Reflection Review - Jan. 2 - 12, 2022

[Host Anne]

Celebrity Reflection Review – Jan. 2 – 12, 2022

 

TESTING – FT. LAUDERDALE HOTEL – PORT TRANSPORTATION - EMBARKATION

I’ll start by saying I love to cruise.  We cruise with family and friends….and cruise friends we’ve made over the years.  This cruise was a postponement from the same cruise in 2021.  Given everything happening, I was concerned whether our group would stay together and take this cruise.  Happily, nearly everyone joined us in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

This was our third cruise since Celebrity began sailing again last summer.  The first cruise out of St. Maarten on Summit was a cruise we will always remember and cherish.  We went solely to support Celebrity and the crew.  Our second cruise was on Equinox in October.  Another great cruise that took the place of our cancelled transatlantic. 

 

Getting ready to sail on Reflection wasn’t filled with the typical excitement and anticipation simply because there was so much uncertainty and anxiety associated with cruising right now.  We were going to be sailing with family members and cruise friends that we hadn’t seen in more than two years.  The thought of canceling again and not having the chance to be together could be a real downer at times.  But for the most part, we really tried to look forward to the cruise and enjoying being together again.

 

Of course, some of the anxiety surrounded the required testing.  We were boarding on a holiday weekend and the uncertainty of available testing locations was worrisome.  We decided to purchase the Abbott BinaxNOW Ag At-Home Test Kits through Celebrity for everyone coming outside of Florida.  It took about five days to receive the tests once ordered.  Our UK friends purchased their tests from Qured before traveling to Florida.  Everyone did their tests with an on-line proctor on New Years Eve.  My immediate family did our tests at Walgreens before driving to Ft. Lauderdale that day.  I have to say that taking the test was very easy for everyone.  I had watched a few videos on YouTube so I felt comfortable helping everyone take the test in their hotel room with the proctor.  Celebrations were held when everyone tested negative.  We were now ready to cruise. 

 

We stayed at the Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport – South & Cruise Port.  Great hotel located close to the airport.  It’s in a very up-and-coming area that has quite a few nice restaurants within walking distance.  This will be our go-to hotel for future cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I had pre-arranged for a shuttle service to the port with Elite Shuttle Inc.  They were very prompt in providing me with a quote to the port and from the port to the airport for those flying out after the cruise.  Their rates were very reasonable, their driver called when they were on their way (early both times but didn’t rush us) and they were very responsive to any questions or changes I had to make.  We’ll be using them again for future cruises when we have a group going along with us.

 

Our arrival time at the pier was 11:30 and we were dropped off about 11:15 or so.  Because we were departing on a Sunday and Edge was at Terminal 25, we were departing from Terminal 29.  It’s a bit older and clearly isn’t set up to handle passengers the way Terminal 25 is.  There was a lot more stopping and waiting at various places for multiple people to check documents multiple times (three to be exact).  That was not the case when we sailed on Equinox in October out of Terminal 25.  

 

The big surprise was when we were inside the terminal (going through line #2) and were handed a sheet of paper with new protocols, including the new mask mandate.  While not surprised, I was annoyed because I asked this question just days before and was told there were no changes to masks onboard.  I did have some in our group who would have taken the Cruise with Confidence option has we been told this 48 hours out.  I was very disappointed that we were not told of this change via the ap Notifications which reminded us four or five days in a row leading up to embarkation that we’d have to complete a health questionnaire before boarding.  It certainly seemed intentional to wait until we were inside the terminal to inform us of the change.  Ultimately, it didn’t have a significant impact on our cruise experience but the lack of communication prior to arrival was very disappointing.  More on masking later.

 

We walked onto Reflection about 12:15.

 

 

THE SHIP

We have sailed Reflection once before in 2015 but we’ve sailed the other S-class ships multiple times so we were very familiar with the location of everything on the ship.  While there are a few differences on this final S-class ship, it’s pretty much the same as her sisters.  Reflection is in great shape for her age.  Some things could use replacement or refurbishment like the couches in the cabins but overall, she’s a beautiful ship.

 

We had five cabins together on the port side hump on deck 9 (these cabins are in a GREAT location).  Two other cabins in our group were on deck 6 and 7.  The cabins were all in fine shape (except the aforementioned couched that sagged a bit) and everything was in good working order.  Our cabin attendant, Warden, took great care of our cabin. 

