Good news and maybe some not so good news - reflection

Great news on the food front...the bagels have significantly improved. Some of the soups are no longer just broths...there are vegetables in the vegetable soup. Yes, some things, although small, are improving. And the list of beers included in the classic drink package has significantly improved...new castle brown ale, red stripe, Sam Adams and more are now included.

Now I do wish I could be that positive about some other areas. Last night one of our small group ordered the shrimp cocktail and it came in a cereal bowl instead of the regular shrimp cocktail type glass they used the two nights before?? The chopped salad with honey mustard dressing arrived with no dressing but they offered us a choice of three dressings, none of which was honey mustard (apparently no one in the kitchen actually read the menu). The Caesar salad was Romain with sprinkled cheese rather than the night before when it had flaked large pieces of cheese. It was as if they had the fourth string working in the kitchen...and no quality control.

Sadly, desserts in the buffet are almost depressing...having declined the most in the past year....they are, IMHO, now just awful....most are varieties of sheet cake squares and are tasteless with strange consistencies. One longs for a tart, a pie or something made with a real icing. One sandwich line with one person making sandwiches....and she has clearly been told...one slice of each item per sandwich because she carefully tried to pull off just one thin slice of turkey, etc. it was just painful to watch....and you had plenty of time to watch if you were foolish enough to stand in the line....

One of my ongoing observations is that an americano (Campari, sweet vermouth and soda) which is made from everything on the classic drink package...you can order Campari, sweet vermouth and soda and it’s all included. If you order them mixed in an americano, it costs an extra dollar. Just for fun we changed our order to a sweet vermouth with a little soda in a tall glass with ice and a glass of Campari and you can guess the rest. It did get a good laugh from the bartender...but he just gave us what we ordered....included in the drink package...and we managed the difficult task of pouring the Campari into the tall glass ourselves :)

The staff on the ship are as always outstanding friendly and helpful. The art auction is no longer in your face and they don’t send out what has seemed like hourly updates on paper. At least on the reflection, they seem to have their own space and stay there.

I’m sure I’ll post more about our cruise as the days go on.

We have the classic drink package and I’ve ordered Diet Coke twice now and have received an unopened can each time.

We are on a Caribbean cruise. The dress code printed each day and posted outside the dining room tells us that smart casual for men is a long sleeved sports shirt. Anyone want to guess how many are at dinner wearing a long sleeve shirt. You can’t make this stuff up.....

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Enjoy the cruise.

Keith

Thanks for your thoughts on Reflection.

Here is what the Celebritycruise on line website says about the men's dress code for the non-evening chic nights:

Men should feel comfortable wearing:

• Pants or jeans with a sport shirt that has sleeves
  

Shirt just has to have sleeves - nothing about LONG sleeves.

How is the live music?. We had great live music on the Infinity last month. We are hoping for the same on the Reflection in a few weeks. With Celebrity it seems hit or miss. Thank you.

We were on the Reflection TA and the food in the OV was the best we have experienced on any Celebrity ship/cruise. Maybe the Chef changed

Our last couple of cruises, we have noticed the salad dressing is not what the menu says and they don't have the one listed, it can be annoying as I often choose my salad based on the dressing! It is quite humorous, trying to guess the dressing.

As far as the sandwiches, we always ask for more meat, please! sometimes several times! ;)

We were on Reflection from 3rd to 17th November, the first copy of Celebrity Today did say the smart casual dress code was long sleeved shirt. I complied the first night although hoping it wasn’t enforced, and fortunately it wan’t because I didn’t have enough long sleeve shirts to last the 2 weeks!

Our last couple of cruises, we have noticed the salad dressing is not what the menu says and they don't have the one listed, it can be annoying as I often choose my salad based on the dressing! It is quite humorous, trying to guess the dressing.

 

As far as the sandwiches, we always ask for more meat, please! sometimes several times! ;)

Last 2 cruises, the deli offerings looked so bad...we just passed on it,.

We were on the Reflection TA and the food in the OV was the best we have experienced on any Celebrity ship/cruise. Maybe the Chef changed

Us too. Food in the OV was very good.

