Another Live Onboard the Reflection! Mar 4th - 11th Easter Caribbean

[Russterus]

Yes, yet another live blog from the Reflection. I am starting this from the back of the Oceanview Cafe. First just a couple of things about us just for reference. Mid 50's from Minnesota, this is our eighth cruise, second on Celebrity. We loved the first one on the Silhouette so much, no brainer to give it another try, this time on one oh her sister ships. We have booked Aqua Class, primarily for Blu and just because we liked it a lot last time. We are very light drinkers, but my wife loves her coffee so we went with the NA Premium package. Also splurged for Internet and a three night specialty package. While we love Blu, also like trying different things. We have zero excursions planned, rather will get off, walk around and see what happens in the ports.

 

My vacation experience may be different than many of you. I am an introvert who looks forward mostly to just relaxing and taking it easy. My DW makes up for it as she is the one who will start a conversation with anyone, anywhere while I look on, tapping my feet and ready to move on to my own thing. That's good for me, I do like talking with people and she serves as my ice breaker. :)

 

Our plane landed a bit after ten at MIA After a rather amusing taxi ride to the port where the taxi's trunk kept opening on the road, we arrived and began the embarkation process. Bag drop pickup was immediate. Check in was incredibly smooth with no real lines anywhere and nothing in Aqua. Everything we preordered (Internet, drink package) was set up and ready. We were onboard before 11:00AM.

 

Did have a couple of the anticipated drink upgrade offers, but in no way in your face, just letting you know it is there.

 

My only problem is my own. We have a couple of heavy carry on bags so not that mobile to do some real exploring yet. Cabins won't be ready until later, hopefully by 1:00. Did walk through some of the areas on a nearly empty ship so that was nice. Found a table on the rail outside of Oceanview and had a light snack. So if I can't drop off my bags, this will do quite nicely. Pleasant weather, overlooking Miami, life is good and our vacation is off to a great start!

[benne1ej]

Looking forward to your review!! We are sailing on Reflection April 1st for our first cruise. Cant wait!!

[champagne123]

Very jealous! Have a wonderful time...:cool:

[floridianny]

Have a great time! We love Reflection. Just got off last weekend:loudcry:

If you go to Tuscan Grille ask for Milano as your server-he is amazing!

[Jim_Iain]

Looking forward to your review.

[Debik]

Love reading the reviews, looking forward to following along.

 

We will be on the ship in 2 weeks. First time on Celebrity.

 

We are in our early 50's. I will be curious to hear the age range on your sailing.

 

Will you be posting pics at all?

Enjoy your cruise :)

[Russterus]

Looking forward to your review!! We are sailing on Reflection April 1st for our first cruise. Cant wait!!

 

 

Liking what I see so far, I am sure you will enjoy!

[Russterus]

Love reading the reviews, looking forward to following along.

 

We will be on the ship in 2 weeks. First time on Celebrity.

 

We are in our early 50's. I will be curious to hear the age range on your sailing.

 

Will you be posting pics at all?

Enjoy your cruise :)

 

I will, but I probably can't do the ship justice as much as Norris, Bimmer09 did so check out his review if you have not already.

[Russterus]

So after a small bite of a couple of cheese slices and figs, starting strolling around. Found the Aqua Spa Cafe which is a place I had not tried on the Silhouette. I missed out. Had a couple of small bites there and they were delicious as well as a smoothie.

 

Our rooms were ready a bit before one so dropped our bags and checked out the room before doing a larger exploration of the ship. We also took care of some reservations. I will say that there definitely is a lot of salesmanship going on. Every venue we checked out had some folks pushing their food/service/drink packages hard. Doesn't bother me, but it certainly is more aggressive than our last cruise. However, we did make some good deals (I think). Monday is our San Juan day and not really a port day for most of it with the late arrival, but we did get the spa to give us port prices for my wife's massage and other things.

 

The gym is really nice with great equipment. I am in dire need of getting in shape and between a nice gym, Aqua Spa and the number of steps I can get, I plan on this week accelerating my progress. Already well over 10,000 and I walked the six floors up after muster :)

 

The ship is very pretty. Found ourselves stopping to catch some really quality artwork at different spots. I like the a lot of the art in this ship.

