A great first cruise on Celebrity: Reflection review. Dailies, menus, food and cabin pics. March 2024.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

We've just had a great first cruise with Celebrity!

 

We traveled on an 8 day ABC island itinerary on Reflection, with our kid who turned 13 right before the cruise. I will post photos of all the dailies, menus, MDR and buffet food, and cabin pics. Please bear with me since it's a lot of images and info, and I came back to a rather large work backlog. 🙂 And don't forget - it's tax time, and I haven't filed the taxes yet.

 

We started our journey the day before the cruise, flying on Spirit and staying at the Embassy Suites next to the airport. Took an uber to the hotel (no free shuttle available).  I have been forewarned about the condition of the hotel rooms, so I wasn't unpleasantly surprised. It was the cheapest hotel I could find in the area, and beggars can't be choosers, especially during spring break.  The room was rather run down and very dated, but clean, and there were no visible bed bugs.  Our windows and balcony, unfortunately, had the view and the smell of the giant hotel dumpster. The front desk clerk told me that the renovations were starting in April.

 

We had a nice dinner at Outback which is 1 minute walk away, and I was very sorry to have all the leftovers, but no use for them.

 

The free breakfast was great - made to order omelets, cereal, coffee, muffins, fruit, pepsi, juices, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

The beds were uncomfortable and very small, imho, but it is what it is.

 

 

The location was superb, and we loved having both Publix and TJMaxx right next to the hotel, since we forgot a couple of clothing items at home, and wanted to bring soda onboard.  We shopped in the morning before the cruise, and it was great. Got Dr Pepper (apparently, none on board), Diet Coke and Mountain Dew in blue raspberry flavor. Saved a lot of money, since one can of soda onboard is $4+20% grats. So grateful for this board, since it's where I learned that X allows you to carry on soda.

 

Would definitely stay here again, especially after the renovations, if the price is more favorable than other hotels'.

 

Took an uber to the port in the morning (around $20-25).

[tompeter]

Great start!

[Itchy&Scratchy]

We were in an inside cabin for 4 (8149) which is located in the forward section of the ship. I was worried that due to the smaller ship size and cabin location we would experience seasickness, so I brought copious amounts of meclizine with us, but we felt very little movement and weren't seasick at all. Yay!

 

I really liked it that we could drop off our carry on luggage and 3 12-packs of soda in the cabin before the rooms were ready for us.

 

The cabin was great, and it had a pullman bed for our kiddo, which he loved. Our cabin attendant was terrific and kept the room immaculately clean.

 

Here are some photos of the cabin for those who haven't yet traveled on Reflection:

 

 

 

 

 

The bathroom was roomy, water temp and pressure was great. Our sink made a funny sound after the water drained. No funny smells.

 

We usually bring our own toiletries since our kid usually breaks out in hives from using ship stuff. This time it was my poor husband who broke out in hives after using the provided body wash.

 

ETA: the only gripe we had was the minibar-fridge temperature. It was a cooler at best. Kept the sodas at barely below room temp. We asked the cabin attendant to empty out the minibar and used it for our sodas.

Edited April 9 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

The embarkation was a breeze. We showed up around 11 (our onboarding time was 12) and were onboard shortly afterwards. A very beautiful ship! I was very pleasantly surprised at the ship shape 🙂 because it's an older ship which wasn't refurbished, and we haven't always had a great experience with older ships. Great size, great shape, we loved it.

 

We have previously sailed with Princess, RCI, MSC and NCL. We love Princess and RCI. MSC and NCL - not exactly. 

 

We gave X a try and loved it. I booked my next two X cruises for next year before sailing on Reflection. I guess I was sure I was going to like it. 🙂 

 

P.S. We are a smidge under 50, with a 13 yo son.

Edited April 9 by Itchy&Scratchy

[hcat]

stateroom looks great with the bunk!  

seems like it was a good choice!

[graveytrain]

Thanks for the review. I’m looking forward to more!

[Georgia_Peaches]

Oh what a nice looking room!  Can’t wait to read more. I will be on Reflection in July with DM. Have sailed her once before in 2015. It was our introduction to Celebrity and honestly, I don’t remember many details specific to this ship. 

[NC State]

WOW this is a great review!  Airfare is so crazy now days.  How is Spirit Airlines?  

 

Edited April 10 by NC State

[hcat]

was that hotel on 17th St? or another ES, closer to the FLL airport?

 

The one on 17th st has a great location but was sooo shabby on our last visit..dust all over, broken down furniture, terrible beds .. and the comp  breakfast. buffet was just so so !  They said the hotel would be re-done but had no set date. Needs a complete upgrade!

