LIVE from Celebrity Reflection - 4/27/18 - 10 nt Italy & Greek Isles Cruise

[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

After returning to the ship from our Athens touring we relaxed in the cabin for awhile as we sailed away. I popped up to the pool bar for my afternoon frozen drink, a mango colada today. Sujith stopped by at a certain point to drop of a menu for the brunch at Tuscan Grill which was the next day so we could make a decision on whether to go. He encouraged us to decide very soon as it was filling up. After reviewing the menu with Mike we decided to go although I was surprised that there was nothing really Italian on the menu or anything related to Tuscan. We saw Sujith again on the way to dinner and asked him to set up a reservation for 11am.

 

Dinner was at Luminae again. There was a little chef’s treat of some tiny scallops to start. For our appetizer we both had an appetizer sized portion of the Pastrami Short Rib Ravioli and then I followed that with the smoked potato soup; both were good. For the entree we both had the roasted chicken which was okay; prepared a bit differently from one of the previous nights but not as good. For dessert Mike had the dark chocolate soufflé while I had the macaron; both were excellent. As per usual we finished off the evening with some play in the casino.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

Here is the Daily from Saturday’s day at sea.

 

 

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[I_love_the_wake]

Thanks so much for your extremely informative posts, they are so useful. I especially love seeing the dailies. Looks like you had a great time [emoji3]

 

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[WonderMan3]

Thanks so much for your extremely informative posts, they are so useful. I especially love seeing the dailies. Looks like you had a great time [emoji3]

 

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You’re welcome! We had a great time. Nice ship and a fantastic itinerary. I will add my official review once I finish with the day by day updates.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

Saturday was our second sea day and we finally had the chance to sleep in until 9:30am. That was much needed rest after all our early and busy days. We went to Tuscan Grill at 11am to try their special brunch. It was a pretty large spread with a huge dessert and pastry area, omelette station, pasta station, crepe and waffle station, carving station and a variety of both hot and cold foods. There were some musicians providing some live music during the brunch. The atmosphere was nice looking out over the wake and with the musicians but honestly the food was really not much different than what you would find at Oceanview. I guess what you are paying for is to dine with a view without having to deal with the crowds. It cost $39 per person. Not sure if it was worth it but it was something different.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[upwarduk]

 

 

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Brunch used to be free in MDR on a sea day towards the end of the cruise. Is this no longer the case?

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

Brunch used to be free in MDR on a sea day towards the end of the cruise. Is this no longer the case?

 

 

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According to another post here on CC that was discontinued awhile ago.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

After our Tuscan brunch we spent the sea day catching up on some work and personal items online as well as some time in the casino. At one point just after 2pm the spa called our room while Mike was there saying that I was late for my appointment. He told them I had cancelled it a couple days before. Mike told me about it and when I saw Sujith later that afternoon I let him know. He said he had cancelled the appointment so he would follow up to find out what happened. But he guaranteed we would not be charged for it. I also followed up with him on a dinner reservation request he made for us at Lawn Club Grill for that night. We had requested 7:30 or 8 but the best they could do was 8:30. He said he would keep checking for an earlier time but held the 8:30 for us. Seeing him again I told him that 8:30 would be fine after all as the Captain has announced earlier in the day that the ship would be sailing through the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily around 8pm. So I figured it would be something to go up on deck to watch before dinner.

 

After getting dressed for dinner we took a walk up to the Sunset Bar as we approached the Strait. The sun was particularly brilliant and we wound up having a wonderful sunset and afterglow. I hadn’t brought my camera up on deck with me as we were going straight to dinner so I captured what I could with my IPhone.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

Our dinner on Saturday was at Lawn Club Grill. Now we had tried LCG for the first time on our Silhouette cruise this past January and had a horrible experience so we were a bit apprehensive. But we wanted to give it one more shot before writing it off completely as our Silhouette experience may have been an isolated incident. Service right away was much better from both the host and our server. For food we started with a half-pepperoni/half-BBQ chicken pizza. This was good but I think the one we had on Silhouette was better. I visited the salad bar which had some good choices although no blue cheese dressing; that was not isolated to this restaurant alone as I never saw blue cheese dressing at Oceanview the entire cruise. And for the meat course we had the bratwurst, which was excellent, and I also got a Filet Mignon, which I had to ask them to cook longer to get it medium instead of medium rare. That same issue happened on Silhouette. For sides we got the lobster Mac & Cheese (only one reasonable piece of lobster meat and then the rest were tiny bits), creamed corn (which I liked but Mike thought was too runny) and the baked beans (Mike said they were poor). For dessert we had the hot chocolate chip cookie which is the best thing on their menu. Overall it was a mixed bag but not a terrible experience. I wouldn’t go rushing back but wouldn’t write it off either.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

