3rd Time Lucky! - Miami, Celebrity Reflection 2nd April & Miami Trip Report

[kikki21]

 

We got up & decided to have breakfast across the road from our hotel at the Big Pink diner, it's great for breakfast or a quick meal, nothing special but the food is good.

 

 

Corned beef hash eggs benedict - really good!

 

A quick pack up & we were all set to get to the Port of Miami for 11.30am along with 1000's of other people who all had the same idea!

 

Our first glimpse of the Reflection!

 

 

In fact, it was only 40 minutes till we actually boarded & my husband was guzzling the sparkling wine!

 

 

We always run round the ship at first like excited 5 year olds seeing all the new places!

 

 

How many people have this photo?!

[kikki21]

 

We saw the Alcoves being used about twice on the cruise. IMHO, I think the novelty has worn off here.

 

I'll never get sick of this view!

 

 

We passed by the Solarium quite a few times but never actually spent any time in here!

 

 

 

Both of us thought the art work around the ship was really good with some outstanding pieces.

 

[kikki21]

Part of the Casino - yeah we spend time in here playing the cheap slots lol! And donating more money to the ship! The slots were tight as anything in here!

 

 

Deck 5 was probably our favourite deck for art & for quirky areas in the ship.

 

 

We never tried Qsine - we decided that we would use our OBC for a speciality restaurant but plumped for Sushi on 5 & Murano instead.

 

 

As we were Aquaclass, Blu was our MDR..... we made it in here for most dinners but hardly any breakfasts! We couldn't get in here to explore first off as there was a wedding on board!

 

[kikki21]

 

More art, "painting" outside Blu!

 

We decided lunch was in order & decided to splurge a little on Sushi on 5!

 

Martin had one of the Japanese beers which he thought was good & I had the spicy Mango Tini which had chilli on it, it was actually really good!

 

 

We had the shrimp & lobster wontons with sweet hoisin sauce to start, excellent choice.

 

 

I had the crab california rolls with lobster on top - it was filling & delicious!

 

 

Martin had the rainbow rolls & enjoyed them, again he said they were filling!

[kikki21]

Ship facts & figures!

 

 

 

We spent quite a bit of time in Game On - it was a bit frustrating as some of the tables didn't work from time to time & we didn't know how to rectify that!

 

We thought getting around the ship was very easy in particular with having the bank of panoramic lifts in the middle!

 

 

Our home for the week was room 1614, close to the lifts & stairs & on the hump so we got the larger, angled balcony with lots of shade. We did get some sun on it but for the most part, you needed to be on the port side of the ship! Nazareth from India was our stateroom attendant & made a great job of tidying up & looking after us in general.

 

 

We thought sailaway was 5pm at least that's what it said on Cruise Cal but our muster was in fact at 3.15pm & sailaway scheduled very soon after that!

 

 

it was a decent sized bathroom with a nice glass enclosed shower with a spray jet tower.

 

[kikki21]

Great balcony with lounger chairs & footstools & a table, we used it quite a lot!

 

 

After muster we headed out on deck for sailaway.

 

 

And we were off!

 

 

It's just to be said but I love a Miami sailaway, there is so much to see!

 

 

Passing by the equally lovely NCL Escape!

 

 

Just love this!

 

[kikki21]

Bye to Miami for a lovely week on board!

 

 

So I've reached the point where I need to go & do some more editing, be back soon! I am still feeling really rough so I am taking it very easy!

[kikki21]

We decided to blow some more OBC on a first night speciality dinner & of course reading these boards made me aware that a 20% discount is offered.

 

I liked the menu at Tuscan Grille but I liked the menu more at Murano & so we plumped for that & it was a great decision!

 

 

We sat right under this painting - I totally loved the 3D nature of it!

 

Martin had the warm goat cheese souffle as a starter & I had the diver scallop wellington style - it was an odd way to serve a scallop but it was quite nice but a small portion! Good job the main was a bit more like it!

 

We both opted for the theatre of having our entrees prepared table side with me having the lobster & Martin having the dover sole!

 

 

My lobster was gorgeous!

