Feb 5-19 East-West Caribbean on the Reflection

[juanita1767]

35 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That explains it. If you know where was the Silhouette supposed to be heading? 

Sea day

[bob4uall]

40 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That explains it. If you know where was the Silhouette supposed to be heading? 

Fort Lauderdale Monday morning. 

[MamaFej]

10 hours ago, jelayne said:

If I recall correctly last weeks count was 1180.

 

The most noticeable difference from last week is there are more passengers in the 20s to early 30 range.  Not sure how to describe the attire, language we saw in a couple of bars last night.

Speaking of bars, do you have a lycheetini on day one of a subsequent cruise when doing B2B? Enquiring minds want to know. 

 

Well, one enquiring mind.

[pooh/tigger]

On 2/10/2022 at 7:08 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

After a tasty Chic Night dinner at Luminae, we went to watch the Battle of the Genders Game Show followed by the production show Elysium, which is always a great show with uplifting music!

 

 

 

Battle of the genders game was a blast. I was involved in the numbers game. The men ruled that one. 

[jelayne]

12 hours ago, MamaFej said:

Speaking of bars, do you have a lycheetini on day one of a subsequent cruise when doing B2B? Enquiring minds want to know. 

 

Well, one enquiring mind.

Yes🍸and a few other days as well😊

[pooh/tigger]

A few notes that we made from the trip. Feb 5th. Eastern 

 

Embarkation was so easy. We were on board within 15 minutes of arriving at the port. 

 

Hit the martini bar first thing to celebrate our trip. Met some wonderful people there. It's a nice bar but can be very crowded. We hit the other bars for our Espresso Martinis due to the crowds. 

 

The solarium is a wonderful, adults only, pool. The water can be a tad warm though. Second day in it felt like a hot tub but they fixed that quickly. 

 

Everyone we encountered was wearing their masks. We avoided elevators that had more than 4 people. Just trying to be safe. 

 

The Blue Lagoon experience in The Bahamas is one we'd never do again. Food was awful and drinks were very expensive. The employees were all very nice and professional. 

 

We were Aqua so got to use the Persian Gardens any time we wanted. It seemed empty most of the week. We used it daily and enjoyed a lot. We also took advantage of a couples massage which was very good. Not a fan of their sales program at the end though. I know they are required to do it so we listened and just politely said no. 

 

Service and food was exceptional. Entertainment was very good. The trivia games in the Sky lounge were a lot of fun. 

 

If they have it on your cruise, do attend and compete in Battle of the genders. It's a blast. 

 

We met a lot of new friends while on board. Everyone was so happy to be back cruising. 

 

We never had any issues with noise during the evening. During the day was a different story. Our neighbor felt like they should just let the door slam which was very annoying when we took a nap. 

 

Our cabin was perfect for us. Plenty of storage and the shower was very nice. Loved all the jets. 

 

We would only go in the Oceanview for a snack at lunch but we felt the food was very good. Better than any cruise buffet we've had on other cruise lines. The desserts were plentiful and delish. 

 

We did enjoy our breakfasts and dinners in Blu. If they didn't have anything I liked on their menu or MDR menus, Param, our server, would always get me a Filet Mignon. And they were cooked perfectly. Just can't say enough good things about the service and food. 

 

Cafe Al Bacio was nice to have. Coffee was very good and a huge selections of bakery items that were very good. The almond croissants were yummy. Same with the cinnamon rolls. And the cookies....YUMMY. 

 

As you can tell, we had a wonderful cruise. If you have any questions, ask away. 

 

Kelly

 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by pooh/tigger

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, pooh/tigger said:

Battle of the genders game was a blast. I was involved in the numbers game. The men ruled that one. 

The numbers game was a hoot! We were up top and had a blast watching it as well!! 😂😂

[Ken the cruiser]

34 minutes ago, pooh/tigger said:

A few notes that we made from the trip. Feb 5th. Eastern 

 

Embarkation was so easy. We were on board within 15 minutes of arriving at the port. 

 

Hit the martini bar first thing to celebrate our trip. Met some wonderful people there. It's a nice bar but can be very crowded. We hit the other bars for our Espresso Martinis due to the crowds. 

 

The solarium is a wonderful, adults only, pool. The water can be a tad warm though. Second day in it felt like a hot tub but they fixed that quickly. 

 

Everyone we encountered was wearing their masks. We avoided elevators that had more than 4 people. Just trying to be safe. 

