A Live Reflection on the Med 4th July 2022

[sunlover33]

Loving your posts and can’t wait to board on Friday,  flights and covid tests permitting.  The photos bring back some lovely memories of  Istanbul on the various stops we have had. Just love sitting in the balcony listening to the Al Adhan calling the faithful to prayer, they echo all around the city. 

[chemmo]

Useful information re walk to tour buses. I honestly think that ports like this need to offer golf carts or noddy trains…Too many guests (me included) would not class ourselves as disabled, are quite capable of doing a simple coach tour but do have limited mobility. A 15/20 minute walk at both ends of a tour I would struggle with, especially if there are no benches.

[Jazzbo]

13 minutes ago, chemmo said:

Useful information re walk to tour buses. I honestly think that ports like this need to offer golf carts or noddy trains…Too many guests (me included) would not class ourselves as disabled, are quite capable of doing a simple coach tour but do have limited mobility. A 15/20 minute walk at both ends of a tour I would struggle with, especially if there are no benches.

I agree. My husband has lower back pain, and he would not be able to walk that far, even using a cane. 

[mchell810]

Lovely pictures of Istanbul.  I should be there in April 🤞 so your pictures are adding to my excitement.

 

[chemmo]

19 minutes ago, Jazzbo said:

I agree. My husband has lower back pain, and he would not be able to walk that far, even using a cane. 

Most of us would be happy to pay a fee for this service too…

[WhiteOptima]

Following!  I see from your signature you are on Reflection May 13, 2023.  That will my first Celebrity Cruise and first to Italy so gathering as much information as I can.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

5 hours ago, groryjm said:

After a leisurely lunch we opted to wander over the galata bridge in towards the spice market and see if any shops were open. From our balcony I could easily see the new Galata port shopping complex with its many restaurants and if we could have walked off the ship directly the bridge would only be five minutes’ walk. BUT be warned it takes about 15 minutes to walk from the ship through the new underground terminal complex to the cruise ship port exit. And another 15 minutes’ walk to the restaurants below our balcony and a further 15 minutes across the bridge to the entrance to the spice markets.

 

Last time we were here we walked from the ship to the same point in 15 mins total so the new port has made what used to be a gentle stroll from the ship to the old town into a 45 min hike each way, Well in fact a bit further on return as you have no choice but to walk to the furthest point in the terminal, the duty free shop, before you can turn around and return to your ship.

 

Needless to say we enjoyed wandering the few shops that were open but the hike was somewhat challenging. We had thought to go to one of the local restaurants, possibly the one below our balcony, but the thought of a half an hour walk each way curbed that thought.

 

 

Guess I won't be returning to Istanbul via ship any time soon then.  Why do they make it so difficult?

[bluwes]

Hope it’s the same Ketut who was our favourite waiter at the Sunset bar on the Silhouette last August. There are a few Ketut’s though so maybe a different one.

 

any updates on next sailings numbers Fred ??

 

[kebrown]

6 hours ago, groryjm said:

A French 75 before heading up to the sunset bar to enjoy the views an were greeted by another friendly face, A A Ketut, a barman we had known from our recent cruises on Silhouette.

 

 

 

One of my favourite aperitivo and ingredients in cocktails is Campari. In Europe and Italy it is 25% by vol yet on the ship it is 28.5% by vol. is this Italian bitter really shipped from the States to supply a ship that is restocked in Italy?

 

 

We had a lovely diner in the porch while the sun set and we watch the lights in the city

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kebrown]

6 hours ago, groryjm said:

A French 75 before heading up to the sunset bar to enjoy the views an were greeted by another friendly face, A A Ketut, a barman we had known from our recent cruises on Silhouette.

 

 

 

One of my favourite aperitivo and ingredients in cocktails is Campari. In Europe and Italy it is 25% by vol yet on the ship it is 28.5% by vol. is this Italian bitter really shipped from the States to supply a ship that is restocked in Italy?

 

 

We had a lovely diner in the porch while the sun set and we watch the lights in the city

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you exit the new port in Istanbul, is the Galata bridge easy to find?  Is the bridge to the left or right of the port exit?  And once you exit the port, are you saying the walk to the bridge from the port and then across the bridge to the old town is 15 minutes total?

