Just off the Reflection! 12/29/12

Just off the Reflection today from the 12/29/12 cruise, sad to say, as I wish I could have stayed for another few cruises :)

BEA-utiful ship!!!!

I just wanted to start off by throwing out a BIG "Hello!" to Claire and her family from Toronto! It was just fabulous to be able to catch up with a fellow cruise critic...Rory and I were so happy to have meet you three. I was thrilled to hear you were all enjoying your cruise, Happy New Year once again!

I will keep this brief, as there are many other reviews out there that will be coming!

Simply said, the crew is just fantastic! I'm very lucky to personally know and to have meet many more of the entertainment on board, since Rory is a part of that, and all I can say is WOW! They are dedicated, passionate, and unsurpassed....and are also just a great time to hang around. Many of them have contracts that last 10 months or more...and will be on for multiple contracts in a row. Many haven't been off ships in a year or two. Something to be said for their commitment and love for what they do! This is true in not only entertainment, but in many other departments as well.

This leads me to the very simple... check OUT the ENTERTAINMENT!! :) Not just in the theater, but in Ensemble, the Grand Foyer, Sky...etc. Look in the dailies for specifics of course, but they are worth catching are are usually only 30-40 minutes---you won't regret it. The Reflection "Rock" show was my favorite, and I enjoyed Centre Stage (Broadway) as well!

I was quite surprised to see so many children on board ( I don't know why it didn't cross my mind prior to my arrival, since it was a holiday cruise) but overall, they were very well behaved. Ignoring the occasional ones running in and out of the elevators, or chatting during the shows ( I mean, come on, they're kids) , it didn't feel like the kiddos were running the ship ;) Especially by the pool, I was impressed. Caught a group of them on Friday afternoon enjoying "Uncommon Group" (Acapella group on board) on the pool deck, very cute.

I will always say the food is fantastic, and the waiter we had our night in Opus was a great guy. Very helpful with suggestions and we appreciated his honesty. I had a wonderful Candied Pear and Gorgonzola Cheese "tart" or puff pastry the night we went. We ate in Oceanview most nights between shows since crew wasn't allowed to eat in guest areas until after 7:30pm because of the capacity of the ship.

To address concerns that Reflection was having with speed, everything looks to be under control. I won't say that it is "fixed" as I have nothing to confirm that with, but we got to ALL of our ports early. We were even in San Juan around 1:30pm (estimated 5pm arrival). Only complaint was rough waters around St. Maarten (to St. Thomas was the worst), I got incredibly sea sick. Very unusual for the Caribbean the captain said, and waters were choppy in St. Thomas when we went on a catamaran tour.

That's about all I have to say! It was great to meet so many of you, some on cruise critic and some not. :) New Years Eve on the ship was fantastic, such a great time!

----Also, just to clear it up (in case the joke wasn't well received at the show last night) Rory doesn't have a wife and baby back home...just something Paul like to say to get a laugh. :D I'm his only "baby" :rolleyes:

Feel free to ask questions, I'll do my best to respond!

Welcome back DaMara! So glad you loved the ship (hard not to when your BF is on board, right:))

I am SO excited to be on board in less than a week....plan to see many of the shows you mentioned (which is unusual for us since we usually don't care for the production shows); they do come highly recommended.

Also happy to hear that the ship seems to be back on schedule. Did you get a chance to enjoy any of the beautiful Caribbean islands? Bet it was nice to get away from Wisconsin weather for a while too.

We are looking forward to meeting Rory soon; will be sure to ask about his wife and baby:rolleyes:just kidding!

Any other tips you have would be most appreciated.

Thanks for the review. Does anyone remember the name of the Captain's Club Host/Hostess?

Thanks for your review.

Thanks so much for your review! So sorry you got seasick:( though! Were many others sick? Our friends are coming with us next week and she is worried about getting seasick.

I can't wait for all the shows! We always go to every show we can find. Hope we get to meet your Rory!:)

I know it is a silly question, but what country did your cabin steward come from? I only as since we are doing a "young'ems vs old'ems" scavenger hunt and I want to have a sentence to be translated in there.

On our Holland cruises, most are from the Philippines, so for our last RCCL cruise (first hunt), I had it written for them, but our cabin steward was from Jamaica with not a Pilipino to be found!

I've read that Celebrity has a more diverse crew. Can anyone give me some suggestions?

