Reflection March 11th 2019 - Live! 🍸😎

[wishuponasea]

Really enjoyed your review - especially since we were on Reflection in Feb. MIss it already! Have a great Spring and Summer!

[mayleeman]

Thanks for all your insights and the helpful info!

 

I will be looking forward to your ABC islands review in January. We actually planned that some cruise a year later, in 2021, but switched to a 9 day Equinox cruise to the ABCs in November 2020. (We booked a Woodwind snorkel excursion there already--apparently they fill up early because we weren't the first ones!) We stayed a week in Aruba once, and I am interested to see your impressions, especially if you visit any beaches or take a tour.

 

I do hope you wrote to the Dining mgr defending the staff from the evil Sea Witch! 

 

Thanks again--

[awhfy]

We’ll be on Reflection for the first time for the MardiGras 2020 & b2b with the itinerary you did. Thank you for a comprehensive review. I think Lawn Club & Murano will be on our dining list (we have a bit of OBC to use). 

[Josie2]

7 hours ago, MR_T said:

Hi All,

 

So, I’m now at home after flying back yesterday sat in my favourite chair with Miki laying next to me so thought there’s no better time to get my final thoughts down on the past cruise, 

 

Embarkation - 

 

As mentioned previously we joined the cruise via terminal 25 (the new edge terminal) and although we were onboard around 10.50am and it was quite a smooth process the whole thing could have been done a lot better in my opinion, for instance the holding areas had no segregation nor did the doors which you go through to the ship have any defined queuing system in place, instead they just call your cabin category and then it’s a free for all to get through whatever section they open of the taped off area and we just found that there were loads of people just loitering around waiting to go... 

 

anyway as I said the end result worked ok but maybe if there had been delays in the ship clearing customs and the crowds grew in the terminal then it could potentially be a right mess, 

 

ive been in terminals/airports before that have defined queues in place with & without chairs that result in the first to turn up are the first in the queue to get on board... this doesn’t seem to much to ask for nor would it be hard to implement, even with the current set up,  

 

Ship first impressions - 

 

As always we board the ship as early as we can to first get the dining arrangements sorted out along with having a quick look around, we found the ship to be in great shape and a welcome sight after our short cruise on royal (adventure of the seas), not that it was a bad cruise but just not a celebrity cruise and up to the standards we have become used too over the years, 

 

Cabin - 

 

We were advised our cabin was ready around 12.55pm, 

 

I’ve mentioned before about our experience with the move up program but in case anyone reading this that missed it we had booked an inside on deck 9 but had our bid accepted for a balcony and was given cabin 6210 which for anyone that knows or have seen the pictures of this room it is a standard balcony cabin with a very large balcony, it had a table, 2 recliner chairs & 2 sun/lounge beds (the same as the pool beds), so we were very happy to have this, it is a 2D category cabin that says it has an obstructed views but to be honest it really wasn’t a problem for us, 

 

Our cabin steward was great (wati) and the room was kept clean and she managed to work around our timing perfectly, 

 

OBC Both Refundable & Non Refundable - Just wanted to mention that our OBC from our Travel agent on what we purchased before boarding was showing on our account and available to spend straight away vs the usual day 2/3 as on previous cruises, 

 

Restaurants & Cafes - 

 

Cafe al Bacio - we/I really enjoyed the coffees and treats available here at different times during the day/night, there’s always a good selection of treats to be had and all served by friendly crew members 

 

Main dining room - We only ate in the main dining room 2 times over the cruise but found the time we did spend in there very good, yes it was busy and the tables are very close together but I guess we are used to that by now, we both enjoyed everything we ate there and had great waiters look after us, 

 

Tuscan Grill - We are here 2 times and did have a couple of issues the first time with regard to the cooking degree of the tuna Julie had and also the way it was dealt with (or not as the case might be) but this was somewhat addressed later in the cruise, not quite how I think it should have been but in the true celebrity way of throwing free stuff at us instead, however on our return visit to Tuscan we found we were giving what we thought was the worst table in the restaurant when others were available, we really didn’t want to start off complaining again so just accepted it and hoped for the best,  it was ok... not great but just ok! 

