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CHICAGOPAUL - LIVE!!!! - Finally heading back to sea!!! - Celebrity Reflection Nov 27th

chicagopaul

By chicagopaul,
in Celebrity Cruises

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chicagopaul

chicagopaul

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The amazing thing is we have already seen so many crew that we’ve cruised with before. Walking by the pool bar we saw Komang who we’ve cruised with multiple times. He ran out from behind the bar to give us a hug. We’re thrilled he is on board! I’ll sum up all the people we know soon. 
 

A couple things from initial observation. 
 

Mast Grill - Ate lunch here today. Burgers were made to order. They came out great. Service there was very nice and friendly. They put the toppings on for you such as lettuce, pickles, etc. You still put on your own mustard etc. They have a nice selection of hot sauce etc for you as well. 
 

Package upgrades - Because so many people already have drink packages etc there is very little push to upgrade. I don’t see a lot of people around trying to upgrade you. A nice change. 
 

Flowers in the room - Remember the small little flowers? They’re now large and beautiful. See photo below. A very nice change. 
 

Mask Policy - As soon as you board that mask can come off. Thank goodness! The crew are still required to wear theirs at all times. 
 

Initial reaction of passengers we’ve seen / met - Avid cruisers. They’re thrilled to be back on board. Now granted this is only the first few hours but in the past we’ve always heard some complaints. Not here. These are the happiest people I’ve ever met. Now let’s see how this evolves as the cruise goes on but so far so good. 
 

Luggage - Luggage was at our room by 2pm. 
 

Crew - Initial reaction is that there is a genuine happiness from the crew to be here. There is true sincerity in all their actions. Perhaps it is the fact that they’re wearing masks so they need to be more vocal or perhaps it is true appreciation. My guess is it is both 100%. 
 

Also a big shout out to Bob and Terry, our cruise friends who were on here before us. They arranged for a great bottle of champagne to be in our stateroom upon arrival. 7FE9ACE1-AED4-4CD5-B3E4-CB7EB1508BDE.thumb.jpeg.1e77de4e549009f8f6a6d1cb96bc7f3a.jpeg

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chicagopaul

chicagopaul

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Good Morning everyone! Currently we are sitting at Cafe Bacio waiting on an americano to bring us back to life. Before we get into last night let me briefly explain our upgrade situation. 
 

As you know we originally booked a concierge class cabin. 
 

There is a butler on the reflection that we’ve known for years. We knew him from about 10 years ago when he was a bartender and have cruised with him many times and have remained friends on social media. He is an amazing guy. We told him we were coming on board and yesterday when we were headed back to our cabin around 2pm he was there waiting to greet us. We chatted and caught up. I made a passing joke about wishing we would have upgraded to a suite and he said he could get the pricing to do so. He made a call, gave us the $ number, and 10 minutes later we moved to cabin 9301. A beautiful corner sky suite. And the best part is he is our butler! His name is Chairul and he is absolutely amazing. Our state room attendant is Laliana and she is equally amazing. 
 

So that is how we quickly made the upgrade happen. And as far as the flowers go yes those were complementary in the concierge cabin! 

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chicagopaul

chicagopaul

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12 hours ago, hcat said:

Amazing flowers.. they were comp?

We usually purchase a few arrangements to perk up the stateroom but these look outstanding.

Enjoy!

 Yep they were comp! At least neither of us ordered them haha. They really do look beautiful! 

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wildwinny

wildwinny

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We have read a good number of reviews and the theme is the same:  All are so happy to be back to cruising.  

 

Enjoying your posts, especially since my first name is Paul with a middle name of Edward.  We have also enjoy Bubbles in O'hare .  

 

Thank you for your insights and the time to do the posts.  We are looking forward to our trip on the Silhouette at the end of February 2022.

 

 

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chicagopaul

chicagopaul

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It is roughly 4:30pm on Sunday. I’m sitting on our balcony. If there was ever a day to call a “perfect weather” day on a cruise, today is the day. The temperature feels like 80 degrees. Very little humidity, a slight breeze and perfect sunny. The water is like glass. You could not paint a  more perfect picture or write a more perfect weather narrative for a day on a ship.

 

Let me catch you all up on a handful of things.

