Just off Reflection yesterday!

So, I thought I'd post my opinions of our first Celebrity cruise which was with the Reflection. It was my 11th cruise overall. Darn. I shouldn't have started my cruising experience with Disney....Anyway, remember, these are our experiences and we realize others may have had a different experience but hopefully we can provide some tips, answers, and insight to anyone who cares. We arrived at Miami airport early...about 7:00 AM after taking a red eye out of Phoenix. We finally found the Celebrity check in desk which was right near the baggage claim area. Once checked in, we had to wait for the first bus to take us to the pier which wasn't leaving until around 10:30 or so. We had opted to buy the transfers through Celebrity as it seemed easiest. We arrived at the ship pier quickly...a few minutes prior to 11:00 and quickly was checked in and they had just started letting people board. We were on by 11:10 and headed up to the dining room for lunch. We were in a C2 cabin so apparently that is where we could dine. Lunch was ok, nothing spectacular. Then we decided to check out the ship a bit, couldn't get into our cabin until 1:00.

Once in our cabin which was 9310, we fell asleep for an hour or so. Darn that red eye! We went to our muster drill at 3:30 and then back to our room for sail away as we like to enjoy our balcony. We met our room steward named Darkum though on the way in and he proceeded to tell us everything about the cabin as we started sail away. He was an awesome steward and have only good things to say about him! We only asked for extra towels and ice all the time and he happily obliged. He always had a smile on his face and asked us how we were doing throughout the cruise! He quickly was earning his extra tip at the end of the cruise from us! I actually felt a couple of times that he might be devastated if we ever had any kind of a complaint about the room. This was serious business to him! (Wish our dining waiter had taken some lessons from him but more on that later!)

I'm going to pace myself and write more later. If you have specific questions, ask away and I will attempt to answer....to..be..continued..

Dailies?

Yes, we have a couple of the dailies so I will take a picture and upload for you. Are you looking for anything special in them?

So we had the early dining at 6:00 in Opus. When we first booked this cruise we asked for a table for 2. Not because we are anti social but we don't want dinner to last so long. So we went straight to the Maitre d' after boarding. He told us to go to our already assigned table for that night and he would try and get us a table for 2 from then on. We were with a table for 8. The other people were very nice and the waiter was good. He introduced himself and quickly took our order. Only problem was 4 of the others didn't show up until 6:45-ish. They had been told the wrong time. So after already starting our dinner, we ended up waiting for the other four to catch up to us. Wasn't an issue until we walked out 2 hours and 20 minutes later. Reason for wanting a table for 2. The next day we got a notice to find a new table. #115. That night we were happily seated at a table for 2. Unfortunately though, the happiness ended there. Over the next several days our waiter never introduced himself to us. He never learned our drink preferences. He never spoke unless spoken to. Weirdest thing we've ever experienced on the past 10 cruises. One night they were serving "steak and fries" which sounded good but we asked him what kind of steak it was. He immediately tried to talk us out of it saying it was very very tough. Not good. Way too tough. I asked again, what kind of cut is it? He finally said Filet Mignon. HUH? That should be a very tender cut in my experience. We ended up ordering it anyway. Mine was very good, and very tender. My husband ordered his medium. He could only eat the outer edges as the middle was moo-ing so loud he just couldn't eat it. Our waiter (Ali) never once asked him how it was. Instead he picked up the plates when he assumed we were finished and later just brought dessert. Just so weird. We asked him what the different kind of butters were on the table too. He said he didn't know and yelled to his assistant waiter, Ryan, and asked him. Ryan told us. Every night was the same thing. This guy was sub-par! We wanted to complain but having already been switched once we didn't want to seem like problem guests. Plus, if we complained and there was no where to move to, we would have had to deal with this waiter after he knew we complained about him. Sorry but we didn't want to risk anything happening to our food behind the scenes. We DID however write a review about him on our post cruise questionairre.

