11 Night Ultimate Caribbean Cruise Photo Review - Celebrity Reflection

[Noreen411]

1 hour ago, Marvy Mare said:

As usual, we had a great dinner in the main dining room. No food photos again. I can see another advantage of food photos; you can recall what you ate. If you are into food photos and are not already following along there is another ongoing photo review. It's by someone called Noreen, who was on the Celebrity Silhouette and returned to port a few days after we left. She seems to be much better organized than me, an experienced cruiser and a good food photographer. Check it out. She goes into more detail too and is only part way into her cruise.

 

Hi Maris

 

Thank you for the shout out to my review.

 

 I am enjoying your review immensely.   Great balance of what you experienced and beautiful pictures.

 

I may have details and food pictures, but my pictures don’t hold a candle to yours.  I am just using an IPhone for my pictures; a new one I got a few weeks before the trip, but still just a phone.

 

Noreen

 

 

[Noreen411]

1 hour ago, spiritkat090909 said:

Reviews are like your children.  Different (perspectives and interests), but you love (reading) each the same.

 

  BTW, I'm reading yours and Noreen's as written, back and forth, refresh, refresh.  Different windows.  Carry on and THANKS!

Hi

 

I love the comparison of reviews to children - I love reading them all too.

 

Sorry mine is taking a while.  During the week I’m busy working (remotely but still working) so I am mainly working on my review on the weekend.  

 

Noreen

[Marvy Mare]

March 12 - DAY 11 - At Sea

 

We headed back to our room to finish packing. As we were planning to walk off the next morning we didn't have to  put our bags out but we wanted to be heading down the hall early. 

 

 

I wanted to see the show that night. Euphoria was Celebrity Performers again, but there were arobatics. I love that kind of stuff. We headed first to the Oceanview to get our cookies. Janet and Gary happened to be there. They were going to the show. Ken wasn't keen. Maybe he was being smart - avoid crowds. Anyway, I invited myself along with Janet and Gary and Ken went back to read in bed.

Ken and I always sat up along the rail. Creatures of habit, but this time I got to sit closer to the front. Took lots of photos. I'll post a few to start. I thought I was going to finish this today, but probably not. 

 

I've never sat down where I could see the ceiling like this before. Very pretty. 

 

Not totally crowded. Maybe others were avoiding crowds too. 

[Marvy Mare]

22 minutes ago, Noreen411 said:

Hi Maris

 

Thank you for the shout out to my review.

 

 I am enjoying your review immensely.   Great balance of what you experienced and beautiful pictures.

 

I may have details and food pictures, but my pictures don’t hold a candle to yours.  I am just using an IPhone for my pictures; a new one I got a few weeks before the trip, but still just a phone.

 

Noreen

 

 

Hey Noreen

 

We have to support each other. We are a rare breed these days. You do a great job with the iPhone. My iPone is only a 5 or 6 I think and the camera isn't great. I don't have any luck taking photos with it anyway, but it might be a choice for food photos in the future.

 

Maris 

[Marvy Mare]

2 hours ago, spiritkat090909 said:

Reviews are like your children.  Different (perspectives and interests), but you love (reading) each the same.

 

  BTW, I'm reading yours and Noreen's as written, back and forth, refresh, refresh.  Different windows.  Carry on and THANKS!

Kat

 

I like that quote. Do you happen to know if there’s a way to bookmark where you left off when reading a review? I keep losing my place when reading Noreen’s review. 

Maris

[chisoxfan]

Great reviews and photos. Brings back positive memories of our past  Reflection cruises It is a beautiful ship as are all the S class vessels. We always consider X for cruises but have been a bit dismayed at pricing. We have narrowed down to three cruise choices: MSC Yacht Club, HAL, and X Aqua Class for our Caribbean getaways. Our only negative with X (besides pricing) is easily secured poolside seating on sea days. MSC YC has their own pool area and on HAL ships one can reserve a cabana which is very nice. We had just booked a B to B balcony in Jan cruise on HAL/ with cabana, drinks, and grats and the price for 14 days was half of a 12 day X AQ cruise leaving at same time (with drinks and grats). The MSC YC suite for B to B was about the same price as X AQ 12 night.

