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

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Day 3 MDR dinner

 

 

While I don't usually care for escargots all that much, I couldn't get enough on this cruise. I don't like them on Princess - I don't care for the flavor, but both RCI and X have the same simple garlic and parsley flavored oil, and I really-really love it. Honestly, it's not the actual escargots I am after, but rather the flavored oil they are in. I soak some of it up with some bread after I am done eating the escargots.

 

Asian consomme was ok - too gingery for me.

 

I got these pork chops because of the polenta. I like polenta. 🙂 The meat was ok.

 

Nom-nom - great steak.

 

 

Trout was great.

 

 

My DH loved these Fried Masala potatoes

 

Spaghetti Bolognese from the kid's menu - outstanding, according to my kid.

 

 

 

Chocolate Lava cake with coffee ice cream - super!

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Day 4 MDR dinner

 

 

 

DS ordered a burger and mac'n'cheese from the kid's menu. Oddly enough, mac'n'cheese came with its own side order of fries.

 

He liked the burger. We had to ask for some lettuce and tomatoes, because, apparently, they are not brought out or added to the burger by default. The bun was enormously tall.

 

 

mac'n'cheese was really good (but very unsalted):

 

Steak and chips was great! Sauce on the side (even though I didn't want it at all)

 

Branzino was good.

 

DH luuuurved this couscous cake! It was a main dish, not an appetizer. I tried a little and it WAS wonderful.

 

Rigatoni was ok. Not spectacular.

 

 

 

Someone really likes tiramisu. LOL

 

DS didn't like kiwi sorbet, so I ate it for him. It was very good!

 

Mmmmmm, creme brulee! I had one almost every evening. There was something magical about theirs - it was warm on the inside, just the right texture and sweetness, and a wonderfully crunchy burnt sugar crust. Yeap, it was amazing!

 

 

Nobody liked this clafoutis.

 

Strawberry angel food cake was delicate and lovely.

[DaKahuna]

5 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

We didn't like the rum raisin ice cream - too much rum.

 

 Blasphemy!  I do not believe there is such a thing. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Day 5 MDR Dinner

 

 

From this day on, DS ordered a fruit salad for an appetizer every day. Except that the little stinker didn't eat any of it, so I ate it every day because I am not about to let fruit go to waste. And the fruit was actually great, very ripe and juicy.

 

Yum!

 

Quinoa salad was fantastic according to my hubs.

 

DS took one bite of the margherita pizza and noped out.

 

Got a burger instead.

 

I ordered the Moroccan spiced lamb kebabs, and it was a mixed experience. They were supposed to be medium, but were more like rare, maybe, medium rare at best. I was chewing on raw meat and I wasn't exactly enjoying the sensation. Whatever grain bed they are on was inedible. I did finish all the kebabs... I don't even know why.

 

 

Seabass was good.

 

Mushroom Pappardelle was great! I feel that a lot of people may miss the menu items on the bottom left...

 

Chicken roulade was good, but not something I'd order again. Fork for scale.

 

 

 

 

 

Soo good!

 

 

good

 

This coffee creme pot was splendid! If you love coffee ice cream, you'll love this dessert!

[Itchy&Scratchy]

5 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Blasphemy!  I do not believe there is such a thing. 

unfortunately, I don't like the taste of alcohol... 😞

Which is probably fortunate, since my family has a few alcoholics in it.

[DaKahuna]

15 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

unfortunately, I don't like the taste of alcohol... 😞

Which is probably fortunate, since my family has a few alcoholics in it.

 

 Noted.  I happen to enjoy rum very much. 

 My family is the same but luckily it's not something that is inherited. 

 

[NC State]

Itchy&Scratchy I loved the flavored oil they are in too. I soak it up with bread as well.  I do have to ask for more soft bread.  I don't know why we have so much hard bread on the table. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

19 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

Mushroom Pappardelle was great! I feel that a lot of people may miss the menu items on the bottom left...

that was supposed to say "bottom right of the menu". 🙂

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Day 6 MDR dinner

 

 

 

 

Mmmm, no. This broccoli soup was not good. 

