rigldbrg

I'm in the process of making reservations for our upcoming trip and am traveling with a group that wants to spend some time in the specialty restaurants. I'm the only vegan in the group so I'm willing to go with the flow, but I'm hoping to get feedback about which of the specialty dining menus are more vegan friendly. 

Do you have copies of the daily activities by any chance? If not, can you give me an idea of what time the shows/entertainment generally starts. I'm trying to make dining reservations and want to make sure we're leaving enough time to eat and make a show.

We moved up from the basic point-and-shoot to a DSLR last year before out Alaska trip (Canon t3i, stock lens + a 55-250mm zoom). Glad we did, as we got some really nice high res pics with zoom that wouldn't have turned out nearly as well.

 

HOWEVER, for anyone thing of "taking the plunge" to a DSLR, just be aware that it's more than just a money commitment ($1000+, probably $1500+ with a zoom lens and other accessories). It's a space commitment too.

 

By that, I mean it's no longer just a little camera that you can throw in a pocket or a fanny pack. It's something of significant size and weight that you have to lug around, and plan accordingly for. Especially on something like a cruise. You don't just throw it in a carry-on bag, it BECOMES one of your carry-on bags. Which means is displaces another bag you might normally carry. Also, when you head out from the ship for an 8-hour excursion, you're stuck carrying it around all day. Depending on how much you mind being a pack mule, that can be a consideration too.

 

Don't get me wrong - I love mine and I'm glad we got it. But there are logistics to consider before buying one of these things. One lens isn't enough. You eventually always pop for a more powerful zoom lens (bigger and heavier). Then you try different bags to lug it all around. Maybe add a lightweight tripod. Extra batteries are a must. And the charger. And the manual. And a microfiber cloth. etc. etc. etc. It all adds up... cost, size, weight.

Very good advice! I recently purchased my first dslr and had the same concerns. What I decided is that my point and shoot is going to be packed with the rest of my gear and that will allow me an option to go "light" when a dslr is going to be more of a burden than blessing.

Thanks for the great review. My wife and I will be on the Solstice in 6 weeks and am becoming very concerned about the tender situation in Juneau. We also booked a private tour and will be really upset if we have to miss it.

I can appreciate how frustrating it is traveling with people who's culture has very different norms and expectations. We sailed on the RCI Liberty of the Seas a few years ago with a large group who behaved similar to those on your sailing. Wow, that was a really long week.

We were on the same sailing and I have to say you did an excellent job of reviewing the cruise! If I may, I'd like to add two small things; we dined at the Lawn Club Grill and found the experience to be exceptional. This was our forth Solstice class cruise and we have dined in all of the specialties and LCG has become our favorite. Not all will agree with our preference, but there is just something about dining in the open air with great food and service. Jordan and Regulus at LCG were great. Second, Andreas at Cafe al Bacci is simply a "Latte genius." I ordered many on board, but this guy was the only one who really knew how to make a good latte. Btw, the classic package entitles you to all of the non-alcoholic coffees on board.

I am so confused and frustrated!!! Someone who disembarked from the Silhoutte yesterday said that Luggage Valet was not offered. I really don't understand this because whenever we cruised Princess or Royal Caribbean there was no question of it being offered all the time. I don't get why Celebrity is so wishy washy on this......yes....no....maybe.

The service is available on all sailings, but X requires a certain number of passengers to participate before the program is a go. I think it's something like 20 passengers.

What Airline were you on? We are on Delta, hope that is on the list !

I was also on Delta and flew out of Ft Lauderdale, however I don't believe the airport is relevant. So long as enough people sign up you are good to go. Btw, have a great cruise! You'll LOVE Reflection!

Did you have to claim your luggage before customs, or was it sent to your final destination airport direct?

We didn't see our bags from 8:30 PM the final evening of the cruise when the porter picked them up, to 10 PM when we picked them off of the baggage carrosel at our final destination the following day. They do clear customs, you are not with the bags when it happens.

Did they leave the forms in your cabin to submit or did you have to go to the Purser's Desk and specifically ask for them? Thanks!

I was aware of the program prior to sailing, so we inquired at guest services on the first day. GR gave us the form which was promptly filled out and returned, but they advised us that they would not know if the program would run until day 6 of the cruise.

