Reflection Review - Nov. 30 - WARNING - LONG READ

[cclcruiser58]

Would anyone know the name of the matre d in the Opus MDR on the Nov 30 cruise on the Reflection. He was a tall thin man?

[Host Anne]

Hi Anne, glad you had a good time:) I meant my previous post as

a compliment to you as I know you have always written very objective

reviews:)......and good to see you again as well! I was originally booked

on your upcoming Equinox cruise but plans changed. Hopefully one

day we will cruise together again.

 

Hi Lois ~ I knew you were being kind...you always are. Sorry we'll miss you on Equinox but hopefully there will be another cruise down the road we'll catch up on!

[Karen@Steve]

Hi,:) I always respect Anne's reviews and am quite sorry this happened

on her cruise. I will tell you normally there are always waiters walking

around the pool area taking orders. Not sure what was going on with

the lack of bar staff...hopefully this was NOT the start of something

new:eek:

 

I found plenty of opportunity to order drink from the pool bar waiters. I'm not sure if it depended on where you sat but we order continually on the days we sat around the pool. Both on the pool deck and on the upper deck. I also am not shy about attracting attention if I need service (yoohoo!)

[Karen@Steve]

Casino Smoke - There was a horrible smoke smell in casino area that permeated through the shops along the port side of the ship and up to deck 5. I’ve never noticed this on other Celebrity ships in recent years.

 

 

I do not think it was a smoke smell more of a mildew smell, noticed it on out TA on the Equinox, when the they bring out the $10 crap to sell, probably been sitting in the bottom of the ship hole for months

 

It was pretty awful. It kept us out of the shops and the casino. There was also a women who wore some type of perfume that you could smell coming at least 20 feet away and caused poor DH a couple of bad allergy attacks (despite all the meds he takes) and an asthma attack. Geez, haven't people ever heard that a scent should not percede you into a room or linger after you leave? ???

[WishIWereCruizin]

I was on this cruise and the smell in the casino was definitely smoke. It was awful. But the funny thing is I never saw anyone smoking in there. Is it even allowed?

 

As far as waiters in the pool area, we sat up on the sun deck and saw only one waiter on most days. On one day, we never saw a waiter and had to go to the bar for drinks. They did come by with the cart with beer and water more often. I also thought the bar waiters in the bars and MDR left a lot to be desired.

 

Those were my only complaints. Everything else was great. This was my first cruise on Celebrity and I thought the food, especially in the MDR, was excellent. Our two room stewards were the best, as was our waiter in the MDR.

[Host Anne]

I don't think the smoke smell was caused by the outdoor smoking area on deck 5. That is only on the port side and the doors that go to this area are a long way from the casino and shops. The doors are next to Bistro on Five and at the other end near the theater. Smoke couldn't travel from outside, past Bistro or theater and make its way to the casino without the other areas smelling as well. It was definitely in the vicinity of the casino and shops. :(

 

WishIWereCruizin ~ thanks for stopping by. Completely agree on the quality of the food in the MDR and the outstanding cabin attendants. All were great! Glad you enjoyed the cruise and could add that you thought the casino smell was smoke, too! Happy Cruising!

[Amelie@Sea]

Hi Host Anne, thanks for taking the time to document your experience. We are first time cruises so really appreciate your informative review. Particularly the discussion of drinks packages, entertainment and the gratuity situation.

[Bosjoe]

I notice the smell of smoke that just seems the smell has embedded itself into the furniture and carpet of around the Casino area. Its like walking into someone apartment who smokes and the smeill is just on everything.

I never saw anyone smoking in the area. I know the ship was over in Europe prior I was thinking that was the reason. Last year when I sailed her it was clean and fresh. I just thought it was odd this time.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Bosjoe

[bebob]

Hi Anne - I was on the cruise with you and was wondering if you will be posting the group photo that was taken at the Connections party?

