Live(ish) from Reflection 2/26 - 3/5/2023

[DCPIV]

As I mentioned, yesterday was mighty lazy. The day started overcast, but that made for nice balcony time. A nice morning a bit on the cooler side. 

 

 

We stayed out there until lunching in the OV, and that was a good lunch! 

 

DW enjoyed her time by the pool while I had my massage. After that, we were back on the balcony for our own little sailaway party. 

 

 

The sun had come out by that time, but we still were shaded. 

 

 

We also enjoyed some good conversation with our neighbors who had been snorkeling. By their reports and those of others, tendering was not quite as quick as it appeared. However, a lot of that had to do with the fact that many tours were told to meet at the theater around 7 AM even though we weren't even due to drop anchor at Grand Cayman until 8. A few folks were a bit miffed about that. 

 

The evening and night was the typical cocktails and dinner and cocktails. Being in more of a low key mood, much of our time was spent in Michael's and Ensemble. We love the string duo on board (and remember them from before).

 

 

We're just now pulling up to the dock in Cozumel. We're off the ship in about an hour to hone our Mexology skills. 

 

Cheers! 

 

[DCPIV]

On 2/27/2023 at 9:29 PM, Purplsmurf said:

Can you please ask Olympia when she will leave for vacation? She told me that she would be there for our cruise, but seems like her vacation should be coming up soon. Thank you! Enjoy!

 

Sorry this took so long, but it kept slipping my mind. 

 

She's off in 9 weeks (and two days).

[DCPIV]

Mexology was fun! So fun that a brief nap and a shot of espresso was in order upon our return. I'll send up some pics later, but internet is slow today.

 

Now, just gearing up for dinner. 

 

Sea day (and last day) to come. Is been a great time! 

[cmaleblanc]

As we are in the Reflection as well, we stuck with the basic included internet. We are on Deck 9 in concierge class and are really liking it. I may post a more detail experience when I'm home next week. Don't want to hijack this great thread. As new cruisers we went on the Apex last Feb in AQ and now here and I have some definite opinions on where we'll sail in the future. Until than, here are the speed tests I've taken on the included wifi. Note with the door closed to the balcony we lose the internet, and on the first day I recieved an error that too many people had connected to the AP and I had to wait for a spot. Also they are blocking my smart DNS proxy server so haven't been able to test with that. 

[DCPIV]

5 hours ago, cmaleblanc said:

As we are in the Reflection as well, we stuck with the basic included internet. We are on Deck 9 in concierge class and are really liking it. I may post a more detail experience when I'm home next week. Don't want to hijack this great thread. As new cruisers we went on the Apex last Feb in AQ and now here and I have some definite opinions on where we'll sail in the future. Until than, here are the speed tests I've taken on the included wifi. Note with the door closed to the balcony we lose the internet, and on the first day I recieved an error that too many people had connected to the AP and I had to wait for a spot. Also they are blocking my smart DNS proxy server so haven't been able to test with that. 

 

Thanks for chiming in!  That's good info! 

[szqluvstocruze]

Ships in the wind! We board tomorrow. Thank you for sharing-

[DCPIV]

Now, where was I? 

 

Ah, yes! Mexology! 

 

Mexology was at least as much fun this time as it was when we did it about a year ago, and it was pretty close to the same program. Guests pair up at 8 bar stations that are stocked and ready to roll. 

 

 

Carlos runs the show. He's about as personable, funny, patient, and unflappable as anyone you'd ever want to meet. He also did it last year, and we were thrilled to see him again. 

 

 

While Carlos walks you through each drink and provides a recipe, you're free to make your drink your way. You can make it stronger, weaker, sweeter, drier, etc. BIG caution on making it stronger, though. You make a LOT of drinks. By the time it's all said and done, you'll make a classic margarita, jalapeño-rosemary margarita, mango hibiscus monitor, and a pink paloma. On top of that, you're given a rum punch before you even get to your stations, and you finish off with a shooter (because you can't go to Mexico without doing a shot!) You'll muddle, shake, strain, stir, garnish, and all that jazz

 

After the first two drinks you make your own guacamole and then sit down for a heavy snack. At the end, you sit down to a complementary lunch (and they'll make you another drink on the house if you're still so inclined).

 

The staff also are fantastic. The wind was so bad, yesterday, that all the snorkeling excursions were cancelled. Gusts blew shakers off stations. Carlos and the rest of the staff handled it extremely well and with a great deal of poise. My hat is off to them for a job very well done. 

 

[countess5]

18 minutes ago, DCPIV said:

Now, where was I? 

