Scuba_Tom

Thank you for bringing us along!!  Safe travels!

44 minutes ago, SteelCityCruiser10 said:

Breakfast in Galley

 

Apple Danish didn’t make the pic lineup but good. 

scrambled eggs meh 😕

bacon 👍🏻

Hash Brown 👍🏻

If you get a chance, try the sausage rolls 😋

5 hours ago, c-boy said:

have  a drink, every time you hear the word "wow" onboard

 
Please don’t do this, you’ll run out of bar tab in 24 minutes and possibly be dead 🤣😵‍💫🤣

2 hours ago, Sherry84 said:

The Entertainer (on of my favorites) from on the rocks bar. It also looks like they have a special drink for scarlet night. 

My favorite too!  Cheers!

4 hours ago, Sherry84 said:

It seems my advice was sound…when we last spoke you were but a learner but now you are the master 😂.  Fantastic photos!!

Ahoy, sailors! Captain Hubby here with a quick poker update: I joined a $55 buy-in tournament with 10 players, boasting a $500 prize pool (split $250-$150-$100), which means a 10% rake. The game unfolded on an electronic table with blinds escalating every 10 minutes. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I emerged victorious! 🃏💰

Cashier reports that winnings can be collected as cash, used in further games for more winnings 😂 or applied to the room account!

11 hours ago, Sherry84 said:

Awesome, I hope they offer this event on my cruise next week. Great pix, what’s the trick to make them look so cool? 

Ahoy there, fellow seafarer! Hubby back again with some behind-the-scenes antics because, well, someone's got to spill the beans on those jaw-dropping snapshots! 📸😄 

Now, let's give a round of applause to the Happenings Cast for being the unsung heroes of phone photography tutorials. Seriously, they're like the Yoda of smartphone settings, guiding us through the mystical realms of Shot for Shot and also, Plate, Snap, Eat. 

As for me and my trusty iPhone, portrait mode with the stage light setting was the magic potion. And hey, if you're itching to level up your photography game, dive into the treasure trove of YouTube tutorials on portrait mode. 

So, fair winds and happy snapping, mateys! May your shots be as epic as a pirate's plunder! ⛵️📸✨

Hey CC crew! Hubby here, reporting in as the scubaguy to my scubagal 😃. Just a quick update on the things DW missed.

On Scarlet Lady, we had poker with WPT – cash and tournaments, the real deal. Sadly, VL isn't dealing us that hand, just electronic tournaments with a rumored high rake (investigations pending). ♠️♥️♣️♦️

While DW snoozed, I dived into the sea horse auction. Maybe I'll join the bidding circus someday, but not this voyage. Hosted by Verna (The Artist) and Maddie (The Glow), it's a blast but not for the faint of fiscal heart – the cheapest seahorse cost a whopping $275! 🤑 Stay tuned for more adventures from the scuba duo!

Wow…life got back to normal way too quickly!  My apologies for the delay in providing a “final thoughts” post.  We landed at 9pm and I was back at work 6am the next morning and never looked back.  Can I get back on the ship yet?  I miss the Martini Bar. 😭

First, I want to comment on the Celebrity experience.  There are so many things that I loved about Celebrity.  Actual towels in the public bathrooms, cold towels and water coming back to the ship, our cruise director welcoming us to port each morning we docked, and the overall professionalism of the staff and crew. 

We made a point to single out a few people via comment cards and many of them made a point to find us on the ship to say thank you.  They told us that they were recognized in front of their peers with our comments.  Elle tells me that sometimes the employees get awards like days off or bonuses for these types of comments and I was happy to know that people actually read them. 

Food

Elle and I discussed whether or not we would change anything with regards to our meals, and I think not visiting the MDR more (we only went once) was the only thing that came up.  We enjoyed our specialty dining package but I think in the future we may skip the package, maybe purchase 1 or 2 nights for specialty dining, and spend more time in the MDR.  The package was great, but we thought it was unnecessary.  The MDR food was good, enjoyable, and our experience was fun.  We even enjoyed the buffet a couple of nights!

Elle and I got room service for breakfast each day except for the final two sea days.  The last two days we meandered up to the buffet for breakfast, which was also enjoyable.  In the future we may split it up a little more evenly between room service and the buffet because we really enjoyed sitting out on the back deck and having a wider range of selection for breakfast.  However, it is super hard to beat rolling out of bed, throwing on a comfy robe, and enjoying a private balcony breakfast! 