[Host Anne]

bebob ~ THANKS for the reminder about the photo. YES! I plan on getting it posted. The file is too large to post to Cruise Critic and I hoped to have my photos uploaded before now but with business travel and Christmas, it's slipped down the TO DO list. I will try to get it done this weekend. I'll post a note here and on our roll call! ;)

[20pluscruises]

The loud music in the martini bar is what I would call Rave. And yes, it is LOUD! I'm also pretty sure Elaine from Seinfeld is on this cruise :)

[ediemarie]

I found your review to be exactly as I would have written. Maybe not so much in agreement on music levels, but that's always a very personal item of opinion. I like loud party (modern, rock, rap, pop) music at the pool all day. I think the pool is for partying, the solstice deck is for quiet relaxing. But I can't fault another for their opinion of course ;-)

Bars WAY understaffed. Only good part, I drank half as much as normal I suppose....

 

sailed on the Summit earlier this year. had the premium drink package. can't recall having any problems getting our drinks. LOVED the martini bar by the way!

 

wondering if the lack of bar staff could have anything to do with the above hi-light? easy to offer "free" when you don' t have enough staff to keep up with orders.

 

regarding the partial quote, sorry to pick and choose the quote. didn't want to clutter up the thread with a full quote. no offense intended.

[Sunshinenomad]

Thanks for a great review! We're departing this Saturday on Reflection, and your review is very helpful. Good thing we didn't upgrade to the alcoholic drinks package. I will try to stick to "bubbly" water and specialty coffees.

Speaking of coffee, how was the regular coffee on Reflection? I heard it's not made from syrup and is pretty good (I'm quite particular about coffee).

 

You will be sorely disappointed with the regular coffee. It tasted burnt/too stong all week. I started using freeze dried as the regular was undrinkable.

[JB3]

The smell on the Nov. 30th cruise in the casino area was definitely smoke. Mildew is a very different smell from smoke.

 

Hi, Anne... we are sailing the Reflection soon, and it'll be our 20th cruise, but 1st with Celebrity. From all I've read, there is no more smoking on X ships, including the casino and balconies. (Smoking only allowed on designated spots on open decks.) Or did that change just come about after your cruise?

 

Your review was great, thanks for writing it. The bar service and the loud rap and techno music would all be big negatives for us too. Hopefully the powers that be read your review and have since fixed those issues before our cruise in Feb. (ha) Wishful thinking! : )

 

We actually chose "select dining", and because we chose that, we had to pre-pay our gratuities. So, I doubt we would even be able to remove them if we wanted to. That would also be annoying to me to have to tip someone that I never saw--as you mentioned. Would rather give more to the waiters, etc.

[miched]

We have also noticed that the entertainment and live music seems to be going down hill. With all the comments and many complaints about the DJ's and their banging on the electronic drums you would think that Celebrity would just eliminate them and save some money.

 

Celebrity claims that they want to attract a younger crowd by using those DJ's instead of real musicians. We all know it is for cost cutting and that is fine but those DJ's don't need to be in a lounge or public area that is not meant for them. Put them in the lounges with dance floors.

 

 

.⛄

[20pluscruises]

Hi, Anne... we are sailing the Reflection soon, and it'll be our 20th cruise, but 1st with Celebrity. From all I've read, there is no more smoking on X ships, including the casino and balconies. (Smoking only allowed on designated spots on open decks.) Or did that change just come about after your cruise?

 

Your review was great, thanks for writing it. The bar service and the loud rap and techno music would all be big negatives for us too. Hopefully the powers that be read your review and have since fixed those issues before our cruise in Feb. (ha) Wishful thinking! : )

 

We actually chose "select dining", and because we chose that, we had to pre-pay our gratuities. So, I doubt we would even be able to remove them if we wanted to. That would also be annoying to me to have to tip someone that I never saw--as you mentioned. Would rather give more to the waiters, etc.

