Reflection review with photos - Day 6 - January 3 and At Sea

Reflection Review with photos - Pre-cruise day

Reflection review with photos - Day 1 - Miami

Reflection review with photos - Day 2 - At Sea

Reflection review with photos - Day 3 - New Year's Eve & San Juan

Reflection review with photos - Day 4 - January 1 and St. Martin

Reflection review with photos - Day 5 - January 2 and St. Thomas

Celebrity Reflection, New Year's Cruise, December 2012 Photos

Day 6 – Jan. 3 – At Sea

Today’s Random Notes

For those looking for free wifi while in port:

• The WiFi worked well at the Parrot Club, in San Juan. The password is the restaurant’s phone number.

• The Sunset Bar at Maho Beach, St. Martin has free WiFi. It worked well for us in 2009. On this visit, we had no luck. We could log on but not get our mail, etc. It could be their WiFi was just too overloaded – it was very busy there.

• The gelato on board, near the Café al Bacio, is very good and very reasonably priced, we thought. Two scoops (different flavours if you wish) for $2.50, and a bit more for 3 to 5 scoops.

• In my Day 7, and last sea day review I’ll talk about the recent mechanical issue that the Reflection has been dealing with. The problem has not been fixed, but it is causing no issues. They expect the new part to arrive on January 12. I’ll explain more once I get my husband to explain to me what the problem is. The engineer’s explanation went right over my head!

Day 6 – Jan. 3 – At Sea

Today was brunch day in the Opus Dining Room. WE got there right at 10, knowing how popular and busy the on board brunches are. The ice sculptures were impressive, and all of the food looked great. There are duplicates of the food stations around the buffet. At one station where they were serving breakfast type foods – eggs, bacon, etc. – the line was very long. On the other side of the buffet, the exact same food station had no line up. So if a specific food station is too busy, just look for the same station in another part of the brunch.

Service was bit overwhelmed I think – a few people seemed to be getting annoyed. They were offering Mimosa’s 2 for 1 (but of course, with our Premium Alcohol packages that didn’t matter to us!), and many people seemed to be taking advantage of the offer. The chocolate fountains – both white and milk chocolate – were popular. But despite all of the very appealing and appetizing options, we didn’t really eat much. I think it was a bit early for a huge meal, and also – by Day 6, we were almost getting tired of eating!

After the brunch, my husband and I headed off to the Reflection Theater for Captain Pagonis’ presentation, “Oceans Ahead: Secrets of Navigation”, at 11 am, and our son went to the library to read. We were also registered for the Captain’s Club Wine Tasting in Blu, at 11:30. We didn’t know how long the Captain’s presentation would last, but if it was boring and went past 11:30, we would have left to go to Blu. But, the presentation was very, very good and we really enjoyed it, especially the Captain’s story about an at sea rescue from a US military ship of a seriously injured passenger. I learned a lot from his presentation, and was very impressed with our captain. Of the four captains we have encountered on our cruises, he was definitely my favourite. Not the funniest (although he does have a sense of humour, but is not constantly cracking jokes), but he just has a quiet confidence and sincerity that was impressive.

After the Captain’s presentation, we went to Guest Relations top sign out iPads to do the art tour of the ship. We both got an iPad. The tour app was very well designed – more sophisticated than I had expected – and easy to navigate. We did all decks from 3 to 9, and it was fun. I like art, but I didn’t really ‘get’ a lot of the interpretations of what the art pieces were supposed to be saying to us… ha ha. But, it forces you to stop and really look at art that you may usually just walk by without really noticing. I think my favourite was a piece right outside of Blu that appears to be an old master style oil painting. But if you look closely, you see people walking around. Very clever. You can sort of see the figures near the lower right corner of this photo. (I also liked the endless forest).

After the tour, we returned our iPads. We still weren’t hungry, so had no interest in lunch. We went to the Sunset Bar to read, doze a bit and gaze out at the water. It was another perfect day.