We love X but but  every time we have checked their cruises the value proposition has been missing.

Healthy Cruising.

 

[GeorgesGal]

No need to bookmark where you left off reading.  The next time to want to pick up where you left off there is a large black circle next to each thread.  Find the one you want, click on the big dot and voila!  Takes you to the next entry.  (I just found this out about a month ago!)

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Just now, GeorgesGal said:

No need to bookmark where you left off reading.  The next time to want to pick up where you left off there is a large black circle next to each thread.  Find the one you want, click on the big dot and voila!  Takes you to the next entry.  (I just found this out about a month ago!)

 

I love that feature! My dot or star (if I've commented) is blue, but same idea. It took me a while to figure it out too and I was so glad I did!

[spiritkat090909]

6 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

Kat

 

I like that quote. Do you happen to know if there’s a way to bookmark where you left off when reading a review? I keep losing my place when reading Noreen’s review. 

Maris

I do not.  What I do is simply leave the 'ongoing' reviews in two different window tabs and leave my computer on.

 

Then...l when I come back I look at the last post number still showing, hit refresh and it usually leaves me at the same place with more pages, if the author/ess has continued or others have posted. (Firefox)

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by spiritkat090909

[Marvy Mare]

15 hours ago, chisoxfan said:

Great reviews and photos. Brings back positive memories of our past  Reflection cruises It is a beautiful ship as are all the S class vessels. We always consider X for cruises but have been a bit dismayed at pricing. We have narrowed down to three cruise choices: MSC Yacht Club, HAL, and X Aqua Class for our Caribbean getaways. Our only negative with X (besides pricing) is easily secured poolside seating on sea days. MSC YC has their own pool area and on HAL ships one can reserve a cabana which is very nice. We had just booked a B to B balcony in Jan cruise on HAL/ with cabana, drinks, and grats and the price for 14 days was half of a 12 day X AQ cruise leaving at same time (with drinks and grats). The MSC YC suite for B to B was about the same price as X AQ 12 night.

We love X but but  every time we have checked their cruises the value proposition has been missing.

Healthy Cruising.

 

You are right about the pricing. We did go to Future Cruises while on this trip and unlike on our other two cruises, we didn't put a deposit down on another cruise. The prices were just too high. At that time, double what we paid for this cruise. I do love Celebrity, though I have nothing to compare it with. Someone else following here, gave a shout out to Holland America (that's HAL right?). We will have to look into it. 

 

As far as the crowds by the pool, we have never tried to get a seat down there. We always like being on the deck above. Now, this time we always were able to find a seat. It may have been partly because of the heat, the number or sea days or the fact that the ship wasn't totally full. Rumour had it that there had been a fair number of cancelations.

 

Maris 

[Marvy Mare]

Thanks to Kat and Beth and Georges Gal for their answers to my question about saving my place when reading Cruise Critic. I'll have to try that later. It's a cold windy Good Friday here in central Ontario. I'll be catching up on my reading for sure. 

 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

March 12 - DAY 11 - Sea Day

 

Back to the Reflection Theatre - Deck 4 for Elysium.

 

Our captain spoke for a few minutes. I can't remember his name and the one document that I meant to bring home and didn't, was the staff list with photos. He seemed to be a very nice man and did his daily 10am talk as well. I have to admit that I rarely understood anything he said. It was all Greek to me.😁 At least I think he was Greek. Many of the Captains are. Why is that?  Our daughter's husband is Greek, first generation Canadian. We have two very beautiful dark eyed, dark haired grandchildren with a last name that I just learned to spell and still can't pronounce.

On our last two cruises we had a different Captain, Greek again and very handsome as well. Greeks seem to be very good looking people. I have a friend who was a ship captain (large Ocean liners). He traveled the world and always said that Greek woman were the most beautiful in the world. Back to the Reflection. The Captain on our last two cruises was so funny. We would stop everything to listen to his 10am report. I heard that he is on the Edge now, so we will never meet him again. Apparently traveling on the Edge is even more expensive than the S class ships and right now, they are out of our league.

