CHICAGOPAUL - LIVE!!!!!!! CRUISE BLOG - November 5th Celebrity Reflection!!!!!!!!!

[chicagopaul]

26 minutes ago, aidanht said:

We will be joining you on the Reflection today and are sitting in our hotel room trying to decide what time to arrive at the port, so we will appreciate your report when you arrive.  😀

 

We have arrived and are sitting in the suite area waiting to board. No lines at all. Very easy! 

 

 

[chicagopaul]

[chicagopaul]

We’re currently in the suite waiting area. The coast guard is conducting a drill and inspection so we just need to wait for that to complete. Hopefully it is soon! I want my drink at the bar! 

[dmp223]

Just dropping by to say hello (again)... Looking forward to my daily read for the next 10 days! Keep on enjoying 🥂

[sheltielover1973]

yea! love your live trip reports! following!  🙂

[chicagopaul]

We are on board and at the sunset bar! Drink ordered. 

 

 

[MisterMet]

Enjoy!

[Sadebud]

Hi Paul.  I've followed you before, but normally I am a "lurker".  I am following this one as we have friends aboard.  If you see Roy and Jennifer from Manchester, UK, tell them hello from Tracy and Tom.  They are elite plus too, and can be found in the Martini Bar often!  

 

Bon Voyage!!!

 

Tracy

[ryansmousehouse]

We're on board too... Lunch in luminae😀

[chicagopaul]

5 minutes ago, ryansmousehouse said:

We're on board too... Lunch in luminae😀

 

We are headed there in a few minutes. Thrilled that Milton aka Jingle Bells is on board as is Made from martini bar and Irena the bar manager. 

[ryansmousehouse]

👍 enjoy.....

 

[Orator]

Enjoy your cruise!

[chicagopaul]

Cheers everyone! Cabin announcements were made around 2ish I believe. I’ve already uploaded a tour of our cabin. I’ve had multiple cocktails so please excuse any slurring of the words. 

 

 

 

[brockmom]

1 hour ago, chicagopaul said:

 

We are headed there in a few minutes. Thrilled that Milton aka Jingle Bells is on board as is Made from martini bar and Irena the bar manager. 

 

We are following you again Paul.....we board Dec 7 th....and can’t wait.

love Milton ! 

Would you please do me a favour and ask Milton if Damien from Jamaica is on board.

thank you so much 

looking forward to reading your daily posts 

cheers

Brockmom

[chicagopaul]

Here is our first daily of the cruise! I must say we’re off to a wonderful start. The weather is gorgeous with a slight breeze. The staff all over has been excellent thus far. There are even proper towels in the bathroom! 

 

[h20cruzer]

I love how when you talk about something your glass is half full not half empty, like the balcony size or the pole in your cabin kudos for you .  I see Jon is the GR mgr on board, very nice guy.

Norma

[jim87]

Great stuff! Glad you enjoyed the restaurant last night. Very cool suite - I think that if they give you a pole in your room - grab on and dance! (no one is watching) I enjoy living vicariously and your daily program helps flesh things out. I particularly enjoy drunken triva. (It may be that only our team has the special insights alcohol brings)  Please include your cumulative drink total for today. I assume you'll reach double digits.

[madcitymaven]

We’re following along ChicagoPaul.  Love your live blog reports...feels like we are along with you and Edward.

 

Thank you for taking the time to make all of the blog posts.  You are a “rock star” blogger.

[bluwes]

Watching your Sailaway on the webcam. Infinity leaving first.

[wendyam76]

So happy to be following you again - have a great cruise! And I love the look of Pane&Vino - may book that for my April Reflection cruise! 

[greza]

Bon voyage chicagopaul!

[minnie mommie]

5 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

 

We are headed there in a few minutes. Thrilled that Milton aka Jingle Bells is on board as is Made from martini bar and Irena the bar manager. 

Chicago Paul could you find out if Milton will be on in January. I am enjoying you reviews very much just wish I didn't have to wait til January.

[nimiq]

We are on board this following thread. 

 

have fun Chicago Paul

 

 

Eric

[Smmessineo]

Thanks for the great posts, Paul!

Your blogs are always informative and allow me to cruise vicariously . We recently were on the Equinox ( and have a few more booked on her through  next year ) then we’re on the Reflection for Mardi Gras in 2020. It will be our first cruise on the Reflection and I’m curious about the differences between ships. Your photos are already showing me some ( Sunset Bar ! )

I like your addition of financial info. 

As always, you do a great service to the cruise community.

I hope you and Edward have a great cruise !

Margaret 

[chicagopaul]

Good Evening Everyone! It is my pleasure to type this from my nice comfy bed in my room. I'm loving our aft sky suite. I'm not saying this to be a salesperson, but I really do like the unique layout of the suite. Plus being on deck 6 it is a quick walk up from the Martini Bar at night. Through it will be a bit of a travel for me in the morning to the Sunset Bar.

 

Tomorrow morning I will post full food photos of tonight and a complete review of our first day. But I want to quickly mention a few things because I found them important.

 

Upon boarding the ship today we ran into Irena, Senior Asst. Bar Manager that we've known for years. She saw us from hundreds of feet away on deck 15 and I could see her waving. If you saw in my Instagram story you saw her! We ran into Made at Sunset bar that we've cruised with before. Such a great guy. We ran into Milton, the infamous Jingle Bells (AKA Santa Clause) as Sunset Bar. Then tonight, before dinner we went to Martini Bar and we saw a crew that we fell in love with a while ago. Komang (short Komang), and I Made, and Agung, were all working the bar. It felt like we were back at home! We haven't seen them since the Eclipse in December but they remembered us as if it was yesterday.

 

After dinner (which I will explain in the morning with full photos don't worry, plus full photos of lunch!) we went back to Martini Bar. Komang came up to us and started chatting. He said "You have no idea how happy I was to see you on this cruise. You're going to make the next couple weeks great for us." Now he could just be selling, like any good salesman I can appreciate this, but he seemed so genuine. So incredibly genuine. We chatted for quite a while about work on the ship, his family, people he has worked with, other bartenders we know, etc. After he walked away I couldn't help but think what makes Edward and I  so special that we would make his week? We're just another bunch of idiots on a barstool with a seapass card. But maybe I think, we're all in this together. Maybe it is because of what Norma said about us a few posts above; we always look at the glass half full. Maybe he is just being nice and wanting to patronize his customers. All I know is I left that bar tonight feeling pretty damn good. Not good because I felt appreciated, but good because according to him I was able to make him happy. And those simple words make me want to be even nicer than I already am to every member of this crew.

 

I'm mentioning the above not because I want to say that for some reason I was able to get on a bartenders good side, but because I think it is important to realize what parts we play in peoples lives. A few weeks ago there was a bartender, from Ukraine, that jumped overboard from the Reflection. What if he maybe just had one extra guest that was nice. One random person that gave him a compliment and asked how his day was going? I think if the crew that works so damn hard can give that to us, then it is the least we can give to them and you never know how much that can be appreciated.

 

So with all the gushy stuff out of the way I hope you have a wonderful night / early morning. I will updated you with some fun photos from lunch and dinner along with the daily from the day! Thank you all again so very much for following along and patronizing a fellow lover of Celebrity.