Celebrity reflection 10 night ultimate caribbean cruise - march 23, 2018

Still loving your review Marvy. You say the roads in Antigua were rough etc, we were actually involved in an accident in a cab on our way back to port. Another cab rammed into us and drove us off the road. Luckily we were only shaken but not hurt. Another taxi stopped to help and gave us and another couple with us a lift back as they had spare seats. I don't know whether the taxi drivers have to take a test over there but they really are awful drivers.

Still loving your review Marvy. You say the roads in Antigua were rough etc, we were actually involved in an accident in a cab on our way back to port. Another cab rammed into us and drove us off the road. Luckily we were only shaken but not hurt. Another taxi stopped to help and gave us and another couple with us a lift back as they had spare seats. I don't know whether the taxi drivers have to take a test over there but they really are awful drivers.

Pepsi - Was that one of those taxi drivers who were harassing us in port? :) Lucky you weren’t injured & made it back in one piece & on time.

Maris

Pepsi - Was that one of those taxi drivers who were harassing us in port? :) Lucky you weren’t injured & made it back in one piece & on time.

 

Maris

Yes it was. we wanted to go on a little open bus tour but the driver kept us waiting for over an hour while he was trying to fill the bus. We were so fed up that we teamed up with another couple and picked a driver who looked older and responsible. He was an official government licensed driver but that meant nothing. He crashed into a wall before the incident although the actual crash wasn't his fault and yes we were very lucky indeed.

Hi Norris

 

I’m not too sure what is going on. Do you have the paid Flickr account? I don’t. I use it sporadically but I think I’ll get back to it.

Was never a math wiz at school (maybe that’s why I loved teaching it) & almost failed Statistics in university but I love all that data & info. My name is Maris Lubbock, so maybe you can access the Flickr data that way.

Clicking on your photos (ABC review) while on my iPad, I’m not getting the info. I read reviews while treadmilling. Great way to pass the time & dream. I’ll have to check your review when back on the desktop.

 

Thanks for your input and all those great reviews & photos. As I said to one reader, you’re my Cruise Critic idol. If I could have only convinced Ken to take copious notes like Carol does. I also asked Ken if he wanted me to use a cruise name for him - like a masculine version of The Deck Chair Queen. He said ‘No, call me Ken😎

Marvy Mare😀

Maris- I have two free Flickr accounts so get two Terabytes of storage which will last a lifetime. The most recent pics are on my adair.norris account. My Flickr screen hasn't changed since I started in 2009 which is why I don't recognize your Flickr screen. I looked at your EXIF but it doesn't show the basics-the camera used, the lenses and the settings for aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I saw your "real Estate" photos this morning and will go back to look at more.

I don't use an iPad but Carol does and she is often not seeing things I see on the MacBook.

I don't just have cruise pics on Flickr and will definitely put my San Francisco pics on Flickr in June after the 18th when I fly home. It will be my first Full Frame visit to a very photogenic city using better lenses than before so I am psyched. Now that I have no review to write my free time will be spent learning the camera and getting my technique sharper via Mike Browne videos on Youtube.

You have mentioned Photoshop- I only use it (so far) for titles on page one of my reviews but I do have a course on how to use it but PS is mainly for manipulating photos-removing people and trees etc and changing the sky....I am not really interested in faking things which is why I use Lightroom just to try and recapture what I saw as opposed to what the camera thinks I might have seen. I think you feel the same way. I try not to overwork my adjustments but sometimes make crazy mistakes by, for instance, taking a daylight pic with the camera I last used for pitch black darkness shots. Those can be rescued if you shoot in RAW.

Yes, photography is an absorbing hobby and one where the learning never stops (hopefully!)

Deck Chair Queen was a Carol invention that surprised me as I had no idea she was responding to a review I was writing and it is a very apt name!

Cheers and keep the great review coming!

Norris

Maris- I have two free Flickr accounts so get two Terabytes of storage which will last a lifetime. The most recent pics are on my adair.norris account. My Flickr screen hasn't changed since I started in 2009 which is why I don't recognize your Flickr screen. I looked at your EXIF but it doesn't show the basics-the camera used, the lenses and the settings for aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I saw your "real Estate" photos this morning and will go back to look at more.

I don't use an iPad but Carol does and she is often not seeing things I see on the MacBook.

