Review - Reflection August 14, 2023 - 10 night Rome to Barcelona

[TMaine]

I am finally getting to my review of this cruise which will likely be done in parts.  We have been sailing with Celebrity since 2005 so that is our baseline if I make comparisons or comments about what Celebrity is now, those are based on our experiences over the years.  I won't include anything about the casino, pools, hot tubs, or shops in this review as we don't utilize these.  We are elite memberssailed in a Concierge room and had booked with AI awhile ago before the prices sort of went crazy.  We don't drink much alcohol at all or use the internet except for an occasional email/ message check but we do enjoy coffees from Cafe al Bacio!  We'll, here goes!

 

Embarkation - We had an 11:30 boarding time and arrived at the pier a little early as traffic was not too bad leaving Rome.  We were given a number and had a seat waiting for our number to be called.  We didn't wait long and went through the process and were on the ship within minutes.  We went to our room.(CC room) and dropped our bags and got our seapasses.  Very smooth embarkation process.

 

Concierge lunch - We went to the MDR for the CC lunch, I had the braised short ribs which were excellent!  We spent the afternoon checking out the ship and the various places we like to go. 

[TMaine]

Reflection - The ship was really I good condition.  We didn't notice anything that showed significant signs of wear or damage although some of the chairs have seen better days in the MDR and around the ship.  The ship was sailing at capacity and you could tell.  There were MANY children on board, by far more than we have experienced before.  Granted, we had never sailed in August but we have sailed during spring break in the Caribbean.  Needless to say, some were well behaved and others were not.  Tripping over kids running through a packed OVC was not a great experience or having a ball thrown around in the stairwell while trying to pass.

 

Smoking - This seemed to be a constant issue, and yes, we reported it a number of times.  Smoking observed in the theater,  OVC and upper pool deck.  We also smelled it on our balcony numerous times but could not tell where from.  We were deck 10, starboard, midship so who knows.

[kwokpot]

31 minutes ago, TMaine said:

The ship was sailing at capacity and you could tell.  There were MANY children on board, by far more than we have experienced before.  Granted, we had never sailed in August but we have sailed during spring break in the Caribbean.  Needless to say, some were well behaved and others were not.  Tripping over kids running through a packed OVC was not a great experience or having a ball thrown around in the stairwell while trying to pass.

Thank you for your write up and I await for further postings! We did two cruises last month(July), the Apex to Iceland and Northern Europe followed by the Odyssey of the Seas from Rome to Greece and Mediterranean. We've been to Europe too many times to count but like you NEVER in the summer, only Spring and Fall seasons. Like you our Odyssey ship was at capacity but it was the families with kids that was overwhelming. I know Royal is a family oriented cruiseline but I was  not prepared for the literal mobs of people on the pool decks, more so than any Caribbean cruise during Spring break or any major American Holiday. I will never again sail the Mediterranean during July and August! 

[ElmaLee]

August is peak holiday season for many European countries.  It's not surprising there are families with children on cruises at that time.

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for your post.   Enjoying your post so far and your perspective so far. 

[TMaine]

MDR - We ate in the MDR every night except one.  We have tried all of the specialty restaurants in the past and don't find them worth the money though we did have lunch at sushi on 5 twice.  We were traditional late seating which is our preference.  The food was generally ok with a couple of stand outs for me, the Coq au Vin and braised short ribs were very good.  The menu now has combined the daily options with the everyday favorites to make it look like there are more choices.  Escargot and shrimp cocktail were available every night!  They also added the rock lobster tail, filet mignon and both as surf and turf for an upcharge as mentioned in other threads.  One big disappointment for my wife was no duck l'orange on rock lobster night.  Neither of us care for rock lobster and the alternatives were not good.  We did not get any desserts.

Service - One thing was pretty evident and that was the staff were busting their butts to try to keep up but seemed under staffed.  This was a common theme observed throughout the service staff on the ship.  We rarely saw staff cleaning in the stairways and around the public areas like we had in the past.  We saw trash left in the stairways that was there for a couple of days before being picked up.  Our stateroom attendant was a  Retreat Host so they are apparently covering non suites as well.  I recall the days when there were two attendants serving each room.

