Bravo Celebrity! My .02 on our June 23, 2014, 11 Night Cruise Mediterranean

[dastardley]

We used the cable car on the way up. We stood in line for the best part of 45 minutes or so......the heat was killing us (we are from Scotland, not used to it as hot). A few smart people from the ship took umbrellas for shade on the advice of their stateroom attendant. I don't know if every stateroom has an umbrella, we had one in our room in the clothes closet...of course i noticed this only on our return from Santorini which by then was too late to be of any use.

 

For elderly people or those travelling with young kids visiting the island remember to grab some bottled water for that cable car line before boarding the tender. Standing in the heat with little or no shade for that length of time is no picnic, particularly if you are not used to those high temps.

 

Santorini was beautiful and well worth seeing the views from the top of the island were spectactular.

 

Das

[dastardley]

Hi Das. Most likely that was me. I was on the left up close with the wife and another couple watching the World Cup. I'm sure we saw each other several times at the Sunset Bar. It was a great cruise!

 

Yeah I thought it was you Tom, great cruise for sure....loved every second of it......already thinking of where to go next time, maybe it's time for the Caribbean!

 

Cheers!

Das

[Tommy3putts]

Me too. Trying to figure out a way to do a Caribbean cruise early next year. Problem is I already committed to a week at a time share in the DR. Darn this work thing is getting in the way of my vacation planning.

[MR_T]

Thanks for the great review... [emoji4]

 

It's very nice to read a review that's so positive about the celebrity experience and one that's very much the same view as ours...

 

Too often people with great experiences decide not to do a review and the ones with not such great experiences can't wait to tell the world about it.. [emoji15]

 

I've only done 6 celebrity cruises in the past but I have 5 futures booked on the back of my past experiences so for us celebrity are a great cruise line and we love it, we have 3 cruises booked on the reflection next year and can't wait...[emoji16]

[Tommy3putts]

Thanks Mr-T. Looking forward to meeting you on the Fall TA. The wife and I really enjoy Celebrity.

[MR_T]

Thanks Mr-T. Looking forward to meeting you on the Fall TA. The wife and I really enjoy Celebrity.

 

 

I'm sure we will bump into each other at some point.. [emoji483][emoji4]

[rjrpar]

1. Preface: this review is written from the perspective of a late 40s to early 50s DINK couple. We mean no disrespect to families and any criticisms of kids below is mostly meant in jest. This was my wife's first cruise and this my second. My goal was to show the wife how great cruising was. We were looking for a cruise that catered to adults and on the recommendation of friends and after many hours of research here on CC, we chose Celebrity Reflection. We booked stateroom 1605 Aqua Class on deck 11.

 

Many thanks to all CC users who provide tips and advice to make this cruise a success.

 

2. Bottom line summary: Celebrity won us over. Wow what a great cruise! I recommend this ship and this itinerary to all who are considering a similar Mediterranean cruise.

 

Please do not let all the recent CC negative posts regarding Celebrity cruises dissuade you from sailing on Celebrity. We had a wonderful experience. Was it a "perfect" cruise? No it was not. I have some nit picks below. Regardless of the nit picks we still had a wonderful cruise. I'd give it a rating of 4 1/2 beers out of 5. Thanks to the crew of the Celebrity Reflection!

 

Embark and Disembark---Civitavecchia seemed like an unusual port for cruise ship departures. But it actually turned out to be a fairly easy process, with the exception of our driver getting lost in trying to find the port entry. The Reflection departed out of terminal 25. It was a domed tent structure. We were dropped off right outside the main entrance by our driver. Bags were immediately picked up by porters and whisked away. We arrived around 11 o'clock and went through the special line for aqua class passengers. Although it seemed fairly crowded at that time, 15 minutes later we were walking on board the reflection. First stop was the mast grill for the legendary hamburgers. We were not disappointed.

 

On our last day we just walked of the ship at 835 for a scheduled 900am pick up. Finding bags was a breeze. Car and driver waiting for us.

 

3. The ship: The Reflection is a wonderful ship. Really liked the layout and organization. My favorite spot on the ship was the Sunset Bar on Deck 15 at the back. We spent most of our time there. We spent our evenings there after dinner enjoying the med breezes and meeting new friends. It was also a great place to escape the madness of the pool area during sea days.

 

I was surprised with the fact that there while there were well over 4,000 people on board (3,000 PAX and 1,000 crew) you could still find quiet areas to escape the madness. Never really seemed that crowded.

