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

[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

Our next stop was at a lighthouse.

 

 

 

The views were very nice. It seems like throughout our tour so far, there are tons of nice views all over the island.

 

 

 

There was a restaurant and we were able to use the bathrooms here.

 

My ears were getting sunburned. My hair covers my ears so I never think about it, but I guess with the wind blowing my hair was blowing all over and they got sunburned. Scott put some sunscreen on my ears for me. He always puts it on his head and ears since he doesn’t have hair.

 

Back on the road we continued our tour.

 

 

I tried to get a shot of the Kite Surfing (I think that is what it is called)

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

Our next stop was an Aruba Sign (a different sign from the one we saw walking around yesterday). Everyone took pictures with the sign.

 

 

 

 

Below are the 3 trikes in our group (we are the silver one in front) . The Red/Orange truck to the side is the tour guide’s truck.

 

 

Our guide was taking pictures with his camera throughout the trip of all of us. I thought they would sell them to us but it turns out they put them on their facebook page. We had to sign a release OK’ing them to use our pictures.

 

Our guide also had a cooler with cold bottled water for us if we were thirsty.

 

In NYC there are Citibikes all over. It’s a bike sharing program where you can rent the bike in one place, ride it wherever you need to go, and leave it at a different Citibike location. Aruba has their own version of Citibikes. I didn’t get close enough to catch the name they use since I took the picture as we were moving.

 

 

We went through a pretty traffic circle with all sorts of flags.

 

 

 

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Edited May 13, 2018 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

Our next stop was Mangel Halto Beach.

 

It was pretty quiet and peaceful at this beach. There were not many people here.

 

There was an indoor bar where we could buy drinks and we could also use the bathrooms here if needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

Still at Mangel Halto Beach, most of the people took off their shoes and dipped their feet.

 

The water was warm and you were able to walk pretty far with the water still being very shallow.

 

 

 

 

After we left the beach we drove past a plane that was in someone’s backyard.

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 13, 2018 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

Our last stop was the Casibari Rock Formation.

 

 

 

We climbed up to the top. To get to the top you had to climb through as well as over things. This was fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

When we were ready to climb down, we went a different way. There was a staircase to walk down. I guess if you didn’t want to climb through the rocks you could have walked up the staircase to the top too.

 

 

 

 

We headed back to the Trikes office to drop off the trikes and then were driven back to the pier in the van.

 

We highly recommend Trikes Aruba. It was a great way to get an overview of the island and a unique way to travel around. We had a lot of fun.

 

We took a quick walk to the Hard Rock Cafe (right near the pier) to get a pin. We were surprised that it was just the souvenir shop; there wasn’t a Hard Rock Cafe restaurant.

 

We went back through the terminal browsing in a few shops and were back on the ship about 1:15

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

We went to the Porch for lunch.

 

 

We shared the tuna tartare appetizer.

 

 

We each ordered a lobster roll.

 

 

Scott got his with no bread since I end up only eating half the bread anyway, I gave the other half to him.

 

 

We didn’t have dessert at the porch.

 

We are really enjoying lunch at the Porch.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

When we left the Porch, we walked around the deck for a while. It’s so pretty out.

 

 

We stopped at Cafe Al Bacio and picked up Vanilla Eclairs, Capuccino for Scott, and I tried a Caffe Shakerato (iced coffee beverage) and brought them back to our cabin.

 

 

 

We watched a move, Snowman, in the cabin and had our little dessert. The movie was a bit disturbing.

 

After the movie we went in the outside jacuzzi on the balcony. It was so nice to hang out in the private jacuzzi as we were sailing. We spent a while out on the balcony between the jacuzzi and lounge chair.

 

 

We showered and got dressed for the evening.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

We had dinner at Sushi on 5 at 7pm.

 

 

 

I like how the chopsticks had a little “rock” to rest them on.

 

 

Scott had Sake. They had him try a few different ones. He chose the Dasani 50 Juneau Daiginjo. Our waiter said that was his favorite as well. I stuck with my usual Sprite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba Continued

 

For appetizers we ordered two different ones that we shared.

 

First was the Chicken Ginger Gyoza. These were good. They were similar to the dumplings we get at home.

 

 

We also had the Homemade Lobster and Shrimp wontons. These were also good and were the better of the two appetizers if I was to rank them.

