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

[chemmo]

29 minutes ago, hcat said:

Thanks  for  all the  details..feeling a bit  better abt Luminae.  Although the  .presentation seems  "no frills".  Desserts looked great but I am type 2 so I usually limit myself,..1 bread, 1/2 of dinner carb ( potato or rice, etc)  and double veggies. Sometimes  just a dinner salad and soup usually excellent on X..

 

We always bring our own assortment of snack crackers....too many yrs of stale saltines!

We find the biggest problem with Luminae is that you can read the menu and not really have a clue what you are ordering. Also the veggies can be (in our opinion) a garnish rather than a portion.

 

We tend to ask specific questions from the waiter about dishes we haven’t had before, request a side salad or extra veggies and if we are unsure about a sauce we ask for it on the side.

 

 

[calicakes]

9 hours ago, chemmo said:

We find the biggest problem with Luminae is that you can read the menu and not really have a clue what you are ordering. Also the veggies can be (in our opinion) a garnish rather than a portion.

I was surprised when I saw so many veggies with my halibut.  The server even commented on that.   When I ordered the crab cake app, I asked for the sauce on the side, since the description said " spicy peanut sauce".  It was very mild though and that is coming from someone( me) who has zero spice tolerance.  Julie is not a fan of sauces, but she did use the sauce that came with the filet.  

 

The descriptions are not accurate.  For instance, Julie had a chocolate napoleon for dessert last night. That is typically sheets of puff pastry with a vanilla pastry cream.  The dessert they called a napoleon, was nothing like a classic napoleon.    

 

I need to sign off from my laptop and sign back on with my phone.  Being able to connect with only one device is annoying. 

[calicakes]

We're in Katakolon( Olympia) Greece.   We just arrived at 7:30am.  Its a bit chilly as of now.  We're not getting off the ship today, both of us have been here before.   

Edited September 19, 2022 by calicakes

[calicakes]

Dinner last night.  I have this shrimp cocktail on the main dining room menu. I found the shrimp to be very small.. For main dish I had the herb roasted chicken. Julie had the filet. Dessert was a hazelnut something or other.  Julie ordered the chocolate Napoleon I told her she would like that but it's not what I know as an Napoleon and we both didn't care for it. We stopped at Al bacio and look at the desserts there. Dry cake doesn't sound appealing.

[calicakes]

Sorry about the lighting in last night's dinner pictures, we were seated by a window and the sun was blaring in.

 

[calicakes]

Breakfast in Luminae.  I came out to the waiter and told him about my weight loss surgery(9yrs ago) and that I only want half portions of everything I order.  He took it quite literally and gave me one asparagus instead of 2 and 1 potato instead of 2. Lol I had the egg white wrap no tomato and 1 crepe. Julie had the waffle. I went to Al Bacio and got a sugar free frappe. Julie ordered a caramel croissant. It was good.  

[calicakes]

I've been walking steadily at home for the last 4 months and I've lost 10 pounds. I don't want to go home weighing more. I walked 8 times around the track this morning.

[calicakes]

This irritates me. How long is too long to leave your things? 

[chemmo]

I admire you efforts to keep the weight off. On our first few cruises we did eat full breakfast, lunch and dinner and found that we did gain weight despite lots of exercise from strenuous excursions. Now our exercise is more limited but we don’t gain weight. We do follow some simple rules…

 

Either a big breakfast and a light lunch or light breakfast and more substantial lunch.

We avoid any between meal snacks (Retreat lounge, Cafe…).

We feel comfortable leaving food on the plate (your idea of asking for half portions is better).

We are not big dessert fans, we may just ask for vanilla ice cream or sorbet end of meal.

If you love desserts then look for the salad starters.

 

Our philosophy is we can enjoy anything we want to eat on the cruise but not all on the same day!

 

[chemmo]

Calicakes, we were on a half full post covid British Isles cruise last year and I took an early morning walk around the ship. At 7am someone had saved two beds in the Solarium and the two ‘big’ loungers on the Retreat Deck had also been saved as had several beds poolside. The ship was so empty everyone could have a bed in the sun and another in the shade and there still would be plenty over. It would have been odd enough in the Mediterranean or Caribbean but we were heading to Belfast in thick cloud….

 

It will be interesting to see how chair hogging is managed (or not managed)…Hope you enjoy your day.

 

[calicakes]

28 minutes ago, chemmo said:

Calicakes, we were on a half full post covid British Isles cruise last year and I took an early morning walk around the ship. At 7am someone had saved two beds in the Solarium and the two ‘big’ loungers on the Retreat Deck had also been saved as had several beds poolside. The ship was so empty everyone could have a bed in the sun and another in the shade and there still would be plenty over. It would have been odd enough in the Mediterranean or Caribbean but we were heading to Belfast in thick cloud….

 

It will be interesting to see how chair hogging is managed (or not managed)…Hope you enjoy your day.

 

 I did speak to a pool attendant supervisor. I asked how long a chair can be saved and they told me 45 minutes. It took an hour and 45 minutes before they came back to the chairs.