Dpryo thank you for your review. I was happy to read that you had a great time and sorry to hear you got seasick.

Do you know if the band D'Revelation will still be on next weeks (Jan.12th) cruise?

Welcome back DaMara! So glad you loved the ship (hard not to when your BF is on board, right:))

I am SO excited to be on board in less than a week....plan to see many of the shows you mentioned (which is unusual for us since we usually don't care for the production shows); they do come highly recommended.

 

Also happy to hear that the ship seems to be back on schedule. Did you get a chance to enjoy any of the beautiful Caribbean islands? Bet it was nice to get away from Wisconsin weather for a while too.

 

We are looking forward to meeting Rory soon; will be sure to ask about his wife and baby:rolleyes:just kidding!

 

Any other tips you have would be most appreciated.

You should be thrilled!!! It was fantastic :) And yes, I got to enjoy a lot of the islands, luckily Rory was working/rehearsing mostly in the evenings!

I also told Paul when I got there that he is the honorary Godfather of our "baby" ;) he's a great guy!

Thanks for the review. Does anyone remember the name of the Captain's Club Host/Hostess?

Her first name is Angela, I can't remember her last name sadly. Tune into the cruise director channel on the first day and she was on there talking with Paul.

Thanks so much for your review! So sorry you got seasick:( though! Were many others sick? Our friends are coming with us next week and she is worried about getting seasick.

 

I can't wait for all the shows! We always go to every show we can find. Hope we get to meet your Rory!:)

I didn't notice anyone else that was sick, so I might have been being a baby :o

There are plenty of sea sickness tablets on board to help with this though, and I think a lot of my problem was that was the night I ate WAY too much food...bad timing!

Enjoy the shows, and meeting my darlin' :D

...I think the same party band will be on board! They are super fun, and great at keeping the crowd going. There is also the group in Ensemble lounge to check out in the evenings, the keyboardist is Tony and his wife (I can't remember her name at the moment) is the vocalist. They are also a lot of fun.

Hi,

I hope you dont mind if I ask a few question.

1. did micheals club serve food? if so do you know what?

did you notice if they show football there?

Thanks for your help

Hi,

I hope you dont mind if I ask a few question.

1. did micheals club serve food? if so do you know what?

did you notice if they show football there?

Thanks for your help

They gave us snacks (breadsticks and chips) when we ordered some beers, but as far as a real menu, I didn't notice one. We were there quite late on the last night, so it may have just not been available. And yes, there was football there! Being a Packers fan from WI, I got to see a recap of the first game against the MN Vikings (we won't talk about that score ;) )!

Hope this helps!

Hi All,

Does Reflection have a piano bar?

Hi All,

 

Does Reflection have a piano bar?

I would think that the Ensemble Lounge that is in front of Murano's on the deck 5 would be considered a piano bar. At least it has a very nice piano and someone playing it most of the time.

Hi All,

 

Does Reflection have a piano bar?

I wish it had a piano bar :P ...but FranklinPA is correct, there is a piano in Ensemble and it's normally being played.

Hi,

I hope you dont mind if I ask a few question.

1. did micheals club serve food? if so do you know what?

did you notice if they show football there?

Thanks for your help

Hi,:) if you are asking about the NFL playoffs for this weekend,

next weekend and the Superbowl? Yes, they usually show those

games. I have sailed several times in January (playoff time) and

during the Superbowl and yes, those games are shown:)

Thanks for the review, sounds like you had a great time. It's always more fun when there are people on board you know.:)

They gave us snacks (breadsticks and chips) when we ordered some beers, but as far as a real menu, I didn't notice one. We were there quite late on the last night, so it may have just not been available. And yes, there was football there! Being a Packers fan from WI, I got to see a recap of the first game against the MN Vikings (we won't talk about that score ;) )!

 

Hope this helps!

Loved your review. We couldn't get any NFL games on Azamara last fall :(...I'm impressed you got to see the Pack play...how about that last Vikings game....:D :D :D

We're looking at the Sihouette for a European cruise in Sept. Is this their brand new sister ship?

Hi To All,

Can anyone tell me if there is an adults only area such as the Princess Sanctuary? We are leaving this Saturday on the Reflection and love this type of retreat.

Thanks so much, really excited about this new ship.

Hi,

Thanks for the review. Can you tell me if they had the grand brunch in the dining room?

Thanks