 

The pool deck had great chairs (it was never really crowded) and pool attendants that were eager to get you towels and make you comfortable headrests on your lounge chairs.  You could get a chair in any spot you wanted on the pool and upper pool decks. 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

The entertainment was an odd situation. Our traditional before dinner bar has been Ensemble for a couple of reasons.  First, the bar staff is always great in here.  Next, they typically have a variety of different musicians that trade off in playing pre- and post-dinner in this lounge.  Sadly on this cruise, two classical string musicians played in here every evening (I think there was one night that they didn’t).  While we occasionally enjoy classical music, over ten days you really felt that the Ensemble lounge became the sad, funeral like place for music on the ship.  I know that sounds harsh, but it would have been much better if the solo guitar player could have played here once in a while.  The solo guitarist occasionally played at the Sunset bar and he was enjoyable.

 

Shows in the theater were pretty darn good.  Two of the production shows were cancelled due to crew being quarantined (they didn’t say if it was preventive from contract tracing or if there were any positive cases among the production staff).  But the headline entertainers (which all performed two evenings to replace production shows) were very good.  Philharmonic was an a cappella group; December of 63 was a Frankie Vallie & the Four Seasons tribute group; and John Bressler was a piano player/comedian.  There was also a pianist from Brazil late in the cruise but we didn’t see that show.  He was flown to St. Maarten on short notice to fill in.  He praised Celebrity for everything they did to get him to the ship.

 

 

FOOD & SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS

This is such a subjective area.  Celebrity’s food has always been good to excellent.  This cruise wasn’t any different with the exception of a few true misses (no idea what was happening).  Let’s talk the misses first.  I had Chicken Kiev one evening.  That’s supposed to be a chicken breast stuffed with butter and herbs, breaded and cooked.  This Chicken Kiev had no stuffing and was nearly impossible to cut. A guest at a table next to us actually sent his back saying it couldn’t be cut.  It was very odd.  Equally as strange was the beef wellington on chic night. We’ve enjoyed this many, many times on Celebrity ships but this cruise the puff pastry was very thick to the point of not being cooked while the beef (which we ordered medium rare) was well done. The mushroom duxelles that between the beef and puff pastry was also extremely thick compared to what it normally is.  All of this made for a less than great beef wellington but it was OK…we had plenty of great food throughout the cruise.

 

Many other dishes through the cruise were good to excellent.  Soups and appetizers seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.  The pasta dishes were good and all the desserts were great. 

 

Food in the Oceanview Café was pretty standard fare you’d expect here.  One day I grabbed a fresh baguette (it was SOOO good) and asked for it to be sliced.  Then I went to the grill station where I had them add two small pieces of thinly grilled chicken with onions and then I went to the pasta station for some marinara sauce and parmesan.  It was a delicious lunch.  We also enjoyed breakfast here most mornings on the back outdoor deck. 

 

Two of our three specialty restaurant dinners were outstanding.  The Lawn Club Grill was our first specialty choice, and everyone agreed that the food was superb.  From the pizza and salad bars to everything that came off the grill, there was unanimous agreement among our group that the food was all terrific!  Murano was our second.  It was a special evening as we enjoyed the wine room for this wonderful dinner.  The best thing was they made our chateaubriand a surf and turf by adding some of the best lobster I’ve ever had.  It was sautéed in a wonderful sauce (I actually meant to ask for the recipe) and was the perfect accompaniment to the beef. 

 

Our final specialty restaurant was Tuscan Grille.  Often one of our favorites, it was just so so on the evening we were there.  Our waiter seemed new and struggled a bit to understand orders.  My appetizer of Strozzapreti Carbonara was delicious and I wish I had just had an entrée of that.  I asked for either the Chicken Parmesan or Veal Marsala for my entrée and he brought me both.  The Chicken Parmesan was OK but the Veal Marsala had no marsala flavor.  It wasn’t possible to eat both of these, and I felt like I was wasting food.  Next time I’ll stick to just the Strozzapreti.

 

CABANA RENTAL ON THE LAWN

We had quite a bit of onboard credit this cruise from price drops, so we rented a cabana on a port day (it was $99).  We were told it would accommodate four people and the rental went from 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.  It was very nice and it was serviced by those who worked in the Lawn Club Grill.  Upon arrival there were glasses and two large Evian’s in a bucket of ice along with a food menu.  We didn’t arrive until just after lunch because we rented this for the day in St. Maarten.  It’s very nice but it seemed like every time we left for a few minutes, someone came and sat in the cabana.  It happened twice.  There are small signs that said it was reserved with our name but people didn’t pay any attention to it.  It would have been nice if staff was able to keep others out of the rented cabanas.  Otherwise, the cabana was great.  They need to find a way to keep the cushions from sliding off the chairs (could be a bit dangerous actually) but it was very nice change. 

