Celebrity reflection 10 night ultimate caribbean cruise - march 23, 2018

[Marvy Mare]

Off to Mayo Beach. We had seen the videos of planes flying low over this beach and were very excited to be here. In the distance you can see the island of Saba (thanks Froxfield).

 

The couple to the right of this photo are the California couple that were on our tour. Great dancers too!

 

Another person from Da Party Bus soon to be covered by a wave. I'm not sure if she enjoyed the party, but she had no fear of those wild waves. You can't tell in the above photos but the waves here were wild and more entertaining than the airplanes. We sat down on a break wall by the road to get organized. I took off my sandals and set my camera down. A huge wave came right up to us and grabbed the camera, my sandels and Ken's shoes. We managed to rescue them all. The camera is not waterproof. Not to be used under water, but it is water sealed and the lens I purchased with the camera happened to be on it. It was advertised as water sealed too. My old DSLR would not have survived.

 

You can see a water spot on this photo. The children in the photo were playing in the waves. Locals were yelling at them to 'Get those kids out of the water!'.

 

 

 

Waiting for the next big wave or maybe Da Plane Boss! There is also a waterspot on this photo.

[Nanatravel]

Maris, thanks for your great review and beautiful pictures. It was so nice to meet you and Ken at the Cruise Critic luncheon. Do you recall the name of the beach you posted in St. Maarten where Ken is taking off his shoes?

 

Hope to meet again someday. We booked the Silhouette for Jan. 2020.

 

OH, that probably wasn't Ken but the soldier.

[Marvy Mare]

Maris, thanks for your great review and beautiful pictures. It was so nice to meet you and Ken at the Cruise Critic luncheon. Do you recall the name of the beach you posted in St. Maarten where Ken is taking off his shoes?

 

Hope to meet again someday. We booked the Silhouette for Jan. 2020.

 

OH, that probably wasn't Ken but the soldier.

 

It wasn't Ken & me that you met at the luncheon. Kevin & his wife (Donna?) maybe? He did get there. We didn't know about it, but we may have met at the sail away up by the Sunset Bar. We stopped & talked to a few Cruise Critic people and it became so crowded and loud that we moved on & I think we were back on our own veranda for the actual sail away.

 

I don't know the name of the beach, but the BBQ was great.

 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

ST MAARTEN - 1st DAY (cont)

 

Here comes the first plane. Not a big plane but a plane all the same.

 

 

A little closer!

 

 

Looks like a kids paradise, if they stay out of that crazy surf. It wasn't a really windy day, so I can't imagine what it could be like. Looks like the building in the background could use some TLC as well.

 

Lots of brave souls. I was a chicken here. No offence, chickens!

[Marvy Mare]

Just a few more plane photos.

 

 

 

 

Later. Maris

[Marvy Mare]

I had been waiting to try to get an action shot of someone in the waves. Finally a series of photos of a woman with amazing balance who also happened to be a Reflection passenger and a fellow rider on Da Bus. She was one of the Aussies of course. I alway figured Aussie's were water people as well as being the life of the party. Grant, if you are still following along your friend might like to see these action shots.

 

 

There really is a person in there!

 

 

I'm still standing! Sounds like a great title for a song. Amazing!

 

Then it was back to the bus for the final leg of our journey back to the port. For his amazing dance skills, Grant got an extra shot of coconut rum. I did mention before that I couldn't get any photos of Grant dancing because his moves were just too fast for my camera.

 

 

[Marvy Mare]

Juicy. Our great tour guide. She even got out and helped with the BBQ and did some bartending when we stopped at Rosie's on the beach. As well as being a great party host, she had a wealth of information about the island. A number of the trip advisor reviews I read about Da Party Bus mentioned how great Juicy was.

 

 

The dancing continued with the fun and friendly couple from California ( on the right in this photo). We met a number of Californians on the cruise. All very laid back and sociable. Must be a coast thing. There was a large contingent of East Coast Canadians on the Reflection too and the people we met fit the friendly Maritimers stereotype. We do have to get there some day.

 

Back to port. We were dropped off at the sand lot parking lot just outside the cruise port. It was nice to wander back without having to worry about the sail away.

 

The Reflection is on the left and the Silhouette on the right. And I didn't think I'd have to spell check Silhouette on this trip.

 

Aren't they beautiful!

 

The Carnival Vista.

[Texed]

The Reflection is on the left and the Silhouette on the right. And I didn't think I'd have to spell check Silhouette on this trip. Aren't they beautiful!

