A loyal Royal does Celebrity Reflection

[jerseygirl3]

One other comment to make. I had read many comments about "loud" music on X ships. We found none of this. I loved the different music on board. Most of it was current up to date music and we never found it loud.

 

I think that's because so many complained, they have made changes. On Silhouette last year it was loud, obnoxious, and just plain awful. During dinner in the MDR, they played showtunes so loud we couldn't hear our server. Last month on Equinox, it was great. No loud music and what was played was good. Some of the techno music around the pool could get on your nerves after awhile, but nothing like last year. Last year you couldn't even have a conversation near the pool area.

[gelo7]

Excellent review and pictures.

[wallie5446]

Gordon, as always, excellent.

After a turn on the Freedom, then a very disappointing Ruby Princess trip last Nov, we are looking forward to being on Reflection this Nov.

[Lois R]

Hi,:) thanks for the review and glad you had a good time...sans the

idiot neighbor:eek::rolleyes:.....did your seapass card have a little logo on it

with an icon of smoke and a line through it? (Basically saying

NO SMOKING)....I believe all the cards have that on them now. You

had a selfish neighbor.....sorry you had to go through that:(

 

Not sure if they will ban him but I do hope they fined him!

[cruisegirl1]

Various thoughts:

 

 

The Celebrity Experience: Other than a rather negative start to our cruise during check-in and our smoking neighbor, Celebrity exceeded our expectations. We really loved the feel of the on board experience. It's hard to explain but it was just a different feel than that of cruising on RCI. Very few kids on board which was very nice. Our fellow guests seemed more polite, less pushy and overall seemed to be enjoying themselves. I know that things can change from cruise to cruise but I saw none of the guests being nasty towards the crew or each other as has been posted on this board.

 

.

 

Glad you had a good trip.

 

I feel the same way. After MANY RCCL cruises, we are booking more Celebrity cruises and ONLY considered Celebrity for our upcoming 12 night Med cruise.

 

M

[sabookkeeper]

Various thoughts:

 

The Ship - Beautiful and well designed. I never really felt crowded. We tried to use the stairs when possible but when using the elevators the wait was not long and for the first time in a long time, there was no pushing to get on a crowded elevator or people trying to get on before others had the chance to exit. The ship was kept spotless. She looked as though she had just been delivered from Meyer Werft. Prior to the cruise I had read some rather negative comments about this ship and her design but that was not my experience. Other than the high glass on the upper decks, I have no complaints. She is a beauty.

 

The Crew - We found the crew to be very friendly. I have always found that RCI had the best crew that I have experienced in cruising but the crew on the Reflection were just as good and in some cases even better. I have never cruised on a ship where the officers were so visible. They were everywhere and always spoke.

 

Entertainment - Very subjetive: There was entertainment all over the ship in the many lounges. On some evenings there was entertainment held in the lower level of the atrium called the "entertainment court" using the dancers and singers from the production shows. Celebrity has three main production shows on their seven night cruises. I liked this. We found those shows to be in line with RCI's Freedom class ships and below. I don't think anything can touch the Allure and Oasis shows. I was surprised at how busy the ship was in the evenings. We actually found more people out and about than we experienced on either Oasis or Allure. The ship was far from being dead in the evening.

 

Food - Again very subjective: We found the food on board in all areas to range from good to VERY good. A step up over RCI in all areas. With the exception of the Lawn Club Grill, we found the specialty dining to be very good. Maybe we just caught the Lawn Club on an off night. Qsine was by far our favorite. We will need to try Murano on the next cruise.

 

We only dined once in the MDR for dinner but I was surprised at how much we enjoyed the experience. We will use the MDR more in the future. Select Dining worked well the one night that we used it. No wait for a table. Food was well presented and tasted great.

 

The Oceanview Cafe casual dining was very good for dinner. We also walked through a couple times at lunch and the variety of food was great. Anyone that could not find something to eat was either not hungry or just picky.:)

 

We used room service several times and each time our order arrived within thirty minutes or less when ordering. The room service menu was better/more options than that of RCI. I liked that we could get fresh squeezed juice for breakfast.