 

The Blue Lagoon experience in The Bahamas is one we'd never do again. Food was awful and drinks were very expensive. The employees were all very nice and professional. 

 

We were Aqua so got to use the Persian Gardens any time we wanted. It seemed empty most of the week. We used it daily and enjoyed a lot. We also took advantage of a couples massage which was very good. Not a fan of their sales program at the end though. I know they are required to do it so we listened and just politely said no. 

 

Service and food was exceptional. Entertainment was very good. The trivia games in the Sky lounge were a lot of fun. 

 

If they have it on your cruise, do attend and compete in Battle of the genders. It's a blast. 

 

We met a lot of new friends while on board. Everyone was so happy to be back cruising. 

 

We never had any issues with noise during the evening. During the day was a different story. Our neighbor felt like they should just let the door slam which was very annoying when we took a nap. 

 

Our cabin was perfect for us. Plenty of storage and the shower was very nice. Loved all the jets. 

 

We would only go in the Oceanview for a snack at lunch but we felt the food was very good. Better than any cruise buffet we've had on other cruise lines. The desserts were plentiful and delish. 

 

We did enjoy our breakfasts and dinners in Blu. If they didn't have anything I liked on their menu or MDR menus, Param, our server, would always get me a Filet Mignon. And they were cooked perfectly. Just can't say enough good things about the service and food. 

 

Cafe Al Bacio was nice to have. Coffee was very good and a huge selections of bakery items that were very good. The almond croissants were yummy. Same with the cinnamon rolls. And the cookies....YUMMY. 

 

As you can tell, we had a wonderful cruise. If you have any questions, ask away. 

 

Kelly

Thanks for posting your great review of the Feb 5 cruise! It’s always great to hear about a cruise from multiple perspectives. I know I talk about our SS experience, but we truly envy those in an Aqua cabin with their walk-in shower versus having to step over a 2’ tub wall in our SS! 😂

 

[Ken the cruiser]

I’ve come up with a strategy of sitting out on our corner aft-facing balcony on a quite morning such as today even if the sun is glaring down from the side with only a smidge of shade to take advantage of. Now for you folks who have the luxury of having a wall panel on both sides of your balcony, you can just shift your table and chairs to the shady side. It’s not so simple in a corner cabin, especially if you like to access the internet while sitting on the balcony. But it’s doable given the right circumstances.
 

Of course, you first have to have a “relaxing” morning to even think of this. 😂

 

 

Then if there is a little bit of shade on the balcony in front of the door, you can position the table and chair like this.

 

 

But if there s very little shade, you might try this.

 

 

Like I said it has to be a “relaxing” morning to even think about this kind of stuff like this. 😂😂

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s another tidbit for those that are curious where a ship is and have never heard of CruiseMapper. Here’s how you do it. In this case, we’re looking for the Reflection.

 

1. Do an internet search using these words:

 

Celebrity Reflection Location

 

2. Look for an applicable cruisemapper link in the results, such as this and click on it.

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Celebrity-Reflection-685
 

3. Then, if you’re even more curious about the path it’s taking and the ships in the area, click on the map with the ship in it. It will produce another expandable map which you can expand to see what other ships are in the area. For example, like this one.

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9506459
 

OK, I’m going to go back to relaxing on the balcony until it’s time for lunch!! 😂😂

 

[Ken the cruiser]

As we’re relaxing on the balcony looking for dolphins, whales, birds or pretty much anything that resembles wildlife, we periodically notice what looks like a “trail” in an otherwise mild rippling seascape. Any idea what creates them? We thought they may be created by some form of watercraft or ship, but there are none in the area.

 

If you look close at this picture, you can see it, but there are others in the area as well.

 

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

15 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

As we’re relaxing on the balcony looking for dolphins, whales, birds or pretty much anything that resembles wildlife, we periodically notice what looks like a “trail” in an otherwise mild rippling seascape. Any idea what creates them? We thought they may be created by some form of watercraft or ship, but there are none in the area.

 

If you look close at this picture, you can see it, but there are others in the area as well.

 

 

Perhaps it's a thin film of oil/fuel from another ship. That would be my guess.

 

Tom

[Jim_Iain]

On 2/9/2022 at 8:19 AM, graphicguy said:

For good or ill, I'm a coffee snob.  Did you find the Retreat Room Service coffee to be good?  I know I never tried it on the Edge and ended up going to Al Biccio every day for coffee (which was quite good).