I'm rambling. I'm drawing out this baby. Back to the Captain and the show.

 

Who doesn't love a man in uniform?

 

Just getting started. It looks like fun.

 

I like these almost front row seats. Though, being an introvert, I wouldn't want to sit there if there was a comedian performing.

 

 

I think she was the star of almost every show. Great voice. Looks like a bad girl here, though I don't think there was any story line. I was mesmerized by the acrobatics. A close up of stage makeup. We probably saw her daily on the ship and didn't recognize her. She must have had a better makeup mirror than I did. I rarely wear much makeup partly because can't see without my glasses and partly because I put my head underwater in the pool. I guess people onboard I see that are perfectly made up must bring their own mirror. 

 

 

Dancing Lampshades. Who knew it was a thing. There may have been singing lamps in Beauty and the Beast. 

 

 

 

 

Looking at those legs, the lampshade thing must be a good work out and looks kinda fun.

 

Empty front row seats. Makes it easier to take photos.

 

 

There she is again. Outfit change. Impressive. I'm thinking that she's probably quite beautiful even without the makeup.

 

I think these weird guys were like intermission or costume change time. They were quite colourful and made Janet really laugh every time, so I had to get photos.

 

 

This young woman was amazing. She looked about 12 but Cruise Director Rich said after the show "If anyone's asking, she's 20". So I guess people had been asking. 

 

 Just WOW!

 

The dogs are asking for breakfast again. I don't think I'm going to get this done today.

 

[Marvy Mare]

The dogs are happy. I've read the paper. The good news is that there is less violent crime in Toronto. There used to be a stabbing or shooting almost every night. Now even the bad guys are staying home. 

The reason that I have been working on this report mainly early the morning is because it's quiet. I was one of those students who had to work in a quiet library or in my room with the door closed and no music playing. It may be because I'm easily distracted. Right now, we are all staying home and I'm retired anyway. I could have finished this in a few days if I was able to work during the day. I even do most of my reading in the middle of the night. Again, quiet with no distractions. 

In high school and university I spent many summer afternoons by a friends's pool reading 'good' books. I went on to work in retail and then become a teacher. She became a book editor (I could never do that - They didn't have spell check back then) and then a Literary agent. She eventually married one of her clients, a very famous author. They lived in a mansion in the country. I lost touch with her, but I heard that she was kind of lonely. The famous author was a bit of a recluse. He locked himself up somewhere to do his writing. I get it. Good thing I never got beyond my one page story starters. Ken would have been a very lonely guy.

 

Back to the Reflection - DAY 11- Reflection Theatre

 

 

Creative use of Blue Recycling Bags. We can't use ours anymore for recycling. We have to use the recycling bins. I was wondering what do do with those bags. If we dressed like that others would be sure to keep their distance.

 

 

 

 

There is quite a crowd there. I wonder if they wiped down all the theatre seats too?

 

There she is again. And look at the muscles on that guy!

 

Crop top. I see they are coming back in style. 

 

 

This guy must have heard Janet laughing and came in close to check her out.

 

 

 

 

Ok! That's it for the pictures of the show.I said goodbye to Janet & Gary. We wouldn't see them again.  I headed back to our room. Michael (our room steward) was still working (a late night getting all the suitcases picked up) and when he saw me out on my own, he made sure I got safely back to our room. Nice guy. Wonder where he is now? Ken was still awake and the suitcases were stowed under the bed. One more sleep and home tomorrow. Our puppies would be happy to see us and we would be glad to get home.

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Marvy Mare
correction

[Marvy Mare]

Thanks to Norris. I struggled with adding the link to this report to my signature. There was something weird happening, but he figured it out. 

 

Maris

 

 

[anniedave]

Have just binged read the whole review I've not had time before as I've vern working long hours as a Key worker. I actually have this weekend off work 😊  We did the exact same cruise in January for my 50th birthday. It was our first ever cruise and we had spent 2 years saving & planning for it so I was so glad my birthday isn't later in the year or we would of missed out! Thankyou, reading your review brought back some great memories. We have booked another  celeb cruise for Feb 2022  

[chisoxfan]

4 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

You are right about the pricing. We did go to Future Cruises while on this trip and unlike on our other two cruises, we didn't put a deposit down on another cruise. The prices were just too high. At that time, double what we paid for this cruise. I do love Celebrity, though I have nothing to compare it with. Someone else following here, gave a shout out to Holland America (that's HAL right?). We will have to look into it. 

