Reflection - Review - Ultimate Caribbean - April 2, 2018 - April 13, 2018

[Noreen411]

Great review, I’m following along!

 

 

 

Thank you

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

We were hungry for lunch but didn’t want anything too heavy so we ordered sushi to go from Sushi on 5.

 

 

 

While waiting fo the sushi to be ready we wandered around a bit.

 

We looked at the menu posted outside Tuscan Grill. It looks very good.

 

We stopped at Cafe Al Bacio and I wanted to try one of the iced teas. I wasn’t crazy about it.

 

 

We picked up our sushi and went back to the cabin to eat. It was very good and very fresh tasting.

 

We ordered Omakase (sashimi). The only piece we weren’t crazy about was the octopus - it was very chewy.

 

 

We also ordered an Eel Dragon Roll

 

 

We shared the food from the sushi place. Luckily we had forks and knives in the cabin since the pieces of sashimi would have been difficult to cut with just chopsticks.

 

When we stopped at Cafe Al Bacio we also picked up a vanilla eclair and chocolate tart. Both pastries were mini sized so perfect for our sweet treat after lunch without being too big.

 

 

Hanging out in our cabin almost makes you forget you are on a ship. It’s more like a little apartment.

 

We read on the balcony for a bit.

 

Walter stopped by. We asked if we used the wrong laundry bag which we did. He showed us the bag in the walk in closet we should use instead. But he said he’ll make sure the laundry is done properly.

 

He also said he will change any dining for us if we need to make any changes. We must have mentioned that we cancelled last night’s dinner and rescheduled it.

 

He also said that if we want to meet with the future cruise people, he’ll set up a private meeting with them for us.

 

 

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Edited May 6, 2018 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

We went to Bingo in Celebrity Central. There was a huge line to buy bingo cards.

 

While waiting in line we met a nice couple on their first cruise, Jamie and Doug. They told me about a google trip apps for the phone that makes it easy to find your way around the various ports.

 

They also showed us a picture station where you can take a picture of yourself with a ship background and email it to yourself. They mentioned there were a few of these around the ship. We never saw the others but didn’t really go looking for them. It wasn’t working right now so we came back later to try it out.

 

I don’t remember when exactly we did it, but the picture came out adorable, except for the people in the background coming down the stairs.

 

 

We tried it again another day and this picture also came out cute, but I think the first one was more adorable. I love Scott’s expression in the first one.

 

 

Once we got into Celebrity Central for Bingo it was very crowded. We sat in the very back. There were 4 games played. The payouts were usually just a few hundred dollars. The final game “cover all” nobody won $40,000 since you needed to cover all the boxes in 46 numbers called.

 

 

We stopped at the future cruise area and picked up a few brochures.

 

We walked outside and ran into Rich and Eileen so hung out with them for a while.

 

Later we went back to the cabin to shower and change for the evening.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

We had dinner at Tuscan Grille

 

 

When the host came over to the podium, they knew who we were already and greeted us by name, before we even gave our cabin number.

 

We were promptly seated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

They have interesting knives here that sat with the serrated side facing up. Rather than just laying flat on the table. Again, the little things I’m amused by.

 

 

Our beverages were brought. Soda for me. Mer Soleil wine for Scott. And Pellegrino for both of us.

 

Our bread basket was brought over and someone else (not our waiter) came and chopped fresh basil into oil to dip the bread.

 

 

 

The waiter suggested we order appetizers, a main dish, and a small order of pasta as a side. He said the pasta is made fresh.

 

For appetizers we both ordered the crab cake. It was very good. Among the best crab cakes I have ever had. It was made with real crab and not a lot of filler.

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

Scott had the Rib Eye Steak.

 

 

His pasta side was the Chicken Parmigiana which came with spaghetti. He loved it. The sauce was great. He asked what was in it and they used smoked tomatoes.

 

 

I had the Filet Mignon. The filet was delicious.

 

 

My side was the rigatoni lobster Alfredo. I wasn’t thrilled with the pasta but I don’t like Alfredo sauce. I probably should have picked a different pasta. The waiter said this was the most popular one so I figured I’d give it a try.

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

We were brought the dessert menu.

 

 

 

 

 

Scott had the Tiramisu and said it was delicious.

 

 

I had the Zabaglione Strawberry Shortcake. It was just OK. The cake part was kind of dry.

 

 

We really enjoyed our dinner here. It was very cozy and comfortable. And the food was very good. We will definitely add another night here for dinner.

 

I am even thinking I may want to change my birthday night dinner from Murano to Tuscan Grille.

 

After trying a few of the specialty restaurants now, we were both commenting on how the food was head and shoulders above what we’ve had at specialty restaurants on Royal Caribbean. Not that the restaurants were bad on Royal Caribbean, they weren’t and we enjoyed them. What we’ve had so far on Celebrity has just been fantastic.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

We went to the theater and saw the Elysium show at 9pm.

 

 

The show was sort of Cirque De Soleil ish. It was pretty well done. Of course you can’t really compare it to Cirque de Soleil, but taking the comparison away, we enjoyed it.

 

After the show we hung out with Rich and Eileen for a bit. They have been having most of their dinners in the OceanView Cafe (the buffet). They like the flexibility of getting what they want and how much.

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

Scott and I went to the Martini Bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bar itself that has an ice top was packed. But we found an open table and a waiter came right over to take our Martini order.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Thursday 4/5/18 - At Sea - Continued

 

Scott had the Blue Wave Martini.