 

Christmas week there was no smell in the casino. Maybe less smokers on board due the number of children? However, some idiot was smoking that gawd awful cherry tobacco on their deck some nights.

[Host Anne]

Hi, Anne... we are sailing the Reflection soon, and it'll be our 20th cruise, but 1st with Celebrity. From all I've read, there is no more smoking on X ships, including the casino and balconies. (Smoking only allowed on designated spots on open decks.) Or did that change just come about after your cruise?

 

Your review was great, thanks for writing it. The bar service and the loud rap and techno music would all be big negatives for us too. Hopefully the powers that be read your review and have since fixed those issues before our cruise in Feb. (ha) Wishful thinking! : )

 

We actually chose "select dining", and because we chose that, we had to pre-pay our gratuities. So, I doubt we would even be able to remove them if we wanted to. That would also be annoying to me to have to tip someone that I never saw--as you mentioned. Would rather give more to the waiters, etc.

 

Hi JB ~ Celebrity's smoking policy hasn't changed. No smoking in cabins, on balconies and only in a few designated areas around the ship. Most passengers adhere to the policy. Never figured out what the smoke smell around the casino was. Never saw anyone in the area smoking.

 

We are sailing again this month. I'll be back to let everyone know about the music. I fear it's a "trend" Celebrity is leaning towards.

 

Select dining, in my opinion, is very different from traditional dining. The goal is to get people in and out and keep the tables turning. While I'm guessing the service is still friendly I don't think it's the same as when you have the same set of servers every evening. You'll have a great time as the servers in the main dining room have always been great!

[JB3]

Hi JB ~ Celebrity's smoking policy hasn't changed. No smoking in cabins, on balconies and only in a few designated areas around the ship. Most passengers adhere to the policy. Never figured out what the smoke smell around the casino was. Never saw anyone in the area smoking.

 

We are sailing again this month. I'll be back to let everyone know about the music. I fear it's a "trend" Celebrity is leaning towards.

 

Select dining, in my opinion, is very different from traditional dining. The goal is to get people in and out and keep the tables turning. While I'm guessing the service is still friendly I don't think it's the same as when you have the same set of servers every evening. You'll have a great time as the servers in the main dining room have always been great!

 

Looking forward to hearing about your next cruise!

We've been on cruises before where even in the dance club at night the DJ will be playing techno for a near empty room. Once we were on one where lots of people were in there dancing to 70's and 80's...until he started with the techno, and the place cleared out. Made no sense at all. They need to work more on reading the crowd on each sailing.

[DallasTXCruiser]

A group of four of us sail on the Reflection this Saturday. Not my first cruise, but first on Celebrity. We all have the Premium Drink pkg and will be a little upset if we have the bar service that was originally noted on this thread. I hate rap music, but would tolerate it much better if I have good bar service I would imagine. :o

[JLSPOOL]

Thank you for posting the review.

 

jls

[20pluscruises]

A group of four of us sail on the Reflection this Saturday. Not my first cruise, but first on Celebrity. We all have the Premium Drink pkg and will be a little upset if we have the bar service that was originally noted on this thread. I hate rap music, but would tolerate it much better if I have good bar service I would imagine. :o

 

Hopefully, Oscar...we nicknamed him "Oscar the Grouch" is in a better mood. We actually video taped him filling the numerous martini glasses at once AND then throwing the empty tins into the sink pi$$ed off. He was in a fowl mood the entire week. Maybe the techno rave music got to him?

[hulamoon]

Oddly I detected a bit of smokey smell around the shops and casino area on equinox. But I could not find where it was coming from. Not as horrid as casinos that allow smoking but I could smell it. I wonder if a charter had recently been on board with different rules.

[steveweese]

We were on the Reflection 12\7 Our buddy at the molecular bar was out of some stuff until about 7 the first night. He said the large group were heavy drinkers. Also was concerned that the next cruise the same group had twice as many members booked on 12/14. He sold 3.5 times more drinks on 11/30 compared to 12/7.