Wine

We originally booked our trip through a TA and got the CBP as a perk.  We decided to upgrade to the PBP and have zero regrets.  We each had our favorite wines, most of them found in Cellar Masters.  Wine is so personal and subjective, and tastes can vary not only on what you’re eating but also on what you may have eaten earlier.  Many people asked about my favorites and I’ll try and give an overview. Elle enjoyed the Mountadon Champagne the entire trip.  I really enjoyed the Malbec found in Murano to be the best for a wine with the entrees available there. Some other standouts were the pinot gris in Cellar Masters, valpolicella in Tuscan, and the Bordeaux blend in Murano.

Elle and I tried a lot of wines in the PBP and we enjoyed probably 95% of them.  We didn’t try anything more expensive than $15 (PBP limit) and we didn’t buy any bottles.  I’m sure that like most things, you probably get what you pay for (of course there are exceptions). 

To be honest, I think the Kendall Jackson wines will do very well for most wine drinking moments.  We were happy with their wines, and they’re offered in the MDR.  Of course, you can always grab a glass from Cellar Masters and bring it to dinner with you.

Elle and I decided that if/when we do another Celebrity cruise, we will still get the PBP. 

Concierge Class

Our cabin (Concierge class on deck 11) was comfortable with PLENTY of storage.  The bathroom also had lots of storage and was more than enough for our needs.  We have nothing to compare Concierge class against, but we really did enjoy the embarkation day lunch in the MDR, the helipad sailaway from St. Lucia, and being able to go to the Concierge on deck 12 rather than trekking all the way down to Guest Relations when we needed assistance with something.  Ross the concierge was so helpful with many of our issues and requests, and I’m not sure if we’d have had such great resolutions from regular Guest Relations.

Entertainment

We only went to two shows, one comedy and one aerialist show.  The comedy show was average and the other was pretty mediocre.  We didn’t feel like we missed anything by not going to more. 

Favorite bar?

Elle and I didn’t really end up having a favorite bar because every placed served a distinct purpose.  As I mentioned before we never made it to the Sky Lounge.  The Passport Bar was great for a quiet spot during the day or a front row seat for the activities in the Grand Foyer in the evening.  The Martini Bar was always a great time of course, we loved Putu and I Made and they’re amazingly delicious martinis.  The World Class bar had some fantastic cocktails and it was a more subdued atmosphere than the Martini Bar, so when we wanted a quality drink in a quiet setting we’d head there.  We visited Cellar Masters every single day for a pre-dinner glass of wine, and it was well-visited by others on the ship.  The only disappointment really was the Sunset Bar due to the smoking area nearby.  The cigarette smoke would drift into the bar area, which not enjoyable in the slightest.  We attempted some extended time there a couple of times, but each time we were “smoked out” and ended up leaving sooner than we’d have liked.

Final Thoughts

Elle and I were surprised on how much relaxing time we DIDN’T get on the sea days.  It is amazing how much stuff there is to do on the ship and how quickly time flies.  I also thought I would have spent more time in the casino than I did, but I actually didn’t get in there much.  Elle and I never really found time to spend at the pool or solarium, but we also aren’t really pool people.  No regrets, just surprised at how things went. 

Overall, we had a very enjoyable time and thought the Celebrity product was great.  Did this experience turn us into “cruise people?”  No, probably not, but we have discussed future cruises to throw into our vacation rotation and we’re excited to see what else we find!

Thanks so much to everyone who followed along and commented, I had a really fun time blogging about this experience and it would have been much less fun without your engagement.

Our last day :(

As I write this I am sitting in our disembarkation lounge about 60 minutes from getting off the ship.  I will write an overall thoughts post in the next day or so and wrap up any questions. I can say that I have had a great time and I’m sad to be leaving the ship. 

Yesterday started off with the Riedel tasting in Cellar Masters with our sommelier Tony.  We were the only two there so we got a private tasting (WOW!!). The wines were from Kendall Jackson and made specifically for Celebrity Cruises.  They provided four bottles: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon. I am not going to go too much into the wine except to say that they were good.  I especially found the two reds very enjoyable.  

What I do want to review is the overall tasting it self.  Tony provided 5 glasses, 4 Riedel and 1 glass from the “other guys”.  This was a great tasting as you can really notice the difference in the way the glass is shaped, it’s thickness, and even it’s rim.  Ever find that the wine tastes better at the winery than at home? This is probably the reason why. With some of the wines, had I not seen him pour from the same bottle, I’d have sworn that they were different wines.  