 

As far as the crowds by the pool, we have never tried to get a seat down there. We always like being on the deck above. Now, this time we always were able to find a seat. It may have been partly because of the heat, the number or sea days or the fact that the ship wasn't totally full. Rumour had it that there had been a fair number of cancelations

Maris 

 

Well, HAL generally is a more sedate experience with smaller ships but we have found many things to like . Primarily the entertainment venues (BB Kings, a Billboard entertainment bar, and even classical music), X has been hot or miss for us with entertainment (although we will always miss the Sunset Bar in the aft). They  (HAL) has a fantastic pool side burger and hot dog made to order venue and for us the ability to reserve a poolside cabana (with waiter service) for 200 a week makes HAL attractive.  I would have to think hard  between an X Aqua Class cruise and the HAL cruise we recently booked but X has made it simple with their 2X premium.

MSC has the Yacht club for similar dollars to X AQ balcony but you have a small suite, completely dedicated YC area with pool, lounge, and restaurant , unlimited drinks including mini bar in cabin,. etc. 

We also have gravitated to All Inclusives also as a value play (maybe the best) with a week on the ocean for similar costs to a cruise with many advantages (huge rooms, ocean beaches, wi-fi included, more dining, etc.).

Sorry to ramble on but my humble point is that there are many vacation venues seeking our  hard earned vacation dollars and it pays to have an open mind and be flexible to the changing price structure and travel opportunities out there.

 

 

 

[Marvy Mare]

1 hour ago, chisoxfan said:

 

Well, HAL generally is a more sedate experience with smaller ships but we have found many things to like . Primarily the entertainment venues (BB Kings, a Billboard entertainment bar, and even classical music), X has been hot or miss for us with entertainment (although we will always miss the Sunset Bar in the aft). They  (HAL) has a fantastic pool side burger and hot dog made to order venue and for us the ability to reserve a poolside cabana (with waiter service) for 200 a week makes HAL attractive.  I would have to think hard  between an X Aqua Class cruise and the HAL cruise we recently booked but X has made it simple with their 2X premium.

MSC has the Yacht club for similar dollars to X AQ balcony but you have a small suite, completely dedicated YC area with pool, lounge, and restaurant , unlimited drinks including mini bar in cabin,. etc. 

We also have gravitated to All Inclusives also as a value play (maybe the best) with a week on the ocean for similar costs to a cruise with many advantages (huge rooms, ocean beaches, wi-fi included, more dining, etc.).

Sorry to ramble on but my humble point is that there are many vacation venues seeking our  hard earned vacation dollars and it pays to have an open mind and be flexible to the changing price structure and travel opportunities out there.

 

 

 

Thanks for all the information. Rambling is OK. I do it all the time. I’ll cut & paste this too for future cruise ideas. I don’t think we’re planning another cruise anytime soon. We’re understandably nervous. Not just Ken, me too. 
 

Our next winter vacation will probably be a road trip. We bought ourselves an nice little SUV in December and if we are allowed out of the country next winter, we may take highways south. We were planning an October road trip to visit my cousin in Connecticut but for now those plans are on hold. 
 

Maris

[bunnyette]

7 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

You are right about the pricing. We did go to Future Cruises while on this trip and unlike on our other two cruises, we didn't put a deposit down on another cruise. The prices were just too high. At that time, double what we paid for this cruise. I do love Celebrity, though I have nothing to compare it with. Someone else following here, gave a shout out to Holland America (that's HAL right?). We will have to look into it. 

 

As far as the crowds by the pool, we have never tried to get a seat down there. We always like being on the deck above. Now, this time we always were able to find a seat. It may have been partly because of the heat, the number or sea days or the fact that the ship wasn't totally full. Rumour had it that there had been a fair number of cancelations.

