Review of Celebrity Reflection: Eastern Caribbean

[stevenr597]

My wife and I have been cruising for well over 20 years and we are in Elite Class for most of the cruise lines, including Celebrity.  We recently completed (September 11-18) an Eastern Caribbean cruise on Celebrity Reflection.

I have taken the liberty of providing some of our thoughts in respect to this cruise.

We live in Orlando and our means of transportation to Port Everglades by car, taking the Florida Turnpike.  No problems, except that the average speed on the Turnpike is 80+ mph.  Took us approximately 3 hours to make the trip.

We decided to arrive one day prior to our cruise and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn which does offer extended parking and shuttle service to the Cruise Port.  However, we did decided to park at the Cruise Port.

We highly recommend this Hotel.  The Hillton surrounded by many restaurants.  Hotel is very clean, and staff is excellent.

We drove to Port Everglades from the hotel.  The trip took approximately 15 minutes.  There was a small line of car waiting to enter the port.  We did have to show I.D. which in our case was our passports.  We dropped off our luggage at the infamous pier # 29.  Bags were quickly taken by a porter.  We then drove to the Palm Garage, which had plenty of parking spaces.  We took the shuttle back to the pier to check in.

Pier 29 is out-of-the-way.  The pier building is quite old, and really too small to handle a ship the size of the Reflection.  There are plans to build a new terminal there.  In any case check in was rapid.  We were scheduled to check in at 11:30 and by 11:45 we were on the ship. 

[stevenr597]

After we arrived at the Hilton Garden In, we ate at Cooper’s Hawk.  Highly recommend.

Two pictures from the parking lot.  Large number of spaces avaialable. 

[mahdnc]

5 minutes ago, stevenr597 said:

After we arrived at the Hilton Garden In, we ate at Cooper’s Hawk.  Highly recommend.

Two pictures from the parking lot.  Large number of spaces avaialable. 

 

We live near the first Coopers Hawk that was built (Orland Park, Illinois).  I had no idea that they had spread out to Florida.

[lola2013]

1 minute ago, mahdnc said:

 

We live near the first Coopers Hawk that was built (Orland Park, Illinois).  I had no idea that they had spread out to Florida.

We ate at Cooper's Hawk in Downer's Grove last week...GREAT burger.  Sorry, off topic!

[39august]

Are the restaurants near enough to walk from the Hilton Garden Inn?  I am looking for alternate choices for FLL hotels as our choice is getting pretty pricey. 

[Saturngrl]

Looking forward to more reports on your cruise!  We are sailing this ship with the same itinerary in a few weeks.  

[Peteymil]

Just got off the reflection on Sunday and it was a wonderful cruise, excellent food and incredible staff

[SRQbeachgirl]

We will be doing this itinerary on Reflection in a few weeks. Looking forward to your review!

[stevenr597]

After we boarded, (around 11:45 AM)  to our surprise our room was ready.   

 

Went to Deck 14 for the lunch buffet.  There is a wide selection of dishes including vegetarian plates. Hamburger grill was on deck 15.  Pizza was served on Deck 14 in the buffet area and was fairly good. Overall, food  was hot, and service was excellent.  Waiters came over to provide beverages (we were on the beverage plan). Of course, we ended our meal with some ice-cream which was excellent. 

BIn respect to Cabins, we did feel that Celebrity should have provided some more shelf space but we were  able to make do.  There were fairly nice bathroom amenities (body wash, shampoo, hair conditioner etc.) 

Luggage arrived approximately two hours after we had gone to our cabins.

"Life-boat" drill is no done using the application for Celebrity on your I-Phone.  You are "requested" to go down to your lifeboat station to sign up.  No formal presentation. 

The ship has recently been in Dry-dock and certainly the ship does not show its age.  We like the Solstice Class, feel that it is a step above the Millennium Class.  

We were  Aqua Class.  There was a note requesting that for the first day we dine around 6:00 PM.  But we decided to go to the early show which started at 7:00 PM.  Met the performers who were excellent.