 

 

Beef carpaccio was wonderful

 

Fish was good.

 

 

Chicken Saltimbocca was quite good. But I didn't eat the crust - just the stuff inside.

 

OMG, these short ribs were so amazing that my husband ordered his own after trying mine. Melt in your mouth goodness!

 

 

I tried the chicken nuggets after DS rejected them and they were fine. Very soft, not dry, and actually tasted good.

 

 

Cherry jubilee was very good, but I wish I tried the full sugar version instead of the no sugar added... I still enjoyed it, but wished they were a bit sweeter.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Day 7 MDR dinner

 

 

Ahhh, so good! So delicate.  I wish I ordered two salmon rillettes. I scraped off the onions.

 

DH wasn't exactly thrilled with kale salad. He just doesn't care for kale.

 

 

Beef wellington was delicate and good.

 

I ordered surf and turf and enjoyed it. 🙂 The always available steak plus the lobster.

 

 

Haddock was good.

Mushroom risotto was amazing! Oversalted for sure, but still delicious!

 

Kid got his usual spaghetti bolognese and it was very good as usual:

 

 

 

Citrus Roulade was good, but not exactly special.

 

 

Creme brulee - amazing as usual. 🙂

 

Chocolate cake was good

 

 

Edited April 12 by Itchy&Scratchy

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Last MDR dinner

 

 

Eggplant caviar was very good, just like my mom makes

 

Gumbo was good - sorry, I forgot to take a pic until DH was about half way through his soup

 

 

a great little salad

 

Our waiter assured me that the always available sirloin steak is better than the flank steak, so that's what I got and enjoyed it as usual

 

Chicken cordon blu was so much better than I thought it was going to be! It was very delicious and juicy.

 

 

The biggest disappointment of the night was the substitution of the gnocchi which we all love and couldn't wait to try with tortellini. Ugh. Tortellini and the cheese sauce were good, but we really looked forward to trying Celebrity gnocchi....

 

 

Tilapia was good.

 

 

I ordered the curd... While I liked the taste, I didn't like the texture. I thought it would be smooth like cheesecake or creme pot, but it was grainy.

 

 

 

DS hated the cannoli for some reason. I really liked the filling, so I ate both my cannoli filling and his. But the shell was hard and not tasty, so we left it behind.

 

I think our waiter asst also brought out the Sacher Tort for me, but I neglected to take a pic. It was good. 

 

This concludes the MDR food section. We were happy with the food. A sommelier came by at the beginning of every meal to offer his services, but we don't drink wine, and anyway, all the alcohol was very expensive onboard. The other tables had better luck - their sommelier spent a lot of time serving wine and other drinks.

[DaKahuna]

17 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

Kid got his usual spaghetti bolognese and it was very good as usual:

 

 There have been a number of times when I have ordered this when nothing else on the menu appealed to me.  

 

[Harrisonkid]

Sorry to hear people were/ are getting sick...we take ZINC with us and at the first sign we start taking it...helps with some cold and covid symptoms...good luck 

[hcat]

On 4/11/2024 at 8:07 PM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

unfortunately, I don't like the taste of alcohol... 😞

Which is probably fortunate, since my family has a few alcoholics in it.

I dislike the smell..esp beer!

[hcat]

3 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 There have been a number of times when I have ordered this when nothing else on the menu appealed to me.  

 

happens quite a bit for us.. we eat very simply but tasty.  lots of the menu choices are drowned in sauce or served on top of other foods..

 

We manage well but with work arounds!

 

[hcat]

On 4/11/2024 at 8:30 PM, DaKahuna said:

 

 Noted.  I happen to enjoy rum very much. 

 My family is the same but luckily it's not something that is inherited. 

 

are u sure?

 

Internet blurb..

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) often seems to run in families, and we may hear about scientific studies of an “alcoholism gene.” Genetics certainly influence our likelihood of developing AUD, but the story isn't so simple. Research shows that genes are responsible for about half of the risk for AUD.

