Feb 5-19 East-West Caribbean on the Reflection

[RlyLvn]

So exciting!  Are you getting tested prior to boarding at the Pier?  Are they testing during the cruise?

 

Bon Voyage!

[cruisestitch]

On 2/4/2022 at 7:57 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Still thinking positive, but it's definitely not looking good for stopping at Grand Cayman.

 

No announcement was made at Wednesday’s event regarding when cruise lines might return to Cayman. However, according to a summary of Cabinet minutes from its 25 Jan. meeting, the government extended the temporary ban on cruise ships only until 28 Feb. 2022, though that date can be extended further, if necessary.

 

Cayman in talks to welcome back cruise passengers - Cayman Compass

 

This cruise will not stop in Grand Caymen.  We will visit Puerto Plata, St. Thomas, Saint Croix, and Nassau

[Ken the cruiser]

56 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

This cruise will not stop in Grand Caymen.  We will visit Puerto Plata, St. Thomas, Saint Croix, and Nassau

True. It’s our next leg starting Feb 12 that is scheduled to stop at Grand Cayman and Jamaica as well as Cozumel and Nassau. 

[5:00_Somewhere]

On 2/3/2022 at 2:41 PM, garyl62 said:

Looking forward to following also as this is the same itinerary we're on with @CruisnDeb in March so it will be interesting to hear about port changes (although in 6 weeks things will change I'm sure) and your impressions of Puerto Plata. Thanks for taking some of your time to share some experiences with all of us, and ........ Enjoy the next two weeks!

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and following your journey.

 

We're on the ship trip as @garyl62 and are also very interested your thoughts and recommendations about Puerto Plata, as it will be our first time there.

 

Bon voyage! 

[garyl62]

Wondering if your itinerary originally included San Juan and was changed out to Saint Croix, or is everything as it was initially.

[cruisestitch]

Yes originally was supposed to go to San Juan. The first change was announced as going to Tortola, and then that changed to St. Croix.

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived with minimal drama and were in our aft-facing SS cabin within 15 minutes after checking in. There were so few people checking in around 12:45, there were no special lines at terminal 29 for suite guests.
 

FWIW it takes 3 hours to drive from Orlando to Port Everglades by way of the Florida Turnpike. 
 

 

From what we could see, there are currently 8 ships in port, with the Celebrity Summit just sitting off shore. 
 

Edited February 5, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

3 hours ago, RlyLvn said:

So exciting!  Are you getting tested prior to boarding at the Pier?  Are they testing during the cruise?

 

Bon Voyage!

The only pre-testing required was our negative antigen test 2 days prior to boarding. The only testing while onboard that I’m aware of is when you’re on a B2B cruise, like we are, and have to pass a complementary antigen test the day prior to transition day.

[CruisnDeb]

46 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived with minimal drama and were in our aft-facing SS cabin within 15 minutes after checking in. There were so few people checking in around 12:45, there were no special lines at terminal 29 for suite guests.
 

FWIW it takes 3 hours to drive from Orlando to Port Everglades by way of the Florida Turnpike. 
 

Nice cabin! Enjoy your cruise!

[kwokpot]

57 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived with minimal drama and were in our aft-facing SS cabin within 15 minutes after checking in. There were so few people checking in around 12:45, there were no special lines at terminal 29 for suite guests.
 

FWIW it takes 3 hours to drive from Orlando to Port Everglades by way of the Florida Turnpike. 
 

 

From what we could see, there are currently 8 ships in port, with the Celebrity Summit just sitting off shore. 
 

A corner SS then ? What deck? We're in 2217 in 3 weeks.

[Ken the cruiser]

6 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

A corner SS then ? What deck? We're in 2217 in 3 weeks.

Sorry, I really don’t want to mention which cabin we’re booked in until after our cruise has ended. I will say, though, we’re not on deck 6, with its extra small balcony, but do envy you with your fully covered balcony on deck 12. 😎

 

[Ken the cruiser]

OK, now for those that love looking at cruise ship paperwork.

