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Review of our first cruise post shut down: Celebrity Reflection November 13, 2021 7 night Eastern Caribbean and Bahamas

NBliving

By NBliving,
in Celebrity Cruises

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marieps

marieps

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Thanks for your review.  We booked Reflection on a whim Friday for the Dec 4th sailing.  I was going to Echo what Swigso said...AQ is really about Blu, with the PG just being an added benefit.  This will be our 11th cruise in AQ.  The beach suggestions in Nassau were perfect.  We didn't plan on getting off the ship there, but now perhaps we will thanks to you. 

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marieps

marieps

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4 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Thank you for your detailed review.  We will be sailing on Reflection this coming Friday and are very much looking forward being back aboard a cruise ship for the first time since February 2020. 

We sail Saturday, John.  Unless you've got a REALLY EARLY boarding slot! 😄

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NBliving

NBliving

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2 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Thanks for the review, we are back on Reflection next year.  You commented that you had to show your passport when you disembarked.  Port Everglades web site indicated all of the terminals have facial recognition so this was a surprise.

They did not have the facial recognition at terminal 29 where the Reflection was.  I've seen it at other terminals there though.

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NBliving

NBliving

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26 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Thank you for your detailed review.  We will be sailing on Reflection this coming Friday and are very much looking forward being back aboard a cruise ship for the first time since February 2020. 

I think you will really enjoy it! 

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NBliving

NBliving

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1 hour ago, marieps said:

Thanks for your review.  We booked Reflection on a whim Friday for the Dec 4th sailing.  I was going to Echo what Swigso said...AQ is really about Blu, with the PG just being an added benefit.  This will be our 11th cruise in AQ.  The beach suggestions in Nassau were perfect.  We didn't plan on getting off the ship there, but now perhaps we will thanks to you. 

Oh great!  I hope you have a beautiful day there too!!

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NutsAboutGolf Holiday Sharing Rare

NutsAboutGolf

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On 11/27/2021 at 8:16 PM, NBliving said:

We also needed wifi to check in to our Southwest flight so Steve had made sure the restaurant had wifi we could use.

 

How was the wifi speed?  While a little slow, I was able to remain consistently connected to my works VPN 99% of the time on the Edge and Equinox.  My views may not be shared by any but if I can telework on business sea days I can go on two cruises. 

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NBliving

NBliving

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22 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

How was the wifi speed?  While a little slow, I was able to remain consistently connected to my works VPN 99% of the time on the Edge and Equinox.  My views may not be shared by any but if I can telework on business sea days I can go on two cruises. 

Onboard we could text and check emails, etc. but we couldn't stream videos or look at our home security cameras.  We had the included wifi, we didn't upgrade.

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SJ1_

SJ1_

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On 11/27/2021 at 11:24 PM, NBliving said:

Day 8 the end

We ate our last breakfast in the MDR and visited with a very fun couple – another great thing about cruising is meeting all of these really nice people.  Then we headed to the Tuscan Grille – we had another voicemail that that was where we could wait to be called as a Captain’s Club member.  When we got there I noticed the sign said for Elite and above – oh well, we were invited 😉 .  We also had been told in some fashion to wait in a section of the MDR as a Concierge Class guest.  We stayed til they practically kicked us off.  Our flight wasn’t until 1:10 out of Miami so we weren’t’ in any rush.  Our luggage was waiting so we went through customs, showed our passports and ordered our uber.  It was $63 by the time we actually ordered it, we looked earlier and it was closer to $75.  Our driver was disappointed to learn our final destination as he said he would just drive back to Ft. Lauderdale without a passenger.  Didn’t make us feel bad, but thought I’d mention it.  We booked a different departure airport because the direct flight from FLL to Austin wasn’t until 4 pm and we didn’t want to wait around that long.   

 

Now we are home awaiting our January cruise aboard the Apex in a Sky Suite! 

Final thoughts:

Food – MDR food and service was excellent.  I think there was one dish Steve wasn’t especially pleased with, but overall everything was well prepared and delicious.  The Lawn Club Grill was excellent. Steak was perfectly cooked to our order.  Although we both ordered steak in the MDR as well and it was perfectly cooked as well. 

