Reflection "Short Cruise:" A 3 Generation Girls Trip Review

[Aunt P]

Hi all!

 

Background:

I wanted to do a quick review of our recent cruise since I've learned so much from reading discussions here on CC. Our group of girls was my mom, me and my sister (mid-40s), and my 12 year old niece who was cruising for the first time. My mom and I have cruised Celebrity before, and we chose this sailing because the timing worked with everyone's schedules and we wanted to check out Coco Cay, especially for my niece.

 

Arrival Day:

My parents live on the Gulf Coast, so my mom drove over to FLL and picked up the other three of us the night before our cruise. I was arriving from RDU, my sister and niece from MSY. We were at Hyatt Centric Las Olas for the night. We didn't spend much time there, but the room was lovely - clean and comfortable, valet parking was a breeze, and the location was great for a stroll to Starbucks for embarkation day breakfast before grabbing our bags and the car and heading to Port Everglades. 

 

Embarkation:

We drove ourselves to the port and parked in the garage. Because it was somewhat of a last minute booking, and I am not a seasoned cruiser (yet!) we ended up with a later check-in time. But, we were all anxious to be underway so we arrived by 11:30 and were on board before 12. Since my niece does not have a passport, we needed her birth certificate for ID. There was a bit of a wrinkle because she was rooming with me (we are great friends and don't see each other often enough!) instead of her mother. We thought we had sorted it all out by joining our reservations in advance, but we did have to pause again at check-in for them to confirm with a supervisor that all was in order. Spoiler: this level of teeny tiny wrinkle is as bumpy as things got in our fantastic time together on Reflection.

 

Staterooms:

We had two Aqua Class rooms on Deck 11. 1527 and 1525. My only other Celebrity cruise was on the very recently revolutionized Millennium in 2019, so I was concerned that our rooms in particular might feel dingy by comparison. They did not! They were tasteful, clean, and well-maintained. Only the carpet was a bit worn. The couches seemed to have been recently recovered in gray. We found the storage adequate - my niece was delighted by the shelves and tiny drawers in the bathroom for all her "products." The beds had been separated for us as requested, and we found them very comfortable. Our stateroom attendant was able to open the partition between our balcony and my mom/sister's so we could visit back and forth easily. Our hallway doors were not "paired," which I wasn't able to tell when choosing them, but that did not matter for us. The balconies were clean and well-maintained, and the chairs (adjustable reclining but no footstools) were in such good shape they seemed new. No obstructions to our view in any direction, and we could see the bridge when we looked forward.

 

Food and Fun on Embarkation Day:

We enjoyed a very quiet and delicious lunch at Sushi on 5, which got a rave review from my niece. We were one of only three tables occupied at the time we were there. I also quickly found my favorite bar and bartender, with my first beverage of the cruise at Ensemble Lounge with Sebastien. We strolled through the Oceanview after we ate, and we were very glad to have avoided the crowds for our first meal. We also had good luck at the pool on this day, and found front row loungers and space to relax in the shallower pool. This would not be the case for the rest of the trip, but again, our disappointments were so few and far between. One other was the crowds at the Pool Bar and Mast Bar, but we managed to keep my niece well provided with virgin strawberry daiquiris, and plenty of other treats for the adult girls too. When we had a taste for something simpler, it was very convenient to go to the supplemental bar tables on the pool deck and above for something like a G&T. My niece loved the hot dogs from Mast Grill, and had the first several of about 27 cones of soft serve she ate over the 2.5 days.

 

We were a formidable team at general knowledge trivia (our score put us in second place!) and then got ready for dinner at Blu. I'll leave the rest for tomorrow, except a tease of what is to come with what could be the subtitle of this review, "in which we fell rapturously in love with the staff in Blu...."

 

If anyone is reading, I'm happy to try to answer any questions as best as I can remember now that we are home!

[chemmo]

Sincere thanks for your review! We are on Reflection next year. How fresh are the general bar areas? I am aware Reflection hasn’t recently had an upgrade.

[Aunt P]

6 hours ago, chemmo said:

How fresh are the general bar areas?

I thought they looked great! I am reluctant to sit on dirty or torn upholstery anywhere I go, and nothing I saw gave me the slightest pause. We had the most time in Ensemble, Martini, and Sunset and I didn't make it to Cellar Masters or World Class, but all the spaces we spent time in or passed through looked fresh and inviting to me. I even wondered in some spots if the soft goods were new (i.e. a low seating area for four in the Martini Bar). We always had a place to sit and quick service in Ensemble and Martini Bar, which was another nice surprise. I guess everyone else was at the pool!

