Reflection Review - Ultimate Dining, Alcoves, SuperBowl and Photos(2/1/14)

[themutis]

A little background:

 

My hope was to take lots of photos and create a nice blog… I didn't take quite as many pictures as I had hoped, my cruise just got in the way (or maybe it was the wine :)). While I am writing, back home in NJ, a blizzard is raging outside and I am really missing our time on the Reflection.

 

 

This was our thirteenth cruise overall and our first as Elite on Celebrity. DH and I are in our early 50’s. Our last three cruises have been in Aqua Class cabins, but the price point for a guaranteed balcony on this cruise was too hard to pass up ($899.00 pp. including the classic drink package, prepaid gratuities and a 75 OBC) The cheapest Aqua Class cabin was 900.00 more for the cruise and we figured we could use that money for the Ultimate Dining package and to book an Alcove for a couple of days.

 

This trip will be a dedicated ship trip. We are not planning on leaving the ship at all. We’ve been to all the ports before and have decided to just relax and enjoy the ship (call us crazy but we like the ship when everyone else is gone).

 

Pre Cruise:

 

Usually we chance it and fly in the morning of the cruise, but with this winter being so bad, we decided to fly in the day before the cruise. Cab fare from the airport to the hotel was $28 plus tip. I had thought it was supposed to be a flat rate, but the driver said the flat rate was to the port and not to downtown. Either way, it was reasonable.

 

Through Hotwire, we got a decent deal on the Intercontential Miami. The hotel is located in a nice area of downtown Miami with views of the port and next to the Bayside Marketplace. Our room was spectacular, overlooking the bay and the ships in port. Staff was helpful and friendly. We would definitely stay here again pre-cruise.

 

 

DH forgot his flip-flops so on a beautiful Miami afternoon we walked over the Bayside Marketplace to pick up a pair. From the hotel you walk through the Bay Front Park to get to the Bayside Marketplace. It's a nice little park. While there, we decided to have a drink and subsequently diner at Mambos. We enjoyed dinner very much sitting at a waterside table. Mofongo and Roast Pork put us in a Cuban mood.

 

The area was buzzing, as the Miami Marathon was this weekend.

 

Looking forward to boarding Reflection tomorrow!

[themutis]

Woke to another beautiful day in Miami and a great view of the Celebrity Reflection.

 

 

We headed to the Bayside Marketplace for breakfast and then across the street for a last minute trip to CVS.

 

Taxi fare from the hotel to the port was 10 plus tip. We left the hotel at 10:45 and were inside the terminal by 11:00.

 

We wanted to book the Ultimate Dining package, and with recent posts about it selling out, I wanted to get on board as soon as possible.

 

There was a bit of a line for regular check-in, but the Elite check-in was empty and we were checked in by 11:15. The ship was NOT ready yet, so we were shown to a waiting section for Elite. Once the ship was opened, Aqua and Suite guest boarded first, then Elite. We entered the ship around noon.

 

After the customary mimosas, we went right to the specialty dining table inside the entrance. We were second in line, but the line quickly filled in behind us and they sent others to Murano to be helped.

 

We had previously booked 5 individual dining reservation but switched over to the Ultimate Dining Packages and booked all our dinner reservations on the spot. We were able to get all the times we requested (mostly at 8:00 but two at 7:30) It took about 20 minutes in total. We also upgraded to the Premium drink package.

 

With our Ultimate Dining and Premium Drink package in hand, we headed to The Porch for lunch. I particularly enjoy this spot for lunch. The view is great and we enjoy the salads and sandwiches.

 

We started with a nice Chardonnay and a Corona.

 

 

DH had the Tomato Soup

 

 

We both had a Caesar Salad

 

 

DH had the Italian Panini (which quickly became on of my favorites)

 

 

I had the Caprese Panini

 

[themutis]

Here is the drink menu from The Porch

 

 

[gsb]

Here is the drink menu from The Porch

 

 

 

Not many, if any, "good" beers on here--wonder why?

[Jaime1958]

Home on a snowy day in NH. Enjoying your review of the Reflection. husband and I are booked on this ship for 02/15;however, having cruised mostly on RCCL including Allure/Oasis and once on Millenium I am concerned that the Reflection will lack in entertainment. Can you tell me if the Reflection had pool side band, bingo, and good entertainment overall? Thanks!