 

Feb 5 Daily Planner

 

Ship Officers

 

 

Excursion restrictions for the 4 scheduled ports we will be visiting. It appears most fully vaccinated passengers will be allowed to explore independently or chose a Celebrity excursion.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We are on our way!! Hopefully those folks delayed in Dallas and other locations by the weather were able to make it onboard. 🤞🤞

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for posting Ken.  Looking forward to reading your live reports and hearing of all the fun you are having.

 

Jim

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, 5:00_Somewhere said:

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and following your journey.

 

We're on the ship trip as @garyl62 and are also very interested your thoughts and recommendations about Puerto Plata, as it will be our first time there.

 

Bon voyage! 

Here are the Puerto Plata excursions available on this cruise.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Just got back from our first wonderful meal in Luminae where there wasn’t much of a crowd if you chose to eat before 6:30. But then again this is just the first night. I asked the maitre d’ why it was so sparse. He said lunch today was quite busy with a total of about 100 between 11:30 and 2 pm. But he also mentioned there were passengers in 16 suites that never showed up, for one reason or another, before the ship sailed. A couple of days ago I did a mock booking on the Celebrity website and counted 30 empty suites.
 

After dinner we went over to Customer Service and they said the passenger count was 1,181 where they had been estimating 1,500. But, on the bright side, there will be two evening shows on this cruise (except for tonight) in the main theater, one at 7 pm and one at 9 pm.

Feb 6 Daily Planner

 

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Just did an internet speed test - 2.57 mbps using the Streaming service!

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I see the entertainment at Ensemble as a “solo artist”. Can you find out what that is?  We love Ensemble and want to spend a lot of time there. 

[Ken the cruiser]

23 minutes ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

I see the entertainment at Ensemble as a “solo artist”. Can you find out what that is?  We love Ensemble and want to spend a lot of time there. 

We looked on the X app and it listed Sound Wave and a solo artist, Keff, but they will only be performing between 7-9 pm on Days 1 and 2. No other music offerings were listed in the Ensemble for the rest of the cruise. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We looked on the X app and it listed Sound Wave and a solo artist, Keff, but they will only be performing between 7-9 pm on Days 1 and 2. No other music offerings were listed in the Ensemble for the rest of the cruise. 

@Sox Fan CruiserAfter the theater show we stopped by the Ensemble Lounge and Mr Keff, according to the bartender, was playing. Here’s a picture of him. 
 

[Ken the cruiser]

After a wonderful dinner in Luminae, as I mentioned earlier, we went to the True or False Game Show before heading to the theater to watch the evening show. Tonight there was a very funny Greek comedian, Bassile, followed by a very talented singer, Alfreda!!

 

Bassile, a great Greek comedian!

 

 

Alfreda, a very powerful soul singer!

 

[Ken the cruiser]

BTW if anyone is interested, I confirmed today at the Future Cruise Desk that if you book a cruise onboard on embarkation day, you still get a free bottle of wine delivered to your cabin. We were having this discussion on another thread last week and I said I’d check it out once we boarded today and post what I found out on that thread. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the CC thread. I tell ya, it’s tough getting old! 😂😂

[Ken the cruiser]

58 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

@Sox Fan CruiserAfter the theater show we stopped by the Ensemble Lounge and Mr Keff, according to the bartender, was playing. Here’s a picture of him. 
 

@Sox Fan CruiserI found out some more information about Mr Keff.

 

A singer, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist, Kevin was born in Bogota, Colombia. He plays a variety of music styles, from acoustic favorites to becoming a "one man band" using guitar, drum sampler, bass sounds, keyboards effects, vocal choirs, and more.

[jalves]

13 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just did an internet speed test - 2.57 mbps using the Streaming service!

We were on the Reflection 1/29 sailing in a sky suite.  Found the internet service to be spotty.  Some times no problem at all.  Other times long waits for pages to load.  It didn't seem to follow any particular pattern.  

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, jalves said:

We were on the Reflection 1/29 sailing in a sky suite.  Found the internet service to be spotty.  Some times no problem at all.  Other times long waits for pages to load.  It didn't seem to follow any particular pattern.  

So far so good. 🤞 I’m out on our balcony now and just did a speed test.