Long Review: 9/9/13 - Reflection 11 Day Eastern Med plus Rome

[cynbar]

Mel, I have to ask --- did you ever buy that tanzanite ring???? Sounds so lovely…..

[Mel&Ken]

Hey Melissa, I've been looking to see if I could spot anyone from our group in the background of your pictures, but I don't see anyone. However I found you and Ken in one of the pictures I took that day. Do you see yourself? Funny! I didn't see you at all that day. It really was a awesome day wasn't it?

 

 

We took a ton of pictures inside the New Acropolis Museum, I'm sorry you didn't get any. We had a guide and he told us that pictures were not allowed on the first floor, but we could snap at will on the second floor, so we did. No one told us to stop. In fact it looks like a security guard's arm in this picture.

 

 

Haha yes I finally found us in that picture - how funny is that?! I can't say I am shocked we didn't see you - I don't think we ran into you once on the ship - how weird is that?! I think we only bumped into you at the Palace in Istanbul right?

 

I am so happy (read jealous) you got pictures in the museum! And of my favourite ladies I see! ;) I guess I was the one having trouble reading the signs. :eek:

[Mel&Ken]

Mel, I have to ask --- did you ever buy that tanzanite ring???? Sounds so lovely…..

 

We have one night left on the ship......stay tuned to find out. ;)

[Deb0702]

Haha yes I finally found us in that picture - how funny is that?! I can't say I am shocked we didn't see you - I don't think we ran into you once on the ship - how weird is that?! I think we only bumped into you at the Palace in Istanbul right?

 

HAHA, I never set foot in the casino and you never even laid eyes on pool. But still it is weird we didn't see each onboard. If we're ever again on the same cruise we'll have to fix that. And hopefully next time I won't be on pain meds. That slowed me down quite a bit and I was in bed early almost every night.

[Mel&Ken]

Today is the day!! A day I have dreamed of my entire life – literally from my earliest memories I was fascinated with Pompeii. Not sure what my mother was letting me watch as a child but I knew of this place forever.

 

Where to start….?

 

Let’s start with our roll call. I knew Pompeii was our MUST SEE when we got to Naples. I was sad we wouldn’t have time for Positano and Sorrento but the priority was clear. Then I read a post from Dorothy on our roll call about a shared tour and it sounded perfect. A few hours in Pompeii, a drive along the Amalfi Coast, lunch in Positano and a drive back to Sorrento before taking a ferry across the bay and back to the ship. How perfect is that??!! I reached out to Dorothy and secured two spots at a fraction of what we have paid everywhere else. There would be 8 of us and we were all in agreement that was big enough. The best part of the deal was actually Dorothy. We began to email back and forth almost daily and I can honestly say I think I have a friend for life. She is so kind and caring; really a wonderful person.

 

Today starts with our usual dash to the buffet to inhale our breakfast along with the usual battle to have OJ and Cappuccino at the same time. Our friends happened to be eating at the same time and we agreed all of us felt a little hung over after the night before. Nothing some greasy bacon and a lot of juice can't fix and we were off. I “think” we started out at 8 or 8:30. Another easy transition to the pick up area except in this case you could go straight or to the right. The parking lot is to the right.

 

We met our driver and loaded everyone into the van. To be honest I think this tour would have been perfect with 6 people. The seating was 3 in the third row, 3 in the middle row and 2 in the front seat. I got the middle seat in the front and being the shortest in the group it was probably best as I had a hump beneath my feet and drove with my knees up to my chest the whole time. The driver pretty much touched my knee every time he turned the wheel so it was a bit odd – especially at the start. In addition as we did sharp turns along the coast I either leaned on him or my husband depending on the turn! In the third row we had Dorothy’s boys who are over 6 feet tall and they looked pretty cramped as well. Next time I would put one in front, 3 middle and 2 in back. It would cost more per person but I think it’s worth it. For the record we had a great group and I enjoyed every second of it - just thinking future tours.

 

Today is only the second rainy day we have had and its pretty bad timing. In addition to not wanting rain for Pompeii we have also left our jackets with hoods back in the room – not sure why!

 

I think it was about a 15-20 minute ride to Pompeii and all we see is dark clouds and rain in the distance and Mt Vesuvious is hiding in the shadows. Dorothy and family have been here before so they opt for a self tour while we split a private guide with Lenie and Aaron for an addition 100 euros. Our guide buys our tickets and off we go.

