Picture Reviews: Reflection 4/6/2013

[Chicagocrooza]

It's been 2 weeks since returning back to Chicago and adjusting life without the ocean, breakfast on the balcony and awesome cocktails at the Molecular Bar. I was debating whether I should write this review since I read some great reviews from fellow cruisers (Greensuz and JW & Jerome) on this same sailing (April 6 - April 13) but I felt like it's my duty to pay back to the CC community.

 

A little background info about us, we are a family of 4 with two toddlers(3 and 5 years old). My wife and myself are in our late 30's. This was the kid's third cruise and the first time we could drop both of them off at the Kids Club and we took advantage of it as much as we could.

 

Cabin: Sky Suite 2212, we originally booked Sky Suite 2177 which was closer to the elevator but when 2212 became available, we immediately jumped on it. I love the view from an AFT cabin, the walk was really not too bad but I loved how quiet it was at the back of the ship.

 

 

 

 

It was our first sailing with Celebrity and definitely not our last. I loved the size of this ship after experiencing Allure of the Seas 6 months ago, Reflection has just enough dining options and just enough activities that we did not feel pressured to tryout everything before the week ended. We felt relaxed, pampered and we definitely spent more time in our cabin. I especially enjoyed breakfast on the Balcony, the cocktail party we hosted for our friends hrs before the first formal night.

 

 

[mahdnc]

Thanks for posting. Nice photos. You came back just in time to enjoy our humongous rain!

[lightning bolt]

What a beautiful view from your balcony. What a nice way to start your day.:)

[librarylady19]

Wow - lucky kids!! I was 50 before I'd taken 3 cruises :) look forward to revisiting Reflection through your photos.

[Chicagocrooza]

Thanks for posting. Nice photos. You came back just in time to enjoy our humongous rain!

 

I know, but at least the weather is warming up finally today !!

[Chicagocrooza]

Wow - lucky kids!! I was 50 before I'd taken 3 cruises :) look forward to revisiting Reflection through your photos.

 

Library lady. Thanks for your wonderful review of the reflection before our trip and thanks or letting me know about the live music on the lawn! That part coming up soon.

[mahdnc]

I know, but at least the weather is warming up finally today !!

 

yes, Chicagoland finally got an awesome weather day today (and the Bulls won)!

[Chicagocrooza]

Unlike the other reviewers. I am not very good at putting my reviews in order. The first two days were exploration days then came the three port days that went by so fast. The last two days we really just trying to enjoy all the ship had to offer.

 

First off I must say I really enjoyed the sunset bar. Yes the unofficial cc sail away party was taken place right there. I made it there 20 mins after the ship left miami, full of ppl and and drinks were flowing around.

The sunset bar was one of the most relaxing place especially at night. I am not a smoker but the even with smokers around you, I did not feel too invasive. The light breeze usually clear the smoke into the ocean behind us. The two small pieces of lawn were rarely used or visited by passengers. What a waste.

 

I also want to share with you a picture of one of the dancer on the reflection. She was doing some photo shooting at the sunset bar during her off time one evening.

[Chicagocrooza]

I just realized that if I attached pictures using the tapatalk app on my phone. The pictures came out really small. I must wait till tomorrow before continuing my review so I can use link instead of attachment.

[d4m]

Picture from your balcony is stunning - thanks! Waiting for more.

[wallie5446]

Book marking so we can follow:)

[cruiseguys2009]

A VERY BIG HELLO AND Thank you for posting pics, especially of Room Service, so people don't think I am full of nonsense. We had fun, didn't we? Good Times worth repeating!

[themutis]

You say you hosted a cocktail party - was that through the regular room service menu or through catering.

[librarylady19]

Thanks for the pics - definitely would like to see larger versions. Does your DW know you were taking pics of dancers!! LOL.

[Chicagocrooza]

A VERY BIG HELLO AND Thank you for posting pics, especially of Room Service, so people don't think I am full of nonsense. We had fun, didn't we? Good Times worth repeating!

 

Yes, roomservice is part of what we like most about cruising, especially with kids. We did not feel like we had to dress them, drag them up to the buffet every morning. The menu was just as good as what you could get at a restaurant, smoked salmon, fresh squeezed orange juice, smoothies for the kids and latte for me.

 

 

I hope you don't mind all the pictures, I love sharing pictures !

[Chicagocrooza]

You say you hosted a cocktail party - was that through the regular room service menu or through catering.

 

The cocktail party was arranged through our butler, Stojan from Macedonia. He made the week so relaxing and he made everything possible for us.

I asked him to prepare Hors d'oeuvre and fresh wine glasses for the 12 of us (4 of them were toddlers), he brought in pizza for the kids because our seating was at 8:30 pm, how considerate.

 

[Chicagocrooza]

Thanks for the pics - definitely would like to see larger versions. Does your DW know you were taking pics of dancers!! LOL.

