Reflection March 11th 2019 - Live! 🍸😎

[Welland]

Any chance that you have been able to find out who the senior officers/personnel will be starting April and for the TA crossing?  Thanks so much.

[If only]

On 3/15/2019 at 5:28 PM, Josie2 said:

I have a Nexus card.  Have never seen a separate line for this at the port, only the airport.  This change I’ve read of is quite recent, as we cruised in November in Reflection and were fine.  Since then and perhaps related to the shutdown, I’ve heard all US citizens are off first.  Everyone else waits    So I’ll be interested in Mr Ts input.  

You have to ask for the Nexus lane, there is only a very small sign which nobody can see, but we literally walked right down the middle because we had the Nexus card, you may also have to show it but it’s like a big secret but well worth it.

We were on the Reflection in Feb & never had a problem.  Just advise them you have Nexus or as they call it for US citizens Global Entry.

[If only]

10 minutes ago, Welland said:

Any chance that you have been able to find out who the senior officers/personnel will be starting April and for the TA crossing?  Thanks so much.

We were told in Feb that the big changeover is after the crossing. Christophe will be the HD, Cemal will be the Food & Beverage Director, also leaving will be Jan Ramos but don’t know her replacement.

[Welland]

4 minutes ago, If only said:

We were told in Feb that the big changeover is after the crossing. Christophe will be the HD, Cemal will be the Food & Beverage Director, also leaving will be Jan Ramos but don’t know her replacement.

Thanks...   So if the changeover is happening after the crossing can you please advise who will be on board to take the ship over.   I am taking from your post that Christophe and Cemal are the replacement officers.  Also who will be the Captain taking the ship over?   Greatly appreciated.

 

 

4 minutes ago, If only said:

We were told in Feb that the big changeover is after the crossing. Christophe will be the HD, Cemal will be the Food & Beverage Director, also leaving will be Jan Ramos but don’t know her replacement.

 

4 minutes ago, If only said:

We were told in Feb that the big changeover is after the crossing. Christophe will be the HD, Cemal will be the Food & Beverage Director, also leaving will be Jan Ramos but don’t know her replacement.

 

4 minutes ago, If only said:

We were told in Feb that the big changeover is after the crossing. Christophe will be the HD, Cemal will be the Food & Beverage Director, also leaving will be Jan Ramos but don’t know her replacement.

 

[the wiggs]

On 2/27/2019 at 8:49 PM, the wiggs said:

Gavin & Sue from East Yorkshire - England

looking forward to our first cruise with Celebrity Cruises on Reflection to The Caribbean (first time here as well ) would appreciate any good trip ideas that can be booked other than the ships. Look forward to hearing from you 😃

 

On 2/28/2019 at 4:03 PM, onespots said:

Hello Gavin & Sue

The Reflection is a very vessel & you will enjoy your fellow passengers & Celebrity's service levels. We use TripAdivors for current ideas & rankings of the vendors who have been reviewed on their site. Just Goggle TripAvisors or take a list of the ports you will be visiting & type in "things to do". Since you have not stated the time you are sailing, the ports you are visiting, & the lenght of your cruise, it is difficult to give you good ideas. I do agree you will be better served by taking private excursions.

 

Happy Travels,   John

 

On 2/28/2019 at 5:21 PM, the wiggs said:

Hi John

We are sailing from Fort Lauderdale for a 10 night Caribbean Cruise

Antigua arrive 8am depart 4pm

Barbados arrive 10am depart 7pm

St Lucia arrive 8am depart 5pm

St Kitts arrive 8am depart 5pm

St Maarten arrive 7am depart 4pm

any ideas for trips and the company name would be great ! 

Thanks Sue & Gavin

 

 

[If only]

21 minutes ago, Welland said:

Thanks...   So if the changeover is happening after the crossing can you please advise who will be on board to take the ship over.   I am taking from your post that Christophe and Cemal are the replacement officers.  Also who will be the Captain taking the ship over?   Greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

No idea who the Captain will be as the other alternate went to the Edge.

