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1 hour ago, Host Anne said:

Celebrity Reflection Review – Jan. 2 – 12, 2022

 

TESTING – FT. LAUDERDALE HOTEL – PORT TRANSPORTATION - EMBARKATION

I’ll start by saying I love to cruise.  We cruise with family and friends….and cruise friends we’ve made over the years.  This cruise was a postponement from the same cruise in 2021.  Given everything happening, I was concerned whether our group would stay together and take this cruise.  Happily, nearly everyone joined us in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

This was our third cruise since Celebrity began sailing again last summer.  The first cruise out of St. Maarten on Summit was a cruise we will always remember and cherish.  We went solely to support Celebrity and the crew.  Our second cruise was on Equinox in October.  Another great cruise that took the place of our cancelled transatlantic. 

 

Getting ready to sail on Reflection wasn’t filled with the typical excitement and anticipation simply because there was so much uncertainty and anxiety associated with cruising right now.  We were going to be sailing with family members and cruise friends that we hadn’t seen in more than two years.  The thought of canceling again and not having the chance to be together could be a real downer at times.  But for the most part, we really tried to look forward to the cruise and enjoying being together again.

 

Of course, some of the anxiety surrounded the required testing.  We were boarding on a holiday weekend and the uncertainty of available testing locations was worrisome.  We decided to purchase the Abbott BinaxNOW Ag At-Home Test Kits through Celebrity for everyone coming outside of Florida.  It took about five days to receive the tests once ordered.  Our UK friends purchased their tests from Qured before traveling to Florida.  Everyone did their tests with an on-line proctor on New Years Eve.  My immediate family did our tests at Walgreens before driving to Ft. Lauderdale that day.  I have to say that taking the test was very easy for everyone.  I had watched a few videos on YouTube so I felt comfortable helping everyone take the test in their hotel room with the proctor.  Celebrations were held when everyone tested negative.  We were now ready to cruise. 

 

We stayed at the Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport – South & Cruise Port.  Great hotel located close to the airport.  It’s in a very up-and-coming area that has quite a few nice restaurants within walking distance.  This will be our go-to hotel for future cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I had pre-arranged for a shuttle service to the port with Elite Shuttle Inc.  They were very prompt in providing me with a quote to the port and from the port to the airport for those flying out after the cruise.  Their rates were very reasonable, their driver called when they were on their way (early both times but didn’t rush us) and they were very responsive to any questions or changes I had to make.  We’ll be using them again for future cruises when we have a group going along with us.

 

Our arrival time at the pier was 11:30 and we were dropped off about 11:15 or so.  Because we were departing on a Sunday and Edge was at Terminal 25, we were departing from Terminal 29.  It’s a bit older and clearly isn’t set up to handle passengers the way Terminal 25 is.  There was a lot more stopping and waiting at various places for multiple people to check documents multiple times (three to be exact).  That was not the case when we sailed on Equinox in October out of Terminal 25.  

 

The big surprise was when we were inside the terminal (going through line #2) and were handed a sheet of paper with new protocols, including the new mask mandate.  While not surprised, I was annoyed because I asked this question just days before and was told there were no changes to masks onboard.  I did have some in our group who would have taken the Cruise with Confidence option has we been told this 48 hours out.  I was very disappointed that we were not told of this change via the ap Notifications which reminded us four or five days in a row leading up to embarkation that we’d have to complete a health questionnaire before boarding.  It certainly seemed intentional to wait until we were inside the terminal to inform us of the change.  Ultimately, it didn’t have a significant impact on our cruise experience but the lack of communication prior to arrival was very disappointing.  More on masking later.

 

We walked onto Reflection about 12:15.

 

 

THE SHIP

We have sailed Reflection once before in 2015 but we’ve sailed the other S-class ships multiple times so we were very familiar with the location of everything on the ship.  While there are a few differences on this final S-class ship, it’s pretty much the same as her sisters.  Reflection is in great shape for her age.  Some things could use replacement or refurbishment like the couches in the cabins but overall, she’s a beautiful ship.

