August 4th – Eastern Mediterranean Cruise – Celebrity Reflection

[hirobmay]

Hi All,

Firstly, I want to thank the consumers of North America, who in my belief, over the past 60 or so years have driven the high standards of service that cruise companies provide today. These high standards benefit all passengers, where ever they are from, and for me certainly, I really appreciate these high quality products and value for money they represent.

My Cruise Conclusion:

In the first couple days of the cruise I felt that maybe the ‘Celebrity’ cruise experience was not for me.

It felt a little bit ‘elitist’ and in some way the purpose of me being on the ship was to pad out the lower decks so that more exclusive passengers could enjoy all the exclusive facilities that I wasn’t allowed to go to.

Comparing this with my only 2 other cruises (NCL in 2012, Princess in 2013) I didn’t feel like I was getting any better service from Celebrity, though somehow I thought my cruise’s with those companies were more suited to me??

About day 3 days in however I had a change of heart. It’s true that in my life I don’t often (if ever) eat out in fancy restaurants, put on a tux, or drink Martinis and only cruising has given me those opportunities. Only cruising can transport me to this glamorous world not available to me on land.

There was no elitism on Celebrity. I had got it wrong.

Wherever we did go we were treated and spoken to by crew members with great attentiveness and care.

Other than Blu or Michael’s, I don’t think there were any places I couldn’t go? In Fact, I had got it so wrong I started thinking of it all from another angle. I had paid £88 per person, per night, for a GTY veranda Stateroom. That is really good value for money. Maybe I am rubbing shoulders with people who’ve paid thousands for a fancy suite, but we’re all equal when fighting for a sunbed or queuing for a burger… or a Martini J.

Our Celebrity experience on board the Reflection was absolutely wonderful.

The detail

Arrival in FCO, Rome:

We arrived in Rome a day early in order to have time to explore the city, as there would not be time at the end of the cruise.

From FCO airport we followed signs for the Terravision Shuttle coach to Rome Termini station. We managed to grab the last two seats on a coach that was all set to depart, so although it was a mad dash, it worked out well. €5 each was good value. It took about 50 minutes I recall, and that was at about 10.30 on a Sunday morning. The weather was just brightening up after morning showers.

From Termini station we navigated our way to the UNA Hotel. I purposely chose this hotel as it was close to the station. I done my plan via google maps before which was a bit tricky as the map data base was old and the hotel didn’t exist, so I could only guess its proximity. As it happens, my instinct proved correct and across the road from Termini, a street or two down, we saw the UNA hotel.

We had a room and Breakfast for €140, which I pre booked direct with the hotel months ago. The Hotel was clean and modern with a lovely bathroom and huge bed. We chose it primarily though for its location close to Termini, as this would give us a short walk in the morning to catch the train to Civiticchia.

Rome

The sun was out, and it was heating up fast. Our last time in Rome was about 10 years ago.

After checking in, dumping our stuff, a quick change, we were ready to tackle Rome on foot. With a tourist map from the Hotel, we trekked our way to the Coliseum first, stopping for a Pizza for lunch on the way.

From there we walked….and walked. It was wonderful! saw everything we wanted to, including The Vatican, My favorite the Patheon, The Trevi Fountain (under maintenance) and lots more.

I love Rome.

(My Rome trip and subsequent transportation to the port was not part of my Celebrity cruise package).

Termini

BEWARE Termini station!! There are grubby locals there (both male and female) who take advantage of the station’s poor organization, and they approach tourists to ‘help’ them buy tickets, or validate their tickets, and put luggage on the train, then will demand money. Not 1 or 2 euro but 5 euro! The same price as the train ticket!!

We approached a lack luster official at the ‘official’ information point, who directed us to buy ticked at the paper shop. Why train tickets are sold at a paper shop I’ll never know, but we got them, and asked for directions to the platform.

As a European, and my 3rd time in Rome, maybe I should know better, but if you are travelling from outside Europe, and spending thousands of dollars on a cruise, and you are starting from Rome, then I’d consider private ground transportation to minimize any stress.

For my final point about Termini station, and probably most controversial; the bad organization of this station gives opportunities to the crooks to provide their ‘services’ which in my opinion is scandalous. If the information was clearly available, and official staff were visible, these crooks would not be able to operate.

I had a plan to go to station the day before and find out where the train would be, maybe pre purchase the ticket, find the validation machines without humping luggage around, but I didn’t.

Here’s a fact – NOBODY checks the tickets. I wish I’d not bought a ticket and focused my energy on finding the platform and train, and just got on without paying, thus not rewarding a system that effectively condones ripping off tourists by local thugs, but I’m not brave enough to do that.

The train was packed with lots of people standing (not us thankfully). Travel time about 1hr10mins.

Civitavecchia

Once again, my google maps research revealed a short walk to the port entrance. There was another ship docked and lots of people with luggage walking, so it was a case of following the crowd, then through the port gates to the queue for the shuttle bus to the ship. All of this was fairly smooth.