I read the title of this thread and thought there would be something substantive to read especially with the amount written in the post, but it just seems like small issues and gripes that can happen on any cruise. Cereal bowl for a shrimp cocktail? Celebrity has truly gone to the dogs. Oh no. Then it would have been in a dog bowl.

Phil

Great news on the food front...the bagels have significantly improved. Some of the soups are no longer just broths...there are vegetables in the vegetable soup. Yes, some things, although small, are improving. And the list of beers included in the classic drink package has significantly improved...new castle brown ale, red stripe, Sam Adams and more are now included.

 

Now I do wish I could be that positive about some other areas. Last night one of our small group ordered the shrimp cocktail and it came in a cereal bowl instead of the regular shrimp cocktail type glass they used the two nights before?? The chopped salad with honey mustard dressing arrived with no dressing but they offered us a choice of three dressings, none of which was honey mustard (apparently no one in the kitchen actually read the menu). The Caesar salad was Romain with sprinkled cheese rather than the night before when it had flaked large pieces of cheese. It was as if they had the fourth string working in the kitchen...and no quality control.

 

Sadly, desserts in the buffet are almost depressing...having declined the most in the past year....they are, IMHO, now just awful....most are varieties of sheet cake squares and are tasteless with strange consistencies. One longs for a tart, a pie or something made with a real icing. One sandwich line with one person making sandwiches....and she has clearly been told...one slice of each item per sandwich because she carefully tried to pull off just one thin slice of turkey, etc. it was just painful to watch....and you had plenty of time to watch if you were foolish enough to stand in the line....

 

One of my ongoing observations is that an americano (Campari, sweet vermouth and soda) which is made from everything on the classic drink package...you can order Campari, sweet vermouth and soda and it’s all included. If you order them mixed in an americano, it costs an extra dollar. Just for fun we changed our order to a sweet vermouth with a little soda in a tall glass with ice and a glass of Campari and you can guess the rest. It did get a good laugh from the bartender...but he just gave us what we ordered....included in the drink package...and we managed the difficult task of pouring the Campari into the tall glass ourselves :)

 

The staff on the ship are as always outstanding friendly and helpful. The art auction is no longer in your face and they don’t send out what has seemed like hourly updates on paper. At least on the reflection, they seem to have their own space and stay there.

 

I’m sure I’ll post more about our cruise as the days go on.

 

 

 

We have the classic drink package and I’ve ordered Diet Coke twice now and have received an unopened can each time.

 

We are on a Caribbean cruise. The dress code printed each day and posted outside the dining room tells us that smart casual for men is a long sleeved sports shirt. Anyone want to guess how many are at dinner wearing a long sleeve shirt. You can’t make this stuff up.....

 

 

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g - have you brought your concerns about food and its' lack to the attention of the F&B Manager, yet?

I would be interested in hearing their take on the situation.

bon voyage

I read the title of this thread and thought there would be something substantive to read especially with the amount written in the post, but it just seems like small issues and gripes that can happen on any cruise. Cereal bowl for a shrimp cocktail? Celebrity has truly gone to the dogs. Oh no. Then it would have been in a dog bowl.

 

Phil

lol. I'm sure it would taste the same.

I did have similar thoughts but obviously it was enough of these "little" things that added up and caused the OP to post his thoughts. The suggestion to discuss with the Food and Beverage director is a good, constructive recommendation. Hopefully the OP will take this suggestion. It seems like maybe some training or re-training of staff might simply resolve these things.

We were on Reflection from 3rd to 17th November, the first copy of Celebrity Today did say the smart casual dress code was long sleeved shirt. I complied the first night although hoping it wasn’t enforced, and fortunately it wan’t because I didn’t have enough long sleeve shirts to last the 2 weeks!

I just looked at the thread from Chicago Paul and his picture of the dailies - it does say smart casual is long sleeved shirt - which is different from what is on the Celebrity website. Since everyone is already on the ship at that point, I suspect most brought short sleeve or not all long sleeved shirts to wear. I wonder why the difference?

Anyway, this may account for the discrepancies.