[barneymag]

1 hour ago, calicakes said:

I've been walking steadily at home for the last 4 months and I've lost 10 pounds. I don't want to go home weighing more. I walked 8 times around the track this morning.

We were on Reflection last week and they never set the sun loungers up like this ? Last week set up as all spun round as a single row both sides of the walkway …. I can’t understand why they would do this and can imagine most people don’t want to be constantly looking at the 4 people directly opposite - never seen the beds set up like this on any previous cruises we have done 🤷‍♂️

[barneymag]

@calicakes have you a feeling for level of COVID on the ship ? We were on Reflection last week also in a corner aft sky suite (also had Eli as our butler) 

 

It became very noticeable after about 4 or 5 days that virtually everywhere you went you heard coughing … by the second week it was crazy how many people seemed to have the same cough. My wife started on the last day with a slight cough and the next day when we got home she took a home test and sure enough was positive. That was 4 days ago and I’m still testing negative and have no symptoms at all 🤞 pre testing seems a waste of time as I heard of several people having to isolate for most if not all of the cruise …. they never once announced any numbers on this but my guess it would be a large number that were isolating and and even larger number that were ignoring it.

virtually no one masked anywhere - I masked up every time we were on a bus/transfer/flight etc and my wife didn’t. Can’t guarantee where she caught COVID whether on the ship, on a bus transfer or offshore on an excursion but timing would suggest ship or bus transfer.

 

Another couple we met in Luminae said their butler was really stretched as they were having to serve  3 of their suites with constant room service due to them having to isolate - I guess the only positive was that it seemed that they were allowed to remain in their suite.

Edited September 19, 2022 by barneymag

[calicakes]

5 hours ago, chemmo said:

I admire you efforts to keep the weight off. On our first few cruises we did eat full breakfast, lunch and dinner and found that we did gain weight despite lots of exercise from strenuous excursions. Now our exercise is more limited but we don’t gain weight. We do follow some simple rules…

 

Either a big breakfast and a light lunch or light breakfast and more substantial lunch.

We avoid any between meal snacks (Retreat lounge, Cafe…).

We feel comfortable leaving food on the plate (your idea of asking for half portions is better).

We are not big dessert fans, we may just ask for vanilla ice cream or sorbet end of meal.

If you love desserts then look for the salad starters.

 

Our philosophy is we can enjoy anything we want to eat on the cruise but not all on the same day!

 

You have an awesome plan.  We pretty much follow the same, having a lighter lunch.  At home, we eat small dinners.    We never finish the entire dessert here.  They are very rich.  

[calicakes]

3 hours ago, barneymag said:

have you a feeling for level of COVID on the ship ? We were on Reflection last week also in a corner aft sky suite (also had Eli as our butler) 

Hi.

 

I don't have a feeling yet.  I've seen more sneezing vs. coughing.  If I asked someone how many cases of Covid were onboard, I doubt I'll told the truth. 

[barneymag]

 

10 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Hi.

 

I don't have a feeling yet.  I've seen more sneezing vs. coughing.  If I asked someone how many cases of Covid were onboard, I doubt I'll told the truth. 

You’re probably right, never once announced anything about number of COVID cases on last cruise

 

BTW we found Eli to be amazing once we had had a chat with her our likes etc - she got us a kettle day 1 (we’re Brits so have to have mug of tea as soon as we wake up😊) she also put fresh milk in the fridge for us. I asked if they could empty mini bar so we could fill with water, soft drinks etc …. she said no problem, but instead of emptying she filled it every day with water, sprite, coke and beers, fresh ice twice a day and she asked if we would like wine or a drink bringing when we got in after being on deck or a trip. We had breakfast on the balcony about 4 times and she sets it up on your balcony for you (although the timing could be a bit off as she had a lot of suites aft to look after) 10 out of 10 for us.

Edited September 19, 2022 by barneymag

[terrydtx]

12 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Hi.

 

I don't have a feeling yet.  I've seen more sneezing vs. coughing.  If I asked someone how many cases of Covid were onboard, I doubt I'll told the truth. 

On our August 5th Reflection cruise, when I asked our butler about how many covid cases were onboard all he would say was a lot and that the isolation cabins were mostly full. After that cruise and 6 land days in Florence and Venice we boarded the HAL Oosterdam for 14 nights and it was a covid coughing and sneezing nightmare. We were in a suite and my wife came down with a positive covid test 5 days before the cruise ended in Venice. They put her in isolation in a tiny balcony cabin with a locked balcony door so she couldn't even go on the balcony. When we got off the ship, she had to quarantine for 3 more days in a horrible hotel in the industrial Mestre district of Venice.

Edited September 19, 2022 by terrydtx

[calicakes]

3 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

We were in a suite and my wife came down with a positive covid test 5 days before the cruise ended in Venice. They put her in isolation in a tiny balcony cabin with a locked balcony door so she couldn't even go on the balcony. When we got off the ship, she had to quarantine for 3 more days in a horrible hotel in the industrial Mestre district of Venice.

