kroberst

Our replacement alcove rental was today. It was hot but there was a pretty good breeze. We wondered about going off the ship (on one hand, I wanted to take advantage of the alcove but the other hand – DH gets restless). Ultimately we decided not to since we had another week coming up for playing in the water. Chris got us started and we told us that we could call them if we wanted anything from the area (they would get us lunch from the Porch ($5 fee still applies), drinks from the sunset bar and ice buckets of water). There are phones in each cabana to contact them if/when you want something. He also told us if we wanted to get anything else, we were more than welcome to do that and bring items back ourselves (i.e. from the buffet or the mast grill). It was a bit less than relaxing at first due to a 16-ish month old who was really impressed with his ability to vocalize (I suppose shrieking is better than crying). However, he settled down after about 20 minutes once he had toddled over to check us out and we never heard another peep after that. I honestly don’t remember if the family was staying in a cabana or had just stopped by to let him burn some energy off on the lawn. I don’t recall seeing them the rest of the day. After a while, Chris’ colleague Oscar brought fruit and cheese plates to us. Then we ordered a few sandwiches from the Porch and shared a salad. DH had the steak and cheese Panini which was kind of lacking in meat. He reassembled the sandwich into one-half to get a meatier version. I had the caprese which was good (standard). The sandwiches came with potato chips that were surprisingly crunchy despite the humidity. The Caesar salad was good, not overly dressed. Comparing the Porch to Bistro – I’d give it to Bistro. While I enjoy crunchy Panini sandwiches, the Mediterranean crepe was a bit more flavorful overall and the western/cowboy crepe had much more substantial filling. We hung out in the alcoves until dinner time when the sun got to a point that it was streaming straight in and it became too hot and uncomfortable (after all, we came from MI and had snow the week of the cruise – we weren’t used to high 80s/90s with high humidity). We told Chris we were done for the day although you could use the alcove until 9pm. There is a 15% tip automatically added to the rental fee so the total rental was for 113.85. We did not tip extra on the rental slip (there was a line to do so) but gave Chris a cash tip as we left (which hopefully he shared with Oscar). The alcoves do take up quite a bit of space on that area of the lawn which causes foot traffic to be funneled between them. Therefore, they were replacing some pieces of the lawn in these areas while chains were up to let the others “rest”. The impression the chains gave was that the lawn was off-limits. The other lawn areas (around the sides of the Sunset Bar) did not have this issue. We had dinner in the main dining room again (closer to 6ish) and requested a table for 2. We only had to wait a minute or 2 this time.

We woke up to partly sunny skies. I got up really early (I know, you’re thinking – “wow, you’re kidding!”) and scooted down to Café for our coffees. But I was so early, they weren’t even open yet! So, I went to Guest Relations to get a few Attention to Detail cards, the buffet to get a glass of juice and sat around reading my kindle until a more socially acceptable hour. At 7:10, I went back to Café for my coconut latte and chocolate croissants and more kindle action. Closer to 8, I got a coffee for DH (I took both our sign and sail cards when I left the cabin) and took them back to the cabin. Then we were thinking what to have for breakfast when I had an ingenious idea – tiramisu! It has all the necessary breakfast components, coffee, cream, eggs (in the lady fingers – hey it’s protein). Krishna stopped by the room, we asked for the cake and he was back lickety split. We cut the afore-mentioned quarter off, ate half of it and fit the remainder in the room fridge. Then we left the rest of the cake for Krishna with a note letting him know we wanted to share it with him and went to our connections party. The Hotel Director and several of his staff joined us and did a Q&A. I gave him the cards I had filled out for Krishna and Evica. DH attended another i-class and then we met up at 12:30 for the Captain’s Club party. That was really nice – the Captain did attend along with quite a few of his officers. Since this was just my second Celebrity cruise, it was my first one and they had complimentary drinks and hors’ deouvers. Meryl Diaz, the new Captain’s Club hostess was introduced and circulated the room (it was held in the Sky Lounge). After that, we docked in PR. We had no excursions planned and weren’t even sure we wanted to get off the ship. We finally did around dinner time, walked up to the old town area and walked right back. We didn't find Raices for mofongo - maybe next time. Then we tried the buffet for dinner. They had a really nice selection and it was tasty. We spent the evening sitting on the lawn by the Sunset bar watching the lights disappear in the distance. We were able to stay up until 11 this night! (Woo hoo, what party animals).

