Live Blog: Reflection, Italy, Croatia and Montenegro. September 16-September 26.

[calicakes]

Lunch in Luminae. Herb roasted chicken.  We both had it. No dessert. Some type of risotto on the side. 

Edited September 20, 2022 by calicakes
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[calicakes]

So crowded in old town.

[shirazcruiser]

11 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Last month masks were required in public transportation like buses and all trains in Italy.  Even a couple of our private car transports required masks be worn. Not all of the Reflection shore excursions buses required masks.

We cancelled all of our Fall cruises since there were mask mandates in many of the Caribbean/Panama ports

[shirazcruiser]

Great photos - fond memories! The weather looks great!

[calicakes]

We walked around the Old Town for about 2 hours. We didn't buy anything nothing really appealed to us. We went to the pool when we came back. Then we went to dinner at OV again. I wanted Luminae, however marriage is all about compromise.  We have ordered dessert from luminae with our Butler. 

 

IMHO, the desserts at OV are terrible. Speaking of OV,  The food is very much under seasoned. I never add salt to most dishes in restaurants, but I've had to add salt to a few things.  Tonight they had duck, and rose beef and an entire mediterranean grill.. Unfortunately the chicken kabobs were a ground chicken and they were extremely dry. We walked the track after dinner.

 

Tomorrow in Montenegro it is a tender port. I had no idea about that.  we have a private tour booked at 9 AM. 

[terrydtx]

12 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Tomorrow in Montenegro it is a tender port. I had no idea about that.  we have a private tour booked at 9 AM. 

We anchored way out in the bay when we were in Montenegro, we loved Kotor but it was so very crowded, there were 4 cruise ships there the day we visited, one at the pier and 3 including us tendering. Since you are in a Suite you will get priority tendering which you will need for a private tour.

 

Edited September 20, 2022 by terrydtx

[shirazcruiser]

2 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We anchored way out in the bay when we were in Montenegro, we loved Dubrovnik but it was so very crowded, there were 4 cruise ships there the day we visited, one at the pier and 3 including us tendering.  If you have a private tour and being tendered you will need to get a tender ticket for the very early departure. I believe on our cruise they were available beginning at 8:00am at one of the bars near the casino.

In the past, our Retreat Host offered priority tendering and escorted Suite passengers to the tender line for express departure.  The X website it states for Suites: 

• • Priority check-in, departure, and port tendering/boarding

[terrydtx]

2 minutes ago, shirazcruiser said:

In the past, our Retreat Host offered priority tendering and escorted Suite passengers to the tender line for express departure.  The X website it states for Suites: 

• • Priority check-in, departure, and port tendering/boarding

If you see my post I had already edited to reflect that information.  I forgot the OP is in the Retreat. I also had the wrong city Kotor is the port in Montenegro not Dubrovnik after doing two cruises in August some of the ports had me confused, LOL

[shirazcruiser]

4 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

If you see my post I had already edited to reflect that information.  I forgot the OP is in the Retreat. I also had the wrong city Kotor is the port in Montenegro not Dubrovnik after doing two cruises in August some of the ports had me confused, LOL

It wasn't edited when I sent mine...never too much info for anyone.  I always appreciate it. 

[calicakes]

5 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

If you see my post I had already edited to reflect that information.  I forgot the OP is in the Retreat. I also had the wrong city Kotor is the port in Montenegro not Dubrovnik after doing two cruises in August some of the ports had me confused, LOL

 Our private excursion is a beach with a boat portion so hopefully we bypass all the crowds..

[calicakes]

All these desserts were good.

[sdnich]

We loved the sail into Montenegro ! But we were on Azmara in 2010 and we were the only ship there.I believe it was before the large ship started sailing and tendering people in un.I could not imagine 3 cruise ships there it is a small town. We hiked to the top of the hill and back down!! Great memories!!

[klfhngr]

Having wonderful flashbacks, wife and I were on this same cruise in May. Loved the ports, but the service on X was really bad. Hope it's gotten better for you. And if Dymetro is still at the pool bar, tell him James said hi! He's a great guy! Also Igor at 'dark' bar downstairs!

[Jim_Iain]

On 9/19/2022 at 7:30 AM, terrydtx said:

I ordered them on the Reflection last month and was very disappointed in what we got.

 

90% of the people that order then have a "?" expression when delved and say I order the Cheese Cake.    I would agree that when you have your mind set for a cheese cake they are a bit disappointing.    They have another one that is a real cheese cake forget the name of it.

[Jim_Iain]

Lunch Menu --   We found that the Chicken Peta Sandwiches to be really good.  They have two of them and we loved their flavor.    They are on the small size.

[hcat]

13 hours ago, calicakes said:

The water is so blue. Dubrovnik.

Wow..I love this one.  It draws the eye  in....water so blue!

 

Food ? ..i never heard of ground chicken kabobs????? 

Edited September 20, 2022 by hcat

[calicakes]

7 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Lunch Menu --   We found that the Chicken Peta Sandwiches to be really good.  They have two of them and we loved their flavor.    They are on the small size.

They had a turkey Pita the other day.  No chicken.  

