Review of the Reflection 14 Night Southern Caribbean

[oskarNZ]

My family of 3 (2 adults and 1 eleven year old son) are currently on the Reflection, waking up to our last full day onboard  and I thought I might spend part of today writing about our experiences while they are fresh in my mind.

 

While this won’t be a wonderfully detailed daily trip report like some of the other reviews I have read here on Cruise Critic (and found some fantastically helpful), it will highlight the things my family have loved as well as a few of the things we haven’t.

Plus, I see that David (Mahdnc) had already doing a great job of reporting live from this cruise with many great details about the ship.  

 

A bit about us:

We are a family from New Zealand who have done this cruise as part of a longer 5 1/2 week vacation.  Before the cruise we spent a few weeks animal spotting in Costa Rica which was the main reason for heading to this side of the world.  However, because the journey is so far and so expensive, we saved hard for a few years so we could come for a decent amount of time and do this cruise also.

It is our 6th cruise and second on Celebrity.  While we love cruising, we are not loyal to any particular cruise line or any particular style of travel.  

 

The ports on this cruise were:

Antigua

Barbados

St Lucia

Grenada

Aruba (overnight)

Curacao

Bonaire

[oskarNZ]

Food, glorious food

 

Given that I think this is what I think Celebrity does best, why not start here.

 

In general, we have been really pleased with the quality of food on this ship.  

The buffet has an excellent array of choices and is well managed, and the majority of the food served in the Opus restaurant is excellent also.  

 

Before the cruise, we bought a 4 night dining package and as soon as we arrived onboard we went to select our times.  

I had read here on CC that with the dining package you are forced to choose between either a very early sitting (5:30) or a late one and we did find this to be the case.  Because we quite like eating early, 5:30 was fine with us, but I do think that Celebrity should be more transparent about this during the booking process.  

 

Qisine:

The petite chef experience was fun, but it was definitely a do once and not again type of experience for us.  We found the menu choices a bit limited and while the food was good, it was probably the least tasty of the 4 specialty places we ate at.  

 

Murano:

Very good service and very good food, but at the end of the day, this isn’t really our preferred style of dining.  We find this style of dining a bit stuffy and old fashioned, so while I can’t fault the experience we had, it too is not a place we would eat at more than once due to personal preferences.  

 

Tuscan Grill:

Loved it!   Easily the best meal we had during the two weeks and we loved it so much we have booked our last meal there tonight. 

We subscribe to the Jamie Oliver style of thought where if ingredients are fresh and flavourful, they will speak for themselves and don’t need much playing with (such as flambeing in front of you) and this is what we found at Tuscan Grille.  Even the side dish of freshly made spaghetti tossed in nothing more than olive oil, garlic, peppercorns and parmesan tasted amazing.    

 

The Lawn Grill

One of the best aspects of this restaurant for us was eating outdoors and enjoying the sunset (another benefit to eating early).  It was essentially a good quality bbq with nice cuts of meat.  Again we really liked it, but probably wouldn’t rush to return.  

We did try the $15 burger lunch and again while we liked it, once was enough.  I think the lunch food in the buffet was just as good.  

 

Speaking of food, it’s time to head to breakfast.  But later today I will write about our shore experiences which have easily been the highlight of our cruise and where we I have taken all our pics.  

 

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by oskarNZ

[oskarNZ]

Entertainment

 

To be honest, I think this is the only thing, or lack thereof, that stops me from becoming loyal to Celebrity.

 

The food onboard is great, the facilities are beautiful, clean and well-maintained, and the service onboard can’t be faulted.  However, the entertainment is lacking.  

 

We are not the type of family that require onboard slides, zip lines etc, to entertain us, but I do like a having a wide range of activities to pick from and I think that Celebrity could offer more (outside of all the sales talks and auctions).  More art lessons would be one place to start.

By doing this, it might also draw people away from the pool which did get very crowded on sea days (don’t even get me started on the pool hogs).  Yesterday afternoon we went to watch the movie Bohemian Rhapsody in the main Reflection theatre and the theatre was surprisingly  full.  I don’t know if this is more a commentary of how good the movie was (it was very good) or the limited other activities on offer.  I suspect a bit of both.  