Great news on the food front...the bagels have significantly improved. Some of the soups are no longer just broths...there are vegetables in the vegetable soup. Yes, some things, although small, are improving. And the list of beers included in the classic drink package has significantly improved...new castle brown ale, red stripe, Sam Adams and more are now included.

 

Now I do wish I could be that positive about some other areas. Last night one of our small group ordered the shrimp cocktail and it came in a cereal bowl instead of the regular shrimp cocktail type glass they used the two nights before?? The chopped salad with honey mustard dressing arrived with no dressing but they offered us a choice of three dressings, none of which was honey mustard (apparently no one in the kitchen actually read the menu). The Caesar salad was Romain with sprinkled cheese rather than the night before when it had flaked large pieces of cheese. It was as if they had the fourth string working in the kitchen...and no quality control.

 

Sadly, desserts in the buffet are almost depressing...having declined the most in the past year....they are, IMHO, now just awful....most are varieties of sheet cake squares and are tasteless with strange consistencies. One longs for a tart, a pie or something made with a real icing. One sandwich line with one person making sandwiches....and she has clearly been told...one slice of each item per sandwich because she carefully tried to pull off just one thin slice of turkey, etc. it was just painful to watch....and you had plenty of time to watch if you were foolish enough to stand in the line....

 

One of my ongoing observations is that an americano (Campari, sweet vermouth and soda) which is made from everything on the classic drink package...you can order Campari, sweet vermouth and soda and it’s all included. If you order them mixed in an americano, it costs an extra dollar. Just for fun we changed our order to a sweet vermouth with a little soda in a tall glass with ice and a glass of Campari and you can guess the rest. It did get a good laugh from the bartender...but he just gave us what we ordered....included in the drink package...and we managed the difficult task of pouring the Campari into the tall glass ourselves :)

 

The staff on the ship are as always outstanding friendly and helpful. The art auction is no longer in your face and they don’t send out what has seemed like hourly updates on paper. At least on the reflection, they seem to have their own space and stay there.

 

I’m sure I’ll post more about our cruise as the days go on.

 

 

 

We have the classic drink package and I’ve ordered Diet Coke twice now and have received an unopened can each time.

 

We are on a Caribbean cruise. The dress code printed each day and posted outside the dining room tells us that smart casual for men is a long sleeved sports shirt. Anyone want to guess how many are at dinner wearing a long sleeve shirt. You can’t make this stuff up.....

 

 

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Your comments are priceless. Sure hope you copy and paste this to your Embarkation Survey once you get home.

Interested in your ports of call on this journey and what may have been substituted. Bon Voyage

If for some reason (higher than anticipated demand, dishwasher fault) there are no shrimp cocktail bowls available, what is the preferred option a) serve it in the wrong bowl or b) tell the diner that it’s off the menu?

Knock yourself out if you want to wear a long sleeved shirt on casual nights.

Ain't happening in this quarter.

I read the title of this thread and thought there would be something substantive to read especially with the amount written in the post, but it just seems like small issues and gripes that can happen on any cruise. Cereal bowl for a shrimp cocktail? Celebrity has truly gone to the dogs. Oh no. Then it would have been in a dog bowl.

 

Phil

Eating well involves more than just the sense of taste. It is wisely written that we eat with our eyes, too. At least some of us do. I guess when they serve wine in a tea cup that will serve as a wakeup call for those who eat to live. :eek:

It always surprises me how many people are willing to give Celebrity a pass when posters complain about "small" cutbacks. I didn't bother to post about my recent bar service experience on the Equinox, but I will now. On my previous Reflection cruise the drinks were always properly garnished - not so on the Equinox. On the Reflection, pina coladas were garnished with a slice of pineapple and a cherry. On Equinox, the first few days just pineapple - then no garnish at all for the most part. It wasn't that the bar lacked garnish - the bar tenders just didn't bother putting it on. It also was hit-or-miss as to whether my gin and tonic got a wedge of lime.

First world problem and no big deal I know, but the thing is these "small" cutbacks and service slip-ups are occurring throughout the ship. I guess Celebrity has their customer base pegged correctly - these "small" cutbacks and service issues will be accepted by many current cruisers..... and new customers won't even know the difference.