Tony also did a great job of explaining the tasting process to us.  Elle and I have done countless tastings before and are pretty experienced tasters, but even us wine snobs from Northern California can learn new tips and tricks.  At the end of the tasting we were each provided with vouchers for 4 Riedel glasses valued at around $100 (the tasting was about $85). Each coupon allows for two sets of two glasses of any type, matching or not, so I’m sure by the end we will have two glasses for each grape :)

After the tasting it was nap time and then we continued our quest to visit every lounge on the ship.  It wasn’t till today that we realized we missed the Sky Lounge! We actually didn’t go there one single time the whole trip.  With our stateroom being towards the aft of the ship I guess it sorta escaped our memory. Oh well, gives us something to look forward to for next time (If it is still there…)

Dinner was at Murano where Elle had the mozzarella and tomato salad with Mountadon Champagne and the duck entree paired with merlot. The champagne was self-picked by Elle and the sommelier recommended the merlot.  The food was amazing and the pairings were great. I get scared whenever I hear merlot, but I’ll admit this wine was smooth as glass with enough bite to go well with the richness of the duck.  

I had the pork belly and venison.  Both dishes were paired with Malbec.  This was a mutual decision between me and the sommelier because he recommended it and I really enjoyed it during our first trip to Murano.  Dessert was soufflé and cake with Tawny 10 year old port.  

We walked around the ship a bit to say goodbye to new friends and upstairs to finish packing up.  Our hallway was a serpentine maze of luggage to which we soon added.

This morning we finalized our packing and off to the cafe for breakfast.  We have a late flight today and will be one of the last people off the ship.  Our concierge, Ross, invited us to the MDR as a waiting lounge where we had about an hour wait.  No sooner had we sat down and grabbed some coffee, Ross informed us that all luggage was through and we could leave at any time.  So we did...remember in the beginning where I said I was writing this in the lounge? I lied!! I’m on the plane now headed home!  

As I said, I will write up a final thoughts post shortly.  The fasten seat belt sign just turned on and I think I need to put this tray table up!  

1 hour ago, Perky1 said:

#Scuba_Tom - we did the behind the scenes tour on Celebrity and I think that maybe because you got it on sale, perhaps changed?  We went to crew bar, crew mess hall, engine room, recycling area where the do all the recycling, laundry, kitchen, I95, stores and freezers and ended with a very informative visit on the bridge.  We were there for almost 45 minutes - whole tour was over 2 hours.  We were given lanyards with special name tags and a couple of other token gifts.  We did pay full price, think it was $120 each.  This was on the Silhouette a couple years ago.  We thought it was well worth the money.  I’m beginning to wonder if when the put these on sale the scale back the tour.  We only had a max of 12 people on it.

Sounds almost the same except we missed the recycling center.  Our tour was also about 2 hours, perhaps longer and we spent a lot of time on the bridge.  I really enjoyed the tour.
 

I think the sale was a 1 day thing because there were people in our group that paid full price.  I guess we got lucky 😀. We had 18 people in our group which ok, any more and it would have been too much.

the crew bar had some cheap drinks didn’t? 😂

17 hours ago, txtechmk said:

Loved reading your blog.  Sounds like a wonderful cruise overall.  We will be on the Reflection in August.  I am currently doing a little research regarding our ports, etc. and saw your post and had to stop and read.  Thanks so much!

 

Sorry about your Super Bowl.......I was rooting for Mahomes.

 

I’m a Seahawks fan so, secretly I was too.  Just don’t tell Elle 🤫 

21 hours ago, Banana15 said:

How has the ship been handling the buffet? Are they allowing people to serve themselves or are crew members dishing the food? 

combination of both.  Still have spoons and tongs for most things.  Some areas are served but that’s the minority.

On 2/7/2020 at 4:18 PM, gfkcruiser said:

Have you attended any of the shows or entertainment?

On 2/7/2020 at 5:40 PM, ClaudiaB said:

  

I also was curious about the shows - particularly the non-Celebrity shows.   We usually prefer the guest artists.  

we haven’t really been to many shows except the comedian the first night and Euphoria which I reviewed above.  We usually eat dinner during the early show and we are too tipsy...I mean tired...by the evening show 😂

Someone asked about the porch menus.  Here are lunch and dinner!  Sorry it took so long.