 

PORTS OF CALL

If you are cruising at this time, you know up front that ports of call could be changed at any time and that happened to us.  We skipped St. Croix, Grenada and St. Kitts.  They were replaced with Nassau, Barbados and St. Maarten.  We would have loved to have gone to St. Croix as it’s the only Virgin Island we haven’t been to, but we understood.

 

In Antigua and St. Maarten, you could get off on your own and do whatever you’d like (keep in mind that this is subject to change at any time). In Barbados & Dominica you could do a Celebrity tour or one of the government taxis waiting at the port. 

 

We didn’t get off the ship in Nassau and in Antigua, we just walked around the town for about an hour.  In Barbados, we took a taxi to my favorite pottery location – Earthworks!  We hadn’t been here in a long time and our home is filled with their beautiful pieces of art.  It was great to visit again.  In Dominica, six of us rented a government taxi just to get out and do something.  It was a great choice.  We did about a four-hour tour around the island.  We hadn’t been here in years, either.  It’s a beautiful island and she gave us loads of beautiful rainbows throughout the day. 

 

We’ve done multiple Caribbean cruises previously, so the ports of call weren’t the most important thing about this cruise.

 

 

 

COVID PROTOCOLS & CASES

I know there is much discussion about this, so I’ll give my thoughts on our experience. 

 

The indoor mask mandate was put in place at check in at the pier.  I’d say 99.9% of the people and 100% of the crew on our sailing abided by the new mandate.  While there was an occasional person we passed without a mask, we were never close to them other than passing by.  In the theater, you could easily sit all by yourself without being anywhere near other people.  I don’t recall seeing anyone in Oceanview without masks on unless they were seated at a table eating. 

 

The main dining rooms had guests spaced out so there wasn’t anyone at the tables immediately adjacent to ours (we had two tables side by side for our group).  The dining room never seemed crowded and there was only one evening that I can recall a good line getting into the Anytime dining room.

 

If you wanted to be by yourself at almost any of the bars, you could be.  Yes, around the martini bar was full at times, with everyone having a drink, but you could just as easily sat at one of the many empty areas that aren't directly at the bar and been totally away from people if you chose to.

 

Capt. Nikolas kept us updated on the Covid situations on board throughout the cruise.  For the duration of the cruise, he indicated that there were ten passengers who tested positive with only two of them having mild symptoms.  He noted that they did contract trace those who were in close contact with those who tested positive on board.  He indicated that there were crew who were also isolated or quarantined but he did not share numbers on crew.  We appreciated his updates and felt very comfortable that Celebrity has the protocols in place to safely deal with everything that is going on.

 

Quite honestly, and this is my personal opinion, if you are truly concerned about positive cases on ships you shouldn’t consider sailing right now.  If you are going to spend your cruise vacation worrying about what is happening with Covid, you are wasting your vacation dollars.  We had friends cancel at the last minute because they were very concerned about getting quarantined.  I completely understood those concerns and felt they made the right decision to not cruise with us.  But constantly wondering how many cases they are and whether everyone is wearing their mask all the time just negatively impacts what should be a wonderful vacation.     

I have no doubt that we are safer on a ship than we are going to the grocery store! 

 

CREW

For the most part, the crew is truly amazing.  These are still very, very challenging times for all of them.  Yet they go out of their way to make our cruise vacation the very best it can possibly be given the circumstances.  They are very happy to be back on ships and they work as hard as ever. 

 

I was most impressed by Capt. Nikolas who constantly praised his crew during morning announcements and who attended every show in the theater we attended.  It was impressive!

 

MAJOR COMPLAINT – SMOKING

Sorry smokers but you ruined some of our favorite spots on the ship.  The port side of the Sunset Bar is available to smokers.  This is actually the best outdoor area on the ship and the best outdoor bar on any S-class ships since they turned it into an oval-shaped bar in the middle of the deck.  However, the amount of smoke throughout the day (and there weren’t even that many people smoking) caused us to leave the area multiple times.  The wind carries the smoke across the aft deck, and you simply can’t escape it.  You could even smell the smoke (the cigar smoke is especially offensive) at times on the outdoor deck of the Oceanview Café one deck below.  I have no problem with people who chose to smoke.  I do mind when it affects our enjoyment of some of the best places on the ship.  When we have protocols that are forcing us to wear masks because of a virus that causes respiratory problems, it seems a bit silly to allow smoking that also causes respiratory problems.  Sorry to smokers….I wish they could find an area where for you where smoke didn’t travel into other areas of the ship.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON CRUISING RIGHT NOW

We wouldn’t hesitate stepping back on a ship again tomorrow.  Be sure you are comfortable being around others on a ship if you are planning to cruise soon.  It’s very difficult to totally avoid people on a ship.  There are no guarantees with anything these days.  We were grateful for being able to cruise with family & friends again and we enjoyed having the chance to meeting several Cruise Critic members, too.  Here’s to the next cruise….