 

Thanks for reading!

[chemmo]

5 minutes ago, Aunt P said:

I thought they looked great! I am reluctant to sit on dirty or torn upholstery anywhere I go, and nothing I saw gave me the slightest pause. We had the most time in Ensemble, Martini, and Sunset and I didn't make it to Cellar Masters or World Class, but all the spaces we spent time in or passed through looked fresh and inviting to me. I even wondered in some spots if the soft goods were new (i.e. a low seating area for four in the Martini Bar). We always had a place to sit and quick service in Ensemble and Martini Bar, which was another nice surprise. I guess everyone else was at the pool!

 

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for that we were last on Reflection in 2016 and loved it then. Really looking forward to it!

[Arzeena]

15 hours ago, Aunt P said:

Hi all!

 

Background:

I wanted to do a quick review of our recent cruise since I've learned so much from reading discussions here on CC. Our group of girls was my mom, me and my sister (mid-40s), and my 12 year old niece who was cruising for the first time. My mom and I have cruised Celebrity before, and we chose this sailing because the timing worked with everyone's schedules and we wanted to check out Coco Cay, especially for my niece.

 

Arrival Day:

My parents live on the Gulf Coast, so my mom drove over to FLL and picked up the other three of us the night before our cruise. I was arriving from RDU, my sister and niece from MSY. We were at Hyatt Centric Las Olas for the night. We didn't spend much time there, but the room was lovely - clean and comfortable, valet parking was a breeze, and the location was great for a stroll to Starbucks for embarkation day breakfast before grabbing our bags and the car and heading to Port Everglades. 

 

Embarkation:

We drove ourselves to the port and parked in the garage. Because it was somewhat of a last minute booking, and I am not a seasoned cruiser (yet!) we ended up with a later check-in time. But, we were all anxious to be underway so we arrived by 11:30 and were on board before 12. Since my niece does not have a passport, we needed her birth certificate for ID. There was a bit of a wrinkle because she was rooming with me (we are great friends and don't see each other often enough!) instead of her mother. We thought we had sorted it all out by joining our reservations in advance, but we did have to pause again at check-in for them to confirm with a supervisor that all was in order. Spoiler: this level of teeny tiny wrinkle is as bumpy as things got in our fantastic time together on Reflection.

 

Staterooms:

We had two Aqua Class rooms on Deck 11. 1527 and 1525. My only other Celebrity cruise was on the very recently revolutionized Millennium in 2019, so I was concerned that our rooms in particular might feel dingy by comparison. They did not! They were tasteful, clean, and well-maintained. Only the carpet was a bit worn. The couches seemed to have been recently recovered in gray. We found the storage adequate - my niece was delighted by the shelves and tiny drawers in the bathroom for all her "products." The beds had been separated for us as requested, and we found them very comfortable. Our stateroom attendant was able to open the partition between our balcony and my mom/sister's so we could visit back and forth easily. Our hallway doors were not "paired," which I wasn't able to tell when choosing them, but that did not matter for us. The balconies were clean and well-maintained, and the chairs (adjustable reclining but no footstools) were in such good shape they seemed new. No obstructions to our view in any direction, and we could see the bridge when we looked forward.

 

Food and Fun on Embarkation Day:

We enjoyed a very quiet and delicious lunch at Sushi on 5, which got a rave review from my niece. We were one of only three tables occupied at the time we were there. I also quickly found my favorite bar and bartender, with my first beverage of the cruise at Ensemble Lounge with Sebastien. We strolled through the Oceanview after we ate, and we were very glad to have avoided the crowds for our first meal. We also had good luck at the pool on this day, and found front row loungers and space to relax in the shallower pool. This would not be the case for the rest of the trip, but again, our disappointments were so few and far between. One other was the crowds at the Pool Bar and Mast Bar, but we managed to keep my niece well provided with virgin strawberry daiquiris, and plenty of other treats for the adult girls too. When we had a taste for something simpler, it was very convenient to go to the supplemental bar tables on the pool deck and above for something like a G&T. My niece loved the hot dogs from Mast Grill, and had the first several of about 27 cones of soft serve she ate over the 2.5 days.

 

We were a formidable team at general knowledge trivia (our score put us in second place!) and then got ready for dinner at Blu. I'll leave the rest for tomorrow, except a tease of what is to come with what could be the subtitle of this review, "in which we fell rapturously in love with the staff in Blu...."

 

If anyone is reading, I'm happy to try to answer any questions as best as I can remember now that we are home!