Personal opinion -  I find the coffee served by the butler to be Nescafe pods and is OK but not great.   On most of our cruises I order Double Cappuccino's and the butler gets them from al Baccio.    His extra effort always earn him an extra reward at the end of the cruise. 

[Jim_Iain]

On 2/11/2022 at 8:07 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s another tidbit if you are going on a Reflection B2B anytime soon and it’s time for you to prepare for your antigen test.
 

First and foremost, follow the procedures in the letter they send you to register on the Trust One server by using the provided QR code. To launch the Trust One app, focus your phone camera over it and then tap on the link called “qrcodes.pro”, which will then automatically launch the Trust One app. If for some reason it’s not working for you, may I suggest you venture down to Guest Services and ask them to show you how to do it. It will save you and others a bunch of time in line waiting for the caregivers to do it for those that waited until they arrived.

 

Second, we showed up about 10 minutes prior to our scheduled time to get in line. When we got there, we were first in the queue but had to wait about 5 minutes while the caregivers helped the folks in front of us to register with Trust One before giving them the 10 second nose swipe. When we finished the process, which took all of 5 minutes to finish the check-in process using the resulting “registration” QR code issued by the app and get tested, there were at least 20 people in the queue. Not sure how many hadn’t preregistered. 

 

Just thought I’d pass this little time saving tidbit along. 😎

 

Ken,  I'm curious about this.   Didn't the Retreat arrange a special time for Suite Guests.   When I've done B2B's they have the B2B's in suites come to the lounge and when ready they sent us down about 30 minutes before open to others being tested. 

 

Sounds like the got the Trust One working pretty good.   When I did mine it told me to go to a a testing site in Seattle even thought I was in San Diego and on the Ship.

 

On Millennium Coastal they had a B2B Meeting and at the end of the meeting where they were giving out gifts of Wine, Free Laundry, Internet and Specialty Dining  they had us exit via an adjacent conference room walked through the conference room where we were tested as we exited.

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[graphicguy]

22 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Personal opinion -  I find the coffee served by the butler to be Nescafe pods and is OK but not great.   On most of our cruises I order Double Cappuccino's and the butler gets them from al Baccio.    His extra effort always earn him an extra reward at the end of the cruise. 

I found the same.  Bacio coffee was quite good, on the other hand.  Plus, once their baristas met me and helped me on the first day of the cruise, I didn’t even have to wait for them to begin my drink.  Once they saw me approaching, they began making it.

[LidoBoy]

43 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

As we’re relaxing on the balcony looking for dolphins, whales, birds or pretty much anything that resembles wildlife, we periodically notice what looks like a “trail” in an otherwise mild rippling seascape. Any idea what creates them? We thought they may be created by some form of watercraft or ship, but there are none in the area.

 

If you look close at this picture, you can see it, but there are others in the area as well.

 

 

I like that you ask these questions.  While sitting out on the balcony I have seen exactly what you are pointing out and wondered the same.  So my imagination runs wild.  It has to be something below the water or above.  Could it be a shallow reef just beneath the surface?  I think not or there would be another instance of what caused a tear in the Costa Concordia.  What I have come with is that it is related to wind.  I'm not an expert, as I understand, the small ripples you see on the water are mainly caused by wind.  Well when there is a change in wind speed/direction for a period, could it cause this effect?  And could whatever caused that affect occurred hours before and this is the residual effect? That is my guess.  Again, not an expert here.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Ken,  I'm curious about this.   Didn't the Retreat arrange a special time for Suite Guests.   When I've done B2B's they have the B2B's in suites come to the lounge and when ready they sent us down about 30 minutes before open to others being tested. 

 

Sounds like the got the Trust One working pretty good.   When I did mine it told me to go to a a testing site in Seattle even thought I was in San Diego and on the Ship.

 

On Millennium Coastal they had a B2B Meeting and at the end of the meeting where they were giving out gifts of Wine, Free Laundry, Internet and Specialty Dining  they had us exit via an adjacent conference room walked through the conference room where we were tested as we exited.

 

Here’s been our experiences so far.

 

Aug B3B in SS on Edge. The suite guests went to a designated room at 9 am next to The Club to get their antigen test and then back to their cabin for 30 minutes and if we didn’t hear anything, we could assume the test was negative and we’re free to move around the ship. The non suite guests would also meet there but at a different time. They even got to participate in a raffle, unlike the suite guests.

 

Nov B2B in SV on Apex. We first registered with One Touch in our cabin. Then we received an appointment time from the ship of 10 am to meet at the Normandy restaurant to get our antigen test. We then went back to the cabin until we received at email from One Touch letting us know the negative results. Don’t know if the suite guests met in some separate location or not.