 

First impression besides the obvious OMG is that it’s huge. I had no idea it was so large. As such, you can only see a fraction of it at a time. We did learn there are various gates so you can actually enter the area you want to see rather than walk all the way there and then back.

 

We start to tour and it was all I hoped it would be. A few times it rained but during those times we were indoors looking at houses or sheltered in some way. The preservation of art on the walls, paint colours and detail is just mind blowing. We see a brothel, we see the plaster casts of the bodies and I think I had perma-smile on my face as I walked around in amazement. There is a large forum area which was quite something as it is very similar to the forum in Rome. The tour ends much too quickly and we reconnect with Dorothy and family and load back into the van.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mel&Ken]

 

 

 

 

 

[Mel&Ken]

 

 

 

Now begins the ride along one of the most beautiful stretches of road in the world – the Amalfi Coast. Words cannot describe how beautiful this is. And to honest it’s rainy and hazey (sp?) and not the best way to see it. There are jagged cliffs, sheer drops and beauty every where you look. Talk about winding roads.

 

We drive through Sorrento and get to Positano – all the way navigating tiny streets, hairpin turns and watching as coach buses try to do the same. At one point I say to Ken that the drive is easy and we could do it. Once we’re in the town and trying to get around I retract my statement. I don’t ever want to drive there.

 

We park the van and have about 60-90 minutes to explore the town. It’s very hilly and narrow so you walk along in single file while cars are driving past. It’s also very crowded. We buy a lot of lemon products – candies, soaps, risotto, ceramics and meet back at the van for lunch. I’d say we’re now about 1/3 of the way up the hill and we leave for our lunch which is easy top ¼ of the hill.

 

 

 

[Mel&Ken]

 

 

Up, up we go zig zagging and making our way up the steep side of the mountain. Only small vehicles can do this so if you’re in a bus this isn’t possible. Finally we reach the restaurant and get dropped off. All 8 of us sit at a long table and then it begins. We start with water and two bottles of wine and the plates of food start to flow and flow and flow. Dorothy and I didn’t tell our hubbys what to expect so they thought they would be ordering off a menu – surprise!!!! We had so much food. And as we were eating someone stopped to listen to a sound coming from clear across the room. Remember that foursome in Santorini that were so loud the entire terrace got to hear them? Well they are having lunch here today as well and as usual - we all know it! We eat until we're stuffed and sadly its time to leave this amazing spot.

 

 

Views from our table....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mel&Ken]

 

 

 

 

 

[Mel&Ken]

After lunch we head down the hill and back to Sorrento. It was a funny ride as now Lenie is against the window and can finally see the cliffs and drop offs and she can’t help but letting out little screams and yelps as we make our way back. It was pretty cute. Once in Sorrento its raining again and the group debates do we want to shop here for 30 minutes and then take the ferry or should we just skip it and have him drive us back? It was a split vote so we stayed. I bought more lemon products for some reason and the time flew by. Next we’re buying ferry tickets and on the roughest, choppiest boat ride of my life. If you were watching out the window, one minute you saw water and the next minute you saw sky. We even saw some crew members of the Reflection on here that were seriously sea sick. It was a long and rough ride.

 

Once you get off the ferry you literally walk across the parking lot to the ship so it was super easy.

 

 

 

 

And now we're on board for the very last leg of our journey. Tonight is dinner in Tuscan Grill so we don't expect to see any of our new friends. We watch the sail away from our balcony and pack up our suitcases as we clean up the room. Every drawer and cupboard seems to have bags of souvenirs in it and we are finding things we forgot we bought. Oh my....we have SO much stuff. We somehow get everything we can into the two bags and have a serious debate about whether or not to pack our headphones. We finally decide if someone wanted to take them they had 11 days of coming in our room to do so and in they went. We left ourselves with only toiletries, tonight's dinner clothes and an outfit to wear to Rome - even that filled a carryon and Ken's backpack.

 

We changed and dressed for dinner and put our bags out in the hall. We then had a very expensive hour. We stopped and bought a ridiculous amount of photos of ourselves, then a watch for Ken's daughter at Michael Kors and finally hit our bar. As we waited for our drinks I went in to visit my ring. Ken followed me in and told Alina we would take it. I was so excited! "Happy Anniversary" Ken said and I walked out with a new bauble and an even bigger grin on my face!!! :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next was our dinner and as usual the Tuscan Grill delivered. We had Carmen as our server - a fitting end as she was our very first server at the Bistro on 5. Notice our outfits? This is what we will wear for the next 3 nights!