 

We had five cabins together on the port side hump on deck 9 (these cabins are in a GREAT location).  Two other cabins in our group were on deck 6 and 7.  The cabins were all in fine shape (except the aforementioned couched that sagged a bit) and everything was in good working order.  Our cabin attendant, Warden, took great care of our cabin. 

 

The pool deck had great chairs (it was never really crowded) and pool attendants that were eager to get you towels and make you comfortable headrests on your lounge chairs.  You could get a chair in any spot you wanted on the pool and upper pool decks. 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

The entertainment was an odd situation. Our traditional before dinner bar has been Ensemble for a couple of reasons.  First, the bar staff is always great in here.  Next, they typically have a variety of different musicians that trade off in playing pre- and post-dinner in this lounge.  Sadly on this cruise, two classical string musicians played in here every evening (I think there was one night that they didn’t).  While we occasionally enjoy classical music, over ten days you really felt that the Ensemble lounge became the sad, funeral like place for music on the ship.  I know that sounds harsh, but it would have been much better if the solo guitar player could have played here once in a while.  The solo guitarist occasionally played at the Sunset bar and he was enjoyable.

 

Shows in the theater were pretty darn good.  Two of the production shows were cancelled due to crew being quarantined (they didn’t say if it was preventive from contract tracing or if there were any positive cases among the production staff).  But the headline entertainers (which all performed two evenings to replace production shows) were very good.  Philharmonic was an a cappella group; December of 63 was a Frankie Vallie & the Four Seasons tribute group; and John Bressler was a piano player/comedian.  There was also a pianist from Brazil late in the cruise but we didn’t see that show.  He was flown to St. Maarten on short notice to fill in.  He praised Celebrity for everything they did to get him to the ship.

 

 

FOOD & SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS

This is such a subjective area.  Celebrity’s food has always been good to excellent.  This cruise wasn’t any different with the exception of a few true misses (no idea what was happening).  Let’s talk the misses first.  I had Chicken Kiev one evening.  That’s supposed to be a chicken breast stuffed with butter and herbs, breaded and cooked.  This Chicken Kiev had no stuffing and was nearly impossible to cut. A guest at a table next to us actually sent his back saying it couldn’t be cut.  It was very odd.  Equally as strange was the beef wellington on chic night. We’ve enjoyed this many, many times on Celebrity ships but this cruise the puff pastry was very thick to the point of not being cooked while the beef (which we ordered medium rare) was well done. The mushroom duxelles that between the beef and puff pastry was also extremely thick compared to what it normally is.  All of this made for a less than great beef wellington but it was OK…we had plenty of great food throughout the cruise.

 

Many other dishes through the cruise were good to excellent.  Soups and appetizers seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.  The pasta dishes were good and all the desserts were great. 

 

Food in the Oceanview Café was pretty standard fare you’d expect here.  One day I grabbed a fresh baguette (it was SOOO good) and asked for it to be sliced.  Then I went to the grill station where I had them add two small pieces of thinly grilled chicken with onions and then I went to the pasta station for some marinara sauce and parmesan.  It was a delicious lunch.  We also enjoyed breakfast here most mornings on the back outdoor deck. 

 

Two of our three specialty restaurant dinners were outstanding.  The Lawn Club Grill was our first specialty choice, and everyone agreed that the food was superb.  From the pizza and salad bars to everything that came off the grill, there was unanimous agreement among our group that the food was all terrific!  Murano was our second.  It was a special evening as we enjoyed the wine room for this wonderful dinner.  The best thing was they made our chateaubriand a surf and turf by adding some of the best lobster I’ve ever had.  It was sautéed in a wonderful sauce (I actually meant to ask for the recipe) and was the perfect accompaniment to the beef. 

 

Our final specialty restaurant was Tuscan Grille.  Often one of our favorites, it was just so so on the evening we were there.  Our waiter seemed new and struggled a bit to understand orders.  My appetizer of Strozzapreti Carbonara was delicious and I wish I had just had an entrée of that.  I asked for either the Chicken Parmesan or Veal Marsala for my entrée and he brought me both.  The Chicken Parmesan was OK but the Veal Marsala had no marsala flavor.  It wasn’t possible to eat both of these, and I felt like I was wasting food.  Next time I’ll stick to just the Strozzapreti.