I don't just have cruise pics on Flickr and will definitely put my San Francisco pics on Flickr in June after the 18th when I fly home. It will be my first Full Frame visit to a very photogenic city using better lenses than before so I am psyched. Now that I have no review to write my free time will be spent learning the camera and getting my technique sharper via Mike Browne videos on Youtube.

You have mentioned Photoshop- I only use it (so far) for titles on page one of my reviews but I do have a course on how to use it but PS is mainly for manipulating photos-removing people and trees etc and changing the sky....I am not really interested in faking things which is why I use Lightroom just to try and recapture what I saw as opposed to what the camera thinks I might have seen. I think you feel the same way. I try not to overwork my adjustments but sometimes make crazy mistakes by, for instance, taking a daylight pic with the camera I last used for pitch black darkness shots. Those can be rescued if you shoot in RAW.

Yes, photography is an absorbing hobby and one where the learning never stops (hopefully!)

Deck Chair Queen was a Carol invention that surprised me as I had no idea she was responding to a review I was writing and it is a very apt name!

Cheers and keep the great review coming!

Norris

Hi Norris

I don't know what is going on with the Flickr account. Some photos do show the data (to me anyway) and others don't. The photos taken before January 2018 are with my Nikon 3300, a great little starter camera and the more recent with a Nikon d500. I'm loving the camera; the images are sharp and in low light (though no match for full frame) photos are pretty good.

You are right about Photoshop. It isn't a program that I would often use. Mainly for fixing backgrounds in portraits. I enjoy Lightroom. Can't say the same for Photoshop.

Looking forward to your photos of beautiful San Francisco.

Maris

We had a few friends over for a vacation slide show last night. It went well. We turned up the heat, listened to steel drum music and enjoyed tropical beverages. I love vacation photos and my friends claim to. I'm heading to a swim meet today. More time spent in warm humid air and a chance to practice action photos.

I'm hoping to have time to get to our Day 5 in Barbados later today. I have a busy week ahead. So much for retirement.

Maris/Marvy/Mary

Day 5, Bridgetown Barbados - March 27

Barbados is 13 degrees N. The furthest south that our cruise took us and the furthest south that I've ever been. The weather forecast for Barbados that day was scattered showers. High 85 and low 77.

A couple of strange and interesting laws in Barbados. It is an offence to wear camouflaged clothing. I'm not sure if the offence carries a prison term, but you better not smoke in public. It could bring you a 12 month prison term. I looked carefully at the group at the Sunset Bar the next morning and I believe that they were all there.

I was up again at 4:30. Same routine; walk up and down the stairs to get coffee. On my first coffee run. I saw a woman carrying a small silver coloured tray and thought 'What a great idea'. I looked for a tray in the Oceanview with no luck. The light went on when I got back to our room. There's a tray sitting on the desk/makeup table that holds a few glasses. Perfect! I carried it back up and even though I have never waited tables, I was able to carry that tray back down the stairs with two full coffee without incident. A gentleman who saw me with the tray one morning said. "Good idea! You should put that on cruise critic" and I did. I also decided at that very moment to expand on the idea & write this review:')

Early morning staircase.

There is art work all over the Refection. This piece was on our section of the stairs. There was one painting outside the Tuscan Grill that had a moving person in it - so cool!

Time for my morning coffee. Sunrise photos to come.

You will Love the W. Stayed there many times but the prices have gone through he roof

 

 

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We are using our Spg points so just resort fee & Taxes, yes wouldn’t be staying there if had to pay full price. Julie (SocaQueen)

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BARBADOS - DAY 5 (cont) 9am to 5:30pm

It was starting to get light by 5am and bright by 5:45. The official sunrise was at 5:57am according to TODAY and the sunset at 6:09pm. I just noticed that information reading over TODAY today. Before this trip I hadn't realized that in the tropics day sunrise to sunset is almost exactly 12 hours. I guess that makes sense though, being so close to the equator.

The sun appears to rise quickly too. Blink & you'll miss it. This morning there were a few clouds that partially blocked the sun. It was so windy up on deck many mornings that walking into the wind took twice as long as walking with the wind at my back. I finished my walk when I sensed a sunrise photo op and actually took the elevator up & back so I wouldn't miss the show.

Taken at 6:03

Those sunbeams are officially called crepuscular rays.

The show was almost over by 6:09am

The sky was beautiful to the west as well - 6:07am.

Enough of all the beautiful sunrises. Have to get ready to go to my lousy part time job. It's going to be a beautiful day today in central Ontario - sunny & 17 C (C for Canadian & I guess almost everywhere in the world except the US).