Thank you. It is really nice to read a wonderfully refreshing point of view.
I look forward to reading your thoughts. We will be on this ship in some days, in Aqua, around the same area where your cabin is. Glad you enjoyed your trip and the ship. How did you like the shows?

 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I was on a B2B on Reflection in April in AQ and I agree--the staff in Blu were awesome!

 

[Aunt P]

6 hours ago, Arzeena said:

How did you like the shows?

The only show we made it for was Dizzy the magician/comedian. It didn't wow me. I was hoping for the Captain Kirk rock concert, but never saw or heard anything about it, so maybe it didn't happen on our sailing? I thought we would do more evening activities, but we were always wiped out after dinner. I stopped to watch silent disco on night three, as well as some of the game show type events, and all seemed fun and well-attended. I'm hoping next time we can have a bit more of a night life. Sorry not to have more info for you on the entertainment.

[Aunt P]

4 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

the staff in Blu were awesome!

They really were a highlight of the cruise for us, including for my niece!

 

So, I'll continue with that....

[Aunt P]

Our Experience in Blu:

 

I kept in touch with our assistant waiter, Charllou, from Millennium in 2019, so I knew to expect good things from our service in Blu. At dinner on our first night, we met Kartini, the maitre'd, Iwan and Ni our waiter and assistant waiter, and Shiva the sommelier. I had the lump crab starter and the tuna pomodoro entree. My mom and sister had onion soup from main dining, the ribeye, and lamb chop salad. No one was in raptures from the food, but it was tasty and we delighted in the very personal and attentive service. My niece is a bit of a picky eater, she had bread (frequently refilled by Ni) and dessert. We only had breakfast in Blu on day two (I regret not returning for one more!) and it was a relaxed luxury.

 

We considered skipping dinner in Blu on night 2 because the menu did not appeal, but the service and experience called us back. I stopped by early in service to confirm that 1) we could order from main dining and 2) it would not cause difficulty or offense if we brought something in for my niece. Kartini assured me they were happy to accommodate us, and let me know our table would be waiting! Sure enough, as soon as we arrived with the Sushi on 5 takeout bag, she seated us and took the bag away with a wink. Moments later, my niece's miso soup was brought to the table in a bowl, with her sushi roll plated later with our entrees. Shiva remembered and quickly repeated our wine preferences, Iwan made spot-on recommendations for our food, and Ni made frequent appearances with her sweet smile and bread refills for my niece. We also had a delightful conversation with Nenad that night (I'm not 100% sure of his position, a manager in Blu or more generally?) I could go on and on, but the effect was that we felt pampered, comfortable, and very impressed. My niece was so delighted that she declared Blu her favorite place on the ship (in spite of her reservations about the food) and (on her own initiative) composed several crew compliment cards for the staff. It was a real turning point in her attitude about the cruise overall, and I think goes to show how much of the experience is making those connections. Night three was more of the same. I enjoyed the blue cheese souffle and the dijon glazed salmon salad, and my niece had the grilled cheese from the kids menu. In spite of the occasional sushi indulgence, we did set some expectations that she try new things and participate in the experience with us. I truly think that her enjoyment of the people taking care of us in Blu helped smooth the way in that for all of us.

 

Tomorrow, I'll share my impressions of our time on Coco Cay, our day on the ship while docked in Bimini, and final impressions!

[NC State]

We so wanted to fly out of RDU in December but the airfare is too crazy.  So a drive from Johnston County to Ft Lauderdale for us. We will be in a AFT cabin for 8 nights.....can't wait! 

[Harrisonkid]

Thanks for your thoughtsand insight..it fun to follow along

[PhillyFan33579]

On 6/26/2024 at 3:23 AM, chemmo said:

Sincere thanks for your review! We are on Reflection next year. How fresh are the general bar areas? I am aware Reflection hasn’t recently had an upgrade.

We were on Reflection last month and I thought all the bars were in good shape both inside and outside. Our favorite bars were The Passport Bar and World Class Bar. we spent a lot of time at both of these bars during our 4 day cruise.  

[Aunt P]

Hi everyone, after a bit of a delay, here's the rest of my report on our Reflection short cruise, June 21-14.