Overall the food in the MDR was really good the first couple of nights. After that we felt it went downhill a bit. Not sure why. I did enjoy the fact that creme brulee was available every night. Yes, I imbibed. Every night.

Finally by the last night, we were so fed up by our waiter and his demeanor we opted for Tuscan Grille. More on that later. Unfortunately we had a bad experience there too.

The Oceanview Cafe was pretty good. The last sea day was the best for lunch. Lots of choices and tasty. Pizza was offered daily which was pretty good as well as a pasta bar and homemade ice cream.

The Mast Grill on deck 15 was open every afternoon for lunch till 6:00 pm. The burgers were very tasty!

The first sea day we awoke later than hoped for. Still trying to resolve the red-eye tire. I quickly got up and went up to deck 14 to hopefully find a lounge chair near the pool. Nothing. Had to search hi and low and couldn't find two together. There were however, many being saved with a myriad of "stuff" strewn about. We finally found two after searching for 30 minutes near the solarium. We were pretty lazy the rest of the day. This was what we encountered every single day. I ended up getting up by 7:45 on the morning of San Juan to find a chair. It still took me 10 minutes to find 2 together. Once I did, I settled in and proceeded to watch other chairs sit vacant for hours yet were being "claimed" by a bag here, a book there. One family took up 7 chairs and didn't show up until 10:30 and they showed up one at a time. You Tennessee fans know who I'm talking about! Quite rude but I know it happens on all cruises.

On the 2nd sea day we arrived at the solarium to finally find 2 chairs together but felt badly for a woman who had been waiting over an hour to find three together. She complained to the pool butler and the gal started writing "tickets" with a 30 minute notice on them. Of course the 30 minutes were up and she got her chairs! This should be done all the time! So, if you complain to the pool butlers they will start marking the chairs.

Our last 2 sea days consisted of bad weather. 9 foot waves with many swells. You didn't have to be drunk to walk like a drunk. Many were quite sea sick. We had rain showers off and on too. Finally cleared up a bit in the afternoon of the final sea day. We were able to take part in the Silent Disco. That was way too much fun! It was offered 3 different times but the other times were late at night and we were always too tired to go. Glad they offered a day time version. Recommend! More later....

Enjoying your review. Can't wait to read more.

We were on the same sailing.... some similarities and some differences. We lucked out with dinner/table/waiters ;p

We also saw lots of chair hogs and almost got in a fight with a couple who put towels/books on one and didn't return for over an hour..... Pool butler gave away their chairs so Karma is OK.

Loved the cruise especially the entertainment.

We were on the same sailing.... some similarities and some differences. We lucked out with dinner/table/waiters ;p

 

We also saw lots of chair hogs and almost got in a fight with a couple who put towels/books on one and didn't return for over an hour..... Pool butler gave away their chairs so Karma is OK.

 

Loved the cruise especially the entertainment.

Yes, we thought the entertainment was good too!

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So RickT mentioned the entertainment on board so I'll pick it up there. Our cruise director was Maartin. A Dutch fellow who I thought did quite a good job! Always saw him around and he seemed pretty accessible to everyone. One of the ships bands was Blind Vinyl. They were seen often in a couple different venues on board and we thought they were really good. There was almost always someone dancing to their music. The other band, their name escapes me was just so-so in my opinion.

The nightly theater shows consisted of comedians, the Reflection singers and dancers, Tenors of Rock, and a ventriloquist. Both comedians did their job...they cracked me up!!😂

The Tenors of Rock was awesome! A "not to be missed" show.

The ventriloquist was maybe my favorite of the week!!

The Reflection singers and dancers were good but we really had trouble following the story line of their production shows.

We also witnessed aquacize by the pool each sea day (except when we had bad weather) and again the silent disco was too fun! The ship DJ was pretty good too and he was by the pool a couple of times.

All in all I thought it was a good mixture of nightly shows.

Be back later....

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Thanks for the review. I'll be on Reflection this coming Saturday. :D

Dailies?

