sptrout

The 40 - 50s band and mainly their lead singer, Jared Freiberg, were unbelievable, and I don't even like that type of music. If Jared Freiberg and the Vagabonds are on your cruise don't miss them, you will be stunned that they are not headlining somewhere in Las Vegas.

The same for Domenick Allen, extremely talented with a long back ground in all things music including: Liberace, Sammy Davis, Frank Sinatra, and modern rock music. He tells some great behind the scenes stories also.  

We just returned Saturday from a 10 day cruise on the Reflection. There were no, zero, COVID cases on the ship including the crew and the passengers. 

Per the Cruise Director, the ship only had 841 paying passengers and a reduced crew to around 950 (I do not remember the exact crew number.) Therefore the crew to passenger ratio was a little better than 1 to 1. Great for the passengers, no waiting for elevators and super service.

Go for it and have a great trip!

Yea, the Reflection the past 10 days was really empty. No waits for elevators, but the main theater was nearly empty each night. Hard for the entertainers to get the small crowds fired up.

No, not crowded at all, but the ship only had 841 passengers per the C.D. Maybe more suites sold, but I know only two of the deck 12 aft SSs were in use including ours.

That was what I was thinking kwokpot; I even tried to corner the Future Cruise Salesman on which was better. He refused to commit only saying that an S1 was nearly the same anywhere with the exception of being near The Retreat. Since our Beyond booking was through a TA he did not want to touch it.

I will email our TA now to see if there are any forward S1s still available. 

Thank you for your thoughts and we are leaving 2217 in great shape!

That's the one! Great cabin.

They are open as before COVID except masks are required.  ( Not in the rain booths.) This is per our experience the last 10 days on the Reflection. 

I believe that the Cayman Islands are still shutdown. 

44 minutes ago, chromered7 said:

What deck are you on and are you happy with the cabin?

We are on deck 12, in a corner aft cabin. We both agree that this is the best cabin that we have ever had on any cruise. Directly below the buffet on deck 14, but we have had very little noise from above. No noise at all from outside the cabin. We would book this cabin again without hesitation. We already have booked the same location on the Beyond for next January. Will be interesting to compare the two SS1 cabins. Although we are considering moving forward to be closer to the main Retreat locations. Anyone that has been on an Edge class ship that can offer a comparison would be appreciated. 

Even though the Reflection has not been updated, all suite related items are still called "The Retreat" for the most part. I guess that Celebrity is trying to make all ships equal at least to a degree.

9 minutes ago, sfcsu said:

How is the live music?   Tbh, I like a piano bar or live music best.  I loved the cruises where they had music at the back bar behind the buffet.

Sorry cannot able to fairly comment on the types of entertainment that you mentioned; not our thing.

There is a very good 6 member band in the main theater that has played backup every night. 

9 hours ago, sfcsu said:

That's annoying.   We always eat late dinner.   We sometimes end up closing the dining room!  Are they any good?  I may never get to a show. 

The other posters are both correct. The Reflection sailing now only has 841 passengers (per the Cruise Director). With so few passengers even one show has very small crowds. We feel sorry for the performers to have to play to a nearly empty theater; very difficult to get the small and scattered audience fired up. 

The CD has managed to have different shows each of our 10 evenings. A few hits and misses, but considering what has to be a limited entertainment budget the majority of the shows have been good. 

4 hours ago, coconut1 said:

Are there shows in the theater at 7:00 and 9:00 each night?  Some people have said there are 2 shows a night, but others are saying only a 9:00 show.  Thank you.

I am on the Reflection also and there is one show in the main theater and it is at 9 PM each night. 

Yes they are and cheap ones are supplied. Bring your own K95 masks.

Hi, we are on the cruise with you and agree that the cruise is great. We are in a SS1, corner aft cabin and the Retreat Staff have have went way beyond what we expected (now we need to dig up some extra tip money LOL). Per the Cruise Director, there are 841 passengers and near 950 crew members. Therefore, better than a 1 to 1 crew vs. passenger ratio. 

If you are on the fence about cruising now is the time to go.

Same here on the Reflection this week. Most are just using either Celebrity masks or surgical masks. Some are not wearing any or just carrying a drink around so they can get around the rule (a person admitted so). Only 841 passengers on this ship so at least plenty of room.

This is the same type of mask given on the Reflection this week. Masks of this type are almost useless and should only be used for one day if at all. Bring your own K95 masks.

4 hours ago, bigbenboys said:

This is the mask we got on our Oct 1st cruise out of Seattle.

 

On the Reflection now and they provided just one cloth mask per passenger. As is well known now cloth mask provide nearly zero protection. 

As others have mentioned K95 or KN95 masks are available on Amazon. But note the delivery time to make sure that you have them before your cruise. I bought 40 K95 masks for less than $45. Also, remember that masks can be reused with at least 3-4 days rest between usage. COVID will not survive that long without a host victim. 

BTW, most folks are wearing masks, but saw a few last night that were not.

There are a couple good "Beyond" videos on Celebrity's YouTube site along with many other videos. 

https://www.youtube.com/c/celebritycruises

I found out when trying to find specific cabins on two cruises (about a year apart, the first next mouth) that many cabins on Celebrity's website were shown as not available. I then tried looking at the same cruises on two different TA websites and they showed many more open cabins including what I was looking for (SS1, Corner Aft), and many others. For my two examples, Celebrity did not show any aft cabins available for either cruise (Reflection & Beyond) when in fact there were many; apparently held back for TAs

So, if you are looking for specific cabins try looking at some Internet TA sites to make sure that what you are looking for are not being held for TAs.

No access to viewing areas in front of the ship is not only a Celebrity Edge/Apex issue or concern. MSC's newest ships do not have access to the front areas except for passengers in their "Yacht Club". Th Yacht Club is MSC's version of a "ship within a ship" concept. Great for YC passengers as we have been twice; not so good for other non-YC passengers that may want a forward facing view somewhere on their ships. 

Although we have not been on an Edge Class ship yet, it seems that Celebrity has made their "Retreat Class" similar to MSC's YC, as well as NCL's "Haven" (as I understand it, have not looked into it though).

Ship within a ship concepts seems to be a way to give suite passengers the best possible cruise. Great for suite passengers, but not so great for the remaining passengers. 

I agree that in the past that once a person stepped out of their cabin all was equal for nearly everything else. Those days are passing by for better or worse.

Just now, MikeMary4449 said:

This was our experience as well to our request on November 5, 2021.

We have received no further response so far, but will be calling them soon.

I received a final response/answer in a couple days. Your request may have got lost

I just emailed it. Simple and got a response very quickly (just a note telling me that they received the request and will respond a little later).

I agree that $800 for a cruise long pass to PGs is way to expensive. Another point that has caught us on other similar "all-cruise passes" is that for one reason or another we never make it to the spa every day of the cruise and usually lose money because of that alone. (Have had the same issue with multiple cruise lines.) IMO, I would recommend AQ over other similar size cabins because of Blu and for all access to the PGs. Blu is a much nicer experience in our experience than the MDR. We have stopped going to MRDs several years ago on all cruise lines after bad experiences on Princess & RCCL.

If a doctor has ordered an early Moderna 3rd shot, it can be done. My brother had his third Moderna shot about a month ago (his first two were early this year) since he has severe immune issues.