 

Dec B2B in SS (first leg) on the Constellation. We registered with One Touch and given a time and a meeting place on deck 3 and were instructed to wear a mask.. However, this was a really weird adventure not to hopefully be experienced by anyone since. We then checked in, got the test and then told to wait in the adjacent room for a B2B briefing. We thought this was a bit strange, but found a corner to sit in well away from what turned out to be over 30 people who were all getting tested, most of which had taken their masks off. Noticing this and being the kind of guy I am, I popped back over to the testing station, who are all contractors, and asked, since we all have just tested for COVID and we’re all sitting in the next room for about 20-30 minutes for the B2B briefing, if someone tests positive, will we all get tagged in their follow on tracing process and be denied boarding on the next cruise. One of the nurses said good question. About 30 seconds later, everyone had their masks back on and one lady was brought a mask by the ship officer giving the briefing because she didn’t even bring one. Luckily, we all tested negative, but …

 

Feb B2B on the Reflection in a SS. We were given instructions in our cabin to register with One Touch using a QR code and then meet in Celebrity Central 2 days before transition to receive the B2B briefing. There was no separate meeting area listed for suite guests. Some folks at the meeting expressed their concerns that they didn’t know how to use the QR code to register and were directed to go to Guest Services for assistance if they couldn’t figure it out or just show up to the appointment and the nurse will help you register (which a lot of folks wound up doing). BTW there were over 60 people in CC for the briefing. After the meeting there were about 10 people in line to talk with the Celebrity officer, who was new to the ship BTW, probably about how to use the QR code. Later we were given an appointment time to meet up on deck 15 forward to get our tests. We were then told we should receive our results via email in about 2 hours, with no mention of having to go back to our cabin. We received the results, or at least I did via email in about 20 minutes. My DW never received the email, but the negative results had been posted on the Touch One website, so all was good. 

So as you can see from our experiences, it’s been an evolving process. 😂

Edited February 14, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

I found the same.  Bacio coffee was quite good, on the other hand.  Plus, once their baristas met me and helped me on the first day of the cruise, I didn’t even have to wait for them to begin my drink.  Once they saw me approaching, they began making it.

They are really good about that at al Bacio, especially if on a B2B they know you and remember your order and don't even ask for your card.    Their attention to detail is always appreciated. 

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, LidoBoy said:

 

I like that you ask these questions.  While sitting out on the balcony I have seen exactly what you are pointing out and wondered the same.  So my imagination runs wild.  It has to be something below the water or above.  Could it be a shallow reef just beneath the surface?  I think not or there would be another instance of what caused a tear in the Costa Concordia.  What I have come with is that it is related to wind.  I'm not an expert, as I understand, the small ripples you see on the water are mainly caused by wind.  Well when there is a change in wind speed/direction for a period, could it cause this effect?  And could whatever caused that affect occurred hours before and this is the residual effect? That is my guess.  Again, not an expert here.

Your guess is as good as any. As we continue to cruise along, we haven’t seen any again for quite some time now. 

 

[Jim_Iain]

19 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s been our experiences so far.

 

Aug B3B in SS on Edge. The suite guests went to a designated room at 9 am next to The Club to get their antigen test and then back to their cabin for 30 minutes and if we didn’t hear anything, we could assume the test was negative and we’re free to move around the ship. The non suite guests would also meet there but at a different time. They even got to participate in a raffle, unlike the suite guests.

 

Nov B2B in SV on Apex. We first registered with One Touch in our cabin. Then we received an appointment time from the ship of 10 am to meet at the Normandy restaurant to get our antigen test. We then went back to the cabin until we received at email from One Touch letting us know the negative results. Don’t know if the suite guests met in some separate location or not.