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Thanks for taking the time to post your review.....:):):)

Bob

 

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Thanks,

Thanks for the review. I'll be on Reflection this coming Saturday. :D

We too will be on the 4/1/17 sailing.

The next day we got a notice to find a new table. #115. That night we were happily seated at a table for 2. Unfortunately though, the happiness ended there. Over the next several days our waiter never introduced himself to us. He never learned our drink preferences. He never spoke unless spoken to. Weirdest thing we've ever experienced on the past 10 cruises. ... Our waiter (Ali) never once asked him how it was. Instead he picked up the plates when he assumed we were finished and later just brought dessert. Just so weird. We asked him what the different kind of butters were on the table too. He said he didn't know and yelled to his assistant waiter, Ryan, and asked him. Ryan told us. Every night was the same thing. This guy was sub-par!

So, we were on the Reflection last month and had table #114 in Opus and Ali was our waiter then too. We only had him 2 nights and then he disappeared. I found him not terribly gregarious but whatever. Come to find out he disembarked in Grand Cayman because of a family emergency back home (Turkey, I think?). He did not return while we were cruising. Fortunately his replacement was the EXTREMELY lovely Nicole, who was a pleasure to see every night.

If I had to guess he probably has something weighing heavily on his mind. It doesn't excuse your bad experience in the dining room but perhaps explains his un-waiterly behavior.

So, we were on the Reflection last month and had table #114 in Opus and Ali was our waiter then too. We only had him 2 nights and then he disappeared. I found him not terribly gregarious but whatever. Come to find out he disembarked in Grand Cayman because of a family emergency back home (Turkey, I think?). He did not return while we were cruising. Fortunately his replacement was the EXTREMELY lovely Nicole, who was a pleasure to see every night.

 

If I had to guess he probably has something weighing heavily on his mind. It doesn't excuse your bad experience in the dining room but perhaps explains his un-waiterly behavior.

I'd love to think that was true but he was just plain weird! He would get these crazy eyes at times. Like Nicholas Cage from Face Off!!!!! And on Thursday night he had the nerve to come up to us and tell us to give him a wonderful review. Telling us what to put on our questionairre. Sorry. He didn't have to do much for us but be friendly, talk, introduce himself, etc. Most nights he only had us and one other table. Not good.

So now I'll talk about the ports...

First one was San Juan. We arrived at 3:30 in the afternoon. It was overcast and we got rained on. Obviously the ship can't be blamed for the weather but I wonder why we even made this stop. No one I spoke with did anything but get off the ship and shop a little. It would have been nice to have two days instead in one of the other ports. In fact, we weren't scheduled to leave until 10:30 but we sat out on our balcony and at 9:30 we were leaving port. Just a useless stop in my opinion.

Second day was St. Martin. Loved this port. It wasn't my first time here. We decided before we left that we just wanted a beach day and shopping so we did it through an outside company. They shuttled us over to Great Bay Beach and offered us two different drinks with the package, 2 loungers and an umbrella. There was food for purchase as well - very expensive though. We also had the use of a fresh water shower as well as clean restrooms. The water was clear blue, very gentle and we enjoyed ourselves. After we had enough sun, we walked to shopping which was a block away. Great shops and my husband found some great t-shirts!! A fun day!

The third stop was in St. Kitts. We opted for a resort day. We had called The Marriott before leaving home and paid $35 pp to enjoy their beach, the pool, loungers and shade at both. Would recommend this resort. Our food was good and the pool area was beautiful. The ocean is on the Pacific side so it was quite windy and choppy the day we were there. But, the palapas were nice to sit under. Just a very relaxing day.

I'd love to think that was true but he was just plain weird! He would get these crazy eyes at times. Like Nicholas Cage from Face Off!!!!! And on Thursday night he had the nerve to come up to us and tell us to give him a wonderful review. Telling us what to put on our questionairre. Sorry. He didn't have to do much for us but be friendly, talk, introduce himself, etc. Most nights he only had us and one other table. Not good.