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

For our entree we ordered a few items to share.

 

First was the Baked Scallop Roll. This was the waiter’s suggestion. We originally were planning to get the California Roll. He said this is a California roll but with scallops on top. I am not always a fan of California rolls so had to ask if they use the fake crab sticks first (I don’t like those). They don’t use those so we went ahead with this roll. This was the surprise standout. We both loved it.

 

 

Next was the Spicy Tuna and Shrimp Tempura Roll. This was very good too.

 

 

We also had Sashimi - tuna, tataki, salmon, and yellowtail. Our least favorite was the Tataki (I think that’s what it was called). It was triangular in shape. We liked the other items much more. It was funny since we used our chopsticks to cut the pieces in half to make it easier to share.

 

 

Everything was so fresh tasting.

 

 

We skipped dessert since we were full. And we were thinking maybe we would go to Lawn Club Grill for a chocolate chip cookie dessert later.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

Scott told me that during one of his trips to Michael’s Club and speaking to the concierges about some ideas of things to do on my birthday, they included us in the group getting invited to a Bridge Tour and lunch with the Captain. We will get an official invite in the cabin.

 

He remembered I had a massage booked but didn’t know what time. They overlap so I will cancel the massage - I can get a massage at home or another day.

 

We stopped at Michael’s to cancel the massage. I didn’t reschedule it but figured if there was time I could always try to fit it in. Or I can just wait until I go home and get a massage at the spa I normally go to.

 

We went to the theater for the show at 9pm. Steven Ragatz - “Under the Umbrella - Life is a Circus”. This was an OK show.

 

 

We went to the Martini Bar after the show.

 

I had a Cherry Martini. Not my favorite of the various ones I’ve tried, but it was OK.

 

 

Scott had a Blue Wave Martini.

 

 

We hung out with Rich and Eileen outside for a bit. We told them about our adventures on the Trikes. They rented ATVs and drove all over Aruba on them and had a blast. That sounds like a lot of fun since they were on their own rather than part of a tour.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Sunday 4/8/18 - Aruba - Continued

 

We went to the casino.

 

When I was playing 3 card poker at the table, I hit 4 of a kind on the 6 card bonus bet. I had a pair in my hand and the dealer pulled the other two of them. The payout is not that much, 50 to 1. It was $250 since I had $5 on the bonus bet. At land based casinos that payout is much higher, usually a set dollar amount.

 

I played some poker slots and Scott continued playing at the tables.

 

I left the casino a little before Scott.

 

When I got back to the cabin, my card didn’t work. When I looked it wasn’t mine. It had someone else’s name on it.

 

I went to Guest Services and they quickly got me a new one. They also checked to see if there were any fraudulent charges; there weren’t any.

 

Scott panicked when I wasn’t in the cabin when he got there and he was calling me. How cute is that?

 

Scott was hungry so we ordered room service. Pizza and cookies.

 

 

 

 

We started watching the movie Horrible Bosses but fell asleep partway through.

 

We had our reminder for Le Petit Chef at QSine.

 

 

We also received info for luggage valet. We are definitely signing up for this. It’s a great idea. Once we leave our bags in the hallway the last night of the cruise, we won’t have to move them around or anything until we see them when we land back home in New Jersey. All we’ll have to worry about when we leave the ship is our carry on bags.

 

 

 

 

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[maggieq]

Noreen

 

Loving your reviews. We finally tried the anthem last October but I love my oasis class ships. We are trying celebrity again in a couple of weeks based on a phenomenal deal. However, due to having to fly a lot for work am thinking that after this year we might go back to Bayonne. Love the stress free embarkation and the parking vs. flying when getting of the ship....well that’s just priceless.

[Noreen411]

Noreen

 

Loving your reviews. We finally tried the anthem last October but I love my oasis class ships. We are trying celebrity again in a couple of weeks based on a phenomenal deal. However, due to having to fly a lot for work am thinking that after this year we might go back to Bayonne. Love the stress free embarkation and the parking vs. flying when getting of the ship....well that’s just priceless.

 

 

 

Thank you for the positive feedback.

 

I agree you can’t beat the convenience of cruising right from Bayonne. I had a back to back cruise on Harmony booked for February 2019, but Scott’s favorite ship is Anthem so I booked another 12 night on Anthem for February 2019 and cancelled Harmony.

