Reflection Review - January 31st Eastern Caribbean Superbowl Cruise

Hello! We have been back for a few weeks now so I thought I would post my review. I actually wasn't planning on writing one before or during the cruise (or else I would have took better notes! lol) but I found the reviews that I read so helpful and entertaining so I thought I should give it a try! I am an avid lurker, infrequest poster but I love this site and check it daily!!!

To start things off, I will tell you our story. My name is Julie and I am 35. My partner's name is Randy and he is 44. Here is our pic in St. Thomas!

We each have 2 DDs. Mine are young (8 and 5) and his are teenager and above! We left all 4 at home with their other parents to take our second cruise as a couple! We live in beautiful Ottawa Canada and love travelling and taking great vacations (with and without the kids LOL).

Our first cruise was a 5-day western caribbean cruise on the Brilliance of the Seas out of Tampa. We loved it! We wanted to try different lines before we settled on one (so we can get extra perks!) and the Reflection best fit our budget and timing. We also couldn't resist free booze ;) We had also never been to Miami and really wanted to experience that so we stayed two nights in South Beach pre-cruise.

We expected the cruise to be great and it was!! We expected an "older" crowd and there was...actually older than we expected! But it didn't negatively affect it so that is good!

Since we have now sailed Royal and Celebrity, I will try and compare the two, according to different categories (food, entertainment, cabin etc). It's hard to pick one as THE winner because they were quite different (East vs West, 5 day vs 7 day, Royal vs Celebrity) so I won't say right now, maybe writing this review will help and I will choose at the end LOL

As I mentioned, we stayed two days in Miami Beach, South Beach to be exact! I searched for weeks on a nice, clean, affordable place, with private beach access and close to the action but not too close...well i finally found a hotel that fit the bill except for price. I figured out fast that South Beach was expensive! LOL Anyways, we stayed at the James Royal Palm. and we LOVED it. We would go back. It was the perfect location (on Collins and a block from Ocean Drive, and a few blocks from Lincold Mall Road). The room was huge! We had a little living room, kitchenette that we didn't expect. It was very clean and nicely decorated. The beach access was probably the best part though. Chairs were included and unbrellas were $19. And there were servers that came to you and served food and beverage. The beach was beautiful too! Here are some pics:

Bedroom and living room

Bathroom

view from the beach (back of hotel)

Beach

Our view...not great...actually pretty crappy. It was facing Collins, from the 4th floor. HIGHLY recommend asking for the highest floor possible!

Oh I need more- ......;)

Pool area

A pic of Ocean Drive at night...if you've never been and you like to party, you HAVE to go to SoBe...its one of a kind!

We went to a few fun bars. and there's a funny story behind how we chose them. When we were at Pearson going through customs, we told the guard that we were going to Miami Beach and he said we HAD to go to Wet Willy's to have two drinks: Attitude adjustment and Call-a-cab! And the second place was Mangos. Since I hadn't done any research on bars to go to, we just went where he suggested! Wet Willy's has slushy machines...very cool...very strong but tasty too!

When we got there, we told the bartender the story and he proceeded to serve us these for free!

After that, we knew we were in trouble LOL.

This was $11...might sound expensive to some but it did the job! LOL

Needless to say we had one each and that was enough! We stumbled out in the direction of our hotel but decided to stop at Corona Cafe. We had a huge pineapple margarita...not sure why but it seemed like a good idea at the time (doesn't it always lol)! It came in this massive martini glass...we hadn't seen anything like it before but over the next two days, we saw lots of people drinking from them. It cost about $45 but was LOADED with booze. Randy saw the bartender laughing everytime he mixed one at the bar! I think it's better shared between 3 or 4 people or 2 if you don't have anything else! After that, we really had to stumble home and call it a night ;)

We enjoyed a great beach day on friday and then went out to a cute little italian place called Spiga. The food was excellent and the service was very good. Then we went to Mangos, the second recommendation from the Border agent! It was fun too...bartenders and dancers dance on a big oversized bars and there is a really good live band. We didn't stay long but we had fun.

Overall Miami was a 10/10. I am sooooo glad we came for two nights and splurged on a nice hotel right on South Beach. I would definitely do it again for a girls weekend or a couples weekend.

Oh I need more- ......;)

ok coming right up!

Can't wait to hear/see more! Thanks!!!

This is great! Keep it coming!

Now onto the cruise!!!! We were soooooooo excited Saturday morning!!! We had just enjoyed two amazing days in Miami and we couldn't believe we still had a whole week left of vacation! We had booked the cruise last September, then decided to buy a house a few weeks later, then moved two months later, had a few birthdays, went through Christmas and New Years, another birthday...needless to say we had been waiting for this much deserved break and stress reliever!

Our cab ride from SoBe was about $20. We also asked the cab driver to stop outside the mall near the pier because we needed a souvenir from the Harley shop so that cost another $10.