 

We met our cabin steward, Cato after muster. He will deliver our bottle of sparkling wine in a bit. We asked him to remove the stuff from the mini bar, but not before I snagged a bottle of Chardonnay. He brought our bags in which arrived around 3:00. If you are not aware, only one steward per room now, though they have less rooms to take care of. I kind of like that, to be honest.

 

We left the channel a few minutes ago. The Captain in his announcement said we will sea 8-12 foot seas tonight. Definitely feel the movement! I love it, but my wife not so much.

 

So far so great!

[Texed]

terus,

We will be on Reflection in June, so thanks for posting. :)

[Debik]

I will, but I probably can't do the ship justice as much as Norris, Bimmer09 did so check out his review if you have not already.

 

 

I did follow his review, yes it was good, but i do enjoy reading the opinions and perspectives of others :D

 

You said you are in Aqua Class, what cabin if you don't mind me asking. We also booked Aqua Class. We will be in 1521

 

Thanks again

[like2cruise]

What kind of deal did they give you for dining? We are on next Saturday sailing :)

[WINGFAN728]

Really like your conversational style, look forward to hearing more

 

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[Cruising MMB]

Looking forward to following your descriptions of your trip. We will be boarding on the 25th for our first Celebrity cruise. We have done most of the other lines numerous times and are looking forward to enjoying all this ship has to offer.

[willcruiseanythyme]

Yes, yet another live blog from the Reflection. I am starting this from the back of the Oceanview Cafe. First just a couple of things about us just for reference. Mid 50's from Minnesota, this is our eighth cruise, second on Celebrity. We loved the first one on the Silhouette so much, no brainer to give it another try, this time on one oh her sister ships. We have booked Aqua Class, primarily for Blu and just because we liked it a lot last time. We are very light drinkers, but my wife loves her coffee so we went with the NA Premium package. Also splurged for Internet and a three night specialty package. While we love Blu, also like trying different things. We have zero excursions planned, rather will get off, walk around and see what happens in the ports.

 

My vacation experience may be different than many of you. I am an introvert who looks forward mostly to just relaxing and taking it easy. My DW makes up for it as she is the one who will start a conversation with anyone, anywhere while I look on, tapping my feet and ready to move on to my own thing. That's good for me, I do like talking with people and she serves as my ice breaker. :)

 

Our plane landed a bit after ten at MIA After a rather amusing taxi ride to the port where the taxi's trunk kept opening on the road, we arrived and began the embarkation process. Bag drop pickup was immediate. Check in was incredibly smooth with no real lines anywhere and nothing in Aqua. Everything we preordered (Internet, drink package) was set up and ready. We were onboard before 11:00AM.

 

Did have a couple of the anticipated drink upgrade offers, but in no way in your face, just letting you know it is there.

 

My only problem is my own. We have a couple of heavy carry on bags so not that mobile to do some real exploring yet. Cabins won't be ready until later, hopefully by 1:00. Did walk through some of the areas on a nearly empty ship so that was nice. Found a table on the rail outside of Oceanview and had a light snack. So if I can't drop off my bags, this will do quite nicely. Pleasant weather, overlooking Miami, life is good and our vacation is off to a great start!

Excited to follow along. My DH and I will be boarding her in two weeks! First time on Celebrity but 9th cruise for me.

Can you say during the week if you are offered any specialty dining for a discount? And also, did you bring your own drinks on board to fill your minibar? Why do you have it emptied if not? Just curious....

Thanks in advance!

 

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[Russterus]

What kind of deal did they give you for dining? We are on next Saturday sailing :)

 

With Aqua, they offer you 50% off special dining on the first night, and I am sure you can get it regardless. We actually bought the three specialty dinner package online for $109. Again, lots of offer pushing so i am sure you can find some deals onboard.

[Russterus]

Excited to follow along. My DH and I will be boarding her in two weeks! First time on Celebrity but 9th cruise for me.

Can you say during the week if you are offered any specialty dining for a discount? And also, did you bring your own drinks on board to fill your minibar? Why do you have it emptied if not? Just curious....

Thanks in advance!

 

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See the above post on the discounts. I just wanted the space empty for my own use. Not sure I will use it much, but I have half a bottle of Chardonnay and the welcome aboard Aqua bottle of sparkling wine in there right now. Oh, and also avoids temptations!

