thephillykid

We just got back from the reflection, and I would like to say that the food in the mdr was just "ok" in our opinion. The french onion soup on the every day menu was very good, but it came out cold on more than I occasion. The shrimp cocktail was 4 little shrimp and was tasty. The salads were just so so, and we had asked the waiter on the first night to get a house salad with blue cheese dressing on the side and she told me that it would be a chore to get the dressing. The entree selection was very nice, and had the usual meats, poultry and fishes. The big issue that we found was the service, on other cruises, such as carnival, if you asked for iced tea the first night, then it was there for you every other night in stead of having to ask for it every night.

Howard

First let me say that my family of 7, wife, grown son and daughter early 20's and my sister and her husband and 11 year old daugther have not been on celebrity, and are frequent carnival cruisers.

Embarkment.....very quick and easy, we all received the email to get there between12:30 and 3:30, but arrived at the port around 11 with no issues. We were on board in less than 30 minutes. Much easier than carnival.

First impressions.....very nice new ship, smoke free, that was laid out very nice, with a few exceptions. The buffet does not flow as nice as the newer carnival ships, and they have zero originality as far as the dishes being served, they repeated every day.

Cabin.....we had C2 concierge class cabins on deck decks 10 and 12 and they were laid out very strange. The sofa was almost touching the closet door and made it very hard to get into the closet. Maybe it was laid out that way as we were on the hump, but it was not convenient at all. The bathroom was nice, but we missed the body wash and conditioner dispensers on the wall in the shower. Overall a nice cabin.

I will continue the review in a little while, feel free to ask questions.

Howard

SHIP: Reflection

CABIN #: 2166

DECK #: 12

CLASS: C2 Concierge class balcony on the hump.

AREA: Mid-Ship/Port Side/Right Near Elevators/Stairs.......great location.

BED NEAR: balcony

QUIET?: No

BALCONY VIEW: Aft and Starboard

BALCONY SIZE: Angled larger balcony on the hump

WIND A PROBLEM?:no

SOOT A PROBLEM?:no

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: A LOT of noise from up above, starts in the early morning, dies down in the evening. Also you could hear flushing of toilets from other staterooms while on the calcony, there was a sewer pipe right in the middle of the balcony.

Overall though, nice, ample sized room and it was nice being so close to the elevators and stairs, and 1 deck down from the oceanview cafe in the morning to get a quick breakfast for our balcony.

We got off the reflection last weekend and I had to write this post after reading many posts prior to us sailing Thanksgiving week. We had late seating at dinner.

The first night, many people were in shorts and extremely casual clothing in opus [the main dining room], which is to be expected as many people had not gotten their luggage especially early seating.

The second night was the 1st formal night, and I wore my tuxedo and my dw had on a very nice dressy dress. I walked into the mdr and looked around and I stopped counting at 75 the number of men who were in shirt sleeves without jackets. I went to the matre'd Luca and asked him if they changed the dress code without telling me and he said "why do you ask?". I asked him to follow me to my table for a second, and he obliged, and on the way I pointed out all of the men the room that did not have a jacket on. He gave me the line that "I spoke to all of them and told them about the dress code, and I gave out 30 jackets to people entering without a jacket." This was very hard to believe and on the following night, I decided to wear a golf shirt, shorts and flip flops to dinner, to try and see what would happen. I entered the mdr, the matre'd saw me and said "I guess I can't say anything to you after last night". I agreed that if you disregard the dress code on the formal nights, then the casual nights are even more difficult.

The rest of our cruise became a come as you want cruise and on the 2nd formal night while I had my tux on, I saw many, many more people dressed casual.

I know that some of you like lsimon will flame me for this, but I just have to call it like I see it. The main reason that X keeps the formal nights is to sell $22.95 pictures.

Howard

Anyone have a picture of the hump balcony on an S class ship?

We have one this weekend on the Reflection.

Thanks,

Howard

Andy,

You will have lots of time on board, before boarding the ship could you stop at CVS and buy a bag of tootsie pops for your cruise.....I would like to finally find out how many licks it takes.

LOL have a great vacation.

Let us know how the captains table is, we know you will be invited.

Howard

Pools are fresh water............correct?????

Empty ship, Free booze, Buffet open.....NUF SAID.

X also has 2 ads on the boards in philly at the Wells Fargo Center where the Flyers play, maybe the also have something with the Flyers as well. I go to the games and don't recall hearing anything about it. We just see the ads, but maybe I missed it. Maybe Celebrity will win in the deal as the Flyers suck this year and people really need a vacation away from them.

