Reflection December 17--My Reflections of a Week in the Western Caribbean

[lvz2cruz]

Christmas is over, guests are gone and I can now share our experience on our 7 night western cruise.

 

Background--We cruised Celebrity exclusively for years and really enjoyed our times onboard. I prefer port days to sea days and when X started doing three port days and three sea days we looked into other lines. We tried NCL and did not feel it was nearly the wonderful experience we had on X. We tried HAL and it was a very close competitor. We have sailed them for their itineraries many times and love them, but want variety and have now sailed X twice again this year.

We are in our early 50s with grown children.

 

Booking--We used the bid for cruise site discussed here and saved several hundred dollars over booking directly with X. It was our first time using them and I would do again.

We had an unobstructed verandah on deck 6 with the beverage plan and ended with $625 OBC.

 

Embarkation--We flew to FLL Thursday night and relaxed Friday before boarding Saturday. We returned our rental to the Miami airport and took the Alamo/National/Enterprise free shuttle to the cruise port.

We arrived about 11 and embarkation was deserted. We got through very quickly and joked as we boarded we were not sure where to go because there was no one to follow.

One thing that bothered me was I had a bad cough. I filled out the form honestly and noted I had a cough. The rep checking me in told me to fill out another one and she tore the original one up and threw it away. She told me I looked fine and if I noted the cough I would be pulled aside and have trouble boarding. I don't think she had medical training--how many sicker than me are allowed to board who maybe should be checked out?

 

So we boarded and the ship is absolutely beautiful. It was decorated very nice for Christmas. I was very impressed--this was my first time on a Solstice class ship.

We went to book our shore excursions. We had browsed online and picked ones for each port but had to wait till onboard to use our OBC.

Thankfully our first choices were all still available, but prices had increased over the online site. Our OBC was worth about 30-50% less when used to book shore excursions.

Next we went to the Solarium. We had brought suits in our carryon so we could enjoy it while we waited for our cabin to be ready. The solarium was beautiful. It has a lot more seating than the M class ships. Over the week I did not feel chair hogs were a problem and the ship was full, many cabins having 3-4.

Cabins were ready just before one.

 

I will continue later so posts are not so long.

Edited December 29, 2016 by lvz2cruz

[Iamthesea]

but prices had increased over the online site. Our OBC was worth about 30-50% less when used to book shore excursions.

 

This is really bothersome to me! :eek: We are also planning to book shore excursions once onboard because we want to use our OBC.

 

Did you see the excursion pricing on the official Celebrity website under your reservation number? Or someplace else? If you did, that means that Celebrity is charging more for excursions that are booked onboard. Something that I have never read about. :(

 

We are treating the family to a cruise on the Reflection in May and are on a tight budget. I have already picked out the excursions available under our reservations and figured in that we had enough OBC to take 3 excursions, plus have 2 Specialty dinners, per person.

 

Has anyone else noticed a price difference from online and booking onboard?

Edited December 29, 2016 by Iamthesea

[Duanerice1]

Thanks for the report. Keep it coming.

 

Just got off the Eclipse and the excursions I took - only one - was the same price on the ship as pre cruise. And I forgot to go down as soon as we booked so ran down about 12:30, no one in line. Win for me.

[lvz2cruz]

This is really bothersome to me! :eek: We are also planning to book shore excursions once onboard because we want to use our OBC.

 

Did you see the excursion pricing on the official Celebrity website under your reservation number? Or someplace else? If you did, that means that Celebrity is charging more for excursions that are booked onboard. Something that I have never read about. :(

 

We are treating the family to a cruise on the Reflection in May and are on a tight budget. I have already picked out the excursions available under our reservations and figured in that we had enough OBC to take 3 excursions, plus have 2 Specialty dinners, per person.

 

Has anyone else noticed a price difference from online and booking onboard?

 

I had been logged into the Celebrity site under "my reservations". I had actually took a screen shot on my phone of my cart so I could quickly book once we boarded.

A snorkel trip was 49 then 69.75. The Falmouth Red Stripe Beach was $29 and onboard $39. Transfers quoted at $20 were $30. Another snorkel trip stayed the same.

[fielddreamer]

I had been logged into the Celebrity site under "my reservations". I had actually took a screen shot on my phone of my cart so I could quickly book once we boarded.

A snorkel trip was 49 then 69.75. The Falmouth Red Stripe Beach was $29 and onboard $39. Transfers quoted at $20 were $30. Another snorkel trip stayed the same.

