Live from Reflection Transatlantic to Dublin 20th April to 6th May 2019

[Eloise4Ever]

Having  been inspired by other Cruise Critic members such as Mr_T, ChicagoPaul and Jim_Iain (among others) I am going to attempt my first “Live from” review. I hope some readers may find it interesting or informative. The previously mentioned Mr_T recently  posted many wonderful photos from Reflection so I don’t intend to duplicate his efforts. I don’t plan to post dailies or menus, maybe just the occasional photo. My review will be mainly my own (quite possibly irreverent) views on Reflection, the staff, the food, the entertainment, differences between Reflection and other X ships. My rating system will be Yeah (or Hell Yeah if something is really good) and Meh (or Totally Meh for the really bad).  Also included will be my random musings and observations on cruising and life in general plus any “bon mots” I may overhear. I will probably talk very little about the ports on this cruise. So for anyone looking for a structured, picture heavy review, this probably isn’t the review for you 😊.

[Eloise4Ever]

With that disclaimer out of the way, a brief intro to me and my husband who shall be known as “Bob” for the purposes of this review. We live on the West coast of Ireland and became addicted to cruising in 2007 during our first cruise on Celebrity Century. We have cruised once or twice every year since then on numerous cruise lines although Celebrity is our “go-to” cruise line. Our previous cruises are in my signature for anyone who is interested.

 

We planned to spend 2 nights in Fort Lauderdale prior to this cruise and booked flights through Celebrity with Air Canada, via Toronto. We should have had a 3 hour layover in Toronto but sadly, our flight from Dublin was so delayed that we missed our connection in Toronto. As that was the last flight of the day to FLL, Air Canada put us up in Toronto overnight. We were able to make lemonade out of those lemons as we then had a chance to meet our dear friends B and S from Toronto who kindly dropped everything to drive to our hotel and spend a few hours catching up. We met these wonderful folks on last years transatlantic to Dublin and have remained in constant touch since. For us, the best thing about cruising is the people we meet.

 

So we eventually arrived in Fort Lauderdale on the afternoon of the day prior to  cruise embarkation day. We stayed at  the Hilton Marina which is in a beautiful location and our room in the Tower had a fantastic view of the port. We did a little shopping and ate dinner by the Marina at the hotel before retiring early. We were exhausted due to the time difference and the fact that we had been awake for close on 24 hours the previous day.

 

Overheard on our flight to FLL: As the plane began its descent, I had a wonderful view of Miami beach from my window seat. A lady with a North American accent behind me was also enraptured with the view and discussed it with her companion. She said, and I quote: “I can’t figure out which part of Florida that is. I think it’s Tampa.” That made my day 😁

[Eloise4Ever]

Embarkation Day 22nd April 2019

We caught an Uber to the port around midday. I am a big Uber fan and sad that we don’t have it in Ireland. The Irish taxi drivers union has a lot of political clout and will not countenance the introduction of competition in the form of Uber.

 

We boarded at the new Terminal 25 which we had seen Edge sail away from the previous day. I’ve heard people rave about this new terminal. However, there was nothing in particular that blew me away about this terminal over any other we have been in. One thing it did have was lots of lines. Only 3 out of the 6 security screeening areas were in operation so that took some time. After that we joined the very long queue for Elite and Select Captains Club members. We have Elite status but it was worthless in that scenario due to the combination of Elite with Select passengers.

 

On boarding the ship itself on deck 5, we were met with staff holding trays of empty glasses so no welcome aboard beverage was offered. Just as well we hadn’t planned to avail of them in any case as we had already purchased the Premium Beverage package and the sweet pink stuff that Celebrity has been serving lately to boarding guests is, IMO, horrible.

 

The lady who checked us in told us that the rooms were ready so we decided to nip straight up to deck 6 to drop off our carry on bags but the doors to the cabin corridors were firmly closed. So we took the elevator up to the Oceanview Cafe for a buffet lunch. We always try to have lunch on the deck out back on embarkation day and managed to get a nice table in the shade. I continued my tradition of eating Mexican food for that first lunch and Bob continued his tradition of eating most of the savoury items on offer. The man has hollow legs 😙.