YAYYYYYYY!!!!! This post has absolutely made my day! There have been several threads about luggage valet on Reflection lately, indicating that Celebrity was possibly not planning to offer it. I was getting so depressed, thinking we would not have it available to us in April. So very glad to hear this news. Thank you, rigldbrg!

Glad I could make someone's day! Once on board spread the word about the program or encourage others to use it because unless you get the minimum to sign up X will not run the program.

I don't believe they have begun this on Reflection. It was not in place in January and other cruisers have reported that it's not been offered since

I just got off of the Reflection yesterday and took advantage of the valet service. As others have mentioned, it is a great service! The specific ship, however, needs a certain number of passengers to sign up for it before the specific ship will commit to it. The agent at guest relations said our sailing had 20 passengers do it, so the minimum number must be pretty low.

Lovely review so far and thanks for the wonderful photo's:).

Thank you for the wonderful review and the great pictures and screen shots. My wife and I will be sailing her in three weeks and this review is stoking my excitement. I can't wait!

Yes just sailed with him on the silhouette in November. It is captain demitrios kafzetis

Thank you for the information. He's the only Captain that I would eagerly await his announcements, in fact I thought he was funnier than some of the entertainment on board. Despite being entertaining, he was also very professional and I felt like we were in very capable hands.

Can someone tell me who the Captain is that concludes his messages with "out," or sometimes "Greek and out." My wife and I sailed with him on the Solstice and thought he was great. Is he still sailing?

rigldbrg, in another thread, someone reported a female CD is coming on in January, so Paul may be a holiday season filler? We were actually impressed with Paul. We thought he was visible, upbeat and professional, as well as talented. He spontaneously sang and played piano a few times throughout the cruise; in the closing show, he sang a moving duet (with a female singer) called "The Prayer," an Italian song they've tied to the oft-mentioned breast cancer support theme based on Reflection's godmothers (4 of them).

Paul is extremely talented and he does a great Mustang Sally rendition at 60's night. My wife and I both enjoyed his musical performances very much. However, both times that we've sailed with him he came off as a bit phony and insincere. Just kind of going through the motions. This wouldn't bother most people and it won't bother me if he's the CD on our sailing, but I'd also be happy to experience someone else.

Thanks for the dailies scans! We sail mid February and these are a real help getting motivated for the trip.

I see Paul Baya was the CD. We've sailed twice with him before, and I can't say I'm a fan, so maybe the third time will be the charm (or maybe he'll be off board by then). Do you recall who the ACD was?

 

BTW... If you look at a side-view of one of the S-Class Ships, you'll see that near the top of the ship there is a section of the ship that hangs over the balconies below... (top of the ship being wider than the bottom) and the balconies directly below that overhang get a HUGE amount of shade and not a lot of sun. By all accounts it just affects one floor of accommmodations on the ship. (certainly didn't effect us on Deck 10 - Sky Deck on the Solstice)

 

Hope this is helpful,

 

Cheers!

I think this is what you're talking about. We had the largest of the hump balconies and the overhang was completely unobtrusive. I love the hump and wouldn't trade it for anything.

I took that picture from room 9223, which is more center hump. The rooms on the front and back of the hump, like yours was, do see lifeboats.

 

On my second Solstice cruise, I stayed in 9231 and the view was exactly the same.

 

Here, you can see there are no lifeboats below, but they do start at the front of the ump:

 

 

Here is a picture of the hump:

 

Thank you for the clarification. We managed to snag a hump balcony on the resort deck for our cruise coming up in February, so I'm hoping that the view down is similar to yours. Although, in reality, any balcony view is ok with me but it would be neat to try to replicate that picture.

This is the view looking straight down from a Solstice hump balcony. The water on the bottom half is the reflection off the balcony glass:

 

What an awesome picture! Paul, where was your cabin? We were on the hump (9209) in August, and I seem to recall looking down at the lifeboats.

What great pics everyone has posted in this thread. Mands&Ian, that is an awesome sight out your port window. I've only been on four cruises, and seen dolphins only once. Ironically, it was in our stateroom on our first cruise while the ship was still in port. I sat down on the couch, looked out the porthole and saw 4-5 dolphins swimming near the ship. That's it; four cruises later and nada.

rigldbrg,

 

Sorry, no sim on the Solstice class of ships. Millennium class has them, but I think they are letting them fade away (too much maintenance I guess?).

