Reflection 2/8/14 sailing review

[Sonoma fans]

Let me preface this by stating this was an awesome cruise. We are in our early fifties, and have sailed Princess, RCCL predominately, and a previous cruise on the Summit. We booked this trip 1/7/14, as we needed to escape the snow here in the Boston area. We booked an accessible concierge stateroom (1028) as I have a condition that requires grab bars etc.

 

Precruise: We have been to all of the Islands several times, so we were booking to take advantage of the beautiful reflection. We booked the alcoves for all of the sea days (3), we upgraded to the premium drink package, and we booked specialty restaurants for each night. The reason we did this was our anticipation of booking the ultimate dining package once on board. We wanted to have all of our requested times for dinner and this was the only way to guarantee the times.

 

We flew down on the day of embarkation, with an 0800 flight out of Boston. We arrived in Miami at 1145, grabbed a cab (24.00) and made it to the terminal at 1245. There were some good size lines for general boarding, but as elite & concierge, we had a separate line and were quickly processed onto the ship. As soon as we boarded the ship, the restaurant manger was at a table as you entered on deck 5 mid. We immediately booked the ultimate dining package. The package allows you to eat at any of the specialty restaurants including the porch and bistro on 5 for breakfast lunch and dinner. The cost is 29.00 pp per day. We really enjoyed the restaurants as well as the porch for breakfast & lunch Paninis

 

The Cabin:1028, an accessible concierge cabin was very nice. It is slightly bigger than the normal concierge cabin to account for wheelchair access or scooter access. The difference is there is no above bed storage, but there are extra draws, and the shower has a curtain not the pull doors for obvious reasons. Our Cabin Attendant Alan was good, and responded if we needed anything. The cabin was Starboard side forward 4 cabins ahead of the forward elevators. This location was a good distance away from the mid & stern areas that have all of the restaurants and gathering spots. The good part of being forward was that the elevators are not used as much as the centrum elevators and it was always quick to grab one up or down. Because I require an accessible cabin, I had little choice on location as there are only 4 of these cabins right where we were located.

 

After getting settled in the cabin, we went to the porch for lunch and an ice cold corona, as vacation had officially started. We walked the ship and than headed to muster, which was at 3:20. Our muster station was the theatre forward so it made it easy from our cabin. After muster we went back to the cabin and all luggage had arrived. We enjoyed sail away from our veranda with cocktails. We got ready for dinner as we had reservations at the Lawn Grill Club at 6:00pm.

 

We really enjoyed the Lawn Club Grill and the waiters that are part of the restaurant, the porch, and the alcoves. Even though we had the premium drink package, we ordered several bottles of wine with dinners. there are a lot more wines to choose from when ordering bottles. you get 20% off of the bottle when you have the premium drink package. We did not cook ourselves, but some folks made their own pizzas for the appetizer. After dinner, we enjoyed the sunset bar, and than made our way down to cellar masters and the martini bar. There has been much discussion on the cellar masters enomatic dispensing machines on these threads. We are big wine fans (hence the name Sonoma fans)and spent a lot of time in cellar masters. The sommeliers did a great job of trying to get folks familiar with the concept of the machines.

 

The cellar master machines are not covered as part of the premium drink packages. You purchase a wine card in the denomination of 50.00 or 100 dollars. Your 1st two card purchases of 100.00 they give you 120.00 on the card. (really 5.00 as you pay 15.00 gratuity). The great thing is that you get to sample many different wines that you would not normally try. They had 48 wines at a time that were connected to the machines. High end wines included caymus, Opus one, Foley Pinot Noir, and Far Niente. The room is set up like a wine cellar, tastefully decorated and is very comfortable. You can also get bottles or glasses of wine here that are part of the drink packages, you just need to ask. With the premium package, you pay the difference if the wine is over 14.00.(Foley Pinot was 17.00, so we paid 3.00 per glass when we ordered by the glass). We went to Cellar masters every evening before dinner to have some nice wine, and to take a nice glass to dinner.

 

We finished up the night at the martini bar which is dangerous....I will continue with the first day at sea shortly.