 

 

Oh yeah, she did not mind, we had been married for over 10 years, this would not be an issue at all. She is the kind that would let me know if she sees someone worth looking at :p "CHECK HER OUT!"

 

Here're the pictures again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Chicagocrooza]

The Alcoves, I really wanted to try the Alcoves as they were unique character of the Solstice Class ships. When I decided to book them a month before sailing, they were sold out on all the sea days, the Celebrity rep recommended that I booked the San Juan day as the ship did not get into port till 3pm, so it's almost a half sea day, half port day for a discounted $99.

And thanks to the "Librarylady" who informed me that the live music took place on the San Juan day during her sailing, so I went with it.

 

As I mentioned before, that part of the ship (everything aft of the Lawn Club Grill) was rarely visited by most ppl, so it created a very relaxing, quiet environment. It was a nice and sunny day that day but the wind was blowing really hard, so instead of a wine and cheese concert in the lawn area just outside of the lawn club grill and among the Alcoves, it was held at the Sunset bar instead. It would have been perfect to enjoy that in the comfort of our own alcoves.

 

 

Again, this is the view from our alcoves

 

[Chicagocrooza]

Dining:

 

My wife is a MDR person, she loves having the same server over and over again so they know her preferences. But this time, we felt like the MDR was a little short handed and our servers were taking care of a little too many tables. We ate at the MDR four times on this cruise (including the two formal nights), 2 times at the Blu and 1 time at the Lawn Club Grill. As for lunch, we had a meal in St. Maarten, the fabulous brunch towards the end of the week, the porch 1 time and the rest at the buffet. I wanted to try Bistro on Five but my wife wasn't too crazy about crepes.

Blu was more intimate, better service but I would not say the food was way better than the main dining room. Don't get me wrong, we loved the Blu but it seemed to be that some of the food served at Blu on one night (for example the brased short ribs) would be served at the MDR the following day (or I may be wrong).

 

At St. Maarten, $140 worth of Chicken wings and ribs, but they were delicious!

 

Lawn Club Grill, the blue lights on the lawn were candles at the wine and cheese music concert, it was very nice!

 

Great Veal Chops at the Grill !

 

[Chicagocrooza]

My wife doing the grilling herself, she was shown on those two screens above the grills.

 

 

The brunch at the main dining room

 

 

 

[Chicagocrooza]

The Blu restaurant

 

 

 

On the day I had the Alcove, I had lunch with my two kids at the Porch while Mrs. was at the spa getting her massage. The Porch was only a short walk from the Alcove and I thought the sandwich were top notch. I Ordered a Ruben for myself and chicken pesto sandwich for my two kids to share. I believe there was a $5 surcharge to eat there but that included soup, salad and dessert.

[Chicagocrooza]

Bars

 

I personally loved the Molecular Bar most, I think the drinks were well made, a lot of surprises, we met a lot of nice ppl there. My favorite drink was the ginger mojito and my second fav was the coming out roses, which was very refreshing. If you like your drink strong, go for the Black Mamba (made with Glenlevit) or the Hawaiian Lava using Woodford reserve.

 

I stole a pic off of a google search, Suzanna was our Mixologist and she definitely stole the show every night she worked there.

 

 

During the day, I love to be at the Mast Bar just one flight above the pool deck, it's a smoking area and I really didn't mind it at all. The mast grill was on the port side just opposite from the Bar and this is where you could get a fresh off the grill burger and some fries.

I personally love live piano music, so I had a few pre-dinner cocktail at the Ensemble Lounge right outside of the Murano Restaurant.

I went to the Michael's Lounge once to watch Michigan vs. Louisville battling it out. It had a good turn out that evening at the lounge and they had a special 2 for 1 Grolsch for $6, you would think that they could charge anything they wanted while floating in the ocean, but I thought all the drinks, cocktail, wine were priced very reasonably.

[Karen@Steve]

At St. Maarten, $140 worth of Chicken wings and ribs, but they were delicious!

 

 

Where did you eat in St Maarten? DH and I are trying to figure out our itinerary in St Maarten this November.

[Kport2011]

Thanks for the review. DW and I were on the Silhouette in March w/o our 3yr old. We would really like to take him next year, but we're just not 100% sold on the kids program on Celebrity. How did your 2 kiddos like it?

[Chicagocrooza]

Thanks for the review. DW and I were on the Silhouette in March w/o our 3yr old. We would really like to take him next year, but we're just not 100% sold on the kids program on Celebrity. How did your 2 kiddos like it?

 

My kids love cruising and they really enjoyed the Fun Factory, probably more so that the Adventure Ocean on the Allure of the Seas. Being on Celebrity, you can expect fewer kids and more person to person interaction.

We also use the baby sitting service in our cabin 5 out of the 7 nights so my kids automatically felt attached to the girls.

 

 

The kids program was from 9-12 2-5 and 7-10, we usually dropped the kids off after breakfast, picked up them to eat lunch with them. We did drop them off one evening from 7-10 when we dined at the Lawn Club Grill. Never a complaint from them.