Celebrity Reflection May 29th - Mini Review

Hi folks, this is my first mini review that I have given since being a member - hopefully it goes without a hiccup.

Me and my Fiancée have been Royal Caribbean regulars for several years and enjoyed every cruise. If it wasn’t for the recommendations off a couple who we met on the Allure I don’t think we would have changed company.

First off let me say, we absolutely loved the Reflection and itinerary. The ship, its layout and the service we received was utterly fantastic and is probably our best to date on any ship. It was so good that we booked part of our Honeymoon onboard – a southern Caribbean cruise on Equinox next year!

Our Itinerary was as below:

28th May – Civitavecchia

29th May - Civitavecchia (Start of cruise)

30th May - La Spezia, Italy

31st May - Villefranche

1st June - Barcelona, Spain

2nd June - Barcelona, Spain

3rd June - At Sea

4th June - Malaga Spain,

5th June - Gibraltar, UK

6th June - Cartagena, Spain

7th June - Ibiza, Spain

8th June - At Sea

9th June - Civitavecchia (End of Cruise L)

Day 1– UK to Rome and onwards to Civitavecchia

We set off from the UK relatively early and made it to Rome with no real issues, we decided to book an overnight hotel in Civitavecchia as it cuts out the stress of travelling on embarkation day, something which I am not the fond off! I have sailed from Civitavecchia several times before and was fairly comfortable reaching the port using the public transport. As we arrived on a Sunday the train timetable was slightly reduced compared to the weekdays, however was still regular enough. We opted to take the regional train from Fiumicino Airport to Roma Trastevere and then change towards Civitavecchia.

We stayed in Hotel San Giorgio and had no complaints with it at all, lovely and clean.

Day 2– Civitavecchia (Embark ship)

We had a nice breakfast in the hotel and checked out around 9.30AM. We’re relatively young and fit so decided to walk to the port, we arrived around 9.45 and were on the ship by 10.15! The quickest I have ever been allowed on a ship. At shore side we upgraded our package to the premium and bought the 4 speciality dinners (should have done this before we left as due to the low £ to $ exchange rate it was more expensive for us).

As we got on early we had plenty time to explore the ship and familiarise ourselves with the bars, pools, restaurants etc. It was all new to us but the ship design made everything so easy to find and get to.

We opted to have a few drinks at the sunset bar before grabbing a quick lunch and heading to the pool to catch some sun.

Around mid-afternoon we decided to leave the pool and venture around the ship once more before heading to the martini bar.

Day 3– La Spezia

This was a great port for us, we opted to do the Cinque Terre and were not disappointed with the views. We bought the Cinque Terra card which allowed us to use the local train, wifi and access all the walking trails.

We did a few of the trails before opting to take the train to visit the remaining villages. It took us around 25 minutes to return to La Spezia from the furthest away village.

Once we got back to the ship we headed to the lawn and just relaxed before heading back to the room to get ready for the evening.

We went to the MDR once again and could not fault the food, this was the same for the entire cruise.

Day 4– Villefranche

W egot off relatively early in Villefranche, we headed for the train station and hopped on the train to Monte Carlo. As the grand prix had just passed there was a lot of work going on dismantling the barriers and scaffolding. We walked the race course before taking a break at casino square for a drink.

This was our first formal night and our first speciality restaurant. We loved Murano, especially the tableside cooking. We had a nice evening and ended up heading to the silent disco – it was brilliant.

Day 5/6– Barcelona

We had a relaxing first day in Barcelona and stayed on the ship, on the second day we took the red bus and did both the green and red lines. It was a great way to see the city.

After we headed back to the we headed up to the sunset bar to watch sail away, DJ Gio was there and got everyone in the mood for a party.

At night we headed to the lawn club grill where we had a fantastic meal, again the service was outstanding.

Day 7– At Sea

On our first sea day we got up and headed to the pool around 9.30ish. We got poolside deckchairs with relative ease. As it was our first sea day we spent most of the day sunbathing and playing the pool games before heading to the MDR for our meal at night.

We did get to watch the champions league final at night which was a first for me at sea!

Day 8 - Malaga

We were really surprised with Malaga, it was such a clean city with lots to see.The only downside was that it was a Sunday and a lot of the shops and restaurants were closed. We paid for the port bus into town but as the weather was so nice decided to walk back along the harbour.

At night we headed to Qsine and had another lovely meal, and experience! The waiter we had was excellent and explained all the options and gave his recommendations.We were told to order 5/6 meals to share between us but after 4 we were defeated! We did manage desert though….

Day 10 – Cartagena

This was similar to Malaga, a lovely clean city with quite a bit to see. We again decided to walk ourselves and headed to the fort via the glass elevator. From the top of the fort there were great views of the city and of course the ship.

We had another great meal in the MDR and enjoyed the evening’s entertainment in the sky observation lounge.

Day 11 –Ibiza

We had another day of glorious weather, we got off the ship around 9.30 and walked into the centre, a lot longer walk than we envisaged! By the time we got into the centre we walked around the shops and took some pictures. To be honest we didn’t think there was that much to do and so we headed back to the ship to relax a bit more and go to the Persian garden. I know other passengers headed to beaches which might have been the better option.

This was our 2nd formal evening and at night we headed to the TuscanGrill, the meal was lovely. We shared a flatbread to start and had both enjoyed the pasta dishes. Again we ended the night by heading to some bars throughout the ship.

Day 12– At Sea

This was a very similar day to our first sea day, we lazed by the pool and watched all the activities and live music.