[drarill]

Sonoma Fans:

Welcome to Cruise Critics and thanks for taking the time to share your cruise experience with us. We are looking forward to our cruise on the Reflection in July.:):)

[wpgcycler]

Enjoying this and looking forward to the rest! thanks!

[Sonoma fans]

the first day at sea brought a wonderful sunny day with temps in the low 80,s. As mentioned previously, we reserved an alcove for the three sea days. Again, there have been many threads concerning the alcoves, so I will give you our perspective. When you reserve the alcove, it is yours from 9:00 am until 9:00 pm. You can come and go as you please throughout the day. The cost is 149.00 per day for sea days, and 99.00 per day for port days. We were greeted by the alcove attendant Chris, who was our waiter at the Lawn Club Grill the night before. Chris and his associate Oscar carry a cell phone that is connected to a phone in the alcove. If you need anything, the attendants will get it for you. You can have the cabana top open or closed as much as you want throughout the day to allow for some sun, and to prevent crispiness. There is always a great breeze flowing through the alcove itself being on deck 15. A lot of folks would not want to spend the money for an alcove, when there are plenty of chairs throughout the ship to lounge at. We personally like to sit by the pool at times, but like the privacy that these spaces afford. You can also get up and attend a wine tasting, go swim in the solarium, and do other things with out fear of losing that prized pool seat. We spent the whole day in the alcove, and ordered lunch from the porch to have in the alcove. You also get a fresh fruit and cheese platter in the afternoon as part of the alcove rental. One other thing about the alcove, is that a lot of folks think that you can not see the ocean from the alcoves. Each alcove has 2 4ft panels that slide open, to allow a direct view of the ocean. So you have the lawn which keeps the deck cool, and the ocean view as well. As I said, they are not for everybody, but I know we will book them for the entire trip on the next trip in 12/14.

 

After a great day in the alcove, we had dinner reservations in the Tuscan grille. We had some wines in cellar masters, and made our way down for a 6:30 dinner. We got a table for 2 by the windows that view the wake. It is worth getting an early reservation to have this view at sunset. We had a wonderful meal and bottle of wine.

 

We went back to cellar masters and than over to the Martini Bar for the "show". The biggest flight we saw them pour was 14 martinis at 1 time. It is ridiculous, but they put on a great show & get people fired up. The Miami DJs were playing just opposite the bar. They were not too loud for the area, and several folks were dancing in the area etc.

 

San Juan: Another gorgeous day. I would wake up each morning and head down to the coffee bar on deck 5. Coffees are included as part of the drink package. It was really good coffee. We actually stayed on our veranda for a lot of the afternoon as we had sun on the starboard side in the afternoon. We ate lunch at the porch again, and watched sail in to San juan from our veranda. We booked the Lawn Club Grill again as we thought it would be nice with the lights of san juan in the background. This was also the night of the jazz concert on the lawn in front of the Grille. We got to enjoy the concert as we ate. Another great Rib eye and hand made pizza. We hit the sunset bar for sail away at 10:00, and had some wines at cellar masters and called it a night.

 

St Thomas- As I had mentioned previously, we have been to these Islands many times and were on this cruise for the ship. We did our normal coffee on the veranda for sail in, went to the porch for breakfast, and lounged out in the sun/shade on deck 15 overlooking the pool with the great view of St. Thomas and the harbor. We did the sail away party at the sunset bar. A lot of folks were here with great views of St thomas. We had reservations for quisine that night. We were a bit nervous about what we read and the amount of food etc.. It ended up being one of the most enjoyable meals on the trip. Our waiter was wonderful as he guided us through the menu and made recommendations based upon our likes/dislikes. We ended up with 5 courses, finishing up with the filet. A great dining experience that should be tried by everyone. We hit our regular haunts, went to the production show and called it a night.

 

St. Martin - We actually got off the ship for 45 minutes to make a quick stop at Kay Jewelers at the pier. There were 5 very large ships in port, so the dock area seemed very congested. We got back on board ate breakfast (crepes) at Bistro on 5 and sat out by the main pool for the day. It was enjoyable as there were not many folks on the ship being a port day. We went back to the cabin and did sail away from our veranda.

