Reflection Review - Ultimate Dining, Alcoves, SuperBowl and Photos(2/1/14)

[themutis]

We were lucky that the Lawn Club Grill was offering lunch today, so armed with our Ultimate Dining package, we took the long walk from our Alcove to the Lawn Club Grill for nice leisurely lunch.

 

The lunch menu appears to be the same as the dinner menu:

 

 

We started with a ½ Margherita, ½ Mediterranean Vegetable Flatbread. To be honest, this could have been our entire lunch. It was fresh, crisp and delicious:

 

 

But we powered on. Next were a combination of Kebabs: Marinated Vegetables, Shrimp and Scallops, and two different Chicken Kebabs.

 

 

Chris also brought us a side of Lobster Mac and cheese, which we enjoyed.

 

 

Desert was the famous Warm Chocolate Chip Cookie (really the best thing on the ship). This was my first of three during our trip.

 

 

And the Blueberry Cobbler (also good, but not as good as the cookie)

 

[memory-minus]

 

I really hope Marius is on board when we sail in April. He is outstanding!

[themutis]

After a great lunch at the Lawn Club Grill we headed to our Alcove to relax as we arrived in San Juan.

 

 

Later in the afternoon, our cheese and fruit platters arrived:

 

 

We headed back to the room to shower and change, and then back up to the Lawn for the concert on the lawn.

 

This was a nice event that we enjoyed, but it wasn’t very well attended. People did seem to come and go, based on their dining plans. Blankets, folding chairs, tables and lights were set out with a live band playing. Waiter service was available and they brought you a cheese plate and any beverages you wanted. We hung out till around 7:45 and headed for dinner.

 

 

[themutis]

This was our first dinner ever in this restaurant and we have a lovely server named Anna. Out of all the restaurants on Reflection, I think I like the ambiance of the Tuscan Grill the most. We had a seat by the window, and although it was dark, it was still nice.

 

I started with the Carpaccio di Manzo and DH had the Steak Tartare. Next was the Caesar Salad and the Minestrone Soup. We enjoyed all these dishes and I forgot to take any pictures :).

 

For Dinner I ordered the Rib Eye with Gorgonzola Butter and Art ordered the Filet Mignon with Wild Mushroom Marsala sauce. We ordered the Spaghetti Bolognese and Sauteed Spinach as side dishes. Everything was great. So far we've had no complaints about the quality of the food. In fact, it has exceeded our expectations.

 

 

 

 

For dessert we split the Pistachio Creme Brûlée. Art topped off the night with a Lemoncello.

 

 

 

Our usual night cap at the Ensemble Lounge and another day comes to an end.

[prim8keeper]

Did you book your alcove ahead of time or first thing once you got on the ship? I'm thinking about doing it for our upcoming cruise on Silhouette just to use up some OBC and for fun.

[themutis]

Did you book your alcove ahead of time or first thing once you got on the ship? I'm thinking about doing it for our upcoming cruise on Silhouette just to use up some OBC and for fun.

 

I pre-booked our Alcove. I think it really depends on if you want a Sea day or a Port day. On our cruise, all Sea days were booked before we boarded. But I think if you wanted to book a Port day you would not have had a problem.

[drarill]

Excellent review and great pictures… looking forward to the rest!!:):)

[wpgcycler]

REALLY enjoying this!!!

[wallie5446]

Home on a snowy day in NH. Enjoying your review of the Reflection. husband and I are booked on this ship for 02/15;however, having cruised mostly on RCCL including Allure/Oasis and once on Millenium I am concerned that the Reflection will lack in entertainment. Can you tell me if the Reflection had pool side band, bingo, and good entertainment overall? Thanks!

 

We were on Reflection last Nov. We have not sailed Allure/Oasis, but we have sailed the Mariner and Freedom. As said, there is nothing out there like them, but there are also no other Ships like them either. We are late 50'ties and enjoyed the options last Nov.

ps: We lost at bingo yet again!

Edited February 13, 2014 by wallie5446

[themutis]

There are loud noises in the cabin this morning. There is a hoist outside our balcony and they are pulling up supplies. It’s pretty loud, but we power through and sleep till 8:30.

 

 

I had put out a breakfast order, but Patricio said he was not notified that we had ordered breakfast. In thinking back, I did fill out an order, but neglected to put our cabin number on it (must have been the Lemoncello last night).

 

So we decided we’d have breakfast at Bistro on 5.

 

We each had coffee, juice, and the Scramble Eggs with Melted Cheddar Cheese Crepe. It was light and delicious. It also came with a small fruit salad.

 

 

We spent the morning reading, relaxing, sunning for Art and shading for me in our Alcove. The staff brought coffee, water and ice and anything else we needed.

 

 

 

While they would have brought us lunch in our Alcove, we opted to walk over to the Porch and eat there.

 

We both started with salads: Me with the Caesar and Art with the Mixed Greens. Art ordered the Italian Panini again and I ordered the Reuben. I really enjoy the Reuben, the bread was really great.

 

 

Oscar kept Art with a steady supply of beer throughout the day. We really can't say enough about the Alcove, LCG, and Porch staff.

 

[themutis]

• If you go to Guest Relations, you can ask them to deliver various newspapers to your cabin. These are only 4 page newspapers, but we found them interesting to read. There are several different country versions available. We had the US version delivered to our cabin each day. They also had different puzzles sheets each day (Crossword and Suduko)
  
• The Lawn Area: This area appeared to be roped off, but really wasn't. The main entrances were roped off, saying the grass needed a rest, so many people avoided the area entirely. What was really happening was they were giving the entrances a rest but you could enter from between the Alcoves. Once on the Lawn, there were signs directing you on how to exit the lawn.
  