Ahh...the life at sea.  Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day as we started to make our way back to the real world.  Pretty easy start to the day as we went up to the buffet for breakfast and ate outside on the back deck with the sun rising and the ship's wake trailing us, like a roadmap begging us to return to the Caribbean islands. 

I’ve become poorly poetic during my week on the ocean, apparently. 🙂

After breakfast we had a behind the scenes tour of the ship.  We purchased this tour at nearly 50% off during a shore excursion sale on Celebrity’s website, and Elle had done one before on Princess that she raved about.  We started off at the bridge, which was a great experience . From there it was down to the crew area to see the laundry, food storage areas, and the engine control room.  It was pretty amazing to have the curtain pulled back and see the wizard. After that it was a tour of the galley and this place was insane. I’ve dined at chef's tables and seen the inside of restaurant kitchens before, and I even worked at a dining hall in college, but nothing would have prepared me for the number of people cooking in this kitchen!  The size and structure of this place was insane. 

Elle tells me that the Princess ship tour was longer and had more stops (such as the infirmary, the print shop, the anchor room) and each stop went more in depth in terms of presenting information and details. Elle also said that the Princess tour was slightly more expensive (at full price...something like $99 on Celebrity vs $120 on Princess), but the Princess tour was more intimate with a smaller group and only offered once during the entire cruise as opposed to multiple times each sea day on Celebrity.  On Princess they were also given gifts to take home as a token of the tour. Overall we both enjoyed Celebrity’s tour very much, and I would highly recommend it. I gave it 8 anchors out of 10 and Elle said 7 anchors.  

After the tour it was time to relax a bit then head down to the Martini Bar again before dinner.  After a drink there, it was back upstairs to change for evening chic night, then a quick trip to Cellar Masters for a glass of bubbles.  Ross the Concierge had gotten us a last-minute switch of dinner venue from Lawn Club to Tuscan at our request, and my main course was much better than last time.  We shared the calamari, crab cake, and burrata, and we both enjoyed a great cut of filet mignon. For dessert it was fig gelato for Elle and tiramisu for me.  

After dinner it was straight to a packed theatre to catch the last performance of Euphoria (the only show we made it to other than the first night’s comedian).  Before I dive into this production let me say that my undergraduate degree is in theatre arts and I do have more than a little knowledge of how a production is supposed to go.  I never got into this production because I could not follow or find a storyline. The music didn’t have one theme that I could follow and it alternated between voice, acrobatics, and onstage inflatable puppetry.  The female lead had a nice voice, I think, but didn’t enunciate and we couldn’t understand a word of it.  

The acrobatics were great and the strength shown by the performers was spectacular.  On both sides of the stage were stagehands with the control boxes for the various aerial rigging devices used during the performance.  These stagehands appeared to be there for safety, but were hanging over the railing, sloppily talking to each other, and it became a real distraction.  

The acrobatics was just enough to keep me in my seat for the show, but I did notice quite a few people that walked out of the performance.  Overall, I’d give 5 spotlights out of 10.

After the show it was to the main foyer for an ABBA singalong which was a lot of fun.  By the end of that it was way past my bedtime, so off to dreamland I went.  

Today is our last sea day where we have a Riedel tasting and dinner at Murano.  Looking forward to our day, but not for its ending. We’ve pulled the suitcases out and are hoping to get a lot of packing out of the way so we can have the rest of the day to enjoy the ship and last hours of this wonderful trip.  To dispense with this depressing activity, we have a quest to grab a drink from every ship bar today. So far 1 down: Il Segundo Bacio with some mimosas!  

I must say though...I do miss my kitties. 🙂

Greetings all!  The last time I left you we were headed out to St. Maarten for a food tour.  This is a tour we were planning on booking privately but the ship had a 50% off sale at some point (for the same company, and same advertised itinerary) so we booked it through Celebrity.  

https://stmartinfoodtours.com/tours/

Sadly, this food tour was a disappointment.😕  What we received and what they advertised were completely different.  The website states that the tour is 4 hours with 4 stops (including Maho Beach), includes upwards of 10 bites of food, and starts at the Carousel Gelateria Bar.  Sadly, none of the above occurred. Our tour was actually longer at 4.5 hours, but only had 3 stops with no Maho Beach, two dishes and one plate of petit fours. The Gelateria Bar was skipped altogether.  While I do understand that things can and do change, an explanation would have been nice as this is dramatically different than what was promised. Additionally, if they provide a different tour for cruise ship guests this should have also been advertised on their website so that we could have chosen which tour we would like.  