 

They are beautiful. We had the good fortune of having all 4 Solstice Class ships side-by-side docked in St. Maarten on one of our cruises. :cool:

 

Thanks for posting. :)

[madcitymaven]

I just started to read your thread today and I'm very impressed, Maris. I love your photography and writing style. We're sailing on the Reflection in November with this same itinerary to celebrate my retirement. Thank you for giving me a sneak preview.

 

Randy

[Nanatravel]

Maris you were not a chicken to stay out of that surf. You were smart. People forget the power of those waves. We just lost a 4 year old NH boy on the Carolina shores who was just walking with his mother. The wave won. So sad for this family who lost their only child on vacation. I'm an ocean lover having been raised on the New England shores, but know when to stay out of the water.

 

Great Maho shots, too.

[Marvy Mare]

Juicy. Our great tour guide. She even got out and helped with the BBQ and did some bartending when we stopped at Rosie's on the beach. As well as being a great party host, she had a wealth of information about the island. A number of the trip advisor reviews I read about Da Party Bus mentioned how great Juicy was.

 

 

The dancing continued with the fun and friendly couple from California ( on the right in this photo). We met a number of Californians on the cruise. All very laid back and sociable. Must be a coast thing. There was a large contingent of East Coast Canadians on the Reflection too and the people we met fit the friendly Maritimers stereotype. We do have to get there some day.

 

Back to port. We were dropped off at the sand lot parking lot just outside the cruise port. It was nice to wander back without having to worry about the sail away.

 

The Reflection is on the left and the Silhouette on the right. And I didn't think I'd have to spell check Silhouette on this trip.

 

Aren't they beautiful!

 

The Carnival Vista.

 

Oops. The California couple were on the left. Along with my spelling, parking & penmanship issues, I have trouble with left & right.

Edited May 7, 2018 by Marvy Mare
correction

[Marvy Mare]

They are beautiful. We had the good fortune of having all 4 Solstice Class ships side-by-side docked in St. Maarten on one of our cruises. :cool:

 

Thanks for posting. :)

 

St. Maarten & 4 Solstice Ships! A photographer’s dream. :D

[Marvy Mare]

I just started to read your thread today and I'm very impressed, Maris. I love your photography and writing style. We're sailing on the Reflection in November with this same itinerary to celebrate my retirement. Thank you for giving me a sneak preview.

 

Randy[/quote

 

Retirement! The best job ever. What a great way to celebrate! Congratulations & enjoy!!

[Marvy Mare]

Maris you were not a chicken to stay out of that surf. You were smart. People forget the power of those waves. We just lost a 4 year old NH boy on the Carolina shores who was just walking with his mother. The wave won. So sad for this family who lost their only child on vacation. I'm an ocean lover having been raised on the New England shores, but know when to stay out of the water.

 

Great Maho shots, too.

 

Hi again Bev

 

Those waves were scary. There were young children running into the waves. Locals were yelling at their parents to get them out. The adults seemed to be able to handle it but yes, it looked very dangerous for little people.

Maris

[Slugguts]

Hi Maris

Still following thank you- will pass on the photos for all us aussies to see

You might get banned from cruise critic for posting my dance moves hahaha

Cheers

Grant

[Marvy Mare]

Hi Maris

Still following thank you- will pass on the photos for all us aussies to see

You might get banned from cruise critic for posting my dance moves hahaha

Cheers

Grant

 

My thoughts exactly. The California kids had some wicked moves too. This is a family rated site. :')

[Marvy Mare]

ST. MAARTEN - Thurs. March 29 (cont)

 

More photos of the Reflection and the Silhouette.

 

 

 

We wandered around the ship for awhile and then settled down with a cold beverage on our veranda. We had spoken to the next neighbours on both sides on a few occasions. The couple on one side were from Sweden. They also had there three teenage? children with them. The teens had their own interior cabin on a lower deck. I bet they enjoyed their independence. They did visit their parents frequently. We were wondering at one point how all those people fit in a cabin the size of ours. Turns out that they didn't.