 

We we might give Tuscan a miss on our next cruise but we’ll see nearer the time I gursss, 

 

Qsine - we didn’t try this but met people onboard that said it was good, it’s just not somewhere that excited us with the show/menu etc, 

 

Murano - We also went here 2 times and loved everything there both times, we have always enjoyed Murano’s and it’s hard to imagine not enjoying it, in our opinion it’s the best food/service on the ship, yes it is a bit fancy and you do feel you have to dress up maybe slightly more than you want to but it is consistently great all around so adds to the experience, personally I wear dark jeans and a button shirt or polo shirt and never felt out of place, 

 

Now I will mention we did have a bit of a bad experience the first night there (night 1) but this was with a fellow diner and not anything to do with the staff or food, the mentioned diner was a woman at a table of 2 that was sitting next to another table of 2 that pretty much arrived at the same time, however the other table of 2 (twin sisters) got their bread/water served to them and during this the problem diner (lets call her sea witch for now) decided to let everyone in the restaurant know that they had actually arrived first and didn’t have there water/bread and proceeded to speak louder and louder along with pointing at the poor sisters and even saying “we are on a B2B” not quite sure what relevance that has? Maybe the Sea Witch thinks that makes you more important vs the ones that are only doing one cruise, personally I think the Sea Witch was just after something free... 

 

hopefully the for-mentioned Sea Witch is reading this just so she knows her new name! 😂 

 

Sushi on 5 - Now we didn’t eat in the restaurant on this cruise as to be honest I’m not a fan of sushi, there are other items I could eat there but just didn’t fancy it on this cruise so Julie picked some takeaway up at lunch times and joined me in the buffet and she really enjoyed the rolls she had, so from the limited food julie had it was great, 

 

Lawn Club Grill - Again we ate here 2 times and had 2 different experiences, the first time was great in all aspects, great food, great service & a great evening, the 2nd night (last night) was packed vs half full the first time, so I guess this had an implication regarding the whole experience, the whole place was noisy/cold/windy & just seemed the tables were closer together, I don’t think they were just felt like it... 

 

We definitely had a longer wait time for the food and the service just didn’t seem to be as good, our waiter was good still but again I guess the timing of the tables coming in around ours had an impact on timings, 

 

Buffet - We are in here a fair bit and found there to be a good selection of foods available, I’m more of a buffet person vs Julie but it definitely served us well, 

 

Room Service - we tried this 3 times (1 x breakfast/1 x lunch/1x dinner)  and enjoyed what we had every time, the food that come arrived hot, delivered quickly and by a friendly smiling crew member, 

 

Bars Etc - We found most bars ok, not quite to the standards as before but just ok, we did enjoy visiting the Elite lounge for evening drinks/snacks etc and found the service great up there with plenty of crew members ready to take your orders in the sky lounge, we did feel that when ordering free elite drinks in other bars around the ship that the bar staff wasn’t as friendly as the guys/girls in the sky lounge, 

 

pool - We do like to spend the mornings around the pool and leave around lunchtime as it becomes unbearable 😂, we didn’t really notice a problem with bed hogs, we did see some obviously but not to the levels of before, we didn’t see and pool crew putting tickets etc on beds but as I said it didn’t seem to be an issue on this cruise, 

 

now regarding the the new pool beds I have to say they are terrible, they look good etc but they are no way as comfortable as the previous padded ones, I guess they wanted a new sleek look for the edge and just took a bulk deal to replace all the existing beds on all the ships, 

 

Entertainment - 

 

Shows - we only saw 2 and found them to be good, “Broken Strings” was very good and would recommend that one for sure,  

 

Live Music - There seemed to be a big improvement regarding the live music offered onboard and we really enjoyed the selection of musicians/singers onboard that moved around the ship to perform at different locations, 

 

Ports Of Call - 

 

Grand Cayman - We stayed on the ship as we’ve been there a few times and wanted to enjoy a quiet ship day, 

 

Cartagena - Please see post 230/231/232/233 - page 10, for info on this tour, this was a great day, 

 

Colon - Please see post 257 - page 11, this wasn’t such a good day, 

 

Costa Rica - Please see post 267 - page 11, another bad day! 