 

 

 

 

Of course we stop at the MB for our very last drinks. I should mention that at dinner we sat near a table of 6 men and what I think was 3 couples. Well now as we sat at the bar they come up and sat next to us. We started to talk to them and they were so much fun. You really meet some interesting people on cruises.

 

Tonight there are two VERY drunk women across the bar from us. So drunk in fact that one of them has stolen small rubber balls about the size of a grape from some display case and she is literally bouncing them and throwing them around the bar. It is childish and annoying and these balls are hitting people, landing in drinks and are all over the place. The manager came up to the bar and even got hit in the head but only laughed it off. Finally after a few people said something to them they left.

 

It was honestly one of the best days of my life and Ken and I fell asleep happy and grateful to have had such a wonderful cruise.

 

 

[janetmojo]

It's almost over...sniffle.

[robandlil]

The porch maidens are called Catyadids. (Sp?). I love them too. They speak to me about how hard it can be to be a woman. Yet we do it with strength and beauty.

Loving your review. Thanks you.

[Mel&Ken]

Today was our last morning on board the Reflection. What a beautiful ship. I don’t have many others to compare it to but we were really impressed.

 

We got ready and finished packing up our carry on bags which were loaded to capacity. Not sure how we have accumulated so much stuff. The plan all along is to buy an extra suitcase in Rome as we know for sure we’re both over the weight limit.

 

We left our bags packed in the cabin and headed up for our last buffet breakfast. Can I just say I will miss my fresh squeezed juice every morning – I think the grapefruit has become my favourite. Our designated time to disembark is 8:30 and our transfer to Rome with Rome Cabs is picking us up at 9am.

 

We hear our number called and proceed to the theatre. Not sure why we do this since as soon as we get there they tell us we can get off the ship. Why not just announce that on the P.A and let us skip a step. So we gather all our bags and off we go. Our last swipe past security and we’re down the ramp and into the warehouse packed with luggage.

 

We are number 62 which is on lime green tags and we find the section immediately to our right as soon as we get inside. There are only maybe 10 bags here and our two aren’t in the group. Instantly Ken is upset but I’m not worried. They are probably still coming off the ship or in the wrong area.

 

I looked at the neighbouring areas and no luck. Now I start looking row by row and the farther I get the more my stomach starts to knot. Funny – as I am typing this I can feel my heart beating quicker and my face getting flushed – it brings back quite vivid memories. Someone sees us looking a little lost and asks if they can help. Now they too are looking for our bags. No luck. They then kind of wander off.

 

We keep looking and another person comes to help us – this happens with 4 different people. They all do the same thing – look at all the bags we’ve already looked at and then just slip away quietly. They also start the process by saying “oh you’ve lost your luggage?” which infuriates Ken as WE have not lost anything.

 

At this point Ken is angry and I am assuring him our bags are somewhere – they can’t just be lost. I see more of a dock worker type person (clothing wise) and he was a walkie talkie. We speak to him and he radios the ship to have them check. Of course our bags are just left on the ship. A few minutes later he confirms to us that there are no bags on board. Then he too disappears. Now I am upset. It hits me for the first time just how much stuff is in there. How all our souvenirs are in there, the list of things I have compiled for months and months to buy in each port, it’s all missing. Tears spring to my eyes and I feel the most helpless I have ever felt.

 

Yet another person approaches us and we make a final round through the warehouse. By now there are almost no bags left. It is clear our bags are not here. He says we have to fill out claims for lost luggage. I suddenly realize that our driver is waiting for us and may have even left. I try to leave to tell him why we’re late but the security guard won’t let me go. Finally the guy filling out the forms with Ken speaks to him in Italian and he agrees. Our driver is there and I try to explain why we’re late and why I must go back in and he explains he has another pick up in an hour. I shrug as I don’t know what to tell him. I can’t leave. So I return to the warehouse and I assume he will just leave us. Now I want to go back onboard and speak to someone from Celebrity. Again security doesn’t want me to but now I have tears streaming down my face and really they just want me away from them.

 

Ahhhh guest relations – customer service – this will help right? Nope. She tells me she will call someone to help us look through the bags. I explain that we and 5 others have looked at every single bag – they’re not there. Well then, she explains – you just have to fill out a form. Go back there and fill it out.

 

I head back to the warehouse and Ken is finishing with the forms. It’s a pretty basic form, not numbered or anything – neither of us felt like we actually left with any kind of proof.

