Reflection 4/13/24 and 4/21/24 B2B Live Review

[Kteacher]

Celebrity Cruises, we need to talk. These 2 sailings have been literally our best cruises ever. This was what greeted us after we returned to our cabin after an incredible dinner at Luminae (and now I’m teary eyed after writing 4 pages of notes to Guest Relations about the excellent service we have received)-

[Cap_D]

Happy anniversary.  Thanks for the thread. 

 

On the CocoCay day, what were the food offerings on the ship?  Was the OVC up and running?  Just curious, and realize you were not onboard. 

 

Also, are any of the pools on the island included or just beaches?

 

I couldn't imagine staying on the ship, but am curious.  Everyone, including management, speaks of CocoCay as a moneymaker.  I don't question the statements, but where is the revenue coming from with a typical Celebrity passenger and ship?  If the drink package works and there is edible included food and decent nonrevenue places to lounge then the revenue would only come from a small number of people that upgrade especially compared to a Royal ship where one has to pay to escape crowds or for decent food.  I realize you did the beach club.  

 

Fully supportive of stops at CocoCay over any other Caribbean port to better ensure a good beach/pool day, etc.  (No cabs and buses to get anywhere, pan handlers, strays, village of Effy and Diamonds International, etc ).  Just wish the dates worked better for our calendar.   

Edited April 24 by Cap_D

[Kteacher]

6 hours ago, Cap_D said:

Happy anniversary.  Thanks for the thread. 

 

On the CocoCay day, what were the food offerings on the ship?  Was the OVC up and running?  Just curious, and realize you were not onboard. 

 

Also, are any of the pools on the island included or just beaches?

 

I couldn't imagine staying on the ship, but am curious.  Everyone, including management, speaks of CocoCay as a moneymaker.  I don't question the statements, but where is the revenue coming from with a typical Celebrity passenger and ship?  If the drink package works and there is edible included food and decent nonrevenue places to lounge then the revenue would only come from a small number of people that upgrade especially compared to a Royal ship where one has to pay to escape crowds or for decent food.  I realize you did the beach club.  

 

Fully supportive of stops at CocoCay over any other Caribbean port to better ensure a good beach/pool day, etc.  (No cabs and buses to get anywhere, pan handlers, strays, village of Effy and Diamonds International, etc ).  Just wish the dates worked better for our calendar.   

I checked the Daily for Coco Cay day and Oceanview Cafe, Opus, Blu, and Luminae were open for breakfast. Oceanview Cafe was the only main dining venue that was open for lunch, but that is typical for any port day. The Spa Cafe was also open for lunch as were Sushi on Five and The Porch.

  Complimentary areas on Coco Cay are Splashaway Bay, described on the map as a complimentary water park, Oasis Lagoon, a complimentary freshwater pool with 3 swim up islands, a swim up bar, and a sloped entry, I’ve taken photos of the other listings of complimentary areas from the map. 
  Yes, there are a number of pay to play areas but there are also plenty of complimentary dining and beach areas. 

[hcat]

i may have missed it..how much for beach club you went to ,

[Kteacher]

17 minutes ago, hcat said:

i may have missed it..how much for beach club you went to ,

We used OBC to purchase, and will have to look up what it was since we reserved it so long ago. I do know that they use surge pricing, so cost will depend on time of year and how it is selling. I think it was about 150 pp for kids, and 250ish pp for adults if booked on the ship, so not cheap, but for us it was a good use of our OBC.

[dcbiker97]

Thanks for posting pictures. We're doing a b2b over Labor Day weekend staying in the Signature Suite, which is our favorite suite on Reflection.  I've been curious how Celebrity is handling CocoCay and was glad to see the pictures you posted. I was looking at the Beach Club, but even with OBC was struggling with its $200pp cost. Could you tell if the food come off the ships or do they prepare everything on island?  I'm also prepping our luggage space so that we will have room to bring back the 4 bottles of liquor from the room. I'm guessing that benefit doesn't change even if its just a 3 and 4 night cruise. 