 

Costa Maya - We opted for another quiet ship day, 

 

Cozumel - We opted for another quiet ship day, 

 

Disembarkation - Terminal 18

 

We opted to walk off with our luggage as we generally do, we were slightly concerned as we have seen a few horror stories on cruise critic recently affecting non US guests, but still we did our usual... 

 

So we were advised walk off’s would start around 7.40am so we ended up leaving the cabin around 7.10am, down at Deck 5 we were directed to the walk off queue which was quite long already and I’d say the people at the front must have got there around 6.30 or earlier, still we joined the queue and I went to pick up some breakfast at albacio, luckily there wasn’t a queue as on my return to the walk off queue it was moving already so earlier than expected, we actually walked off at 7.25am, straight to passport control and in a taxi at 7.40am, we picked up the hire car (Alamo) and was on I95 at 8am, perfect 👌 

 

There was a global entry/nexus sign as soon as we entered the passport area so  you can’t really miss it if you’re looking for it, I have Global Entry but Julie hasn’t yet got the nexus card so we joined the short normal non US line which was fine and only took around 5 mins to clear, 

 

In Summary - We had a great cruise that did have a few issues along the way but over all it was great to be on another Celebrity ship for 11 glorious nights sailing around the Caribbean, 

 

We are booked to do the other 11 night cruise (A,B,C Islands) on Reflection around the Caribbean next January and this cruise has only made us look forward to it even more as at the end of the day there’s no such thing as a bad cruise in our book, 

 

If there’s any info I’ve missed or if anyone has any questions please let me know, if I can help at all I will 😎👍🏼 

 

Thanks to everyone the posted/commented/liked/thanked etc etc along the way it really was great to do this while on the cruise and if one person got something positive out of it then it was worth it 👍🏼 

 

Until the next time 🥂😎 

Thanks for a great review and the disembarkation info for Canadians !  

 

[Beachlover1989]

Thank you for your honest review-really appreciated the time it took you!!  

[dani negreanu]

Thank you for the time invested to write such an enjoyable review. I was riveted.

 

70 days for me....😀

[Oceangoer2]

Re:  " There was a global entry/nexus sign as soon as we entered the passport area so  you can’t really miss it if you’re looking for it, I have Global Entry but Julie hasn’t yet got the nexus card so we joined the short normal non US line which was fine and only took around 5 mins to clear"

 

We were on the same sailing and experienced somewhat the same as you did until disembarking.  We didn't do walk-off (should have), but first number in the process so right behind the walk-offs and suite guests.  The entire scene was mayhem which had to be worse for numbers 2 through 22 and beyond...a small area to enter to pick up luggage - the US guests had to pass back through the same entry to get to their line....so great confusion for them as well.  We're Canadian so had to continue through the terminal to the non-US guest security line which snaked through one side of the terminal and which still held the walk-offs and suites...slow, slow, slow....NO SIGN for global entry/nexus.  Asked 3 different staff where we would find the Nexus line....answer was "we don't have that".  Finally reached the top of the line where a person directed some cruisers through a different line and we were told that was Nexus!!!  Never have we seen such a poor disembarkation.  Perhaps the US guests had an easier time.  Because of this and other differing experiences from yours, we have elected to not cruise with Celebrity or even others for a long, long time.  We're Elite Plus and have sailed with most other cruise lines.  We're easy to please but in the past few years have seen a decline in service, quality, dining, etc and are finally put off with the downside of cruising (which is best not mentioned to incur the flamers).

[MR_T]

2 hours ago, oceangoer2 said:

Re:  " There was a global entry/nexus sign as soon as we entered the passport area so  you can’t really miss it if you’re looking for it, I have Global Entry but Julie hasn’t yet got the nexus card so we joined the short normal non US line which was fine and only took around 5 mins to clear"

 