 

Our Room (new room) 9301

 

This is a corner Sky Suite (S1). For those of you who have never stayed in this room it is definitely the best style sky suite in my opinion. You have a very large balcony. You are on the aft of the ship so your views are amazing. And you have a port hole window in addition to your typical balcony windows. It is a great spacious room and very quiet thus far.

 

We haven’t asked our butler for much, but given he is a friend we know he will take great care of us. A few things we’ve notice thus far for instance.

 

Our drink of choice is Ketel One. Yesterday at dinner as soon as we sat down, without even asking, two Ketel One (with twists) martinis appeared. At the martini bar they knew to expect us (though we know all the bartenders anyway from previous cruises). Cranston, the bartender in Michael’s club was shown photos of us and knew to keep Ketel One stocked which he did. Clearly our butler has been making his rounds!

 

Let’s talk about the muster drill

 

It is so simple now! One positive aspect to the whole Covid situation is that now the muster drill is on your app! You watch a couple videos and simply make your way to your muster station to “check in” and you’re done. It could not have been easier. Absolutely phenomenal.

Passenger Count: I spoke with our Michael’s Club concierge and we are at 738 for this cruise with a total of 35 suites booked and roughly 80 suite passengers in total. Wow! And yes I know they’re now called “Retreat hosts” but I’m lazy and old school so it is still Michael’s Club to me just as “evening chic” nights are still Formal Nights to me.

 

Last Night

 

Last night we unpacked before sail away and started to get ready for dinner. We left port around 5:30 and were just finishing getting ready to head to the martini bar as we fully pulled out of port. We listed to some music, had our balcony door open, and waived goodbye to Fort Lauderdale. The view leaving port is always surreal. It is always a view that I know will return way too quickly.

 

We made our way to the Martini Bar around 6pm last night and of course had our usual Ketel One up with a twist! Working the martini bar is Komang, Wayan, and Tada. All of whom we’ve cruised with before. Komang has a special place in our hearts so let me tell you a quick story about Komang.

 

Literally 4 years ago to this day we were on a cruise where Komang was working the martini bar. The cruise was packed and there were a handful of problem guests who liked to complain. God forbid they wait a few extra minutes at the martini bar for a drink. There was a group of people that always complained and as a matter of fact took their complaints about the martini bar to guest services and the head of F&B. I watched these people at the bar. They were simply incompetent at ordering drinks and even being in public. Just the kind of people who are simply bad people in life. Just not good people. I’m not talking about someone who is having a bad day. But people who are just negative people each and every day. Awful people. These were them. What was worse is I saw how much it actually upset the staff at the bar, especially Komang. It was like the wind was just taken out of him.

 

Not to bring status into it as I believe regardless of status or cabin class everyone deserves an amazing cruise. But that same evening these idiots come back to the bar to order a drink near where we are seated. I happen to look at their card when they placed it down. They were not even captains club members. This was their first Celebrity cruise and likely first cruise ever. Again that doesn’t matter as everyone deserves amazing service, but damnit I was not going to let them disparage the amazing crew at the martini bar.


Since we knew they were complaining to the F&B director about the martini bar, we decided to do the exact opposite. We knew one of the senior bar managers on the ship and we reached out to praise the martini bar. We happened to be in a Royal Suite this time around and had lunch with all the officers. I spoke directly to the F&B manager about the staff at the martini bar.

 

Well, apparently it worked! I honestly didn’t think much of it. I just figured since I love the staff there it is something I should do incase the complaints of these people escalated. Well, a year later when we ran into Komang he told us the story. Apparently it did make a difference and he still remembered it.

The whole point of this story is to stress that your words carry a lot of weight. Especially if you’re avid cruisers with Celebrity. So if you have a complaint, choose your complaints wisely. But if you have a compliment make sure you shower the compliments as much as possible to every officer you meet.

 

OK so now that story time is over lets move on with our evening. We had a martini at the martini bar (duh!) and then had a vodka on the rocks. We then made our way to Michaels Club. The host is John (we’ve sailed with him before, awesome guy!). The suite manager is Bianca who hopefully we will meet tonight. We’ve hard great things. We had a glass of champagne at Michael’s Club and then headed to Luminae for dinner.

