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

[Eloise4Ever]

On 5/7/2019 at 5:32 PM, wishuponasea said:

Really enjoyed your reports! Since you live in Ireland.....and we will be there after our Reflections cruise....in your opinion, what are the VERY MUST SEES/DOS?? Will be in Wexford for sure -- old family castle around there -- Aughnoure Castle (have you heard of it and the Fierce O'Flaherty's)? My great grandpa was from there before coming to America. My husband's roots are from the Cork area, so will visit there as well. Will fly into Dublin a couple days ahead of cruise, so will be able to see a lot there and can spend the rest of the week around the Isle Have not booked anything yet. Thanks so much!!!!!!

 

Glad to hear you are going to Cork as it's one of my favourite places. Cork city is great as is Kinsale. I'm afraid I'm not very familiar with Wexford so can't help you there. If you are driving down there from Dublin, I recommend stopping off in Powerscourt Estate in Co. Wicklow which you will pass by on the way. Or it would make a nice day tour from Dublin if you included Glendalough also. I just did a quick google and discovered this day tour from Dublin which I think would be great: https://powerscourt.com/plan-your-visit/tours .

 

In Dublin, I would recommend a visit to Trinity College and the surrounding streets are nice for shopping especially Nassau Street and Dawson Street for specialist shops. They are at the side of Trinity along with Grafton Street which is a major shopping destination but is full of mostly chain stores. But the streets either side of Grafton Street are full of interesting and charming shops and restaurants. The Epic Irish Emigration Museum is worth a visit. It's located reasonably close to where the ship docks.

 

On the west coast, we have the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and Galway city which are all worth a look. You could do these on a long day tour from Dublin. Google is your friend for info on all places mentioned. Also the ports of call boards would be worth a look. 

 

Hope you have a great trip.

[BellKat]

13 minutes ago, Eloise4Ever said:

 

Hi BellKat, I saw at the time that you found your answer on the "Who's Onboard" thread so I didn't reply here before now. As you found out, the current CD is Simon Akinwolere. I will mention him in my final comments. I hope you have a wonderful cruise from Dublin to Iceland!

Thanks! I’m sure we will have a fabulous time. We are flying into Edinburgh 1st, then Leeds area, then Dublin & then the cruise. 

[wishuponasea]

Urg....I don't know what I was thinking (or not thinking), but The O'Flaherty castle (s) are around Galway area, not Wexford. Cousins in Kilmore Quay.  Anyway, Thank you so very much for your information. I am printing it out. We will be renting a car and will be in Ireland about a week. Know it will be Beautiful and we will need another visit!

[Jim_Iain]

On 4/24/2019 at 1:23 PM, Eloise4Ever said:

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 😊.

 

Late to the show but along for the ride.  

[Eloise4Ever]

So we've been home for over a week now and are only just starting to acclimatise to real life! I am going to post a summary or two of some of our Reflection experiences. I will start with the rest of the entertainment we saw in addition to that I have already spoken about.

 

Savannah Smith: Savannah is an amazing singer and a fabulous entertainer! She performed one late night show and one matinee in the theatre. During the late night show she sang mostly modern pop songs and was highly enjoyable. But that matinee!!! Holy Moley!!! According to the Daily, she would be performing top 40 hits from the radio and throwing them back to the 1920s, 30s and 40s in a Big Band Prohibition Era style. Did she ever – the girl has as much energy as a Duracell battery FACTORY!!! The theatre was probably only half full but there was an amazing energy from the audience during the show. Everybody seemed to love her. As you may already have guessed, Savannah gets a “Hell Yeah to the max” from me .

 

Rob Lewis: Rob is a Phil Collins tribute act. This was a fantastic show all round. The singing and staging were brilliant. And Rob definitely has that Duracell energy going on too! I was buzzing after this show and couldn’t stop singing Phil Collins songs for days afterwards. Rating: Hell Yeah³

 

Intimate Broadway Cabaret: I honestly don’t know what was “intimate” about this show which was performed in the theatre by members of the  production cast. Some were good singers, some not so much. I love show tunes but was disappointed in this because it included a number of obscure and non-show songs.  Rating: Meh

 

The Wedding Games (aka Love and Marriage/Mr and Mrs): This was funny in parts but really feels old and tired now. I’ve seen these shows before but went along because I figured it’s always different depending on the couples taking part. But it turns out it really isn’t very different when the questions are pretty much always the same. Also, IMO, these kind of audience participation games are very much dependent on the personality and wit of the Cruise Director. Eddy Jenkins is a shining example of a CD  that I would go to see taking part in any kind of show, but for me, Simon just doesn’t have what it takes. Just my personal opinion. Rating: Meh