OMG, I'd be going crazy.  My fingers are crossed and I've touched wood that we don't come down with it.  I brought an entire medicine cabinet with us.  We had our 5th booster on Sept 8th.  Did you have to quarantine with her?  Tomorrow is already day 4 of the cruise.   

[calicakes]

We spent the majority of the day at the pool.  I won a few prize tickets in "guess the name of the song and artist".   After lunch at OV, we got off and walked into the port to pick up a few gifts for people at home.  The prices are higher than in Corfu, so if you want to Greek Olive Oil, I'd pick it up in Corfu.   

 

We were just delivered a cheese plate with Carr's entertaining cracker assortment.( will post pic later). 

 

One thing I've noticed at OV, they have changed the tuna from Albacore to chunk light( what I call "cat food tuna".  I'm sad about that because I always enjoyed a scoop of tuna salad on my garden salad at lunch.  I can't eat that chunk light tuna.  This is where my food pickiness shows. 

[calicakes]

10 minutes ago, barneymag said:

BTW we found Eli to be amazing once we had had a chat with her our likes etc

I did have a nice chat with her on our first day. She has followed through with the few things I asked about.  She is working really hard.  I haven't seen a lot of crew on this floor, not like in years past.  The room attendant is also working hard.   

[terrydtx]

39 minutes ago, calicakes said:

OMG, I'd be going crazy.  My fingers are crossed and I've touched wood that we don't come down with it.  I brought an entire medicine cabinet with us.  We had our 5th booster on Sept 8th.  Did you have to quarantine with her?  Tomorrow is already day 4 of the cruise.   

I tested negative so I did not have to isolate with her, however HAL would not pay my expenses for a separate hotel room and meals while she was in quarantine, that is where our travel insurance will kick in.

 

Before we got off the ship a HAL guest services rep suggested that I go home on schedule and leave my wife behind, well I gave her an ear full about how no way I leave my 73 year old wife on her own in Venice. I will say after she tested negative on day 3 of land quarantine HAL Flights got us booked the next day on the same flights, we missed 3 days earlier in business class with no extra fees or costs. I then tested positive the day after we got home but neither one of us got very sick which I attribute to being vaccinated and double boosted. We both have had far worse head colds than what we had with Covid.

 

There was also a Norovirus outbreak on the Oosterdam, the people in the suite next to us got Norovirus and had to isolate for 2 days. They did most of their meals in the buffet and that is probably where they got the norovirus.

Edited September 19, 2022 by terrydtx

[Jim_Iain]

9 hours ago, calicakes said:

I was surprised when I saw so many veggies with my halibut.  The server even commented on that.   When I ordered the crab cake app, I asked for the sauce on the side, since the description said " spicy peanut sauce".  It was very mild though and that is coming from someone( me) who has zero spice tolerance.  Julie is not a fan of sauces, but she did use the sauce that came with the filet.  

 

The descriptions are not accurate.  For instance, Julie had a chocolate napoleon for dessert last night. That is typically sheets of puff pastry with a vanilla pastry cream.  The dessert they called a napoleon, was nothing like a classic napoleon.    

 

I need to sign off from my laptop and sign back on with my phone.  Being able to connect with only one device is annoying. 

 

I chuckle when I read their description of the desert.   NONE of their deserts match the description they are an adaptation and may or may not even resemble what one expects.   I've had almost every desert and have taken a picture creating a small database so we can look them up.   

 

I always laugh when someone orders the Ricotta Cheese Cake.  What comes out is small 3 cheese cake balls rolled in crumb.  

[terrydtx]

17 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I always laugh when someone orders the Ricotta Cheese Cake.  What comes out is small 3 cheese cake balls rolled in crumb.

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

[hcat]

7 hours ago, chemmo said:

I admire you efforts to keep the weight off. On our first few cruises we did eat full breakfast, lunch and dinner and found that we did gain weight despite lots of exercise from strenuous excursions. Now our exercise is more limited but we don’t gain weight. We do follow some simple rules…

 

Either a big breakfast and a light lunch or light breakfast and more substantial lunch.

We avoid any between meal snacks (Retreat lounge, Cafe…).

We feel comfortable leaving food on the plate (your idea of asking for half portions is better).

We are not big dessert fans, we may just ask for vanilla ice cream or sorbet end of meal.

If you love desserts then look for the salad starters.

 

Our philosophy is we can enjoy anything we want to eat on the cruise but not all on the same day!

 

We walk too  as much as possible,  and try the gym a few times.

Often have the Elite breakfast..fruit and protein.. but my downfall is lox and  bagels ( too many carbs) Lunch for me is a big salad w vinegar/ oil, no bread.

Then I can splurge at dinner..so far none of the portiions shown  seem very huge!

1 Asparagus  stalk does not cut it esp is fresh and crunchy!

 

 

[shirazcruiser]

On 9/6/2022 at 9:04 PM, calicakes said:

 I used some of that to book 3 excursions and to upgrade the internet. 

What internet did you upgrade to when Sky Suites come with Premium Streaming Wi-Fi? 

Edited September 19, 2022 by shirazcruiser