We arrived at the terminal, dropped our bags with a porter, went through security in 5 minutes and then lined up for check-in. This took about an hour :( Puts a little damper on your "vacation high" but it wasn't that big of a deal. Once on the ship we went straight to our cabin. We had cabin 9141. It was AWESOME!!!!!

Here is our room. We put our clothes in the three little drawers underneath the tv and in the two cabinets over the bed. We also hung a lot of stuff in the closet and we put our suitcases under the bed. No complaints about storage at all.

Bathroom - MUCH bigger than I expected and it seemed bigger than the one on the Brilliance of the seas. It also had a glass shower door and we had a curtain last time so we loved this! lol It had lots of storage and I think we didn't even use 3 shelves.

And this was our balcony. Again, I think it was bigger than our last one. The chairs reclined which was a nice bonus. We had a balcony last time and I really don't think we can do without! We sleep with the door open so the ocean waves are in the background, we have our coffee and breakfast out there and of course a glass or two of wine at night ;). We know it's expensive but we think it is worth it. Now we do want to take the kids on a cruise which will cost a lot and we are torn between getting two adjoining balcony rooms or just oceanview but what do kids need a balcony for? LOL...I would love to hear opinions if anyone wants to share!

Awesome job so far. Can't wait to read the rest

ok coming right up!

Thanks so much, we are on Reflection in December, so following along avidly!

Loving your review so far! DH and I will be on Reflection 2/7/15, can't wait! I agree with balcony mandatory (at least for the adults), I've never not had a balcony, but I can't imagine not having one. I spend half my cruise out there!

Glad you were pleased with Celebrity. I tried Princess once, then X, and I've stayed loyal to them ever since. Any idea why check-in took so long? We had that on Princess, but X has always been zero line, 10 mins and boarding, in my experiences out of Ft Lauderdale and Miami.

And this was our balcony. Again, I think it was bigger than our last one. The chairs reclined which was a nice bonus. We had a balcony last time and I really don't think we can do without! We sleep with the door open so the ocean waves are in the background, we have our coffee and breakfast out there and of course a glass or two of wine at night ;). We know it's expensive but we think it is worth it. Now we do want to take the kids on a cruise which will cost a lot and we are torn between getting two adjoining balcony rooms or just oceanview but what do kids need a balcony for? LOL...I would love to hear opinions if anyone wants to share!

Thanks for writing. As for the cabins, get a balcony for you guys and inside across the hall for the kids!

momof,

Thanks for posting. :)

Per your request re taking kids on a cruise.

You noted that your two are on the young side but significant other's children are older.

We have cruised with kids many times (3-5 depending on whether or not they brought friends).

Recommend you keep the veranda and put all four of the other kids in an inside across the hall from you. Yes, they were born to suffer. :roll eyes:

Thanks for posting a review. I love to travel along with others!

Per your request re taking kids on a cruise.

 

You noted that your two are on the young side but significant other's children are older.

 

We have cruised with kids many times (3-5 depending on whether or not they brought friends).

 

Recommend you keep the veranda and put all four of the other kids in an inside across the hall from you. Yes, they were born to suffer. :roll eyes:

 

 

Thanks for posting a review. I love to travel along with others!

We have TOTALLY thought about doing that! My kids may wake up in the middle of the night though...but I guess if the older two are there, it shouldnt be a problem lol

Loving your review so far! DH and I will be on Reflection 2/7/15, can't wait! I agree with balcony mandatory (at least for the adults), I've never not had a balcony, but I can't imagine not having one. I spend half my cruise out there!

 

Glad you were pleased with Celebrity. I tried Princess once, then X, and I've stayed loyal to them ever since. Any idea why check-in took so long? We had that on Princess, but X has always been zero line, 10 mins and boarding, in my experiences out of Ft Lauderdale and Miami.

I'm not sure why it took so long to check in. I do know that the ship was full and we did get there around noon which seems like the most popular time to come? In any event, we didn't have much choice and just took the opportunity to scope our our fellow cruisers ;)

Thanks for all of the encouragement everyone! Like I said, this is my first review. I hope it is helpful to someone planning on sailing on the Reflection. We really did love it!

OK so after we checked out our room, took pics, and met our room attendent (Levonne...he was wonderful), our bags weren't there yet and actually one bag came after we had set sail! :eek: That freaked me out a little especially since it was my bag and I had medication in there and now in hindsight I should have just brought it on myself and put it in the room right away but it appeared anyways, just a little late. So we headed out to get a bite to eat and check out the ship. We ate a hot dog and fries up on the 15th deck at the Mast Grill and of course, got our first "free" drink!!!! LOL This is where we met a very helpful bartender (sorry can't remember his name). He worked at the Mast Grill by day and the Sky Lounge or other events at night. We tipped him well and he took care of us the WHOLE cruise!!! Him and another bartender would actually come seek us out on deck and give us a drink! They were so cool!!!! Now I don't have a picture of the food but I was a little disappointed :( I had heard it was amazing and to us, it just tasted like cafeteria food. I hope I don't offend anyone. This was really the only poor meal of the cruise...the rest was fantastic! More on that as I write my review :)

I think then we just checked out the ship, got more drinks of course and got ready to say good bye to Miami. Here are some pics:

Sunset bar. One of our favorite places to drink and just enjoy the breeze.