Embarkation

Time was about 11.45am when we reached the first ‘X’ marked gazebo. At this point you now feel like you finally arrived and have enter the cruise ship ‘bubble’ that will take care of you from then on.

It’s a nice feeling that your main holiday has finally begunJ.

Stateroom – Deck 7, mid ship, 7242

We’ve all been to hotels where they get the basics so wrong! droopy shower heads, poor water pressure, endless TV channels of snow storms. Well, forget all those woes. The stateroom was great!

Wonderful in fact!! big comfy bed, lovely sheets too! All the fittings are great quality and work like they should do.

The interactive TV is really good for booking excursions, etc, and pivots nicely round to the side of the bed (I was a bid worried about that).

The room was immaculately kept by Ozy and Alex. Great balcony too. Didn’t sit in it that much but it was perfect for drying the washed clothes!

There’s storage above the bed too. Didn’t discover this until half way through the cruise.

10/10 for the room.

The Ship in general:

As a pasty white Brit, I love to lay out in the hot sun when I can, but on Reflection, you have to be quick to get a sun bed. The ‘Hoggers’ are out early claiming their territory by putting a towel on the loungers. I often though if I put a towel on a sun lounger, then slopped off to breakfast, back to the room, etc, then came back that same lounger an hour later to find someone laying on it, would I challenge them? What would I say? ‘Excuse me, that’s mine?’ I’d never do that. As anyone ever been challenged by a hogger? Must be a bit cringey, but I hope you told them where to go.

It’s very busy on the sun decks, especially on sea days. It felt shoulder to shoulder sometimes which is not pleasant. Loungers are packed tightly together like sardines in a tin.

I think the deck space is not efficiently used. The lawn for example is a nice idea, but nobody likes to walk on the immaculate grass as it doesn’t feel right, so it’s a bit of a waste of space.

Also but more controversially the solarium is big, and doesn’t do much for your sun tan, but I do think that many people enjoy it and can imagine its very popular when cruising in milder climates or cruisers not wanting too much sun.

The ship is magnificent. The ‘on demand’ TV documentaries of it being made and launched was interesting.

Dining:

Loved the Opus MDR.

Loved Qsine.

Loved the buffet too J. Those giant prawns at the grand buffet!! wow!

The Mast grill > Gorgeous Burgers and hot dogs.

We didn’t try any other dining venues.

Drinks:

We had the H2o package on my sea pass.

We like sparkling water and I knew we’d have a bottle with dinner, and a bottle to take back to the room of an evening and whilst in the sun thought that I’d like to rehydrate with the same, so for this package I paid £94.

Now a 1 liter glass bottle of San Pellegrino was $5.18 inc. gratuity, we had 26 bottles of these throughout the cruise, along with 4 x 1 liter bottles of still Evian, and 2 x small bottles of Perrier.

26 x $5.18 = $134.86 / 1.6873 (exchange rate) = £79.81

Assume the Evian was $3.00 each and the Perrier was also $3.00, that’s another $18 / 1.6873 = £10.67

So in total, I estimate we drank £90.48 worth of premium water, and thus are down by £3.50.

I can only imagine that premium alcoholic package users were flat on their backs for the entire cruise in order to break even!

Children:

I think all the kids on the Cruise behaved themselves very well. Well done kids! (Better than adults in some cases)

Entertainment:

Saw 2 shows. Vocal group Anchorah, and the rock / acrobatic show. Both enjoyable.

Cruise director Alexander and Activity manger Jamie were are good team.

Ports:

I’m not going to go into detail other than:

Santorini: Lovely, done Oia, and the wine tasting.

Istanbul: Crazy, we walked around without one Turkish lira between us.

Kusadasi: Nice

Mykonos: Done the Elia beach transfer.

Athens: Done it last year. Had the ship to ourselves.

Naples: Done leisurely Sorrento. Gorgeous.

Petty moans and groans:

The cold water from the sink in bathroom was luke warm.

The TV was not HD (very petty)

Discounted specialty dining when booked on board. Don’t pre book like I did. L

No bottle opener in the room / mini bar. (thanks Ozy for loaning us yours)

No shower gel

Other passengers: Some passengers are annoying. I hate witnessing them being rude to crew members. Thankfully didn’t see much of this, but a few bad manners were exhibited.

Also, when required to queue (particularly for food) some would try and push in front, and it was always the women that done this! Sorry ladies but that was my experience.

Embarrassing moment:

OK, so on about day 3 there was a feedback card in the room so I decided to fill it in.

I had forgotten my shaving cream, and although it was sold on the ship, I didn’t want to buy a big can of the stuff, of a brand I didn’t know, so I used a combination of the soap bar and my missus’s shower gel she had brought.

Now in my planning I had seen on the forum that Gilchrist and Soames toiletries were provided in all rooms.