We were on the same sailing and experienced somewhat the same as you did until disembarking.  We didn't do walk-off (should have), but first number in the process so right behind the walk-offs and suite guests.  The entire scene was mayhem which had to be worse for numbers 2 through 22 and beyond...a small area to enter to pick up luggage - the US guests had to pass back through the same entry to get to their line....so great confusion for them as well.  We're Canadian so had to continue through the terminal to the non-US guest security line which snaked through one side of the terminal and which still held the walk-offs and suites...slow, slow, slow....NO SIGN for global entry/nexus.  Asked 3 different staff where we would find the Nexus line....answer was "we don't have that".  Finally reached the top of the line where a person directed some cruisers through a different line and we were told that was Nexus!!!  Never have we seen such a poor disembarkation.  Perhaps the US guests had an easier time.  Because of this and other differing experiences from yours, we have elected to not cruise with Celebrity or even others for a long, long time.  We're Elite Plus and have sailed with most other cruise lines.  We're easy to please but in the past few years have seen a decline in service, quality, dining, etc and are finally put off with the downside of cruising (which is best not mentioned to incur the flamers).

It’s amazing how 2 people getting off quite the ship close to each other can have such a different experience, I guess that just confirms to us that we will continue to walk off, 

 

sorry to hear of your experience as that really is a rubbish way to end a cruise 🙁 

[Oceangoer2]

2 hours ago, MR_T said:

It’s amazing how 2 people getting off quite the ship close to each other can have such a different experience, I guess that just confirms to us that we will continue to walk off, 

 

sorry to hear of your experience as that really is a rubbish way to end a cruise 🙁 

 

Thanks...it was really a bad disembarkation, but probably MUCH worse for those following us.  Most likely you were at the front of the walk off line?  As I said, there were many cruisers with many luggage pieces in front of us all the way to the top of the line.

[Josie2]

57 minutes ago, oceangoer2 said:

 

Thanks...it was really a bad disembarkation, but probably MUCH worse for those following us.  Most likely you were at the front of the walk off line?  As I said, there were many cruisers with many luggage pieces in front of us all the way to the top of the line.

Your experience is what I had read about and feared.  We now always try to do walk off and will continue to do so.  I believe I also read that the new Pier 25 (I think ...?) May be better but you disembarked at Pier 18 I believe.  I will monitor this until our next cruise in November!  

[wishuponasea]

We did not do the self walk off in Feb. But it all went very smoothly for us. Not much of a wait and the way they had the bags -- was easy to find ours. We did not have global entry then, but both of us have our interviews to get it in April  :). We'll see if it makes a difference for next year's cruises!

[Luvcrusn]

23 minutes ago, wishuponasea said:

We did not do the self walk off in Feb. But it all went very smoothly for us. Not much of a wait and the way they had the bags -- was easy to find ours. We did not have global entry then, but both of us have our interviews to get it in April  :). We'll see if it makes a difference for next year's cruises!

Once you get it, just make sure you bring the card because none of the cruise  ports have the kiosks. We were advised that when we went for our interviews. BTW before we got back to our car after the interview both of us got an email that we'd been approved and received the cards within a week. Our last cruise in December we disembarked at terminal 18 in Ft. Lauderdale and although there was a Global Entry sign and line, no one asked to see the card, (we had it all ready) and just waved us through.

[cadburysmom]

Thanks so much for this wonderful review. ☺️ 👍

 

I'll be on the upcoming Apr 22 transatlantic and as it will be my first time on Reflection, your blog has been very helpful.  I did want to ask about the captain. His name is not familiar.  I think it was mentioned we would have the same one and wanted to know if you remembered his daily midday announcements, etc... I always enjoy captains who incorporate a little humor, namely Greek brothers Tasos and Dimitrios Kafetzis, equally hilarious, who generally had the ship in stitches on prior crossings.  😅

[NorseThunder]

We were also on this cruise and disembarked with nummer 6, luckily we got off early in that nummer as right when we walked off they called 6-11 and the international line grew huge behind us. We didn't have any problem seeing the global entry sign, but unfortunately that don't apply for us.

 

We had a fantastic cruise though, and our flights out wasn't until the afternoon anyway (3+ hours to wait in Miami, JFK, and Amsterdam), so we kept the good mood throughout the disembarkation. We were a bit more sad when wading through the snow to pick up our car in the airport Saturday afternoon...

[schiff1997]

Fantastic review thank you .  We are boarding this Monday 🛳🍻🏝☀️☀️😊

[wishuponasea]

That is the hard part...coming home to shoveling snow before you can even get into the driveway!  But, worth it to get away for a bit and make the winer a little shorter!