• Luggage Valet: We signed up for the Luggage Valet program since it seemed like a great deal. For 20.00 they will check you in, get luggage tags from the airline, and transport your luggage to MIA. The only catch was with our 1:05 flight, they were requiring us to meet at 7:30am to go through customs. Well this was a deal breaker for us, since we were planning to stay on board till 10 or so.
  

[themutis]

After lunch we enjoyed another relaxing day in our alcove.

 

View of St Thomas from our Alcove

 

 

Some Mega Yatchs

 

 

Cheese and Cracker Trays

 

 

And a beautiful sunset from our Alcove:

 

[themutis]

Dinner tonight was at the Lawn Club Grill. I love this venue… on the top of the ship, kind of outside, with a fresh food cooked to order. But even more, I love the staff there.

 

Art brought back an array of foods from the salad bar, including my favorite wasabi peas.

 

 

We split the Margherita Flatbread and had them add onions to it.

 

 

For dinner, I had the Veal Chop and Art had the Ribeye. For sides we had Lobster Mac and Cheese and Gourmet Baked Bean. No photos, sorry. All the food was great once again.

 

After dinner we split the Warm Chocolate Chip Cookie and ordered a pot of coffee.

 

 

Another great day on the Reflection.

[themutis]

We had booked both the Ultimate Dining and Premium drink package, and in each of the Specialty restaurants the sommelier was more than happy to customize our wines to our dinners.

 

A white with starters, a red with dinner, an after dinner drink... the sommelier was always available and offered suggestions.

 

We were also willing to go above the limit and pay the difference and did so most nights. This allowed us to get some very nice wines along the way.

 

We found the whole experience to be great.

[packercruising]

You sure take good pictures. That photog class has paid off!

 

Did you have a favorite bar/bartender?

[Diane Rose]

Great review! Thank you for posting. Looking forward to our cruise on the Reflection in June.

 

Diane

[stevesing121]

Thanks for the awesome pics and review! How would you compare your Summit Bermuda cruise to Reflection? I am sailing on the Summit this summer and was on Reflection this past January. Does the upper pool and sun decks have padded chairs or patio furniture in the sunset bar? There doesn't seem to be many pictures of the Summit on CC...

 

Thanks!

[themutis]

You sure take good pictures. That photog class has paid off!

 

Did you have a favorite bar/bartender?

 

There have been times on previous cruises where we frequented one particular bar more often than the others, but on this trip we hit them all and each has it's own personality.

 

If I had to pick one, I would pick the Sunset Bar. I only wish they had more live music up there :)

[missminnie]

Loving this report. We sail on Reflection for the 1st time in Apr and have booked an Alcove for 3 of the sea days. Really like the look of them and glad you posted some great pictures.

 

And I LOVE Mac & Cheese and saw it on the Menu so thanks for the piccie of that too.

 

Looking forward to seeing more.

[themutis]

This was the first time we attended the Senior Officers Cocktail Party.

 

It was held in the Sky Lounge. "This is Rachel" was waiting for us and greeted us with her usual upbeat and pleasant personality. Trays of various cocktails were passed around. There may have been trays of food as well, I just can't recall. By this point in the cruise we usually feel like we are going to explode, so I am probably just blocking it out :)

 

The Officers were very present and available. The Captain made his way around the room and was eager to engage in conversation. The bar manager was also friendly.

 

As we had 8:00 dinner reservations, we were only able to stay for 15 minutes.

[fninsn]

This was our first dinner ever in this restaurant and we have a lovely server named Anna. Out of all the restaurants on Reflection, I think I like the ambiance of the Tuscan Grill the most. We had a seat by the window, and although it was dark, it was still nice.

 

I started with the Carpaccio di Manzo and DH had the Steak Tartare. Next was the Caesar Salad and the Minestrone Soup. We enjoyed all these dishes and I forgot to take any pictures :).

 

For Dinner I ordered the Rib Eye with Gorgonzola Butter and Art ordered the Filet Mignon with Wild Mushroom Marsala sauce. We ordered the Spaghetti Bolognese and Sauteed Spinach as side dishes. Everything was great. So far we've had no complaints about the quality of the food. In fact, it has exceeded our expectations.

 

 

 

 

For dessert we split the Pistachio Creme Brûlée. Art topped off the night with a Lemoncello.

 

 

 

Our usual night cap at the Ensemble Lounge and another day comes to an end.

 

I am really enjoying your review. I was also on this cruise and your review is bringing back some wonderful memories. We too had lunch at The Patio upon boarding at noon and had dinner at Tuscan Grill on San Juan night. We went up to the wine and cheese event, but it was raining a bit and wasn't busy so we left. Now I'm sorry we didn't stay. We didn't spend any time in Michaels, but ended most of our evenings in the Ensemble Lounge for a nightcap. An absolutely great cruise!

[Kteacher]

Thanks for all the wonderful photos! We will be on the Reflection in July-first time on Celebrity since the Zenith eons ago. How far in advance can you book an alcove?

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[MissBreezy]

Thanks for all the wonderful photos! We will be on the Reflection in July-first time on Celebrity since the Zenith eons ago. How far in advance can you book an alcove?

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

 

Our cruise is in September and when I called Celebrity last month they said I could book an Alcove any time by calling them and giving them a credit card (they won't add it to your account balance).

 

Love this review so far!! It's great!

[wildescapade]

Great review!

[Bluwaterz]

I am so enjoying your review! Planning a cruise on Reflection in 2015. May I ask how you found the movement on her? I have an inner ear problem so take seasickness precautions but wanted your take. Thanks so much!