You know, what's strange about that questionnaire thing is that our replacement waiter also reminded us about this questionnaire we'd be receiving, and that their share of the daily gratuity was based upon the result. I didn't get the link to the questionnaire as expected so I called Celebrity -- mentioning to them that I did have a certain review in mind and didn't want any of the crew members to suffer as a result of me not turning one in, and Celebrity insisted that the questionnaire had nothing to do with how the crew got paid. So I wonder what's going on there?? One party is telling the truth and one party is clearly not but it's difficult to know which is which.

You know, what's strange about that questionnaire thing is that our replacement waiter also reminded us about this questionnaire we'd be receiving, and that their share of the daily gratuity was based upon the result. I didn't get the link to the questionnaire as expected so I called Celebrity -- mentioning to them that I did have a certain review in mind and didn't want any of the crew members to suffer as a result of me not turning one in, and Celebrity insisted that the questionnaire had nothing to do with how the crew got paid. So I wonder what's going on there?? One party is telling the truth and one party is clearly not but it's difficult to know which is which.

I think the questionnaire is more for advancement. I've been told that when the crew gets kudos from passengers (by name) they earn extra days off and other rewards. I've never heard of a different break down in the tips. We have never pulled our tips for bad service but we do tip extra for good service. Like our room attendant...he was so good that he got extra $$ at the end of the cruise and a couple days in we recognized him on the form you get from guest services for great work/attitude. He came up to us the very next day and thanked us profusely! So word definitely gets back to them when guests do this.

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Thanks for the dailies!

I'd love to think that was true but he was just plain weird! He would get these crazy eyes at times. Like Nicholas Cage from Face Off!!!!! And on Thursday night he had the nerve to come up to us and tell us to give him a wonderful review. Telling us what to put on our questionairre. Sorry. He didn't have to do much for us but be friendly, talk, introduce himself, etc. Most nights he only had us and one other table. Not good.

We had same wait staff, Ali and Ryan, on our 3/4 sailing. Same drill. Treated us with marginal service at best, then asked for a good review. He did not work well with Ryan. Tables around us were getting the royal treatment from what we observed. He engaged us in conversation one evening and we thought we turned the corner. Nope.

We had same wait staff, Ali and Ryan, on our 3/4 sailing. Same drill. Treated us with marginal service at best, then asked for a good review. He did not work well with Ryan. Tables around us were getting the royal treatment from what we observed. He engaged us in conversation one evening and we thought we turned the corner. Nope.

Did you mention him in your questionnaire when you got home? I feel vindicated now that someone else went through this although I am sorry for your experience as well. It's really too bad. I actually felt sorry for Ryan. We could tell he was hardworking but he had no time to chat with us. Oh well.

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Enjoying your review. When in St Kitts how did you get from the ship to the Marriott? And back? Thanks.

Enjoying your review. When in St Kitts how did you get from the ship to the Marriott? And back? Thanks.

We took a taxi from the port. It cost us $12 for the two of us and it was a full van. That is the price they quoted us. HOWEVER, on the way home we paid $6 for the two of us and there were only 4 of us in the van. Another couple at the resort told us they only paid $6 on the way over as well. So....the moral of this story is, it might pay to ask around or walk further out into the port to find a cheaper taxi...