On the other side was a couple from New York (the city, I think). We met them on our very first day on the ship as we were heading to the Muster Drill. The gentleman & I were both carrying our cameras. He said "What's your rig!" I wasn't sure if he was being rude, but then realized that he was looking at the camera. I told him that it was new to me, and not a full frame and I was still learning how to use it. He had a fancy badancy full frame Canon. I thought, 'What are the odds, sitting next to a professional photographer on the plane down who loved to talk photography and rooming next to another camera buff.' Anyway, they did tell us that they had been on more than 60 cruises. I don't know if it was that we were cruise newbies, I had a crop-sensor, was a fairly green photographer or that it was a Nikon, but he never spoke to me again. His wife was quite friendly and would often speak to us when we were on our balconies. I leaned around this afternoon & tried one more time, telling him the story about almost losing my camera to the waves. He wasn't impressed or interested. Oh well, I tried. The friendly wife also told us that her husband had taken over 2000? photos. I only took around 1000 and whittled them down to around 500 when I got home. I know that the experienced Cruise Critic reporters take a lot more photos than I did. I do wish I had had my camera with me when we wandered the ship. Actually I probably should have carried it with me most of the time. I've got two years to think about it.

This epic (epic for me anyway) is soon coming to a close. One more day on land then heading north to Fort Lauderdale.:(

 

These people were directly across and one floor up from us on the Silhouette. We didn't manage to find the people doing the cabin crawl, so this is the only view we had of a suite. Notice the hot tub on deck. The large deck would be amazing & the hot tub on an Alaska trip would be amazing. We have a hot tub at home, but close it in the summer. Don't need to be any warmer.

 

I liked the reflection of the Reflection. For the 2020 cruise that we booked on this cruise we were originally given a room on floor 12. Dawned on me when we got home that it would be just under the public areas and I managed to change to a lower floor near the back of the ship. Already the rooms in the hump area for this cruise here booked for 2020. Travel agency?

[Marvy Mare]

I think the people that we met from the Silhouette said that all aboard was 4pm but the ship didn't leave until about 5:30.

 

 

People that were invited on the heli deck for the sail away. We got one of those invites and I forgot to go. Oh well. Next time.

 

 

Now we had a view of the Carnival Vista. It looked like people were having fun. I imagine there were a lot of young people on that ship.

 

 

Looked like a bit too much fun for me.

[Marvy Mare]

The Silhouette still backing up.

 

Now that's a view!

 

Into the sunset heading back to Fort Lauderdale at 5:50pm. Official sunset at 6:25.

 

At 5:55 the Vista started to move on out.

 

The sky is a little blown out in this photo and yes I did try to fix this in Lightroom. In a situation like this I think one of those filters might work.

 

The Silhouette and the Vista silhouetted!

[Marvy Mare]

The private yacht returning from a day at sea.

 

Wouldn't you love a tour of that boat? I wonder who it belongs to?

 

For the first time on the cruise, we went to the Oceanview Cafe for dinner. It was nice to sit outside and enjoy our meal with a view of Phillipsburg.

After dinner we went for a walk around the Cruise Port. Everything was closed. I wonder if anyone went out for the evening. The show at the theatre that night was Ryan Joyce. I don't think we went. The name doesn't ring a bell.

 

The next day was the last port day of our cruise. Sad that it was almost over.

[long time lurker]

I liked the reflection of the Reflection. For the 2020 cruise that we booked on this cruise we were originally given a room on floor 12. Dawned on me when we got home that it would be just under the public areas and I managed to change to a lower floor near the back of the ship. Already the rooms in the hump area for this cruise here booked for 2020. Travel agency?

 

Hi Marvy-

I am enjoying your review. I found you after your post to the roll call for the 2020 cruise. I feel we have some things in common as my favorite time on board is the morning while the ship is empty. Also, I had typed a reply to you and it somehow disappeared. Just a note on the “hump” cabin. We scored a hump concierge on deck 9 while on the March 2nd sailing. I have been using a similarly placed “hump” on deck 11, Starboard to check prices. It sits next to suites. You might want to take a look.

[long time lurker]

My photography skills (or equipment) do not match yours, but as you said you enjoy clouds I wanted to share my favorite from our March 2 cruise with you. The weather was beautiful, except for a downpour for about 20 minutes on the last sea day. My husband, a meteorologist, saw this cloud on the horizon and hustled us inside. I was able to get a good photo with my phone of the Carnival ship heading the other way.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Marvy Mare]

Hi Marvy-

I am enjoying your review. I found you after your post to the roll call for the 2020 cruise. I feel we have some things in common as my favorite time on board is the morning while the ship is empty. Also, I had typed a reply to you and it somehow disappeared. Just a note on the “hump” cabin. We scored a hump concierge on deck 9 while on the March 2nd sailing. I have been using a similarly placed “hump” on deck 11, Starboard to check prices. It sits next to suites. You might want to take a look.

 

Thanks. I will take a look at that. We did book a concierge cabin on deck 9 I think. It’s at the back port side of the ship but also has a larger balcony. I did like being near the stairs though.