This was a seaday and the first formal night. We woke up and saw that it was overcast. As I got through the shower, DH showed up with a lovely coconut latte from al Bacio (guess all was forgiven about the bedroom lamp) and we sat on the balcony for a bit. Today we had reserved an alcove. The seas were fairly rough (I didn’t think they were bad but the captain described them as rough in his morning address) and there was a lot of wind by the alcoves. We approached Chris who was the gentleman in charge of the area and he apologized for the conditions and said he wouldn’t be able to put the canopies up due to the wind. Then, he offered us the option to cancel the reservation with a full refund due to the inclement weather or reschedule on another day with availability. We rescheduled to our St. Thomas stop and we would get the difference in rental ($50) refunded to our credit card. This does bring up a good point about these alcoves if you are of the mind to be interested in renting them. While a sea day does give you an area when the ship is full – since you are under way you are more at risk for a windy experience that might cause you to not be able to use the canopy. On the other hand, the port day makes you less inclined to get off the ship since you’ve paid for the area (or maybe that’s just me being cheap). Also on the port day, even if you don’t want to get off the ship – the rest of the areas where you might want to relax will likely be available anyway since most everyone else would be on shore. Pros and cons to each.

After the alcove plan was busted, we had a quick breakfast in the buffet then DH went to an i-pad class while I took the galley tour. The buffet had a good selection but I will say that not all the hot items were hot. I think a couple of factors play into this since true food-borne outbreaks (not talking noro) appear to be very rare on ships so my presumption is that food is held at the proper temps for the appropriate times. It may be that the hot items (scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes) cool if you pick them up first and wander around the area checking out other items as I did without really thinking about it. The air conditioning is cranking in the buffet so once the food is away from the heat sources, it just cools due to the room temperature. Lesson for later in the week was to select made to order items and get them after the room temperature stuff.

We met around lunch time to discuss the rest of our dining. We were intentionally avoiding formal nights so hoped for specialty dining on those nights specifically. We were only interested in trying Qsine, Tuscan Grill and maybe Lawn Club so we did not take advantage of any dining packages. We called for our reservations and were able to get into Qsine that night at 6:30 and then Tuscan Grill the second formal night. We went to the buffet for a very light lunch based on all I had read about Qsine. Some more relaxing in the afternoon while DH went to a watch seminar. We went to Ensemble Lounge for pre-dinner drinks and then showed up for our reservation. Evica (pronounced Eveesa) was our culinary tour guide and was just wonderful. We noticed they did size the portions a bit based on table size. We made it through 5 or 6 plates before we called uncle (because I needed to keep some room for the chocolate tombstone). We tried disco shrimp, lava crab, lobster escargot, spring rolls, painter’s filet, and the ceviche. We enjoyed everything and had such a friendly experience, we decided we wanted to try this again later in the week. DH tried a couple of the Qsine drinks (included in his premium package). The only one he didn’t care for was the corpse one (that had absinthe) because he doesn’t care for licorice. Then with full tummies, we went back to the cabin for nighty-night. When we got back, we found a little guy waiting for us (DH said it was a crab, I called it a sting ray) along with the giant surprise tiramisu. Krishna saw the pain on my face (or perhaps it could best be described as anticipatory indigestion) so he quickly offered to put the cake on ice for us until we wanted it.

I woke up sometime in the middle of the night to lightning and thunder. Oh no, would we have a wet sailaway party? I fell back to sleep and woke up again around 6ish (that darn inner demon). The weather finally cleared around 9-ish and we walked to CVS for last minute items. The check-in desk was mobbed when we left for the drug store, it appears lots of post-cruise travelers had already arrived. The CVS store is just 1 block away from the hotel. We had a quick breakfast courtesy of the hotel’s Starbucks which we took back to our room for relaxing. Well, hubby relaxed and I paced until 10:45 after tagging our luggage with the cruise tags. I tried to do the electronic check-out but it was not working for some reason. Because of the size of the hotel and all the transitions happening on a Saturday morning, it took a couple of tries to get an elevator and then the ride down was anything but non-stop. This didn’t bother us, we were expecting this but some people were getting really cranky about it. So people remember – YOU’RE ON VACATION! Just take a breath, you’re not going to be stranded in the hotel. Some lady yelled at DH “you are kidding - this is the 5th one!” when the elevator doors opened on her floor and we were already stuffed (like he was personally responsible for it). When we reached the bottom, DH took the bags to the front while I stood in line for check-out. We left a thank-you note for Rafael (I hope/wonder if it actually was passed to him), re-confirmed our post-cruise stay and walked out to grab a taxi.