 

Christopher Caress: Hypnotist. I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy this one at all. I found The guys voice and the music used very loud and unsettling. I didn’t see anything new in this show that I haven’t seen in hypnotist shows on other ships. Also, I really didn’t believe that any of the volunteers were genuinely hypnotised. In summary, it was pretty lame. Rating: Meh

 

Karaoke: Karaoke was held in the Sky Lounge instead of Quasar where we are used to seeing it. We went to watch it a couple of nights and the same few people sang repeatedly. The second  night I filled out a card to sing and as time went on and I wasn’t being called up while the same names kept being called out, I asked the guy if he had lost my card. He produced the bunch of cards and mine was there alright, turned upside down. I wondered afterwards if this was his signal to himself that I wasn’t one of the regulars and not to bother calling me up! Anyway, I sang but didn’t particularly enjoy it as the backing track wasn’t very good quality and that activities staff member hosting the event was totally charmless and unenthusiastic. The choice of songs to sing along to was a tiny fraction of the number they used to have and the quality of the tracks themselves seemed poor. Suffice it to say, I didn’t go back after that, not even to Bandaoke which I usually enjoy. Rating: Meh

 

Unusually for us, we didn't see any of the production shows on this cruise. We were having so much fun we just couldn't find the time! We have seen the majority of the shows previously and enjoyed them so didn't feel we were missing out.

 

We did enjoy the individual performers and duos that we heard around the ship, particularly the Emotions Duo who played strings. These two ladies were excellent. We continued to enjoy Ray Brown Jnr. and his band on numerous occasions. I'm afraid we thought the House Band were rather poor, they sounded quite flat both in tone and energy. They in no way compared to the band we had on our transatlantic last year whose name I cannot now recall, unfortunately. DJ Lenny played excellent music around the ship, say in the Martini Bar before dinner. It's the first time I remember really enjoying the recorded music played onboard. Rating: Yeah

 

I have to mention the Celebrity Orchestra again, these guys are astonishingly good! I was constantly amazed at just how good they were at supporting guest performers after very short rehearsal opportunities. They were incredible supporting Savannah Smith and Rob Lewis. 

 

We didn't attend any of the party night events such as Abba Mania, Motown Dance Party, Full Moon Party as they were held in the Grand Foyer. These would normally be held in the Sky Lounge on other Solstice class ships. We never go to events in the Grand Foyer as we don't enjoy it as an entertainment space. We really missed having those shows in the Sky Lounge. So that's a Meh too!

 

Looking at my previous ratings for Entertainment along with what I have just written, it seems to be either Hell Yeahs or Mehs. When I enjoyed something I really enjoyed it but others I just didn't like. That hasn't really happened to me before, I usually enjoy most of the entertainment. So on balance I think it would be fair to say that my rating for Entertainment is a Yeah overall. 

 

Of course the person responsible for arranging the entertainment onboard is the Cruise Director. In this case, that was Simon Akinwolere. Having experienced the dream team of Eddy Jenkins as CD and Giuseppe Moschella as his assistant (now a CD himself) twice last year, I knew whoever we had this time would be up against it to impress me. Unfortunately, Simon did not do it for me. He is a perfectly nice man, if a little cheesy, but he did not entertain me in the slightest. I used to be one of those people who felt that the personality of the CD did not affect my enjoyment of a cruise in any way. But that was before I came across Alejandro Tortorelli on Celebrity and realised otherwise. He was the first CD whose announcements I stayed to listen to after performances in the theatre. He cracked me up. The we had Eddy and Giuseppe and that feeling of my cruise being enhanced was greatly magnified by their presence and their particular brand of humour. So there is absolutely nothing wrong with Simon, I just didn't find him entertaining. Just my opinion and very much a first world problem. Overall we were well entertained and happy.

 

Edit: I felt a bit guilty for saying Simon didn't entertain me and was thinking about what quality it is that Alejandro, Eddy and Giuseppe all have that I enjoy so much. After a quick look at some of their social media postings I was reminded of what it is. It's the ability to poke fun at themselves and enjoy a joke at their own expense. Not taking themselves too seriously. A great sense of humour. That's what I love about them. 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Eloise4Ever
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[Eloise4Ever]

10 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

Late to the show but along for the ride.  

 

Honoured to have you drop in Jim. I am working my way through your latest wonderful review.