[hcat]

very detailed review..Thanks for posting...not many reviews right now on CC

[the penguins]

6 hours ago, TMaine said:

MDR - We ate in the MDR every night except one.  We have tried all of the specialty restaurants in the past and don't find them worth the money though we did have lunch at sushi on 5 twice.  We were traditional late seating which is our preference.  The food was generally ok with a couple of stand outs for me, the Coq au Vin and braised short ribs were very good.  The menu now has combined the daily options with the everyday favorites to make it look like there are more choices.  Escargot and shrimp cocktail were available every night!  They also added the rock lobster tail, filet mignon and both as surf and turf for an upcharge as mentioned in other threads.  One big disappointment for my wife was no duck l'orange on rock lobster night.  Neither of us care for rock lobster and the alternatives were not good.  We did not get any desserts.

Service - One thing was pretty evident and that was the staff were busting their butts to try to keep up but seemed under staffed.  This was a common theme observed throughout the service staff on the ship.  We rarely saw staff cleaning in the stairways and around the public areas like we had in the past.  We saw trash left in the stairways that was there for a couple of days before being picked up.  Our stateroom attendant was a  Retreat Host so they are apparently covering non suites as well.  I recall the days when there were two attendants serving each room.

Thank you.

2 Quick comments:

Room attendants. X changed this several years ago and every stateroom attendant we have asked prefers the new system. Under the old system they had more cabins to do but worse the "senior" attendant got the blame from the supervisors for any shortcomings. Under the new system each Attendant is solely responsible for their own block of rooms. Auto tips work out the same as they have less cabins but get the full amount for each.

Staffing levels: these are fixed so when a ship is sailing in peak/holiday periods with upto 110% capacity (and more) this inevitably puts a lot of strain on the staff. Capacity is based on 2 passengers per cabin so when there are lots of families (3 or 4 to a cabin) the figure easily exceeds 100 % . All cruise lines use the same basis for calculating capacity. X's (Royal's as a group) average capacity over the last quarter was 105%.

[Esprit]

7 hours ago, TMaine said:

 

Service - One thing was pretty evident and that was the staff were busting their butts to try to keep up but seemed under staffed.  This was a common theme observed throughout the service staff on the ship.  We rarely saw staff cleaning in the stairways and around the public areas like we had in the past.  We saw trash left in the stairways that was there for a couple of days before being picked up.  Our stateroom attendant was a  Retreat Host so they are apparently covering non suites as well.  I recall the days when there were two attendants serving each room.

On our Reflection cruise last month (exactly the same itinerary) I often saw cleaners working on stairways (as I only use the stairs). MDR staff were indeed working very hard but never seemed understaffed to me. My wine glass was never empty and the food always piping hot.

 

Regarding trash, my biggest bugbear is the from those passengers that leave dirty plates, uneaten food, and half filled glasses outside their door on the floor overnight. So disrespectful to fellow guests and the poor staff that have to bend down to pick it up! 

[vickykay]

We have always looked forward to the duck ( I love the duck) and branzino which I noticed are not on our upcoming Summit cruise 😢.

 

looking forward to the rest of your review. 

 

[Nancycat]

We are leaving on the Reflection on September 21 Barcelona to Barcelona, schools will be back in session so less kids.

Enjoying your review 

[horseymike]

54 minutes ago, Nancycat said:

We are leaving on the Reflection on September 21 Barcelona to Barcelona, schools will be back in session so less kids.

Enjoying your review 

Hope you have a great cruise . Please let us know how it goes .

Thanks

[Barwick Cruiser]

6 hours ago, Esprit said:

On our Reflection cruise last month (exactly the same itinerary) I often saw cleaners working on stairways (as I only use the stairs). MDR staff were indeed working very hard but never seemed understaffed to me. My wine glass was never empty and the food always piping hot.

 

Regarding trash, my biggest bugbear is the from those passengers that leave dirty plates, uneaten food, and half filled glasses outside their door on the floor overnight. So disrespectful to fellow guests and the poor staff that have to bend down to pick it up! 

The difference is most likely due to the reduced number of passengers. July would be a busy month with passengers but August would be swamped. 
 

Agree about the dishes being left in the hallway..we’ve never had an issue with our attendant removing used dishes from inside our cabin, not sure why passengers think this is acceptable. Can’t imagine what their homes look like. 
 

To the OP, thanks for posting your review, as another poster wrote, very few current reviews on the board. 🙏 

[SI Cruiser]

Passengers have reported severe vibration issues earlier this year.  Did you experience any of this?

[TMaine]

6 hours ago, SI Cruiser said:

Passengers have reported severe vibration issues earlier this year.  Did you experience any of this?

We did notice this when we first were on the ship and actually asked guest relations while we were there for another issue (one seapass wouldn't open our door).  They said yes, it vibrates.  Ha!  I guess we weren't imagining it but we honestly didn't even notice it 99% of the time.  