At check-out, there were several shuttle bus vendors (probably would hold 16-20 people) pushing hard to get people on their bus – they had trailers that they pulled behind for all the luggage. I wasn’t interested in that and we were able to get right into a cab and on the way to the port. The cab fare was $8 plus tip. The guys at the port directed all the traffic into loading zones and we jumped out. DH took care of the cab driver while I took care of the port guy. He then directed us to the check in area. We waited no more than 2-3 minutes at the various stops which included the port security screening area, the Celebrity check in area, and then again to board the ship. I forgot to check my watch exactly but my guess is we left the hotel around 11:15 and were onboard by 11:45 with our welcome aboard fizzy drink (I’ll just stay out of the champagne vs. sparkling wine discrimination, I don’t drink either so quite frankly don’t care about the distinction).

We took our carry-ons directly to Bistro on 5 where we were meeting some folks from our roll call for lunch. We had a good turn-out, about 20 of us and spent time there until cabins were cleared (sometime around 1 pm? Perhaps my cohorts can be more accurate). DH enjoyed the cowboy crepe (wow – this is awesome, it tastes like a cheese-steak!) and I had the Mediterranean crepe, mmmm. Dessert crepes included the Nutella/banana/pistachio for me and dulce de leche for DH (really, I mean it, it was for him – I just wanted a taste, and then another, oh what the heck – just one more). We also broke in our beverage packages – classic for me as part of 123Go and upgraded premium for DH. Cheers!

We then found our way to the cabin. Our cabin was 6215, a 1A (first extra big balcony counting from the hump cabins toward the front of the ship). The balcony is huge with plenty of room for part of it to be shaded as well as sunny. As you look down, there is white bin of some sort underneath but no obstruction as you sit and look out the glass. And as they say in real estate, location location location! The location of this cabin was perfect for us. We would get off the stairs/elevators, walk past the Ipad area, and we were “home”. We were right above both Café al Bacio for me and 5th floor smoking area for DH. Our cabin steward was Krishna. He was great, he promptly introduced himself and gave us a brief intro to the cabin. Krishna was always around to help you into the cabin when your hands were full and always knowing when you were in the cabin in the mornings/evenings so he didn’t knock. My friends surprised me with some sail away yummies (chocolates and a tiramisu later in the week) so he brought those to us as well. In fact, the cake was so big – we cut a quarter out of it and left the rest for Krishna asking him to share it with his friends.

They called the muster drill and we reported to the main dining room (much nicer than my Equinox muster where our staging area was standing in a really hot lounge – different cabins, different muster stations) to sit and view the videos. Once that was done, we went back to the cabin (our luggage had already arrived!) so we just pulled it into the cabin and went up to the Sunset Bar for our roll call sailaway party. After an hour or so, we went back to the cabin to unpack and decide what to do for dinner. We had select dining so we went to the main dining room around 7:30. The wait for us (since we were not interested in making reservations) was about 10 minutes. The hostess was running 2 lines – one for those with reservations and another for those without. Our waiter was Francisco (Buddy the Elf is right, that’s fun to say). We sat with 4 others and had a nice evening. I had ravioli and DH had the pork chop. The sommelier was present (2 at our table were having wine) but the bar wait staff seemed a bit short-handed. As we were finishing dessert, I hit the wall. As soon as we were done, we went back to the cabin and I was probably sleeping within 10 minutes. The bed was really comfy and we each had nice substantial pillows (thick not flat which I prefer since I sleep on my back and side).