We did however experience our first room service breakfast and enjoyed it on the balcony.

At night we headed again to the MDR before having a coffee and a relatively early night.

We really enjoyed the entertainment throughout the whole cruise and thought the Orchestra were particularly brilliant!

Hope you guys have enjoyed the mini review, if you want any more info or have any questions I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Happy Cruising,

Fraser & Anna

Thank you for the great review! Those are very nice photos too!

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Thank you for your excellent review - considering this cruise next year.

Forgot to add in day 9...!

Day 9– Gibraltar

Again we headed off the ship relatively early and walked into the centre, we walked around the shops and bought a few duty free gifts before heading to a café for something quick to drink.

Looking back on it now this was a sort of wasted day for us, we really should have took a tour early in the morning.

We had another lovely meal in the MDR before heading to our favourite martini bar.

We headed to the theatre at night and thoroughly enjoyed the headliner show, she was brilliant! We had a comedian show from Kev Orkian earlier in the cruise and he too was top notch - can't remember the exact night he was on.

Also noticed that some photos are duplicates, Here are the ones I meant to add of Cinque Terre.

Sorry about that!

Hi, thanks for your review. We are on this cruise in July and have noticed a couple of people mention. Cinque Terre. Can you tell me how much is walkable? Is it necessary to get a train? Thanks. P.s-love the kilt! My husband unsure as to whether to take his this time, are people still dressing up?

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Hi, thanks for your review. We are on this cruise in July and have noticed a couple of people mention. Cinque Terre. Can you tell me how much is walkable? Is it necessary to get a train? Thanks. P.s-love the kilt! My husband unsure as to whether to take his this time, are people still dressing up?

 

 

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The paths are all walkable, but it can get quite strenuous at times, there is a lot of elevation changes either by steps or hills and some parts are quite challenging. You need to get the train to get to the first village at least. We took the train to third village to start our walk, it meant the sun was in out back rather than our faces.

Unfortunately I was in the minority with the kilt, not many people dressed up on the cruise which was a bit of a shame. The majority wore trousers and a shirt - what I'm used to seeing as smart casual. Don't think i'll be taking it for our next cruise. Was surprising for us as we just assumed it would be the same as a formal night on Royal Caribbean, but this was not the case.

The paths are all walkable, but it can get quite strenuous at times, there is a lot of elevation changes either by steps or hills and some parts are quite challenging. You need to get the train to get to the first village at least. We took the train to third village to start our walk, it meant the sun was in out back rather than our faces.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I was in the minority with the kilt, not many people dressed up on the cruise which was a bit of a shame. The majority wore trousers and a shirt - what I'm used to seeing as smart casual. Don't think i'll be taking it for our next cruise. Was surprising for us as we just assumed it would be the same as a formal night on Royal Caribbean, but this was not the case.

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Wonderful review! Thank you for sharing....but wait....are those "topless" women in the public pool? Sorry for my ignorance, but is this the norm?

Thanks for a good review and excellent photos. We are leaving in about five hours time to join the Reflection with the same itinerary. If I wasn't hyper before I certainly am now!

Thanks for sharing :D

Debbie

Excellent overview! We are doing this itinerary in October and looking forward to it. Quick question, in Barcelona did Celebrity offer a shuttle from the ship to Las Ramblas area? Trying to figure out our 2nd day. Thanks again for an excellent review!

Patti

Thanks for the review.

Excellent overview! We are doing this itinerary in October and looking forward to it. Quick question, in Barcelona did Celebrity offer a shuttle from the ship to Las Ramblas area? Trying to figure out our 2nd day. Thanks again for an excellent review!

Patti

Thanks Patti,

Yes in Barcelona the port offered shuttle buses to and from the bottom of Las Ramblas. You bought them from inside the terminal and they cost 5 euros per person. This was the case for the majority of the ports, with the exception of Ibiza who charged 8 euros per person.

That was an excellent Review! We were on the same cruise and we had a fabulous time as well. 4 cruises on Celebrity (S class ships) have finally convinced us that we prefer Celebrity over Royal Caribbean and we will probably be cruising on Celebrity henceforth.

We can't wait to get back on Celebrity and try out the Eclipse/ Equinox or Solstice next.

Thanks again for the review.

Cheers!

Nick

Great review. You clearly enjoyed your 1st jaunt with Celebrity. You saý you managed to catch some Champions League which surprises me being and American ship, where abouts was that on the ship?. As fellow Brits we have an interest in the football. DH is slightly disappointed to be missing a few games, but if there was somewhere that might show the odd game (unlikely I know) or at least some highlights that might ease his disappointment 😉

Great review. You clearly enjoyed your 1st jaunt with Celebrity. You saý you managed to catch some Champions League which surprises me being and American ship, where abouts was that on the ship?. As fellow Brits we have an interest in the football. DH is slightly disappointed to be missing a few games, but if there was somewhere that might show the odd game (unlikely I know) or at least some highlights that might ease his disappointment 😉

Yes we loved it, can t wait to get back. The football was on in quite a few places, celebrity central, a few of the bars and in the casino. I did hear someone say they watched it at the sunset bar but wasnt aware of TVs there? could be mistaken.

Day 4– Villefranche

 

This was our first formal night and our first speciality restaurant. We loved Murano, especially the tableside cooking. We had a nice evening and ended up heading to the silent disco – it was brilliant.

 

 

I love your kilt! I was born in Aberdeen but have lived in the US for most of my life. Still have tons of family there.