11 Night Ultimate Caribbean Cruise Photo Review - Celebrity Reflection

[Bimmer09]

Maris, thanks for all those hotel pics- I love that kind of detail that can prove helpful going forward for others needing a short stay near the port. Yes a toaster would have been a cheap and welcome addition to the kitchen.

The 6 photo limit no longer exists when posting. You can at least double that if your story needs it.

Norris

[Marvy Mare]

Thanks again Norris. Good to know. 
 

Maris

[mouseRD]

Which restaurant was the picture taken dining on the beach in Aruba?

[Lindagop]

Maris, what a welcome review, so good to read when probably 99 percent of other posts all virus/cancellation related. Thankyou, waiting for your next posting. Your fur babies are just beautiful. Greetings

[Marvy Mare]

1 hour ago, mouseRD said:

Which restaurant was the picture taken dining on the beach in Aruba?

 

Passions on the beach. It was lovely. The food was great, though it was expensive. We all opted for dessert back on the Reflection. All excursions that we did on this cruise, we found through cruise critic. Our Roll Call for the March 2, Reflection Sailing was up close to 80 pages. Great group. We enjoyed meeting quite a few of the people who posted there.

 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

1 hour ago, Lindagop said:

Maris, what a welcome review, so good to read when probably 99 percent of other posts all virus/cancellation related. Thankyou, waiting for your next posting. Your fur babies are just beautiful. Greetings

 

I was planning to do this review and then when all this started happening, I was wondering about persisting with it. We are in Self Isolation for 11 more days. I can only read so may books. We do live out in a rural area as well, so are able to walk the dogs without running into anyone. 

Next posting coming up.

 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

March 1, Fort Lauderdale

 

One more sleep. I was up early again as usual. In our unit there was an Espresso maker. I just like regular coffee and have never had an Espresso. It was kind of cool, but I tried to make a big cup and it didn't quite work. Down by the pool starting at 6am? there was a large thermos of coffee. I fetched our 2 cups each and we 'enjoyed' our coffee in front of the news. There was a big screen TV in each room. I say enjoyed because there was some talk about the Coronavirus. From what I remember now there were one or two cases somewhere around Tampa. Ken tends to worry, so I banned news watching - lol. 

 

Coffee was right on that bar by the pool.

 

One other thing about our accommodations. There was a separate bedroom in the unit, a queen size bed in the 'living room' and a pull out couch, but only one bathroom and it was in the bedroom. Not convenient for two couples to share. Might be OK for a family. 

 

 

Not our car - lol! Either a guest or the owner. It was parked there  during most of our visit.  There was plenty of parking in front of the hotel if needed.

 

I love to photograph sunrises. We live by a lake out in the country. We face west so see many sunsets. Sunrises are out over the field behind us. They are rarely colourful, but when they are they can be spectacular. 

I walked down to the beach to catch the sunrise. I think it was around 7am. It wasn't spectacular, but it was quite pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by Marvy Mare
corrections

[wrk2cruise]

We were also on this sailing and had a fantastic time.  Also self isolating now so will be following along.

Edited March 16, 2020 by wrk2cruise

[Marvy Mare]

30 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

We were also on this sailing and had a fantastic time.  Also self isolating now so will be following along.

Hi Royce & Robin

I kept the list. You were on our Roll Call. Yes it was a great cruise. I think the worry brought people together. 
 

Maris

[mouseRD]

Thanks, Maris!  I’m going to look into that restaurant; any other suggestions for ABC cruise excursions welcome.  We’ll be on Equinox February 2021.  Our first cruise on Celebrity.

[Marvy Mare]

Suggestions coming up. The ABC Islands were great. I’d go back if we could afford it. 

 

Maris

[mouseRD]

Thanks so much, Maris!

[DENIE]

Loving your review and photos! Your dogs are just beautiful! 

 

We will be on the Reflection in November 2020 on our America's cruise - Grand Cayman, Cartagena, Colon (Panama), Limon (Costa Rica), Roatan, and Costa Maya.  Then on Reflection again in August 2021 for a Baltic cruise.  Can't wait for your review and photos!

 

Dale

[Marvy Mare]

6 hours ago, DENIE said:

Loving your review and photos! Your dogs are just beautiful! 

 

We will be on the Reflection in November 2020 on our America's cruise - Grand Cayman, Cartagena, Colon (Panama), Limon (Costa Rica), Roatan, and Costa Maya.  Then on Reflection again in August 2021 for a Baltic cruise.  Can't wait for your review and photos!