 

Dec B2B in SS (first leg) on the Constellation. We registered with One Touch and given a time and a meeting place on deck 3 and were instructed to wear a mask.. However, this was a really weird adventure not to hopefully be experienced by anyone since. We then checked in, got the test and then told to wait in the adjacent room for a B2B briefing. We thought this was a bit strange, but found a corner to sit in well away from what turned out to be over 30 people who were all getting tested, most of which had taken their masks off. Noticing this and being the kind of guy I am, I popped back over to the testing station, who are all contractors, and asked, since we all have just tested for COVID and we’re all sitting in the next room for about 20-30 minutes for the B2B briefing, if someone tests positive, will we all get tagged in their follow on tracing process and be denied boarding on the next cruise. One of the nurses said good question. About 30 seconds later, everyone had their masks back on and one lady was brought a mask by the ship officer giving the briefing because she didn’t even bring on. Luckily, we all tested negative, but …

 

Feb B2B on the Reflection in a SS. We were given instructions in our cabin to register with One Touch using a QR code and then meet in Celebrity Central 2 days before transition to receive the B2B briefing. There was so separate meeting area listed for suite guests. Some folks at the meeting expressed their concerns that they didn’t know how to use the QR code to register and were directed to go to Guest Services for assistance if they couldn’t figure it out. BTW there were over 60 people in CC for the briefing. After the meeting there were about 10 people in line to talk with the Celebrity officer, who was new to the ship BTW, probably about how to use the QR code. Later we were given an appointment time to meet up on deck 15 forward to get our tests. We were then told we should receive our results via email in about 2 hours, with no mention of having to go back to our cabin. We received the results, or at least I did via email in about 20 minutes. My DW never received the email, but the negative results had been posted on the Touch One website, so all was good. 
 

 

I guess like most things on Celebrity they are consistently inconsistent.  On Our September cruise he host in the Retreat for pre-dinner drinks said don't worry -  If you had tested positive you would have know about it by now when Security picked you up and returned you to your room.   We didn't get results until they were left on our bed at turn down time.  On the October one with the QR code registration we received them in about an hour via e-mail.

 

It will be interesting to see how they do it on the Silhouette for the TA crossing and beginning of the Silhouette Southampton Season.   We are on a B3B.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I guess like most things on Celebrity they are consistently inconsistent.  The host in the Retreat for pre-dinner drinks said don't worry -  If you had tested positive you would have know about it by now when Security picked you up and returned you to your room.  On our September Cruise we didn't get results until they were left on our bed at turn down time. 

 

It will be interesting to see how they do it on the Silhouette for the TA crossing and beginning of the Silhouette Southampton Season.   We are on a B3B.

Our next cruise is in late April on the Caribbean Princess for 18 days which will go through the Panama Canal. Hopefully by then Princess and the Panama Canal will have relaxed their testing requirements. From what I understand right now you have to take an antigen test 2 days prior to embarkation, then you take one at the port, then 2 days later. Then, last I heard everyone onboard has to be tested within 24 hours prior to going through the Panama Canal. Plus you wear a mask everywhere on a Princess cruise except for when you’re eating or drinking. Should be fun! 😂😂

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

We were walking on the promenade and saw a sailboat on the port side and wondered what’s a little sailboat doing way out here. Then off in the distance we saw a USCG cutter just kind of hanging around. (Sorry for the picture as they we off in the distance by the time I took it).
 

 

Then we walked over to the starboard side and saw an island off in the distance and asked an officer what island that was?

 

 

Of course, it was Cuba and it didn’t take long to figure out what was going on. They were probably trying to sail to the US until the USCG showed up. But then decided to turn around and try again another day. 
 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[DaKahuna]

4 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Ken,  I'm curious about this.   Didn't the Retreat arrange a special time for Suite Guests.   When I've done B2B's they have the B2B's in suites come to the lounge and when ready they sent us down about 30 minutes before open to others being tested. 

 

When we did our onboard testing for our B2B on Reflection in December, they did not have any special time for Suite guest to my knowledge.  Everyone doing the B2B met in Tuscan Grill, they had us fill out an on-line form, and answered questions.  We then received an email telling us what time to be at the appointed location for our test.  We showed up 15 minutes early and it was packed.  

 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

When we did our onboard testing for our B2B on Reflection in December, they did not have any special time for Suite guest to my knowledge.  Everyone doing the B2B met in Tuscan Grill, they had us fill out an on-line form, and answered questions.  We then received an email telling us what time to be at the appointed location for our test.  We showed up 15 minutes early and it was packed.  

 

And the wheels on the bus go round and round … 😂😂

[CruisnDeb]

36 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We were walking on the promenade and saw a sailboat on the port side and wondered what’s a little sailboat doing way out here. Then off in the distance we saw a USCG cutter just kind of hanging around. (Sorry for the picture as they we off in the distance by the time I took it).
 

 

Then we walked over to the starboard side and saw an island off in the distance and asked an officer what island that was?

 

 

Of course, it was Cuba and it didn’t take long to figure out what was going on. They were probably trying to sail to the US until the USCG showed up. But then decided to turn around and try again another day.