[mitttocs]

Home on a snowy day in NH. Enjoying your review of the Reflection. husband and I are booked on this ship for 02/15;however, having cruised mostly on RCCL including Allure/Oasis and once on Millenium I am concerned that the Reflection will lack in entertainment. Can you tell me if the Reflection had pool side band, bingo, and good entertainment overall? Thanks!

 

Hi, I am just off last week's Reflection sailing. Fantastic cruise from beginning to end, and I thought the entertainment was varied, plentiful, and for the most part, very good. In particular, the two big shows that happened to be on Saturday and Thursday nights were spectacular and not to be missed. Singers were outstanding. There was another evening show with an illusionist, others involving awesome aerial acts and contortionist, and several times during the week at 11 pm, there was an "adult" variety show, which I understand was somewhat tame, though I did not see it personally.

 

This was my 4th cruise on Celebrity, and I noticed a definite uptick in the amount of smaller "acts" throughout the week, especially in and around the 3rd floor Grand Foyer. These consisted of cover bands, the a cappela group, and other small groupings, and often times would go on for 45 minutes, followed quickly by the next group.

 

All in all, as mentioned, I thought the entertainment had definitely been ramped up this time around.

[themutis]

I am concerned that the Reflection will lack in entertainment. Can you tell me if the Reflection had pool side band, bingo, and good entertainment overall? Thanks!

 

We have never been on an Royal Caribbean cruise, so I cannot comment on that. And we usually don't attend much of the entertainment that is offered.

 

In looking through the dailies (which I'm hoping to scan and post here), they did have Bingo on all sea days. There was trivia every day if you like that.

 

By the pool they had dance classes, zumba, a DJ and sometimes a band. They had an Xtreme Race as well that lasted several days. There was some entertainment in the Sunset bar, and they had a Wine and Cheese concert on the lawn one night.

 

A party band every night in the Grand Foyer, with other groups performing there as well as the Ensemble Lounge and Sky lounge.

 

There never seemed to be a lacking of entertainment or things to do, if that is what you wanted.

[gsb]

We have never been on an Royal Caribbean cruise, so I cannot comment on that. And we usually don't attend much of the entertainment that is offered.

 

You have not seen "entertainment" until you've been on the Allure or Oasis. We've been on 6 Celebrity cruises and many RCL's including 2 Oasis. The quantity, variety and quality is unmatched.

So much you can do prescheduling before you cruise

to enable to see most things you want to see.

Simply amazing.

 

Celebrity is good, but not to be compared with the above.

[themutis]

After lunch at the Porch, they announced that our cabins were ready, so we headed down to check it out.

 

We had booked a guarantee balcony and were assigned 6103. This cabin has the balcony setback a bit from the edge. I actually liked this as it provided shade.

 

In a nutshell, would I book this cabin willingly again, no. Not because of it’s far front position (2nd from the front) since we usually like the extra exercise, but because on nights when the sea was rough there was some noise from the waves hitting the ship and when in port there is an access door/hoist below. This really didn’t both us much at all, but if I had a choice, I would move a few more cabins in.

 

Our two attendants, Patricio and Isreal, were great. They kept our room in shape and always seemed excited to see us ☺

 

 

 

 

Outside our Balcony one morning, and the cause of some morning noise

[themutis]

We found a spot on the Solstice deck and relaxed until the Muster drill. After the Muster drill we headed to the Sunset Bar for a beautiful sail away with live music by Riley. We enjoyed his performance as we watched Miami fade away.

 

Back to the room to unpack, shower and change.

 

Before dinner we went to Cellar Master where I ordered a glass of Cakebread Chardonnay. I had previously had it on Summit and enjoyed it very much.

 

When I was given a bill for $14.00, I thought the waiter didn’t realize I had the Premium package and inquired about it. He said this was the difference as the wine was 27.00 a glass. The price on Summit was $15.00/glass (this was in August 2013), and on Reflection it was $27.00/glass. I had heard that drink prices went up, but this seemed a bit extreme. However, I enjoyed my final glass of Cakebread and we headed to Michael's for a beer.

 

Dinner tonight was in Murano, and all I can say is wow. I was little nervous after our last trip on the Summit where we were underwhelmed by Murano, but on this trip the service and food was exceptional.

 

Our Server was Emma and she was fantastic. We started with their unique butter pyramid and bread that is a combo between a breadstick and a baquette.