Arjan told us that his replacement would be Christophe Belaubre either end of April or beginning in as HD. Cemal Ozcelik advised us that he would return on I believe May 8, as Food & Beverage Director.  Jon Pilling usually replaces Jan Ramos as Guest Relations manager. Don’t know about the rest.

[MR_T]

Saturday 16th March 2019

 

Port Colon

Tour - Almiza Tours - Rainforest, Colonial Fort & Canal Expansion (CL1) 

Price - $60pp 

Time of tour - was told 5-6hrs (actual 7hrs) this wasn’t a good thing! 

Tour transport - 20 seater bus (it was pretty full) 

Tour Crew - 3 (including driver) 

 

So, after yesterday’s tour we had high hopes today’s would be as interesting and worthwhile as we were looking forward to this port of call as much as the one yesterday and the one tomorrow as all 3 are new to the both of us, 

 

However, we realised quite quickly that we wasn’t going to be as lucky but I guess at the time not by how much different 2 days could be... Now this is partly our own fault as we really didn’t research these ports as much as we really should have done and normally do, I have no real answer as to why we didn’t but just know that we didn’t do our normal planning, 

 

Our Tour was supposed to be 5-6 hours and on boarding the bus we were told the plan of the day and was told we would be back at the port at 3pm, this sounded good as we like to get back and relax for the afternoon before the ship sets sail onto the next stop, Our first stop was to do a walk in the rain forest to hopefully see some wildlife, The journey to this stop was meant to be around 20-30 mins or so, We stopped onroute as we needed to get a car ferry over to the rain forest... what we wasn’t expecting was the 20-30min wait for the ferry and then another 10 minute ferry ride over, On arriving at the rain forest we went for a 20 minute walk through a section of the forest where we did see & hear some howling monkeys, I’d say the sound of these animals was more impressive vs the sight as they were quite far away, we wasn’t lucky enough to see anything else but I guess the walk was ok, not great and certainly not what we was expecting but ok, 

 

We then went onto the next stage of the tour to an old fort, first of all the road there was terrible so we had to go so slow it just made the drive even longer in the uncomfortable bus we had, On arriving at the fort on first impression it seemed like a good spot but in reality it took 15 mins to walk around and cover all the aspects of it and to be honest other than a couple of nice picture opertunites there really wasn’t anything there... So after around 20 mins sitting in the heat we head off for the final stop via The ferry again... this time not so long waiting but still the process takes time, 

 

The final stop was a visit to the new canal section and we was told we would be there an hour, As we arrived we saw a container ship halfway through and I guess this was good as it’s was listed as the chances of seeing something as low... again to be honest there really isn’t much to see and an hour was a huge over kill in our opinion, So by this time we was ready to call it a day and get back to the ship, We headed back to the bus to wait out the last 10 mins of the hour on the bus as it had The A/C on and it was still really hot & humid, The guild came on the bus to announce that as there was another container ship about to go through they were going to stay there longer... we decided we would just sit it out as we really couldn’t work out what we’d actually see from what we saw already, maybe we missed something but that’s life I guess but I doubt it! 

 

So over all we just felt we spent far to long in the bus, the 3 stops really wasn’t very good, and the actual plan of the day wasn’t very good, there was no warning of potential long wait times for the ferry, there was no warning of how bad the roads were, and if I’m being completely honest I don’t think the guilds were that great, saying that one of them (the main guy) had plenty of info to give but the secondary one which seemed to be there to try and spot animals in the trees from the bus seemed to actually be drifting off to sleepsvile most of the second half of the tour! 

 

So I guess all I can say is “you win some you lose some...” yesterday we won but today we lost... fingers crossed tomorrow is another win 👍🏻 

[MR_T]

1 hour ago, Welland said:

Any chance that you have been able to find out who the senior officers/personnel will be starting April and for the TA crossing?  Thanks so much.

