Just back from Reflection...

[lysolqn]

Just back from Reflection 12/21 cruise -  our 56^thcruise, 38^thon Celebrity, 4^thon Reflection. We usually steer clear of holiday cruises but with our children and grandchildren joining us this cruise, we had to synchronize work calendars, school calendars and other obligations and this sailing worked for everyone.

 

In short, we had a wonderful cruise.  Weather was great, ship was immaculate, staff and crew were friendly, accommodating and eager to please, service was excellent and with very few exceptions, food was quite good.  We did hit a couple of bumps along the way but X still remains our cruise line of choice and we wouldn’t hesitate to book Reflection yet again. 

 

Bump #1 – Embarkation.  We arrived at the pier about 12:30, checked our bags and got on one of three rapidly growing lines of pax waiting to enter the new Edge terminal.  Some two-plus hours later what was initially three lines had morphed into one massive mob of irritated but amazingly well behaved pax as far as the eye could see, all waiting to enter the building.  As we later found out, the problem was two-fold: the computers were down and a hefty gust of wind caused the gangway to detach from the ship.  As a result, pax already in the terminal couldn’t check-in or board thus, no additional pax were allowed to enter. Both problems were a matter of bad luck and bad timing – Mother Nature doing her thing and IT gremlins doing theirs. It happens.  I don’t fault Celebrity for either problem.  I do, however, fault Celebrity for lack of communication and failure to provide any information to the enormous crowd kept waiting for hours outside the terminal.  It was unforgiveable.  We only found out what the issue was by asking a patrolling Broward County Sheriff’s officer what was going on.  After waiting more than two hours, one Celebrity employee emerged from the terminal to hand out a few bottles of water – literally, a few bottles.  Not one word about the delay.  Fortunately, it wasn’t a brutally hot day or the situation could have been worse.  As it was, an ambulance was called for an elderly man who appeared to have collapsed and was subsequently taken to the hospital.  Once the gangway was repaired and the computers were back online, pax were allowed into the terminal a few at a time.  Each time the doors opened to allow a limited number of pax in, the crush from behind was enormous.  Our beef was not with the circumstances but rather with the total lack of communication.  On the up side, by the time we got to our cabins our bags (loaded/unloaded from ground-level) were waiting for us!

 

Bump #2  – Onboard accounts.  We had four cabins.  When duplicate charges for specialty dining reservations which had already been paid for prior to the cruise appeared on each of our four cabin accounts, we headed to Guest Relations.  Multiple visits to GR over a period of five days to correct the duplicate charges ultimately resulted in an acknowledgement by GR that there was, indeed, a mistake on X’s part.  The problem was no one knew how to correct it.  After multiple communications between GR staff and Miami to correct the mistakes, we were promised the appropriate credits were “forthcoming” and expected “momentarily.”  Glad we didn’t hold our breath.  We disembarked six days ago and one of the four accounts has still not been reconciled.

 

Finally, not a “bump” that we encountered but rather a word of caution.  I had been reading about long customs delays for X ships recently returning to Port Everglades, said delays sometimes resulting in missed flights home.  With an 11am flight home, we requested Group 1 luggage tags but were told by Guest Relations that under normal circumstances that wouldn't be a problem but considering recent growing delays, Group 1 tags wouldn’t guarantee we would get off early enough to make our flight. GR told us that disembarkation had been taking longer and longer each cruise and our best bet was to walk off with our bags, otherwise we could experience one to two hour delays in leaving the ship and miss our flight.  Glad we took that advice.  As it was, we left the ship about forty minutes later than scheduled because of a shoreside delay in granting permission for guests to disembark.  A Celebrity officer was at the gangway apologizing for the delay and assuring us that X was ready to go on time but shoreside was not. To boot, there were only four Customs desks open (for close to 3000 pax?) and the lines were moving especially slowly.  BTW, Global Access is available but there are no signs or dedicated line, so you have to ask.

 

 

 

[davekathy]

Thanks for posting and the heads-up concerning the disembarkation.  

[lysolqn]

Forewarned is forearmed.  We've made 11am flights home from Ft. Lauderdale with time to spare following many cruises.  Not sure why late disembarkation seems to have become an issue of late.  Hopefully it's temporary and not the new norm.  Also not sure why Global Access doesn't at least get signage to help move the Customs process along.

[Orator]

1 minute ago, lysolqn said:

Forewarned is forearmed.  We've made 11am flights home from Ft. Lauderdale with time to spare following many cruises.  Not sure why late disembarkation seems to have become an issue of late.  Hopefully it's temporary and not the new norm.  Also not sure why Global Access doesn't at least get signage to help move the Customs process along.

Perhaps the partial shutdown was a factor. At 9:10 am there were only 2 lines open and a large backup of people waiting. 

[lysolqn]

Perhaps, but the problem seems to have pre-dated the shutdown.