 

I did miss the fact that there was no real promenade deck. It's too bad that the lifeboats take up the majority of space there.

 

Also not sure what to think about the grass lawn on deck 15. Seems to me that a better use of the space would be for more dining and bar space. The lawn area on the port and starboard sides was used as a sunbathing area, but the midship lawn area wasn't used that much and frequently closed.

 

4. Our Cabin: 1605 deck 11 Aqua Class. Great room and recommend it. Large balcony on the hump near the elevators. Deck chairs with foot rests. No noise issues. Bed is next to the balcony door. For this specific itinerary I might consider the identical version of this cabin on the Starboard side. Seemed like it had better views on port days. However we were not disappointed at all with 1605.

 

5. Mix of Passengers: Overall there younger passenger on average than I expected. 40-65ish. Few scooters and O2 tanks but quite a few families. There were cracker crunchers and teens on board but with few exceptions not a huge factor for us...for the most part.

 

Actually it was some of the adults who were most bothersome for us. Witnessed several instances of passengers being rude and disrespectful to the crew. Also several cases of not being considerate to other passengers. There were several folks with a, "I'm a more important passenger" than you attitude. Didn't let it ruin our cruise but it was awkward seeing it. There were a few cases of parents letting their paste eaters run amuck around the ship. This was frustrating. Some kids seemed to think the stairs were a jungle jim. But these occurrences were only noticeable toward the end of the cruise.

 

It's worth noting that I am troubled by the "me" attitude of many passengers. On both the celebrity excursions we took (noted below) there were passengers who seemed to be habitually late for the buses thereby delaying the entire group. Never an apology to the driver, the tour guide, or the rest of the waiting passengers, but rather a mere expectation that "hey we paid for our excursion you can wait on us." How very rude and disappointing.

 

6. The Staff: overall the crew to a person were great and responsive to our needs. Special kudos to Ned and Warren the bartenders at the Sunset Bar. They were one of the reasons we never left our stools. Made our days and evenings fun.

 

Nothing remarkable about our cabin steward. This was perhaps a bit disappointing to us. We didn't see that much of him during our cruise. He did his job and our room was clean and well-kept. But it seemed like he never really went the extra mile to make sure that all my needs were addressed. Towards the end of the cruise, it seemed his attention to our room was noticeably less. Missed a day providing our water bottles and there was a missing towel or two.

 

7. Dining:

 

Blu. Great food and service. With one or two exceptions no problem getting a table where we wanted. Most we waited for a table was 5 minutes. Rib eye was disappointing though. Same comment as Tuscan below. Recommend the NY Strip.

 

The Buffet. Surprisingly great food. We ate there more than I expected. We enjoyed the variety of selections of food at all times of day. Especially the sushi at 5:00 pm for happy hour!

 

Tuscan Grill. Highly recommend this! Great meal! However I do not recommend ordering the Ribeye steak at this time. It was thin, tough and over-cooked. If it weren't for the fact that I was already stuffed from the first three courses, I would have sent it back. I recommend ordering the NY Strip instead. It's a better cut of meat. My wife's was great. I'd eat at Tuscan again!

 

Lawn Club. What a delightful surprise! One of our favorites. Pizza first course, great steaks and the hot chocolate chip cookie desert. Can't go wrong!

 

8. Entertainment:

 

With the exception of the first night's captain's greeting we didn't see a show. We spent our evenings mostly at the Sunset Bar watching the World cup. They set up a TV and had all the games on during the evenings.

 

Lounge entertainment was great. Very talented entertainment at all venues.

 

No issues for us with the music at the pool or any other venues. Good mix and wasn't loud.

 

Too busy at night at the Sunset Bar to go to the Casino. Shocking for us, but we were having too much fun to leave the bar.

 

9. Nitpicks:

 

There were a few disappointments. The biggest for us was Cellar Masters. We tried it two times and never were able to get a glass of wine. The service was almost none existent for a place that had no one in it. The first time we visited, there was one other table and the server was chatting with the passengers. Ten minutes later she was still chatting with the passengers and hadn't even acknowledged our presence. It was only as we got up to leave that she came towards us, but by then we had decided to leave for the ensemble lounge instead. The second try had pretty much the same results.

 

Michaels Club was another head scratcher. Reserved for elites but always vacant. What a waste of space!

 

Lawn areas and Rib eye steaks as discussed above.