 

 

DH had the Smoked Salmon & Peekytoe Crab Parfait

 

 

I had the Phyllo Baked Anjou Pear with Roquefort Cheese

 

 

Now this is where my photojournalism falls apart – I was just enjoying myself too much and completely forgot to take pictures of the rest of dinner… but we enjoyed the Cateaubriand for Two prepared table side (Husband saying it was an incredible piece of meat). After dinner we opted for the cheese course instead of dessert. The selection of cheeses was great and it was nice ending to a great evening. We finished with an Irish Coffee for myself and a glass of Port for Art.

 

After dinner we headed back to Micheals for a wine and scotch before bed.

 

A great first day.

[packercruising]

Looking forward to the rest of the review. It's a bit depressing realizing that in a few weeks we will be done with our cruise.

[Cruiser21]

Great review. Its nice to hear they have entertainment up at the the sunset bar again. We were on in Jan and they had none the entire week. Last year it was Ben and Riley singing and it gave the bar a different feel. I am glad its back.

[themutis]

Its nice to hear they have entertainment up at the the sunset bar again

 

It wasn't every day, but probably 3 times during the trip that Riley setup and sang. We did enjoy him, but I would have really enjoyed it if he also came back later in the night. On the Summit in August, Harry performed most nights at the end of the night at the Sunset bar. It was a great spot to end the evening with a final cocktail.

[themutis]

This was our first Elite Cruise and we were happy with the Elite Coupons. We used both Wash, Dry, and Fold, both pressing, and both free internet coupons. My intention was to use both Persian Garden coupons (as DH doesn't enjoy it), but my relaxing got in the way and I just never got there. Here they are along with the welcoming letter:

 

 

We attended the Elite Breakfast twice, and enjoyed it. And we also went to the Senior Officers Cocktail Party.

 

 

 

Our first Elite Event! We headed to Tuscan Grill for the Captains Club Breakfast and were greeted by the Captains Club hostess Rachel. Rachel is absolutely delightful. She is welcoming, up beat, and always reminding us of what events she had planned for us. We would ultimately refer to her as “This is Rachel”, from the many voicemail reminders that she left on our phone.

 

Breakfast for me was yogurt, fruit, and a smoothie. DH had lots of salmons, a bagel, some meats and cheeses. Coffees were a latte and an Amercano. We enjoyed the quiet setting and service. For me, I would have loved if they had a warm egg dish (as opposed to chopped or hard cooked eggs). If they had one warm dish, I think we would have eaten here everyday.

 

Besides specialty coffees, Sparkling Wine, Mimosas, Bellinis, and Bloody Marys were available free of charge.

 

 

[dln929]

I am so glad you're writing this report! We're on the Reflection next Saturday and like you, this is our first time as Elite. And like you, we're escaping from the snow and cold. Thanks and keep it coming. :D

[themutis]

Holy Wind. It was so windy out today, it was near impossible to sit on any of the outside decks. We tried to go up to the Soltice deck, and I literally had to hold on so I didn’t blow away. We headed into the Solarium and found two nice chairs and spent the morning there. This is such a nice quiet spot.

 

For Lunch we headed to the Bistro. Sorry no pictures. But I had the Chopped Salad, Art had the Nicoise Salad, and we split a Tuscan Sun crepe. All very enjoyable.

 

After lunch we headed back to Deck 15 (1 above the outdoor pool) and found shaded chairs past the Mast Grill. I'm of Irish heritage and if exposed to the sun I will self-combust :). They were fairly protected from the wind. We personally don’t like sitting near the pool. It’s loud with lots of bodies and we prefer a quieter place. I'm sure some of you reading this are thinking, these people are so boring. But we work hard at home and on vacation we eat, drink, read and relax.

 

We headed back to the room around 4 to shower and get ready for the Super Bowl. Our original thought was to head to Michael’s and watch the game there, but when we arrived there was already a group in matching t-shirts that had commandeered all the chairs even though only a handful of their group was there (don’t get me started on chair hogs). We looked around for a couple of minutes trying to find a spot when finally a woman from the group came over and said, “She has decided to let you use these two chairs”…. And I’m like who the heck is “She” that has this kind of power…. Well by this point, all we wanted was to get as far away from these people as we could, so we headed to the Theatre to check it out.

 

The way I look at it, everything happens for a reason as the Theatre turned out to be great. They had the theatre decorated, food in the back (burgers, dogs, wings), and drink service at your seat. The theatre attracted a good crowd, and beside the most god awful super bowl ever, it was a good time. We sat with a group of guys who have made the super bowl cruise an annual trip and had fun with them. For the first time, Celebrity splurged and purchased the commercials. This really made the whole experience great.