 

 

Martin enjoyed his Dover Sole

 

[kikki21]

Martin was stuffed after his Dover Sole, i guess that was a big portion of fish for 1 person but I had room for the Valrhona Cocoa Cake which was just right, not too sweet.

 

 

Looking back at my iPhone photos, i can see that we did make it into Blu for breakfast, this was because the CC meeting was on late morning, otherwise we would have slept in & hit the buffet later!

 

 

It was good to be up on deck or on our balcony & watch some Bahamian islands slip by.

 

We did some more ship exploration!

 

 

We liked the Hideaway area although, we didn't spend a lot of time there. As we had the classic drink package, this enabled us to have teas & coffees at Cafe Al Bacio which I really enjoyed - we had different ones all the time!

 

 

I could take photos all day from/of the Atrium!

 

 

We also spent a fair amount of time at the Sunset Bar.

 

We both enjoyed the food choices at the buffet - I was particularly taken with the pizza made in there, I only put on 2lbs this holiday, I reckon all 2 of those lbs are from that pizza! :D

[kikki21]

 

More artwork, now is it a flower or a fancy fried egg?!

 

 

This was Martin's favourite artwork on the ship.....

 

 

We liked to get a drink from the bar here as it was always usually quiet when we came by.

 

 

More artwork...

 

 

The ship was beautifully lit up at night.

 

[kikki21]

We finally got into the Sky Lounge tonight for a bit of a night cap.... the DJ was very into his Pitbull that night which amused us no end!

 

 

I asked for a cocktail with Baileys in it & boy did the bartender deliver... he made a drink with Baileys in it & just about everything else! It tasted pretty good actually - i think I slept really well that night! :D

 

We really liked the spacing of this cruise which is a reason why we booked it as we liked the idea of 3 ports & 3 sea days for maximum relaxation.

 

I need to do some more editing... next up we are heading into San Juan!

[FunCruiser56]

Loving your review, hope you get to feeling better very soon.

Bev

[kikki21]

Loving your review, hope you get to feeling better very soon.

Bev

 

Thank you - I was feeling better yesterday & thought I was turning the corner but woke up feeling worse today. Been taking paracetamol to no avail so took one of my migraine tablets which has shifted some of the pain off me & nausea.

 

I think as well as having jet lag, I have picked up a bug from somewhere too! Grrr! :(

[upwarduk]

 

I think as well as having jet lag, I have picked up a bug from somewhere too! Grrr! :(

 

Too many people pick up bugs on return flights!

[kikki21]

Too many people pick up bugs on return flights!

 

 

I felt great all holiday & I continue taking all my supplements & still been floored.

We were stringent with washy washy as ever on board the ship but we noticed a lot of passengers didn't bother & it wasn't enforced either.

[kikki21]

Neither of us had been to any of the 3 ports on this cruise so it was all brand new to us! :)

 

We like to do our own thing & after much research & a lack of daylight hours, we decided to just stroll around Old San Juan, use the free trolley, do a bit of shopping & sightseeing & find somewhere nice to eat.

 

It was the finding somewhere nice to eat that proved the biggest challenge!

 

I had my heart set on going to Marmalade but I was gutted that the entire restaurant was booked for a group that every evening & there was no space whatsoever. Then we had issues that a lot of restaurants close on a Monday.

I hadn't realised that..... so I made full use out of our X wifi on Monday morning to try & find an alternative & I think we made a good choice, more on that later!

 

 

With a afternoon/evening port call, it was nice to have a bit of a lie in & hot the buffet. We enjoyed all the food in there, did I say how much I LOVED the pizza lol?! :D

 

 

We appeared to have a bit of weather coming in.... we managed to avoid the worst of it until we were sitting on the trolley where it totally monsooned down!

 

 

 

First impressions were good... it looked nice, a bit exotic!

[kikki21]

 

There was certainly lots to photograph going into the harbour area.

 

 

We had lovely forward views from 1614.

 

Seeing all the buses waiting....

 

 

I didn't have many gripes with the cruise at all but I do think Celebrity need to update the port times on their website. Officially, this cruise call is 3.30pm till 11.00pm.... in actuality, it's 2.30pm till 9.00pm.

 

It didn't make much difference to us as daylight hours once the sun had set meant that there wasn't even too much open in San Juan, we were surprised that shops closed up quite early when there was a cruise ship in town!

 

 

San Juan is a bit hilly, it's not obvious until you are there.

 

[kikki21]

We managed to get on one of the free trolley buses & had a nice ride up to just before El Morro where it had stopped raining & we thought we'll get off.... we didn't realise that the trolley bus actually went up to the fort itself but we thought we might save that for another trip!

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed all the colour in the streets.

 

 

Wasn't expecting a totem pole at all!

 

 

A bit of Greek/Roman architecture

 

 

A peek into the cathedral.....

[kikki21]

 

We were making our way to Fortaleza Street as that seemed to be the main shopping street in Old San Juan plus we knew that the restaurant we had chosen was on that street plus Barrachina as we wanted to go in to sample a pina colada!

 

 

We managed to find our way to a view point.

 

 

The viewpoint was right next to this gate house.

 

 

We made it into Barrachina, it was packed with people eating & drinking at the bar but we were able to have a take out pina colada!

 

It was good but so frozen that it gave us brain freeze!

[kikki21]

 

I certainly enjoyed walking along Forteleza St.... there was a lot to look at & a lot to photograph.

 

 

A mixture of touristy shops & American chains.

 

 

Even a bit of Art Deco!

 

 

This was one of my favourite junctions.

 

 

I must admit that Marmalade looked very nice from the outside!

[kikki21]

One of my more "arty" shots!

 

 

The lighting in the restaurant we did end up eating in was very cool!

 

 

Aquaviva was certainly a good restaurant, put it this way, we were certainly ready to sit down for a meal by that time as we were a bit tired & hungry!

 

We certainly left full!

 

Then it was just a short walk back to the ship - anyone would think that I plan these things?! ;)

 

 

The Reflection looked gorgeous in the night.

 

[kikki21]

As ever the ship was beautifully lit up at night!

 

 

We headed out on deck for sail away which was quite atmospheric with all the forts lit up.

 

 

Very pretty at night.

 

 

Nearly at the end of the harbour

 

 

 

And clearing the harbour & on our way to our next port of call St Thomas!

 

I have more editing to do now. Be back soon!

[kikki21]

 

One of the best bits about having a balcony is room service breakfast & with being Aqua Class then you have an expanded breakfast service so you can get ready & still be chilled.

Purposely, we booked our tour to start at 10am, result!

 

 

St Thomas coming into view.

 

Pirate sailing ship!

 

 

There were lots of little & not so little yachts dotted around the harbour.

 

[kikki21]

 

We docked at Havensight with the Royal Princess & NCL Escape, while over at Crown Bay, we had a Carnival ship & the Oasis of the Seas which made St Thomas pretty busy!

 

 

Could look at this view all day long but hey we had a tour to go on!

 

 

A good look at the back end of our back end!

 

The sunset aft cabins sure looked great but they are overlooked at the Sunset Bar in various degrees.

[kikki21]

We booked a tour with Sunny Liston.... it was meant to start at 10am but they were late picking us up so we had less time to shop in Charlotte Amalie, i bet my husband was praying that they would be even later as the capital is basically a one stop jewellery store! :D

 

Now I love jewellery, I sell jewellery but I always like to collect something that I don't sell as a souvenir!

I quickly choose a sterling silver pendant & a sterling silver anchor charm for my Pandora & that was me done!

We chilled out in a cafe & then rejoined our tour group for the sightseeing part!

 

 

You are taken in several open air buses to various points of the island, you get cold drinks in the price of the tour too..... it's pretty informative & it's also LOUD!!! We had Paget George as our driver otherwise known as Taxi Love.... he was totally bonkers!!! :eek: but the tour was a lot of fun!

 

 

There are look out points all over the island mainly to do with pirates!

 

 

From our initial look out point, we climbed higher & higher.... and Taxi Love got louder & louder!

He would race the bus round turns like an F1 driver and also utilise the brakes in time with the music.... we were sitting on the back of the bus!

 

I think I can still feel it now!

 

This is where we were heading to.....

 

 

I also managed to buy myself a trinket there too - whoops!