Perfect Day:

 

The evening before our CocoCay Day, Kartini in Blu made our lunch reservation for the CocoCay Beach Club. We bought this excursion/access on a flash sale, so paid about $145 pp, a bit less for my niece. We had a leisurely morning with breakfast in Blu (nearly at the last minute, since we didn't realize they closed at 9:00!). The omelettes, pastries, fresh squeezed juices and attentive service were a hit with all of us! Once off the ship, we took the tram to the Beach Club. We enjoyed seeing some of the other areas en route, and there was some talk of my sister and niece checking out the Thrill water park. It was also neat to see the "backstage" areas which were like huge garden centers with plants at the ready for refreshing the landscaping, I assume.

 

The Beach Club was very quiet while we were there. We set up first in beach loungers, and there were only three other groups on the beach at all. The tide was up (though still very shallow) when we first arrived, so we floated a bit with the float mats. We enjoyed a few of the drinks from the bar menu, but found them not quite as good as those on the ship. Lunch was at noon, and the restaurant was nearly full at that time. We really enjoyed the dips in the appetizer bento boxes (lots of garlic!). Lobster and steak were only okay, but the chimichurri sauce that came with the steak was excellent. I should have asked for more to go with my lobster; I liked it much better than the saffron aioli. We also devoured the rum cake and the caramel brownie (which my niece, who had initially refused dessert, quickly commandeered after she tasted it). After lunch we moved to the pool; we were able to get a chaise right by the edge. It never felt crowded, except by the birds who occasionally gathered on the infinity edge. From a distance, the view from the pool was still great, but the water level had gone down so there was more of the brown grass bottom on view as the day went on. We were glad we had gone in earlier in our visit. We were all enjoying our low-key time together so much that my niece decided to save the water park for next time!

We left the Beach Club between 2:30 and 3:00, and had the only hiccup in our day getting the tram back to the pier. We walked to the nearby tram stop and found it swarming with people, all of whom were grumbling a bit about their wait. We waited with them, and waited, and waited, as trams (some full, some empty) passed us by. We observed during this wait how crowded and loud the other beach area was near the tram stop. I could not remember, so had to ask my family later if there was music playing at the beach club. They reported that there was music, but it was at a lower volume so really just background noise. Much more peaceful than the pool onboard Reflection! We did finally make it on a tram and back to the ship, where we played trivia (I had this wrong when I said this was on embarkation day!) and enjoyed a drink in Ensemble Lounge before our delightful dinner in Blu. After dinner was bingo (wasn't expecting it to be so crowded and so serious, but I got it when I saw the prize amounts), some of the magic show, evening hot tub time, a pizza and ice cream visit to Oceanview, and some relaxation in Persian Garden. We had big plans for attending the Latin Dance Party, but we were again worn out by a pretty perfect day!

Edited Sunday at 08:15 PM by Aunt P
Edited to add photos

[Aunt P]

Last Day Blues:

 

We did not make any plans in advance for Bimini, so we had a slow morning. On our visit to the spa the evening before, I had scheduled a mid-day massage, and my niece was booked in for a haircut. After our pampering, we had lunch in Oceanview. We all wished that we had visited the Porch for our last day lunch instead. We will keep it in mind for next time! We spent the afternoon at the pool, and I did some reading in the solarium after my companions left for our rooms. One fun moment at the pool, indicative of the impressive service we had throughout: I had come back to my seat with a drink from the Pool Bar, and made a joke to my sister that I wished it had "about 17 more limes." Seconds later, a pool server or bar manager (Chad, I think?) appeared next to us with a tall glass of lime wedges, some bar tongs, and a big smile. We laughed and laughed, and marveled that it was like magic! We did feel that way about so many of our interactions with the Reflection staff. Though we weren't suite guests or long-time Celebrity loyalists (yet!), we were made to feel very special and taken care of.

 

We spent some time in our rooms and on our balconies before getting ready for dinner. We are all feeling pretty sad at this point about the inevitable end of our fun together, as we visited Martini Bar and Ensemble Lounge to soothe our sorrows on the way to Blu. Another pleasurable dinner, and a very low key evening strolling around the ship to see spots we had missed until now. Packing and discussing the highlights of the cruise took up the time before bed, and before we knew it, it was time to depart.

 

We all loved this cruise, found a great mix of fun and downtime, and thought it was well-suited to a three generation trip. We were frequently impressed and delighted by the staff, and found quiet spots and relaxing moments even amidst the party atmosphere and quick timeline of a short cruise. We have a few ideas for making next time even better, because we will be back for more!

[Aunt P]

On 6/27/2024 at 6:11 AM, NC State said:

AFT cabin for 8 nights

We have our eyes on an aft cabin for a future cruise! Enjoy!

[chemmo]

Sincere thanks for your review…The only cure for post cruise blues is to book another cruise…