 

Maris 

I know, I was looking at cruises to Iceland for next summer, found one with Carnival that had 3 ports in Iceland and visits Kirkwall in the Orkneys.   Found something similar on Celebrity bUT the difference in price was $1300 CDN each!  I can take that $2600 & spend some extra time in the UK.

[hcat]

Loved the show photos.. one with the dragon and aerialists seems much like the one on EDGE in the Club. Very talented peformers...  It was SRO ..very creative and popular..

 

Great review....very good  writing and photography

Our summer plans will be staying close to home while things hopefully get back to semi normal in our world. Still on lockdown

[Marvy Mare]

11 minutes ago, hcat said:

Loved the show photos.. one with the dragon and aerialists seems much like the one on EDGE in the Club. Very talented peformers...  It was SRO ..very creative and popular..

 

Great review....very good  writing and photography

Our summer plans will be staying close to home while things hopefully get back to semi normal in our world. Still on lockdown

We will be staying close to home too. We have some camping booked just in Ontario. I don’t know if it will happen. Probably not in June or July but we have bookings in September as well. I’ve got my fingers crossed for that. 
 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

20 hours ago, anniedave said:

Have just binged read the whole review I've not had time before as I've vern working long hours as a Key worker. I actually have this weekend off work 😊  We did the exact same cruise in January for my 50th birthday. It was our first ever cruise and we had spent 2 years saving & planning for it so I was so glad my birthday isn't later in the year or we would of missed out! Thankyou, reading your review brought back some great memories. We have booked another  celeb cruise for Feb 2022  

Hi Annie

 

Let's hope all is back to normal by 2022. That is probably when we will book another cruise as well. It's great to book them way out and put money down monthly. I'm glad you have enjoyed reading this and that it was worth a binge read.

 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

Friday, March 13 - back in Fort Lauderdale and home

 

This is it. It's April 11 here in Ontario. Easter weekend. Almost a month since we arrived back home from our cruise. It has been quite the month. Easter dinner will be a lot quieter this year.

 

We probably set our alarm for the last morning but we didn't need it. I was up at about 4. Held on until 4:30 to go for coffee. There were other people on the move as well. 

 

 City lights in the distance. I think it was Miami. Look how the clouds are lit up. You'd never see any stars there.

 

A cruise ship heading out? unless it's heading into Miami. I guess that is the most likely scenario. Cruises don't start their journey in the morning, do they?

 

One city just blends into another up the coast of Florida.

 

 

 

We didn't bother going for breakfast. I just brought croissants, muffins and fruit back and we ate on our veranda for the last time.

 

We had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the cruise port and drop us at the airport. We had sent him a text from Grand Cayman indicating that we would most likely be arriving on time in Fort Lauderdale and we would text him again as soon as we were in range.I checked through my messages as we got closer to port and were able to access the internet. With a sinking feeling, I read the message from our driver. 

'Hi Ken & Maris

Hope you had a wonderful time on the cruise. Unfortunately I have chosen to stop driving until the virus that has been infecting and killing many people is dealt with. Please take a taxi. Be safe.'

Blunt, to the point and if we weren't already really worried this brought it home. It was a changed world out there. The morning we left on our cruise, there were a few cases in Florida, somewhere up the west coast. Things must have changed considerably. 

 

Terminal 25

 

 

Getting closer.

I feel anxiety even writing this. Just the way we felt that morning. Would they let us off in port? Was everyone healthy? Would we be met by an ambulance (we were on our last cruise)? etc., etc. 

 

It was dark. I'm not even sure what brand of ship it was. I just brought it up in Lightroom. Serenade of the Seas. It had been there when we left. Wonder if they just stayed in port😂?

 

Caribbean Princess - Haven't seen them since Cartagena. I wonder if everyone was healthy on those ships? There's someone else awake on a balcony down below. Probably that other excited woman I saw up in the cafeteria one morning. Not a jaded cruiser yet. 

 

It really is coming back and rereading our driver's message has heightened my anxiety. 

 

My last picture of Florida. Almost docked. 