The food was good, but there was also no explanation as to what the food was, how it was relevant to the island, or why we were eating it.  In fact no one at any of the restaurants spoke a single word to Elle or I, or the others in our group. Food tours are supposed to be a bridge between the food, history, and culture of a region and there was zero of that.  Elle and I have taken food tours all over the world and this was, unfortunately, the worst one we have done. This came across as a bus tour with lunch spread out of three restaurants and not a food tour. Overall, I’d give it 3 toothpicks out of 10.  Because our guide provided an excellent tour of the island and the food was good, I gave it a two point bump from 1 out of 10.  

After some light souvenir shopping at the port, back to the ship we came.  We immediately found ourselves at the Martini Bar and enjoyed a drink or two (or three?).  Elle found a delicious chocolate martini there and I’m afraid it will be dessert for the rest of the trip for her. 😂

Dinner was supposed to be in the MDR but after checking the menu on the app we were not impressed and canceled our reservation.  We enjoyed some lighter fare at the buffet and enjoyed our meal on the oceanview deck and watched the beautiful sunset over a vast expanse of ocean.

After a walk around the ship we retired to our stateroom for reading and relaxing.  

Today is the first of two sea days en route back to Ft. Lauderdale.  We have the Inside Access Ship Tour this morning and dinner at Lawn Club Grill this evening, but the intermediate hours are currently open and we’re looking forward to some relaxation!

Quick update for y’all on the shenanigans we got up to on St. Kitts.  We booked a private tour through:

https://www.thenfordgreytours.com

This tour was a land tour along the island coast with our tour guide, Thenford Grey.  Thenford is probably one of the best tour guides I’ve ever had. He is so knowledgeable and personable that it is a joy to listen to him and the descriptions he provides.  We were picked up along the dock and joined about 15 others in a small bus that was driven by Thenford’s nephew. The bus had A/C and Wi-Fi and Thenford used an in-vehicle microphone to speak so there was no concern about hearing him.  

The bus drove around with descriptions of various areas and stops at picturesque areas around the island.  We did have two major stops, one at Romney Manor (an old plantation) and one at Brimstone Hill Fortress (an old English fort).  At the end of the tour, we stopped at Shipwreck Bar & Grill where we could get lunch and spend time on the beach. Our group was split amongst 4 cruise ships (crazy day in St. Kitts!) and one ship was leaving at 8:00p and two were leaving at 5:00p.  Thenford provided transportation back to the ship for those that had to leave, but also provided an extended stay for those that had a later departure time. I thought that was great service.  

Overall, we would give this tour 9 cutlasses out of 10.  

After our excursion, we shopped around the port a bit, buying various souvenirs, nothing too crazy.  Typical port shopping with people trying to entice you to buy gold or diamonds or fake purses. We find it humorous, but I can see how this can be annoying.  

Back on the ship we got refreshed and cleaned up and headed to talk to Ross the concierge about various scheduling things and disembarkation info.  Ross helped us out and got what we needed accomplished. He’s a good chap, that Ross.  

We then went and enjoyed a drink in the World Class Bar with Santos and a couple of glasses of wine in Cellar Masters with Tony.  Nothing new to report on wine as we have sorta found our favorites and are sticking with them. I will try and explore some new options today.  

For dinner we were tired and wanted something quick so headed to the buffet/Oceanview Cafe and grabbed some quesadillas.  They are made right there in front of you on a panini type press. We both got chicken that was perfectly seasoned, tender, and delicious.  I was very impressed with the quality of food. Nothing special to drink as we both needed some water at this point, or as our Antiguan friends called it, “sky juice.”

After that, back to the room for some reading and a great night sleep.  Now off to St. Maarten, where we will be enjoying a food tour of both the Dutch and French sides!

On 2/5/2020 at 9:51 PM, Catkim22 said:

Thank you for this and I’m enjoying the live blog! QQ - do you know if Veuve dinner offered on every ship and is this something we can book prior to departure? 