 

CABANA RENTAL ON THE LAWN

We had quite a bit of onboard credit this cruise from price drops, so we rented a cabana on a port day (it was $99).  We were told it would accommodate four people and the rental went from 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.  It was very nice and it was serviced by those who worked in the Lawn Club Grill.  Upon arrival there were glasses and two large Evian’s in a bucket of ice along with a food menu.  We didn’t arrive until just after lunch because we rented this for the day in St. Maarten.  It’s very nice but it seemed like every time we left for a few minutes, someone came and sat in the cabana.  It happened twice.  There are small signs that said it was reserved with our name but people didn’t pay any attention to it.  It would have been nice if staff was able to keep others out of the rented cabanas.  Otherwise, the cabana was great.  They need to find a way to keep the cushions from sliding off the chairs (could be a bit dangerous actually) but it was very nice change. 

 

PORTS OF CALL

If you are cruising at this time, you know up front that ports of call could be changed at any time and that happened to us.  We skipped St. Croix, Grenada and St. Kitts.  They were replaced with Nassau, Barbados and St. Maarten.  We would have loved to have gone to St. Croix as it’s the only Virgin Island we haven’t been to, but we understood.

 

In Antigua and St. Maarten, you could get off on your own and do whatever you’d like (keep in mind that this is subject to change at any time). In Barbados & Dominica you could do a Celebrity tour or one of the government taxis waiting at the port. 

 

We didn’t get off the ship in Nassau and in Antigua, we just walked around the town for about an hour.  In Barbados, we took a taxi to my favorite pottery location – Earthworks!  We hadn’t been here in a long time and our home is filled with their beautiful pieces of art.  It was great to visit again.  In Dominica, six of us rented a government taxi just to get out and do something.  It was a great choice.  We did about a four-hour tour around the island.  We hadn’t been here in years, either.  It’s a beautiful island and she gave us loads of beautiful rainbows throughout the day. 

 

We’ve done multiple Caribbean cruises previously, so the ports of call weren’t the most important thing about this cruise.

 

 

 

COVID PROTOCOLS & CASES

I know there is much discussion about this, so I’ll give my thoughts on our experience. 

 

The indoor mask mandate was put in place at check in at the pier.  I’d say 99.9% of the people and 100% of the crew on our sailing abided by the new mandate.  While there was an occasional person we passed without a mask, we were never close to them other than passing by.  In the theater, you could easily sit all by yourself without being anywhere near other people.  I don’t recall seeing anyone in Oceanview without masks on unless they were seated at a table eating. 

 

The main dining rooms had guests spaced out so there wasn’t anyone at the tables immediately adjacent to ours (we had two tables side by side for our group).  The dining room never seemed crowded and there was only one evening that I can recall a good line getting into the Anytime dining room.

 

If you wanted to be by yourself at almost any of the bars, you could be.  Yes, around the martini bar was full at times, with everyone having a drink, but you could just as easily sat at one of the many empty areas that aren't directly at the bar and been totally away from people if you chose to.

 

Capt. Nikolas kept us updated on the Covid situations on board throughout the cruise.  For the duration of the cruise, he indicated that there were ten passengers who tested positive with only two of them having mild symptoms.  He noted that they did contract trace those who were in close contact with those who tested positive on board.  He indicated that there were crew who were also isolated or quarantined but he did not share numbers on crew.  We appreciated his updates and felt very comfortable that Celebrity has the protocols in place to safely deal with everything that is going on.

 

Quite honestly, and this is my personal opinion, if you are truly concerned about positive cases on ships you shouldn’t consider sailing right now.  If you are going to spend your cruise vacation worrying about what is happening with Covid, you are wasting your vacation dollars.  We had friends cancel at the last minute because they were very concerned about getting quarantined.  I completely understood those concerns and felt they made the right decision to not cruise with us.  But constantly wondering how many cases they are and whether everyone is wearing their mask all the time just negatively impacts what should be a wonderful vacation.     