 

We enjoyed our food but were disappointed to have to eat it without a refreshing beverage. This is our first time on Reflection and I was concerned before we boarded that we would feel the lack of a bar on the deck out back of the Oceanview Cafe. And lo, it came to pass. Not one bar server came around during the 15 minutes or so it took us to eat. Eventually Bob decided he would go up one floor to the Sunset Bar instead of fighting his way all the way back to the bar at the entrance to Oceanview. As Murphys Law would have it, no sooner had Bob gone up the stairs than a bar server appeared out through the sliding doors. He didn’t disrupt the status quo though as he stood for perhaps 30 seconds surveying the numerous customers without alcoholic beverages before disappearing back through the doors again. This is the first time on any Celebrity ship that we have not been offered bar service outside on the Oceanview deck during the entire time we sat there.

 

We then decamped to the Sunset Bar which I was very excited to try as I knew it was different to all the other Solstice class ships we have been on. I was not disappointed as it is a really lovely area with lots of purple sofa seating and comfortable chairs. The bar did not have some items we wanted in stock but hopefully that was just because it was embarkation day. While there we ran into a wonderful lady (M) we got to know onboard last year so we had a great chat and catch up with M before heading to our cabin for a few minutes before Muster Drill.

 

Our 2C balcony cabin is towards the aft on the Starboard side of deck 6. We often book back there as there are no lifeboat obstructions. We have a larger balcony and overlook the navy blue roof of Qsine. The cabin is clean and in good shape and our room steward is friendly.

 

Following a little unpacking we head up to our Muster Drill station in Qsine. Muster Drill is usually my least favourite part of the whole cruise experience and today proved no exception. The drill was scheduled for 4:15 and we arrived a little early to be sure of seats. Even then there were few seats left. Most people who arrived after that had to stand. The room was hot as hell as the air con didn’t seem to be on. The drill finally started at 4:40 without any explanation or apology for the delay. It consisted of the usual James Bond style video shown on a screen which I estimate 40% of the attendees (including us) could not see. Following that, a crew member demonstrated how to put on a lifejacket and that was pretty much it. I really hope the delay wasn’t caused by late attendees as I feel Celebrity should not penalise the many for the benefit of the few who can’t be bothered to be punctual. Don’t let them in, make them sit on the naughty step and attend a catch up class. Don’t punish those who make the effort to be there on time. There has to be a better way for Celebrity to run these drills and I hope they figure it out soon.

 

After the drill we went to a Roll Call get together at the Sunset Bar. This was organised by the wonderful C who even provided name tags for everybody. We had a lot of fun there meeting people and catching up with our friend M and also our dear friends A and C who we have been lucky enough to cruise with twice before. I really enjoyed getting to know C and her husband M who is as near to being Larry David as anyone I’ve ever met. Being a huge Larry David fan, I got a big kick out of this. M is not familiar with the great LD but his lovely wife C is, and she agreed that they are very alike. Happy times.

 

We went straight from the Sunset Bar to our favourite bar on Celebrity ships, the Martini Bar. I was thrilled to see a familiar face from our cruise last year behind the bar, Agung. We had a lot of fun with him and his co-workers last year. We always do Select Dining and prefer to eat around 8:30. Our usual routine is that we go straight to the Martini Bar from the early show and order a drink then Bob pops down to the dining room to request a table for 2 by the window and pick up a pager. This works well for us. We didn’t have to wait too long before our buzzer went off and we headed into the dining room. We had a nice table and the wait staff and sommelier were great. The sommelier kept our glasses topped up constantly so we were happy. I always enjoy the pork chop with marshmallow sweet potato on the first night menu and enjoyed it again tonight. Everything we ate was good and afterwards we headed to Café al Bacio for an Aspen Coffee. It soon became clear we were having difficulty staying awake so we had to call it quits and head for bed. We hope this will the last night that jet lag sends us to bed early .

 

Ratings:

Food - Yeah
Staff - Yeah
Sunset Bar layout - Hell Yeah
Bar Service at the back of Oceanview Café - Meh

Embarkation - Meh

Muster Drill - Totally Meh

[Loucat]

So far, I find your Live post just Hell Yeah!! Interesting perspectives and I will be following you on your journey.

