Reflection Review May 16th Sailing Eastern Med

Just off the Reflection after 11 wonderful nights! I've lurked forever and posted just occasionally. I have always gotten so much from these boards I thought it was time to share. I hope the information is helpful. We had the "go best" package (unlimited internet, premium beverage package, free grats). I'm Sarah (42) and sailed with my husband, Joel (46). We are diamond on RCCL and Elite on Celebrity.

Pre-cruise Rome hotel: Hotel Artemide, Via ****onale. Fantastic hotel, great location, we received a complimentary upgrade to a suite. Check out Trip Advisor - Hotel Artemide is consistently very highly rated and all of the reviews were dead-on.

Transfers from FCO to hotel and to port: Rome Chaffeur. We tried to book Rome Cabs but they were fully booked and they recommended Rome Chaffeur. Fantastic.... Prompt, courteous ... We will use them again.

Stateroom: Sky Suite S2 1669. Aft stateroom. Very little to no soot. Stateroom attendants must have dealt with it - never an issue. We loved the location, plenty of storage space, nice light, going through the Straits of Messina and seeing dolphins jumping in the wake was amazing. We rebooked for next year and chose the same room.

Dining: Luminae - We took most of our meals in Luminae, having had a good experience on the Constellation in December 2015. The menu is a little restrictive but we found the staff always willing to accommodate special requests. The sommelier was great and he shared wines that were not on the wine list as available by the glass.

Qsine: Good as always, but I think we are over it. We have always dined at this restaurant when we are on S class but I think we'll skip it next time. The menu, in my opinion, is ready for some updating.

Lawn Club Grill: This was our first time dining here and it was one of our better meals but the whole experience was little schizophrenic. I like to get a little dressed up for dinner and the whole "serve yourself, cook yourself" thing was a little incompatible (you don't have to do it and we didn't (except for the salad bar) but it impacts the atmosphere). Plus, the tables are rally packed in and close. So, the steak was the best we had on the the cruise and I'm glad we tried it and would go again but I wouldn't wear heels again. Definitely a more casual vibe.

Sushi on Five: Loved it. Great food, great cocktails. Preferred the sushi to the noodles et al. but really liked the change from Bistro on Five. My husband still missed his cowboy crepe but he definitely enjoyed the update.

Ocean view: Same as always. It's a buffet - you won't starve.

Solarium Cafe: Our "go to" for lunch many days. We like the salads.

Bars: With the premium package, we pretty much tried them all. Service was consistently great and, while very busy, we never felt that we had to wait or were disappointed with quality.

Internet: Once we realized that we needed to login every time we started a new session, we had no issues. The service was great (we used our iPads and iPhones). My husband streamed from both Amazon Prime and Comcast Xfinity. Amazon had less buffering but we watched TV and movies generally without major issues from either service. My husband, who isn't a big reader, was very happy sitting in the solarium watching reruns of Seinfeld. He thought this was great.

Ports: We always do either ship excursions or just walk the ports. We've never done a private excursion due to extreme paranoia about missing the boat. Maybe someday, we'll get more relaxed but I've generally been happy with our decision.

Santorini: We did the hike up the volcano . We always try to find at least one "active" excursion and this was ours. It was strenuous but we are in good (enough) shape. I'm glad we did it and it was fun but we ran out of time to go to Fira. We'll do that next time.

Athens: We had an overnight here. We had never been to Athens so we did a tour that took us to the Acropolis and another ruined temple farther south. Amazing. Super guide but a long day. Day 2 in Athens we stayed on the ship. We needed a rest and the ship didn't have any interesting excursions lined up for the 2nd day.

Mykonos: We had our Rick Steves' guidebook and just went exploring all the windy paths. We went up to the windmills and had an excellent lunch by the harbor. I would love to go back to this island.

Ephesus: I intently observed all of the discussion on these boards about the merits of going to / not going to Turkey and it kind of made me nervous. I am pretty well travelled but it kind of freaked me out and I wasn't sure we'd get off the boat, but I really wanted to see Ephesus and, nowadays, you can't assume things that have stood for thousands of years will be there for centuries to come. So we went to Ephesus and Miletas and Didyium. Amazing but Ephesus was crazy crowded.