I’m not sure if it is offered on every ship, but I know we couldn’t book it ahead of time.  One of the benefits of benign concierge class is that we board first for non-suite guests.  We made a beeline for Murano where we made all of our specialty dining reservations and booked the V.C. dinner.  Well, Elle did that and I was just outside in the ensemble lounge starting my vacation 😂

On 2/5/2020 at 10:34 PM, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Thank you for the review. The food and wine pairings matched our experience on Equinox. We had a full table, 5 or 6 couples. I'm glad to see they still held the event with only 4 guests. We were also given our choice of a complimentary wine event for booking this dinner.

We were also apparently supposed to have a complimentary wine event, but sadly no one told us this.  We only found yesterday and do not have time to enjoy this perk.  Sad 😢 

On 2/5/2020 at 10:35 PM, bonedoc7 said:

We would absolutely love that dinner! Is the dinner limited to a small group? Would love to book it, but there’s 10 of us (at this point).

No idea, the dinner was in a small room.  10 might fit in that room, but I don’t know the limits of the dinner.  You could ask your concierge or immediately upon boarding to get a better answer.  

On 2/6/2020 at 12:17 AM, ClaudiaB said:

".....new tennis ball....."   

😂

Isn’t wine fun!

Our day in St. Lucia started with room service breakfast out on our balcony.  This time, the ship docked on the starboard side. The port is small and we got to look past the terminal out into the the inland which was nice.  Getting off the ship was a lot easier than the day before as we walked right off.  

Our chosen shore excursion was privately booked with Spencer Ambrose and we spent the day at Sugar Beach in the shadow of the St. Lucia Pitons.  The boat picked us up near the dock, sped out to Sugar Beaches (with a few stops along the way) and dropped us off. Beer and rum punch were freely available and there were some lounge chairs along the water’s edge that were open to the public (Sugar Beach is at resort, and their fancy loungers chairs cost $50!!).  Lunch was provided by the tour and consisted of rice, pasta, green banana salad, and jerk chicken - it was delicious and plentiful. The beach also has a marine preserve area for snorkeling. Elle and I agree that this area was some of the best snorkeling we have ever seen. The coral and fish life are abundant and it was very stunning to see.  At the end we even saw a small school of squid which was amazing to watch them dance around in the sunlight.  

http://spencerambrose.com

After coming back to the ship and getting cleaned up we had an invitation for a sail-away gathering at the front of the ship on the heli-pad.  It was so much fun to say goodbye to St. Lucia from the bow of the ship. Once we got into the open ocean, the wind was whipping around pretty good and they kicked us out for safety reasons.  Sad that our visit was cut a little short, but still a fun experience to enjoy.  

After the sail-away gathering, we had a very quick turnaround to get for dinner and we started our evening with a drink at the Ensemble Lounge.  Running out of time, we took our drinks into the Tuscan Grill where we were seated at the window with a lovely view of the ship’s wake. So in the span of less than an hour we went from the very front of the ship to the very back.  How fun is that!

I forgot to take pictures of the food menu, but Elle and I decided to come back on a sea day so I’ll grab them then.  When it came to the meal, I ordered the pork belly, minestrone soup, half serving of lobster pasta, and the veal. The waiter told me that the Chef has not been happy with the cuts of veal on this trip so I changed it up to the ribeye.  I appreciated this note. Elle ordered the meatballs, carbonara, and the filet mignon. We also split the burrata after the appetizer (so much delicious food).  

The food was delicious and overall very good.  The carbonara was ok, but the pasta itself was a little thick and heavy and the sauce way too runny for a true carbonara.  For sides we got the cacio e pepe, which was more pepe than cacio, and the broccolini, which was more broccoli than broccolini.  Both cuts of steak were cooked to the perfect temperature and had great flavor.  

I did have an issue with my ribeye though.  This cut of beef was not the best (I’m assuming it was the same butcher as the veal!).  The steak was just a bad cut and had a lot of tendons that were hard to cut. I picked through it and managed to find some tender, quality pieces of meat.  Since the flavor was good and I ate enough for an elephant I didn’t say anything. I’ve had poorly cooked meat before and bad cuts. This was obviously not the fault of the chef.  Like a corked bottle of wine, ‘stuff’ happens.  

Wine was suggested to us by the sommelier who did very well pairing a glass across multiple dishes.  In fact he paired the glasses across all the courses (with exception of my lobster but pairing one glass for Alfredo lobster and ribeye would be a spectacular feat 🙂

I enjoyed the Caposaldo Chianti and Elle enjoyed the Masi Valpolicella.  Not a lot of review was happening as we both were enjoying each other’s company and the food.  Both wines were very smooth with light tannins and did very well with our dishes. 