[TMaine]

Weather - Three days pre in Rome and the whole cruise was sunny and warm, honestly couldn't have asked for better.  The seas were also calm the whole time which was nice, we have had some rough seas in the Med before but it was one of the smoothest sailings we have been on.  While in port in Mykonos it was quite windy and choppy, more on that later.

 

Spa - We did a couples manicure/pedicure.  We have done these on the last few cruises as a treat and I have to say that we probably won't again.  Quite expensive and they didn't do a great job.  

 

OVC - I have had issue with the arrangement of the stations on the S-class ships since we first sailed Solstice.  They seem to invite congestion and confusion but I won't say anything more on that.  The options were good and plentiful with good variety for the most part.  Pizza was good, ice cream good, etc.  Dinner options were good as well, my only negative would be that it seems that 30-40% of the choices are Indian food which I am not a huge fan of but I ate around it!  We usually ate breakfast at Opus and lunch on shore.  One dinner and afternoon snacks is when we usually frequented OVC.

[TMaine]

On 8/30/2023 at 11:30 AM, ElmaLee said:

August is peak holiday season for many European countries.  It's not surprising there are families with children on cruises at that time.

Yes, and we anticipated that, the problem is there is little for young kids to do on Celebrity (yet) at 10pm so they improvise.

[MisterMet]

Thanks for a great review.  We loved our time on the Reflection in July 2022 through Italy, Greece, and Turkey.  Thought everything was top notch like your review😀

[conquesodor]

Thank you for your review! It strikes me as balanced and fair minded, which seems rare these days.

[Dreamer68]

Thanks for review! I am looking forward to reading more as I have just booked the reverse itinerary for May 2024, from Barcelona to Rome on the Solstice-class Equinox. 🤗

[TMaine]

Sorry this is taking so long!!

 

Entertainment - The entertainment was really up and down.  We saw all of the pre dinner shows and saw some of the bands and music.  The Celebrity production cast were just OK, Broken Strings was an odd and not well put together show in our opinion, we left early.  We have seen Broadway Cabaret and Elysium too many times and done much better on other cruises.  There were two comedians, one American and one British.  We found both of them to have some funny jokes but not really rolling on the floor stuff.  We did not see it, but the British comedian had an 18+ show at 10:30pm one night and apparently it was so bad they kicked him off the ship the next day.  There was a jugler who was quite good and had good stage presence and was engaging.  A violinst we saw twice and he was very good.  The other music acts around the ship were just OK, we didn't spend much time listening to them so probably shouldn't offer much of an opinion on them.  The real highlight for entertainment was Stephen Barry.  He blew all other performers out of the water.  We saw his show in the theater and then he performed at 8:30pm in the Grand Foyer a few nights later.  The foyer was PACKED right up many floors!  

[Ken the cruiser]

On 8/30/2023 at 8:54 AM, TMaine said:

Thanks for your review! But this really caught my eye and I have to ask. When you reported it, did anyone do anything about it, especially in the theater OVC and upper pool deck?
 

Smoking - This seemed to be a constant issue, and yes, we reported it a number of times.  Smoking observed in the theater,  OVC and upper pool deck.  We also smelled it on our balcony numerous times but could not tell where from.  We were deck 10, starboard, midship so who knows.

 

[SRQbeachgirl]

On 8/31/2023 at 11:03 AM, Barwick Cruiser said:

Agree about the dishes being left in the hallway..we’ve never had an issue with our attendant removing used dishes from inside our cabin, not sure why passengers think this is acceptable. Can’t imagine what their homes look like. 

 

Since Covid many hotels and even some cruise lines ask that room service dishes be placed in the hallway outside the door. So maybe people think it's acceptable because that's what they've been told to do by the management, and is no reflection on their cleaning habits at home.

 

I will say though, that people should at least cover the dishes with a napkin so others don't have to see congealed and half-eaten food.

[hcat]

1 minute ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

 

Since Covid many hotels and even some cruise lines ask that room service dishes be placed in the hallway outside the door. So maybe people think it's acceptable because that's what they've been told to do by the management, and is no reflection on their cleaning habits at home.

 

I will say though, that people should at least cover the dishes with a napkin so others don't have to see congealed and half-eaten food.

what about the metal covers that usually come with the food,?

[SRQbeachgirl]

4 minutes ago, hcat said:

what about the metal covers that usually come with the food,?

 

Of course, they should use those if they have them. But if someone has dishes from food they brought to their cabin from OVC they wouldn't have covers.