 

I was on Oasis in 2010 and really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to trying Harmony or Symphony hopefully soon.

 

Now that we enjoyed our Celebrity cruise I want to work another Celebrity cruise in too.

 

 

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[Longboysfan]

4 pages completed great that you had the pictures and short informationals.

[Marvy Mare]

Hi Noreen

When reading more of your review in the middle of the night (my best reading time), I realized that you boarded the Reflection a few hours after we got off. Lucky that we both missed the fire at the port. Also, we were in 1245, so just a few doors down. We were in a regular room and the fancy suites, like yours started 2 doors down. We didn’t have a butler of course but our room attendant was also Soubash.

Enjoying your review and I’ll have to keep note of your shore activities for our future cruise. All those great photos of the Reflection bring back great memories.

Maris

[Noreen411]

4 pages completed great that you had the pictures and short informationals.

 

 

 

Thank you

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Hi Noreen

When reading more of your review in the middle of the night (my best reading time), I realized that you boarded the Reflection a few hours after we got off. Lucky that we both missed the fire at the port. Also, we were in 1245, so just a few doors down. We were in a regular room and the fancy suites, like yours started 2 doors down. We didn’t have a butler of course but our room attendant was also Soubash.

Enjoying your review and I’ll have to keep note of your shore activities for our future cruise. All those great photos of the Reflection bring back great memories.

Maris

 

 

 

Hi

Yes, we were lucky to miss that fire in the terminal. I heard it held people up for a long time.

 

Soubash, that sounds right. I am terrible with names.

 

Glad you are enjoying the review.

 

I have been reading yours as well. I laughed when I read that maybe your husband would read it. I have been writing reviews for years. Not just here on cruise critic, but also on Disney (that’s our other favorite vacation). My husband has never read any of them. I tell him I am doing them and tell him about it, but I haven’t gotten him to read one yet.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Celebrity Today for Monday 4/9/18

 

 

 

 

 

Inserts from the Celebrity Today

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Curaçao Map

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Monday 4/9/18 - Curacao

 

We went to the gym at 6:45am. Being a port day, it wasn’t crowded at all.

 

We went back to the cabin to shower and get dressed.

 

We took a few pictures from the balcony. We are already docked.

 

 

 

We had breakfast at Blu around 9am. We wanted to try something different.

 

Looking at the menu, the yogurt parfait (Blu Parfait) sounds like the one we’ve been getting from room service. It’s really good. But I will get something different today.

 

 

 

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Monday 4/9/18 - Curacao - Continued

 

The pastry tray was brought over and these were very good. We enjoyed the pastries at Luminae and the ones we had in Blu were just as good. I think they were probably the same ones in both restaurants.

 

I tried an apple twist.

 

 

Scott had a chocolate croissant.

 

 

For breakfast Scott had French Toast with sausage. He enjoyed it.

 

 

I had Vanilla Pancakes with Sausage. The pancakes had a bit of an odd consistency. The vanilla was only in certain bites. But it tasted pretty good.

 

 

I was debating trying the the mango smoothie and Scott said I probably wouldn’t like it. The waiter overheard and brought me a half portion to try. How nice was that. Scott was right; I didn’t like it so I stuck with my Coke.

 

 

Overall, breakfast at Blu was OK.

 

 

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[Noreen411]

Monday 4/9/18 - Curacao - Continued

 

We went back to the cabin to get our stuff together.

 

We were off the ship by about 10am.

 

 

We took a cab to Mambo Beach. The cab was $7 per person since there was another couple who also wanted to go there.

 

 

The driver will come back for us at 1pm.

 

They don’t have umbrellas to rent but there are trees and some Palapas. When we asked about renting lounge chairs, we were told to just pick the ones we want and they will come around later to collect the money.

 

The best seats under the Palapas were already taken.

 

We found chairs under a tree and got settled in.

 

 

I changed into my bathing suit in the nearby bathroom. Scott wore his bathing suit so didn’t need to change.

 

We went in the water. It was very cold getting into the water. Once you were in, it was nice.

 

 

We did some swimming and some snorkeling. We brought our snorkel masks from home with us. I have a full face snorkel and Scott has a regular traditional snorkel.

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 18, 2018 by Noreen411

[Noreen411]

Monday 4/9/18 - Curacao - Continued

 

Scott took some pictures with the underwater camera while snorkeling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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