 

And that was it. We were told “we’ll call you if we find it” and off we were sent. What a sight we must have been walking down the hallway as people were lined up to board and here we are leaving; Ken with a scowl on his face and me with tears and puffy eyes. I wonder what people must have thought!

 

To our surprise our driver is still standing there. I was amazed. We are at least an hour past our pick up time. He asks where our bags are and we explain. We walk in silence to the car. He has no idea what to say to us and frankly we’re in shock.

 

Just as we get to the car to drive away I see frantic waving – it’s the guys we met last night at the bar. They’re smiling and waving goodbye and I am looking out at the back window like a puppy being taken away from its mother – how I wish I could have explained.

 

The longest hour of my life was the ride to Rome. Ken and I are stunned. We just sit in silence looking out the window. Each of us are mentally calculating what has been lost. We’re not sure what to do next and we really can’t believe it happened. The driver’s phone is ringing off the hook and finally he hands it back to me and says “it’s for you”. Even though it made no sense my first thought was that it was Celebrity with our bags. Instead it is Rome Cabs apologizing about our bags, asking how they can help us, what do we need, who can they call etc. This company is amazing I must say. We were offered more help from them on our ride to Rome than from Celebrity.

 

Our driver calls ahead to the apartment to make sure someone will be there. We are greeted by the owner and we get the keys to our apartment. He compliments us on travelling so light. The apartment is huge and we drop our bags and head out for a cappuccino while the cleaner finishes up.

 

This time we stay in Trastevere on the other side of the river and its lovely. We sit at a café and have a drink. We start remembering things that are in our bags – Ken’s favourite sport sun glasses……my mom’s pyjamas….this is not good thing to do and I try to stop it. Now we head back to the apartment and its clean. I want to call Celebrity back home and we log online and try to find numbers. Everything we found was toll free which does not work in Italy. I posted on Cruise Critic for help ad the support and feedback was wonderful. I finally reach lost luggage and Flower starts a claim for us. I am glad we called as no one told us we had to do this – isn’t that what the form was for?

 

Flower says not worry that they almost always turn up. She takes our cell number and we spend the next three days in Rome waiting for our phone to ring.

 

Before long we have to leave as we have a food tour booked this afternoon. Can I just say this is the LAST thing we want to do but out of respect for Katie we go. Well let the complaining begin. I have left myself with the worst shoes for 3 days in Rome. Ken is pissed off with his sun glasses and his outfit – this is just not what today was supposed to look like.

 

We meet up with Katie and our food tour is “ok”. I am positive that my lack of enthusiasm is due to our situation and not the tour. We really just weren’t in the right frame of mind.

 

We return to the apartment and I check our thread on cruise critic and we have a ton of posts. I must tell you how great it was for us to feel the support and best wishes from everyone. If you ever question whether you should post or you think your posts don’t make a difference I can tell you they do.

 

Next we have concert tickets to hear classical music in the ruins. We put on our clothes from the night before and head over. We were meeting up with Dorothy and her family and when we got there they were shocked at our luggage story. The concert was moved into the church which was a bummer but it was lovely. Afterward we said our goodbyes to our new friends and headed home.

 

I asked Ken if he felt like finding Roma Sparita – the restaurant we ate at in 2011 with the checkered table clothes and edible parmesan bowl. We remembered how to get there and when we found it, it was packed. We got the tourist treatment again – stuck at a table on uneven ground right outside the kitchen doors. I believe the server actually said “let me guess, cacio e pepe in a parmesan bowl?”. Ugh. So yet another great memory of 2011 that didn’t live up to the expectations. The food was good but the experience was not. We both agreed we would not come back.

 

Now we walked back to the apartment, read more good wishes and went to bed. We agreed that we couldn’t let it ruin the next two days for us. After all – it is just STUFF. We have our cash and our passports and really everything we need for two days. Let’s not let it ruin our trip.

 

Having said that – I don’t have any pictures of this day – we decided we’d rather forget it!

[Deb0702]

Oh Melissa, I'm just so sad and sorry about the way your trip ended. And I keep thinking how the money is the least of it all. I know how thoughtfully you planned all your shopping and souvenirs. I'm so sad that you lost your mum's pajamas. Your favorite dressy dress. Important things. I just thank goodness you still have your cameras and all your wonderful pictures.

 

Seriously, you tell us when and where and we'll cruise the Med with you & Ken again. Anytime, East, West, wherever, we are there. We feel like you two are our new friends for life too.