 

In Jan we stayed in Dania at a Wyndham hotel.. It was VERY expensive, not very appealing,  but had free parking,  and was fairly close to the port entry.  Only 1 restaurant was nearby and the breakfast buffet was expensive. BUT they sold us  a bagel with free coffee.

 

For our next 2 cruises in Dec '24 and Jan '25 we are booked at the Holiday Inn by the Convention Center, 17th St.  Has parking and is near places to eat.  Hope it works out ok  We mostly cruise in prime season so hotels are at a premium and often bookdd up!

[Dawnya00]

I remember all your fantastic reviews on the NCL board. We are heading on our first cruise with X later this month on Reflection as well. I am excited to hear your comparisons as that is the thing I am most curious about. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

3 hours ago, NC State said:

WOW this is a great review!  Airfare is so crazy now days.  How is Spirit Airlines?  

 

we almost always end up flying with them because right between 90 and 60 days before the cruise, Spirit drops their prices to a reasonable level. Blink, and you'll miss it.

They are ok. The only downside to us personally is having to pay for luggage (around $50 per suitcase) and the weight limit of 40# per suitcase. It's expensive.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

3 hours ago, hcat said:

was that hotel on 17th St?

yes, that's the one. I didn't know there was another one close to FLL. 🙂

 

Yeah, it was shabby, but we've stayed in worse hotels (way back when), so, overall, it wasn't horrible or really bad, or even all that bad. It was clean, the furniture was old and worn, but not broken, we liked the free breakfast and the location was wonderful. Yes, the beds were awful. Not that our 13 yo noticed, but our older bodies weren't happy at all.

 

For our next cruise, I managed to snag the valuetrips rate for the Hyatt nearby, so we'll be staying there in June.

Edited April 10 by Itchy&Scratchy

[hcat]

38 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

yes, that's the one. I didn't know there was another one close to FLL. 🙂

 

Yeah, it was shabby, but we've stayed in worse hotels (way back when), so, overall, it wasn't horrible or really bad, or even all that bad. It was clean, the furniture was old and worn, but not broken, we liked the free breakfast and the location was wonderful. Yes, the beds were awful. Not that our 13 yo noticed, but our older bodies weren't happy at all.

 

For our next cruise, I managed to snag the valuetrips rate for the Hyatt nearby, so we'll be staying there in June.

value trips  at Hyatt Place is a great deal.but they have some  black out dates in winter     It is near the shopping center and restaurants.. , nice bkfst,  wifi and acceptable pool..We miss it!

 

We will stick with the Holiday Inn for the next 2..

[Itchy&Scratchy]

So, let's talk about food! I know that food opinions are always super subjective, so I usually preface my food reviews with a warning: I am a glutton and love almost all food, except for beans and onions. I am not a fan of veggies per se, but I eat them for health reasons. Sometimes I even enjoy them.  DH is a lot less of a glutton, loves variety, is a lot more choosy and has a completely different taste in food. DS has some texture sensitivities (as does DH), and is rather conservative with his food choices (not an adventurous eater at all).

 

We were pretty happy with the buffet choices, and I snapped a LOT of random buffet food pictures which I will post shortly.  We had all of our breakfasts and our sea day lunches at the buffet. We didn't have lunches on port days. We had all of our dinners at the Opus MDR. We sometimes stopped by the buffet after dinner for a cup of tea and a look around.

 

We did not like the buffet coffee at all. We are not coffee connoisseurs at all, but we are very particular about the way we drink it. Heck, I drink instant coffee at home... (Taster's Choice). So, we stuck to tea. The buffet had a great selection of teas and sugar/sweeteners:

 

 

They even had lemon and Truvia readily available!!!! That was quite a surprise. MSC didn't have any lemon, and the other lines don't usually provide Truvia (so we always bring our own). Not visible in this photo, but most definitely present are Taster's Choice packets of instant decaf coffee in the upper right corner.

 

At peak times the buffet was pretty busy, but not an overwhelming zoo we experienced on other ships. Perhaps, it's due to the somewhat older demographic and the smaller size of the ship? We were always able to find a place to sit. Sometimes people joined us. Some asked before joining, some didn't. 🙂 We didn't mind either way.

 

The buffet food stations were well organized, and even though the buffet is not as grand or sizeable as a Princess Royal class ship buffet, it was lovely, well stocked, had very good choices for all tastes, had a separate station for vegan food, also gluten-free choices, and several lactose-free milk choices available (at least in the morning in the cereal/muesli section).  I couldn't exactly tell what these lactose-free options were, but I snapped a pic. If you need to see it closer, please let me know.