[RickT]

With Aqua, they offer you 50% off special dining on the first night, and I am sure you can get it regardless. We actually bought the three specialty dinner package online for $109. Again, lots of offer pushing so i am sure you can find some deals onboard.

 

 

Hi Russterus, any chance you can see if that's the same price onboard? I'm on in 2 weeks and if it's the same price onboard as it is online I'll wait until I'm onboard and use my OBC.

[Russterus]

The ship is really rocking and rolling today! My DW is seasick. She usually does ok, but I have to say this is the roughest seas of any cruise we have been on. Maybe we were just lucky on the other ones. Our room is on deck 11 and the balcony is soaked from sea spray. They have emptied the Solarium pool, but the main pool and the little spas all around are still open. Not a lot of people in the main pool area, but Solarium is busy since it is enclosed. It is kind of funny watching people (and myself of course), walking along the passageways swaying first one way and then another. You would think we all started drinking at 6:00AM. I am sure some did.

 

With my wife not feeling good, we just got some room service instead of heading for Blu this morning. I love Blu, but she hasn't wanted to leave the cabin. Just mentioned the casino though and she perked up :) I have gone out for a stroll and some hot chocolate. Got to get my 10,000 steps in, weather or not. The hot chocolate at Cafe El Bacio was ok, not great, but they have these sugar free chocolate cookies that are divine. BTW, I do not drink coffee so no review there. Hate the taste, love the smell. Cafe El Bacio smelled great. Long line as always, but they were fast.

 

Last night, dinner in Blu was excellent. I had the ahi tuna and my DW had a filet mignon. Everything was good and service outstanding. We played a bit in the casino afterwards, neither winning or losing, but if you break eve, then you are ok. Miguel Washington was the main entertainment last night. Pretty funny, enjoyed his show. He will do an 18 and over show late tonight which I think we will catch. Elysium is the scheduled main entertainment tonight, but they may postpone until later in the cruise due to the waves.

 

Well, off to trivia and then the casino. Won't let this windy, wavy day stop my vacation!

[Russterus]

I did follow his review, yes it was good, but i do enjoy reading the opinions and perspectives of others :D

 

You said you are in Aqua Class, what cabin if you don't mind me asking. We also booked Aqua Class. We will be in 1521

 

Thanks again

 

We are on the starboard side, right near the elevators, 1546. My only concern was being near them might hear a lot of noise, but heard nothing. Very quiet. Our room has the couch by the sliding doors which I prefer, for no particular reason.

[Russterus]

Hi Russterus, any chance you can see if that's the same price onboard? I'm on in 2 weeks and if it's the same price onboard as it is online I'll wait until I'm onboard and use my OBC.

 

I will check.

[like2cruise]

I will check.

 

 

I appreciate you checking as well :)

[watchdiva]

We just got off Reflection yesterday....3 night specialty dinners were $109 per person onboard. Our only regret was that we didn't choose more nights. Definitely a great value for us. We did dinners in Lawn Club Grill, Murano, Qsine. Also ate at Porch for lunch $30 per person which included seafood tower and had lunch at Lawn Club, the gourmet burgers were fab!

 

 

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[UKPete71]

The ship is really rocking and rolling today! My DW is seasick. She usually does ok, but I have to say this is the roughest seas of any cruise we have been on. Maybe we were just lucky on the other ones. Our room is on deck 11 and the balcony is soaked from sea spray.

 

With my wife not feeling good, we just got some room service instead of heading for Blu this morning. I love Blu, but she hasn't wanted to leave the cabin.

I hope the sea settles and your wife feels better. When we had rough seas and a cabin on 8 my DW went down to the Passport bar and camped out there. A low deck midship helped her no end.

[like2cruise]

We just got off Reflection yesterday....3 night specialty dinners were $109 per person onboard. Our only regret was that we didn't choose more nights. Definitely a great value for us. We did dinners in Lawn Club Grill, Murano, Qsine. Also ate at Porch for lunch $30 per person which included seafood tower and had lunch at Lawn Club, the gourmet burgers were fab!

 

Thank you so much watchdiva. Did you pay $10 or $15pp for your Lawn Club burgers? I heard the prices were going up so I am just curious?