 

While the evening shows that we went to (mostly musical ones) were entertaining, they aren’t the big budget productions of some other lines.  

 

I can’t really comment on the night (10pm onwards) entertainment as we didn’t attend any.  We are usually awake each morning by 6am, so we never last long at night. 

 

The one one aspect of entertainment that I do think Celebrity do particularly well is the live music.  The house band that played in the foyer most evenings were particularly enjoyable.  It became our custom most evenings to find a seat at Cafe al Bacio, get a drink, listen to the music and play a family game of digital Yahtzee.  

 

On a a side note, the wifi has been a good perk to have this cruise.  We picked it as one of our 2 perks and have found the speeds to be mostly very good.  

 

The kids club club staff are lovely, but my son didn’t attend the club very often as he felt a bit too conspicuous being one of the few kids there.  He’s the kind of kid that likes to blend quietly into the background and do his own thing, but with just a small handful of kids onboard this sailing (I heard it was just 20), this wasn’t as easy.  

This wasn’t a big deal as my husband and I were happy to spend the family time together, but it is something we will bare in mind next time we pick a cruise.  

[oskarNZ]

Ports 

 

Antigua 

 

Here we did a Celebrity organised tour called Scenic Antigua and Beach and it’s probably the only excursion of the cruise that I won’t recommend.  Not because it was bad, I just think there are probably better options on offer.  

The bus we travelled in had a poor speaker system making it hard to hear the guide and there was terrible leg room between the seats.  The guide, however, was good at her job and very positive.  

 

Nelson Dockyard was a ‘been there, done that’ kind of place.  The beach they took us to was lovely, but the water was so cold - surprisingly though.  I’m guessing it’s because Antigua was the most northern port of our visit, but none of the other islands we visited had water that cold.  Not the fault of the tour, but still worth mentioning.  

Here’s some pics of the day anyway.

 

 

[oskarNZ]

Barbados

 

Here we did another Celebrity organised tour called Beach Hop Island Style and we loved it.  In fact it was my husband’s favourite excursion of the whole cruise.  

 

The tour was basically a party style bus that took us to 3 different beaches.  We had about an hour at each beach and during the drive between each, we were given a brief island tour, we sang along to lively regaee and Motown hits, and the onboard bar was open for all to enjoy.

 

The atmosphere was fun, the beaches were lovely and I didn’t see a single person on that bus that wasn’t smiling.  Thoroughly recommend. 

[oskarNZ]

St Lucia

 

On St Lucia we did a Cosol Tour which we really enjoyed.  There are plenty of descriptions of Cosol tours online that people can look up if they are interested, but basically we think the tour gave us a great overview of the island and was very good value for money.  

The mud pool part was pretty touristy and crowded, but we loved Sugar Beach and all the lovely lookouts around the island.  It was also great to have the snack breaks and enjoy treats common to the island.

 

St Lucia itself is beautiful, so lush and green, but the poverty on the island is quite noticeable and a bit saddening.  There are a lot of people keen for you to buy things off them and we even had an island resident try to sell my husband drugs.  I was pleased we were on an organised tour rather than trying to get around on our own.  

 

 

[chicagopaul]

Thanks for posting your review and thoughts. I really like your unbiased way of explaining each scenario. Enjoy your last day and I look forward to reading the rest!

[micheleata]

Looks like a great time.  Looking forward to reading more.

[FRMPEI]

1 hour ago, oskarNZ said:

Barbados

 

 

Love this photo.

 

Regards,
Kevin Reid

[FRMPEI]

1 hour ago, oskarNZ said:

Antigua 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, oskarNZ said:

 

 

I have almost the same photo from Last March. My wife noticed that it looks like a crocodile in the middle of the photo. Anyone agree?

 

Regards,
Kevin Reid

[kenevenpar]

2 hours ago, FRMPEI said:

 

 

I have almost the same photo from Last March. My wife noticed that it looks like a crocodile in the middle of the photo. Anyone agree?

 

Regards,
Kevin Reid

 

I also have a similar photo and agree about the Croc (or gator).

[oskarNZ]

2 hours ago, FRMPEI said:

 

 

I have almost the same photo from Last March. My wife noticed that it looks like a crocodile in the middle of the photo. Anyone agree?