Bodrum: I am very glad that we decided to go out and see Bodrum. It was easily one of our favorite ports ever. We walked all around, we shopped, we had a really different lunch at one of the little kebab joints and just had all all around great day.

Chania (Crete): We skipped this in favor of a day at rest. This itinerary ended with a port day so we decided to stay on board in Crete and then follow that with a sea day before our final port day.

Naples: We visited Pompeii. The guide was hysterical and the tour was efficient. I had been twice to Pompeii but my husband had never been. I marveled at how much it has changed and he marveled at the ruins. I'd like to go back and spend a whole day here once they finish all the construction they're doing. Someday.

All in all, an amazing trip and a great ship. As I mentioned, we rebooked for next summer for a "best of the Med" same ship, same room. I'm happy to answer questions.

Appreciate the feedback, thanks.:)

Loved your review, we will be on the reflection next March. Can you tell me how you hooked up your phone to the tv? I also want to play shows downloaded from our dvr on the xfinity app.

Thank you! We are cruising the same itinerary in August and I planned to use the Rick Stevens guide book too.

Jabrown40: We viewed via streaming only on our devices (we propped our iPads on pillows when in our room). We did not try to hook anything up through the TV. We googled instructions to connect to the TV but decided it was beyond our capabilities.

thanks for your review we are on the same cruise starting next Monday. How was the entertainment on board?

Thank you for the detailed review.

It bring back some wonderful memories of the same trip I did in 2013.

Next time do explore Crete. It was one of my favorite Greek Island. Lots of great excursions and the town of Chania reminds one of Italy.

Thanks for your review. Happy to hear you liked Hotel Artimede. We'll be staying there in September.

Thank you for the detailed review.

It bring back some wonderful memories of the same trip I did in 2013.

Next time do explore Crete. It was one of my favorite Greek Island. Lots of great excursions and the town of Chania reminds one of Italy.

Agreed, last minute on our October cruise, Istanbul got pulled and Chania ( Crete ) was an add on. We found "lefty" ( Leftoris , I forget the name of his company but if anyone needs it, I will look it up) he was beyond amazing and fun, one of our favorite ports, I hope to be able to go back here!!

We went to two shows with guest entertainers: an a Capella trio that was quite good and a duet that was a John and Paul only Beatles cover. That show was a lot of fun. The house band was also decent and played a mix of current and 60s 70s 80s tunes. The "show" at the Martini Bar was good too. There were also some Motown productions but we don't care for that genre so we skipped these. Overall, we felt like the entertainment was not as good as what we've experienced in the past but the cruise was so port intensive that we didn't mind.

We were also on this cruise and really enjoyed it. This was the first time on an S class ship, prior two cruises were on the Millennium. We really liked the layout of the Reflection. We were concerned about noise because we had a connecting door between our cabin (1106) and it was not a problem.

I was really impressed by the internet speed, we purchased the unlimited package and did not spend any time in the terminals at various ports to try and use their free wifi. We facetimed with grandchildren without any problem.

The staff were really great, always friendly and willing to help. The Captain and Officers attended many of the functions and were always willing to talk and answer questions.

We ate most dinners in the main dinning room. The food was ok, but not outstanding. The buffet for breakfast and lunch always offered a selection so that you could always find something and for the most part the food was excellent. The lunch on the last sea day was especially good.

Thank you for taking time to review! Glad to hear you enjoyed the hotel, we have three nights booked prior to our cruise in August. Quick question, is Bodrum easy to navigate on your own? My FIL wants to go to the castle and museum, and I am thinking there's no point booking the celebrity excursion for $60 each, if we can get there easily on our own. Are taxis readily available? Thanks in advance

We walked from the ship, along the sea shore into the shopping area and all the way out to the museum. It was a very long walk so if mobility is a concern, I would not recommend attempting the walk. That said, everything is right there and it is extremely easy to navigate. I recall a taxi stand just steps from the port terminal.