[Jim_Iain]

21 minutes ago, Eloise4Ever said:

 

Honoured to have you drop in Jim. I am working my way through your latest wonderful review.

I didin't realize you were almost done with your blog when I began reading this morning.    After being away for a month I am way behind in catching up on Cruise Critic.   I just finished reading and REALLY enjoyed.  

 

[Eloise4Ever]

59 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I didin't realize you were almost done with your blog when I began reading this morning.    After being away for a month I am way behind in catching up on Cruise Critic.   I just finished reading and REALLY enjoyed.  

 

 

Thanks so much Jim 😀. I'm sorry my "live" blog died halfway through! If I'm going to do it again I'll have to try to put the brakes on my ramblings. Or perhaps I'm better suited to posting a looooooong review post cruise.

[BellKat]

Ah Alejandro! We had the absolute most fun with him on one of our cruises. Some of our group ended up on the daily TV announcement with him. He was really good natured about it even though we really did mess up his taping. He picked the Martini Bar to tape it & we were all just having too much fun (no, we were not drunk - one of the biggest participants doesn’t drink). Someone had brought a horse and a unicorn head mask with them. Not sure why but he did. 

[Eloise4Ever]

4 hours ago, BellKat said:

Ah Alejandro! We had the absolute most fun with him on one of our cruises. Some of our group ended up on the daily TV announcement with him. He was really good natured about it even though we really did mess up his taping. He picked the Martini Bar to tape it & we were all just having too much fun (no, we were not drunk - one of the biggest participants doesn’t drink). Someone had brought a horse and a unicorn head mask with them. Not sure why but he did. 

 

That sounds like a lot of crazy fun, especially the masks! I love it when weird fun things happen and you’re not sure why, but you just go with it anyway! That’s the beauty of a cruise!

[AidenL]

Just found this review, really enjoyed it, thanks for taking the time to put it together.

[Eloise4Ever]

On 8/7/2019 at 10:00 PM, AidenL said:

Just found this review, really enjoyed it, thanks for taking the time to put it together.

 

Thank you Aiden, you are very kind. I still feel guilty that I wasn't able to maintain my "Live from" musings for the whole cruise . I  checked out the Celebrity boards for the first time in a while today and was amused to see thread titles along the lines of "Not even close to live from Equinox" and such like! 

[AidenL]

7 minutes ago, Eloise4Ever said:

 

Thank you Aiden, you are very kind. I still feel guilty that I wasn't able to maintain my "Live from" musings for the whole cruise . I  checked out the Celebrity boards for the first time in a while today and was amused to see thread titles along the lines of "Not even close to live from Equinox" and such like! 

You are way better than me - I have contemplated trying to do a thread, but I know I'd get distracted. So I was lazy and didn't even try ! 

[Eloise4Ever]

DISEMBARKING IN DUBLIN

 

While I'm here I wanted to mention our experience of disembarkation in Dublin as I know some cruisers worry about it due to issues last year. I am happy to say that things ran a lot more smoothly on this sailing that when we disembarked from the same itinerary in 2018. There was quite a long queue for taxis but it was managed much more efficiently this time and really didn't take too long. When we went down to the Martini Bar to disembark we were surprised to see a long queue of folks waiting to leave. The queue stretched down as far as the shops and casino. We went and sat in the casino for a few minutes and the queue evaporated pretty quickly. I think the issue may be that the gangplank is so steep (and quite long with a bend in it for good measure!) that if a passenger in a wheelchair is being taken on or off, this causes a delay. Also, back to back passengers who may have left the ship and are returning are salmon-swimming against the tide which leads to a slowdown. It's not ideal, but it's ok.

[SunnyPenanf]

On 4/30/2019 at 3:28 AM, Eloise4Ever said:

I'm very grateful to everyone who has posted on this thread so far. However it seems this kind of review is of very little interest to most Cruise Critic members. It takes so much time to write my long, rambling posts while onboard I've decided to change tack and post  a summary after I get home. We are still having an amazing cruise 😀. See you on the other side 👍.

oh no - your posts here are wonderful!! I will read on now - hoping you have changed your mind 😮

And then I look forward to seeing you on the 12-24 October cruise !!

[SunnyPenanf]

On 5/16/2019 at 7:33 PM, Eloise4Ever said:

 

Thanks so much Jim 😀. I'm sorry my "live" blog died halfway through! If I'm going to do it again I'll have to try to put the brakes on my ramblings. Or perhaps I'm better suited to posting a looooooong review post cruise.

PLEASE do your live postings! they are truly lovely 🙂