 

[cnkgirl]

Awesome review Host Ann 😎

[cbfb]

Thank you for posting such a thoughtful review. We felt the exact same way at the Sunset bar on the Equinox January 3rd sailing. I’ve cruises the reflection 3 times and absolutely adore her. I’m glad to hear she is in such good shape! 

[KyleDefends]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.  We're on the Reflection in March and all the information is so helpful in these unusual times.

[cruisefan11111]

1 hour ago, Host Anne said:

Celebrity Reflection Review – Jan. 2 – 12, 2022

 

TESTING – FT. LAUDERDALE HOTEL – PORT TRANSPORTATION - EMBARKATION

I’ll start by saying I love to cruise.  We cruise with family and friends….and cruise friends we’ve made over the years.  This cruise was a postponement from the same cruise in 2021.  Given everything happening, I was concerned whether our group would stay together and take this cruise.  Happily, nearly everyone joined us in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

This was our third cruise since Celebrity began sailing again last summer.  The first cruise out of St. Maarten on Summit was a cruise we will always remember and cherish.  We went solely to support Celebrity and the crew.  Our second cruise was on Equinox in October.  Another great cruise that took the place of our cancelled transatlantic. 

 

Getting ready to sail on Reflection wasn’t filled with the typical excitement and anticipation simply because there was so much uncertainty and anxiety associated with cruising right now.  We were going to be sailing with family members and cruise friends that we hadn’t seen in more than two years.  The thought of canceling again and not having the chance to be together could be a real downer at times.  But for the most part, we really tried to look forward to the cruise and enjoying being together again.

 

Of course, some of the anxiety surrounded the required testing.  We were boarding on a holiday weekend and the uncertainty of available testing locations was worrisome.  We decided to purchase the Abbott BinaxNOW Ag At-Home Test Kits through Celebrity for everyone coming outside of Florida.  It took about five days to receive the tests once ordered.  Our UK friends purchased their tests from Qured before traveling to Florida.  Everyone did their tests with an on-line proctor on New Years Eve.  My immediate family did our tests at Walgreens before driving to Ft. Lauderdale that day.  I have to say that taking the test was very easy for everyone.  I had watched a few videos on YouTube so I felt comfortable helping everyone take the test in their hotel room with the proctor.  Celebrations were held when everyone tested negative.  We were now ready to cruise. 

 

We stayed at the Hyatt Place Fort Lauderdale Airport – South & Cruise Port.  Great hotel located close to the airport.  It’s in a very up-and-coming area that has quite a few nice restaurants within walking distance.  This will be our go-to hotel for future cruises out of Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I had pre-arranged for a shuttle service to the port with Elite Shuttle Inc.  They were very prompt in providing me with a quote to the port and from the port to the airport for those flying out after the cruise.  Their rates were very reasonable, their driver called when they were on their way (early both times but didn’t rush us) and they were very responsive to any questions or changes I had to make.  We’ll be using them again for future cruises when we have a group going along with us.

 

Our arrival time at the pier was 11:30 and we were dropped off about 11:15 or so.  Because we were departing on a Sunday and Edge was at Terminal 25, we were departing from Terminal 29.  It’s a bit older and clearly isn’t set up to handle passengers the way Terminal 25 is.  There was a lot more stopping and waiting at various places for multiple people to check documents multiple times (three to be exact).  That was not the case when we sailed on Equinox in October out of Terminal 25.  

 

The big surprise was when we were inside the terminal (going through line #2) and were handed a sheet of paper with new protocols, including the new mask mandate.  While not surprised, I was annoyed because I asked this question just days before and was told there were no changes to masks onboard.  I did have some in our group who would have taken the Cruise with Confidence option has we been told this 48 hours out.  I was very disappointed that we were not told of this change via the ap Notifications which reminded us four or five days in a row leading up to embarkation that we’d have to complete a health questionnaire before boarding.  It certainly seemed intentional to wait until we were inside the terminal to inform us of the change.  Ultimately, it didn’t have a significant impact on our cruise experience but the lack of communication prior to arrival was very disappointing.  More on masking later.

 

We walked onto Reflection about 12:15.