[Kteacher]

I don’t think food is provisioned off of the ship. The Beach Club lunch was very good, and they will bring you as much as you want off of the menu. For us it was worth it as we wanted a quieter and less crowded atmosphere and table service for lunch.

[Kteacher]

Forgot to add- yes the Signature suites do get the two bottles of spirits for the shorter cruises and unlimited specialty dining. We have one booked for 2026 and will be combining it with a longer land based vacation so will use whatever we don’t consume onboard then. 

[Kteacher]

Breakfast was in Blu this morning- no problem being accommodated 

[Kteacher]

Today is Cozumel, and we’re booked for the Mexology excursion, again using OBC.

   Once off the ship I received a text from Verizon reminding me that Mexico is included in my domestic plan 👍. I took care of booking our day pass for Friday. I ended up booking Bahia Mar through Resort Pass. We’ve stayed there before and are familiar with their pool area and services .

[Altamar]

Thanks Kteacher for all the pics and info you have provided especially for coco cay.

[Kteacher]

Our last port day is Cozumel. We did an excursion through the ship- Small group Mexologist for the day Margaritas and traditional small bites. I think we paid about 90 pp, and thought it was well worth it. The excursion included 5 full size cocktails plus one shot, chips and guacamole plus a plate of snacks as well as a full size lunch entree. After lunch we had an hour to swim in the infinity pool that overlooked the dolphin pool. The drinks and food were delicious and it was well run with air conditioned taxi bus transport both ways

[hcat]

6 hours ago, Kteacher said:

We used OBC to purchase, and will have to look up what it was since we reserved it so long ago. I do know that they use surge pricing, so cost will depend on time of year and how it is selling. I think it was about 150 pp for kids, and 250ish pp for adults if booked on the ship, so not cheap, but for us it was a good use of our OBC.

thanks,  but that's more than we paid for a private cabana on labadee with peronalized service..

 

.Don't think we would pay that much or use OBC on that..esp when there are other pools and beaches we could visit ????

 

gee I have to scroll way back to catch up!

[hcat]

9 minutes ago, Kteacher said:

Our last port day is Cozumel. We did an excursion through the ship- Small group Mexologist for the day Margaritas and traditional small bites. I think we paid about 90 pp, and thought it was well worth it. The excursion included 5 full size cocktails plus one shot, chips and guacamole plus a plate of snacks as well as a full size lunch entree. After lunch we had an hour to swim in the infinity pool that overlooked the dolphin pool. The drinks and food were delicious and it was well run with air conditioned taxi bus transport both ways

Looks great.. we did a similar lunch and swim at Hotel Cozumel...first time it was very nice..on a later trip it was not well kept up!  Getting many great ideas from you..thanks again.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

48 minutes ago, Kteacher said:

Our last port day is Cozumel. We did an excursion through the ship- Small group Mexologist for the day Margaritas and traditional small bites. I think we paid about 90 pp, and thought it was well worth it. The excursion included 5 full size cocktails plus one shot, chips and guacamole plus a plate of snacks as well as a full size lunch entree. After lunch we had an hour to swim in the infinity pool that overlooked the dolphin pool. The drinks and food were delicious and it was well run with air conditioned taxi bus transport both ways

 

 

 

I've really been enjoying your very detailed review!  We'll be onboard 5/3 for a quick 3-nighter ... giving a Signature Suite a try. We really enjoy the Reflection. I was sad to learn from Sini & Liz that, on our cruise at least, the Lawn Club Grill will not be open for lunch (two days, two ports), so no specialty burgers for me. I was, on the other hand, pleased to see that they're going to have The Porch open those two port days (we're not planning on visiting Nassau or CocoCay). 

 

Mexologist - I like that!

 

I'm kind of a lightweight, but I don't think I could manage 5+1 drinks then a swim, LOL !!