BARBADOS - DAY 5 - MARCH 27 (cont.)

We didn't get into Barbados until 9am. We had time to have a relaxing, same old breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe.

Outside the Oceanview Cafe, where we had breakfast every morning & lunch most days.

For anyone reading who hasn't cruised before, I took a few photos of our room as we were approaching port. I imagine that most cruise ship rooms, other than suites are quite similar.

Ken is much more organized than I am. This is a photo from the Silhouette but when we travel this is pretty typical. Ken's stuff is closest to the patio doors and mine is closest to the camera.

BARBADOS

Coming into Bridgetown. It looks a little more industrialized than Antigua.

Either they caught something really large or they are weighing anchor.

These fellows were diving off the break wall and swimming over to a ladder to get out. They did it a number of times as we passed by. I love watching life on shore from the veranda and the islanders have seen cruise ships so often, they pay no attention.

For any photographers reading along. This photo was taken with my 55-200 cheapo kit lens. In ideal light conditions with this great camera, photos are amazingly clear.

Same lens. The pilot boat. You can tell that this is all pretty new to me. Still thrilled by the site of the pilot boats. It means we are about to start a new adventure.

Just like back home. Always on the cell phone.

There were a few other ships in port. I think it turned out to be 5 and we were the last in.

It was 8:15am. I was surprised that more of our neighbours weren't out on their balconies. I'd been up for almost 4 hours. I guess they were getting ready to get off the ship and beat the crowds. In retrospect maybe we should have done that.

Mein Schiff 3

I'm alway asking Ken to take my photo, just to prove that we were there. I usually toss the results out. I still feel 20 inside & the outside always surprises me & not in a good way. Anyway these weren't too bad, but I'm wearing 'the dress' again. I think I mentioned before that we stopped to get photos as we got off the ship with the costumed photo assistants.I managed to drag Ken into a few, but when it came time to check out the photos, I had no idea where to look. Do you have to pour over hundreds of photos to find yours? There were other things I'd rather do, but unfortunately there are no photos of the two of us together. Well a couple of really bad selfies that we sent home to the kids.

You put photos like these on Facebook and everyone says 'Beautiful' not OMG are you ever old. Ken was telling me a story about a woman who was due to give birth and happened to put a photo of her holding a wombat on Facebook. She got more than one comment 'What a beautiful baby'. :')

Time for coffee. Until later.

Hi Maris,

 

I have not yet seen any pictures of you and Ken? I was wanting to see if I recognize you guys. We were also port side deck 10. I am sure we must of ran into each other in 10th Elevator Library area. I was the guy always with a camera in my hand.

 

You are doing a great job on your first Trip Report love your photos. Be sure to take some time and describe your photo gear to us techies. I also plan to do a Photo Trip Report but, I must first finish up my 2017 Trip Report.

 

Looking forward to reading the balance.

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Hi again Kevin - I was checking your signature again to see if you'd started on your Reflection review. Not yet? Anyway I had a quick look at your Equinox review. Great photos. I'll have to look at more of the review later. I've finished editing all my photos and am almost 1/2 way through my review, so time to read more for future cruise inspiration. I noticed a photo of some of your camera equipment and a few more of you and your wife. I think maybe I did speak to you one morning.

I was on my regular rounds of deck 15 at sunrise time. I tend to talk to myself from time to time. I call it thinking out loud. There was a man sitting on the 'non smoking side' of the Sunset Bar. I don't know if there really is a nonsmoking side but the smokers tend to sit to one side. There was a gentleman sitting there. He had a camera & one of those Gorilla pods and I said, out of the blue "I have one of those!" I'm sure that he had no idea what I meant & looked at me like I had two heads.

Maybe that was you. I noticed that you have a gorilla tripod. I bought one for this trip, thinking that I would use it but was nervous about attaching it to anything, especially the railing where it would have been perfect. The one I bought is supposed to hold 6 1/2#. So 2 questions - Was that you? and how do you like that tripod?