 

Ah, yes! Mexology! 

 

Mexology was at least as much fun this time as it was when we did it about a year ago, and it was pretty close to the same program. Guests pair up at 8 bar stations that are stocked and ready to roll. 

 

 

Carlos runs the show. He's about as personable, funny, patient, and unflappable as anyone you'd ever want to meet. He also did it last year, and we were thrilled to see him again. 

 

 

While Carlos walks you through each drink and provides a recipe, you're free to make your drink your way. You can make it stronger, weaker, sweeter, drier, etc. BIG caution on making it stronger, though. You make a LOT of drinks. By the time it's all said and done, you'll make a classic margarita, jalapeño-rosemary margarita, mango hibiscus monitor, and a pink paloma. On top of that, you're given a rum punch before you even get to your stations, and you finish off with a shooter (because you can't go to Mexico without doing a shot!) You'll muddle, shake, strain, stir, garnish, and all that jazz

 

After the first two drinks you make your own guacamole and then sit down for a heavy snack. At the end, you sit down to a complementary lunch (and they'll make you another drink on the house if you're still so inclined).

 

The staff also are fantastic. The wind was so bad, yesterday, that all the snorkeling excursions were cancelled. Gusts blew shakers off stations. Carlos and the rest of the staff handled it extremely well and with a great deal of poise. My hat is off to them for a job very well done. 

 

Where was this held? We may try this next week.

 

Cheers! 

[DCPIV]

The rest of our day was day was a good deal less crazy! Rather than head down for late afternoon/early evening drinks in our normal routine, we had a glass of wine on our balcony. Lovely, lovely evening. 

 

We did finally head down to hear the string duo and finally sat down to dinner just as we were sailing away.  After dinner, we just had a slow drink up at World Class before deciding that turning in was the smart move. Neither of us had slept well the night before due to very rough, jerky seas. 

 

Last night's seas still were pretty rough, but it was a smoother rocking than the night before. We both slept well, but we had a little adventure first! 

 

Upon returning to our room after dinner, we heard some serious banging in the bedroom. The dadgum decorative frame around the window to the bathroom was swinging freely and banging into the wall and the door as the ship rocked. 

 

 

We assume that someone had unlatched it in order to address our slow draining tub and then did not latch it back properly. We called down, and the whole thing was fixed well within 30 minutes, so no real harm done. Pretty crazy way to end a night, though! 

 

The seas smoothed out over the night, and it's now little more than a quiet lake out there. We've spent our morning the way we enjoy it, nice and quiet. The balcony is shady, and there's some Premiere League on TV.

 

Later is lunch and the World Wine Tour (and packing--boo!)

 

@PKB, how was Murano? 

[DCPIV]

3 minutes ago, countess5 said:

Where was this held? We may try this next week.

 

Cheers! 

 

Dolphinaris, about 10 minutes from the pier complex (also nice). We bought it through the ship, and I'm pretty sure you have to. They use taxi vans for transportation and are very good about organizing that. It really is a great program! 

[DCPIV]

On 3/2/2023 at 9:47 AM, TeeRick said:

Can you maybe find out the alternative rum offered?  Many of us are huge fans of the Zacapa Old Fashioned.  Just a few weeks ago on Equinox they were still offering it.

 

The new rum is Brugal 1888, and I believe it's Dominican. I don't know if it's Zacapa, but it's a good sipper.

 

Bumbu (the banana flavored rum) has replaced Zacapa for the old fashioned. Brugal 1888 replaced Zacapa for Above the clouds. I'm sure they will make a Brugal old fashioned, but I don't know the cost. The new Above the Clouds is $20.

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, DCPIV said:

 

The new rum is Brugal 1888, and I believe it's Dominican. I don't know if it's Zacapa, but it's a good sipper.

 

Bumbu (the banana flavored rum) has replaced Zacapa for the old fashioned. Brugal 1888 replaced Zacapa for Above the clouds. I'm sure they will make a Brugal old fashioned, but I don't know the cost. The new Above the Clouds is $20.

Thank you!  Neither seems to be associated with Diageo from what I could find.  The company making Brugal is Edrington.  They also make Macallan amongst other whiskies.

[the_dylaness]

On 2/26/2023 at 3:59 PM, DCPIV said:

 

We had a fun reunion with Cranston before lunch. He's just a terrific guy. He's looking forward to having some family on board while we're at Ocho Rios (crew get to do that, and that's just magnificent).

 

 

 

 

I'm happy that you're getting to hangout with Cranston while I'm sad that this likely means he won't have transferred to Equinox in time for our sailing in 3 weeks... What a wonderful guy! We went to see him basically every night of our Mediterranean cruise in June.

[the_dylaness]

11 hours ago, DCPIV said:

 

Upon returning to our room after dinner, we heard some serious banging in the bedroom.

🤣

[DCPIV]

10 hours ago, the_dylaness said:

🤣

 

Yeah, I saw that when I wrote it, but I couldn't bring myself to say it any other way. 

 

What's life without a little spice? 🤣

[DCPIV]

To wrap up yesterday . . .

 

Lunch in Luminae was fantastic!  We were feeling a little regret for not getting back to Sushi on 5 or The Porch, but any semblance of that regret dissipated once the did arrived. The appetizers were good, but the halibut and the potato-leek ravioli were out of sight! 

 

Dessert was up in Café al Bacio. We had been looking for a good time to try the Mint Chocolate Martini, and this was going too be the last good chance. Great drink! We both loved it (especially along with some profiteroles and pistachio gelato).

 

 

Next up was the World Wine Tour. For those who haven't done it, they set up a number of stations with wines from different areas of the world. This time, they had six stations (France, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Argentina, and California) with a red, a white, and a sommelier at each station. They give you a glass, and then you get to go to town for an hour or so. They did lay out some crackers and cheese for those who had not just eaten a big lunch followed by pastries and gelato. 

 

We've always enjoyed this on other ships, and we were very glad to see it return. At first, it looked like it was going to be a madhouse in Cellar Masters, but it actually worked well. They set up three stations inside and three outside, and things flowed nicely. We had little to no trouble moving between stations. 

 

 

 

It was especially fun to see Darwin, the Cellar Master on board, who also happened to be the Cellar Master when we sailed on Summit. It's always fun to catch up with crew.

 

About halfway through the Wine Tour, the entertainment staff started a plane toss out in the grand foyer. If you could toss your airplane through the hula hoop hung over the foyer, then you won a t-shirt. We sipped our wine and watched the planes fly. 

 

A mere hour later, someone finally won a t-shirt! 🤣  The fun thing is that it happened to be one of our neighbors!  We all celebrated with a couple drinks at the Martini Bar before heading upstairs to pack a bit and change for dinner. 

 

Dinner at Luminae did not disappoint one little bit. We took our time and then had nightcap on the balcony before hitting the sack. A lovely last day. 

[DCPIV]

Up bright and early this morning to stuff whatever we had left into our backpacks and head down to Luminae for breakfast and then to Michael's to wait for them to kick us off the ship. We saved them the trouble of making last call and walked off a little before 9.

 

Debarkation went very smoothly and quickly. With several folks checking passports, no passenger waited for more than a few moments. 

 

We're now at the Riverside waiting to join up with some friends for a beautiful day!  There's an art fair on Las Olas, and a jazz brunch in a few minutes. 

 

I don't know if I'll file another report (unless y'all want to hear about our day in FLL). Of course, I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have. 

 

Thank you, all, for following us. This was a wonderful cruise, and it's been my pleasure to share a few moments of it with y'all. 

 

Cheers! 

[TeeRick]

@DCPIV great live posts from the ship.  It looks like you enjoyed your cruise!  Thanks!

[Stem to Stern]

4 hours ago, DCPIV said:

I don't know if I'll file another report (unless y'all want to hear about our day in FLL). Of course, I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have. 

Yes, please.  I would love to hear the FLL wrap up.  Also, I forgot to ask you this question while you were still on board.  Who is the Reflection Captain currently?  Can you or your lady or anyone else provide any intel as to how long he is on board for?  I forgot to ask for a friend who is on board next month.  I enjoyed reading your updates and I am so glad you had such a nice time.  Thanks for sharing.  Well done.

[weregoingcruising]

On 3/2/2023 at 8:21 AM, DCPIV said:

Yesterday was our typical afternoon, evening, and night aboard. Barhopping, conversation, and dinner. 

 

We started at the Sunset Bar. We found a shady spot at the bar, and the weather was perfect. We were there until DW went down to the helipad sailaway where she met @PKB. I stuck around to enjoy the music and weather. However, right after DW left, the music guy very loud and bass-heavy, and the bar became something of a zoo. 

 

I bailed and found myself at the Martini Bar (go figure) where DW rejoined me. We met and chatted with Bill, a fellow who pretty much lives on Celebrity ships. After that, we met Jan and Dean, a couple from Phoenix. Yep, Jan and Dean. 😀

 

Dinner was lovely, as always, and so was our time at World Class Bar afterwards. 

 

I did try the new rum. The new rum Old Fashioned is made with Bumbu, a banana flavored rum that many enjoy but that isn't my thing. There's another one, though, that's very nice! I've already forgotten the name. 🤣

Was Bill a large man wearing black clothing?

[DCPIV]

3 hours ago, Stem to Stern said:

Yes, please.  I would love to hear the FLL wrap up.  Also, I forgot to ask you this question while you were still on board.  Who is the Reflection Captain currently?  Can you or your lady or anyone else provide any intel as to how long he is on board for?  I forgot to ask for a friend who is on board next month.  I enjoyed reading your updates and I am so glad you had such a nice time.  Thanks for sharing.  Well done.

 

I don't recall the Captain's name at the moment, but it will come to me (or we have it somewhere). I couldn't tell you how long he will be on board. 

 

Thanks! 

 

2 hours ago, weregoingcruising said:

Was Bill a large man wearing black clothing?

 

Yes, indeed! 

[DCPIV]

Alrighty. By request, the Fort Lauderdale report! 

 

We made it to the Riverside hotel well before 10. As expected, no rooms were available, so we just stored our luggage. No problem. 

 

Three blocks or so of Las Olas were blocked off for an art fair. Our friends told us about that, but we didn't expect it to be so large. Lots and lots of booths with some very interesting stuff! 

 

 

I got an espresso at the Italian bakery across Las Olas from the hotel, and then we sat down to a little extra breakfast while waiting on our friends. I never can eat much in the early morning, and they are very flexible on meal times, so better to be prepared. The bakery had some good looking gelato! 

 

 

Our friends showed up right about 11, and we went about checking out the art fair (and having a cocktail while walking). I got a call from the hotel right about a half hour later letting me know they had a room ready for us, so DW and I went to check in and grab our luggage (and some badly needed sunscreen).

 

After tagging back up with our friends, they walked us over to the riverwalk and jazz "brunch" that was going on there. Now, that is something to see. Two or three stages with jazz bands playing (plus a dancing pavilion) with a whole bunch of folks camped out with their own tables, chairs, pop-ups (when not in the plentiful shade), food, drinks, dogs, and about anything else you might want over a day. We were highly impressed and had a ball just strolling around there for a while. 

 

After that, they showed us the couple of blocks that is Downtown Fort Lauderdale, and we popped into a place they know for a little A/C and a couple of drinks. A group of obvious Spring Breakers came in after their long morning's nap, so that gave us a chuckle. 

 

Since it was now nearing 2 PM, we figured it was better to eat lunch sooner than later. We walked back over to Caffe Europa, an Italian spot they know well and enjoy, and we were fortunate enough to snag a corner table outside. I had orechiette with rapini and sausage, the ladies split a pizza and a salad, and our fourth just had some wine (he doesn't really eat during the day--just his thing). All the food was terrific. 

 

We then strolled around those parts of the art fair we hadn't seen before popping into Big City for a farewell drink. They are great folks, and we look forward to seeing them again as soon as we can. 

 

Between the sun, the walking, the drinks, and a week on a cruise ship, I was about cooked. Fortunately, our hotel is only across the street. I marched right up to our room and laid down for a good hour. There are no words adequate to describe how nice that felt. No words at all. 

 

We wrapped things up by heading next door to Gran Forno Pronto. Even though we had such a late and fairly large lunch, we knew we'd want more to eat, and it's hard to beat their seafood pizza (especially when preceeded by their grilled octopus). That, a bottle of wine, and the delightfully quirky music are just too hard to pass up. It's a great ending to a great day. 

 

[pd7277]

What would you consider the sports bar on Reflection?  We will be on at the beginning of November and I'm curious where they would show the World Series if it went to games 6/7.  

[DCPIV]

On 3/5/2023 at 9:22 PM, pd7277 said:

What would you consider the sports bar on Reflection?  We will be on at the beginning of November and I'm curious where they would show the World Series if it went to games 6/7.  

 

The Casino Bar probably is your best bet for that.  There are the small TVs down at "entertainment court," but they also show movies down there.  I don't know how the conflict works out.

 

Yes, one thing we miss on Reflection is Craft Social.  I honestly didn't think I would be much of a fan of Craft Social, but I did enjoy it on Equinox.

[robtulipe]

On 3/2/2023 at 10:01 AM, countess5 said:

Any idea where they are dropping people off once you hit land? 
 

Thanks

 

 Cheers!! 

We took the tender in to shore in Grand Cayman on this cruise and were dropped off at the North Terminal.

Edited March 7, 2023 by robtulipe