I read the title of this thread and thought there would be something substantive to read especially with the amount written in the post, but it just seems like small issues and gripes that can happen on any cruise. Cereal bowl for a shrimp cocktail? Celebrity has truly gone to the dogs. Oh no. Then it would have been in a dog bowl.

 

Phil

Ah, it can happen anywhere, but it should not happen on the Modern Luxury Line. If we accept mediocrity, then we are encouraging it.

Us too. Food in the OV was very good.

We were on the Nov. 3 sailing, and as someone who has done almost 20 cruises with Celebrity, I thought the food in OV had actually improved over the past several years.

Had a wonderful cruise -- and service continues to be great. The other cruisers also seemed friendlier than some past cruises.

If for some reason (higher than anticipated demand, dishwasher fault) there are no shrimp cocktail bowls available, what is the preferred option a) serve it in the wrong bowl or b) tell the diner that it’s off the menu?

We had the small cereal bowls with the shrimp on the Silhouette during Thanksgiving Week. Yes the shrimp taste the same but it definitely doesn’t look as appetizing. I guess the budget for new shrimp cocktail glasses were on the chopping block 😉

Eating well involves more than just the sense of taste. It is wisely written that we eat with our eyes, too. At least some of us do. I guess when they serve wine in a tea cup that will serve as a wakeup call for those who eat to live. :eek:

Ditto, my thoughts exactly 👍

It always surprises me how many people are willing to give Celebrity a pass when posters complain about "small" cutbacks. I didn't bother to post about my recent bar service experience on the Equinox, but I will now. On my previous Reflection cruise the drinks were always properly garnished - not so on the Equinox. On the Reflection, pina coladas were garnished with a slice of pineapple and a cherry. On Equinox, the first few days just pineapple - then no garnish at all for the most part. It wasn't that the bar lacked garnish - the bar tenders just didn't bother putting it on. It also was hit-or-miss as to whether my gin and tonic got a wedge of lime.

First world problem and no big deal I know, but the thing is these "small" cutbacks and service slip-ups are occurring throughout the ship. I guess Celebrity has their customer base pegged correctly - these "small" cutbacks and service issues will be accepted by many current cruisers..... and new customers won't even know the difference.

We don’t want the fruit and ask for G & Ts no lime, no straw also I ask for no fruit in my pina colada. Often We still get the fruit. Guess sometimes they just make mistakes.

We were on the Reflection Noro cruise. Our party of 3 had one classic alcohol package, one premium alcohol, one premium non- alcohol. The type of package had no bearing on whether we got an unopened can of coke. It seemed to be where you ordered that made the difference. All the outdoor bars gave unopened cans to all. The bar in the MDR and theater did not give out cans. I know because my beloved Cuba Libres were flat. Yuck! Also, if you didn't specify your brand of choice, you got the classic rum. OVC bar was terrible with mixed drinks so I tried to keep it simple for them. Wine or Meyers and coke. I even tried to order the Paris Screwdriver, which was on the drink menu on the OVC tables in the OVC, the bar didn't have any Ciroc. There was no consistency in the way they mixed the drinks. I will probably forgo the drink package next time.

Our waiter was great. After we met him, we opted to reserve same table, same time in select. My husband and son love shrimp cocktail, he brought them doubles every single night, while they decided on their starters :)

The dress code printed in the Dailys wasn't consistent with the website. We didn't bring long sleeved shirts since in our recent experience, polos, cubaveras and crazy tropical printed shirts were de rigeur every night. This time, men were more dressed up - many topping their jeans with jackets. My husband and son were allowed in with their short sleeved Cubavera shirts. No one tried to get them thrown out of the MDR.

Thanks for your thoughts on Reflection.

 

Here is what the Celebritycruise on line website says about the men's dress code for the non-evening chic nights:

Men should feel comfortable wearing:

• Pants or jeans with a sport shirt that has sleeves
  

Shirt just has to have sleeves - nothing about LONG sleeves.

On Summit right now. This is exactly what is displayed outside the MDR. I've no idea where long sleeves came from but 80%+ of gents onboard are wearing short sleeved shirts.