 

 

THE SHIP

We have sailed Reflection once before in 2015 but we’ve sailed the other S-class ships multiple times so we were very familiar with the location of everything on the ship.  While there are a few differences on this final S-class ship, it’s pretty much the same as her sisters.  Reflection is in great shape for her age.  Some things could use replacement or refurbishment like the couches in the cabins but overall, she’s a beautiful ship.

 

We had five cabins together on the port side hump on deck 9 (these cabins are in a GREAT location).  Two other cabins in our group were on deck 6 and 7.  The cabins were all in fine shape (except the aforementioned couched that sagged a bit) and everything was in good working order.  Our cabin attendant, Warden, took great care of our cabin. 

 

The pool deck had great chairs (it was never really crowded) and pool attendants that were eager to get you towels and make you comfortable headrests on your lounge chairs.  You could get a chair in any spot you wanted on the pool and upper pool decks. 

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT

The entertainment was an odd situation. Our traditional before dinner bar has been Ensemble for a couple of reasons.  First, the bar staff is always great in here.  Next, they typically have a variety of different musicians that trade off in playing pre- and post-dinner in this lounge.  Sadly on this cruise, two classical string musicians played in here every evening (I think there was one night that they didn’t).  While we occasionally enjoy classical music, over ten days you really felt that the Ensemble lounge became the sad, funeral like place for music on the ship.  I know that sounds harsh, but it would have been much better if the solo guitar player could have played here once in a while.  The solo guitarist occasionally played at the Sunset bar and he was enjoyable.

 

Shows in the theater were pretty darn good.  Two of the production shows were cancelled due to crew being quarantined (they didn’t say if it was preventive from contract tracing or if there were any positive cases among the production staff).  But the headline entertainers (which all performed two evenings to replace production shows) were very good.  Philharmonic was an a cappella group; December of 63 was a Frankie Vallie & the Four Seasons tribute group; and John Bressler was a piano player/comedian.  There was also a pianist from Brazil late in the cruise but we didn’t see that show.  He was flown to St. Maarten on short notice to fill in.  He praised Celebrity for everything they did to get him to the ship.

 

 

FOOD & SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS

This is such a subjective area.  Celebrity’s food has always been good to excellent.  This cruise wasn’t any different with the exception of a few true misses (no idea what was happening).  Let’s talk the misses first.  I had Chicken Kiev one evening.  That’s supposed to be a chicken breast stuffed with butter and herbs, breaded and cooked.  This Chicken Kiev had no stuffing and was nearly impossible to cut. A guest at a table next to us actually sent his back saying it couldn’t be cut.  It was very odd.  Equally as strange was the beef wellington on chic night. We’ve enjoyed this many, many times on Celebrity ships but this cruise the puff pastry was very thick to the point of not being cooked while the beef (which we ordered medium rare) was well done. The mushroom duxelles that between the beef and puff pastry was also extremely thick compared to what it normally is.  All of this made for a less than great beef wellington but it was OK…we had plenty of great food throughout the cruise.

 

Many other dishes through the cruise were good to excellent.  Soups and appetizers seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.  The pasta dishes were good and all the desserts were great. 

 

Food in the Oceanview Café was pretty standard fare you’d expect here.  One day I grabbed a fresh baguette (it was SOOO good) and asked for it to be sliced.  Then I went to the grill station where I had them add two small pieces of thinly grilled chicken with onions and then I went to the pasta station for some marinara sauce and parmesan.  It was a delicious lunch.  We also enjoyed breakfast here most mornings on the back outdoor deck. 

 

Two of our three specialty restaurant dinners were outstanding.  The Lawn Club Grill was our first specialty choice, and everyone agreed that the food was superb.  From the pizza and salad bars to everything that came off the grill, there was unanimous agreement among our group that the food was all terrific!  Murano was our second.  It was a special evening as we enjoyed the wine room for this wonderful dinner.  The best thing was they made our chateaubriand a surf and turf by adding some of the best lobster I’ve ever had.  It was sautéed in a wonderful sauce (I actually meant to ask for the recipe) and was the perfect accompaniment to the beef. 

 

Our final specialty restaurant was Tuscan Grille.  Often one of our favorites, it was just so so on the evening we were there.  Our waiter seemed new and struggled a bit to understand orders.  My appetizer of Strozzapreti Carbonara was delicious and I wish I had just had an entrée of that.  I asked for either the Chicken Parmesan or Veal Marsala for my entrée and he brought me both.  The Chicken Parmesan was OK but the Veal Marsala had no marsala flavor.  It wasn’t possible to eat both of these, and I felt like I was wasting food.  Next time I’ll stick to just the Strozzapreti.