 

[MR_T]

12 hours ago, cadburysmom said:

Thanks so much for this wonderful review. ☺️ 👍

 

I'll be on the upcoming Apr 22 transatlantic and as it will be my first time on Reflection, your blog has been very helpful.  I did want to ask about the captain. His name is not familiar.  I think it was mentioned we would have the same one and wanted to know if you remembered his daily midday announcements, etc... I always enjoy captains who incorporate a little humor, namely Greek brothers Tasos and Dimitrios Kafetzis, equally hilarious, who generally had the ship in stitches on prior crossings.  😅

Hi, 

 

we've sailed with this captain before and although he seems very nice he’s not like the brothers you mentioned (he is Greek though), we also liked Dimitrios Kafetzis whom was actually my first captain on my very first cruise so a tough act to follow, not had the pleasure of cruising with His brother yet but one day I’m sure,  the current captain is more info led with a fact/teaser of the day at the end of his daily 10am announcement, 

[MR_T]

8 hours ago, schiff1997 said:

Fantastic review thank you .  We are boarding this Monday 🛳🍻🏝☀️☀️😊

Very jealous, I’m sure you’ll have a great cruise 🍸😎 

[MR_T]

5 hours ago, wishuponasea said:

That is the hard part...coming home to shoveling snow before you can even get into the driveway!  But, worth it to get away for a bit and make the winer a little shorter!

 

Luckily for us the snow mainly missed us this time and it was more of a swip away with the shoes vs a shovel... 👍🏼 

[Luvcrusn]

Glad to hear you didn't have to shovel your way in. Here in Pennsylvania, I think the weather is finally starting a Springtime adjustment. Can't wait. Baseball is starting this week, so it better warm up quickly!

[Nymich]

Excellent review for us as we are getting on the Reflection next month!  You did an awesome job!

 

For what it's worth I would imagine most Floridians walk off early and alot of us take all of our luggage

off the ship.  In our home State ports I have seen 20 to 25% of the entire cruise be Floridians so expect chaos!

I mention this because someone posted up the thread that they saw people with a lot of luggage leaving the 

ship.

 

[cadburysmom]

10 hours ago, MR_T said:

Hi, 

 

we've sailed with this captain before and although he seems very nice he’s not like the brothers you mentioned (he is Greek though), we also liked Dimitrios Kafetzis whom was actually my first captain on my very first cruise so a tough act to follow, not had the pleasure of cruising with His brother yet but one day I’m sure,  the current captain is more info led with a fact/teaser of the day at the end of his daily 10am announcement, 

Thanks and yep, I totally agree...hard acts to follow for sure but hearing a daily fact/teaser is also good. Always handy to learn a little something new, especially as partaking in the daily trivia games is definitely something I look forward to with even fiercer competition on crossings.

Thanks again! ☺️

[Eloise4Ever]

Posted in wrong thread 😲

Edited March 27, 2019 by Eloise4Ever

[MR_T]

On 3/26/2019 at 11:12 PM, Nymich said:

Excellent review for us as we are getting on the Reflection next month!  You did an awesome job!

 

For what it's worth I would imagine most Floridians walk off early and alot of us take all of our luggage

off the ship.  In our home State ports I have seen 20 to 25% of the entire cruise be Floridians so expect chaos!

I mention this because someone posted up the thread that they saw people with a lot of luggage leaving the 

ship.

 

I guess we we're luck to have had such a great experience having only joined the queue around 10 mins before it started to move, generally we are down a lot earlier and much closer to the front of the line but we wasn’t in as much of a rush this time, 

 

i didnt really notice pax’s with lots of luggage but maybe they all followed us, 

 

 

[dutch50]

Thank you so much for all your time and effort in educating us on the Reflection experience. We will be sailing on April 12 and need some info on charging my iPhone, iPad, kindle fire and Fitbit. On some NCL ships I’m able to use the two bedside lamps as charging ports. Will probably bring something extra, but wondering what’s available in the stateroom. From your posts, I assume the unlimited WiFi is acceptable. Thanks for any input!! 😄