 

Debarkation: We chose to do the Express Debarkation yesterday morning. We were told to be in the Ensemble lounge by 7:15. We arrived at 7:00 and there was already at least a hundred or more people in line and the line grew quickly after that. By the time that they started to debark, the line went all the back to Tuscan Grille and looped all the way back to the Ensemble lounge. The crew did pass though and try to keep some type of order. I was fully expecting to see some guests getting upset with the way that things were backing up but I saw no one getting nasty or trying to cut the lines once things started moving. Kudos to the fellow guests.

 

Smoking Issue - We had a neighbor who started smoking on the first day. I ignored it for two days as we were not on the balcony much due to the cooler temps but by the third day I had enough and called down to Guest Services to report it. (Now as I look back, I should have called on the first day). I was told that it would be handled. On Tuesday the smoke continued. I once again called down and the person seemed surprised that this person was still smoking. They once again sent security. We did not smell smoke on Wednesday but we were not on the balcony much. On Thursday morning this person was smoking again and I once again called. GS sent security and within two hours he was smoking again. I lost my cool this time and the Guest Relations Manager involved the Staff Captain. They paid this couple a visit and I was told that they can no longer book a cruise with Celebrity without a committee approving first. Not sure if that is true or if they were fined but this person did not care if he was breaking the rules or the fact that his neighbor balcony did not want to smell smoke. I did not smell smoke on the last day so that at least seemed to work but it took almost four days to get it stopped. I think that Celebrity needs to step up the consequences for those that feel they are above the rules.

 

The Celebrity Experience: Other than a rather negative start to our cruise during check-in and our smoking neighbor, Celebrity exceeded our expectations. We really loved the feel of the on board experience. It's hard to explain but it was just a different feel than that of cruising on RCI. Very few kids on board which was very nice. Our fellow guests seemed more polite, less pushy and overall seemed to be enjoying themselves. I know that things can change from cruise to cruise but I saw none of the guests being nasty towards the crew or each other as has been posted on this board.

 

We decided while on board to cancel a cruise booked for next March on the Serenade and book a 14 night cruise out of FLL on the Eclipse to the Southern Caribbean. We will be looking forward to cruising with Celebrity again. We still like RCI and our next cruise will be on the Splendour in June but now we have two options that we really like when it comes to cruising but I do think that in the future, we will lean more towards Celebrity unless we get the hankering for an Allure or Oasis cruise. :)

 

I have more photos in my link below. I will be more than happy to try and answer any questions that you may have.

We did the same thing...we were booked on the new Royal Princess in February 2014 and after sailing on the Silhouette, by the end of the week, we cancelled Princess and booked the Reflection instead.

[drarill]

The Guest Relations Manager explained that they have to catch the person in the act. Guess they finally caught him but we were told that it is a process and sometimes can take longer than they would like. I was not upset with the ship once the process was explained. Just the neighbor.

 

Thanks for the great review!! We are also making Celebrity our #1 cruise line after many cruises with RCCL. I really like Celebrity's smoking policy and will be really disappointed if we get a neighbor like yours. I also agree with you about the Lawn Club Grill; hope you can try Murano's on a future cruise.

[PH8]

Super review Gordon and great pics......glad you two enjoyed it so much.:)..

 

Like you ,I had trouble with neighbor smokers.....but on RCCL....It wasn't cigarettes(which is allowed) but CIGARS.......UGH!! They ignored the warnings by security till the 3rd day....inconsiderate people cruise all lines..;)

[Cruising89143]

Hi,:) thanks for the review and glad you had a good time...sans the

idiot neighbor:eek::rolleyes:.....did your seapass card have a little logo on it

with an icon of smoke and a line through it? (Basically saying

NO SMOKING)....I believe all the cards have that on them now. You

had a selfish neighbor.....sorry you had to go through that:(

 

Not sure if they will ban him but I do hope they fined him!

 

Our SeaPass did not have a logo on it.

[Cruising89143]

Thanks to all for the comments. I received so much great info here for my first cruise on X that I wanted to return the favor.:)

[Schplinky]

Great review! Like you, we think that no line rivals the RCL Oasis class for entertainment but think that the diversity of lounges and the smart style of the Solstice class make up for it. For us, we go on the newer RCL ships in large groups for fun and entertainment and we head to the Solstice class for relaxation that doesn't sacrifice the food or bar scene.