I have no doubt that we are safer on a ship than we are going to the grocery store! 

 

CREW

For the most part, the crew is truly amazing.  These are still very, very challenging times for all of them.  Yet they go out of their way to make our cruise vacation the very best it can possibly be given the circumstances.  They are very happy to be back on ships and they work as hard as ever. 

 

I was most impressed by Capt. Nikolas who constantly praised his crew during morning announcements and who attended every show in the theater we attended.  It was impressive!

 

MAJOR COMPLAINT – SMOKING

Sorry smokers but you ruined some of our favorite spots on the ship.  The port side of the Sunset Bar is available to smokers.  This is actually the best outdoor area on the ship and the best outdoor bar on any S-class ships since they turned it into an oval-shaped bar in the middle of the deck.  However, the amount of smoke throughout the day (and there weren’t even that many people smoking) caused us to leave the area multiple times.  The wind carries the smoke across the aft deck, and you simply can’t escape it.  You could even smell the smoke (the cigar smoke is especially offensive) at times on the outdoor deck of the Oceanview Café one deck below.  I have no problem with people who chose to smoke.  I do mind when it affects our enjoyment of some of the best places on the ship.  When we have protocols that are forcing us to wear masks because of a virus that causes respiratory problems, it seems a bit silly to allow smoking that also causes respiratory problems.  Sorry to smokers….I wish they could find an area where for you where smoke didn’t travel into other areas of the ship.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON CRUISING RIGHT NOW

We wouldn’t hesitate stepping back on a ship again tomorrow.  Be sure you are comfortable being around others on a ship if you are planning to cruise soon.  It’s very difficult to totally avoid people on a ship.  There are no guarantees with anything these days.  We were grateful for being able to cruise with family & friends again and we enjoyed having the chance to meeting several Cruise Critic members, too.  Here’s to the next cruise….

 

Thank you for your fabulous review! All very well thought out and well said. We are excited to be going back on the Reflection on the 19th for the 4th time.  We are fortunate (?) to have 3 shots and natural immunity too. Going to really enjoy the 10days!!!

4 hours ago, twoflyers said:

Good morning,

We are currently on the Reflection and enjoying it very much.

To answer a few of your questions:

There are shows every night at 9:00 p.m. 

A few of the entertainers:

Pianist - Hyperion Knight

Solo singer - Chris Burke

Quartet - Boy Band Evolution

Magician/Comedian - Madness/Mayhem (and yes, it was both, but funny and clever)

Solo Singer - Savannah Smith

As far as large dining tables - we are in Blu, which is very lightly attended, but we have seen a number of large groups in the Oceanview, so management is not discouraging it.  It will depend on whether other guests are comfortable  with dining (masks off) with strangers.

Good things:  Service levels are wonderful, ship is in very good condition, food has been amazing.

Disappointing:  We were not permitted to dock in St. Thomas due to local regulations.  Captain Nikolous made an announcement the evening before and we had an additional sea day.   it was not a big deal for us, and we did not hear any griping.  All in all, I think guests understand the environment we are living in and are just happy to be able to cruise.

 

For those who are concerned about cruising during Omicron, mask compliance has been excellent, cleaning and sanitizing has been constant.  We have felt very safe.  

 

Enjoy your cruise!!

Thank you so much for your update! Very encouraging. We got our tests out of the way this morning and on our way south from SC!! Round of golf tomorrow at PGA National then hopping on board the Reflection on Wednesday! Glad your cruise has gone well and safe travels after.

12 hours ago, lola2013 said:

I’ll be sailing with you on 1/19…so far the info on the app shows the original itinerary.  So far; so good!
See you Wednesday 😎

🤞

DH and I scheduled for 1/19/2022 and would love to know how it is going on the 1/12/2022 sailing? Shows? 8:30 dinner attendance? We love large tables to meet people but assume that is not happening. Good things/disappointing things?

To our fellow 1/19/2022 passengers has anyone heard rumblings about itinerary changes? Honestly would probably not change anything for us as we are just anxious to cruise and love the Reflection. But would like to know anyway.