 

Regards,
Kevin Reid

 

Now that you mention it, I can see the Crocodile.  

[oskarNZ]

Grenada

 

In Grenada we did a snorkel tour with Grenada Seafaris and loved it.

The boat they use was imported from the Baltic’s where the sea is really rough.  You could tell it was a sturdily built boat as it felt really stable and smooth moving quickly through the ocean.

 

Because it moved so fast, we could cover quite a bit of distance in a short time and got to see a few different parts of the island from the sea.

 

The ride was fun, the guide was excellent (very informative, professional and likeable) and the snorkeling around the sculpture park was really interesting.  Highly recommend.

 

After lunch, we went for a short walk around town which we cut shorter than intended due to the heat.

 

Overall, I was quite enamoured by Grenada’s lushness and beautiful beaches and I would happily visit again if the opportunity ever arose to do so.  

 

 

[oskarNZ]

Aruba

 

On our first day in Aruba, we did a morning tour on the Kukoo Kunuku bus (booked through Celebrity).  I booked the tour during a sale and it was really good value for money.  What we got, for the price we paid, was excellent.

 

It was essentially a party bus like the one in Barbados, however my slight preference goes to the Barbados tour (although both were good).  In saying that, I did love the addition of the maracas on the Aruba bus.

 

Included in the tour was a visit to the Alto Vista Chapel, the California Lighthouse, and 2 hours at Moomba Beach Club on Palm Beach (chair provided).  

 

Next to the beach club was a place that rented float matresses for $5 each, so we paid for a couple and lay floating on the water for the majority of the time we were there.  It was very enjoyable.  

The beach club were offering beach umbrella rentals for $30 which I thought was ludicrous.  I suspect many others thought the same, as it didn’t appear that many on our tour were hiring them.

 

In the afternoon we went for a walk around town which felt well developed and quite safe.  We did the free shopping trolley ride which doesn’t really get you any where very quickly, but it was a bit of fun.  

 

The next day (Sunday) our plan had been to go to Surfside Beach and hire chairs and an umbrella at the Surfside Beach Club for the day. It is right next to the Splash Park which I thought my husband and son would enjoy.  

The walk there is about 30mins and we headed there in the morning to make sure we were there for opening.  

Unfortunately, the locals were having a big boat party and the beach was so packed with boats that it wasn’t really suitable for swimming. It didn’t even look like the beach club was open to the public, but was instead catering to the party.

 

 My son was so excited about the Splash Park that we decided him and my husband would have a turn for an hour while I sat on the beach, and then we would taxi to Eagle Beach.  

While my family had a great time at the park, worryingly both of them were covered in a big rash afterwards.  

I got such a headache from the cacophony of white noise (all the boats were blasting different types of music as loud as they could) that by the time my family had finished their Splash Park hour, all I wanted to do was get back onboard and relax on a quiet ship.  It wasn’t our original plan, but it still made for a nice afternoon where we got our pick of poolside loungers.  

 

Overall, I really liked Aruba and thought the beaches were beautiful.  But at the same time I think it’s sister islands of Curacao and Bonaire are a bit more charming due to feeling less developed.  

 

 

Edited January 17, 2019 by oskarNZ

[oskarNZ]

Curacao

 

Today was awesome and probably my favourite day of the cruise along with the day in Bonaire.

 

We did a private photography tour with Gail’s Gallery and feel quite privileged to have been able to book Gail since she rarely does tours anymore due to having so much other work on.  

We loved every place she took us and got to experience so many wonderful parts of the beautiful island.  Her expertise when it came to knowing what places to visit and how to angle some of our photos, was invaluable.  

 

The beach where we got to snorkel with turtles was particularly special as there were turtles everywhere, some as large as my son.  They come to the beach due to local fisherman dropping their fishing scraps into the ocean, but interestingly no one is getting any kind of obvious profit (other than the guides) from the tourists that come to beach as a result.  

 

After the tour, we did a short walk around the city and admired the colourful waterfront. Overall, an excellent day.  