 

Edited April 10 by Itchy&Scratchy

[horseymike]

Really enjoying your review , looking forward to the next chapters 😀

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I will post my buffet food pics next. Just skip them if not interested. They will be posted in the order they were taken, by day. There was an ethnic food section, a Mediterranean section (cheeses, olives, etc.), Mexican food station during dinner, bread, salad, cold cuts, hot meat (like ham, lamb, chicken, turkey, etc.), a baked potation station, a vegan food station, etc. I may add a comment or two on the food we tried/liked/disliked.

 

Boarding day lunch:

 

My DH loved the salad station. Lots of different toppings and salad choices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caesar salad toppings. That's anchovies bottom left.

 

The grilled meats below weren't all that good:

 

 

 

 

Baked potato station looked great. I don't think we ever tried it.

 

 

 

Potato gratin was usually good.

 

 

Very few shrimp in that paella.

 

 

 

Vegan:

 

 

 

 

Indian food:

 

 

Cold cuts: I usually tried cheeses and salami. Good stuff!

 

 

I think we tried most of the desserts every day and liked all of them.

 

Edited April 10 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

boarding day lunch continued:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gluten free dessert section usually had a couple of different desserts and jellos which were usually very good:

 

 

more of the other stations:

 

This chicken looked really good and was very popular:

 

 

this beef was ok:

 

I specifically asked whether the egg salad had any onions and was told NO. Not true - it has green onions which I am ok with, so I enjoyed it very much. But if someone is allergic - beware.

 

 

 

Mediterranean section: if you are looking for pepperonchinis for your salad, like my DH, you will find them here:

 

 

 

Our kiddo loved the pepperoni pizza. The chef told me he could make ANY pizza I desired and even a calzone.

 

More veggies and salad toppings:

 

 

 

Pasta station was good. I thought the alfredo sauce was very runny, though. I like it thick and creamy. I don't like red sauce, so no comment.

Edited April 10 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Boarding day dinner buffet... And a quick disclaimer: I don't usually take food pics at the buffet, but since this was our very first X cruise, and I saw a lot of people on this board also planning on trying X for the first time, so I went a bit crazy with snapping the photos. However, I wasn't the woman who was live streaming herself ordering and then eating her breakfast at the buffet...

 

We didn't like the noodles:

 

 

Super friendly staff!

 

 

 

 

 

Vegetarian/Vegan section:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 10 by Itchy&Scratchy

[hcat]

nicely organized posts

  I like salads for lunch..most other items not thar appealing ..the buffet on ASCENT was sub par!

[Itchy&Scratchy]

2nd day breakfast (Easter morning):

 

Breads were usually good and varied:

 

the gluten free seeded bread roll in the middle was unexpectedly savory. I enjoyed one almost every morning.

 

Waffles were pretty good:

 

Herring was identical to the Vita herring in wine sauce.

 

Lots of fruits:

 

There were two bacon and hashbrown stations. One always had overfried hashbrowns but great crispy bacon, and the other station had just right hashbrowns and floppy bacon. 

 

We liked chocolate filled croissants. Usually, there was one breakfast dessert which varied every day, and a bunch that stayed the same.

 

Muesli toppings, also somewhat varied daily:

 

 

Edited April 10 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I decided to be a bit less of a glutton on this cruise, so instead of loading on carbs every morning, I enjoyed a made to order omelets (they were grrrrreat!) and also tried some poached eggs. The egg station with premade poached and eggs benedict also made omelets, but, according to my husband, they didn't double the cheese per his request. He eventually started going to the station where I got my omelets (the opposite end of the buffet) and finally got them the way he likes them.

 

Our kid, on the other hand, decided to adopt a carb-full life on this cruise, and instead of his reasonable breakfasts with fruit and protein, he went all out on the carb consumption. Mixing cereals, eating all the baked goods, etc. Not a shred of protein or anything remotely healthy. Sigh. Kids these days...

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Easter buffet lunch:

 

 

 

 

Same day, late lunch when only sandwiches, pizza and desserts are served:

Edited April 10 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

3rd day lunch (also a sea day):

All the desserts were great, and we also had the spring rolls (good).

 

Edited April 10 by Itchy&Scratchy

[ZapRowsdower]

Buffet pictures are appreciated, and will be helpful to direct people to in the future when they ask about the food at the buffet.

[cruisetonowhere10]

These are awesome.  Thank you.