Maris

ANTIGUA

 

Love this picture. Feels like it could almost be somewhere else like Ireland or somewhere with the way you frame it with the green hills ... just awesome. The picture just pops. And for the record I have not been to Ireland so I am using my imagination on that LOL

Love this picture. Feels like it could almost be somewhere else like Ireland or somewhere with the way you frame it with the green hills ... just awesome. The picture just pops. And for the record I have not been to Ireland so I am using my imagination on that LOL

I think the photos of Antigua, our first stop probably turned out the best. It may have been the light, the rolling hills & the fact that I was so excited to be there. Antigua was quite barren. I was surprised by that. Maybe just the dry season. St Lucia was the most beautiful island we visited on this trip but the day was mainly overcast. Barbados, at least the little bit we saw had the most beautiful turquoise clear waters but St Maarten was our favourite. Maybe it was the fun tour we took & the great people we met there.

I’ve never been to Ireland either. The area we live in is predominately Irish, so lots of my friends have made the visit ‘home’. The photos I’ve seen are beautiful, but like St Maarten it’s the people that make it great.

Maris

Just lost an entire post with 6 photos as I tried to post it. Got a message. Sorry you have been blocked from Cruise Critic. I'll try to post this and then try again later.

Maris

BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS (cont.)

The Deep Water Harbour in Bridgetown was opened in 1961. It's a very busy trade and cruse port.

Our plan in Barbados was to go to the Boatyard, a day resort. I think my brother, our source of all things cruise told us about it, but it could have been a member on Cruise Critic. A beach day is Ken's favourite vacation activity. Sitting under an umbrella on a tropical beach is a place were he can really relax. I made a call to the Boatyard from Lakefield one cold clear winter day. I spoke to a woman with a lovely Barbadian accent. She told me that they'd just had a thunder shower, but it had started to clear and was in the low 80's. I could picture it. Just a short walk along the beach, I think she said 15 minutes , from the port. We didn't need reservations, just arrive. Couldn't wait.

This is how I pictured our walk. Substitute Ken & me for the two women in the photo. This is actually the first day resort we ever visited on our first & only other cruise. It was quiet and beautiful.

The walk that day was a little different. It was hot & humid, the sun came & went and the sidewalks were crowded. It wasn't a walk along the beach. I'm not sure if we could have done that, but we were following the shoreline. I had a plan that I purchased from our cell provider that gave me data, text and phone calls (local I think & I didn't know anyone there to call) for $10 while on each island. That day I used my Google maps to help find our way. I didn't take many photos. Too busy trying to figure out where we were going.

The beginning of the walk way as we left the cruise port. It did follow right along the water at first.

Lunch? There was an inland waterway that we walked along for part of our journey.

I think I'll try to post this before my computer acts up and I lose it again.

Just a suggestion... try typing up your posts in a separate program (I use Microsoft Word) and then copy and paste into Cruise Critic and add your photos. That way if Cruise Critic acts up and doesn't post your comment properly, you didn't lose all the text you just wrote up! It will be annoying to have to re-add your photos, but that's better than having to remember what you wrote as well! :) Thanks again for posting... you are doing a great job with your review!!

Just a suggestion... try typing up your posts in a separate program (I use Microsoft Word) and then copy and paste into Cruise Critic and add your photos. That way if Cruise Critic acts up and doesn't post your comment properly, you didn't lose all the text you just wrote up! It will be annoying to have to re-add your photos, but that's better than having to remember what you wrote as well! :) Thanks again for posting... you are doing a great job with your review!!

Thanks so much Dana. I did manage to save some text to my pages and I recovered and just retyped it. I have a Mac, but guess pages would work just as well. Following your adventures. More adventurous than us! Love all those details. I'll just have to go on another cruise some time to hone my review skills. :D

Maris

BARBADOS - Tues. March 27 (cont.)

As we were walking to the Boatyard, we crossed a bridge - if memory serves me it was a pedestrian bridge.

View from the bridge back toward the port.

As we got to the other side of the bridge we stopped to ask a man who appeared to be a local about the distance to the Boatyard. He said that it was just down the road - finally, but suggested we go to Pirate's Cove instead. 'You only pay for chairs & umbrellas there'. We walked by Pirate's Cove & The Boatyard was right next door. Finally there, hot, tired & thirsty. Maybe we would have left the Reflection earlier if we realized but the gentleman that met us at the entrance told us that there were no more lounges or umbrellas available. For the same fee, we could sit in a straight back plastic chair without an umbrella. I was ready to go for it but Ken declined. I never did find out what the entrance fee included - chair, umbrella, lunch, cab back, various activities & maybe a drink or two. If anyone following along was or has been there, I'd love to know what we missed.