[Fuzzy55]

6 hours ago, WhiteOptima said:

Following!  I see from your signature you are on Reflection May 13, 2023.  That will my first Celebrity Cruise and first to Italy so gathering as much information as I can.

We just booked the Reflection May 13, 2023 cruise today. Our first cruise in three years was on the Equinox a few weeks ago. Loved reading about the Reflection. Can not wait.

[groryjm]

18 hours ago, bluwes said:

Hope it’s the same Ketut who was our favourite waiter at the Sunset bar on the Silhouette last August. There are a few Ketut’s though so maybe a different one.

 

any updates on next sailings numbers Fred ??

 

The Ketut in the sunset bar here on reflection is the same A Ketut we saw on a nuber of Silhouette sailings in July and Augast blast year. 

[groryjm]

18 hours ago, kebrown said:

Once you exit the new port in Istanbul, is the Galata bridge easy to find?  Is the bridge to the left or right of the port exit?  And once you exit the port, are you saying the walk to the bridge from the port and then across the bridge to the old town is 15 minutes total?

I would say from the ship to the edge of the spice market, which is just the far side of the bridge is a leisurly 40min stroll in total . If one walked quickly one could probably do it in 25mins

[groryjm]

We arrived in Pireaus this morning to a lovely sunny day and another lovely breakfast on the balcony

 

 

Mudit found a selection of hangers which I photographed for info the top one is upper suites , Royalsuites , penthouses and reflection suites. The middle is all other suites , aqua and concierge . The bottom is all other cabins

 

 

I will post more this afternoon to ctch up re Kusadsi.

[villauk]

On 7/10/2022 at 2:30 PM, sunlover33 said:

Loving your posts and can’t wait to board on Friday,  flights and covid tests permitting.  The photos bring back some lovely memories of  Istanbul on the various stops we have had. Just love sitting in the balcony listening to the Al Adhan calling the faithful to prayer, they echo all around the city. 

 

For us too. I can still remember being woken by the morning call when we stayed in our hotel prior to boarding - lovely rooftop terrace for breakfast.
 

Thanks for the review, OP 👍.

[groryjm]

We arrived in Kusadasi yesterday to a beautiful sunny morning and a fairly full port with three ships already in port and two more due. Mudit served are breakfast as the Norwegian Jade pulled in alongside. while we drank our coffee we watched as the ships emptied passengers in to coaches bound for Ephesus

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Bird Island" after which Kusadasi gets it's name

 

[groryjm]

We made our way to our tour “Off the Beaten track on Turkey” only to find there were only ourselves and four others booked to take the tour. The mini bus headed off against the traffic and into the country side. The roads were packed but we were going the opposite way. We arrived at the beautiful Dilek Peninsula and Menderes Delta and the old Greek village of Doganbey. We had chosen well and enjoyed a lovely stroll through this beautiful village with views of the delta. On our return we even managed to skip, the ubiquitous carpet demo and had a lesiurly stroll through the Kusadasi bazar before returning to the ship

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sdnich]

What beautiful pictures !! We have 71 days to our next cruise and am so excited about enjoying the suite life again.And the picture there is a picture of Mudit that I believe is the same we had on the Equinox 2019 that just made my birthday trip extra special!! 

[groryjm]

After a lovely day in Kusadasi we wtnt to deck 6 for another helipad sail away. They keep referring to these sail aways as being from the “Best View at Sea” While it is nice to see sail away or indeed sail in from the helipad I have to disagree and say the best views for sailing in or out we have experienced have been from the retreat deck on the revolutionised Silhouette.

 

 

 

Pre show drinkies in the room with canapés and to those who have asked, yes, Fever tree is available on board.

 

 

We picked up drinks from the world class for the show and Joseph kindly let us take their glasses with us as long as we returned them afterwards, which of course I did. There is no drinks service in the theatre post pandemic so one has to bring one’s own. The show was Elysium and I thoroughly enjoyed it as it is one we haven’t seen it for a number of years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2022 by groryjm

[groryjm]

For dinner we ate in Luminae which is the first time in quite a while since we ate their and the first time on this cruise. This Luminae is the same size as all the others but there are more suites on Reflection than the other S class ships. Last time we at in a Luminae it was on Silhouette and while the ships capacity was reduced on our previous four cruises post pandemic the suites have always been full either on initial booking or due to moves. After all if you are going to run at reduced capacity then reduce the number of cheaper rooms you sell not the more expensive ones.