We were way ahead for this trip. Spent the prior weekend packing and making lists of what we wanted or needed both prior to flying and then again after we landed. The night before, I put together my backpack of goodies and DH enjoyed guys night with his buddies. Then off to bed. Tomorrow was scheduled as a relaxing day of flying. Instead of my usual habit to book the earliest flight possible, I booked one that left in the middle of the day and would get us to Miami by dinner. We also took advantage of a bus shuttle service to get us from our home to the airport so we needed to factor in an extra 2 hour block ahead of when we wanted to check in for the flight. Even with that, we still did not need to be out of bed at the crack of dawn. Well, we didn’t need to but apparently my “ohmygodI’mgoingonacruise” inner demon needed to. After waking up promptly at 5 with no interest in going back to sleep, I started to putt around the house. Unfortunately for poor DH, part of my Thursday evening activities included setting up timers on lamps through the house (including one in the bedroom). As I walked down the hall after feeding Miss Liberty the Labradork, I saw that the bedroom lamp was on and DH was faced away squeezing his eyes tight. (oops) Eventually he gave up once he smelled the coffee brewing.

We killed some time with one last load of laundry, making sure the house was picked up, unplugging various appliances and giving Libby lots of treats (guilt offerings). We still had quite a bit of time before we needed to grab the shuttle (10 am) so we took off for breakfast. FINALLY… after an interminable breakfast and waiting for the shuttle, we boarded for our adventure! The cruise was just the first part, after that was a week in Key West with wonderful friends who invited us to stay with them. While on the bus (MI Flyer service with room to spread out, free wi-fi enroute and water), DH was looking at his boarding pass and noticed the surprise. While I was checking in for our flight the prior day, there were first class seat upgrades for a great price so I took advantage but didn’t tell him. It has been 20+ years since we flew first class and it was as relaxing as I remember. Hopefully that option will be available for the return flight! We checked in at the airport and the flight was on time for 3pm departure.

We arrived in Miami on time and grabbed a taxi to IC Miami. Taxi cost was $29 plus tip. Many other shuttle service options if you’re looking that may be cheaper depending on the # of people you have and the amount of luggage you need to accommodate. We just had 2 checked bags and 2 carry-ons. I had used LMTClub for the reservation at a great rate. The bellboy (he looked about 12 years old, definitely too young to be a bell’man’) took our luggage, gave us a tag and said he would bring our luggage up after we were checked in. At check-in, Rafael the trainee (no last name or initial on the badge – just “trainee”) gave us a nice room on the 22nd floor. He also gave us a restaurant to try in PR for mofongo, he’s from PR and his mom still lives there. I asked him where she would go for dinner and he said “Raices” so we’ll give it a try. He also confirmed our post-cruise 1 night stay. No more than 5 minutes after we entered the room, the young man arrived with our luggage. He offered to get us ice and was back with that in moments.

We walked to Bayside for dinner and tried “The Knife” – it was just ok and I doubt we would go again. Think of Fires of Brazil but less focused on presentation and the variety of food. You walk to where they are grilling the meat and vegies instead of having roving meat on a stick. No seafood options other than grilled fish (which was tasty – drenched in butter, garlic and herbs). Certain wine and a baby glass or 2 of beer (Miller Lite draft) are included – extra bar drinks are your usual touristy drinks served in a big fancy glass so they can charge you for the great breakable souvenir that will never survive the trip home. We headed back to the hotel and crashed (after all, we got up really really early).

The overview:

Loved the cruise, it was a great get-away after a long winter. InterContinental Miami was a beautiful hotel and very convenient to the port (in terms of a relatively cheap taxi fare). Reasonable food was within walking distance at the Bayside Market. DH thought there could have been a few more things to do during the sea days (more items like the i-classes), I was content to develop "kindle thumb" sitting by the pool. The ports were “ok” but we didn’t select this for the ports (we had been to all 3 before - San Juan, St. Thomas, St. Maarten). We were both pleasantly surprised with the variety in the buffet and other than some items not being hot, were generally pleased with the food. While we had different opinions of Tuscan Grill and Lawn Club Grill, I’m pretty sure we will try them again. We both really liked Qsine and will definitely eat there again. The Alcoves were a bust, we will not rent one again. A couple of times during the week the ship’s performers had some theme nights where they did song/dance routines in the main atrium. The first night was some weird futuristic type where they stalked the elevators/stairs ahead of the performance (we missed the actual performance that night – we just noticed people in costumes while we were leaving the main dining room). The second one we noticed was zombie-related (I think – the costumes were a little old-west but the face makeup looked zombie-esque), we watched the performance but since we’re not really show people –were underwhelmed. They advertised some liquid performance in the solarium one night but we didn’t go. They did have an issue early on the cruise with some of the music played in public venues – specifically whoever was in charge of music did not play the “edited” versions but rather the explicit versions. When I was in the gym, the music overhead included f-bombs while around the pool some of the songs included derogatory terms usually bleeped on the radio. I wasn’t necessarily offended (I have original explicit songs on my own mp3) but more surprised to hear it broadcast. Others found this offensive and this issue was brought up to the hotel director during the meet and greet. I didn’t notice this after that point. We were satisfied enough to book 2 more while on board.

I'll post the gory details below but feel free to stop reading here unless you have insomnia.

...Dress up if you like. Be less dressy if that is you desire. I really do not care. Please do not stress over what to wear. Just keep it clean. A guy in an old smelly tuxedo may look nice. However, the smell of moth balls is not pleasant.

And may I add - I also really don't care what you wear, just please use some common table manners. Just off the 4/19 Reflection and I much preferred the sight of fellow passengers in jeans and hawaiian shirts (not formal night, the regular nights) compared to the fancier couple who talked with their mouths full, chewed with their mouths open and then - I'm not kidding - proceeded to floss with those floss pick things while waiting for dessert and coffee!

Thanks Kathleen.

 

...We are on The Equinox in November ...

 

What a great name for a future cruise critic group with The Cruiseguys....MARTINI'S AND MISCHIEF!

My first Celebrity experience was the Equinox with my friends and it was just so out of this world. Fantastic all the way around so you will be in for a treat on that vessel as well!

MARTINI'S AND MISCHIEF!!!! Oh count me in.:D Perhaps Hat Lady will attend as well:)

Congratulations! That sounds like a fantastic itinerary. Can't wait to put something together like that a 'few' years down the road.;)

Here is yet another one of our silly Adventures on board The Celebrity Reflection, filmed live while the ship was docked in San Juan for the TA Network.

 

JW!

Oh JW, I'm so happy to see a new post from you.:D Did you do a review of your November Reflection sailing? We sail next month. I hope all is well with you and Jerome and fingers crossed that someday we cruise together.

I don't drink many alcoholic beverages because I usually don't care for the taste. In fact, the premium non-alcohol is the perfect package for me. With 123 however, I'm looking forward to being able to try different things and won't feel bad if I take a sip and nothing more.

Haha! Love it!

 

Here's my version :D:

 

Oh my god - this looks delicious!:D:eek:

How dare you sir tease me with grill marked food.:p We had so much snow last night/this morning, I can't tell if my grill is even on my deck.

So, when's the next cookout?;)

...why sitting on a hard bench in a cruise terminal is preferable to a cozy hotel room ...

I get this because I'm kind of the same way. Part of it is the excitement - at least I'm at the actual port and I can see the ship and in just a short while, I'll be on it!:D

And truthfully, the other part is that I'm just a tad:rolleyes: compulsive (DH may disagree with the qualifier) I'm not projecting that onto the OP - just my reasoning, I feel better being where I need to ultimately end in case something comes up. Same reason I showed up early in the room where I was supposed to take a test in college and why I will sit at the actual gate rather than go get something to eat/drink in an airport.

My ever-loving, patient beyond reason hubby would MUCH prefer to travel with you;)

Perhaps some immersion therapy is in order to get over this - must go book a bunch of cruises so I can slowly wean myself sitting at the port!:D:D:D

Has anyone stayed at this South Beach area hotel? Decent reviews on trip advisor. Looks to have a great location and decent rate available through lmt club. This would be for 1 night post-cruise.

Thanks!

Any opinions? Bay view Hyatt vs. standard IC. Just 1 night pre-cruise.

K

Thanks again BlueHerons - appreciate your insight!