[calicakes]

7 hours ago, klfhngr said:

Having wonderful flashbacks, wife and I were on this same cruise in May. Loved the ports, but the service on X was really bad. Hope it's gotten better for you. And if Dymetro is still at the pool bar, tell him James said hi! He's a great guy! Also Igor at 'dark' bar downstairs!

I haven't seen him.  The staff is at a minimum.  On our first sea day, there were 2 bartenders at the pool bar, they were running themselves ragged.  I only saw 2 servers in the actual pool area too.  

[calicakes]

Well, we're not having a lot of luck weather wise.  Its pretty chilly and windy.  The folks on the tender boats are all bundled up.  We did not bring a jacket with us( who knew?).  Our excursion was a long one, with 4hrs at a beach. Both J and I could not imagine swimming in this chilly water so we cancelled.  Instead, we're going to play Trivia and have massages.  There was a special package( swedish or deep tissue, foot, scalp and back exfoliation) for 139 each.  We're using the 300 non refundable OBC for that.    

 

We have a side gig of a pet sitting business at home, we've been crazy busy with that and my other work so relaxing is A ok with both of us.  The beauty of a cruise is you can do whatever you want. 

[hcat]

That's a great price for the spa service..does the port pricing discount apply ?  I would  guess not.  I usually book a massage at start of a cruise and facial towards the end.  We too have much OBC..so that would be a good use for that.

Is it Canyon Ranch or the new provider

Enjoy!

 

Our next door neighbor in Fla does pet sitting...sometimes at her house or at the owners..We enjoy meeting the pets, mostly dogs.  She now has a new dog of her own, a rescue who could not adjust to a household with children. Seems everyone gets along...most of the time!

 

[terrydtx]

5 hours ago, calicakes said:

Well, we're not having a lot of luck weather wise.  Its pretty chilly and windy.  The folks on the tender boats are all bundled up.  We did not bring a jacket with us( who knew?).  Our excursion was a long one, with 4hrs at a beach. Both J and I could not imagine swimming in this chilly water so we cancelled.

We did the Aug 5th sailing of the Reflection and it was over 100 degrees in Rome for the 2 days before we sailed. It was also in the 90's at every port in Greece, Croatia and Italy. We spent 3 days in Florence after the cruise and it was in the 90's there too and very humid. We learned a valuable lesson, do not go to Italy or Greece in August. We are doing the Apex Sept 14th cruise next year from Amsterdam to Athens and will spend a week in Santorini and Crete after we get to Athens.

Edited September 21, 2022 by terrydtx

[klfhngr]

9 hours ago, calicakes said:

I haven't seen him.  The staff is at a minimum.  On our first sea day, there were 2 bartenders at the pool bar, they were running themselves ragged.  I only saw 2 servers in the actual pool area too.  

He probably moved to the Edge already. Victor is probably at the pool bar, I can't remember the taller black fellow's name. Both great guys! Thanks for checking! Poor guys!

[calicakes]

3 hours ago, hcat said:

That's a great price for the spa service..does the port pricing discount apply ?  I would  guess not.  I usually book a massage at start of a cruise and facial towards the end.  We too have much OBC..so that would be a good use for that.

Is it Canyon Ranch or the new provider

Enjoy!

 

Our next door neighbor in Fla does pet sitting...sometimes at her house or at the owners..We enjoy meeting the pets, mostly dogs.  She now has a new dog of her own, a rescue who could not adjust to a household with children. Seems everyone gets along...most of the time!

 

It was advertised in the daily newsletter.  Another lady in the waiting room told is it was usually 200.00.  When the bill was presented to us, it said 149 minus 10.00.     I don't think it was Canyon Ranch.  They were pushing Elemis products.  

 

We kind of fell into the dog sitting, our lives revolve around our dogs.  Someone asked us to watch a dog, then another, then they told a friend.  I printed up business cards and pushed them on people we meet at the dog park( we go every day).  We specialize in poodles and doodles.   We include baths if a dog is with us for 3 days or more.  People love having a clean dog to come home to.   

 

We're moving to Fl next year and we hope to do petsitting there too. 

[calicakes]

2 hours ago, terrydtx said:

We did the Aug 5th sailing of the Reflection and it was over 100 degrees in Rome for the 2 days before we sailed. It was also in the 90's at every port in Greece, Croatia and Italy. We spent 3 days in Florence after the cruise and it was in the 90's there too and very humid. We learned a valuable lesson, do not go to Italy or Greece in August. We are doing the Apex Sept 14th cruise next year from Amsterdam to Athens and will spend a week in Santorini and Crete after we get to Athens.

I can't imagine 100 because 85F was hot enough for me in Rome.  We have zero humidity in our part of SoCal, so when its 100F, it doesn't feel that bad.   We had planned to take public transport in Rome, but after our sightseeing, I just wanted to get back to the Airbnb and sit in the A/C, so we used Ubers or Taxis.   I'm sure you'll have a jacket with you for Amsterdam so you'll be set next year. 

[calicakes]

The massages were amazing.  We went to the room and had a 2hr nap.  We're invited up to the helipad for sail away tonight.    My app hasn't worked all day, so I don't know what is on the dinner menu at Luminae.  I guess we'll find out later.