 

CABANA RENTAL ON THE LAWN

We had quite a bit of onboard credit this cruise from price drops, so we rented a cabana on a port day (it was $99).  We were told it would accommodate four people and the rental went from 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM.  It was very nice and it was serviced by those who worked in the Lawn Club Grill.  Upon arrival there were glasses and two large Evian’s in a bucket of ice along with a food menu.  We didn’t arrive until just after lunch because we rented this for the day in St. Maarten.  It’s very nice but it seemed like every time we left for a few minutes, someone came and sat in the cabana.  It happened twice.  There are small signs that said it was reserved with our name but people didn’t pay any attention to it.  It would have been nice if staff was able to keep others out of the rented cabanas.  Otherwise, the cabana was great.  They need to find a way to keep the cushions from sliding off the chairs (could be a bit dangerous actually) but it was very nice change. 

 

PORTS OF CALL

If you are cruising at this time, you know up front that ports of call could be changed at any time and that happened to us.  We skipped St. Croix, Grenada and St. Kitts.  They were replaced with Nassau, Barbados and St. Maarten.  We would have loved to have gone to St. Croix as it’s the only Virgin Island we haven’t been to, but we understood.

 

In Antigua and St. Maarten, you could get off on your own and do whatever you’d like (keep in mind that this is subject to change at any time). In Barbados & Dominica you could do a Celebrity tour or one of the government taxis waiting at the port. 

 

We didn’t get off the ship in Nassau and in Antigua, we just walked around the town for about an hour.  In Barbados, we took a taxi to my favorite pottery location – Earthworks!  We hadn’t been here in a long time and our home is filled with their beautiful pieces of art.  It was great to visit again.  In Dominica, six of us rented a government taxi just to get out and do something.  It was a great choice.  We did about a four-hour tour around the island.  We hadn’t been here in years, either.  It’s a beautiful island and she gave us loads of beautiful rainbows throughout the day. 

 

We’ve done multiple Caribbean cruises previously, so the ports of call weren’t the most important thing about this cruise.

 

 

 

COVID PROTOCOLS & CASES

I know there is much discussion about this, so I’ll give my thoughts on our experience. 

 

The indoor mask mandate was put in place at check in at the pier.  I’d say 99.9% of the people and 100% of the crew on our sailing abided by the new mandate.  While there was an occasional person we passed without a mask, we were never close to them other than passing by.  In the theater, you could easily sit all by yourself without being anywhere near other people.  I don’t recall seeing anyone in Oceanview without masks on unless they were seated at a table eating. 

 

The main dining rooms had guests spaced out so there wasn’t anyone at the tables immediately adjacent to ours (we had two tables side by side for our group).  The dining room never seemed crowded and there was only one evening that I can recall a good line getting into the Anytime dining room.

 

If you wanted to be by yourself at almost any of the bars, you could be.  Yes, around the martini bar was full at times, with everyone having a drink, but you could just as easily sat at one of the many empty areas that aren't directly at the bar and been totally away from people if you chose to.

 

Capt. Nikolas kept us updated on the Covid situations on board throughout the cruise.  For the duration of the cruise, he indicated that there were ten passengers who tested positive with only two of them having mild symptoms.  He noted that they did contract trace those who were in close contact with those who tested positive on board.  He indicated that there were crew who were also isolated or quarantined but he did not share numbers on crew.  We appreciated his updates and felt very comfortable that Celebrity has the protocols in place to safely deal with everything that is going on.

 

Quite honestly, and this is my personal opinion, if you are truly concerned about positive cases on ships you shouldn’t consider sailing right now.  If you are going to spend your cruise vacation worrying about what is happening with Covid, you are wasting your vacation dollars.  We had friends cancel at the last minute because they were very concerned about getting quarantined.  I completely understood those concerns and felt they made the right decision to not cruise with us.  But constantly wondering how many cases they are and whether everyone is wearing their mask all the time just negatively impacts what should be a wonderful vacation.     

I have no doubt that we are safer on a ship than we are going to the grocery store! 

 

CREW

For the most part, the crew is truly amazing.  These are still very, very challenging times for all of them.  Yet they go out of their way to make our cruise vacation the very best it can possibly be given the circumstances.  They are very happy to be back on ships and they work as hard as ever. 

 

I was most impressed by Capt. Nikolas who constantly praised his crew during morning announcements and who attended every show in the theater we attended.  It was impressive!