So, allow me to review the one specialty restaurant that we dined at...Tuscan Grille. Now, we decided to dine here the final night of the cruise because we were fed up with Ali and didn't want him hounding us to give him a good review. Sad that we felt we needed to do this but...oh well. So, the only seating we could get was 8:30 that night. We arrived there a couple minutes early but were seated pretty much right away. The extra charge for this restaurant was $45 pp. After being seated, our waiter showed up. He first asked us if we had any kind of drink package. We had the classic. He then walked away. He came back with a tray of different kind of bottled waters. He filled our water glasses with the cheapy water bottle which was fine. No ice. Seemed weird though that this establishment instead of filling water glasses with normal water like the MDR did, they used whatever package water you had. Wonder if you had no package would you get slum water??? I'd have preferred the regular pitcher of water so I could actually get cold water with ice. Anyway, I digress. While pouring our waters, he went over the menu with us. Would have been fine but he had such a thick accent...I think he was actually Italian, that we could only catch every tenth word or so. Half way through his spiel, he proceeded to lose his water trays balance and dumped water from both types of bottles all over the table, our feet and the floor. We were very gracious about it as this could happen to anyone but he quickly walked away, got a few napkins, came back and wiped up the table and then was gone again. For a long time. By this time, the other tables around us (who came in after us) had already ordered and were getting their appetizers. When our waiter finally returned, he took our orders. He never actually finished going over the menu with us but that was ok. We already knew what we wanted. My husband really just wanted a great plate of spaghetti of all things (it was, after all, an Italian restaurant) and I opted for the Lobster rigatoni alfredo. We ordered our appetizers as well. So off he went to put our order in. During this time, the bar steward came over and asked us if we wanted anything from the bar. My husband didn't but I wanted a Diet Coke. So then the waiting began.....and continued....and continued....FINALLY, after talking to the table next to us, since they had already finished their appetizers and ours, as well as our waiter, had never surfaced. I was hoping to also get my diet coke. But no. After a good 15-20 minutes, finally our waiter returned. I told him that I had ordered a diet coke and it never came. He didn't seem to know anything about it. All the while I saw the bar waiter chit chatting away at other tables. I also asked our waiter if he had forgot about us. Not sure if he understood or not...

So we finally got our appetizers. We both ordered the crab cake. It was very good. My husband ordered the soup and I ordered the caesar salad, both were ok. Then we waited some more. I don't know if the spilled water really threw him or what but it was starting to get ridiculous. Every table around us had already been served their main courses even though we were first in the restaurant of our four separate tables. Finally! Our main course arrived. My husband said his spaghetti and meatballs were just o.k. He only ate one of the meatballs. My lobster dish was good but nothing outstanding. Maybe we should have ordered steak? On to dessert. Nothing looked over-the-top great to either of us so he ordered the pistachio creme brulee and I ordered the lemonchello cheese cake. His tasted burnt! It was awful. The regular creme brulee in the MDR every night was very good. This was sub-par. My cheese cake was good but couldn't taste any lemon to speak of. Our waiter brought our bill, we paid, and that was that. Good experience? Not really. Would I go back? No. Oh well.

Seems like we all experienced some dining room service malfunction...Which I attribute to the change over from timed to anytime dining. We have enjoyed anytime dining on Royal and Norwegian and Celebrity just cannot seem to get it together. Like you, I noticed other tables getting the "royal treatment" and we were left to raise our hands for attention. Because of this issue, we have dined more frequently in the Buffet and speciality restaurants. We have tried Blu and, the service is stellar, but not our kind of food. Our next cruise is in a Suite so I am anxious to give Luminae a go. Regarding San Juan...our party rather enjoyed our day, albeit even better if we had more daylight. We did not get wet at all (except for perspiring) but were prepared as it certainly looked like rain. We managed to hike our way up to San Cristobal and enjoyed our visit there very much, then we returned to the shops and finally some PR cuisine. We returned in time to freshen up and watch sail away and then attend the later show. I would call St. Kitts a bust. I felt more harassed by locals than Jamaica and Bahamas combined. Will not get off the ship at this port in the future. St maarten is St Maarten...overly busy and better if you have your own transport, which we did. We hired an all day van to take us where we pleased. DS got very sunburned (did not wear sunscreen so what are you gonna do) so her remaining cruise was a bit uncomfortable. Me? Slath on the SPF 50 and keep applying. No amount of tan (or burn) is worth the misery of pain and peeling). Too bad about Tuscan Grill...I have always found their food and service to be excellent. We did not eat there on this cruise however. Julie