Reflection Review - March 7-14

[Tokyo Mom]

My husband and I (both 49) just returned from our first cruise on Celebrity. We have previously cruised on Carnival, RCI, HAL and Oceania. Overall, we had a really nice time but as a personal preference we just really like the smaller ships more.

 

Ship itself: The Reflection is a beautiful ship. It is tastefully decorated and extremely clean and well maintained. There are so many areas to sit and relax (though most attached to a bar). We were in cabin 8240 - it is located midship in the sort of bump out area - just on the other side of the elevators - all in all a great location. I thought the bathroom was a nice size and there were plenty of hangers in the closet. Large suitcases also fit under the bed, which was nice. There are tons of pool side lounge chairs though getting two together at 10:00 is hard to do. We were always in our chairs by 9:30 so we never had a problem. There are shaded areas on deck 15 (just above the pools), which I thought was really nice - especially for a husband that likes the shade. There is also an adult only pool area that's very nice with well cushioned teak lounge chairs. The only problem was that it seemed to get stuffy in there after lunch.

 

Dining: I had pre-purchased the speciality dining package for $125 a person. This got us reservations for 4 different restaurants. The first night we ate at QSine and thought it was good. You order off an iPad and can choose as many different items as you'd like (tapas size). We chose 5 different things (all from different areas of the world). Our favorites were the Mediterranean selection and the fish and chips. Murano was by far our favorite. It's a beautiful restaurant and the food was delicious. We go out to eat a lot and this was a meal that I would expect to pay upwards of $100 a person. My main dish was lobster cooked table side with a wonderful sauce. Next was The Lawn Club Grille. This restaurant is more casual and was pretty good. They start with flatbread - though it's really a thin crust pizza. There's a salad bar that's okay and my main dish was filet that was very good (along with grilled veggies and a baked potato). Our final restaurant was The Tuscan Grille and this too was very good. The service was probably the best here - a very slow pace that was nice - no rush at all. I loved the chocolate fondue for dessert. We actually never ate in the main dining room for dinner. We ate there once for breakfast and I thought the tables were extremely close together and it was very loud. When I was seated I was pushed very close - too close - into the table to make room behind my chair (and I'm not a big person). We had eggs benedict that were good but I didn't like the atmosphere of the room itself - though it was very pretty. We also ate at the buffet twice for dinner. We always love the Indian food on a ship and this was no exception. The salad bars were very good and always the most crowded areas. For lunch we had burgers from the grille by the pool that were pretty good - with very good fries. We also ate at the buffet for lunch and there were always good choices - and we both loved the pizza - cooked just right. I also enjoyed the soft serve ice cream - though only had it twice.

 

Entertainment: We went to see the Comedian on the first night and he was very funny! Another night there was some singer called "The Entertainer." He had won some TV show and had been booked at the Hilton in Las Vegas for a year. He had a very good voice but neither of us liked him. He seemed to always be looking for the audience to tell him how great he was. We left after 30 minutes. The only other show we saw was a Cirque du Soleil type show along with rock music. The performers were very talented and it was pretty good. There were also performers all over the ship in all different areas, especially in the evening. Everyone did a good job. Overall we are not much into nightlife and were asleep every night by 11:00 or earlier so I might not be the best person to comment on entertainment. :) We don't go on a ship looking to be entertained.

 

Ports of call: Our first port of call was Puerto Rico. We ended up getting there two hours later than expected. As a result all excursions were cancelled. We arrived at 5:30 and within an hour it was dark. So, there was not much to see or do. Thankfully, I had a list of recommended restaurants from these boards and we found we were very close to one so we went there for dinner. It was called Marmalade and was outstanding. We got there at 6:00 and nearly everyone who walked in after us were turned away without a reservation. I would highly recommend it if going to San Juan.

 

Our next stop was St. Thomas and third was St. Maarten. I had reserved a ship's excursion for both stops - something I typically never do. I usually book all independent tours but figured I'd just be lazy and do the ship's tours for this cruise. We took the 5 Star Island tour on St. Thomas. We were put on these open air taxis that had about 5 or 6 benches where they squeezed 5 adults on each bench. Four adults would have been much more comfortable. Our first stop was very brief - just a picture spot to get a photo of our ship as we headed up the mountain. Then we went to the top of the mountain for a good view looking down on Magen's Bay. It was a nice view - attached to an enormous gift shop. Then it was down to Magen's Bay for a two hour stop. We rented lounge chairs and pulled them under the shade of a tree to sit and relax and read. The water was beautiful and crystal clear but the beach was very crowded. There were a lot of kids (with a Disney ship in port) - not that this was a bad thing - just an observation. The lady in the gift shop where we rented the chairs was one of the most unpleasant people I've ever encountered. I don't think she knew how to smile. After that we were brought into town for two hours of shopping. There were more watch and jewelry stores than I would ever want to go in. My husband had been doing research (also on these boards) because he loves and collects watches. He did end up buying a Breitling watch for his 50th birthday so he was thrilled with that. If you aren't looking for a watch or jewelry than there's not much to shop for here or on St. Maarten.

 

We had some odd weather while on St. Maarten. It was cloudy when we arrived but the sun did come out after a couple hours. Unfortunately it would rain for about 10 minutes about once an hour or two. It would be sunny then all of a sudden the clouds would roll in and it would pour for a short amount of time then the sun would come out again. We asked someone on the island if this was normal and she said no, that it almost never rained on the island. As a result of the bad weather our excursion was cancelled - though we didn't know this until we met off the ship at 11:00. Apparently the earlier tour that was at the beach that we would be spending some time at were complaining about the bad weather and eroded beach so they ended up canceling. I had been hoping to see the French side but at this time, we decided not to try to get ourself to the French side and just took the water taxi ($7 for all day travel) to where the beach and shops were. There is a very long beach with beautiful water and you could rent two chairs and an umbrella for $15. But, because we had gotten off the ship assuming we were going on the excursion and planned on reading in the shade at the beach again, we did not come in bathing suits. When it wasn't raining, it was very hot with hardly any breeze and we both thought we would be too hot sitting on the beach in our shorts. So, we just walked around - with nothing but watch and jewelry stores and ended up having lunch at a restaurant that looked onto the beach. It was just okay.

 

Sea Days: We had three and a half sea days, which was really nice. We booked this vacation to just relax, read and not do much of anything so the sea days were perfect for that - and napping. We weren't looking to be entertained so I can't really say what was going on during the day in different areas of the ship. I'm guessing if you wanted to do something, there was something to do.

 

Overall: Getting on and off the ship was very easy and efficient, especially for a larger ship. We were able to get into our rooms right at 1:30 and our luggage was waiting for us when we got to our room. We stayed at the Hilton the night before and it's located very close to the pier. We could see our ship when we woke up on Saturday morning. There is also a Mariott next to the Hilton. I thought the beverage package was really pushed the first few days on the ship. Everyone asked if wanted to buy the package. Finally after a day we asked how much it was and what it included. It was $50 (well - $49.99 or $49.95) a person a day. It included soft drinks (maybe water - can't remember) and most drinks. For us this was in no way a savings. When on the ship for lunch I would have a coke at lunch and at most 1 some days maybe 2 drinks a day - so that would not amount to more than $25 - $30 a day at the very most. If you drink 5 drinks a day, then it's worth it. For us, it didn't make sense. We met quite a few very nice people - usually siting next to us while we ate and had many good conversations. I'm guessing the average age to be around 60 - obviously people younger than that (and us) and many older than that. There were very few kids on the ship - despite it being spring break. Also, I almost always get a facial while on a cruise but this ship didn't really seem to promote their spa. I actually never even knew where it was. But, we did meet two sisters (59 and 61) who loved their spa treatments. Also, for some reason I was always a little lost on this ship. I don't really think this has anything to do with the ship - and more to do with me. :) As I said we had a very relaxing week but I think our next cruise will be on Oceania once again.

 

Happy sailing! Michelle

[Texed]

We were on the same cruise. We enjoyed it also. Thanks for posting. :)

[catweazlecat]

Thanks for letting us know about your tour!

We are on the same cruise, starting next Saturday and we are really looking forward to it :)

 

How is Oceania? Never heard about it.

[upwarduk]

OP,

Do you have any photographs?

[kenevenpar]

OP,

Do you have any photographs?

 

Here are a few from an earlier cruise:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2139829

 

Ken

[upwarduk]

Here are a few from an earlier cruise:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2139829

 

Ken

 

Thanks.

[Tokyo Mom]

We love Oceania. We sailed with them for our 25th anniversary 3 summers ago. It was a 10 day Mediterranean cruise that started in Istanbul and ended in Rome. They are all smaller ships (ours, the Regatta, had 600 passengers). There are no formal nights, which we like and the atmosphere is very low key - no pool games, for instance. But, they are priced quite a bit higher, as you might expect. The year following this cruise we took our four kids (well not really kids - they are now 19, 21, 23 and 25) on basically the same route though with RCI and paid almost the same for 6 people on RCI that we did for 2 on Oceania.

 

I do have pictures but always seem to have trouble posting them on here. Any easy advice on how to do so? If so, I'd be happy to try.

 

Thanks! Michelle

[NJCruisers]

We were on the same cruise. Overall had a good not great time. Last year on the Silhouette we had a great time. So what was the difference? One, was me, I was hobbled by a hip scheduled to be replaced next week so I was not as mobile. The other issues were:

Most dancing venues were done either in the hallway at the Martini bar or the grand foyer. This created massive amounts of people in small areas. Couldn't get near the foyer to watch "Dancing with the Crew" and some other events. Meantime the huge Sky lounge remained empty except for a couple of very late night events or closed off for conventioneers.

While having lounges at the pools is great, there is no regular seating with tables at any of the pools. It would be nice to have some of that. Speaking of seats we were a party of 8 and each agreed that there was not one comfortable seat on the ship. MDR seats had you slouching in an awkward way. The veranda deck chairs required a pillow to attempt to sit up. I guess they weren't built for our body types...LOL.

Most meals were okay, some were great. Overall the MDR meals were a C-. Last year on the Silhouette they were an A+. Just an FYI on the last sail date the MDR buffet has been replaced with one in the Oceanview Café (buffet dining room). I went in there by accident and noticed the chocolate fountain and a whole station of deserts (instead of the salad bar...LOL), ice sculptures etc. Nothing was indicated in the Daily.

Entertainment was very good, both comics were very funny, the Cirque Rock show was pretty good (thou getting tired of the Cirque shows), the pianist Claire Finkelstein (sp?) was fantastic. We missed the Broadway song show, and thought the dance show just average.

It seems there is less and less to get with the basic drink package, at least I thought so. Next up for our group may be an all-inclusive or a spin on Princess.