Have a wonderful cruise and wish we were there.

[Eloise4Ever]

Thanks so much for your very kind words Loucat 😀. I felt quite nervous doing this for the first time so i really appreciate your feedback 👍.

[wendyam76]

Have a wonderful cruise! Hopefully Benji and Satu are still at the Sunset Bar and they will be fully restocked - we encountered the same on the 1st April cruise but by next day it was sorted. Just keep an eye on your charges as even with the Premium packages we had some erroneous charges - quickly sorted out at Guest Services though.

Wendy

[Member123]

Since we have some great Canadian friends on this cruise with you, I'm extremely excited to see your live report. Highly entertaining. As I'm a reader (I tend to skim the photos to be honest), I thoroughly enjoy your writing style and heartily wish for you to keep us going with you on your trip across the pond! Plus, we'll be sailing on the Reflection in December so my interest is two-fold. So, nice to meet you! Will be following along.

[pd7277]

Wonderful start!  I'm pulling up a stair.

[Nancynurse]

Sounds like a good start.  If you happen to meet Jim and Donna Scott from Missouri, tell them that their daughter who loves them most says hello.  Will you be on the next sailing as well?  My husband and I will on the next cruise.  We look forward to reading your review and living vicariously through your cruise as we wait until next Thursday when we fly across the ocean.

 

Nancy

Edited April 25, 2019 by Nancynurse

[cheeseclan]

I am enjoying reading this as we will be on our first Celebrity cruise in January on the Reflection.   Can’t wait.  Thanks!

[OhioDogLover]

Will follow along.  Have fun.

 

Ohiodoglover

[upwarduk]

I hope they restock the Sunset bar with your favourite tipple.

We found it was the place to go when we wanted a Budweiser. Many bars ran out on Silhouette in June 2018, but I put it down to not going into St Petersburg. Many passengers on the Premium package complained that they were served Proseco instead of Champagne right from the start of the cruise. 

[2flacruisers]

Looking forward to reading your future posts...we will be on the Reflection the end of November...

 

[dani negreanu]

Following with interest and enjoying it. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Curious about the taxis awaiting at the cruise port in Dublin😀....

[BellKat]

12 minutes ago, dani negreanu said:

Following with interest and enjoying it. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Curious about the taxis awaiting at the cruise port in Dublin😀....

Hi Dani! I’m following this one also. This cruise will be very different from ours but it will still be interesting to hear her thoughts & opinions. I also read the thread from Mr_T last night. 

[Eloise4Ever]

Day 2 - At Sea

Our first full day at sea started out slowly for me as I spent most of the morning in bed, catching up on my Zs 😴. I admit to enjoying a lie-in on holiday to the extent that Bob often tells friends who ask where I am in the mornings that I am busy conducting research on the thread count of our sheets. Apparently it’s a time consuming job because I keep losisng count and have to start over at the beginning  😝.

 

Bob is not a lie-a-bed kind of guy so he was up and at ‘em in time to see the sunrise 🌅. He had the first of his numerous breakfasts in the buffet, followed by a couple of later breakfasts over the course of the morning. Due to our separate morning habits, we often get asked the following questions by friends we meet later in the day: “Hey Eloise, how’s that thread count study going?” and “So Bob, how many breakfasts did you have today?”.

 

Bob went to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet at silly o’clock, sorry, 9:30 am. He said people were packed into the Sky Lounge like the proverbial sardines. He hung out with A and C but didn’t meet anybody new. He said it was very hard to hear anyone speaking on the microphone due to the acoustics and general hubbub in the lounge.

 

I was awakened by a rousing rendition of “La Donna Mobile” from one of our neighboring cabins played at very high volume . Clearly our neighbors are big fans of Rigoletto as they played it over and over and over again. I like a bit of Verdi as much as the next person but eventually I turned our TV on to play some jazz in an attempt to drown it out 😉.

 

Bob brought me a coffee and a mini almond croissant and mini blueberry muffin from Bacio (note I am emphasising the mini aspect 😉) to keep me from wasting away. (Just in case you’re wondering, that’s not going to happen anytime soon ☺️). I asked him to tell our room steward not to worry about making up our room until the evening as I hate the thought of him having to hang around on my account. 

