Celebrity Reflection NYE Cruise 12/27- 1/03

[Lisamarie18]

Thanks again for this great community of cruisers - so many tips and ideas picked up from all of you!  A quick recap of our recent NYE cruise.

 

Pre-cruise

A little about us - myself (56), my sister (54), my cousin (53), my niece (18) and my mom (80, turned 81 on NYE). We have only cruised once before, a year ago on the Reflection Christmas cruise. We are pretty laid back and try to make the best of everything and have reasonable expectations. We booked a veranda, but changed to Concierge when prices dropped after final payment. All of the adults upgraded to the premium alcohol package. This cruise was to the Western Caribbean with stops in Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Costa Maya.

 

We flew out Christmas morning in to FLL.  Stayed at the Dania Beach Cambria Hotel.  It was inexpensive and felt like it, haha! The hotel is tired and outdated and the food in the restaurant was terrible, but we had packed wine in our suitcases and ordered food off Grubhub and spent the rest of the day at the beach so totally fine. 

The following day, we all went to Margaritaville using a day pass to the pool area.  I think the passes were $50 per person. Worth every penny.  It was a delightful, relaxing day there and we would all do it again.

 

Embarkation

We arrived around 10am, checked in easily and then waited until about 10:45 or so to board. Concierge was called immediately after suites. We skipped past the champagne welcome and took care of a few house-keeping issues. We had purchased the Trio dining package (2 dinners, 1 lunch) and I was able to make reservations for everything at Murano for the times and dates we wanted (day 1 dinner was not required). We eat on the early side at 6:30/7:00.

Then off to the Sunset Bar to meet some friends. About 30 minutes before muster, we went to the Ensemble lounge to grab seats for my mom. Muster was fine, it went fast, but honestly, I couldn’t see the presentation and I would rate my emergency-preparedness as pretty low.

 

MDR

Even with my limited cruising experience, I knew not to expect too much on the first night. I should have had lower expectations.  Not sure whether we had a new team, but it was a mess. If we asked the waiter for something, we were told to ask the assistant waiter. And the sommelier? Never came by even after requesting him a few times. I ended up going to Cellar Masters and bringing wine back for everyone. Towards the very end of dinner, the sommelier walked up to the table, saw the empty wine glasses and said ‘I see you have wine’ and walked away. We love our wine and this wasn’t going to be a good fit for us 🤣

 

We returned to the MDR on night 4 (after dinner at Murano and a night at the buffet) and requested a new table. The new team was filled with rock stars and we really enjoyed the rest of the week there with them.  At home, I eat a whole foods plant based diet, but eat like a vegetarian on the ship. To get a decent amount of veggies, you need to ask for sides - and the team was really great about getting them for me. 

 

BTW, dinner at the buffet was so relaxing - sitting outside enjoying the breeze with plenty of options for everyone.

 

Specialty Restaurants

On day 2 (chic night), we had dinner in Murano. Very enjoyable. Funny story – my family is small and fairly quiet, but we were in the middle of family story, laughing hysterically, when another diner approached us and told us that ‘our voices were dominating the room and disturbing him’. Literally ever the first time we have been told that we were being loud. The staff rushed over and apologized, but we really didn’t let it bother us, although we became very cognizant of our volume for the rest of the dinner.  We continued to run into him around the ship the entire week and gave him side-eyes, haha!

 

On day 4, we went to Sushi on Five for apps (but really, just to try the drink menu). Everything was delicious and we immediately changed our dinner at Tuscan on day 6 to Sushi on Five. The lobster ramen and the rolls were a big hit.  For the Trio package, we asked how it would work for sushi - and they told us 'order whatever you want'.  We tried our hardest, but we came in at about $78 for the meal when the package would have covered $105. For our cruise, the restaurant had a crowd every night. 

 

Bars

We spent most of our time at the Sunset, Martini and World Class. There were always seats available whenever we went (and we were there A LOT). Service was fast with very little waiting.  We do typically tip a $1/drink.

 

New Year’s Eve

NYE was on day 5 and it was a chic night. The MDR served the lobster/baked Alaska menu. It was also my mom’s birthday and they brought out a small chocolate cake (it wasn’t great so don’t be sad if you don’t get one).

 

This is just my perception, but there didn’t seem to be lots of NYE parties around the ship – just the one on the deck. We went up there around 10:45 or so after fortifying ourselves with a few expresso martinis.  Glasses of bubbly were being offered as you entered. There was a DJ and crazy blue lighting everywhere. The hot tubs had been filled with ice and bottles of bub with someone guarding it. At midnight, guests were allowed to grab the bottles of bubbly. We stayed up on deck until about 1:00am dancing and then headed to the buffet which had more offerings on it compared to the other nights. I wish I could tell you what was there, but I was focused on the pizza and French fries….

 

Debarkation

Fairly easy - we had breakfast in the MDR and then went up a level to wait in the Concierge area. They stopped and started debarkation many times because the terminal was too crowded, but the concierge would come in and get you if your flight was leaving by x time. This has nothing to do with Celebrity - but it is so annoying to have the porters cut in line in the terminal. I hollered at one man because he almost took my mother out with his cart.  This time, Immigration had 3 distinct lines and it went quickly.

 

It was a wonderful cruise and I'm looking forward to booking another one!

 

 

 

 

[MR_T]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review, 

 

we board on the 20th so not long now so all info is great info as we get closer 😊 

[Lisamarie18]

@MR_T please let me know if you have any specific questions that I can answer...

 

I meant to add a section for the Celebrity app - texting worked great. You will already be linked to whomever you are sharing your cabin with and can link to others by either adding name or room number (can't remember), and then easy to do. I have a iphone 8 and I received notifications on my phone as well as a red indicator on the app that a message was waiting. My phone vibrated when a new message arrived, but my cousin's phone beeped...

 

The menus were mostly correct, but last night was a different menu.

[NCHPcruiser]

Thanks for your review!  Good to know that the app worked so well!  

[Country_Cruiser67]

Thank you for your extra comment regarding the App. I can't wait to use it in March. My understanding is that it will allow us to stay in contact with friends on the ship without purchasing the internet package.

[Lisamarie18]

@Country_Cruiser67 it worked great!  No delays in delivering messages and we definitely got notifications via both the phone and the app.  Have a great time, such a great ship!