We walked back to Pirate's Cove. In through a dark bar and out to the beach. $15 for 2 chairs and an umbrella. Since we were late arrivals, we were seated in the back row. It didn't matter to us. We were there. The water was turquoise and soooo clear & warm.

Looking toward the Boatyard next door.

People who saved $15 and didn't pay for a chair or umbrella.

There were a couple of young women sitting next to us at the beach. They seemed quite upset and kept calling over the gentleman who had seated them 'in the back row'. It seemed that they wanted to be in the front row. He tried to explain to them that they arrived late and early arrivals were in the front. Also that the tide was coming up & in the front row they could end up in the water. They were very unhappy & very persistent. Obviously not Canadian. We started talking to them. They were from Germany and from the boat parked behind the Reflection in port, Mein Shieff 3. They ship was starting it's journey from Bridgetown. The passengers, mostly from Germany had flown to Barbados over pervious few days. They were leaving later in the day on a 14 day southern Caribbean cruise. I said - Wow, how exciting. Here you are in paradise. You have at least 14 more days. Just relax and enjoy yourselves. What does it matter if you're in the front & back row. I went off to get a Carib & when I returned, they were gone - moved up front.:')

There is a lot of art work on the ship and a lot is with the theme “Reflection”. Something that I found interesting was the large mirror murals walking down the hallway past the Ensemble Lounge towards Blu. It looks like a lot of nothing but lines on a mirror. Anyroads it did to me and my wife. One night as we were walking towards Blu for dinner I had my wife pose for a picture in front of it and for some reason thru the viewfinder (lens) you could see that it was actually 3 D trees. Without looking thru the viewfinder it looked like lines.

Since you like to take pictures go look at it. It also made me interest in looking thru the lens at other works of art.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

BARBADOS

A few more beach photos. We stayed at the Pirate's Cove until mid afternoon. There was a busy bar there with two bartenders, a man and a woman. Maybe they were overworked because he was quite grumpy. I can't imagine that they were surprised by the crowd. All the tourist based businesses would know that there were 5 cruise ships in port.

There was also a buffet in a very dark room. Traditional island food, rice & peas, chicken, etc. It didn't look that appetizing, so I lined up to order burgers and fries. There was a group ahead of me (probably from Mein Shieff 3) who spoke English with a strong accent. The woman taking the order had real difficulty understanding them, so I attempted to 'translate'. It didn't go well and I finally gave up and went back out to enjoy the sun, sand and clear water.

Our walk back was a lot quicker. There were less people traveling in our direction, we knew where we were going & it was slightly overcast, so felt cooler. The little bit of home (the CIBC & Royal Bank) alway surprise me.

This beautiful stone structure is the Parliament Building built of coral stone in the late 19th century.

There is a lot of art work on the ship and a lot is with the theme “Reflection”. Something that I found interesting was the large mirror murals walking down the hallway past the Ensemble Lounge towards Blu. It looks like a lot of nothing but lines on a mirror. Anyroads it did to me and my wife. One night as we were walking towards Blu for dinner I had my wife pose for a picture in front of it and for some reason thru the viewfinder (lens) you could see that it was actually 3 D trees. Without looking thru the viewfinder it looked like lines.

 

Since you like to take pictures go look at it. It also made me interest in looking thru the lens at other works of art.

 

Happy cruising

I did see those large mirror murals. Cool optical illusions. It did not dawn on me that the theme for much of the artwork was reflections but thinking back, I realize that you’re right. Now I want to go back and look again. The Reflection is probably on her way to Europe by now. Hoping to be back on her in 2020 & I’ll make sure I make a closer study of all the art work.

Thanks for pointing that out.

Maris

I am a month behind. I don’t know why I thought that you were doing this live.

Did you notice that it was a 3 D mural?

We will be on the Reflection on Mar 2020 for a B2B. Seems like a long ways off and it is two years away but we like to plan ahead, book the cruises on board for the perks and from what we found the best prices.

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

I have a question. My friend and I are doing more or less the same cruise and had plans for The Boatyard. You said it was full when you got there (I have no intention of sitting straight up in the full sun in a hard backed chair). You said you left on the late side. I'm not a morning person so would LOVE to know what you mean by "late" b/c to me late is ... well LATE :D

What time did you leave the ship? I don't care if I'm in the 4th row or 1st but I do want a lounge chair and umbrella.

PS: I'm still laughing about the "cute" wombat baby! Too true!