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

[Esprit]

We did much the same as you @Les43 today.

Each time we return to Mykonos I keep hoping to see the two white pelicans we saw over 10 years ago but wonder if age got the better of them. They would wander around the streets and try to sneak into restaurant kitchens!

The ship was indeed quiet last night after the pool deck silent disco. I think the Athens heat took its toll.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Esprit

[ladylemondrop]

Great photos, did you see the Pelican? 

[kwokpot]

3 hours ago, Les43 said:

Once we got off the ship, we took the complimentary shuttle bus in to town

Do you know if this shuttle bus is provided by the city or it was Celebrity organized? 

[Les43]

4 hours ago, ladylemondrop said:

Great photos, did you see the Pelican? 

We didn’t see the Pelican this time but my SH claims t have seen it when we were last in Mykonos 6 years ago. 

[Les43]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Do you know if this shuttle bus is provided by the city or it was Celebrity organized? 

I suspect it is supported by the cruise companies. Enchanted Princess was also docked at the new pier albeit tendered and were using the shuttles. 

[Les43]

So we are on our way from Mykonos to Rhodes - ETA 8am tomorrow. As we didn’t sail until after 8.30pm, there was a different /quieter vibe to the ship. Luminae was quiet and I wonder if those on tours and late back perhaps went to the OVC. We enjoyed our meal and have decided to retire early tonight. Perhaps unsurprising to find a note in the stateroom tonight noting that there will be 4 other ships in Santorini on Sunday (plus Reflection). We have done this port before and did a Celebrity excursion and the line for the cable car was awful and there was only one other ship in port. We may stay onboard on Sunday! 

[Esprit]

Last night in the MDR the special meal of the night was fish & chips with mushy peas! Have to say Princess do it much better.

Regarding Santorini we’ve walked up the 588 steps and it was quite an experience dodging the donkey trains and what they leave behind!

If the queue is ridiculously long coming back down we may take the steps option.

[Les43]

A very hot and sunny day in Rhodes. The old town never disappoints albeit that the heat is incredible. We went for a wander around the shops and had a drink and then came back onboard to cool off and have some lunch in the OVC. Just hearing on another forum that there are still 15 staterooms where passengers haven’t got their luggage. Apparently there were issues at Rome at departure where the baggage handlers were on a go slow after the strike. Those folks were encouraged to head to the ship to avoid missing it and their luggage would follow. Alas we are now on day 6 and quite a number are still without their bags. What a nightmare and a sure-fire way to spoil a cruise. Hope they get reunited with it soon. All aboard is 4.30pm today and then we will be en route for Santorini. A few photos from today:

 

[Esprit]

A couple on our MDR table were reunited with their cases in Athens. Celebrity gave all the affected passengers $100 OBC but no free transportation to the airport and back. There were 50 passengers without luggage and a further 40 odd sailing on Beyond.

As you rightly say there are still a dozen or so that still haven’t got their cases!

[boykin]

So sorry to hear about the still missing luggage. Last night was Abba sing along in the Grand Foyer and it was packed on all 3 levels. It’s was really fun seeing all ages engaged.

 

We are in aqua class and eat most meals in the Blu. There has been previous discussion about ordering off of main menu while dining in the Blu. We have had no problem since we usually order escargot each night. Food and service in Blu has been outstanding! 

[Les43]

2 minutes ago, boykin said:

So sorry to hear about the still missing luggage. Last night was Abba sing along in the Grand Foyer and it was packed on all 3 levels. It’s was really fun seeing all ages engaged.

 

We are in aqua class and eat most meals in the Blu. There has been previous discussion about ordering off of main menu while dining in the Blu. We have had no problem since we usually order escargot each night. Food and service in Blu has been outstanding! 

Glad you are having a good time too. We have been offered the MDR menu in Luminae if we want it. The service is excellent and the staff really do everything to please. 

[VitaminSea53]

On 7/19/2023 at 10:39 PM, 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!

What is your cabin number?

[Esprit]

51 minutes ago, VitaminSea53 said:

What is your cabin number?

I’d rather not say but we are on Deck 8 port side forward of the lifts.

The only vibration I have so far felt was today when the ship used its bow thrusters to do a 180 and dock port side so a large pane of glass could be replaced adjacent to the Spa.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Esprit

[brockmom]

23 hours ago, Les43 said:

A very hot and sunny day in Rhodes. The old town never disappoints albeit that the heat is incredible. We went for a wander around the shops and had a drink and then came back onboard to cool off and have some lunch in the OVC. Just hearing on another forum that there are still 15 staterooms where passengers haven’t got their luggage. Apparently there were issues at Rome at departure where the baggage handlers were on a go slow after the strike. Those folks were encouraged to head to the ship to avoid missing it and their luggage would follow. Alas we are now on day 6 and quite a number are still without their bags. What a nightmare and a sure-fire way to spoil a cruise. Hope they get reunited with it soon. All aboard is 4.30pm today and then we will be en route for Santorini. A few photos from today:

 

Pictures are lovely and clear. Could you smell any smoke ?

just reading that fires have reached Rhodes now.

Any discussions on board about them ?

In Ontario where we live, we have certainly had our fair share of the 

Smokey cloudy days from fires hours away.

Ros

[Les43]

59 minutes ago, brockmom said:

Pictures are lovely and clear. Could you smell any smoke ?

just reading that fires have reached Rhodes now.

Any discussions on board about them ?