Pics of the lawn. Besides one game of bocce ball, we never saw anyone use it.

A view of the lawn club grill, hammocks, and this is where the alcoves are. We saw one or two being used the whole cruise.

a hot tub in the Solarium. These were used alot!!

It was VERY windy on our cruise. Especially sunday and monday. You could barely walk on the pool deck, let alone lay in the sun on a lounge chair and get a tan. We tried the first day and lasted about 90 minutes. The second day we lasted less than an hour! if you got up off your lounge chair, the wind would push it across the deck! And flip flops, towels were flying around everywhere! It was kind of funny but also disappointing. So needless to say the Solarium was PACKED, in door spaces were packed too. The sunset bar wasn't bad, maybe because it was at the back of the ship, so we hung out there ;)

We had a very uneventful muster drill. Our meeting place was in the theatre. It took about 15 minutes.

Then it was time to set sail! This is one of my favorite parts! Everyone is so happy and people wave at you from the top deck! We passed the other four ships, danced to some music, enjoyed the views, and had more drinks!

Norwegian ship left after us

We passed by South Beach

Hi Julie,

I'm looking to book my first Celebrity Cruise. Thank you for reviewing Reflection and posting photos. After completing 5 cruises on Royal Caribbean, I'm looking forward to a more upscale experience. Ready to read the rest of your review.

LOVING this review and all the pictures! We sail on Reflection next month!

Last cruise we took our kids and since they were younger( 10+ 11) we booked two balcony rooms. They were not allowed out on their balcony with out us and they listened to us. If they were older I would have booked an inside across from us in a minute to save the $, but we certainly enjoyed having our balcony! It gives you more space to eat and spread out when you order room service or what ever.

Looking forward to the rest of the review! Thanks!

Hi Julie,

 

I'm looking to book my first Celebrity Cruise. Thank you for reviewing Reflection and posting photos. After completing 5 cruises on Royal Caribbean, I'm looking forward to a more upscale experience. Ready to read the rest of your review.

Book it! You won't be disappointed :)

As we are sailing away, we hung out at the sunset bar...love that bar. A bartender from the Molecular bar was out there helping out and he made me a "special" drink...all he did was ask sweet or sour so I said sour and away he went! I wish I had taken a picture, it was so pretty and VERY tasty and LOADED with booze. If you haven't already experienced, heard, read or guessed, they do not skimp on booze!!!! You would think they would with most people having it for "free" but they don't! And the more you smile and talk to them and tip them, the more booze they give you LOL...needless to say, if you aren't careful, it can creep up on you! I guess we hung out there for a while and then went back to our room to change and get ready for dinner.

This cruise we decided to do select dining..actually it was chosen for us because there were no tables left for late seating LOL We weren't sure how we would like it. Last cruise we had late seating and we got along really well with the two couples we were seated with. We actually still email and keep in touch with one of them. So with select dining, I figured that sometimes we would eat alone and sometimes we could request to eat with others. For the first night we chose to eat alone. I will say that every time we went to eat, there was never a line and we never waited. And we always went at prime time (6:30-8:00) so I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I'm still not sure which I prefer. I did like eating with others but I haven't experienced sitting with people I didn't like yet. But I did find that late seating is quite late and I remember finishing dinner at 10:30 or 11 and feeling so full and just ready for bed instead of staying up late so select dining helped with that.

As for food preferences, I will eat ANYTHING! Seriously, there's nothing that I really dislike so all the options sounded good to me every night! Randy on the otehr hand is a little pickier. He also does not eat any kind of seafood and I found there was a lot on this cruise. But he is getting better now that I am around ;)

Oh and one BIG surprise for me was that Reflection has a 4-course meal, not a 3-course meal! Our last royal cruise was 3...so another course sounded fabulous! Although looking back, I often ate three courses and skipped dessert. After eating all day and drinking all day, I couldn't eat a 4-course meal.

Now onto the food pics :D

I remembered to take pics of the menus...but only on the first day LOL. So here are both sides:

I had the shirmp Louis and it was awesome! Then the arugula salad which was very good as well...huge portion though. My main was the prime rib. This was probably my lease favorite meal of the whole cruise. The quality of beef wasn't very good. But I eat AAA ALbert beef which is the best so maybe I am spoiled ;) Then I had a special creme brulee, it was dolce de leche and it was amazing!!!!!!!! Randy had the spring roll (very good, spicy), ceasar salad, spaghetti bolognese (ok) and I don't remember his dessert. I had the ceasar on another night and it is very good. Very tasty dressing!

Here is some food porn;)