 

The reason for our visit was my favourite desert, the chocolate sphere, which only seems to appear on sailings of 9 days or more. Luminae was crowed and while the food was very good the service was slowwww.

 

Now pre pandemic when I have had this desert the sphere has been melted by pouring flaming overproof rum, Wray and Nephew, over the sphere to melt it. The desert is delicious and the rum adds to the flavour.

 

 

This time however they used hot chocolate sauce to melt the sphere and while it tasted ok there was tooo much chocolate and in my eyes not on the same level as previously and lacked the taste of the rum.

 

 

 

[groryjm]

For Athens we grabbed a cab from the port to the Palaka and spent a pleasant morning shopping....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

....before returning the ship for a lazy afternoon. We lunched at the back deck of the Ocean View and Spent time watching the ships moving in the dock which I have to confess is something I love to do when on a cruise.

 

 

 

 

 

We again dined in Luminae and again the service was slow. For my main I had the Daniel Boulod Chicken Tagine. The chicken was tough and dry and served with plain yellow coloured cous cous on the side. Now I have had this dish on previous cruises and I would swear that in the past it had olives in it and the scent of saffron but both seemed to be absent, we skipped desert and grabbed gelato to take to Michael’s the wonderful Olympia offered us some of her banana infused rum to have with it and an excellent desert was achieved,

 

We had been in Michael’s earlier and tried this delicious rum on ice with a grate of chocolate and very much enjoyed it. Olympia is a great asset to Michael’s Club but I was somewhat appalled when one of the officers, a food and beverage manager I believe, while sitting at the bar suggested that she might perhaps premake some of the drinks, Negronis and other cocktails , and keep them ready made in the fridge to speed service. Firstly the bar service in the club this cruise has never been slow and secondly this is not TGI Fridays but the Retreat. If my Boulevardier had been taken pre mixed from a fridge I most certainly would not want it and ask instead for a fresh one to be made.

[JeanieC,Aston]

Hi

Out of interest on your sail to Istanbul did you manage to pass Gallipoli in daylight?

Most cruise ships don’t manage it but on one sailing the Captain managed to sail past just before dusk,,,,sailing close enough to take photos of the WW1 monuments.

 

Btw,,on the April Silhouette sailing from Southampton a temp table bar was set up at the back of the theatre.

 

Enjoying your blog of a great itinerary.

Edited July 13, 2022 by JeanieC,Aston

[hcat]

Just caught up.on this entertaining live review .( as always)   Very well written;  excellent photography on and off the ship. The combination  of cruise, ports,  food and  drink  review is brilliant! Thank you for sharing!

 

We have been on Reflection and visited many of the same ports on other X ships.  Nice to see them again through your lens!

 

We have not been to Istanbul...heard it was a bit unsafe right now in certain places and for certain people..What was your experience ?  Our neighbor    is from there originally, and  is visiting her mother( with her 2 yr old) for the summer.  Her husb says all is well!

 

Will continue to follow now that I am caught up...

[Visitors4]

Hi, thank you for your live report. We will be sailing on the Reflection in September on the same itinerary, and your reports are very helpful! In Santorini, what was your experience with crowds in Fira/Oia and did you take a ship excursion? 

[misterkevin]

@groryjm Thanks for this detailed review of your experiences in the Retreat. We embark in 3 weeks for our virgin voyage on the Reflection.

 

You join a chorus of reviews about slower service in Luminae due to the extra suites on the ship. I was wondering if you found that Luminae was slower at certain times of the evening? Was service better in the specialty restaurants? We might consider a dining package since we are not in an upper level suite this itinerary.

 

Another nit you pointed out about the Boulud Moroccan chicken tagine was exactly my experience in March on the Summit, and far inferior to the same dish on the Equinox in 2019 when it was juicy and flavorful. That's a tragedy, and I'm sure he'd take his name off the dish if he tasted it nowadays.

 

I found it funny that the bar manager suggested batching cocktails in Michael's. Is it that busy? Do you have to wait long for service there as well? Premade cocktails can work well for a large party, but make no sense in a private club.