Howard

I can't believe that the matre'd would turn someone away from the mdr or blu if they in their opinion were not dressed formal on formal night. They work on tips and are not going to risk upsetting a guest, who in then will cut their tips. I have been on 8 cruises and I have never seen it happen. In fact, I remember on a few cruises back on X that a whole group of men wore the black t shirts that look like a tuxedo and no chased them from the mdr, but rather everyone commented to them about how nice and comfortable they looked while dressed up.

Howard

We've been on cruise ships twice on Thanksgiving -- on the long departed Mercury in 2008 and on the Century in 2011.

 

On the Mercury I remember great carved turkey in the buffet during lunch. So I ordered the dinner entree featuring turkey, and it was a turkey roll type of thing. Given what I saw at lunch it was quite the surprise!

 

The Century the cruise was from Honolulu to Sydney. Half of the passengers were Australian, and the head chef was also Australian. During an elite galley tour he indicated that while they were not going to attempt a "traditional" American Thanksgiving meal there would be "elements" (his word) of an American Thanksgiving feast on the menu. For example, there was a spinach salad with dried cranberries. In any event, I spoke with one Aussie woman who was very disappointed because she wanted to at least see, if not consume, a traditional holiday meal from a different country. This particular woman also was very critical of the Aussie meat pies on that cruise but we spent a week in Australia following the cruise and thought that the meat pies on the Century were essentially the same as we found in the country.

That's what I've been told that they have the processed turkey roll in the mdr. We all need to remember that the kitchen staff on these ships are mostly from countries other than the US and may not necessarily know exactly what to serve at an american thanksgiving dinner.

We will be on board for both thanksgiving and Hanukkah.

Any chance that they will have real turkey for dinner, not the processed stuff they serve on the buffet.

How about the chances of them serving potato latkes for Hanukkah?

We might be stuck eating lobster or fillet instead. As Thanksgiving falls on the second formal night on board.

I guess we will have to suffer............lol;).

Howard

On Reflection, find out who has the Reflection Suite and become their friend, and sail away from there....!

Sorry, but we sail the week before you do. We will be out of the suite before you get on board........lol.

I'll wave to you as we leave.

Howard

Great preview for me...19 days and counting.

Thanksgiving on reflection, we can't wait.

Howard

Jw.....we miss you!!!!!!

JW...Can't wait for the rest of the review. We sail on the reflection the week after you, this coming November. I know that you will have the bartenders primed for our sailing, just leave some vodka for us...LOL.

Bring it ON!!!!

Howard

Denny's - MDR on most ships today similar to Denny's...

 

Buffet - Sizzler on Celebrity.

Wow...I never knew that they have lox and bagels at the sizzler.

In the words of Clark W Griswold, the rice pudding is extra runny today.

Our experience on a South American B2B last year was they would not let us buy duty free at the end of the first cruise for use on the second. However, the easy way round this is to have someone who is leaving the ship after the first leg buy it for you - no problem!

I really can't believe that they would know or track it that close to not deliver the alcohol to you after the first week. I have to believe that your second week 's on board account will be a lot less than the first week.

Howard

We have 6203 and 6205 (4D cabins) on reflection this thanksgiving. I called celebrity to find out about changing to a non obstructed cabin and they told me it would be $155 a person to move to a different cabin. I don't think its worth it for $620 for the 4 of us. They told me that both cabins are 50% obstructed. I was wondering if anyone has any pictures from the balconies of either cabin. Please respond if they are available. Thanks

Howard

On reflection, is the smoking area on the odd or even number side of the ship?

We have cabins that are 03, and 05 on deck 6 and we all hate the smoke.

Thanks,

Howard

With all the free drinks with the 123 deal, who needs the vouchers. Imho, that is.

Where do you come up with this stuff??

The Guys on late night need a new writer.

The funniest thing i heard all week.

Howard

There was numberof Elites selling their coupons on our cruise at discounted rates. Seems many don't drink and it became a profit center of sorts I guess.

 

It was always very orginised and for the first few days set prices ment short lines of non Elites buying the coupons.

 

 

But as it was a 14 day cruise things started to get more competitive.

 

On the second week Elites started setting up tables not only sell their coupons, but also the other freebies they get. Like laundry and internet coupons, free bingo cards, casino match plays, and the nice tote bags they give out with the free walking shoes. The shoes sold very well.

 

 

By the end of the cruise Celebrity went digital and allowed sellers and buyer to meet on the in cabin room service system.

 

 

If I ever get coupons again on an April 1st cruise I will also tyake part in the free market system. :p

How about the view from 6203 and 6205 (2D) on the reflection. I am scheduled for both these cabins in the future. How bad are the views or lack thereof.