That's wonderful, thank you! I am thinking a taxi there and we can stroll back. My in laws may taxi it back and the rest of us walk, depending on the heat and how late we were up the night before of course!

Thanks for this review - I'm glad to read one from someone pre-retirement age, it is reassuring that I'll have a good time.

I think on an itinerary like this it is a great idea to take a vacation from your vacation once in a while. Staying on a fast pace every day means you go home tired!

Question for you - what time did you leave your hotel and how long did it take to get to the port via car? one hour?

Are taxis readily available? Thanks in advance

Plenty of taxis at 7 euros to Bodrum centre.

Can you take a taxi to a beach in Bodrum, as well as get one back -- are there taxis waiting so you can get back easily. Would like to just go to view beach and have a bite to eat or drink by a beach. ty

Jobinhume: our pick up at the hotel was at 11 and we were at the port (I think) just before/around 12:30. There was basically no traffic once we got out of the city and that's why the car service recommended we wait until 11. (I normally would have left earlier).

We are always worried about our luggage so we gave it to the porter (who really just had us leave it on the sidewalk) and stared at it for awhile until we felt like no one would walk off with it. You have to fill out a health questionnaire and then get in the security line. By the time we got on the ship, the staterooms were ready. It all worked out perfectly.

Rdwoisin: yes - taxis are available and I'm sure they will take you to the beach but we didn't do that so I can't comment with certainty. There are a bunch of small spots you can walk to from the ship that have chaise lounges and where you can swim (they may be affiliated with the nearby hotels, it wasn't clear to me). Maybe the folks of the port of call board could help on that. No matter what you do, you will love Bodrum!

Thanks for your review; sounds like you had a great trip. We're looking forward to the same itinerary later this month.

We walked from the ship, along the sea shore into the shopping area and all the way out to the museum. It was a very long walk so if mobility is a concern, I would not recommend attempting the walk. That said, everything is right there and it is extremely easy to navigate. I recall a taxi stand just steps from the port terminal.

Question for you...I believe you were in Bodrum on a Monday (is that correct?). Did you happen to notice if the castle/museum was open that day? I'm afraid it won't be, but still hoping. :(

Thanks for your review; sounds like you had a great trip. We're looking forward to the same itinerary later this month.

 

 

 

Question for you...I believe you were in Bodrum on a Monday (is that correct?). Did you happen to notice if the castle/museum was open that day? I'm afraid it won't be, but still hoping. :(

Why would you think its closed on Mondays

see here no mention of mondays

http://www.bodrum-museum.com/opening_hours.htm

. We had the "go best" package (unlimited internet, premium beverage package, free grats).

WoW that was a good package

only option we have had is included Classic package on Celebrity this year ( UK bookings)

when was that available?

What time did they let you board the ship?

I'm sailing the Reflection on July 29 and I'm trying to figure out what time to get to the port. Departure time says 5 PM.

We used the Celebrity transfer from FCO to the port (it's very expensive, but was part of the "deal" we were offered) . We were on the first bus, about 9:30 and arrived at the terminal at 10:30. We filled out the health form on the bus and when we arrived we were escorted to registration. We were on the ship by around 10:45.

Why would you think its closed on Mondays

 

see here no mention of mondays

 

http://www.bodrum-museum.com/opening_hours.htm

At the top of the page, it says "All the museums are closed on Mondays."

Pluto-fan: it looked like the museum was open but I can't confirm. Sorry. We visited so many museums by the time we got to Bodrum we were a little burned out.

Bogofman: this must be a US promotion - it's running now and we just booked it again while onboard for a western med cruise for next summer (if you book a suite, you get premium beverage, unlimited wifi, free grats and an amount on onboard credit too (depending on the length of your cruise booking).

Cpatti8: we boarded right away but we didn't really get to the port until 12:30ish. This time was good for us because we went directly to our stateroom, put down our carryons and went to Luminae for lunch.