We were told to be on Deck 4 Reflection Theatre with our luggage at 7am. We were ready to go long before that. I think it was just after 6 when we did our final room check and loaded up our bags. As we were heading down the hall Michael came running after us. I guess they try to get right into your room after you go to make sure you haven't left anything. I had left my phone charger. Thanks Michael. 

There was already an extensive line of people and luggage. A lot of early flights. I saw Terri in line just ahead of us. Tom and Terri from Atlanta had been on our Dora Tour and were at the Barcelo in Aruba as well. Terri was a fellow dog lover and we had talked a number of times on the ship. We gave each other a hug, probably ill advised but a habit hard to break. I'm still healthy and I hope Terri is. Something that I'm missing these days is that physical contact with people. Social distancing sucks but is necessary. 

The line grew and grew. If we had been following current practices of 6 feet apart this line would probably have taken 2 floors. When we did start to move, around 7 as promised things went quickly. Our friends from Peterborough Lorie and Angus were ahead of us. After exiting the port we told them about our driver or lack of driver. We all walked up to the taxi stand together. There was a security guy keeping the cabs organized. We only had to wait for a few minutes for a cab. It was great. Now we know how easy it is to get a cab, we won't need the extra expense of a driver. 

We were at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport by 8am and first in line at the West Jet Counter. It didn't open until 9am, but we just waited. We wanted to make sure that we got home. 

There was no health check, just a couple of questions. The questions in Fort Lauderdale and Toronto were the same ones we had been asked on our flight down. Have you been to blah, blah, blah? Have you had contact with anyone who's been to blah, blah, blah? And I think maybe - Do you have a fever, cough? There were still lineups on both end of the flight. In Toronto we had to answer questions on a touch pad again. Nothing was wiped off between use. 

We waited with Angus and Lorie to pick up our luggage in Toronto, gave them goodbye hugs (I know, we shouldn't have) and headed home. We are still in touch with our new Peterborough friends.

 

I hear a waggy tail hitting a wall in the other room. Must get to her before she wakes Ken up. One more final post and we're all done. 

[Marvy Mare]

We got home to two healthy, happy dogs and a semi - stocked fridge. Our son Mac had been to the store for us for essentials and would go out again to shop for us. We had made a trip to Costco before going on our cruise and had lots of toilet paper.😁All was well.

We had flown out of Fort Lauderdale at 11:45am. At 6pm a State of Emergency was declared in Fort Lauderdale. The beaches were crowded the next day with the Spring Breakers. What were they thinking? The next day the beaches were closed.

Nothing had been said to us at either airport about self-isolating. We thought that we'd just stay away from our children and grandchildren for a bit. Watching the news endlessly made us realize that it was a thing. We were not seeing anyone for awhile. Turns out for a long while. Self isolating for 2 weeks followed by only going out for essentials. We do get out for walks. Fortunately we live in the country and it's easy here to avoid others. 

We did make the right choice to have people come in to look after the dogs. They hardly realized that we were gone.

 

Stella - she's 9

 

 

Dexter - he's 12 1/2

 

 

They are happy to have us home with them every day and love this self-isolating thing.

Take care and keep healthy! Thanks so much for following! Next Photo Cruise Review in a couple of years, I hope!

 

Maris

[Perky1]

Thank you Maris.  We will try and book this cruise in the spring of I am thinking likely 2022.  Not sure things will be back to normal in 2021.  Take care and be well.

 

 

[Summer1961]

Thank you Maris for a great review and great photos.

 

I have enjoyed following you and reliving these beautiful locations especially during this isolation period. I’ve been reading you every morning.   We have a cruise booked for August but will be cancelling.  We hope to cruise again someday, but I also think it will be awhile for us.  I don’t think we will be going very far, very soon.  We were planning on buying an RV this spring but that plan is also on hold.

 

The trip home was our worry as we felt so safe on the ship.  The FLL airport was a scary place along with taxis and airplanes.  We are grateful to be safe in our home and only go out when necessary.  It seems everything changed after we left the Reflection.

 

I’m sorry we didn’t get to meet, maybe another time.

 

Stay safe and take care.

 

Christine

 

PS: your dogs are gorgeous.