In Ontario where we live, we have certainly had our fair share of the 

Smokey cloudy days from fires hours away.

Ros

There was nothing apparent in Rhodes town yesterday and no smell or sign of smoke. I believe the fires are in the middle / north of the island. There was nothing mentioned onboard but hearing today that several airlines are cancelling flights in to Rhodes and focussing on evacuating those staying close to the fires. 

[Les43]

On 7/20/2023 at 2:18 PM, ladylemondrop said:

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

 

Sorry just catching up on  questions. We had already paid to upgrade from a SS Veranda to a SS sky suite which had premium drinks / Wi-Fi etc included. Those then transferred when we were successful with the Moveup to the CS

[Les43]

On 7/20/2023 at 4:20 PM, 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.

It was the Terrazzo Marco Antonio Suites. 

[Les43]

Saturday evening and Sunday in Santorini

 

Just catching up with questions - I think I have answered most - apologies if I have missed any! The ship left Rhodes town just after 4.30pm yesterday and set sail for Santorini. We were sad to hear news of terrible wild fires in Rhodes and in fact today BBC news is reporting that they are stopping flights going in to Rhodes. We didn’t see anything when we were there or smell any smoke but sad for the locals and those trying to evacuate.

 

Anyway, we headed to Michael’s Club for our customary pre-dinner G&T and enjoyed a chat with the incredible Cranston. His songs are hilarious and his droll chat is very funny. We then headed to Luminae for dinner and we managed to get a window seat. There were plenty of waves to it was nice sitting watching the ocean swirl by! Dinner was very nice - I had the Hake starter and the sirloin steak main course. Both very good. I then finished with the cheese ( I wasn’t in the mood for anything too sweet). My DH had the quinoa barley ragu and the turkey from the MDR menu. We shared the homemade fettuccine..He then had the chocolate custard dessert. I don’t think he was keen on the starter and he said the turkey was nice. He thought the dessert would be light but…..well….. that was not to be the case. Our sommelier Arvind was his usual very helpful self and brought us a very tasty Cabernet Sauvignon and then our customary dessert wine. After dinner we wandered through the shops and ended up in the martini bar. It was really busy and lots of people had buzzers and were clearly waiting on tables in the MDR. The band were playing and it was pretty loud (#oldage) - we then passed by Al Bacio for a decaf americano. We finished the evening back in Michael’s club and chatting to Cranston. 

 

Sunday

 

We slept very well and awoke just before 9am by which time the ship had docked off Santorini and the tender boats were underway. We could see the line for the cable car from our stateroom and it looked very long. It will be interesting to hear later what it was like from the top. We got ready and headed to the OVC for some breakfast. The OVC was quite busy and lots of folks were getting ready to head off the ship. As an aside, I am really surprised at the number of people who walk past the staff at the entrance to the OVC and don’t sanitise. 🤢🤢. During breakfast we reviewed the plan for the day and decided to stick with our original plan to stay onboard the ship. We were concerned about the many reports of huge lines for the cable cars and of course, we have been to Santorini before and that had been our experience at the end of a celebrity tour some years ago   We have had a quiet day so far - lazing around in the Solarium, a swim and a dip in the hot tub then we thought we would try the Mast grill for lunch. We both had a hot dog and it wasn’t great. We then stopped by the OVC for some ice-cream and then came back to our lovely stateroom to sit on the balcony and read. 

 

Clocks will go back one hour tonight and we don’t sail-away until 10pm. Tomorrow is a sea day and we have a busy one planned - more on that later / tomorrow. 

[MikeMary4449]

2 hours ago, Les43 said:

Saturday evening and Sunday in Santorini

Anyway, we headed to Michael’s Club for our customary pre-dinner G&T and enjoyed a chat with the incredible Cranston. His songs are hilarious and his droll chat is very funny.

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

[CruiseTimeAgain2]

3 hours ago, MikeMary4449 said:

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

 

[CruiseTimeAgain2]

Les43,

My wife and I would also be interested of Cranston’s schedule as we will be on Reflection on Nov 25, Dec 3 & Dec 9.

Really like seeing him.

[Les43]

Hi folks - we spoke to Cranston earlier. He has two more cruises on this contract and then 2 months off. He isn’t sure where he will be after that but his preference is to stay with Reflection which will be headed to the Caribbean. That’s not confirmed though until he gets his new papers. 

[CruiseTimeAgain2]

2 hours ago, Les43 said:

Hi folks - we spoke to Cranston earlier. He has two more cruises on this contract and then 2 months off. He isn’t sure where he will be after that but his preference is to stay with Reflection which will be headed to the Caribbean. That’s not confirmed though until he gets his new papers. 

Thank you for the information on Cranston. 

Thank you for doing the Reflection review, really enjoying your review 

 

[Esprit]

Despite numerous visits to Santorini we decided to leave the ship later in the day knowing the last tender wasn’t until 9.15 pm.

We got to the cable car entrance at about 12.30 and there was no queue at all.

Celebrity claimed there would be five cruise ships but there were only three. The Viking ship left mid afternoon and Celestial one came in soon after. 
With a successful shop done we found our favourite bar.

[Esprit]

We decided to return to the ship at 4 pm but had we known Enchanted Princess would leave around 6 pm we could have lingered longer so only Reflection passengers would make up the cable car queue.

It took about 45 minutes for the line to reach the entrance so no worse than our previous visits.

This time though we were joined by a donkey train.