 

When I was ready to leave the room we went straight up to the Mast Grill to order one of their marvelous burgers. We enjoyed them as much as ever but I resolved not to eat them every day. We were taken aback when the guy Mast Grill Bar told Bob he doesn’t serve wine, only beer. This is different to all the other  X ships we’ve been on. Bob nipped across to the Mast Bar and got it there instead which was fine but if someone ahead of you at the Mast Bar was ordering cocktails or frozen drinks, you could be waiting a while to get a glass of wine to go with your food.

 

It was a beautiful day but I was conscious of the need to get my review underway so we went to Cellar Masters to get out of the sun and drink a couple of nice glasses of wine. A lovely young lady there (Madalina?) took good care of us.

 

After that we went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. It was Evening Chic night and Bob wore his tux. I don’t know if we saw anyone else  in a tux but we don’t take much notice of what others wear. I only mention it because people on Cruise Critic often ask about it. We planned to go to the early show but ran out of time so thought we might go for an earlier dinner and catch the late show instead. We still had to go to the Martini Bar for our mandatory pre-dinner cocktail and while there we met a lovely Irish lady N and her American husband R and had a fun chat with them. N said she expected there would be lots of Irish people on the ship and was surprised there seemed to be so few. I told her it was the same last year. I don’t  think the itinerary is particularly appealing to Irish people because it cruises to Irish ports. When we tell people at home about this itinerary they often find it hard to deal with the concept of “flying all the way to Florida to sail back to Dublin”! We sail for the ship more than the itinerary and we love all the sea days plus arriving back home without having to fly so this itinerary is a huge plus for us.

 

Anyhoo, after meeting N and R all thoughts of dining early and making the show went out the window. Our friends and C arrived and we decided to dine together so Bob and A went to get a pager. Apparently Select dining didn’t start on time due to a group that were using the room failing to vacate it on time. This lead to a big line of diners waiting to get a table. A said she overheard a lady complaining to the hostess and the hostess explained about the late group and said “There’s nothing we can do, we can’t just move these people”. I would disagree with that statement. If X allow a group to use the dining room during the day with an agreed end time, the group should have the good grace to leave at that time. If they don’t, no need to feel bad about asking them to leave.

 

We had a lot of fun at the Martin Bar and it must have been almost 9:30 before our pager went off. We got a nice round table with good waiters. I had rack of lamb for main and Bob had the Steak Dianne. I enjoyed mine but Bob said he’s had better.

 

After dinner we pretty much closed the Martini Bar. There ends another great day at sea. It is highly unusual for us not to have seen any shows or entertainment by now but we hope to remedy that tomorrow.

 

Overheard: A lady getting into a lift on Deck 15, exclaimed with great disappointment to those already in there, “Oh you’re going down? I wanted to go up”. For those who don’t  know, the lifts don’t go any higher than Deck 15. 

 

Also overheard: A bracing conversation between a neighboring couple on their balcony. In the end I couldn’t decide if they were having an argument or if this is how they normally converse. Bob and I always use our indoor voices on the balcony out of respect for others and also for privacy reasons. Our neighbors clearly don’t share those concerns 😬.

 

Ratings:

 

Food and drinks - Hell Yeah

Lines for Select Dining - Meh

 

All told, we are having a wonderful time so far 😀.

 

[Eloise4Ever]

17 hours ago, Nancynurse said:

Sounds like a good start.  If you happen to meet Jim and Donna Scott from Missouri, tell them that their daughter who loves them most says hello.  Will you be on the next sailing as well?  My husband and I will on the next cruise.  We look forward to reading your review and living vicariously through your cruise as we wait until next Thursday when we fly across the ocean.