 

[oskarNZ]

Bonaire

 

Today we did a private 5 hour land and snorkel tour with Brenda from H2O Visions.  The island is beautiful and the ocean around it, even more so.  We really enjoyed being able to see both the land and the sea as Bonaire is the kind of sleepy island that my family love (along with Grenada and Curacao, it is the island I’d most happily spend a week or so at).  

 

Brenda is so personable and knowledgeable, and just like Gail the day before, I can’t recommend her enough.

 

The highlight of the day for us was when she took us to a spot of the shore where we could snorkel with a massive bait ball of big eye scad. The bait ball would have been close to 30metres in diameter and literally made up of millions of fish.  Watching them move in formation as they moved away from larger fish was like something out of a BBC doco.  Love, love, love.  

The best part is that there was no one else out there snorkelling with us and we really felt like we were witnessing something special.  The rest of the fish we saw, including a yellow moray, barracuda, lobster, porcupine fish and my personal favourite, a big blue honeycomb cowfish, we’re all pretty fabulous also.  

Highly recommend.  

[oskarNZ]

5 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

Thanks for posting your review and thoughts. I really like your unbiased way of explaining each scenario. Enjoy your last day and I look forward to reading the rest!

 

4 hours ago, micheleata said:

Looks like a great time.  Looking forward to reading more.

 

Thank you both.  I’m pleased you’re enjoying it.  

 

[oskarNZ]

Miami

 

My last post for the day is about the tour we did on boarding day with Pink Shuttles.  We booked a private shuttle to pick us up at our Miami airport accommodation, give us a tour of Miami, and then drop us in Ft Lauderdale at 1pm in time for our scheduled boarding.  

 

I wanted to mention this tour because it was fantastic and great value for money.

The driver/guide basically took the lead from us and made stops at places that interested us (such as Little Havana, South Beach and Wynwood Walls) and carried on driving when places didn’t.  We were all surprised by how much we loved Miami.  It is so colourful and has such a great mix of culture.  Love.  

 

Tomorrow our flight isn’t until late avo and we are doing a Celebrity organised Everglades tour in the morning.  It will be interesting to see how that goes.  

 

P.S.  I still regret not buying the Pan Am bag in the 3rd pic.  I love everything retro and/or kitschy and the store at the Art Deco visitors centre was pretty much my idea of an ideal store.  😂

Edited January 17, 2019 by oskarNZ

[portofrome]

Thanks for your nice review and great photos!

[smith6]

Best review yet! You did an amazing job. Thanks for taking the time.

[cheeseheads4ever]

Great job on the review. Loved it! Photos were amazing. Thank you for sharing!

 

[oskarNZ]

2 hours ago, portofrome said:

Thanks for your nice review and great photos!

 

1 hour ago, smith6 said:

Best review yet! You did an amazing job. Thanks for taking the time.

 

1 hour ago, cheeseheads4ever said:

Great job on the review. Loved it! Photos were amazing. Thank you for sharing!

 

 

 

Thanks everyone.  I’m pleased what I’ve written has been useful.

 

In saying that, I have just reread most of my posts and am embarrassed by the number of blantantly obvious errors.  Clearly writing things up quickly on my phone, while also trying to watch television, has done me no favours.  😣

[JFontaine]

Your photos are amazing. What kind of camera?  Thanks. 

[Kurtybee123]

Your photos are beautiful!

[oskarNZ]

6 hours ago, JFontaine said:

Your photos are amazing. What kind of camera?  Thanks. 

Hi there,

 

The pics come from a combination of 3 cameras.

 

The in- and under- water ones are taken with a cheap and cheerful Nikon Coolpix W100.  Our previous waterproof broke shortly before the cruise and I wanted a cheap replacement that could transfer pics via inbuilt wifi, so got this.  It served the purpose, but I do think there are better products out there if you’re willing to spend more.  

 

Many of the other pics are just taken with my iPhone 7 Plus.  At most beaches we just took this and a waterproof pouch, so we could swim together and not worry about leaving valuables on the shore.  

 

However, in Curacao and Bonaire, we took our best camera as we wanted something with zoom to photograph the likes of the flamingoes. This is a Sony RX10 IV.  Not a cheap camera (or a DSLR), but a really good one.  It was invaluable in Costa Rica for getting wildlife shots.