 

As mentioned previously our cabin was on the starboard side. this is not the best side if you are looking for great views of the port while docked. Just something to consider when selecting your cabin. It worked well for us as we had sun on the way down in the afternoons, and some shade on the return trip.

 

For Dinner we ate at the Tuscan Grille for the second time. We had a similar table by the window, and to top things off, the moon was almost full as well. A pretty great combo. The first time we ate Italian, this time we went with the beef. Another enjoyable meal. Went to our usual places for night time drinks.

 

Day At Sea: We slept in a bit, and than headed to our alcove for the day. Enjoyed the Bocce tournament they had on the lawn in front of us. It was another gorgeous day. Ate lunch from the porch, and enjoyed several drinks in the comfort of the alcove. There was a lot of activity in the centrum with live music and dancers etc. We did some more tastings in Cellar masters and went to dinner at Murano. The service and food were outstanding. We had the Chateau Briand for 2 that is cut at the table with a great bottle of Jordan Cabernet. It does not get much better....Had drinks after dinner at many places

 

Last Day at Sea (Valentines Day): We again did our coffee thing and than headed up to our alcove. We ordered waffles from the porch and enjoyed it in the alcove. We enjoyed another great day in the comfort of the alcove. We went down to change and came back up to the alcove to have dinner out under the stars with the full moon. Our friends at the Lawn grill made this happen for us, and of course my wife was given her rose for Valentines day. It was great use of the alcove, and a nice way to end the trip. Had a few more glasses of wine to drain the enomatic wine card and called it a night.

 

Debarkation: I had booked an early flight out of Miami to Boston (1050 am) Because luggage valet is not available for flights this early, we opted for self debarkation. The ship pulled into Miami at 0600 and did its 360 degree turn and we were tied up by 0630. We were allowed to self disembark at 0645. We were at Miami airport at 0730, and through security by 0815. It worked out really well.

 

We booked another cruise while on board, to take advantage of the 123 promo, and the OB credit.

 

Please let me know if there are any questions, as I would be happy toprovide any information I can

[sashacruiser]

Your trip sounds wonderful!! Thank you for the report on the alcoves. I have them booked for 2 sea days and your experience is what I envisioned when I booked them, but have had doubts after reading the boards. You have renewed my excitement for them :) I'll be on the reflection over Easter and can not wait!!!

[happymom]

Sounds wonderful. My hubby loves wine so we are looking forward to Michael's club. I'm still confused re cost. Do they have a menu besides the dispensers that you can order wine from using your premium package. Lovely review

[RJL58]

Hi Sonoma Fan,so glad you enjoyed Reflection.

 

Am sailing on her on 22nd march and also doing dinner at the lawn club grill at sanJuan, my ? is what time does the Jazz concert start that evening.

 

Thanks,

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Duanerice1]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a great time. We too are sailing on 12/14 but on the Equinox.

[Nuclear Cruiser]

Happy mom & rjl58

 

There is a wine list in cellar masters. You can order anything they have listed by the glass. There are only a few that are above the premium drink package. In hindsight,I should have gone to the menu more instead of adding more money to the enomatic card....

 

The jazz concert starts at 7:00 pm. There are blankets and night lutes set up on the lawn for it. It goes to 9:00 with an intermission

[runtzmom]

Hi....when you booked the alcove on the day you get in to san juan...is that considered a 'port' day and did you then get it for $99?...trying to save money so i'm also wondering if we could grab food at the buffet and eat it at the alcove?

[Nuclear Cruiser]

the San Juan day is popular as it is considered a port day at 99.00. You can bring food from wherever you want.

[daydreamer16]

Thanks for your review---we so loved the Reflection!:)

[lilghallinsf]

Loved the review made me excited for our 16 day transatlantic

[Waihekean]

Thanks foryour review.

It sounds that you really took advantage of everything that the Reflection has to offer.

[miched]

How many pounds did you lose by being on such a spartan diet?

 

Sounds like a nice way to enjoy the best of everything.

 

 

🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Nuclear Cruiser]

we found that we ate less without visiting the buffet. Every time we would go through the line I felt like I had to have some of everything. The other venues such as the porch and bistro on 5 give you this opportunity to order just what you want.