 

For dinner we had the burrata and smoked salmon to start. We actually each wanted to have the burrata and smoked salmon. I made the mistake of letting Edward order. His communication skills sometimes leave a bit to be desired so we instead received 1 burrata for him and 1 smoked salmon for me. I didn’t realize this was happening until I saw our steaks coming out. But oh well, I try to pick my battles with him wisely. This wasn’t one to fight about.

 

We then both had the filet. The filet was done perfectly and was a huge portion. 12oz easily. You’ll see photos posted below of the food. I was impressed with everything that came out of the kitchen last night in Luminae, whether it was being brought to us or other tables. The food all looked amazing. The quality of my steak was excellent.

 

Our waiter last was Alfred and assistant waiter was Afrin. I need to catch the hostesses name (I forgot to look) but she is very nice. The maitre’d is Sam who is a blast to talk to and very funny. He walks around and does at least a couple table touches throughout the night.

 

After dinner last night we went to the casino where we donated a few hundred dollars to Celebrity. After all they’ve had a rough 18 months right? We then went back to the martini bar and met a wonderful couple that we chatted with until the bar closed. In the grand foyer they had a “guess the song” game for at least an hour and played 80s music all night. While the ship is not at all crowded there was a decent crowd in the foyer and it seemed like people were staying up later than usual on Celebrity.

 

What I have noticed that is true across the board is the genuine happiness by everyone. The crew and the passengers. The crew has always been great. When you would see them they’d always say good morning or good afternoon. But this time around I’ve noticed something different. The crew is now going out of their way to greet you. When they see you coming they almost put themselves in a position to get in your line of sight and say hello. Ask how your day is going. This is across the board from bartenders to those cleaning the pool deck or the maintenance people fixing a lightbulb. It is truly remarkable. But it gets even better. The passengers are the same way. I’ve never had so many guests say “good morning” to me than I have this morning throughout the ship. The amount of gratitude that is in the hearts of each and every person on this ship is beyond amazing. There are no words I can type that properly describes it. Each and every person we have met appears to be in a state of total bliss. Maybe they’re drugging us in the water? Haha.

 

With the above being said, if any of you are contemplating whether now is a good time to cruise or not, the answer is YES. This is the time.

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Purplsmurf

Purplsmurf

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You read my mind. I was going to ask you who the martini bartenders are. Glad to know that we know a couple of them. Also, we have the same SS booked for a 2023 cruise on Reflection so good to hear a review of it from someone I know! Thank you for all of this info…….now continue to enjoy your fabulous cruise. We can’t wait to board on Dec 11

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chicagopaul

chicagopaul

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1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 I have to ask, what is the drink in the round glass on top of the water glass?

 

(We will be in the same corner suite but on deck 11 (1665))

 


ah didn’t even notice I caught that in the photo! Nice catch.That is a cognac we ordered last night. Warm water in the glass below so

heat up the cognac. 

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Schmoe38

Schmoe38

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Paul

 

We are so pleased to hear that Cranston is back in Michael’s Club. We have sailed with him many times, and the last we saw him was in the Passport Bar on Reflection in April 2019, where he so kindly kept a stash of Macallan scotch available each night when we came to visit. 
 

Thanks for rekindling some pleasant memories.

 

Randy and Connie

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sdnich

sdnich

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1 hour ago, h20cruzer said:

Paul, please tell Tada hello for me. We were on the April 2019 Transpacific. He is a great bartender and as you know has some magic tricks up his sleeve.

Norma

Hi Norma! Stefanie and David from San Diego! You were on the second half of our B2B Nov.2019  ! Our last cruise! Martini bar and sky lounge dancing!! 🙂

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DaKahuna Great Review Rare

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2 hours ago, chicagopaul said:


ah didn’t even notice I caught that in the photo! Nice catch.That is a cognac we ordered last night. Warm water in the glass below so

heat up the cognac. 

I do not know if I have ever tried cognac. I may have to try that next week.

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Kathy53

Kathy53

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Paul,

We just love your ever so detailed reports.  We are committed Celebrity cruisers and are so excited for our B2B Norwegian Fjords and Baltic cruises in May, 2022.  Our last cruise on the Eclipse was in July, 2019 so returning to cruising with Celebrity can't come soon enough.  Your reports are always so inspiring.  Wishing you and Edward a most enjoyable cruise. 

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