Kind of review kind of not - reflection - 7 night western caribbean - nov 7, 2015

[TroubleT]

I have very mixed feelings about my own review now. Based on the post-cruise posts on our RollCall and on this Thread lots of people found the same issues with food and service on Reflection. But the sad part is that it means the problems do exist and these problems are ignored by Celebrity. Hopefully, we'll find out what is going on with MIA priority tender tickets.

[jimdalva]

Since lots of items quietly disappeared from "perks list" or "free items list" I assume that this "rubbing" thing will cost us. Here is the paragraph from Celebrity website:

"Another popular formal night tradition that will be expanded with evening chic nights is officer-hosted dining tables. But where previously only a Captain's Table was available, there will now be tables hosted by several officers ranking three stripes and above, such as the hotel director or guest relations manager, and tables will be at multiple dining venues on the ship."

 

Do you think this "three stripes and above" service will be complimentary? Celebrity charges for everything now: Bridge tour - pay! Galley tour - pay! Chef's Table - pay! The next one is "rubbing the elbows with the officers". :)

 

We have No desire to rub elbows with the officers!:cool:

[cgags47]

We have No desire to rub elbows with the officers!:cool:

 

I think I'm inclined to agree with you.

[Nanatravel]

We just came back from 7-night Caribbean cruise on Reflection (November 7th Caribbean sailing after TA crossing). It won't be a very detailed review, but a few comments in bullet points on what I noticed, liked or disliked. We didn't care that much about shows, specialty restaurants/dining, entertainment, gambling, spa. So I won't comment on that, however if you have any questions I will try to answer them. But I will review the most basic stuff like: food in MDR, food in Ocean View Cafe, service in general.

 

So here we go - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

 

The Good:

 

1. As always, the ship is clean and absolutely beautiful. It is very well maintained and constantly being cleaned: all public areas, stateroom(s), outside window washing.

2. For the first time in many cruises I felt like we hit the jackpot. We had the best team combination. Sometimes our stateroom attendant and his helper are great, but waiter is not that good. Or our waiter is excellent, but Sommelier has an attitude. This time the combination was the best! We applaud to our great team of stateroom attendant Xeviour and his helper Rishin, waiter Mihai and his beautiful wife and assistant Corina, our very knowledgeable Sommelier Dadan, and also bar attendant Jimmy (we know him from our previous cruises). I will definitely send an email to Miami office about these wonderful people who helped make our vacation even better.

3. Cruise Critic Connections party - nice outside location was provided (Lawn Club Grill). Lots of officers including the Captain showed up and were available for questions. It is great that they recognize and respect cruising community.

 

The Bad:

 

1. Priority Tender tickets: To my big surprise (something tells me that it will not be the last time I will be surprised by Celebrity), priority Tender tickets for Elite/Elite+ were eliminated. So we had to be in line like everybody else. :-)))))) However, the tender process was really well organized in the Cayman Islands - so no complaints here. But the same tender process had some hiccups in Cocobay. We were on the second tender so didn't have to stay in line and were transferred to the beach in a matter of minutes. But when we returned to the ship right after 10 AM there was an extremely long line curving like a snake all over deck 3.

 

2. Beverage package: Another surprise from Celebrity - smoothies and sundaes have disappeared from the Classic Beverage package. You could get them only with Premium Bev Package. Last November we had Classic Bev package and smoothies and sundaes from Aqua Spa Cafe were included. This time we found Classic Bev Package absolutely useless - not a great choice of wines. Premium water wasn't included. So needless to say - we had to upgrade it to the Premium BP.

 

3. Food. We didn't dine at the specialty restaurants, so my comments are only for MDR and OceanView Cafe. Food wasn't totally bad, but it was very mediocre. We skipped the dinner a couple of times and replaced it with a buffet dinner at Ocean View cafe because there was nothing on the menu that looked worth while. And when on third night I had the same dilemma, I was offered to order gnocchi. Sorry, I didn't pay top $$$ for gnocchi. I never have them at home. We are not steak lovers/eaters, but we heard a lot of complaints from the guests. E.g. "Steak Diane" was not what Celebrity tried "to sell" under this name. Crepes for desert were served cold.

 

4. Maitre D' in our MDR area totally alienated herself from the group. She showed up once to curve the lobster out of the shell. She never stopped by our table to introduce herself or to check on the food or service. Oh, she actually stopped by on the last night to remind us about the survey we need to fill out.

 

The Ugly:

 

And the Oscar goes to: Embarkation process!

There were a lot of complaints about a messy disembarkation/embarkation process last November after TA crossing. There were a lot of comments on our RollCall about it. We thought that Celebrity had learned its lesson. Nope! Celebrity dropped the ball! Again. It was the worst embarkation process in my cruising experience. We spent one hour inside the cruise terminal. And we considered ourselves very lucky. Those who arrived shortly after 12:15 PM had to be under the sun for two hours and then one more hour inside the terminal. BTW, no water was provided to those individuals who arrived at the port after 12 PM and had to stand in the Florida heat for hours. And BTW, the embarkation was bluntly ignored by the senior offices at Connections party. When one of the guests mentioned it the only comment was: "Oh, we heard about it." No apologies - nothing. Dear Celebrity, do you know that "embarkation" is the cover of your "book" and the first impression is very important?

 

And the Bonus:

 

There is a huge Thread on this topic already. But... Could someone please educate me on this new thing Celebrity introduced - Evening Chic? OK, No Formal nights - I got this part, but what the heck does "rubbing the elbows with the officers" mean? Do I have to pay airline fees for the luggage so I could bring my formal wear and then to pay extra $$$ if I want to wear it to impress 2-3 officers on the ship who:

 

a) do not care to talk to me on any other occasion

b) are not always interesting conversationalists

c) speak poor English

 

Don't get me wrong, I think highly of all of them and respect them for what they do, but I already paid for my cruise and do not see the logic in paying extra for a possibly artificial and meaningless conversation with a stranger.

 

Like I said at the beginning - it's not a review. It's just my experience and my notes.

 

Now you may crucify me.

 

I do hope you will copy and paste this "not a review" in the actual Review section, so those months from now even who plan similar first cruise after a TA in Florida will know what to expect.

 

We too were with you. I never received an invitation (we are elite) to the Connections party and I did have a confirmation. I heard it was very poorly attended and neither the roll call leader or the Slot Pull host attended or spoke up. I agree about most of your comments. Our SIL was in the 1 PM line and the standing for almost 3 hours cost him his first day with severe back pain, as he recently had surgery. Every thing was doing fine before he arrived at the port. Tender service to Coca Cay was very slow. I even heard a staff member call for assistance and that was for the 2nd. tender which arrived in a timely manner after the 1st one.

 

We had Select dining for a group of 28 people. I pre-made many night's reservations for groups at their specified times. Many reservations were really messed up; on the first night our friends were told there was NO room at our table when we were waiting for them. Second night one of our couples was never joined by the 3 other couples; assistant female maître de on the Right side was worthless and really made a mess of each seating.

 

Found I could get Cosmo's at the Ensemble Bar and Passport Bar with no problem with a Classic package. Loved Café al Bacio for my Irish Coffee with Jameson's. Although wine brand choices were limited I enjoyed the Pinot Grigio, Chardenay, and Processco. However having to pay $14 for a Limoncello Martini at the Martini bar (my choice) was excessive. We found Bottled water to be excellent. Unless you needed the bubbly stuff, what was your problem. If you looked at a brand list found on CC, you would know that Perrier or San Pelligrino was not offered as a rule for Classic. I agree that beer drinkers would be disappointed; so our group drank liquor instead with an occasional Corona. We learned to ask for a brand name liquor for our mixed cocktails like Pina Colada, Maker's Mark Manhattan, Malibu Bay Breeze; Miami Vice etc. I have bought Premium and it really is not necessary for us. Great that this amenity was free also. Now with Big Better Best, you are paying for it!

 

Photo Back drop service: Haven't see this mentioned; On Formal night all photo opportunities were shut down between 7 PM and 7:30 as they had to go into the dining room to take photos. Our dining reservation was for 7:30 and the show was at 9 PM. Very poor timing taking all photographers from the stations.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Nanatravel