See you on deck 15 at 5:30 am March 3, 2020.

Maris

Edited May 9, 2018 by Marvy Mare
Addition

[Marvy Mare]

My photography skills (or equipment) do not match yours, but as you said you enjoy clouds I wanted to share my favorite from our March 2 cruise with you. The weather was beautiful, except for a downpour for about 20 minutes on the last sea day. My husband, a meteorologist, saw this cloud on the horizon and hustled us inside. I was able to get a good photo with my phone of the Carnival ship heading the other way.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I love those clouds. Amazing photo. So dramatic. Must be interesting married to a meteorologist. I’m fascinated by the weather. Thanks so much for sharing. See you in 2020. I haven’t added that to my signature yet.

[Marvy Mare]

ST. MAARTEN - Friday, March 30, 2018

Good Friday

 

High 80, Low 74, mostly sunny - perfect

Our last All Aboard 5:30pm

 

I was up early again. Getting a little tired of this. Anyway, I had a book to finish. I'm an avid reader, mostly midnight reading. I volunteer and borrow books from our beautiful local library. For this trip I had a few borrowed from friend books for beach or poolside reading, a couple of books on my iPad that I bought and an Overdrive book. I didn't get nearly as much reading done as I planned, as the poolside and beach side people watching was just too good and I was unable to concentrate on reading. I imagine they have Overdrive or something like it in the States. It's a free service through the library where you can borrow books on-line. Generally the book you want is not available right away, so you go on hold list. I usually have at least 10 books on hold. This story is getting too long. As I said, I'm an avid reader, not necessarily a discerning reader. I do like 'good literature' but I'm also a sucker for thrillers and mysteries. I was reading a downloaded mystery. I had only one day left to read it and no way to renew. The book was downloaded so I didn't know if the Overdrive virtual librarians could find me to take it back, but I didn't know 'who did it'. For the first time on the cruise, I skipped my morning walk to read. I did climb the stairs a few times for our morning coffee.

 

Morning view from our veranda.

 

In the middle of this photo you can see the pontoons of a sailboat with no sailboat attached.

 

A close up of the yacht. The sailboat behind it looks pretty nice too.

 

I settled down on the veranda with coffee, cookies (saved from the day before), this magnificent view and the last two chapters of my book. Alas, the virtual librarians found me. My book was gone. Not sure how all that technology works - I had no WIFI, just the cellular service when in port and I had cellular turned off for the app. Oh well, it's back on hold and by the time I get the book again, I'll probably have to reread.

 

As usual we had breakfast at the Oceanview Cafe. I ordered my regular (I had one everyday) egg white omelette. And then it happened! I mentioned my 'Starbucks name' earlier in the review. Maris is an unusual name and servers never get it right. I've only met one other and that was 40 years ago. Another story - I'm a little long winded this morning, but it's fairly short. People will sometimes remark that the only time they have heard the name Maris, was on the show Frasier. Of course Frasier was the characters first name, not last but still my maiden name was Fraser.

 

Anyway, back to 2018 - I gave my Starbucks name - Mary & then Along Comes Mary. A real one. She also ordered an egg white omelette but I listened carefully and she added jalapeños (thank you spell check). When Mary was called we both rushed up. I said 'I'm Mary too, but not really'. :'). I explained the 'Starbucks Name' to a couple of gentlemen waiting behind me. They were quite amused and began making up names for themselves. When I hear people ordering something and having to repeat their name a few times, I'd like to say - Just make one up. Of course make sure that you can remember it. That's my Cruise Critic suggestion for today.

We could see the beach from our veranda. It was Good Friday and we were told that everything would be closed in town due to the Holy Day, but we could see bright coloured umbrellas going up on the beach. There is a water taxi that goes in from the cruise port but we decided to walk in.

I think they even sell diamonds on it.

 

We decided to walk in. More chance for photos too while the morning light was good. There was another gorgeous yacht behind the one I keep getting pictures of. I pulled out my camera, went to take a shot and nothing happened. Tried again - 'card error'. I had over 900 photos on my XQD card. The SD card I was downloading daily onto my iPad and formatting. I know, I should have saved the images on SD card and used another one every few days. I have multiple SD cards. Just being lazy.

Needless to say I didn't enjoy the walk to the beach, even though it was a perfect day. Ken even said empathetically 'All you are doing is worrying about that camera.' He was right. I had dropped it in the waves the day before. Maybe it was having a delayed shock reaction.

 

Coffee time at home. Until later