[Cruising89143]

Great review! Like you, we think that no line rivals the RCL Oasis class for entertainment but think that the diversity of lounges and the smart style of the Solstice class make up for it. For us, we go on the newer RCL ships in large groups for fun and entertainment and we head to the Solstice class for relaxation that doesn't sacrifice the food or bar scene.

 

 

Good way of thinking Lee and I agree with you.

[Gasdoc]

Sorry you had the problem with the smokers. I personally think anyone smoking in stateroom and especially balcony should be debarked immediately, even if the ship is underway (like right over the side). If that was done a few times, people would think twice about disregarding the smoking policy

[Oville]

What a great review. Thanks for all the pictures. Really appreciate hearing good news about the Reflection.

[Lois R]

Sorry you had the problem with the smokers. I personally think anyone smoking in stateroom and especially balcony should be debarked immediately, even if the ship is underway (like right over the side). If that was done a few times, people would think twice about disregarding the smoking policy

 

I think that is why there is a fine......rather than putting them out.

Raise the fine to 500 bucks and make sure it is on their account.

But I do understand your comment.

[billsgal]

Gordon, great pics and great review.

 

Sorry about the smoking neighbor next door, but I think CEL has more of a problem with it than they realize. When we were having breakfast in Chops on the Jewel last year, we saw a number of people on the CEL Eclipse next to us who were smoking on their balcony. I was surprised that nothing was done about it, as there were ship's officers on the pier, and I'm sure they could see the smokers, since we could see them from the ship across from them at the pier. At least they solved the problem, even though it took them too long to so so, but i do understand about "procedures"

[acwmom]

Gordon,

 

Glad you enjoyed Celebrity. I've been looking forward to your review since our roll call. I was thinking about everyone at Sailaway while drinking my margarita poolside in La Quinta:-)

[Cruising89143]

Gordon, great pics and great review.

 

Sorry about the smoking neighbor next door, but I think CEL has more of a problem with it than they realize. When we were having breakfast in Chops on the Jewel last year, we saw a number of people on the CEL Eclipse next to us who were smoking on their balcony. I was surprised that nothing was done about it, as there were ship's officers on the pier, and I'm sure they could see the smokers, since we could see them from the ship across from them at the pier. At least they solved the problem, even though it took them too long to so so, but i do understand about "procedures"

 

Gordon,

 

Glad you enjoyed Celebrity. I've been looking forward to your review since our roll call. I was thinking about everyone at Sailaway while drinking my margarita poolside in La Quinta:-)

 

 

Thanks Rita and Robin. Overall it was a great experience and the Solstice class lives up to their reputation of being great ships. :)

[baby]

thanks for the review

 

we are goin onthe reflection next november also

 

what kind of bands did they have playing at night

 

we like modern/salsa/50's music - where do we go for that????

 

lookingl forward to the martinis

 

did you have trouble geting a drink in any of the bars??

 

thanks carol

[Tommy3putts]

Great review. Enjoyed the pictures of Reflection!

[Cruising89143]

thanks for the review

 

we are goin onthe reflection next november also

 

what kind of bands did they have playing at night

 

we like modern/salsa/50's music - where do we go for that????

 

lookingl forward to the martinis

 

did you have trouble geting a drink in any of the bars??

 

thanks carol

 

I don't recall what was going on in the different venues. You can check the Dailies for that info. We loved the martini bar and the molecular bar. Both were popular places all week. We had no issues with drink service.

[swigso]

Thanks to all for the comments. I received so much great info here for my first cruise on X that I wanted to return the favor.:)

Hi What a great review, the S class ships are really fantastic,

did you remember to transfer your Crown & Anchor status

over to Celebrity, if not you may want to check it out.

Take Care maybe we will meet on the Eclipse next March.

[Barn Goddess]

What a great review - thank you! I love your pictures too - they are helping get by until we sail in April :-D

 

Do you recall what the red martini like drink from the Molecular Bar was? It looks yummy!

 

Thanks again :)

[gambee]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, I can't wait until our first X cruise, only 12 more days :D.

[Big_G]

Cruisingator,

 

We were on your sailing. Did you catch the comedy show? There were a lot of walkouts but we stayed and it actually turned into an overall good show. I concur with everything you have written. The wife has decided Reflection is her favorite ship.