Here is the Daily from Sunday.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

And port shopping info

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

On Sunday we had to wake up very early at 5:30am as we were meeting a driver guide at 7:30 in Naples. We decided to have room service breakfast for the first time this cruise. We had it brought at 6:30 after we had finished showering and dressing. I just had a ham and cheese omelette with bacon and hash browns while Mike had some croissants and a fruit bowl. All were good. The room service on Celebrity has definitely improved since we started cruising with them in 2013.

 

We left the ship at 7:20. Our driver was to meet us just outside the terminal inner security gate. We reserved a tour through RomeInLimo who we had used last year for tours in Rome and the Amalfi Coast and airport transfers including at the start of this trip. They provide excellent service. We were pleased to see that our driver guide was Alessandro who had been our guide for the Amalfi Coast last year. He remembered us too which was nice.

 

 

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[Maz_1]

You will get Shampoo, Conditioner and Body Lotion but probably not Shower Gel. I think officially Balcony Cabins do not get Shower Gel but I know we got left some in our cabin on our last cruise.

 

You do get shower gel

[abbydancer2003]

Hi Adam,

 

I'm now following this - we did this cruise (in an aft sky suite) last September - it was DH's first Celebrity cruise. I'm enjoying reliving our experiences through yours and your great pictures.

 

I wonder if Katya was the same hostess we had in Luminae - we thought she was excellent. Our Michael's concierges were awesome - we had Michaela and Adriana, so I wonder if Adriana is the same.

 

One question - on your Malta posts, there are pictures of an old city. Was that actually on Goya? It looked like M'dina to me.

 

And you did a whole lot more in Rhodes and Mykonos than we did.

[bluwes]

Love your pictures of Athens. We spent 3 days there pre-cruise on the Carnival Vista in 2016.

When we saw the Evzones guarding the Presidential Palace they were in their summer uniforms with the distinctive kilt. They are trained to march like equestrian horses, must be murder on their thigh muscles !

We also did the trip out to the Temple of Poseidon, and like you didn't think it was worth the long trip out. The restaurant you dined at looks familiar as well.

We will be back in Athens on the Edge sailing in September 2019, where we plan to use public transport and do our own thing in the busy Plaka district where we stayed previously.

 

Absolutely loving the review, and our neighbours are now on board Reflection doing the western Med

[WonderMan3]

Hi Adam,

 

 

 

I'm now following this - we did this cruise (in an aft sky suite) last September - it was DH's first Celebrity cruise. I'm enjoying reliving our experiences through yours and your great pictures.

 

 

 

I wonder if Katya was the same hostess we had in Luminae - we thought she was excellent. Our Michael's concierges were awesome - we had Michaela and Adriana, so I wonder if Adriana is the same.

 

 

 

One question - on your Malta posts, there are pictures of an old city. Was that actually on Goya? It looked like M'dina to me.

 

 

 

And you did a whole lot more in Rhodes and Mykonos than we did.

 

 

 

It was probably the same Katya; was she blonde?

 

We didn’t really interact with the concierges. Only met them briefly at the helipad sail-in. We never made it to Michael’s Club.

 

The Old City you see from the Malta day was on Gozo. It is the main town called Victoria and my photos were from the citadel overlooking the town. It does look similar to Mdina; we went there last year.

 

 

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[WonderMan3]

Love your pictures of Athens. We spent 3 days there pre-cruise on the Carnival Vista in 2016.

 

When we saw the Evzones guarding the Presidential Palace they were in their summer uniforms with the distinctive kilt. They are trained to march like equestrian horses, must be murder on their thigh muscles !

 

We also did the trip out to the Temple of Poseidon, and like you didn't think it was worth the long trip out. The restaurant you dined at looks familiar as well.

 

We will be back in Athens on the Edge sailing in September 2019, where we plan to use public transport and do our own thing in the busy Plaka district where we stayed previously.

 

 

 

Absolutely loving the review, and our neighbours are now on board Reflection doing the western Med

 

 

 

If you haven’t done it already I would recommend touring the Agora with a guide. It was interesting. But only if you like ancient history and ruins. It’s right next to Plaka.

 

 

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