 

Dale

 

Dale - The America's cruise sounds amazing. How many nights is that? I know people who have done the Baltic & loved it.

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

March 1 - Fort Lauderdale (cont.)

I left off with the sunrise on the day before our cruise. I didn't need to use my countdown clocks anymore. The count is one.

My walk back to the Elita to get ready for breakfast.

 

 

 

 Breakfast. We had noticed a restaurant south of where we were staying and decided to walk down there and check it out first. I love to walk. Ken not quite so much. His hips. My knees bother me from time to time but I figured that walking in the heat would make everything better. We managed 21,000 steps that day. ( I got my Fitbit to synch yesterday so I could relive our walking history). The restaurant had a beautiful patio overlooking the beach. It would probably be a nice place for dinner. The breakfast was a buffet but it was about $25 each. I might eat $25 of food for breakfast, but Ken won't. It would be a waste. So we headed back up the beach. See how I add steps. We found a place somewhere around the Atlantic, I think. I'll post a picture of their sign. The patio was closed in. It was a cool morning. The place was full. And the breakfast was really good.

 

 

The Sea Club Resort was one of those old tired motels. You can tell from the sign. It looked full. March Breakers? They weren't at breakfast yet. Maybe the motel was inexpensive. I didn't check that out. We did find that everything seemed much more expensive in Fort Lauderdale on this visit. Being Canadians, we feel that we're paying a premium anyway. Breakfast was very good, the menu was huge and our bill fairly reasonable. Below is my first, last and only attempt at food photos. Not my forte. I'll leave it to food photo artists like Norris. This is an omelette, in case you can't tell. 

 

 

After breakfast, Ken went back to the hotel while I went for a beach walk. I walked north on the beach for awhile. The water felt warm, but it was rough and windy. Beach walking is good for my arthritic feet. I asked my doctor for a prescription for beach walking and he just laughed. I went past the Bonnet House & Gardens (maybe we'll go in someday) and as far as the entrance to the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park. A very long name for a small park. Then back along the sidewalk to the hotel. It was quite quiet out. The wild ones hadn't arrived yet or were still sleeping.

 

 

 

We spent much of the day walking. I think we probably had sandwiches from the CVS (yum) for lunch. Each time we have been to Fort Lauderdale, I say - let's try the water taxi. Didn't do it this time either. 

 

 

 

The Westin Beach Resort. This is where my brother, his wife and my cousin were planning to stay before their early April 2020 Cruise. Guess you know what happened there.

 

They're back!

 

The restaurants and sidewalks here - South Fort Lauderdale Beach were just starting to fill with young people.  Notice the adults dressed in jeans and long sleeves. The Spring Breakers don't dress that way, even when it's cool. It's itsy bitsy bikinis. They don't even look comfortable and those poor girls must be freezing (lol). The Courtyard by Marriot is visible in this photo. That's where the webcam that I posted the other day is. I looked at the webcam yesterday. The beach is empty. Sad.

Edited March 17, 2020 by Marvy Mare
correction

[Marvy Mare]

March 1 - Fort Lauderdale (cont)

We had dinner in the Mexican Restaurant at the W. It was right across the road and we were tired. I think I had tacos of some sort again but I didn't make a note and I really don't remember. I did have a Margarita to drink. I don't often do mixed drinks, but Margarita sounds festive and vacationey (that should be a real word) and it was good.

There was a mom, grandma & 2 1/2 year old sitting near us. The little guy had dark hair and eyes and charm. He reminded us of our grandson. He frowned at us at first. Then clowned like a typical 2 year old. Grandma wasn't impressed by our behaviour, but mom seemed to think we were harmless. Missing our kids and grandkids right now. We have three children. Our youngest and his girlfriend have a 180# great dane. Our daughter & husband have a 2 1/2 year boy old and a 2 month old girl and our other son & wife have a 2 1/2 year old girl and are due very shortly (April 6) to have another girl. They are understandably worried about going to the hospital. We were away for 2 weeks and now self isolating for 2 weeks. FaceTime just isn't the same as hugs. Enough of that. I'm trying to keep this upbeat in these trying times.

