CHICAGOPAUL - LIVE!!!!!!! CRUISE BLOG - November 5th Celebrity Reflection!!!!!!!!!

[AnJ]

Good morning, Paul, I was wondering how your day went in Colon?  We are going on the the same itinerary in January and was wondering how if you or any other fellow cruisers had taken the trip through the canal that is offered by the ship. 

[Lovesealife]

Paul, thank you so much for another fantastic review.  We enjoy traveling along and hope to meet you in our travels one day! You are getting us pumped to board the Reflection on Nov 16th. Quick question... do you know if they are playing the NFL football games anywhere on the ship?

[chicagopaul]

Well we have made it back on board after a tour in Manzanillo and Puerto Viejo today. The internet is still dragging but hopefully it improves so I can post more photos and video for you all. The tour went well today. No rain which was perfect! I just wanted to follow up on a few items before I try to post more photos. 

 

Yesterday in Colon Panama we stayed on board and did not get off the ship. We were planning on booking a half day tour but never did. The weather was not all that great so I assume it worked out for the best. 

 

I was talking to someone who did a full day tour to visit and go through the locks. It was a long day for them but they said they learned a lot and that it was worth it. The town of Colon itself is extremely poor and there is not much there so if you’re porting here and want to do something it is highly advisable you book an excursion. 

 

Last night we had dinner at Lawn Club. It was their Ultimate BBQ we booked. It was $69 (I believe plus grat I need to double check). It included a welcome cocktail or two on the lawn which was either a Grass is Greener or a rum punch. Then at dinner there was a choice of a red or white. Though you could use your drink package and get whatever you wanted. 

 

The food was served family style and boy was there a ton of good! We started with some different salads. Then flat breads cake out. Then shrimp cocktail. Then each meat was served individually with the lobster at the end. Then finally 4 mini desserts. It was very well attended. There was live music which was a nice treat. Service was good and food was cooked very well. It was a different take than what is on the normal menu so for us who know the menu so well it was a very welcome change and worth the money. Pictures to come! 

[brockmom]

Nice to hear you thought it was good value!

sounds nice with the music happening .

have you done a chefs table dinner recently ?

curious of your opinion...considering we have the drink package

which you felt was the best bang for the buck.

thanks

brockmom

[chicagopaul]

Menu from last night. Yes you get ALL of this!! 

[chicagopaul]

6 hours ago, Lovesealife said:

Paul, thank you so much for another fantastic review.  We enjoy traveling along and hope to meet you in our travels one day! You are getting us pumped to board the Reflection on Nov 16th. Quick question... do you know if they are playing the NFL football games anywhere on the ship?

 

I’ll check on this for you. Usually it’s in the Casino Bar. 

8 minutes ago, brockmom said:

Nice to hear you thought it was good value!

sounds nice with the music happening .

have you done a chefs table dinner recently ?

curious of your opinion...considering we have the drink package

which you felt was the best bang for the buck.

thanks

brockmom

 

We haven’t done any of the Chefs tables recently for that reason. Usually they be a bit pricey and since we always have the drink package we never felt the need. Ironically we’ve had great sommeliers so for instance when we got to know the Murano sommelier some of the wine she gave us after we dinner there every night on the last cruise was the wine offered at the Chefs table. 

[SoccerMom#3]

8 hours ago, Lovesealife said:

Paul, thank you so much for another fantastic review.  We enjoy traveling along and hope to meet you in our travels one day! You are getting us pumped to board the Reflection on Nov 16th. Quick question... do you know if they are playing the NFL football games anywhere on the ship?

Last week on the transatlantic sailing the NFL football games were on the ESPN channels and the extra sports channel on the room TVs.  I was so happy to see my Broncos....until they lost the game

[crz4all]

44 minutes ago, SoccerMom#3 said:

Last week on the transatlantic sailing the NFL football games were on the ESPN channels and the extra sports channel on the room TVs.  I was so happy to see my Broncos....until they lost the game

Last year on the Silhouette transatlantic they also showed College and NFL games at the Casino Bar

[Forever42]

2 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

Menu from last night. Yes you get ALL of this!! 

 

 

Thanks for the review!! This was one of the events I was very curious about. I'm on the fence since I'm mostly vegetarian but will "indulge" every once in a while, and the menu looks great, and I love eating outside. We don't get to do that too often in Seattle.

 

Were you seated by yourselves or with others? And if with others, was food served family style? We're just curious about that as we're not shellfish fans so wouldn't eat the shrimp or lobster.

[youwash]

12 hours ago, AnJ said:

Good morning, Paul, I was wondering how your day went in Colon?  We are going on the the same itinerary in January and was wondering how if you or any other fellow cruisers had taken the trip through the canal that is offered by the ship. 

We have done the ships excursion that is basically a ferry ride through the canal. We loved it. It was a long day, we were almost 2 hours late returning to the ship. It is a bus ride to the boat and there is a very good lunch served. You travel through the locks to the Pacific side and then are bussed back to the ship. Loved the experience and would do it  again!  Prior to our trip I purchased a few books from Amazon and read up on the canal and it made it even better. The Path Between the Seas is long but a very informative book that I have read more than once!

[upwarduk]

8 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

 

I was talking to someone who did a full day tour to visit and go through the locks. It was a long day for them but they said they learned a lot and that it was worth it. The town of Colon itself is extremely poor and there is not much there so if you’re porting here and want to do something it is highly advisable you book an excursion. 

