a few hours later, sun came out and all seemed right with the world until we arrived at the port at about 11:00. There was no power in the terminal, no working lighting, no computers, no Xray security screening equipment or conveyer belts and several thousand hot cranky would be passengers. Microphones of course weren't working either for announcements. The previous passengers were late departing, since they had all been ordered into interior ship spaces for their safety by the captain. The loungers from the pool deck had been blown onto the roof of the terminal. All luggage had to be screened and transported by hand, all documents examined, and verified by hand and boarding done manually. It was, needless to say a total and completely disorganized, chaotic, mess. Somehow, everyone got aboard, the ship got cleaned and we departed about 3 hours late (still could see some lounge chairs on the terminal roof when we departed) for what turned out to be one of our favorite cruises. Just remember....it could always be worse! The Captain could have been named Murphy.

[RedneckBob]

I'll see your embarkation story and raise. We were boarding Connie one Febraury morning for a Caribbean cruise out of Port Everglades. At about 7AM, while still in our hotel there descended from the heavens a horrible thunderstorm complete with tornado. Power went out, alert sirens blared all over the city. We could see Connie from our room (definitely shouldn't have been standing near the window)! Well, things settled down a few hours later, sun came out and all seemed right with the world until we arrived at the port at about 11:00. There was no power in the terminal, no working lighting, no computers, no Xray security screening equipment or conveyer belts and several thousand hot cranky would be passengers. Microphones of course weren't working either for announcements. The previous passengers were late departing, since they had all been ordered into interior ship spaces for their safety by the captain. The loungers from the pool deck had been blown onto the roof of the terminal. All luggage had to be screened and transported by hand, all documents examined, and verified by hand and boarding done manually. It was, needless to say a total and completely disorganized, chaotic, mess. Somehow, everyone got aboard, the ship got cleaned and we departed about 3 hours late (still could see some lounge chairs on the terminal roof when we departed) for what turned out to be one of our favorite cruises. Just remember....it could always be worse! The Captain could have been named Murphy.

 

WOW, and I thought we had it bad.

 

The Captain could have been named Murphy. On one of our last sea days, the Captain made his usual 10 AM announcement on the PA system, "This is your Captain speaking, today I would like to tell you the ship's position but I do not have a clue." :o.

 

Oh, his name is not Murphy, it is Captain Speaking :D

[colombiangirl]

We got very lucky and boarded before the fire alarm went off. Our friends did get stuck in that mess though. All in all an ok cruise. Food in Lumine is excellent. Food in Oceanview very eeeehhhhh. We did not like Murano at all. Thankfully that meal was comped, I'd have been very upset had I paid for it. Opus was ok although we did have a couple of issues.

One thing is for sure. The Celebrity of the past is gone. Food and service leave a lot to be desired. Entertainment not as good as it used to be, out of 11 nights just one good show.

Look for my review with more details.

[RedneckBob]

We got very lucky and boarded before the fire alarm went off. Our friends did get stuck in that mess though. All in all an ok cruise. Food in Lumine is excellent. Food in Oceanview very eeeehhhhh. We did not like Murano at all. Thankfully that meal was comped, I'd have been very upset had I paid for it. Opus was ok although we did have a couple of issues.

One thing is for sure. The Celebrity of the past is gone. Food and service leave a lot to be desired. Entertainment not as good as it used to be, out of 11 nights just one good show.

Look for my review with more details.

 

Totally agree about entertainment in Showroom. 8 different professionals in 8 nites; only one was good. Which one did you like.

[Luvcrusn]

We got very lucky and boarded before the fire alarm went off. Our friends did get stuck in that mess though. All in all an ok cruise. Food in Lumine is excellent. Food in Oceanview very eeeehhhhh. We did not like Murano at all. Thankfully that meal was comped, I'd have been very upset had I paid for it. Opus was ok although we did have a couple of issues.

One thing is for sure. The Celebrity of the past is gone. Food and service leave a lot to be desired. Entertainment not as good as it used to be, out of 11 nights just one good show.

Look for my review with more details.

I'm curious about what happened in Murano. In all of our cruises we've never had a bad meal there. It's always been excellent. Please explain.

[RedneckBob]

We sailed from Pier 29 on Silhouette with no issues. Also sailed once from Pier 18 and boarding was a hot mess, not the fault of Celebrity. Glad we don't drink soft drinks, so far they have not run out of wine. Hoping for a better experience than the OP had on Reflection in November.

 

O my. This OP just booked this cruise again with y'all. You may wish to reconsider your booking. :D

 

Actually best experience in the ABC Islands ever; been there +10 times.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

O my. This OP just booked this cruise again with y'all. You may wish to reconsider your booking. :D

 

Actually best experience in the ABC Islands ever; been there +10 times.

 

Don't think I will reconsider our booking, I'm celebrating a milestone birthday on this cruise. Maybe our good luck will rub off on you. We've done this itinerary on different ships several times.

[killarneylady]

Was one or two of the passengers named Murphy?

 

 

 

?

 

 

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[RedneckBob]

?

 

 

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Murphy refers to Murphy's Law which means that everything that might go wrong will go wrong or something like that, I think.

[G&G]

Hi RNB,

 

Sorry to hear about your experience boarding on the Reflection. Have you left Holland America? Miss your cruise reviews on HAL. Will you be doing a cruise review on Celebrity?

[RedneckBob]

Hi RNB,

 

Sorry to hear about your experience boarding on the Reflection. Have you left Holland America? Miss your cruise reviews on HAL. Will you be doing a cruise review on Celebrity?

 

Still selling on HAL. Plan on detail cruise review on Reflection soon.

[spammie]

UGH! Sounds like our embarkation in December for Reflection. Worst embarkation of my 20+ cruises. Took us 2 hours to get on the ship once inside the terminal. They were pulling people from behind us and sending them over to the Suite check in lines to check in before us. People were pissed! I don't mind waiting my turn but I have a huge problem with people going in front of me when we have been waiting longer. I had to instruct the girl behind the counter how to check us in because she was clueless. Got up to finally get on the ship and my picture was "wrong". Total, 100% cluster F.

[RedneckBob]

UGH! Sounds like our embarkation in December for Reflection. Worst embarkation of my 20+ cruises. Took us 2 hours to get on the ship once inside the terminal. They were pulling people from behind us and sending them over to the Suite check in lines to check in before us. People were pissed! I don't mind waiting my turn but I have a huge problem with people going in front of me when we have been waiting longer. I had to instruct the girl behind the counter how to check us in because she was clueless. Got up to finally get on the ship and my picture was "wrong". Total, 100% cluster F.

 

Too bad. Yes,,there also put Suite people as they came up the escalator were put in front of everyone who had been waiting a long time to board.

 

One interesting thing a fellow CC member noticed. Our key card shows cruise starting April 13, 2018; actually started 04/02/18. Does that mean we should still be on the Reflection? :eek:

[riclop]

Sounds like a great way to start a cruise.