Not yet... been off the ship all day! I’ll try and find out but might take some time... I’m also off all day tomorrow 

[IrishLassie]

1 hour ago, MR_T said:

Hi, 

 

I did adk about Taz and he’s still on edge, as for how long they didn’t know, 

 

Regarding the lawn lawn club grill we booked as part of a package but on its own it’s $45 USD, 

 

Thanks so much for the info. Sorry to hear that Taz is on Edge, was looking forward to seeing him again. Oh well, maybe we'll just have to book Edge!

[Welland]

Thanks Mr. T

Enjoy your time on land and look forward to your updates on ports as well.

 

Appreciate that this is your vacation time and truly do thank you for finding out about officers, senior personnel, etc at your convenience.

 

Have fun!

[MR_T]

Sunday 17th March 2019 - Puerto Limón Costa Rica 

 

daily info! 

[MR_T]

Today’s Tour Info, 

 

So today we are heading off shortly for our Sloth Lovers Tour... I’m sure many people have a soft spot for these lazy weird looking creatures but I’d say my wife tops them all... Julie is ever so slightly obsessed with these little fur balls so fingers crossed we get to see some on our tour as it might not be a fun place to be if she doesn’t 😂 leading up to this cruise it’s all Julie’s been talking about so fingers crossed everyone 🤞🏻

 

Also so fingers crossed the weather improves a little as it’s currently raining and forecast on/off for most of the day, 

 

I’ll post a proper review of the tour later but I’m sure it’s going to be a good one 👍🏻

 

Chat later 

[MR_T]

Last nights dinner - 

 

So after our some what disappointing tour yesterday by the time we settled and cleaned up we just didn’t fancy going for a long dinner in the main dining room so we opted for the room service option last night, quick & simple and to be honest just what we needed/wanted, we both enjoyed what we had and I may even be tempted to do it again towards the end of the cruise... 

 

I did venture to the casino to donate some more money to the celebrity cruise fund and unfortunately that’s all I did... no wins no fun! 😡😂

 

other than that not not a lot to report as we didn’t really do anything, so kind of an early easy night 👍🏻

 

Chat later 

[Reel Love]

14 hours ago, the wiggs said:

 

 

 

Hi Sue and Gavin.  Not sure what type of activities you are interested in but if you don't mind me chiming in for a private tour recommendation, we booked Bolador tours in Barbados and they were fantastic.  It was a sail, snorkel, swim, lunch and beverages on a catamaran.  We had a great time and the staff are professional but fun.  They take you to two snorkelling sites, and when that is done and you are sailing out to your swim and lunch location, you get a lovely sightseeing tour of the West (I think???) side of the island but from the ocean while enjoying some reggae music and rum punch.  They pick you up at the ship and drive you back, and if I recall correctly they did not include this travel time in the actual length of the tour! 

The cost IMO was reasonable for what you got, and when you e-mail them they are very responsive.  I don't remember the exact cost, but I do recall that when I compared it to a very similar ship's tour, the Bolador tour was at least an hour, maybe two hours longer, less money, and lunch and beverages were included.  And the best part is it was not crammed full of passengers.  We booked our group of ten, and another group of 12 who by fluke someone in their group knew someone in our group and was also from Southern Ontario, joined us.  It was just our two groups on board!  We used them in 2017 so you may want to check them out on Trip Advisor (that's how I found them) to look at any recent reviews.  I would not hesitate to book them again in an instant next time I cruise back to Barbados.  

[Eloise4Ever]

2 hours ago, MR_T said:

So today we are heading off shortly for our Sloth Lovers Tour... I’m sure many people have a soft spot for these lazy weird looking creatures but I’d say my wife tops them all... Julie is ever so slightly obsessed with these little fur balls so fingers crossed we get to see some on our tour as it might not be a fun place to be if she doesn’t 😂 leading up to this cruise it’s all Julie’s been talking about so fingers crossed everyone 🤞🏻

 

 

So excited to hear about this tour Tony. I am 100% in agreement with Julie on this, sloths are the best . Love those guys! ❤️ I have all my fingers and toes crossed that Julie gets to see lots of these adorable creatures today 👍🏻.