 

Tom

[Kteacher]

Our last full day onboard 😭. I’m fairly new at this retirement thing so we are trying longer trips. The 8 night combined with the 5 night feels like it was the perfect length to start with. We will definitely miss the crew on this ship as they are some of the best we’ve ever encountered.

   Last night’s show was a magician and was entertaining. This week the shows have been scheduled for 7:30 and 9:30 compared to 7 and 9 the previous week. Dinner was in Luminae, service excellent, and dishes were again a combination from Luminae menu and Opus. We passed on dessert as we were too full and are also easing back into the reality of knowing there are a lot of salads and trips to the gym in our future.

[dcbiker97]

16 hours ago, Tom-n-Cheryl said:

 

I've really been enjoying your very detailed review!  We'll be onboard 5/3 for a quick 3-nighter ... giving a Signature Suite a try. We really enjoy the Reflection. I was sad to learn from Sini & Liz that, on our cruise at least, the Lawn Club Grill will not be open for lunch (two days, two ports), so no specialty burgers for me. I was, on the other hand, pleased to see that they're going to have The Porch open those two port days (we're not planning on visiting Nassau or CocoCay). 

 

Mexologist - I like that!

 

I'm kind of a lightweight, but I don't think I could manage 5+1 drinks then a swim, LOL !!

 

Tom

Hope you like the room. We really love the quiet hallway and the higher ceilings, which makes the room seem bigger. I also love swinging by the Spa Cafe to grab a quite smoothie on the way back to the room.  We always try to stay in one when we're on Reflection. 

Edited April 25 by dcbiker97

[Arzeena]

On 4/24/2024 at 8:27 AM, hcat said:

i may have missed it..how much for beach club you went to ,

Beach Club runs from $154 on sale, to $283 and up. on my upcoming cruise it is sold out at $289. Not worth that much, IMHO only, unless you have OBC to spend. Considering one can have a completely $$$$$free (except if you want to tip the bar or toilet attendant) day at Coco Cay.

On one Black Friday sale it went down to $75 for some days. Never seen the two digit price after that. I would get it at that price if it came by again, but I doubt it will.

 

OP sorry for butting in.

Edited April 25 by Arzeena

[Kteacher]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

Beach Club runs from $154 on sale, to $283 and up. on my upcoming cruise it is sold out at $289. Not worth that much, IMHO only, unless you have OBC to spend. Considering one can have a completely $$$$$free (except if you want to tip the bar or toilet attendant) day at Coco Cay.

On one Black Friday sale it went down to $75 for some days. Never seen the two digit price after that. I would get it at that price if it came by again, but I doubt it will.

 

OP sorry for butting in.

No need for apologies. We bounce between RCI ships and Celebrity. If we’re sailing Royal it is on one of the smaller/older ships that don’t have CK. If there’s a Coco Cay stop and the pricing is high for the Beach Club that might be a deciding factor as we could use the $$$ towards specialty restaurant package.

[Kteacher]

I’m almost exclusively a non savory breakfast person but decided to mix it up this morning and tried the Iberico ham with grated tomato on toast along with the savory waffle with sunny side egg. All delicious but I definitely surprised our waiter 🙃. 
    We’re about 3/4 packed and taking a beverage break at the Sunset Bar. We’ve really lucked out with the weather this trip having sunny skies and a nice breeze since we arrived in Fort Lauderdale on 4/10.

[hcat]

Safe travels. thanks for a lovely review!

[Kteacher]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

Safe travels. thanks for a lovely review!

Thank you! I hope I was able to give some helpful information to anyone traveling soon or planning to travel.

[Kteacher]

Departure information received in our cabin. Our butler actually asked for an appointment with us to go over departure procedures. We haven’t seen him very much this sailing compared with last sailing, but he apologized for that.

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, Kteacher said:

Thank you! I hope I was able to give some helpful information to anyone traveling soon or planning to travel.

Thank you! I enjoyed your review and pictures.

Have a safe journey home.

[Kteacher]

Last night in Michael’s until our 2025 TA on the Constellation. We really prefer the  set up of Michael’s Club to the Retreat.