We were on Dec 3 cruise and I booked only one excursion 4 months out when they ran a 1 week sale at 20% all excursions and Spec Dinning ! That one excursion turned out to be awful and they gave everyone back their $ and credited my account! That's why I do not book on board unless we have too!

[lvz2cruz]

I had read on here that cabins were becoming ready later so we were happily prepared to spend our afternoon at the Solarium. We had flown and we checked our two big bags at the pier and just carried my backpack and DH's laptop bag. It worked much better than when we cruised Summit and had wheeled carryon bag with us. Traveling for me means not taking the kitchen sink (but everything else:rolleyes:) I did much better this time not wanting to battle for overhead bins flying home on Christmas Eve.

The pool in the Solarium was a surprise in that it wasn't the bath water the T pools on M class ships are. It was not cold but refreshing. I really like that area and we spent alot of time there over the week.

When they announced cabins were ready, we did not go immediately but avoided the elevator rush.

Our cabin was in perfect condition. We had a guarantee and I was happy with the assignment. I know you can change within the category, but we did pretty well in the guarantee lottery and happily accepted it.

Our cabin was the last of the forward cabins before they were recessed a few feet. The cabin to the right of to us sat back and we could not see each other. We had a great view looking back.

I liked the different layout of the bathroom but missed the drying string thing in the shower.

There was plenty storage and though we unpacked we did not use it all.

Our muster station was the theater and the drill went pretty quickly.

We sailed away pretty much at 4 and our cruise has begun!!!

We still had not received our luggage and I was a little worried. We had gotten to the port just before 11 and it was almost 5. Where could it be???

It finally got there and we unpacked and dressed for dinner.

We had select--I love the innovation of open seating and don't ever want to go back to fixed. I had made reservations online for 6:45 for every night.

We stopped on the way at the Entertainment Court Bar to grab a drink. Singh there became a favorite. The area had a bad smell and we called it the Poop Deck Bar after a place in a resort area we know.

There was no line or wait to get in the MDR and we were seated right away. We had one of those two top tables that are a couple inches away from a table on each side. That's fine with us. You can talk to your neighbors as much or little as you like depending on what you have in common. We meet a lot of nice people this way. Over the week we were never asked to share a table. I am fine either way. We do think we get out faster with just us.

The people on one side of us were not happy people. The dad sent his food back twice and the son ordered something different after receiving his order of chicken nuggets and macaroni. How can you mess up that? The man's salmon was not done enough either time. I had the same and it was not well done in the middle but I am not a send it back person. The crew work so hard, I try to be easy and just deal with it. The waiter was great and I commend his patience and grace.

The dining room was beautiful. I think the first few days the hubs got tired of me pointing out cool things but it was really impressive.

The show was a comedian. He was sloooooooowwwwwwwwwwww. I told my kids in my best monotone that they probably had more entertaining economics professors. I did feel bad for him when many people walked out. Some did 5-10 minutes into the act, others as late as 30 minutes into.

He had one funny talk about wineries but the rest was not memorable or funny. People talked about him the next day and it was not favorable.

One more memory from day one. The guy on the cabin to the left of us was smoking at sailaway. I called guest relations to confirm no smoking was allowed and asked them to pass along to him. Having sailed HAL I was looking forward to a smoke free balcony on X.

Time to cook dinner. More later.

[lvz2cruz]

We were on Dec 3 cruise and I booked only one excursion 4 months out when they ran a 1 week sale at 20% all excursions and Spec Dinning ! That one excursion turned out to be awful and they gave everyone back their $ and credited my account! That's why I do not book on board unless we have too!

 

What excursion did you do?

I saw that sale and know we could have saved even more, but we had the OBC.

Edited December 29, 2016 by lvz2cruz

[Flafun888]

Looking forward to following along - especially on the port stops, since I'm doing a similar itinerary next year. Great review so far!

 

If you don't mind me asking - and if you do, no worries :) - but how did you end up with $625 in OBC? That's a nice amount for the cabin you had - I have a similar one - not a guarantee, but a 2B. We only have $300 OBC as a perk plus $150 for doing the booking onboard. And a token $50 from our TA. (We had more from the TA originally, but lost it when I found a drop in cabin price.)

[H2OH!]

great job. looking forward to more.

 

did you grab the daily newsletter? we are on the western itin end of January and would love to see them.

[Iamthesea]

I had been logged into the Celebrity site under "my reservations". I had actually took a screen shot on my phone of my cart so I could quickly book once we boarded.

A snorkel trip was 49 then 69.75. The Falmouth Red Stripe Beach was $29 and onboard $39. Transfers quoted at $20 were $30. Another snorkel trip stayed the same.

 

Did you show them your screen shot?

 

Entertainment Court Bar to grab a drink. Singh there became a favorite. The area had a bad smell and we called it the Poop Deck

 

I don't remember a bar in the Entertainment Court area on the Reflection. That's good to know. ;)

[reecesavage]

"bid for cruise site"

 

Can someone tell me how to find this site? You know without actually telling me since we can't name TA's here?

[lvz2cruz]

Looking forward to following along - especially on the port stops, since I'm doing a similar itinerary next year. Great review so far!

 

If you don't mind me asking - and if you do, no worries :) - but how did you end up with $625 in OBC? That's a nice amount for the cabin you had - I have a similar one - not a guarantee, but a 2B. We only have $300 OBC as a perk plus $150 for doing the booking onboard. And a token $50 from our TA. (We had more from the TA originally, but lost it when I found a drop in cabin price.)

 

We had the $300 as one of our two perks. We had a "thank you for sailing with us and if you book again in 60 days use this code for $100 OBC. The TA gave $225. I'm pretty sure it had booked a group on this sailing and sold cabins through the competing site.

[lvz2cruz]

great job. looking forward to more.

 

did you grab the daily newsletter? we are on the western itin end of January and would love to see them.

 

I do not save the dailies but I might be able to answer questions you have.

I liked this western itinerary and hope you enjoy it too.

[lvz2cruz]

Did you show them your screen shot?

 

I had my phone when we were booking and said prices were higher and they said that happens.

 

 

I don't remember a bar in the Entertainment Court area on the Reflection. That's good to know. ;)

 

The bar backs up to the Casino and faces the open area where they play games at night like Friendly Feud. It was never crowded. Sometimes one or two people would be there, sometimes we were the only ones there.

[Jim_Iain]

"bid for cruise site"

 

Can someone tell me how to find this site? You know without actually telling me since we can't name TA's here?

 

Google on what you had in quotes and you will find it.

[lvz2cruz]

"bid for cruise site"

 

Can someone tell me how to find this site? You know without actually telling me since we can't name TA's here?

 

Google that. Different online TAs some that are well known and others not compete:D for your business.

You set up an account and get emails sent to it from different agencies with their bids.

I researched and googled for reviews and I did not feel comfortable with some so check out before you buy. Many are the ones that I had gotten emails from for years. The one I used says it has been around since the 70s and they delivered everything as stated.

[reecesavage]

Google that. Different online TAs some that are well known and others not compete:D for your business.

 

You set up an account and get emails sent to it from different agencies with their bids.

 

I researched and googled for reviews and I did not feel comfortable with some so check out before you buy. Many are the ones that I had gotten emails from for years. The one I used says it has been around since the 70s and they delivered everything as stated.

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

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[riclop]

Christmas is over, guests are gone and I can now share our experience on our 7 night western cruise.

 

Background--We cruised Celebrity exclusively for years and really enjoyed our times onboard. I prefer port days to sea days and when X started doing three port days and three sea days we looked into other lines. We tried NCL and did not feel it was nearly the wonderful experience we had on X. We tried HAL and it was a very close competitor. We have sailed them for their itineraries many times and love them, but want variety and have now sailed X twice again this year.

We are in our early 50s with grown children.

 

Booking--We used the bid for cruise site discussed here and saved several hundred dollars over booking directly with X. It was our first time using them and I would do again.

We had an unobstructed verandah on deck 6 with the beverage plan and ended with $625 OBC.

 

Embarkation--We flew to FLL Thursday night and relaxed Friday before boarding Saturday. We returned our rental to the Miami airport and took the Alamo/National/Enterprise free shuttle to the cruise port.

We arrived about 11 and embarkation was deserted. We got through very quickly and joked as we boarded we were not sure where to go because there was no one to follow.

One thing that bothered me was I had a bad cough. I filled out the form honestly and noted I had a cough. The rep checking me in told me to fill out another one and she tore the original one up and threw it away. She told me I looked fine and if I noted the cough I would be pulled aside and have trouble boarding. I don't think she had medical training--how many sicker than me are allowed to board who maybe should be checked out?

 

So we boarded and the ship is absolutely beautiful. It was decorated very nice for Christmas. I was very impressed--this was my first time on a Solstice class ship.

We went to book our shore excursions. We had browsed online and picked ones for each port but had to wait till onboard to use our OBC.

Thankfully our first choices were all still available, but prices had increased over the online site. Our OBC was worth about 30-50% less when used to book shore excursions.

Next we went to the Solarium. We had brought suits in our carryon so we could enjoy it while we waited for our cabin to be ready. The solarium was beautiful. It has a lot more seating than the M class ships. Over the week I did not feel chair hogs were a problem and the ship was full, many cabins having 3-4.

Cabins were ready just before one.

 

I will continue later so posts are not so long.

 

Never tell them you had a cough, she was nice otherwise you will not be allowed to board.

[cruiserlove]

Thanks for the review! That's so tricky about the excursion prices onboard!

 

 

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[Lastdance]

This is really bothersome to me! :eek: We are also planning to book shore excursions once onboard because we want to use our OBC.

 

Did you see the excursion pricing on the official Celebrity website under your reservation number? Or someplace else? If you did, that means that Celebrity is charging more for excursions that are booked onboard. Something that I have never read about. :(

 

We are treating the family to a cruise on the Reflection in May and are on a tight budget. I have already picked out the excursions available under our reservations and figured in that we had enough OBC to take 3 excursions, plus have 2 Specialty dinners, per person.

 

Has anyone else noticed a price difference from online and booking onboard?

 

 

Yes, this is at times a price difference, but since you are traveling with family, why not book your own private tours...is this because you need to use your OBC rather than spend it on other things.? Personally, I don't use Celebrity's tours...expensive and hate large groups on busses...but I can certainly understand when on a budget...I would find more $$$ somewhere, as private tours are sooo much better, especially in Europe.

 

Sorry to hijack...I am waiting for the rest of your review, but so far it is off to a great start!!!

 

 

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Edited December 30, 2016 by Lastdance

[Flafun888]

Thanks for the fast response to the OBC question - wow $225 is pretty good. Congrats!

 

I'm a little bummed out that my TA went from $180 OBC down to $50 when our cabin price dropped $100/person. They're a big online agency, but weren't offering any group prices.

 

May try that bidding site next time :D

[lvz2cruz]

Our cabin was very comfortable and we slept well.

Our cruise critic meet was on Sunday at 10:30 in the Cellar Masters. This was a very interesting room on a cruise ship. It was very beautiful and different than anything you find on a ship.

The meet was disappointing. Less than ten people showed up. The crew said 96 had signed up and they had tons of pastry/cookie platters and lots of juice and coffee. They went to a lot of preparation for nothing and I hope this doesn't happen often or I could see them not offering meet and greets.

I did meet a few people who I saw through the week but was disappointed to not be able to put a face to many I had chatted with on here.

We eat most breakfasts and lunches in the Lido. It was nice and well stocked. One thing they need to change was some of the stations people did not know which way to flow and lines were coming both ways. For example, the line for the waffles had people going from the left to right which made sense. Get your waffle then toppings. There were plates at the other end which could have been leading to the fruit area further right but many grabbed a plate and came towards the left passing the toppings then the waffles. People said something a few days but the conflict continued. I gave up on waffles if it was crowded. The potato cakes in the next station were the best ever.

It was easy to get a table except for a couple busy mornings when everyone was up to go ashore. I liked the setup of the Lido. Beware though of plates that are VERY hot. I always looked for a stack that was about empty thinking they had been there longer and cooled.

If you're a frequent HAL cruiser, remember to grab silverware when you get your plate. I'm used to it being on the table and had to go back the first few days for it.

We were pretty much Solarium bums and really enjoyed it. We explored the grass area upstairs and the rest of the ship.

We went to our balcony and our neighbor was smoking again:mad:

We went to the Elite cocktail hour and it was pretty crowded. We had the beverage package but enjoy meeting people so go if convenient.

Dinner was interesting that night. At check in they told us they had a very beautiful table if we would walk downstairs. We said sure and followed the girl to table xxx. We should have worn our Nikes because we followed her around for quite a while. She finally put us at a table third row from the kitchen next to a partition and across from a waiter station. We laughed. But it gets better. A few minutes later (7:00) two ladies came in and sat next to us. It turns out they were in fixed and we were at their table so they just sat at the next one. They think fixed means any time between 6 and 8:30. I explained those are the two seating times but they did not believe me. Then they looked at the menu and said it was the same one as last night! Bless their heart:):)

Service down there was not good. We asked for tea and more butter and never got them.

Monday we got to Cozumel. We had a snorkel excursion that met us at the dock. The catamaran was very nice and could hold much more than the 30 people on our trip. The guys working it were lots of fun. They got in the water with us and found eels, conch, and a sea snake. One went down deep and brought stuff up. He took my camera and got close ups of the eel for me.

I wish I had brought my own gear though. The mask leaked and even the snorkel did. A lady complained her snorkel leaked and one of the guys traded his with her. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

This was the snorkel trip to two places that left about 9:30. Maybe Paradisio and xul something. They gave bottled water once we boarded, coke after the first stop, and margaritas/rum punch after the second stop. They played Christmas music sung in Spanish and then regular dance music in English. Everything was wonderful except the equipment. Even the bathrooms were clean and odor free. I would highly recommend.

We were done about noon, shopped a little, and got back onboard. We were on our balcony for sailaway and shocked at the steady parade of people from the 3:30 all aboad till about 4. Then a taxi drove right up to the ship and some people got out and boarded then the gangway was taken in and we sailed.

The guy next to us was smoking AGAIN:mad::mad::mad: We called and said he had been out smoking the day before and was out again.

I think that night the entertainment was a young guy named Lance Lipinsky. He did impersonations from the 50's rock and roll legends and was amazingly talented. The songs were before my time but I had heard many and really enjoyed his performance.

[fielddreamer]

What excursion did you do?

I saw that sale and know we could have saved even more, but we had the OBC.

It was the Dunn River falls and VIP beach Day! I payed $189 for two with the 20% and the actual Price was $229. The Falls were good and crowded and it took longer than expected so we got to the beach around 1:00.That left us 2 hrs to swim and eat lunch. They were running around trying to get the food for us plus it was raining off and on. The food was really bad and it took some of 1 1/2 hrs to get served. The drinks were watered down. They loaded us up around 2:15 to get back to the ship which is 1hr and 15 min back. The only problem was that the original bus was gone and so was some of the peoples bags and other stuff. They never took it off the bus. Thank god I had our stuff with us. The ship was due to sail at 4 and we raced back to the ship and got back at 4:15 and the topper was they dropped us off at the Oasis dock and not ours. All of us ran to the ship and finally made it on board. Later in the day they told all of us that Celebrity was giving all of our money back from the excursion. I was really impressed with the cruise line for doing that ! Almost all of the people on this tour filed complaints with the Excursion desk so it was a no brainer for them. With all that money going back to all of us I am sure they are looking into this vendor! Bob

Edited December 30, 2016 by fielddreamer

[lvz2cruz]

It was the Dunn River falls and VIP beach Day! I payed $189 for two with the 20% and the actual Price was $229. The Falls were good and crowded and it took longer than expected so we got to the beach around 1:00.That left us 2 hrs to swim and eat lunch. They were running around trying to get the food for us plus it was raining off and on. The food was really bad and it took some of 1 1/2 hrs to get served. The drinks were watered down. They loaded us up around 2:15 to get back to the ship which is 1hr and 15 min back. The only problem was that the original bus was gone and so was some of the peoples bags and other stuff. They never took it off the bus. Thank god I had our stuff with us. The ship was due to sail at 4 and we raced back to the ship and got back at 4:15 and the topper was they dropped us off at the Oasis dock and not ours. All of us ran to the ship and finally made it on board. Later in the day they told all of us that Celebrity was giving all of our money back from the excursion. I was really impressed with the cruise line for doing that ! Almost all of the people on this tour filed complaints with the Excursion desk so it was a no brainer for them. With all that money going back to all of us I am sure they are looking into this vendor! Bob

 

What an adventure!!

We did the falls and Mystic Mountain bobsled on HAL in January and had a lot of fun. We docked in Ocho Rios so it was a 5-10 minute ride.

We had an excursion long long ago on Celebrity where it was the first time with an operator and it was a little off. It was a snorkel trip and they did not have fins and the water was very very choppy. We still had fun but were surprised to get a note in our mail on the ship apologizing for the trip and crediting half the cost. We had not complained but many had apparently. Nothing like your day.

[geduffer]

I agree with the last poster regarding excursions. I never book ship excursions, I arrange them with operators on each island. They are less expensive and usually give way better tours.

 

 

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