Is Reflection using 7 or 14 MDR menus on B2B cruises?

Good day.

This question is for anyone who, in December or (preferably) January, has just completed back-to-back, seven-night cruises aboard the Celebrity Reflection. (It could even be for anyone who is currently in the midst of the second leg of such a pair of cruises -- one in the Eastern Caribbean, one in the Western Caribbean.)

We would like to know if the Reflection's chefs are currently (and repeatedly) using just seven of their fourteen MDR menus? Or is Reflection using all fourteen menus, foreseeing that some guests may be on back-to-back cruises ("consecutive cruisers," RCI calls them) that have different itineraries?

We just discovered a thread in which the OP -- who had been on an 11-night Reflection cruise overseas, in October or November -- had kindly posted PDFs of fourteen menus that were provided to him/her by a waiter. (We assume that those fourteen menus have not yet been replaced by "X," but we may be wrong!) We want to link that thread for two reasons:

1. For new visitors to CrCr, who haven't seen recent Reflection menus.

2. To ask recent (December/January) Reflection guests which of these fourteen menus [maybe seven, maybe all fourteen?] they encountered.

Here is a link to the key post from that thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=51463770&postcount=1

Many thanks, in advance, for all helpful answers!

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but we did a B2B on Silhouette in December and even Luminae repeated the 7 day menu's and there were move than 100 B2B cruisers sailing with us.

I'm pretty sure this happens fleet wide.

We were very disappointed on our Reflection B2B last February that everything was repeated (menus, entertainment, etc.)

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Since every cruise is a separate cruise they always start from Menu 1.

Even if there are 100 B2B cruisers, there are over 2500 one time cruisers. I don't think they are going to make a concession in food or entertainment for less than 4% of the ship. Every B2B we've been on, everything except fly-on entertainment is a repeat. Make your plans on what you want to see and eat the first week for the second week. Really not a problem.

In addition, the menu line-up can change from week to week based on deliveries, availability of fresh goods, etc.

If you want to experience different menus just book different cabin categories. You could have a balcony one week and dine in the MDR and take an AQ the second week and dine in Blu. I would opt for AQ week one and a Suite for week two. That way I would get Blu and Lumanae.

I've done several B2Bs. Each cruise is treated as a separate cruise and they always use the 7-day menu if they are 7-day cruises.

As other posters have said the probability is that they use a 7 day menu in the MDR. But realize that every night there are multiple appetizer and entree choices. Plus you have the choice of chicken, steak or salmon on a nightly basis. Plus you can get the upcharge steak if you would like in the MDR.

In addition, you can eat in the Oceanview Cafe a night or two which gives you even more variety.

Then of course there are the specialty restaurants to consider.

So i don;t think you have anything to be concerned about.

Call me if you don't want to go and I will gladly go in your place.

DW and I did a B2B on RCL several years ago and had no problems at all.

Enjoy your cruise.

As other posters have said the probability is that they use a 7 day menu in the MDR. But realize that every night there are multiple appetizer and entree choices. Plus you have the choice of chicken, steak or salmon on a nightly basis. Plus you can get the upcharge steak if you would like in the MDR.

In addition, you can eat in the Oceanview Cafe a night or two which gives you even more variety. Then of course there are the specialty restaurants to consider. So i don;t think you have anything to be concerned about. Call me if you don't want to go and I will gladly go in your place. DW and I did a B2B on RCL several years ago and had no problems at all. Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks, "Nordic Prince." We are experienced cruisers ("X" Elite), so we know about all the variety that is available -- including the multiple "starters," entrees, desserts, etc. in the MDR. In fact, we already had made selections -- for two weeks -- from the seven main menus (expecting those menus to be re-used during both weeks), before we discovered the other thread with the 14 PDF links. Finding those links made us want to ask recent (December/January) Reflection guests what they had experienced with regard to the menus. We have had seven replies (including yours), but none of them have been from recent Reflection B2B guests, so we are still hoping to receive an even more reliable answer to our question. [Please continue reading below.]

Even if there are 100 B2B cruisers, there are over 2,500 one time cruisers. I don't think they are going to make a concession in food or entertainment for less than 4% of the ship. Every B2B we've been on, everything except fly-on entertainment is a repeat. Make your plans on what you want to see and eat the first week for the second week. Really not a problem. In addition, the menu line-up can change from week to week based on deliveries, availability of fresh goods, etc.

Thank you, "ECCruise." Based on our experience with multiple B2Bs, over the years, we have to admit that there has been a lot of repetition ... BUT ... it has not been true that "everything except fly-on entertainment" was repeated. The most dramatic example was the following:

We were on a Royal Caribbean ship for B2B cruises totalling 33 nights (16 plus 17 nights). There were about 500 B2B guests -- and the chefs were permitted to "ply their trade" to the max, using 33 different menus in the MDR. It was quite an experience. So ... if RCI could do this, we think that their more sophisticated sister line, X, should be able to use all of their (mere) fourteen menus over a two-week period! We wouldn't consider this a "concession," as you referred to it, but rather an example of consideration, common sense, and good public relations.

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Unless it's a true 14 nighter, your menus will repeat.

Yeah - wish we'd known this before a b2b we did a year or so ago - really disappointed. On a positive note - at least we knew what not to have on the 2nd week [emoji4]

Menus and entertainment (sometimes guest entertainers will be different on the second leg of the B2B) has been the same for both legs of all our B2B Cruises. Sometimes were assigned a different table in the MDR. Even if we have the same table our wait staff has always been different. We always do the same cabin so our cabin attendant has always been the same. If we can't find a true 14 night Cruise than we book a B2B.

Very useful post. We are doing a 9-night on Silhouette later this winter and I'm interested to see which of the menus will make an appearance.