 

Excellent advice, especially as the sewage system is primitive. Some waste pipes end half way up the wall. Not a place where wandering by yourself is reccomended.

[AnJ]

9 hours ago, youwash said:

We have done the ships excursion that is basically a ferry ride through the canal. We loved it. It was a long day, we were almost 2 hours late returning to the ship. It is a bus ride to the boat and there is a very good lunch served. You travel through the locks to the Pacific side and then are bussed back to the ship. Loved the experience and would do it  again!  Prior to our trip I purchased a few books from Amazon and read up on the canal and it made it even better. The Path Between the Seas is long but a very informative book that I have read more than once!

Thanks so much.  I’m going to book this excursion via the ship and very much looking forward to it. I just downloaded two books to read about the incredible feat of building this wonder. 

[chicagopaul]

Good Morning! It is a beautiful sea day here on the Reflection. The internet is working a bit better and I believe I’ve found a good way to resize photos and post on the cruise critic mobile site so I’m hoping to get you properly caught up on photos today. Hopefully that helps with the Monday blues. 

 

Below is the daily for today. Apparently there was a leak in our ice bucket for our wine last night so please excuse that rather dismal looking daily. 

 

 

[chicagopaul]

Here are a few photos from the Ultimate BBQ. I didn’t take photos much of the food because we were at a group table and the food was family style. 

 

 

[Lovesealife]

14 hours ago, SoccerMom#3 said:

Last week on the transatlantic sailing the NFL football games were on the ESPN channels and the extra sports channel on the room TVs.  I was so happy to see my Broncos....until they lost the game

Thank you! We watched the Broncos win the super bowl from a cruise stateroom!

[chicagopaul]

Here are some photos from our tour yesterday in Costa Rica. We attended a wild life refuge and then the town of Puerto Viejo. I visited this area for a little over a week 10 years ago and was very excited to see it again. 

 

I’ll give you the full review and play by play of the tour shortly but since internet is working well I want to get these photos up! 

 

 

[Eloise4Ever]

34 minutes ago, chicagopaul said:

... I believe I’ve found a good way to resize photos and post on the cruise critic mobile site...

 

 

Hi Paul, I am considering doing a live blog on my next cruise and would be very grateful for any tips you can give on resizing and posting photos. I will be using an iPad. 

 

Oh and on a completely different subject, if you took any photos of sloths on your Costa Rica tour I would love to see them. Love those guys!

[chicagopaul]

4 minutes ago, Eloise4Ever said:

 

Hi Paul, I am considering doing a live blog on my next cruise and would be very grateful for any tips you can give on resizing and posting photos. I will be using an iPad. 

 

Oh and on a completely different subject, if you took any photos of sloths on your Costa Rica tour I would love to see them. Love those guys!

 

No problem. I’ll post some tips on here for you. With the new mobile version of the app it’s taken me a little while to get used to it since I used TapaTalk in the past. There are some nice benefits to the new site but a few flaws that make posting from mobile difficult. But I think I have them all figured out now so you’ll be all set. 

 

Puctures from Costa Rica next! 

[chicagopaul]

Photos from Costa Rica posted above. I’ll have much more posted and in full quality when I return. 

 

Here are a few photos from around Cartagena. 

 

 

[chicagopaul]

13 hours ago, Forever42 said:

 

Thanks for the review!! This was one of the events I was very curious about. I'm on the fence since I'm mostly vegetarian but will "indulge" every once in a while, and the menu looks great, and I love eating outside. We don't get to do that too often in Seattle.

 

Were you seated by yourselves or with others? And if with others, was food served family style? We're just curious about that as we're not shellfish fans so wouldn't eat the shrimp or lobster.

 

We were seated with others. There were roughly 8 rows of long tables (maybe 20 per row). The pizzas and salads were served family style. All the other items, fish and meat were served from giant platters that the waiter would carry around and ask if you wanted any. I’m sure you could ask for extra flatbread or extra meat items of the ones you like, especially if you gave them a heads up. 

[h20cruzer]

Here is to you and Edward. The BBQ looks great. Here they are having an Indian food night in Sushi on 5. My friend Liesa and Marleen are going, but I am not spicy food and I don’t get along at this point in my life.

 They were able to make me a bloody Mary with just tomato juice vodka and a skewer of Olives I was very happy about that .

cheers 

Norma

[Eloise4Ever]

1 hour ago, chicagopaul said:

 

No problem. I’ll post some tips on here for you. With the new mobile version of the app it’s taken me a little while to get used to it since I used TapaTalk in the past. There are some nice benefits to the new site but a few flaws that make posting from mobile difficult. But I think I have them all figured out now so you’ll be all set. 

1

 

Thanks so much Paul. I've never used Tapatalk so at least I won't have to unlearn anything!

[chicagopaul]

1 hour ago, h20cruzer said:

Here is to you and Edward. The BBQ looks great. Here they are having an Indian food night in Sushi on 5. My friend Liesa and Marleen are going, but I am not spicy food and I don’t get along at this point in my life.

 They were able to make me a bloody Mary with just tomato juice vodka and a skewer of Olives I was very happy about that .

cheers 

Norma

 

Looks beautiful! Cheers! Hope you’re having a wonderful time! 

[chicagopaul]

So last night we had dinner in our suite. We asked our butler Walter to create an Indian dinner for us and did he ever. It was perfect. Notice how much we loved the fish! 

 

 

[musicalianne]

That Indian Dinner looks fantastic!!  Thanks for sharing your pics!  Enjoying your review!