Aqua Class was not crowded, and service was excellent.

However, we do feel that Celebrity has reduced variety on the menu, especially in Aqua Class, as well as the size of the main dishes.   

Sailing out of Port Everglades, as usual has a great view.  Weather was excellent.

Next: On to Nassau!!!

[stevenr597]

After we arrived at the Hilton Garden In, we ate at Cooper’s Hawk.  Highly recommend.

Two pictures from the parking lot.  Large number of spaces avaialable. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 12/19/2022 at 8:43 AM, 39august said:

Are the restaurants near enough to walk from the Hilton Garden Inn?  I am looking for alternate choices for FLL hotels as our choice is getting pretty pricey. 

 

Yes, there's two HGI's, I cannot speak on the SW location but have stayed twice in HGI Ft. Lauderdale Airport-Cruise Port.  For a good value consider Ocean's One Grill which is by Hawks and walkable, 3 cocktails for $11 and nothing is over $5.99 for lunch.  Dinner is very reasonable.  They're known for their sirloin burgers ($5.99 for lunch and $8 for dinner) which is fantastic at that price.

 

But...For the best burger around which is sold at a reasonable price, look no further than Le Tub Saloon which you'd need to lyft/uber to but you get a great view of the channel with yachts going by.  It just so happens to be Opera's favorite burger, it's in my top ten burgers of all time http://www.theletub.com/

 

[miched]

How did you meet the performers?    Was there a special meet and greet with them?  
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[librarylady19]

21 hours ago, SRQbeachgirl said:

We will be doing this itinerary on Reflection in a few weeks. Looking forward to your review!

Same here. 2/5 sailing!

[Luvtoeat]

On 12/19/2022 at 5:29 PM, Peteymil said:

Just got off the reflection on Sunday and it was a wonderful cruise, excellent food and incredible staff

We were on the same cruise and I agree with the above comment. Was in a cabin that had a balcony that was at least twice as large as a regular balcony. That this was a BCC offer made it even more enjoyable a cruise.

[horseymike]

Hi Luvtoeat.

Can you tell me what a BCC offer is ?

Thanks

[Luvtoeat]

1 hour ago, horseymike said:

Hi Luvtoeat.

Can you tell me what a BCC offer is ?

Thanks

BCC is Blue Chip Club. I believe it's part of Celebrity casino and they send out emails with offers of free veranda cabins on a variety of ships and sailings. How they decide who to send these offers to seems to be a mystery. Some people say it's to those who have spent money in the casino while others don't remember spending anything and have gotten offers.

[stevenr597]

Passengers:  We have read the Celebrity is trying to attract a younger crowd.  This definitely was not the case on the Reflection.  Significant percentage of the passengers were senior citizens.  Fairly large number of motorized wheel chair, powered seats, and walkers.

I believe that there may have been a small charter group also on the ship.

No problems with any of the passengers.  Very little in the way of seat hogging.  Most people were courteous.

Crew and Dining: All were excellent and went out of their way to please.  The staff in "Blu" were excellent.  I did make note that the size of the dishes were small, and it does appear that Celebrity also cut back on the number of dishes offered, but....one can get any dish they want featured in the main dining room.

We decided to eat on evening on Patio Grill which is featured on the Celebrity Lawn at the top of the ship.  Cover charge is $50.00 + 18% gratuity, but a great experience with plenty of food.  Highly recommend.

We did notice long lines, especially at lunch in the main dining room.

Buffet was good, not great, especially for lunch.  Seating was certainly adequate.  No problem with getting served either wine or a soft drink.

We were on the beverage plan, so no problems getting a Pina Colada or a Margarita, which were good, but not great.  

One day with had burgers from the Hamburger Grill which were fairly good.  Frankfurters were also available. 

On Deck B one could have gourmet coffees (at a charge" but no charge for the pastries. 

Late night the buffet was open for deserts, pizza, and even spaghetti with choice of sauces or meatballs.