Entertainment – we loved the acoustic duo Opalira the most.  We found them on the X app and made most of their evening shows.  The solo performer Keff was good but we would have preferred if he had his background loops pre-done instead of having that be part of his show.  The other groups were ok, but we’ve heard better.  As I said before, we weren’t impressed with the Broadway Boys. "Broken Strings" was excellent and what we have come to expect from X.  We talked to other passengers who went to other Theater productions and were not impressed.  It might be that the Reflection is so new to sailing again that the performers aren’t as prepared as they will be in the future.  I’m sure it will improve. 

 

Concierge Stateroom – we loved our slanted balcony and the footstools!! Afternoon snack - we tried to let our cabin attendant know we would prefer fruit and cheese instead of the hors d'oeuvres.  We met our attendant on day 2 and forgot to make our request. When we saw him again on day 5 we asked him to bring fruit and cheese instead or to skip us for the snack.  We kept on getting the same thing.  We don’t like to eat some of the items because we didn’t know when they were delivered so were a little wary of eating something that has sat out for too long.  Anyway, next time we have a Concierge room we will try to make sure to express our desires sooner.  We did receive a voicemail invitation to the Concierge lunch at some point during the week.  We declined to go because it seemed silly when we could just go eat in the MDR for lunch anyway. On embarkation day, it is a nice treat because it’s not available to everyone. There was a bottle of wine when we first arrived which was nice.  In past cruises, I would ask for it at some point because I knew it was a perk, but always hate having to ask…

Cruising – we are so glad we took this particular cruise.  It was very special to be on a ship with only 900 passengers.  Almost every day we would receive a gift.  We left with 2 bottles of wine, 2 nice beach bags, 2 lanyards, a card holder and a nice framed photograph of the ship. The entire crew was very happy to be working again.  We heard about their families and their home countries during CoVid.  When we would start to say how hard it was to have cruises cancelled, we had to stop ourselves because these wonderful people were out of work for close to 2 years!  We are so thankful that X found a way to return to cruising in a safe, healthy way so the employees can come back to work and selfishly, so we can enjoy cruising again.

IMG_1930.thumb.JPG.31f9e82dc79d1bd2fac7b27b02a3a293.JPGIMG_1929.thumb.JPG.5b2ee9bb87e5d4683529e7be27333407.JPG

We were on the same cruise thanks for bringing back some great memories.  We sail her again in 2 weeks (1.2.22) and in 2.12.22   great to be back!  

 

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NBliving

NBliving

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12 hours ago, SJ1_ said:

We were on the same cruise thanks for bringing back some great memories.  We sail her again in 2 weeks (1.2.22) and in 2.12.22   great to be back!  

 

Lucky you! It will be interesting to see how many passengers are on those sailings. Bon Voyage 🥂 

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Cruising is my passion

Cruising is my passion

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We were on your cruise, also. Reflection is our favorite! The best crew and staff on the high seas! You did a great job on the expansive review. It would make anyone want to be on the Reflection. We also enjoyed the reduced capacity. Going on Equinox for the month of January and hoping it will be at reduced capacity, also. Thank you of taking the time to do this.

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NBliving

NBliving

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On 12/19/2021 at 11:03 AM, Cruising is my passion said:

We were on your cruise, also. Reflection is our favorite! The best crew and staff on the high seas! You did a great job on the expansive review. It would make anyone want to be on the Reflection. We also enjoyed the reduced capacity. Going on Equinox for the month of January and hoping it will be at reduced capacity, also. Thank you of taking the time to do this.

Thank you so much!  Our next cruise is in January on the Apex.  It seems that ship has had higher occupancy rates, possibly because it's been sailing longer post CoVid. It was nice to at least experience one reduced capacity cruise if that's all we get!  Enjoy your cruise!!

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NBliving

NBliving

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On 12/21/2021 at 9:46 AM, cyncyn129 said:

Thank you so much for your detailed review! We are sailing on Reflection 12/26 and your review to me extra excited. I did have a question about the gym - do you know if they have any Peloton bikes? Thanks again!

I’m sorry but I don’t know. Enjoy your cruise!

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D C

D C

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On 12/21/2021 at 10:46 AM, cyncyn129 said:

Thank you so much for your detailed review! We are sailing on Reflection 12/26 and your review to me extra excited. I did have a question about the gym - do you know if they have any Peloton bikes? Thanks again!

Yes they do. Can't tell you much about them, but I noticed them in the gym.

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