 

Nancy

 

I will look out for your parents Nancy. Unfortunately we are not on the next cruise as we are not yet at that happy stage of life where we have time to do B2Bs. It’s definitely something we hope to do in the future. I hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise. We will be sad to leave Reflection as you are so excited to board. Enjoy 👍🏻😀

[Eloise4Ever]

19 hours ago, Member123 said:

Since we have some great Canadian friends on this cruise with you, I'm extremely excited to see your live report. Highly entertaining. As I'm a reader (I tend to skim the photos to be honest), I thoroughly enjoy your writing style and heartily wish for you to keep us going with you on your trip across the pond! Plus, we'll be sailing on the Reflection in December so my interest is two-fold. So, nice to meet you! Will be following along.

 

Nice to meet you too! Don’t you just love those Canadian friends? They’re the best 😍. We are looking forward to a Mediterranean cruise with our Canucks in October of this year. Also on Reflection.

[Eloise4Ever]

3 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

Following with interest and enjoying it. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Curious about the taxis awaiting at the cruise port in Dublin😀....

 

Thanks Dani. I will report back on the taxi situation in Dublin. I do hope it’s improved since last year.

[Eloise4Ever]

20 hours ago, wendyam76 said:

Have a wonderful cruise! Hopefully Benji and Satu are still at the Sunset Bar and they will be fully restocked - we encountered the same on the 1st April cruise but by next day it was sorted. Just keep an eye on your charges as even with the Premium packages we had some erroneous charges - quickly sorted out at Guest Services though.

Wendy

 

6 hours ago, upwarduk said:

I hope they restock the Sunset bar with your favourite tipple.

We found it was the place to go when we wanted a Budweiser. Many bars ran out on Silhouette in June 2018, but I put it down to not going into St Petersburg. Many passengers on the Premium package complained that they were served Proseco instead of Champagne right from the start of the cruise. 

 

Thanks folks. Thankfully, the Sunset Bar now has a supply of Aperol which we enjoy either in an Aperol Spritz or in the Sangria Spritz they serve up there.

 

Upwarduk, I have often had to have words with bar Managers on X about difficulty in getting champagne onboard. If I pay for the premium package ( which we always do) I should be able to get premium drinks. Chandon is the best sparkling wine listed on the Premium Package so we normally order that. We haven’t noticed a problem yet on this sailing except for Bacio where the server told Bob they only carry Prosecco. I’m pretty sure that Chandon is on their menu but I need to check. On this sailing we have sometimes been served Montaudon champagne instead of Chandon and we are very happy with that.

Edited April 25, 2019 by Eloise4Ever

[wendyam76]

I so agree with the problems of getting champagne! I wrote a note full of compliments on our second night (of a 11 night cruise) but added about how few bars have it - got a response on the last night! Sunset Bar had Mountadon on our sailing and often the pool bar too. On the last couple of nights the Sunset Bar ran out but they served me Perrier Joulet instead. Now if I could only get the buffet to stock the premium Pinot Noir to save me going down to the Ensemble Bar I would be happy.  

[IrishLassie]

Enjoying your posts, and we loved Reflection.  Sailed on her last month & can't wait to go again!  Wondering where on the west coast your from?  My DH's family is from Co. Donegal, Carrigart & Letterkenny.

Happy cruising.

[Eloise4Ever]

6 minutes ago, IrishLassie said:

Enjoying your posts, and we loved Reflection.  Sailed on her last month & can't wait to go again!  Wondering where on the west coast your from?  My DH's family is from Co. Donegal, Carrigart & Letterkenny.

Happy cruising.

 

Thanks IrishLassie. We live in Galway. Donegal is amazing and we love to spend time there. I have fond memories of visiting Carrigart years ago. The beaches in that part if the country are among the most beautiful I've ever seen anywhere.

[Beachlover1989]

I'm very excited to find your wonderful, just detailed enough, review!  We will be on Reflection in September so I'm thrilled to follow along!  We love Equinox and Solstice, so I'm anxious to hear if you feel Reflection is more crowded than the other S Class ships.

[Eloise4Ever]

10 minutes ago, Beachlover1989 said:

I'm very excited to find your wonderful, just detailed enough, review!  We will be on Reflection in September so I'm thrilled to follow along!  We love Equinox and Solstice, so I'm anxious to hear if you feel Reflection is more crowded than the other S Class ships.

 

Thanks Beachlover (me too by the way!). I am still trying to figure out if Reflection feels more crowded than the other ships and will be sure to report back in due course.