Eventually we did go to the buffet, but our timing was off. We were too late for lunch, and too early for sushi. There were a few afternoon tea type treats, and the always-available pizza and pasta and salad. I walked over to the Mast Grill to see if I could get a burger, but a lot of others apparently had the same idea, and the line up was very long. So I went back to the buffet and grabbed a slice of pizza.

At 7:45 we went to watch a short 15 minute show by Uncommon Ground, the a Cappella Quartet, in the Ensemble Lounge, then we headed off to dinner.

We had dinner in Opus at 8:15, but unfortnately I’ve lost my notes for the day, so I can’t tell you much about it! At about 9:30 we headed over to the Passport Bar, to hopefully get a good spot for the Dancing with the Officers show at 10:00. The show really was a lot of fun, and the Officer ‘judge’s’ comments were quite funny.

We ended the day, as we did almost every night, in the Ensemble Lounge, for a nightcap. Tomorrow - last day on board, and the last sea day.

Thanks, and for the great pics on Flickr also.

Glad to hear you liked the Art tour - I'm adding that to the list of things we will try! We have always loved the Sunset Bar and glad to see that it's expanded and has a new design.

Yes, we really loved the Sunset Bar on the Reflection and think it's a big improvement over the Solstice. I don't think we spend much time at that bar at all on the Solstice.

They don't seem to publicize the art tour much, but I thought it was a great idea.

Glad to hear you liked the Art tour - I'm adding that to the list of things we will try! We have always loved the Sunset Bar and glad to see that it's expanded and has a new design.

Thanks for the report!

Thanks again for your review.

Just heard that the Sunset Bar is a smoking area and numerous cigar smokers there. Is it? We don't smoke, is the air there choking?

We are definitely non-smokers and don't like to be near cigarette smoke at all.

Half of the Sunset Bar is for smokers, and the other half is non-smoking. Once we were seated near the smoking area, but even the smoke didn't bother us at all. Because it's completely open, and there's usually a breeze, it really wasn't an issue at all. The smokers side was, however, very popular.

Thanks again for your review.

Just heard that the Sunset Bar is a smoking area and numerous cigar smokers there. Is it? We don't smoke, is the air there choking?

Wonderful pictures and again great review.

Thanks Melodie!

Wonderful pictures and again great review.

Hey just came across your post and enjoyed everything you wrote. I love detail reviews and love to see from others perspective on things.

We are going to be on in 2 months. Thanks again !

We are definitely non-smokers and don't like to be near cigarette smoke at all.

 

Half of the Sunset Bar is for smokers, and the other half is non-smoking. Once we were seated near the smoking area, but even the smoke didn't bother us at all. Because it's completely open, and there's usually a breeze, it really wasn't an issue at all. The smokers side was, however, very popular.[/quote]

 

I have been an off again, on again smoker and have quit more times than I care to mention and if any of you are now ex-smokers, you know what I'm talking about. I'll probably get whipped, hog tied and lambasted for this remark since I read so many posts...and believe me, I do understand allergies, etc. but I think the smokers are more courteous of other people's feelings than the non-smokers. I have yet to read...so and so was a non smoker..the non smoker so and so...it's a bad habit and smokers in general do not wish to inflict anything on non smokers...anyway not the type of smokers that cruise. It's especially hard on vacation when you want to have a drink and just relax. I will say though, the smoking section on our last cruise had some of the most fun people, great conversations and a group that bonded....you didn't see that kind of bonding anywhere else on the ship with that number of people. Even people who didn't smoke came and chatted because they saw a fun group...DH hasn't smoke since 1986 and he had a good time. The cigars did bother him as they did me...if I were a cigar smoker, I would go to the furthest corner of the smoking section...the majority of cigar people I did see would sit among everyone right smack dab in the middle and puff away...and since they're on a cruise, they would smoke the entire cigar.

One thing I saw...I believe you mentioned paying for the gelato...isn't this included as part of the meals and cruise?