 

Golf Tip: at the top of your golf swing, leave the shaft of the driver resting on your left thumb until well past the impact zone. As soon as the left arm and the shaft become a straight line at the bottom of your swing, you have reached maxmium velosity. Make sure that occurs in front of the ball.

 

They call this move "lag":

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMo6aOfw0Bg

 

Enjoy!

Kel

No biggie about the sim. I'm not a big fan of hitting into the rug anyway, but it's definately better than nothing. Thanks for the tip. I've thought a lot about this and in theory makes a lot of sense (and obviously in practice for you). What I'm not visualising is how to return the club face to square at impact. Without a club in my hand I'm having trouble putting my left thumb in a position that would follow, or rest on, the shaft through impact. Is the trick to use a strong grip? I can see how this would allow me to keep my thumb on the shaft beyond impact. I'll fool around with it a bit at the range tomorrow before my round. I'll report back how it went ;). Thanks for the Youtube link. The upper body coil and resulting torque generated is unbelievable. I did find it amusing how some use a tremendous amount of leg action (in addition to hip turn) and others had really quiet lower body action. The science of the golf swing is so cool!

Sorry for the thread diversion :o

Hang in there rigldbrg!

 

Golf is my other passion! My first three years of retirement I played golf three or four times a week. I was a Long Drive Professional for a few years and made my last visit to the world finals in 2003.(Senior Division)

It's nice to work in the shop and couple my hobby with a paycheck. Also nice to have a boss that let's me travel ten weeks of the year.

I loved teaching, but I wanted to retire at the top of my game.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Hey Kel, sounds like you're a real long bomber! How cool that your game is refined to the point that you could compete on a professional level. Hitting extremely long is so much harder than people realize. I find as I get older (I'm 44) I can't develop as much velocity on my swing, and as a result am good for only about 240-250 on a really good day (not too frequent anymore). More likely 225-230. As a result, I really focus on playing smart and try to focus on my short game. Right now I'm able to play about 3 times a week and hit the range/putting green 3 days a week. Yes, golf is indeed a passion!:)

I love what you said about leaving the classroom on top. I have so much respect for that, and completely agree. This is one reason I know, conclusively, that I will not teach for anything more than 14 years.

To bring it back to the thread, is there a golf sim on board?

We're on the same sailing as rigldbrg (really, Ira, you need to get an easier screen name!) and look forward to our first AQ cabin. It was nice of you to share such great details on the cabin and Blu!

 

God bless all of you current and retired teachers! :)

Hi Mary, thank you for your kind words about teachers! IMHO, teaching is the greatest and most challenging job in the world! I am so blessed to have an opportunity to help make a difference in a child's life.

I know what you're saying about the screen name:o. I'm working on changing it to something easier.

I'm really looking forward to meeting you and Mark!

About us: I’m a 60 year old retired Science Teacher working a couple of days a week in a golf shop. Lauren is a 40 year old AP English Teacher.

Dude! You are my hero! I'm also a teacher and have 14 more years to teach at which time I'll also look for a job in a pro shop and play golf every single day!

We leave in two weeks for the same Solstice itinerary. Thanks for the detailed report and I loved the "stream of consciousness."

Hi Jo and Rob !

 

I wrote about OBC's a couple of days ago. I noticed you are from the UK, and I am not certain if the rules are different for our UK friends. This is the latest for US residents. Here is the link : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=24727483&postcount=21

 

I hope this helps. Enjoy your Cruise !

Great post, thanks for the info, Andy.

I've cruised twice in July and had wonderful weather and seas both times. One thing that I've learned from fellow CC members is that you have no control over the weather. Plan your cruise and go and enjoy. If it's bad weather consider it bad luck.

I thought I might be going crazy so I searched the tendet ticket thingy in Grand Cayman and found Host Mach who also showed getting a tendet ticket. :confused::confused:

I tendered in GC last week, and no ticket necessary. This is a really simple process and not worth sweating. Depending on the size of the boat tendering, they hold between 75-150 people. As a result, they get people off the ship really quickly. We had 3,400 people on board, got in line late, and it still only took us 5 minutes to get on a tender. Carnival does a really nice job with this.