 

 

10. Other CC "Hot" topics:

 

Deck chair hogs--didn't really notice too much too many issues. Although there were was quite a bit of saved chairs, there seemed to be many available. Of course we were mostly camped out in the back at the Sunset Bar during days on the ship.

 

Smoking--for us there never was an issue with the smoking areas. I am not a cigarette smoker, but enjoy a cigar during the evening after dinner. The designated smoking area at the sunset bar was perfect. Never seem to be an issue or any disagreements with smokers and non-smokers.

 

Dress code--since we did not dine in the main dining room, we can't speak to the dress code enforcement in that area. However, we did notice that on the formal nights there seem to be very few passengers dressed in formal attire. Suits and ties and sportcoats and slacks seemed to be the dominant attire on formal nights. As for us I took long a sports coat to wear on formal nights in Blu or one of the specialty restaurants. This seemed to be the most popular form of dress.

 

I never really paid attention as to whether or not the dress code was being enforced. I did notice on the last night that a gentleman with a nice pair shorts and a collared shirt was allowed to dine in Blu. Didn't bother me a bit, but I'm sure he must've felt awkward because he was clearly underdressed as compared to everyone else.

 

Loud Music--not an issue for us. Quite the opposite. We enjoyed the variety of music that was played in all of the venues whether it be live or recorded.

 

Celebrity cost-cutting measures--since this was our first cruise we have no baseline comparison for this issue. However, we noticed nothing of the sort. The service was great and the ship was always clean. The crew was out constantly cleaning and maintaining the ship. Most importantly they were also constantly dispensing hand sanitizer.

 

11. The Itinerary: we really enjoyed the itinerary on this cruise. We were fortunate in that we had extremely calm seas for the whole trip. No seasickness issues for us.

 

I was a bit worried in reading previous reviews that it might be "to Port intensive". However we found the opposite to be the case. In reality the way the itinerary is set up, we had almost 4 days at sea (three days at sea, and an early afternoon departure from Istanbul followed by an 11am arrival in Kusadasi). It seemed like just the perfect amount of time on board the reflection.

 

We really enjoyed all of the stops that we visited. Santorini, Istanbul for two days, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Athens and Naples. All great.

 

At the risk of running afoul of the cc posting rules I will make recommendations on our specific private port tours on the relevant cc port sites. We used two cruise ship sponsored excursions. The rest we arranged for private transportation. All the arrangements worked out very well. For Santorini we used the ships 3 1/2 hour wine tour excursion to get priority tendering from the boat. Worked well for us although the wine tour itself was just average. We also used the ships 3 1/2 hour Ephesus tour and would recommend this as well.

 

12. In summary We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise! My wife is sold on the cruise experience. We highly recommend choosing a cruise on Celebrity. We really enjoyed Reflection and can't wait to sail on her or one of the other Solictice class ships in the near future.

 

Glad to answer questions. Hope to provide some pictures at some point. But I can't top the pictures provided in previous reviews.

 

"Ciao for now."

 

 

Good review. Interesting that you rate the specialty steakhouse as great and then describe the steak as substandard.

[Tommy3putts]

The Ribeye was the only disappointing thing about our meal. I had been warned about it prior to our cruise. Everything else was great. I will dine there again on our Oct cruise. I just won't get the ribeye.

[MR_T]

The Ribeye was the only disappointing thing about our meal. I had been warned about it prior to our cruise. Everything else was great. I will dine there again on our Oct cruise. I just won't get the ribeye.

 

 

That's interesting... I've heard similar reports regarding the ribeye steak... This should be one of the best steaks on offer for flavour!

 

We really do enjoy the Tuscan grill and have enjoyed everything we've had, saying that I don't seem to be able to have anything other then the fillet steak... [emoji39]

 

I'm sure I'll be trying the fillet again in March & October... As they say if it's not broke don't try to fix it! [emoji16]

[Tommy3putts]

That's interesting... I've heard similar reports regarding the ribeye steak... This should be one of the best steaks on offer for flavour!

 

We really do enjoy the Tuscan grill and have enjoyed everything we've had, saying that I don't seem to be able to have anything other then the fillet steak... [emoji39]

 

I'm sure I'll be trying the fillet again in March & October... As they say if it's not broke don't try to fix it! [emoji16]

 

 

Ribeye is one of my favorite cuts. The ones served on Reflection on our 2014 cruise, regardless of restaurant, were embarrassingly bad (I tried one in Blu and it was just as bad). The NY strip was great. May have to try the filet! [emoji16]

 

There are threads on this forum about the ribeye fiasco.