As promised, here’s my review of last night’s Veuve Clicquot Dinner:  

The cost was $150 per person and consisted of a 5 course menu with wine pairings.  Good news - it was so much more! This has easily been the best meal of the trip; the food was excellent, the wine was delicious and our wine glasses were never, ever empty (or even CLOSE to empty).  There’s no way we would have been able to drink the full amount of champagne and wine that was poured. Each course was presented and explained by Murano’s executive chef, except the main course which was presented by the ship’s executive chef, and the dessert courses which were presented by the pastry chef.  Each wine pairing was presented with an explanation of the wine and the reason for the pairing.  

The details - the evening started out in Cellar Masters at 7pm with a champagne cocktail that consisted of Veuve Clicquot Rich and a splash of a lychee martini.  The drink was very fruity and sweet and a great way to start the evening. We were joined by one other couple and a crew member, DiDi, who was our host and is the art director here on the ship.  Our sommelier for the night was Vicktor, the ship’s Cellar Master. Remember the scavenger hunt I mentioned a few days ago where one of the tasks was to propose to a crew member, and Elle proposed to a random crew dude we saw in the elevator?  Well, he walked into the room at Cellar Masters to pour our first champagne cocktail and it turned out that he is Vicktor, the Cellar Master himself. How fitting. :)

We then made our way to the wine cellar in Murano for the dinner.  Up next was an amuse bouche, a shrimp dish with three different caviars, served with Veuve Clicquot Rich (this time sans the lychee martini addition of the welcome cocktail).  Interestingly, this champagne is recommended to be served on ice. The wine is given a dosage of about 60g/l, so the idea is that the ice helps mellow it out the sweetness. The pairing with the shrimp (and roe...and caviar) felt a little forced but that is the game you play with label-based dinners.  The wine had aromas of sweet fruit and the taste was sweet and creamy with a floral taste on the backend.  

Next was a rosé poached pear salad paired with a Veuve Clicquot Rosé.  This was a contradictory pairing as the dish was very sweet and the wine very dry.  It was an amazing pairing that brought both aspects to a meeting point in the middle - the dish lost a lot of its sweetness while the wine became less dry.  The bubbles had strawberries on the nose and a toasted almond flavor. I thought this was one of the best pairings of the evening.  

We were then served crudo of sea bass with the V.C. Yellow Label.  This was a complementary pairing as the slightly salty seafood (and caviar that was served with it) went very well with the dry champagne.  Aromas of ripe apple and new tennis ball. Flavor was strawberry with a light toasted creamy taste on the finish. 

The next course was pan seared scallops that were served with a Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay.  Another complimentary, classic pairing of a buttery chardonnay with a deliciously prepared scallop that had a hazelnut crumble on top.  The wine had citrus aromas with light smoke while the flavor was the classes buttery-ness of Chardonnay, with oak, hints of honeysuckle, and caramel.  

The next course is where things got interesting.  For the main course we got filet mignon with potato purée.  Vicktor changed up our pairings and opted to pour two different wines for this course.  The first was the Caymus Red Schooner 6 Malbec. This malbec is rare because the grapes come from the Andes mountains while the wine is actually made in Napa, CA (they must use Amazon Prime 2-day shipping).  The wine has earthy and leathery notes on the nose that blossom into plums and chocolate on the palate with a hint of smokiness. The wine is smooth, with very light tannins.  

The other wine was a Pascual Tose Reserva Malbec (2015) from Argentina.  This wine had some oak on the nose that turned into a black cherry flavor.  The wine was light-medium tannins that came across strong when compared to the Schooner.  The majority of the table preferred the Red Schooner when tried on its own, however, once the dish was in front of us we all were unanimous in choosing the malbec as the favorite pairing.  I love food and wine!  

For dessert, we were served an apricot soufflé paired with the Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec - it was fantastic!  This demi-sec sits at around 30 g/l of sugar and is traditionally decanted prior to serving, but Vicktor opted not to decant because it tends to flatten the bubbles.  The wine had aromas of creme brûlée and is incredibly fresh and bright while tasting. The dessert raised the vibrancy of the wine and it was a fun pairing. 