[gfkcruiser]

Our family did a private tour in Puerto Limon.  Boat tour of the rain forest and other stops.  Was raining the entire time in the rain forest and all we saw were birds!  However, to make up for this, we were taken to a farm and a home for sloths.  Was quite interesting and have a photo of our son holding one of these sloths.  Hope Julie has success.

 

Enjoying your review. Will be on board 4/22 for TA.

[MR_T]

Company - Greenway Tours

Tour Booked - Sloths Lovers Tour (or not as the case might be)

Actual Tour Recieved - 6 in 1 Tour Highlights 

Transport - 20/22 seater bus 

Pax - pretty full (Aprox 20)

 

Well, let me start by saying we had a horrible day weather wise, considering it’s not the raining season I guess we were just unlucky to have rain all day... and I mean rain and lots of it!!!

 

As for the tour we’ll all I can say is we got off to a wrong start... and it didn’t get a lot better! 

 

Firstly and if if it wasn’t raining so hard it wouldn’t be an issue but the website and booking confirmation stated that we would be met within the cruise port as they were the only independent tour operator that was allowed to be inside the port, however we found the guild standing outside the gates waiting for us after we had to walk around in the rain looking for them inside the port area... after that we were walked down the road to the bus, the bus was ok, pretty standard for a tour bus I guess, 

 

on on the bus we got talking to others and found out they were doing a different tour than the one we booked... I asked the guild and he said it’s not a problem as we were all doing the same tour... I stated again that we actually booked a different tour vs everyone else on the bus and he just seemed to shrug it off saying it’s ok... we just thought maybe we were going to a central starting point as the other tour and the one we booked did overlap, so we expected to be split up further down the road, We didn’t we did the same tour as everyone else, we picked the tour we picked because we didn’t have any interest in the city tour/banana plantation/shopping stop/ or whatever the other thing was we booked it because Julie is such a fan of Sloths so we wanted as much exposure as possible, 

 

The actual tour we booked was called “Sloths lovers tour” which had 2 parts to it and  the other tour on the bus was called “6 in 1 tour highlights” which yes you guessed it had 6 parts to it! Both were listed as 6 hours so I can only imagine that the sloth lovers tour would include a lot longer looking for Sloths in the rainforest... that is what we was expecting...

 

Now don't get me wrong the guild was good, he was friendly, had loads of good info and new his stuff, and if we had booked the 6 in 1 tour it would be a completely different review but as we didn’t get what we signed up for it just left us feeling disappointed in what we experienced in our potentially only visits to sloth country as due to the bad weather we didn’t really get any clear views of the creatures, yes we saw some but only from quite a distance and due to the rain we couldn’t really get decent shots nor was it very easy to spot them, 

 

And just to note we did actually ask about min numbers etc for tours to run and they confirmed before we booked that whatever tours get booked get run, I guess we were the only 2 that booked the tour so they just added us to the other one without an email to ask us if that was ok and maybe just assumed/hoped we’d either not notice or not care... very wrong and poor customer service

 

I do realise reading this and the other reviews on this cruise I might sound like I’m high maintanace or just like to moan a little... but honestly, all I want out of anything I book is what I book... 

 

chat later 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2019 by MR_T

[MR_T]

2 hours ago, gfkcruiser said:

Our family did a private tour in Puerto Limon.  Boat tour of the rain forest and other stops.  Was raining the entire time in the rain forest and all we saw were birds!  However, to make up for this, we were taken to a farm and a home for sloths.  Was quite interesting and have a photo of our son holding one of these sloths.  Hope Julie has success.

 

Enjoying your review. Will be on board 4/22 for TA.