 

MAJOR COMPLAINT – SMOKING

Sorry smokers but you ruined some of our favorite spots on the ship.  The port side of the Sunset Bar is available to smokers.  This is actually the best outdoor area on the ship and the best outdoor bar on any S-class ships since they turned it into an oval-shaped bar in the middle of the deck.  However, the amount of smoke throughout the day (and there weren’t even that many people smoking) caused us to leave the area multiple times.  The wind carries the smoke across the aft deck, and you simply can’t escape it.  You could even smell the smoke (the cigar smoke is especially offensive) at times on the outdoor deck of the Oceanview Café one deck below.  I have no problem with people who chose to smoke.  I do mind when it affects our enjoyment of some of the best places on the ship.  When we have protocols that are forcing us to wear masks because of a virus that causes respiratory problems, it seems a bit silly to allow smoking that also causes respiratory problems.  Sorry to smokers….I wish they could find an area where for you where smoke didn’t travel into other areas of the ship.

 

FINAL THOUGHTS ON CRUISING RIGHT NOW

We wouldn’t hesitate stepping back on a ship again tomorrow.  Be sure you are comfortable being around others on a ship if you are planning to cruise soon.  It’s very difficult to totally avoid people on a ship.  There are no guarantees with anything these days.  We were grateful for being able to cruise with family & friends again and we enjoyed having the chance to meeting several Cruise Critic members, too.  Here’s to the next cruise….

 

Thank you for your fabulous review! All very well thought out and well said. We are excited to be going back on the Reflection on the 19th for the 4th time.  We are fortunate (?) to have 3 shots and natural immunity too. Going to really enjoy the 10days!!!

[hcat]

Great Review..loved the photos.

Thanks!

[cruise kitty]

Thanks for your wonderful review!

 

[asnaleah]

Thanks Anne. As long as we test negative, we plan to board Jan 24.

[Grambler]

Thank you Anne for this review, I think you just changed my mind (and attitude) about our Feb 19 cruise on Reflection. I was leaning heavily toward canceling and now I am more likely not to cancel. I appreciate your tip about the positive attitude & decided to adjust mine. We are fully vaccinated and boostered and will wear mask when indoors. We can only control our own behaviors, no sense worrying the whole trip or being frustrated with those who refuse to wear masks or refuse to wear them correctly!

[Grambler]

3 hours ago, asnaleah said:

Thanks Anne. As long as we test negative, we plan to board Jan 24.

I hope you will keep us updated on your cruise experience as well

[ladylemondrop]

I really enjoyed reading this Anne and love your positive attitude! You have made me even more excited about our forthcoming cruise on Reflection. 
(some photos of cakes and cookies from Al Bacio would have been great but never mind) 😂

[5:00_Somewhere]

@Host Anne, thank you SO much for your very thorough review. Today is final payment date for our upcoming cruise on the Reflection and we've been going back and forth a bit about it (solely Covid related), but I think you helped tip me to the "let's do this" side. We love the S-Class ships and are looking forward to our Aqua Class cabin and the Lawn Club Grill. 🙂  Safe travels, and hope we see you again on the high seas. 👍

[Host Anne]

Good morning, everyone ~ I'm glad to read that the review has helped those who have been deciding whether or not to cruise.  It's not an easy decision.  For us, we really wanted to see family & friends we hadn't see in two years.  We wanted to share in the laughter, the stories, the toasts (we did a lot of toasting) that we've missed the past few years.  None of us are getting any younger.  I think everyone in our group was smart, abided by the rules, were considerate and kind.  I think everyone in our group of 14 would go again tomorrow if we could.

 

Asnaleah ~ best of luck with getting negative test results!!!!

 

Louise ~ we had plenty of the goodies in Cafe Al Bacio (which was often uncrowded) but I didn't think to take any photos of those (silly me).  The almond croissants are still marvelous!

 

Gambler ~ I'll be anxious to hear about your experience as well.

[Cruise a holic]

Hello Anne,

Glad you had fun.  We are scheduled to sail on the Reflection on March 12th.  How were the Specialty restaurants?  Do you know who the retreat hosts are?  

Thanks,

[Host Anne]

A few shout outs that I forgot in my review:

 

Barrington & Mark at the Sunset Bar ~ our group tried to meet at the starboard side, aft seating area in the corner of this area.  It was a good private area.  Barrington & Mark took great care of us.  No one was in want of anything throughout the cruise.

 

Mark, our dining room waiter ~ we were sailing with two individual with food allergies so it's very important for us to have the same wait staff every evening. 

We were placed with Mark who was a 13 year Celebrity veteran.  He took outstanding care of our guests with allergies and even ensured our dairy allergy guest always had a dessert beyond sorbet.