 

 

At halftime, we bolted to Qsine. On arriving I let the Maître d know we had about 45 minutes to complete our entire dinner. He was very accommodating – getting our menus immediately, letting our servers know, and getting our food out quickly. I was very impressed.

 

We had drinks and our first course in about 5 minutes… very impressed.

 

We started with the Sushi Lollipops and Treseviche. Both were great. Next can the Lava Crab (A personal fav) and then the Painter’s Mignon.

 

Again, my photojournalist prof would be embarrassed as I neglected to take any photos.

 

On the way back to the theatre, we passed the Molecular bar and stopped to pickup a cocktail since they too were showing the super bowl.

 

I ordered the Dragon Fly and DH ordered a Mambo… if you order the Mambo, be fore warned that the red items floating in it are pepper. DH loves pepper, so it worked for him.

 

 

 

We went back to the theatre to watch the end of the most god awful super bowl ever and enjoyed the rest of the evening. After the game we stopped at the Molecular bar for two more drinks and then hit the Ensemble Lounge for our final drink of the evening.

 

On returning to the cabin we found a nice flower arrangement that had been sent by our captains club hostess “This is Rachel”.

 

[themutis]

I am so glad you're writing this report! We're on the Reflection next Saturday and like you, this is our first time as Elite. And like you, we're escaping from the snow and cold. Thanks and keep it coming. :D

 

So so jealous... wish we could go back. Over a foot of snow here today :(

[vedettes1]

How god-awful the Super Bowl was depends upon your point of view. Everyone I know enjoyed it immensely. :D

[themutis]

How god-awful the Super Bowl was depends upon your point of view. Everyone I know enjoyed it immensely. :D

 

Congrats!!!! Ha, so true... If you are a Sea Hawks fan it was probably the best game ever.

 

We had no vested interest and were hoping for a competitive game, so in that respect it was lacking a bit.

 

Congrats again... it's a great feeling!!! (We are Giants fans :))

[gsb]

Great review!

How were the beers in Michael's Club?

[themutis]

We had ordered breakfast the night before and were awoken by a phone call from our steward Patricio, letting us know he was on his way.

 

Here is a copy of the breakfast menu for a standard balcony room. Interesting now that they have items that they charge for.

 

 

DH likes oatmeal, which wasn’t on the menu, so I just wrote it in, and voila, it arrived like magic with a nice cup of brown sugar as well. Scramble eggs and bacon for me, OJ and big pot of coffee on our balcony. I can’t think of a nicer way to start the day.

 

[themutis]

Great review!

How were the beers in Michael's Club?

 

The beers at Michaels Club are outstanding. Any beer you can think of they have. If you have the Premium Drink package you can try anything there and only pay the difference. If you enjoy beer, you will enjoy this space.

 

The room reminds me of a bar at a nice country club. It's quiet in there and we enjoyed our time that way.

[IrishLassie]

Enjoying your review & pictures very much. If you don't mind me asking, what was the rate for the hotel near the port that you stayed at before the cruise? We've never sailed out of Miami but I would like to go on Reflection at some point.

We're also originally from NJ, Cape May & Wildwood. :)

[themutis]

I loved having an Alcove! I know I will be in the minority here and that lots of people hate them, but for us, it was just great.

 

This was our first of three Alcove days. After our first day, I tried to reserve them for the two remaining sea days, but they were sold out. I really would have loved to have one for the rest of the week, but we enjoyed the days we had.

 

This was a windy day and we were unable to have the shade opened until around 4:00pm when we landed in San Juan. That being said, we were always able to find a shady place in our Alcove… go figure.

 

Sun

 

 

And Shade

 

 

The staff that took excellent care of us (Chris, Oscar, Jayson, and Shubert) were absolutely wonderful. The kept our ice bucket filled with ice, brought water, any drinks we wanted, and finally the cheese and fruit platter.

 

 

Two of the Alcoves had no covers on them. When I asked Chris about it, he said two guests had opened their shades after being told it was too windy and the shade broke. During the day, they did replace these shades.

 

We enjoyed our morning, reading and relaxing.

[themutis]

Enjoying your review & pictures very much. If you don't mind me asking, what was the rate for the hotel near the port that you stayed at before the cruise? We've never sailed out of Miami but I would like to go on Reflection at some point.

We're also originally from NJ, Cape May & Wildwood. :)

 

 

We booked through hotwire at a rate of 170+tax. I was looking at hotels near the airport and couldn't find anything under 140.00 for a decent hotel, so I took a chance on hotwire. It was great being downtown, we enjoyed our time there.