 

We enjoyed some of the very best experiences that cruising has to offer: news places, childhood dreams, spectacular sunsets, a beautiful ship, new friends, romance and bling (lucky girl!). The good was very, very good. But a do-over is needed for a happy ending. :)

[Mel&Ken]

Oh Melissa, I'm just so sad and sorry about the way your trip ended. And I keep thinking how the money is the least of it all. I know how thoughtfully you planned all your shopping and souvenirs. I'm so sad that you lost your mum's pajamas. Your favorite dressy dress. Important things. I just thank goodness you still have your cameras and all your wonderful pictures.

 

Seriously, you tell us when and where and we'll cruise the Med with you & Ken again. Anytime, East, West, wherever, we are there. We feel like you two are our new friends for life too.

 

We enjoyed some of the very best experiences that cruising has to offer: news places, childhood dreams, spectacular sunsets, a beautiful ship, new friends, romance and bling (lucky girl!). The good was very, very good. But a do-over is needed for a happy ending. :)

 

Dorothy.....a do over sounds like a great idea. I think for sure our arms could be twisted. ;)

 

I would be torn though.....while I would hate to go to all the same places I would love a chance to replace all the things we bought. Such tough decisions in our life eh?!

 

We too would welcome the chance to cruise with you and Rick - I am sure that is very much a possibility for us.

 

You're missing out on some snow this weekend. Its been snowing all day here and I think we're up to 6-7 inches - likely more as you move north in Michigan. Don't you miss that?! :p

[AttilaTheFun]

Thank you for the review and beautiful pictures! I am so sorry to hear about your lost bags. I assume Celebrity never found them at this point, but did they offer any compensation? That is insane that they lost them while transferring off the ship, ugh.

[kikki21]

What a great review and pics too - I love food porn pics and my reviews are full of them lol!

 

Not so good about the lost luggage though, OMG! Do you think that someone may have walked off with your luggage, how can you lose luggage off a ship, I hope that Celebrity come through with some compensation for this and I hope you also had travel insurance.

 

We sailed from Rome on the NCL Jade and we went to Ad Hoc, that was a great meal, we had one of the tasting menus. There was also great food to be had in Istanbul at Imbat - great food and views.

 

We are sailing to some of the Greek islands and Athens again in June 2014 and I can't wait!

[njcruisebunny]

So did Celebrity compensate you or did your trip insurance?

We want to do a late disembarkation but now I'm having second thoughts. We are also staying in Rome afterwards.

Great review! Sorry about the luggage.

[shoelover536]

Mel,

 

Thank you for your wonderful review. I'm so sorry about your luggage debacle. I hope it works out and Celebrity is able to help in some way. Do keep us posted (I have followed the other thread).

 

You have given me some great ideas for our upcoming trip which overlaps in some ports (looking into St. John's Resort for Mykonos for examlpe).

 

Your tour in Istanbul sounds great. Would you mind sharing the contact info of the woman from Michigan (I think you said her name was Claire) with whom you had the full day tour?

 

My email is jacquegregory536@gmail DOT com if you are able to share it. It sounded like a great tour.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to do such a wonderful and detailed review!!

 

best,

Jacque

[KellyElisabeth]

Hi Mel,

 

This is such an amazing review - so helpful and in depth! My fiancé and I have booked the same cruise for our honeymoon for next October and we are counting down the days until it is here! I did have one question: do they allow self-disembarkation? We have done this on other cruise lines before but have never sailed with Celebrity and weren't sure if that is an option. I prefer to take my own bags off because it cuts down on the waiting and confusion when getting off, and your story of your bags makes me even more interested in doing this if it's possible.

 

Thanks again for your fantastic review! It will be of a huge help to us in our planning process!

 

Kelly

[Fritzou]

Hi, we were on that same cruise and did self disembarkation. No problems at all and it was a great cruise .

[cynbar]

Mel and Ken --- any news at all? So many of us have been closely following your story.

[pjacksonIII]

thanks for the nice review

[LandR]

Melissa,

Thank you so much for this thorough review! My husband and I are finding it very helpful as we plan our cruise for June. Did you find that it would have been better to be on a specific side of the boat when in ports (with balcony)?

 

Lori

[little miss chatterbox]

Any news on the luggage Mel and ken? I always hate leaving my luggage outside my room on the final night. If someone had taken it by mistake they would have returned it by now?!?! :confused: