Celebrity Reflection January 14 to 21 2017

[Barky]

Carol it's great to have you joining us. You look like you are really enjoying yourself on this cruise.

 

I am grateful for all Norris' hard work with the reviews as I am no longer able to cruise myself so I get to live vicariously and I get to laugh while doing so. I can't wait for you both to retire so we can cruise more often. ;)

[easyboy]

Carol, we continue to follow Norris' great review and wonderful photos. We appreciate his efforts and thank you for your support.

[Bimmer09]

Carol it's great to have you joining us. You look like you are really enjoying yourself on this cruise.

 

I am grateful for all Norris' hard work with the reviews as I am no longer able to cruise myself so I get to live vicariously and I get to laugh while doing so. I can't wait for you both to retire so we can cruise more often. ;)

 

I'm very sorry to see you say you can no longer cruise.

 

I am glad though that you feel you can experience a cruise vicariously and in this case, one of mine. We hope to take many more-only 2 a year max for the next 5 years but hopefully more beyond that. But who knows?

 

Keep on reading.

 

Norris

[Barky]

:eek:

I'm very sorry to see you say you can no longer cruise.

 

I am glad though that you feel you can experience a cruise vicariously and in this case, one of mine. We hope to take many more-only 2 a year max for the next 5 years but hopefully more beyond that. But who knows?

 

Keep on reading.

 

Norris

 

Norris I suppose another cruise could be in my future but it would involve more energy than I have to deal with my oxygen company, a scooter would be needed and several sherpas would be needed to carry everything. It's easier and less expensive to read at this point. So I shall.

[Bimmer09]

Carol, we continue to follow Norris' great review and wonderful photos. We appreciate his efforts and thank you for your support.

 

And thank you for your support in reading and responding. Responses help to keep it on page 1 where more people can easily find it. I can't keep it there, even though I write every day without fail, as I am out of the house for 11 hours each day.

 

I have followed some reviews on the Princess board that were sporadic in posting and eventually just stopped dead for reasons I don't know. When I start a review it is with the end in mind and I keep on going until I get there and can sit back and read it myself. I have been writing everyday-as Carol says getting up 90 minutes before I need to, as I know how long it takes to write these Epics.

 

People like you, reading and enjoying it and posting your own thoughts are the pay-off. CC beats blog writing by a mile and I should know having written over 300 blog articles with more to come.

 

CC for me is all about communication and meeting people who share the same passion. I learn so much here.

 

Nice talking to you.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Hi folks it's Carol. I'm trying to keep up with Norris's review this time like the rest of you instead of reading it all when it's finished. You would not believe how conscientious he is about this. Although it is a labor of love, he gets up early on a work day to get to the computer and then writes some more after a long day at work. Plus days off.

 

I just wanted to note with regard to Qsine how excellent the food was and how creative the presentation, all in custom made platters and stands and vessels. I'm not impressed by gimmicks alone. We eat a lot of ethnic food living in Chicago and the ethnic dishes we had there stood up very well in comparison with the "authentic" stuff. Not so with Jamaican night at the buffet, but you will hear about this later.

 

Best regards, Carol

 

100% agreed on your summation of the Qsine experience. Just a great thinking out of the box idea and the S Class hooked me from the minute I stepped aboard Silhouette because of all the fresh ideas.

 

I can't wait to work my way through the Qsine menu in the future.

 

Norris

 

[Bimmer09]

We are not the first ship to arrive and anchor off Georgetown

 

People eating breakfast at the Oceanview Cafe's outdoor dining patio don't care about being first

 

Disney Magic is a fine looking ship

 

We have to go to the Reflection Theater to be mustered for our tender ashore at 10.30 after dropping the anchor and one by one the various different excursion groups are called to proceed down to deck 2 to board their tender ashore.

 

 

 

There is no tender waiting-just a long line of people summoned to board. I'm sure it will be here in a jiffy....

 

The line snakes around a corner behind me in the bowels of the ship and now we have been waiting 20 minutes without a word of explanation from the crew. Carol is hurting from standing still for so long and people are getting restless. An officer is nearby and hasn't said a word so I motion to him and he comes over. "hi, can you tell me the name of the person responsible for sending us down here to stand when there is no tender here? We could have sat in the theater in comfort until there was a boat to load us on"

 

"The water is too choppy and it's unsafe to load at the minute."

 

"But we've been here for 20 minutes already and you know the water is too choppy and now I know the water is too choppy-but they don't know anything (pointing to the crowd). They just think Celebrity is disorganized and doesn't care for their discomfort"

 

He nodded his head slowly and I thanked him for talking to me and got back in line to tell Carol and those within earshot.

 

A minute later after he talked to a young lady officer, whose task up until now was to tell people getting off the elevators to "stay to the right", she walked up and down the line to tell us that a tender is "on it's way and would be here in a minute."

 

Ten minutes later a large shore tender appeared at the door and we began to board.

[Bimmer09]

 

 

 

 

That's the Silhouette at left!

 

Today's excursion was a double header-we would be visiting a Turtle Farm by bus and later a sandbank out at sea to see Stingrays. Well chosen by Carol.

 

We're on the tender and heading to shore

 

[YOUTUBE]F_3bUttc5zk[/YOUTUBE]

 

Norris

[33917]

I have been following your comments, we leave next week on the reflection(2/11), 1st time with celebrity, about 6 cruises already with carnival, RCL and NCL we are only on a balcony not suite, I was wondering about your first night at the Lawn Club restaurant, when did you make reservations? Do you know if the 50% off was a common deal for everyone or just suites? And did you get all those entrees (filet,chops shrimp and scallops)? Even regular price ($45 per person) still quite a deal. Enjoy your comments and learning about the ship. Thanks. Jane

[Russterus]

Looking forward to seeing the highlights of your tour. We did the same one a few years ago on the Star Princess and liked it a lot. Enjoyed a bite of turtle pie at the turtle farm :) Also great to see the Silhouette. Last cruise was on that ship and i thought in the prettiest ship I had been on. Hoping Reflection next month meets that standard. Thanks for the great review!

[Bimmer09]

Quite the melee on the dock in Georgetown with so many ships in port.

 

We stopped for the ship's photographers as we usually do

 

 

Amid the confusion among the bus drivers we eventually were seated and began our drive out to the turtle farm. We passed Seven Mile Beach along the way and had tantalizing glimpses of blue water and white sand. That was Grand Cayman to me many years ago- a beach day with rum drinks. No beach today. The island is rather flat and featureless. We'd be in Jamaica tomorrow (isn't cruising wonderful for the variety of places you see?) and see some mountains.

 

 

After 20 minutes or so we arrive

 

A beautiful sculpture greeted us

 

 

You can't forget you are at a turtle farm

 

 

It's a spacious and well laid out facility with wide open spaces surrounding the water which is rich in swimming turtles, not surprisingly. You can get to hold the small ones in various little concrete pools.

 

Like this lady

 

 

But eventually you have to let them go back in the water

 

[Bimmer09]

I have been following your comments, we leave next week on the reflection(2/11), 1st time with celebrity, about 6 cruises already with carnival, RCL and NCL we are only on a balcony not suite, I was wondering about your first night at the Lawn Club restaurant, when did you make reservations? Do you know if the 50% off was a common deal for everyone or just suites? And did you get all those entrees (filet,chops shrimp and scallops)? Even regular price ($45 per person) still quite a deal. Enjoy your comments and learning about the ship. Thanks. Jane

 

Hi, Jane and congrats on taking the plunge on X and the Reflection.

 

I made the LCG reservation maybe 3 hours before we ate there and chose a late seating as they were heavily booked prior to 9 p.m. I know all suites were offered 50% off but can't say if that was an offer to everyone. I imagine they may discount all the Specialties on the first night to get people to try them as an option to the MDR. Usually on subsequent days there is a table set up outside the buffet offering discounts on one of the Specialties, from 30% to 50%.

 

We had to eat there on the first night as we enjoyed it so much on the Silhouette. We had Luminae and Blu as options for free but we wanted that dining outside with a warm tropical breeze experience.

 

Had we been even more hungry we could have had the self serve salad bar and flatbread and as many skewers of meat as we wanted. It's $45 all you can eat and the food is good.

 

Thanks for reading and for the questions!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Looking forward to seeing the highlights of your tour. We did the same one a few years ago on the Star Princess and liked it a lot. Enjoyed a bite of turtle pie at the turtle farm :) Also great to see the Silhouette. Last cruise was on that ship and i thought in the prettiest ship I had been on. Hoping Reflection next month meets that standard. Thanks for the great review!

 

Hi and thanks for reading along as this unfolds.

 

The Silhouette is the most beautiful ship I have sailed on to date. The art collection sets her above the Reflection as does the Sky Lounge. The Reflection would be the 2nd most beautiful ship I have sailed on. The S class was a home run design and I look forward to seeing what X has in store with the Edge class.

 

Did you read my recent Star Princess cruise to Alaska review, by any chance?

 

Cheers!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Are you one of the people in the photographs?

 

 

 

Hold their head up and stroke gently under their chin to relax them and convince them that you're not thinking of a delicious bowl of turtle soup in your future.

 

 

Next door there were no turtles in the water

 

 

I was interested in the turtles in the big pond. These are not turtles-accept no substitute!

 

[Bimmer09]

Now we're talking' turtles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bimmer09]

The big turtle lagoon

 

Soon we had to move on

 

 

Just reading Carol's iPhone notes I see we visited Hell first but let's pretend we went there next....

 

Over the years many people have said the same thing to me-"Why don't you just go to Hell, Norris" and today that became a reality.

 

 

 

We had a 15 minute stretch your legs and use the bathroom break here. Of course some folks like to write postcards and have them stamped here for the novelty value of a Postcard from Hell.

 

Satan wasn't here that day but there was no doubt he had chosen this as his home. Odd when he could, I guess, live just about anywhere without paying his rent and taxes like the rest of us.

 

 

* I've reverted to blue text as the new CC black text is very cold and hard. Not loving it.

[Bimmer09]

Satan's back yard was not a welcoming spot where you would be tempted to lay down a blanket and grab a few rays.

 

 

A heron or a crane?

 

 

Jagged pumice-like rock

 

 

I know what this is and I'm no ornithologist

 

 

I doubt that the Devil has seen this yet...

 

 

With only 15 minutes there is no way you could see all that Hell has to offer. You need at least 16 minutes.

[Bimmer09]

We did have another stop after Hell- at a tourist store to get free samples of rum cake. Carol stayed on the bus and I went into the store where I couldn't take photos as there was no room between my face and the person's back in front of me to fit a camera and a lens. Jam-packed chaos. I did see some folks queue up for a teeny slice of rum cake but I didn't need it that bad. I did need a refreshing beverage though and squeezed through the throng to get a bottle of Red Stripe from the cooler. I think it was $4 U.S.

 

I went out back where the sea was to sip my beer and take a few shots during this brief stop.

 

I was wishing I had time to join those people in that shady bar over there

 

Anyone ever eat here?

 

Possibly one of the crew members from Disney Magic

 

 

 

Back to the bus with my refreshing beer and we move on to the next part of our day ashore.

Is the blue better than the black text? I'm thinking so.

 

Norris

[ICANTWAITTOCRUISE]

You probably have already answered this question but I can't seem to find it. How did you happen to have access for dining in both blu and luminae?

[Bimmer09]

You probably have already answered this question but I can't seem to find it. How did you happen to have access for dining in both blu and luminae?

 

Hi- we were staying in a Suite.

 

Norris

[ICANTWAITTOCRUISE]

So can sky suites choose blu as well? We were in a sky suite last year and will be this year also. I guess I did not know that or had forgotten that! the thing I like about blu is the muesli at breakfast. if we can go there I will have to definitely do so! Do we just show up or have to request blu?

[josumello]

Delete

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited February 5, 2017 by josumello

[FunCruiser56]

Enjoying your review alot, we have sailed Solstice, Equinox and Silhoutte and will sail Reflection April 2 2018 so it's great to dream ahead...Thanks so much

 

Sent from my SM-T900 using Forums mobile app

[Bimmer09]

So can sky suites choose blu as well? We were in a sky suite last year and will be this year also. I guess I did not know that or had forgotten that! the thing I like about blu is the muesli at breakfast. if we can go there I will have to definitely do so! Do we just show up or have to request blu?

 

You show up at the door and they will ask for your room number.

You are in.

On the second visit if it is the same person at the host stand they will just welcome you and walk you to your table.

 

Norris

[Russterus]

 

Did you read my recent Star Princess cruise to Alaska review, by any chance?

 

Cheers!

Norris

 

Hi Norris,

 

Just discovered you here. Will definitely go back and read the review. I enjoyed that ship and like Princess, even though I tend to try different cruise lines and ships. Like them all, for different reasons for each. When I think back to my Star Princess cruise, which was a few years ago, the funny thing is my fondest memory of it was of the chilled fruit soups they had before most of the dinners. Loved them. Would have one as my soup and one for my desert. Wish I would see that option more often. Funny the little things that have lasting impact.