 

Maria ~ the "coffee, coffee, coffee" lady in the morning at Oceanview.  We enjoyed breakfast on the back deck every morning and looked forward to Maria's "happy, happy, happy" attitude!

 

Cafe Al Bacio staff ~ like Maria, everyone working here was extremely happy and pleasant.  Always one of our favorite spots on the ship!

 

Warden, our cabin attendant ~ outstanding service from Warden.  We didn't have much needs other than asking for feather pillows on day 1 but he was efficient and our cabin was always spotless. 

 

Lawn Club Grill staff - all were wonderful.  We celebrated my husband's birthday here and they made it a truly special evening.  Laughter abounded when they brought him "carrot cake" for his dessert - actually, a carrot on a plate (requested by our son-in-law).  This set the tone for the week.  We kept it going.

 

[Host Anne]

4 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

Hello Anne,

Glad you had fun.  We are scheduled to sail on the Reflection on March 12th.  How were the Specialty restaurants?  Do you know who the retreat hosts are?  

Thanks,

 

All of the specialty restaurants were good.  The Lawn Club Grill and Murano were outstanding.  Tuscan wasn't as good as normal but my pasta appetizer was great.  We skipped Qsine as we've done it multiple times in the past.

 

I do not know who the Retreat hosts are.  I never went into Michaels (which serves as the Retreat lounge) and there is no Retreat deck yet on Reflection so that area was open to all passengers.

[TeeRick]

@Host Anne

Thanks so much for the great review and it was nice to see that you truly enjoyed this cruise.😀

[Cruise a holic]

1 hour ago, Host Anne said:

 

All of the specialty restaurants were good.  The Lawn Club Grill and Murano were outstanding.  Tuscan wasn't as good as normal but my pasta appetizer was great.  We skipped Qsine as we've done it multiple times in the past.

 

I do not know who the Retreat hosts are.  I never went into Michaels (which serves as the Retreat lounge) and there is no Retreat deck yet on Reflection so that area was open to all passengers.

Thanks. Also can I get an approved rapid covid test in ft Lauderdale?  We have the binax from royal but the tests had no fluid.  We have two others . Want an in person back up site for emergency 

[DCPIV]

Thank you, Anne!

 

We are on Reflection soon (knock knock) and are looking forward to it!

[Chrissi3010]

Thanks @Host Anne for this review.

We will be on the Reflection for the first time on May 2nd, boarding in Civitavecchia; let's hope that she will make it over the great pond in spring (because of the Corona situation..)

 

Regards from a winterly Germany

Christine

[mafig]

Thank you for your review.  I enjoyed reading it.

 

Did you go to the casino?

 

 

[Host Anne]

4 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

Thanks. Also can I get an approved rapid covid test in ft Lauderdale?  We have the binax from royal but the tests had no fluid.  We have two others . Want an in person back up site for emergency 

 I'll answer your question in parts:

 

1) Testing in Ft. Lauderdale is possible at multiple pharmacies (Walgreens & CVS) and at a variety of independent testing sites.  Getting appointments could be the tough part.  Walgreens is currently scheduling appointments 7 days out but like everything else these days, that could change.  I don't know about CVS' appointment scheduling at the moment as we've used Walgreens.  I suggest checking in on this thread about Covid testing options in South Florida.  The link will take you to the end of the thread so you may want to read back through the last couple of pages as this is the most recent information:  

 

 

2) I'm not sure what you mean by saying you have the Binex from Royal but the test had no fluid.  Did you learn this when you went to do the test on line with a medical proctor?  We purchased the BinexNOW tests through Celebrity (I'm sure they are the same as Royal) and every one in our group that used them had everything they needed in the box to successfully conduct the test with the on-line proctor.  If you received a faulty test,  you should go back to how you purchased it.

 

Hope this helps a little.

[Host Anne]

14 minutes ago, mafig said:

Thank you for your review.  I enjoyed reading it.

 

Did you go to the casino?

 

 

 

I did not visit the casino (other than to walk through once or twice) but my husband and son-in-law did.  What would  you like to know?  I'm happy to ask them for you.

[mafig]

Were every other slot machines blocked off, or was social distancing left up to the gamblers?

 

The same for seating at the tables.

 

 

[Momma Rene]

Thanks for your report!  You mentioned you were on the hump and it was great!  I'll be on deck 10 on the hump in the Celebrity Suite.  Can you give me any insight as to why it was so wonderful?

 

Also did you eat at the Porch?  I'm looking forward to some seafood!