At this point we all had full bellies and full livers.  Our officer host had to excuse herself to close down the art gallery, and the rest of us called it an evening.  I think this dinner is nearly at the level of a one Michelin star equivalent experience. Overall, I’d give it 9.7 wine corks out of 10.  It’s an amazing experience that food or champagne lover should not be missed.    

Dailies for today...very late.  Sorry about that, you know how it is, island time!

Hello!  We are back from Barbados.  Getting off the ship this morning was an ordeal.  The captain announced that the ship was running late because they were awaiting clearance from the Barbados authorities and when we got downstairs, there was a line to exit that went up the stairs to the third floor, through the main foyer, past the passport lounge and down the hall through the rooms.  CRAZY! 😮Once they allowed us to leave the line moved along at a good pace and we got off the ship. This put us about 30 minutes behind from and for those that know Barbados it's a bit of a walk to the cruise ship terminal.   

https://silvermoonbarbados.com

Because our ship was scheduled to dock a little later, a wonderful CCer managed to secure an excursion on the Silver Moon catamaran for just us folks on Reflection (thanks Jan!!).  Our trip started with a short bus trip to the Silver Moon dock. An exit from the dock, a quick safety briefing, and the bar was open! There were 12 of us which I believe is the max the boat takes on these trips.  There was plenty of room to stretch out, sit in the sun or, if you are like me, hide away in the shade. Elle started a trend by grabbing a glass of prosecco and we all introduced ourselves.  

A short trip around the pier and we were snorkeling with green turtles, sting rays, trumpet fish, ballyhoo, and the flying fish.  There are also a couple of shipwrecks to explore. After getting back on board there were more beverages and appetizers while sailing along the coast of Barbados.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch prepared right there on the boat, a leisurely swim to cool off, then a sail back to the dock.  

Getting back on the Reflection was infinitely easier than exiting was.  We are now getting ready for our Veuve Clicquot dinner and I promise I’ll take better notes tonight!  

Seems like everyone’s got there favorite bar on the ship.   What’s your favorite bar and why?!?!  Share you secrets 🤫

On 2/2/2020 at 9:13 AM, cangelmd said:

My question back to you is it true that the wine pairings for the Chef's Table/Daniel Boulud dinner/whatever they are calling it now are being charged extra? This is the dinner that is at least $250 per couple. we did Chef's Table on Equinox and those were by far the best wines we had the entire week, but we wouldn't do the dinner again, and I certainly wouldn't do it if the wine pairings were extra - even with Boulud recipes, the constraints they have with fresh food, make the dinner not as fab as you would expect. Now if they opened the wine pairings to the dining rooms - we would likely pay  $60 a piece to do the wines again

I have not seen the propaganda for the chef’s table yet on this cruise.  I’ll keep an eye out and ask around.  From what I’ve heard/read it is still 149.00 per person, $249.00 per couple for 5 courses with pairings.  I’ll keep you posted.  

On 2/2/2020 at 10:06 AM, laurajc said:

We sail the same itinerary in March.  It will be our first time on Reflection.  We sailed the Silhouette a few years ago.  We are not huge night life people, but found Silent Disco to be big fun.  I wondered if it is a thing on Reflection??   If you have a chance, would love to know if/how it happens during your trip.  Wishing you a wonderful sea day!

 

Silent Disco is awesome!  They had it on our second night and I’m hoping they do it again 🙂

23 hours ago, 39august said:

Was Eli your tour director for the Antigua tour, please? We took this tour with Eli about 10 years ago. It is one of the top 4 or 5 private tours we have taken over about 20 years.

No, it wasn’t Eli.  I think our tour director was named Trevor.  We really enjoyed the tour.  

22 hours ago, lemons said:

 

Sounds fun! How many were with you on this tour? You mentioned hiking; how long was that and its difficulty?  

There was about 20-25 people on the boat.  The hike was no very long at all and I’d say easy to easy-medium difficulty.  The hike is on a island where you walk up to the top of the hill and there narrow and rocky spots along the way.  The hike took less than 10 minutes to walk it out.  

55 minutes ago, StephSch said:

I would love to hear you had for a sommelier. We will be on the cruise right after you and want to get a good sommelier. We always dine in the MDR and the staff really do make a huge difference in the experience. 

 

Thank you for your great detail!

Our sommelier was Gajetan.  I’ll keep you updated on if we have him again and/or others that might be excellent wine connoisseurs