 

 

I had the Banana Split Martini. It really tasted like a banana split in a glass.

 

 

We went to the casino until they closed around 1am.

 

Back in the suite we continued watching the movie Wolf of Wall Street since we fell asleep watching it last night.

 

We received a reminder card for our Lawn Club Grill dinner on Friday. That works for us but I thought we had the Porch booked which we were thinking of changing to the Lawn Club Grill anyway.

 

 

 

I’m surprised we didn’t receive a printout of our itinerary (what restaurants we have booked type of thing). I guess since things change as you go along, it may just be wasted paper. I make a little itinerary in Excel that shows each day, what island we are at and the times or if we’re at sea, and it’s color coded for restaurants, activities, etc. I brought it with me and am glad I did. I would refer to it often and also just write in any changes as we went along.

 

This picture is from before we went so none of the changes we made on board are written in yet.

 

 

 

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[plucasana]

Still following your excellent review. Thanks a lot for your attention to detail !

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Still following your excellent review. Thanks a lot for your attention to detail !

 

 

Gesendet von iPad mit Tapatalk Pro

 

 

 

Thank you

 

 

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[akowilm]

Enjoying this review immensely, even though I've gained at least 5 pounds so far! More, please!!:D:D:D

[Noreen411]

Enjoying this review immensely, even though I've gained at least 5 pounds so far! More, please!!:D[emoji3][emoji3]

 

 

 

Thank you for the kind words, glad you are enjoying it.

 

I enjoy writing them since it helps me re-live the trip.

 

 

 

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[SF]

Noreen, thanks for taking the time to write a review and for all the great photos. We've been on Reflection before and viewing your thread has brought back great memories. Plus we have an upcoming cruise on Reflection again so it is also getting us excited about that. Sounds like you both had a great cruise.

Do you happen to know if Elite cruisers are still getting priority tendering?

[wendyam76]

Noreen, thank you for letting us relive our trip as we were on the same sailing! SF, yes Elite still get priority tendering - we got a phone call the night before Grand Cayman from Melissa explaining it all.

Wendy

[Noreen411]

Noreen, thanks for taking the time to write a review and for all the great photos. We've been on Reflection before and viewing your thread has brought back great memories. Plus we have an upcoming cruise on Reflection again so it is also getting us excited about that. Sounds like you both had a great cruise.

 

Do you happen to know if Elite cruisers are still getting priority tendering?

 

 

 

Hi

 

It was a great trip.

 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

Enjoy your upcoming trip

 

I see someone else responded on the Elite tendering question for you.

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Noreen, thank you for letting us relive our trip as we were on the same sailing! SF, yes Elite still get priority tendering - we got a phone call the night before Grand Cayman from Melissa explaining it all.

Wendy

 

 

 

Happy to do so. Hope you enjoyed the trip.

 

Thank you for responding on the Elite tendering process

 

 

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[Marvy Mare]

Wednesday 4/4/18 - Grand Cayman - Continued

 

We took a taxi to Royal Palms at 7 Mile Beach.

 

 

 

We were set up with chairs ($12 each) and an umbrella ($15).

 

 

We took turns going to the bathroom/changing room to put on our bathing suits. The bathroom/changing room was nice and clean.

 

The beach got crowded pretty quickly.

 

 

 

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We are doing a similar itinerary on the Reflection in 2020. I know it’s 2 years out, but never to early to plan. I was thinking of just staying on board in Grand Cayman. We’ve been there & don’t have priority anything so wouldn’t get off early but maybe go to Royal Palms if we do get off. Would you recommend it.

[Noreen411]

We are doing a similar itinerary on the Reflection in 2020. I know it’s 2 years out, but never to early to plan. I was thinking of just staying on board in Grand Cayman. We’ve been there & don’t have priority anything so wouldn’t get off early but maybe go to Royal Palms if we do get off. Would you recommend it.

 

 

 

Hi

 

Yes, I thought it was nice. The water was beautiful.

 

There were a lot of ships in port that day so it was crowded.

 

I would go back there again.

 

I am also reading your review and feel like I am right there with you. You are doing a great job.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Celebrity Today for Friday 4/6/18

 

 

 

 

 

The flyer that was in the Celebrity Today

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Cartagena Colombia Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Friday 4/6/18 - Cartagena Colombia

 

We went to the gym around 6:30am.

 

We switched our normal vacation gym/get ready routine today and I went back to the suite first to shower and get dressed while Scott did a longer workout.

 

Once we were both ready we went to Luminae for breakfast.

 

 

 

The pastries from the pastry basket are so good. Mine was very messy. I had a croissant with caramel sauce stripes on it. Our waiter brought me a wet towel to wipe my hands when he saw me making a mess.

 

 

Scott had a sticky pecan bun, but he didn’t make a mess. He used a fork and knife to eat it.

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Friday 4/6/18 - Cartagena Colombia - Continued

 

I had French toast with the berry compote on the side. I like to dip my French toast. I don’t like it soggy if they poured the compote on it. I also had the kielbasa sausage.

 

 

Scott had hard boiled eggs and a bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese, etc. This was presented very nicely.

 

 

 

We stepped outside onto the deck and the weather is a bit dreary.

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Off Topic Comment...

 

I wasn’t quite sure where to include this so it’s getting it’s own little post.

 

The public bathrooms on this ship are so nice. There are real cloth towels to dry your hands. There are also paper towels to open the door. And there is almost always an attendant in the bathroom cleaning or stocking things. In addition the attendants are always very friendly.

 

 

 

 

 

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