Celebrity: Eastern Mediterranean & Rome - Very Detailed - Part VII: Ship Notes

[CaribbeanBound]

Part VII - Ship Notes

A. Ship and Crew

The Celebrity Reflection was under the command of Captain Dimitrios Kafetzis. We were very impressed with the ship, captain, and his crew. Very friendly and competent. The ship and furnishings were in very good shape. She was very clean.

 

B. Our Cabin Steward

Our room steward (Lucy) did a great job with our cabin (no complaints). She kept the room clean and bed made.

 

C. The Shops

We're not shoppers. You'll find jewelry, watches, clothes, sundries, and souvenirs. Merchandise did not rotate very much. There was something on sale each day. Bottled liquor was not sampled or sold during this cruise due to European Union law, and a Value Added Tax (VAT) was added to all purchases in the shops, spa, iLounge, and photo gallery.

 

D. Internet Service

There are about 16 computers available in the Celebrity iLounge located midship on Deck 6, and while busy at times there always seemed to be an available computer to use. All had internet service and free printing capability. It was nice to be able to use our Elite benefit good for 90 free minutes. The internet was slow, but better than what we experienced on Equinox three years ago. Wi-fi was also available for use on your phone, and there is a keyboard to access the internet in your cabin too (though we didn't test it).

 

How to Access the Ship's Wi-Fi:

• Turn on your phone's Wi-Fi.
  
• Open Chrome or another browser and go to site: Logon.com
  
• Create account
  
• Select a plan (including the 90-minute free Elite benefit option)
  
• Enjoy the internet. It works best in public areas. Not so good in most cabins.
  
• Important: when you finish using the internet, your time will continue to tick unless you specifically logout.
  
• Open Chrome or another browser and go to site: Logoff.com
  
• You'll see a screen showing your remaining time left that you can use. At that point you're officially logged out.
  

E. Kids

We saw a few kids and a couple of babies on board. All were well behaved.

 

F. Dress Code

Formal nights have been replaced with "Evening Chic". We had 2 evening chic nights and 8 smart casual nights. Most men were well dressed (with jackets and ties) on evening chic nights, and most of the women dressed up.

 

Evening Chic is dressier than Smart Casual but intended to be less dressy than Formal attire. "Get glamorous and be sophisticated in your own way". Women should feel comfortable wearing: A cocktail dress or a skirt, pants or designer jeans with an elegant top. Men should feel comfortable wearing: pants or designer jeans with a dress shirt, button-down long-sleeve shirt or sweater. A sport coat or blazer is optional but was also the norm.

 

With "Smart Casual" women should feel comfortable wearing skirt, pants or jeans with a casual top, and men should feel comfortable wearing pants or jeans with a sport shirt.

 

Note that T-shirts, swimsuits, robes, bare feet, tank tops, baseball caps and pool wear are not allowed in the main dining room or specialty restaurant at any time. Shorts and flip-flops are not allowed in the evening hours. The dress code will be enforced at all restaurants. Guests are asked to follow the dress code in the Reflections Theater for all evening performances.

 

G. Time Changes

The ship stayed on "local/port time" so we set our clocks forward one hour while in Greece. It was great to be on the same time as the ports we visited since this helps alleviate any confusion between "ship time" and "local/port time".

 

H. Tendering

The ship docked at all but one port, which made getting off the ship really easy. The gangplank was typically on Deck 2, but was sometimes on Deck 5 --- depending upon the tide and facilities at the port. We tendered in only one port: Santorini. Tendering involves taking a small boat of 100 to 300 passengers from ship to shore, and back again. Tender priority is first given to passengers on Celebrity's tours (which is as good a reason as any to book a ship's tour in a tender port, especially if it's an ocean-related tour), then to Suites, Elite, Elite Plus and Zenith.

 

On prior cruises we received tender tickets. Essentially the lower your number, the earlier you can get off the ship. On this cruise we were simply invited to report to a specific lounge between 8:30 am and 11:00 am (the expected busy tender time) to be escorted to the tenders, but we didn't take advantage of this service. Instead, we simply went straight to the tenders on Deck 2 at 7:00 am when we were cleared and caught the first tender off the ship.

 

I. Upon Returning to the Ship

When you return to the queue to re-board the ship after a day in port, you are greeted with ice cold hand towels, and fruit-infused water. This is a really nice Celebrity touch.

 

Complete review, parts 1-12 with images: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/eastern-mediterranean.html