 

 "Easy does it"

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, Harrisonkid said:

Sorry to hear people were/ are getting sick...we take ZINC with us and at the first sign we start taking it...helps with some cold and covid symptoms...good luck 

DH first felt it after we came back, he is taking a ton of zinc, echinacea, vitamins, but he is very miserable and is coughing so hard, especially at night, that none of us are getting any sleep. It's like the first time we had covid in 2022 - lots of cough, no fever, general misery.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

Now let's talk about the entertainment. I must say that this was the biggest shock to me. I thought that X catered to a more geriatric crowd, kind of like pre-pandemic Princess.

Princess really stepped it up with more modern entertainment in the last couple of years, but since we'd never been on Celebrity before, I wasn't sure what to expect.

 

Well, let me tell ya.... I was pleasantly shocked. Most of the music played was from the last 30 years. A lot of it was from the last 10-20 years. Judging by how much teens enjoyed the silent disco, a lot of it was fresh enough for them. They were singing and dancing along to some of the music, so it can't be that ancient, right?

 

I went to the silent disco for the very first time! I had a blast until my knee had enough. It's not that I am old, it's just that I am unfit. 🙂

 

I also went to my very first sing along, coz Queen. Who doesn't like Queen? It's a rhetorical question. I can't sing to save my life, but I love Queen, and there were a lot of us shouting the lyrics anyway, so nobody could hear me anyway. I had a terrific time!

 

The shows were wonderful!

We went to

1) Elysium (started out kind of slow, but after a couple of song/dance numbers it really picked up and became simply amazing! Blending two Sia songs and an Evanescence song was brilliant)

2) comedian Jason Blanchard - very good

3) Broken Strings - a great little musical, except for the very last song which seemed out of place, like it didn't belong in the show

4) Ryan Joyce's magic headliner show was pretty good, but his hypnosis show the next day was on another level. Whisky the dog is just the cutest thing in the world! We saw Ryan several more times walking around the ship with Whisky and always said hi. We love dogs.

5) Broadway Cabaret was great

6) a short Masque dance show in the Grand Foyer. Not as good and definitely nowhere near as spectacular I thought it was going to be. Oh, and it was 10 minutes instead of 20. Dancers were great, it's just the music and choreo that I wasn't all that interested in.

7) Theater production show Euphoria - wonderful!

 

We didn't go to Paulette Ivory's show because we were tired the first day, but I hear she was fantastic.

 

We didn't go to the Carole King tribute show.

 

Full moon deck party looked like fun.

 

We heard the guitar player a couple of times when he played in the Grand Foyer.  He was good.

[DaKahuna]

7 hours ago, hcat said:

are u sure?

 

Not 100%.  Thank you for that information.  

 

13 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

1) Elysium (started out kind of slow, but after a couple of song/dance numbers it really picked up and became simply amazing! Blending two Sia songs and an Evanescence song was brilliant)

 

 I was never able to put the theme together on this one.  There seemed to be no plot to it at all.  Just a bunch of songs thrown together.  

 

 The silent disco has been 70's and 80's music the last time I went.  I mean the 70's was the greatest ever and every still loves classic rock and roll. 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

10 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

The silent disco has been 70's and 80's music the last time I went. 

oh. The one I went to played a great variety over many decades.

 

9 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

Just a bunch of songs thrown together. 

 

true. But a great arrangement!

Edited April 14 by Itchy&Scratchy

[yknot13]

Thanks for taking the time to share this information. We love Reflection, and will be sailing on her this November for the same itinerary. 

[Cap_D]

12 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

We didn't go to the Carole King tribute show

This dates the cruise as being for an older demographic.  

[Itchy&Scratchy]

28 minutes ago, Cap_D said:

This dates the cruise as being for an older demographic.  

Yes, but it was just one big show, and I am sure some of the songs are timeless. I believe they mentioned using her songs in the Broadway Cabaret show as well, and I knew and liked them.

[twins_to_alaska]

Thanks so much for your review, all your photos, and the dailies! Hope you all are feeling much better very soon.

[twins_to_alaska]

Remember that all the desserts at Cafe al Bacio are free! Don't know if you got any.