Semi-live review - Reflection 10 nights Malta and Greek Islands - 17 July 2023

[Les43]

4 hours ago, Esprit said:

They definitely are making omelettes to order as that’s what I live on for breakfast. Everything else is never hot enough for me hence why I avoid the buffet other times of the day.

 

When we visited the OVC this morning they were trying to direct you to the pre-made ones. 

[Les43]

Evening all. Just a quick update from this evening. We had a pre-dinner aperitif in Michael’s club with Cranston and we were somewhat surprised at the ‘canapés’ - crisps, nuts, cheese and charcuterie. If we had eaten all of it then there would have been no space for dinner!

 

We ate again in Luminae and it wasn’t quite as good as previous nights. I had the short rib -(delicious) and the chicken tagine from the Daniel Bouloud menu - it wasn’t great. Very salty and dry. My DH had the turkey soup - he said it was ok and the chicken breast - it was very small and nothing special. When Vishal came back to the table he realised that we hadn’t been too keen on the mains. He brought us the NY strip steak - it was ok. We then had the chocolate dessert - it was good but not great. All in all a bit of a Luminae disappointment tonight. After dinner we had an after dinner drink in Michael’s and then a decaf Americano in Al Bacio before calling it a night. Back in our stateroom now and the vibration is really bad. I spoke too soon!! Athens tomorrow so will report back after our tour tomorrow afternoon. Night all! 

[JeanieC,Aston]

28 minutes ago, Les43 said:

Evening all. Just a quick update from this evening. We had a pre-dinner aperitif in Michael’s club with Cranston and we were somewhat surprised at the ‘canapés’ - crisps, nuts, cheese and charcuterie. If we had eaten all of it then there would have been no space for dinner!

 

We ate again in Luminae and it wasn’t quite as good as previous nights. I had the short rib -(delicious) and the chicken tagine from the Daniel Bouloud menu - it wasn’t great. Very salty and dry. My DH had the turkey soup - he said it was ok and the chicken breast - it was very small and nothing special. When Vishal came back to the table he realised that we hadn’t been too keen on the mains. He brought us the NY strip steak - it was ok. We then had the chocolate dessert - it was good but not great. All in all a bit of a Luminae disappointment tonight. After dinner we had an after dinner drink in Michael’s and then a decaf Americano in Al Bacio before calling it a night. Back in our stateroom now and the vibration is really bad. I spoke too soon!! Athens tomorrow so will report back after our tour tomorrow afternoon. Night all! 

Be careful in Athens tomorrow it’s forecast for 45 deg.

Plenty of water and don’t forget they are closing the Acropolis from early morning to early evening due to the suffocating heat,,,,no shade on the Acropolis.

[shirazcruiser]

We've been to the Acropolis several times with one time being 95 degrees and it was dreadful.  A little shopping and a nice Greek lunch with wine at the Plaka sounds more appealing!  Any explanation from the captain on the vibration?  

[Esprit]

Sorry to read your dining experience wasn’t good last night @Les43

we ate in Murano and the food was wonderful as always. Service was impeccable too. We’ll be back there next week sitting at our favourite table once again.

Not sure if this common knowledge but we asked our room steward for a kettle and he happily obliged. Proper hot tea first thing in the morning, starts the day perfectly.

Looking forward to our day aboard an empty ship. Been to Athens loads of times so we’ll chill and max out our premium drinks package🤪

btw no vibration where we are situated. We don’t even feel the bow thrusters when docking!

Edited July 20, 2023 by Esprit

[Esprit]

Spoilt for choice😂

[Esprit]

Not your usual Piraeus harbour sight!

Edited July 20, 2023 by Esprit

[JeanieC,Aston]

Met Office forecasting temps of 100 deg F for most of the day,,,those decks need some cover.

[Baggy178]

12 hours ago, shirazcruiser said:

We've been to the Acropolis several times with one time being 95 degrees and it was dreadful.  A little shopping and a nice Greek lunch with wine at the Plaka sounds more appealing!  Any explanation from the captain on the vibration?  

 

Indeed.

Like Stonehenge it's best viewed from afar.

Last Friday when it was closed all afternoon because of the heat 22,000 people still visited it.

Horrendous.

 

 

[ladylemondrop]

On 7/17/2023 at 3:19 PM, Les43 said:

When we got on board we discovered that our Seapasses were marked with classic drinks and a quick visit to Michael’s Club had the drinks package and Wi-Fi all sorted. Fantastic service.

Hi, did you get drinks upgrade with your move up, or had you already purchased upgrades? 

 

[Eloise4Ever]

Thank you so much for doing this live review, I know it takes up a lot of time. Your wonderful report helped us decide to book the same itinerary in September in a suite. We had been leaning towards Silhouette as it has been revolutionised but Reflection seems to be holding up ok. I will be following the rest of your journey with great interest.

 

Can you please tell me the name of your hotel in Rome? I don't think I saw it mentioned.

[MikeMary4449]

19 hours ago, Les43 said:

Evening all. Just a quick update from this evening. We had a pre-dinner aperitif in Michael’s club with Cranston

Hi Les43, Thanks for your great review!  We are following along as we are doing this same itinerary and the following TA in October.  We think Cranston is a gem!  If you have a chance, could you ask him if he will be aboard for the October 9 and 19 sailings.  Please tell him Mike and Mary say "Hello" and we look forward to seeing him again!  TIA

[Lastdance]

Hope you are enjoying your cruise, as the time goes by so fast onboard...it’s hot where I live too, but a very dry heat.  Still following and love reading your post, along with photos!

What has been the best part so far?

 

😀

Edited July 20, 2023 by Lastdance

[Essiesmom]

2 hours ago, Eloise4Ever said:

Thank you so much for doing this live review, I know it takes up a lot of time. Your wonderful report helped us decide to book the same itinerary in September in a suite. We had been leaning towards Silhouette as it has been revolutionised but Reflection seems to be holding up ok. I will be following the rest of your journey with great interest.

 

Can you please tell me the name of your hotel in Rome? I don't think I saw it mentioned.

See post #20.

[Eloise4Ever]

11 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

See post #20.

 

Thank you! 🙏

 

[Les43]

23 hours ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Be careful in Athens tomorrow it’s forecast for 45 deg.

Plenty of water and don’t forget they are closing the Acropolis from early morning to early evening due to the suffocating heat,,,,no shade on the Acropolis.

Athens was very hot. They were reporting temperatures of 45C+. We did an afternoon tour up the mountain which was ok (ish)  

[Les43]

21 hours ago, shirazcruiser said:

We've been to the Acropolis several times with one time being 95 degrees and it was dreadful.  A little shopping and a nice Greek lunch with wine at the Plaka sounds more appealing!  Any explanation from the captain on the vibration?  

No explanation on vibration. Although last night we had circa 300 NM to reach Piraeus so we think the ship was full throttle. Tonight no vibration but only 90 NM to get to Mykonos. 

[Les43]

13 hours ago, Esprit said:

Sorry to read your dining experience wasn’t good last night @Les43

we ate in Murano and the food was wonderful as always. Service was impeccable too. We’ll be back there next week sitting at our favourite table once again.

Not sure if this common knowledge but we asked our room steward for a kettle and he happily obliged. Proper hot tea first thing in the morning, starts the day perfectly.

Looking forward to our day aboard an empty ship. Been to Athens loads of times so we’ll chill and max out our premium drinks package🤪

btw no vibration where we are situated. We don’t even feel the bow thrusters when docking!

Glad you have enjoyed Murano. I would like it but the menu does not appeal to my DH. Luminae was good tonight. 

[Les43]

7 hours ago, ladylemondrop said:

Hi, did you get drinks upgrade with your move up, or had you already purchased upgrades? 

 

We had already upgraded to a sunset Sky suite and having upgraded the drinks package before then, we had it refunded. We gave premium drinks and Wi-Fi in our CS

[Les43]

Day 4 - Athens

 

A brief update on our day in Athens with more photos to be added tomorrow when my phone syncs with the Wi-Fi! 🙄. Despite the serious vibrations last night, we slept very well. We awoke around 8.40 and after a quick shower, headed to OVC. One of these days we will ,make it to Luminae! We had a light breakfast and then because we had a tour booked for the afternoon, we headed to the solarium pool for a while before our tour.  The ship was very quiet and we enjoyed a quiet time at the so.atrium in the pool and jacuzzi and then we ventured to the pool bar for a cool drink. Temperatures were very high today - as high as 47 C in Athens so need to keep hydrated. We then went back to our room to get ready for the tour. We then went to OVC for a light lunch. I enjoyed some salad and some pizza. At around 1.e0pm we ventured off the ship to meet our tour in the terminal building( except the group were meeting outside in the heat! 🥵). We had reserved the shortest tour to the funicular of Mount Lycabbetus to see the view. We meet he guide and our minibus - there were 17 on our bus. We drove through Athens with the guide pointing out various sights en route. The air-  on was struggling on the bus as it was very hot. Others on the bus were complaining. When we reached the funicular we joined another group and stood around for bout 20 mins waiting for a few to visit the gift shop 🙄. We then headed on the funicular to the top

 

On the way up,there was no view as it’s all a tunnel. Once at the top, we visited the cafe for complimentary coffee and Greek pastry and then went outside to look at the views. Temps were so high that you couldn’t be in the sun for long. Views of the Acropolis were fab. We thought the tour was a bit chaotic - we joined with another group and  despite the descriptor saying ‘ small group’ there were around 40 of us. We got back to the ship just after 4.30pm and it was still very hot. 

 

Once back onboard., we had a quick shower and headed out for a pre-dinner drink. We ate in Luminae again and it was much better. More on that with photos tomorrow

 

A brief update on our day in Athens with more photos to be added tomorrow when my phone syncs with the Wi-Fi! 🙄. Despite the serious vibrations last night, we slept very well. We awoke around 8.40 and after a quick shower, headed to OVC. One of these days we will ,make it to Luminae! We had a light breakfast and then because we had a tour booked for the afternoon, we headed to the solarium pool for a while before our tour.  The ship was very quiet and we enjoyed a quiet time at the so.atrium in the pool and jacuzzi and then we ventured to the pool bar for a cool drink. Temperatures were very high today - as high as 47 C in Athens so need to keep hydrated. We then went back to our room to get ready for the tour. We then went to OVC for a light lunch. I enjoyed some salad and some pizza. At around 1.e0pm we ventured off the ship to meet our tour in the terminal building( except the group were meeting outside in the heat! 🥵). We had reserved the shortest tour to the funicular of Mount Lycabbetus to see the view. We meet he guide and our minibus - there were 17 on our bus. We drove through Athens with the guide pointing out various sights en route. The air-  on was struggling on the bus as it was very hot. Others on the bus were complaining. When we reached the funicular we joined another group and stood around for bout 20 mins waiting for a few to visit the gift shop 🙄. We then headed on the funicular to the top

 

On the way up,there was no view as it’s all a tunnel. Once at the top, we visited the cafe for complimentary coffee and Greek pastry and then went outside to look at the views. Temps were so high that you couldn’t be in the sun for long. Views of the Acropolis were fab. We thought the tour was a bit chaotic - we joined with another group and  despite the descriptor saying ‘ small group’ there were around 40 of us. We got back to the ship just after 4.30pm and it was still very hot. 

 

Once back onboard., we had a quick shower and headed out for a pre-dinner drink. We ate in Luminae again and it was much better. More on that with photos tomorrow

[KKB]

On 7/19/2023 at 2:31 PM, Les43 said:

 

We ate again in Luminae and it wasn’t quite as good as previous nights. I had the short rib -(delicious) and the chicken tagine from the Daniel Bouloud menu - it wasn’t great. Very salty and dry. My DH had the turkey soup - he said it was ok and the chicken breast - it was very small and nothing special. When Vishal came back to the table he realised that we hadn’t been too keen on the mains. He brought us the NY strip steak - it was ok. We then had the chocolate dessert - it was good but not great. All in all a bit of a Luminae disappointment tonight. 

We were in Retreat on the Beyond in April.

Having done MDR on Apex & Edge, we found Luminae not particularly better. It was good--but I rather expect it to be a lot better.

 

Enjoying your TR! DD & I are doing Italy & Greece on NCL in 2 weeks so I thought your TR would allow some vicarious living through you to bide our time!

Edited July 20, 2023 by KKB

[Esprit]

Last night’s pool deck silent disco.

[boykin]

Yes, it was very hot in Athens. We booked a private driver with PK Travel. The driver met us at the pier at 8 am and drove us straight to the a acropolis to beat the crowds. It was crowded but doable. By the time we came down the hill around 9:45 it was a madhouse. Our driver drove us around where we saw various landmarks and had a chance to see the changing of the guards at the presidential palace. We continued on to the National Archeological Museum and afterwards where dropped off at the plakas. It was an incredible morning with a fantastic driver. My one piece of advice is to buy your tickets for entrance ahead of time. I didn’t understand why so many people where in line to buy tickets at the acropolis when you can purchase online. 
 

Last night on the ship there were plenty of activities: theatre production, silent disco poolside, grand foyer music and 80s music in sky lounge. We stumbled upon an acoustic tribute to Fleetwood Mac in the Ensemble Lounge that was well attended. I haven’t need to the Lawn Club but there was a late night showing of Elvis the movie. 
 

looking forward to Mykonos!

[Les43]

As promised, a few photos of our dinner in Luminae last night. 

[Les43]

Day 5 - Mykonos

 

The ship docked in Mykonos before 8am this morning. I think I was vaguely aware of the engines stopping and the lack of movement. I didn’t actually get out of bed until 8.50am it seems that the R&R is working! The ship was travelling at a slower speed overnight as there was not so far to travel from Piraeus to here and we hardly felt any vibration in the stateroom. We have both commented that the ship does not feel crowded and at times seems quiet. For example, last night we were at the Martini Bar just after 9pm and there were only another 2 couples in the vicinity. I am not sure what the passenger count is for this cruise but it’s certainly not full and I suspect the fact there is also a large Abraham Hicks group on the ship, that they will be following a programme of activities in other spaces on the ship.

 

Anyway, back to today - it’s another scorcher in Mykonos - around 38C but the fact that it’s a windy island helps a bit with the temperature. We had no plans for today -we have visited before so we knew we could just stroll around the town at our leisure. The only issue is that we are one of four ships in port so the town is very very busy. First, we had a light breakfast in the OVC. It was really crowded and very few spare tables. I was also surprised and disappointed to note that the restrooms just outside the OVC were in pretty poor shape and obviously had not been cleaned or monitored for a while 🤢.
 

Once we got off the ship, we took the complimentary shuttle bus in to town. We enjoyed a stroll around and a beer in a cafe and then got the water taxi back to the new port. It only cost 2€ so very good value. We came back on board and headed back to the OVC for lunch. This time it was really quiet and I had my usual salad and pizza! We are now having a quiet afternoon reading on our balcony in the shade and enjoying the breeze! 

Tonight we will be back in Luminae and getting ready for our next port day tomorrow in Rhodes. We will do that on our own too as the old town is very walkable from the port. A few photos from today below.