K

Thank you for taking the time to post the review! We are looking forward to joining the Reflection family in April - sounds like we won't be disappointed!:D

K

Hi all, DH and I will be heading to Miami for 1 day of sightseeing before jumping on the Reflection for 7 days (Sat-Sat). Upon our return, we have the option of staying again in Miami or somewhere else down the Keys. We will be meeting friends in Key West for the following 7 days (Sun-Sun).

So... any suggestions for how to negotiate this? I've found several shuttles to get to Key West from Miami but I'm wondering if a car would be desired down there during our stay (I have an image of people getting around in golf carts - don't ask me why;)). If a car is a good idea, we can rent one in Miami and drive down which then opens the possibility of staying the 2nd Sat night in one of the other keys - but which one?

Any tips/ideas for working in "2" vacations into one time frame away from the office?:D

Thank you!

K

Thanks everyone, it's unfortunate the packages don't work incrementally. My preference would normally be the premium non-alcoholic but selected the beverage package promo (with upgrade) for dh. I figured the classic would cover me for my usual pick but I suppose missing bottled waters isn't that big a deal.:rolleyes:

I can always upgrade on board if I suddenly develop a taste for Perrier ;)

K

Just reviewing the bev pkg inclusions and see the notation from Celebrity's site that the Classic alcohol package allows you "... to enjoy all of the benefits of our Classic Non-Alcoholic package as well as all beers up to $6 per serving, and spirits, cocktails, frozen drinks, and wines by the glass up to $8 per serving." (my emphasis) They go on to describe the premium alcohol package in terms of the Premium Non-Alcoholic package.

I had presumed (wrongly?) that the packages increased in order so that the Classic Alcoholic package provided as part of 123Go would include the items from the Premium Non-Alcoholic option. But based on this wording, it seems one would need to upgrade to the Premium alcoholic package for the specialty coffees (I'm thinking lattes or cappuccinos from Al Bacio - nothing with alcohol).

So, I need to upgrade my 123Go promo to have the cheaper package options available? Is this correct?

K

Eandj and BlueHerons - thank you for taking the time to give some suggestions. Very helpful to have an idea of the area, no car (on the front end of the trip) and trying to fly in early to explore for the day.

Have a good week!

K

Trying to identify the general areas of Miami referenced on the various travel websites in terms of proximity to the port. Based on what I've read in the posts so far, looks like target areas would include: downtown, and Brickell.

BlueHeron - I see from your blog a mention of Blue Lagoon - can you describe where that is?

Looking for a pre and post night stay at the end of April. Thanks for input all!

Kathleen

Hi there, I've noticed threads mentioning that flying into Miami airport is unsatisfactory compared to flying into Ft. Lauderdale. I'm curious as to what the specific issues are when comparing the 2 locations?

I'm researching flights for an April 2013 vacation and there is really no price difference between the 2. So, if I'm a cruise out of Miami, it seems easier to fly into there (and just taxi/shuttle to Miami hotel/port). But since Ft. Lauderdale isn't that far away, could also fly there and shuttle to Miami hotel and taxi to port.

Look forward to hearing the experiences, TIA.

Kathleen

Hi all, looking at possibly doing a 7 day getaway on either Reflection or Divina as a warm-up for a week in Key West. Looks like it would be the last Caribbean run for Reflection before the transatlantic. I've read reviews of both ships and as you might guess, pros and cons for each. My only Celebrity experience was Equinox which is causing me to lean to Reflection (loved, loved, loved that cruise!)

The Reflection ports would be repeats, Divina would offer 1 new one but the goal of this is to make up for the January Equinox cruise we had to cancel (boo). Mostly would be enjoying the ship's amenities, probably just a little bit of walking around ports but no real intent to "tour".

I'd be interested if anyone has been on both and cares to share some impressions/comparisons of each. TIA!

Kathleen

Friends and I were booked into the Crowne Plaza option as part of our pre-cruise package. Underwhelmed with hotel and the location was not convenient if you wanted to get out and walk around.

We had arranged for some independent touring with Manilo Tranquilli (Limousine Service in Rome) for all our pre-days so he at least picked us up and got us around. But, when we were dropped back off in the evenings, we just stayed at the hotel. We went late fall (November 2011) so it was dark by the time we had ended each day and we didn't feel confident trying to navigate around ourselves.

K