How cool, you’re tour sounds like they had people that care running it, unfortunately we were not so lucky 🙁 maybe another time 👍🏻

[Luvcrusn]

Sound like you have had incredibly bad luck this trip with tours, but it also sounds like you're keeping an attitude of have fun in spite of disappointments.

[Reel Love]

1 hour ago, MR_T said:

 

I do realise reading this and the other reviews on this cruise I might sound like I’m high maintanace or just like to moan a little... but honestly, all I want out of anything I book is what I book... 

 

 

 

 

You are not moaning Mr T, or high maintenance IMO.  I would be sorely disappointed as well if a tour I did not sign up for was substituted for the tour I really did want.  As you noted, at least some communication ahead of time should have occurred so that you could make an informed decision if you wanted to proceed or not.  At the very least, since the tour you booked was actually cancelled through no fault of your own, one of the options offered to you should have been a full refund.

Suggestion.....make note of this situation in your on-line survey after you return.  Celebrity may offer you at least a partial refund/bit of credit for your next cruise for the inconvenience.

Enjoying your review and hope the rest of the cruise goes well  :)

[tbugstwo]

1 hour ago, Reel Love said:

You are not moaning Mr T, or high maintenance IMO.  I would be sorely disappointed as well if a tour I did not sign up for was substituted for the tour I really did want.  As you noted, at least some communication ahead of time should have occurred so that you could make an informed decision if you wanted to proceed or not.  At the very least, since the tour you booked was actually cancelled through no fault of your own, one of the options offered to you should have been a full refund.

Suggestion.....make note of this situation in your on-line survey after you return.  Celebrity may offer you at least a partial refund/bit of credit for your next cruise for the inconvenience.

Enjoying your review and hope the rest of the cruise goes well  🙂

MrT didn’t book his sloth tour through Celebrity, so why would you expect that this tour should be mentioned on his on-line survey, or for  Celebrity to provide him with a partial refund?  And unless he was expecting to see sloths in a zo/refuge like setting, of course they would be seen from a distance and hard to spot.

[mstravelqueen]

12 hours ago, MR_T said:

Last nights dinner - 

 

So after our some what disappointing tour yesterday by the time we settled and cleaned up we just didn’t fancy going for a long dinner in the main dining room so we opted for the room service option last night, quick & simple and to be honest just what we needed/wanted, we both enjoyed what we had and I may even be tempted to do it again towards the end of the cruise... 

 

I did venture to the casino to donate some more money to the celebrity cruise fund and unfortunately that’s all I did... no wins no fun! 😡😂

 

other than that not not a lot to report as we didn’t really do anything, so kind of an early easy night 👍🏻

 

Chat later 

With respect to room service, I read somewhere they’re charging a $4.95 service charge to deliver. Is that true?

 

[hcat]

3 hours ago, MR_T said:

How cool, you’re tour sounds like they had people that care running it, unfortunately we were not so lucky 🙁 maybe another time 👍🏻

We always book with the cruise line..esp in remote areas...just in case the bus breaks down...and if the tour is  not up to expectations you have recourse with X..

 

Have had many great tours with X....may cost more but worth it,,

 

[Reel Love]

22 minutes ago, tbugstwo said:

MrT didn’t book his sloth tour through Celebrity, so why would you expect that this tour should be mentioned on his on-line survey, or for  Celebrity to provide him with a partial refund?  And unless he was expecting to see sloths in a zo/refuge like setting, of course they would be seen from a distance and hard to spot.

My bad......did not read closely enough to note that it was not a Celebrity booked excursion.  

That does not, however, excuse the fact that Mr T spoke directly with the guide about the tour being different than what they booked, receiving an answer that does not appear to be straightforward, and ending up on a tour which he did not book!

[MR_T]

2 hours ago, mstravelqueen said:

With respect to room service, I read somewhere they’re charging a $4.95 service charge to deliver. Is that true?

 

No, we’ll not in our case anyway... on the tv it says the $4.95 is for orders from 11pm - morning? From the main menu...