 

 

 

 

 

That's it for the day. We went back to the hotel and sat on the patio. In bed 'reading' by 9pm

Edited March 17, 2020 by Marvy Mare
correction

[Marvy Mare]

March 2 - Fort Lauderdale - Day 1

 

A very exciting day. Also my birthday. I was so excited about this trip that I almost forgot about my birthday. When we were at my brothers house for dinner and they brought out a birthday cake complete with candles, for a second I wondered whom it was for.

Up ridiculously early, 3:30 am. I did hear some yelling in the night. Didn't keep me awake though and fortunately wasn't at our hotel. When I went down to get our morning coffee, I was speaking to the gentleman setting it up. He said that it was a wild night with the Spring Breakers. The hotel behind us, (we stayed there a few years ago) the Fortuna is part of the same group. There were a number of students in there. He said there was garbage everywhere, beer bottles in the pool, barf and other lovely leavings. As he was coming into work at 4am kids were heading to the beach. 

 

A cloudy start to the day. At about 6:30am

 

At 6:45 there was a wake up call. A black Bugatti was parked just under our window. It's car alarm was set off and went for at least 5 minutes. Shortly after the wake up call I headed to the beach to check out the boats coming in. Missed the Reflection, but I caught a couple of others.

 

Royal Caribbean - Independence of the Seas

 

Silver Seas - Silver Wind

 

 

We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Coffee Shop in the Hilton, then finished packing and got ready to leave. 

 

 

Our driver was scheduled to pick us up at 10:30. Lugged all our baggage back down the stairs and waited in the 'Living Room'. There was a really nice English couple waiting there. They had just returned from a Caribbean cruise. They said that the weather hadn't been great. Rain for the first 3 days and cool. Originally they had been booked on a cruise out of Hong Kong, which was obviously cancelled. We did listen to the news for a minute. No worries, just a couple of cases in northern Florida. How quickly things can change.

Our driver was a few minutes early and we were at the port by 10:45. Wooo Hooo!

 

[Marvy Mare]

March 2 - Day 1 - Fort Lauderdale

 

I'm just putting this up today to outline our trip. If anyone is interested, I will post Celebrity Today again.

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Marvy Mare
correction

[Nanatravel]

On 3/15/2020 at 5:17 AM, Marvy Mare said:

I need to grab my notes, but then the dogs will wake up and want their breakfast followed by coffee and cookies with us while watching the increasingly horrifying news. So back to this later. It looks like we are going to have a beautiful sunny day here in Ontario. I will get started on my report today. After our 2018 cruise I did a report but had very few notes. I think I did better this time.

Until Later

 

Maris

Glad you arrived home safely and have decided to self quarantine.  It was a pleasure to meet you once again. I layed low much of the cruise.  I definitely didn't get my monies worth out of the Drink package, but that's OK.  With a limited appetite, I just didn't feel like my usual Irish Coffee each afternoon.  I never even got my free Gelato.  So far I'm loving your photo story especially since I didn't get off the ship in many places.  You went the southern route in Bonaire from the picture of the wind sails at Sorobon.  We did the Northern and it was bumpy and boring.  Only local focal point was the 1000 steps, which I certainly had no intention of walking.  Rincon was a disappointment as just a church and local houses.

 

With this virus, I sure hope I get to go to my GI doctors appointment. The family has had 2 calls today rescheduling appointments.  Keep up the good work.  

 

Maybe our paths will cross someday on another cruise.

 

[Marvy Mare]

March 2 - DAY 1 - Fort Lauderdale (cont.)

 

Our embarkation was quick and easy. We were dropped off right at the newish terminal - 25. It was just being built when we were there a couple of years ago. Inside & up an escalator. We waited for a short time in a lineup. Nothing like at the airport. Our Seapasses were produced quickly. The gentleman at the counter directed us over to the area where Concierge guests were to wait. As we walked over an announcement was made. Concierge guests could board. We were at the front of the line. It felt as if we were butting in but there was too big a crowd to make our way to the back (🤣). We were on the Reflection again. 

There was a special luncheon in the Opus Restaurant for Concierge but we just wanted to sit out in the warm sunshine. Not directly in the sun, mind you. Our pale Canadian skin couldn't take it. Ken is friendlier than I am, though he said that he was impressed by my friendliness on this trip. It's not that I'm standoffish., It's that if I don't like someone, I don't bother. On this trip, I liked almost everyone I met. 

As it happens in the small world that we live in, the first couple that we met, Angus & Lorie live in Peterborough, Ontario. We live just outside Peterborough. Of course Peterborough is a small city masquerading as a smaller town. We knew all kinds of people in common. We spent most afternoons on board sharing Peterborough stories with Angus & Lorie. 