Great, I thought as I had once used G&S stuff in a posh hotel I stayed in years ago. It’s definitely the kind of stuff you take home with you! I remember the transparent bottles with branding and the Royal warrant of appointment on it. I remember the swirling aqua greeny blue colour with glittery bits and gritty minerals.

With this in mind I said to the missus that I’ll use the G&S products on board, saving us weight and space in the cases.

Well, I was disappointed when all I saw was the white tubs in the bathroom, written in industrial font ‘SHAMPOO’ ‘CONDITIONER’ ‘BODYLOTION’. Great I thought, no shower gel and not even G&S!!

So, on the feedback form I wrote how I purposely did not pack toiletries as I was hoping to use the G&S products, but to my horror, there was only this cheapo stuff and no shower gel to boot!

24 hrs after handing in the feedback card there was a bottle of red wine in the cabin and a note saying sorry for any inconvenience. Nice touch I thought, I wasn’t that upset about the issue, and it was a lovely bottle of wine to.

About 3 days before disembarking however I noticed on the back of the toiletries was the Gilchrist and Somes brand! Opps! I’d made a faux pas in my accusation, and the kind crew at Celebrity decided not to embarrass me, but instead to make me feel good by giving me the wine.

If any Celebrity crew are reading this I’d like to say I’m soooo sorry, and thank you so much for the wine I did not deserve. I only hope that in their soliloquy, they said ‘That idiot in 7272 thinks he’s not getting G&S toiletries. Shut him up with a bottle of red’.

I consider myself well and truly ‘shut up’ ( but I think Gilchrist and Soames may now have a budget product range though ;))

Now I’m beginning to bore myself, so if there’s anyone else reading, thanks & enjoy any pending cruises you have. :)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Beau Dommage]

Thanks. I appreciate your comments.

 

 

Envoyé de mon iPad à l'aide de Forums

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[hypercafe]

Thanks for the review, sounds like you had fun!!!

[k9x8]

Careful, hirobmay. We have been checked twice, both times as we left the train.

And, yes, engaging a private car is the way to go. It's safe, convenient, and gives us a real millionaire-ish feeling ... albeit temporary.

 

Your comments gave me a good chuckle. Where we live, public transportation, including taxis, is scarce, and it took several misadventures before we caught on to the, er, interesting minutiae of travel in Italy.

 

Enjoyed your report, especially your dry wit. The eastern Med is our favorite.

Thank you, from a pasty white American, who is eagerly anticipating her inaugural visit to the UK next month.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for the review.

[hirobmay]

Thank you, from a pasty white American, who is eagerly anticipating her inaugural visit to the UK next month.

 

My pleasure. I hope your visit to the UK is a pleasurable one. You should be OK with public transport here. Its far from perfect and inter city rail travel is expenses, but I'm sure you wont get ripped off ;).

[cruisestitch]

Thanks for your interesting perspective, especially in regard to on board service as a by product of American tastes and expectations.

[Sloop-JohnB]

Great Trip Report !!

 

Happy to hear you are now a member of "the converted"

 

Celebrity sold us with their classy intuitive service on our first cruise... Now we are reluctant to look elsewhere.

 

We term it pampering... And it is tough to beat.

 

Cheers!

[drarill]

Excellent review!! Thanks for sharing your cruise with us!!:)

[Waihekean]

Careful, hirobmay. We have been checked twice, both times as we left the train.

And, yes, engaging a private car is the way to go. It's safe, convenient, and gives us a real millionaire-ish feeling ... albeit temporary.

 

Definitely the best way. Have done this a few times now. Organised some fellow travellers to go with me from the roll call and hired RomeCabs. Found this fabulous company here on CC and they are very used to get cruise clients here through CC or Trip Advisor. It is super convenient and works out to about 25-30 euro per person.

[sunluva7]

Nice review - thanks for sharing. We were on the same cruise, and you reminded me of what I forgot to write about in my own review - about the lukewarm water in the bathroom sink. Ironically, hot water poured from the faucet on the very last morning.

 

I chuckled at your story about the "wine you didn't deserve" for complaining about the bath products you didn't realize you had all along.:D I loved those toiletries and kicked myself for not packing the remaining bottles to take home.

 

So glad to hear you had a great cruise.:)

[hirobmay]

 

I chuckled at your story about the "wine you didn't deserve" for complaining about the bath products you didn't realize you had all along.:D I loved those toiletries and kicked myself for not packing the remaining bottles to take home.

 

So glad to hear you had a great cruise.:)

 

I was a little harsh about the bath products, partly because I was expecting just a little more based on my previous experience, and I was annoyed at myself for not packing shaving cream;).

 

here's a little pic to remind us:D

 

Glad you had a wonderful cruise too!

I'm already thinking about next year now.

[hirobmay]

should be attached now.

[sunluva7]

Thanks for the pics . I'll just have to find some friends willing to sail Celebrity and ask them to bring me back some bath products. Or book another cruise for myself.:D