 

 

I can't really see in this picture. One of the first that I took on board. That could very well be Lorie sitting there.

 

No, it's not her. We didn't see the deck looking like this again. Well maybe in the early morning, but the light was different.

No one in the pool & no one saving chairs. How refreshing.

 

There's the happy guy now. Apparently Bud Light ran out. It's kind of like Canadian beer and there were at least 900 Canadians on board. We could have been in the majority.

 

One more picture and then it's hot tub time. I didn't get in the hot tubs on the boat. People were doing a lot of drinking around the pool and.....

 

There's the Silver Wind that I watched coming into port at 6:30am

[Lindagop]

Greetings Maris, still following. Can’t wait for your next post. Lying here reading cruise critic with both our fur babies cuddling. After the state of Emergency declaration here in Ontario this morning, hardly a car going by. Our neighbour hood has never been this quiet and trying to avoid any outings except walking fur kids and grocery). Your posts are so welcome and refreshing. Just love your writing style and the inclusion of many great pictures. Thank you so much , Linda (ps we are due to sail SJU- Bayonne 2 May on Celebrity Summit which most probably will not happen, just not officially called off yet)

[Marvy Mare]

1 hour ago, Nanatravel said:

Glad you arrived home safely and have decided to self quarantine.  It was a pleasure to meet you once again. I layed low much of the cruise.  I definitely didn't get my monies worth out of the Drink package, but that's OK.  With a limited appetite, I just didn't feel like my usual Irish Coffee each afternoon.  I never even got my free Gelato.  So far I'm loving your photo story especially since I didn't get off the ship in many places.  You went the southern route in Bonaire from the picture of the wind sails at Sorobon.  We did the Northern and it was bumpy and boring.  Only local focal point was the 1000 steps, which I certainly had no intention of walking.  Rincon was a disappointment as just a church and local houses.

 

With this virus, I sure hope I get to go to my GI doctors appointment. The family has had 2 calls today rescheduling appointments.  Keep up the good work.  

 

Maybe our paths will cross someday on another cruise.

 

 

Hi Bev

 

Hope you're feeling better soon and get into see your doctor. I'm glad we took the southern route too. We followed a great couple that we met on the ship and met other cruise critic people along the way. It was the hi light of our trip. The weather was so amazing too, for the whole trip. Odds are that we will meet on another cruise. I've only been on three cruises and you were on two of them. 😂

Maris

[Summer1961]

We also were on this cruise and are self-isolating.  Looking forward to your pics and the rest of your review.

 

 

[Summer1961]

1 hour ago, Nanatravel said:

Glad you arrived home safely and have decided to self quarantine.  It was a pleasure to meet you once again. I layed low much of the cruise.  I definitely didn't get my monies worth out of the Drink package, but that's OK.  With a limited appetite, I just didn't feel like my usual Irish Coffee each afternoon.  I never even got my free Gelato.  So far I'm loving your photo story especially since I didn't get off the ship in many places.  You went the southern route in Bonaire from the picture of the wind sails at Sorobon.  We did the Northern and it was bumpy and boring.  Only local focal point was the 1000 steps, which I certainly had no intention of walking.  Rincon was a disappointment as just a church and local houses.

 

With this virus, I sure hope I get to go to my GI doctors appointment. The family has had 2 calls today rescheduling appointments.  Keep up the good work.  

 

Maybe our paths will cross someday on another cruise.

 

I hope you feel better soon.  We did meet at the CC party but I dint think we saw each other again through the entire cruise.

 

 

[Marvy Mare]

28 minutes ago, Lindagop said:

Greetings Maris, still following. Can’t wait for your next post. Lying here reading cruise critic with both our fur babies cuddling. After the state of Emergency declaration here in Ontario this morning, hardly a car going by. Our neighbour hood has never been this quiet and trying to avoid any outings except walking fur kids and grocery). Your posts are so welcome and refreshing. Just love your writing style and the inclusion of many great pictures. Thank you so much , Linda (ps we are due to sail SJU- Bayonne 2 May on Celebrity Summit which most probably will not happen, just not officially called off yet)

Linda

We did get out for a drive yesterday and there were very few people around anywhere. We're working on a grocery list. Our children have offered to shop for us. I'd love to see a photo of your fur babies. Our long Roll Call for this cruise included a lot of dog photos.

 

Maris