Celebrity Reflection E Mediterranean 4 Aug 2014

[4Mast]

I have copied the format used by sunluva7 for their review of the same cruise.

 

PRE-CRUISE: We flew to Rome three days in advance from UK to give a chance to visit places such as the Vatican, St Peters, Colosseum and were collected from the airport and had our first taste of Rome - the driver gave us a tour of the city while talking to us (its a bit curious that Italians seem to have an issue about speaking without waving hands -and interesting while they drive !)

 

EMBARKATION:

We were collected from the Rome Hotel and were driven directly to the ship. Usual process and no difficulty at all. We were soon on board and waited in the Hideway until our room (stateroom ; cabin ?) was ready.

 

STATEROOM: The room was pleasantly decorated -a sofa next to the balcony door then the double bed and near the door the pleasant and surprisingly well fitted bathroom. There was plenty of storage space (we do travel light but I think that most would not have a problem) In the bathroom the shower was a half-moon shape with sliding glass doors and there was plenty of room.

 

DINING:

 

Oceanview Cafe: breakfast lunch were adequate with stations with a good range of choice. The pizza, pasta stations were well liked by our kids although they did use other stations as they liked the variety available. The 'no tray' buffet worked well and I rarely saw anyone with a plate piled high - you could always go back for more! I did find that the offerings became a little repetitive towards the end of the cruise but I suppose that is the case for most restaurants.

 

Mast Grill: Simple burgers and hot dogs - no fixings - but Ok

 

The Porch - $7 cover charge - Paninis and salads -went down well with us and a good use if the space -however its only open until 3pm - perhaps it could become a quiet bar at night? The times we had lunch there it was poorly attended - a pity we felt.

 

Bistro on 5 - $7 cover charge - much the same as the Porch - but enjoyable and good wait staff.

 

Bars: The Sunset Bar,at the stern - was good place to enjoy a drink and I always found a good atmosphere here. The Sky Lounge - we always found this fairly empty and were told that it could get busy around mid-night. Ensemble Lounge and environs - what can I say - decor must be to someones taste (?) -perhaps I would have enjoyed had I been on something!

 

Café al Bacio: Not a great coffee drinker but it was enjoyable - although my girls tell me the hot chocolate was not up to much.

 

DRESS CODE: On the whole people were in the evening dressed casual but well - I did see a few in jeans and shorts but very much a minority. I never saw any one in the restaurants in beach/pool wear. Formal nights (we do not partake) saw some in Tux but most in suits (some looked as if they were going to the office!) some jeans ; shirt sleeves were also seen.

 

ENTERTAINMENT

I think that the theater shows tried to present something for everyone - from a (very good) pianist to full production shows (when attending one of these try to get a seat behind the sound desk ; the antics of the operator is entertainment in itself!)

Reflection (song and dance production show): was good and did entertain very well- my girls tell me that they did enjoy the performance but unfortunately the girl singers killed the songs - I suppose it just depends upon the audience.

 

 

Danny (Guitar and vocal):A good guitar and vocal act, who appeared in different venues.

 

Sol Provider: Played in the atrium (floor 3 ) in the evenings and did supply the mainstay of the evenings entertainment there. A team that seemed to be good at what they did. The performance commenced around 6pm and as the atrium is open to the top they could be heard on all the floors that opened onto the atrium - but not in the accommodation areas. We found that the music was not over loud and was enjoyable.

 

Indeed we found that the most annoyingly loud music was by the pool.

 

The ships Orchestra -led by 'Big Dave' - performed more than adequately for several shows.

 

For those who are interested the jogging track is a bit of a joke as its OK early morning but as people start to use the sun loungers and move about it can get a bit congested.

 

The Lawn: Pleasant but why? It needs tending and sea air cannot be the best for it (lawns on ships ?). The cabanas -we saw a couple in use but is it good use of space as far as most customers are concerned?

 

My wife and one daughter did enjoy attending art classes on sea days and thought that the host was very personable.

 

PORTS:

 

ROME:

 

Vatican Garden Tour: We pre-booked the Vatican Garden Tour and presented ourselves around 8:50 a.m (early to help avoid crowds). The gardens (do not think flowers but more a park) takes up about 2/3 of the Vatican property and the walk was very enjoyable. After we went to the Vatican Cafe for lunch - straightforward food and a reasonable price- pizza etc. and from there did a self guided tour of the Vatican (the tour ticket allowed entry) and took the 'short route' to the Sistine Chapel (its still a good walk and passes through the Raphael rooms etc). Following that we visited St Peters (we had been looking at the back of the dome while touring the gardens).

 

St Peters - Had to line up (quick moving) and pass through security to enter the square and from there into the basilica itself - well worth a visit even if just to admire the space. We also took the option of going up to the top of the dome - You pay €5 to go all the way up by stairs or €7 to miss the first 200 or so by using the elevator. Its a claustrophobic journey but once at the top (and it would be difficult to go much further) you are in the smallish 'veranda' that can be seen near the very top.

 

Coliseum Underground Tour: We pre-booked an underground and 3rd level tour - €9 - and as it was the first Sunday of the month entry to the Colosseum was free to all -beware of crowds-get there early.

 

Cruise Stops

 

SANTORINI: A tender port. We did not book a celebrity or any other tour for this stop as we thought them expensive; not value for money and we have no interest in a winery tour. We caught the local bus to Oia after using the cablecar (€5) to get up the cliff. Celebrity issues tickets for disembarking and its advisable to go to the issue point early to get tickets (some were in line around 9am)for one of the first lots -we knew there were other ships in port but also knew that they had arrived well before Reflection hence it would be unlikely that there would be a large line for the cable car. We were off the ship quickly and straight onto a cable car- Oia is a popular but attractive place and features in many of the photographs of Santorini

 

ISTANBUL:

 

Having in the past visited Istanbul for a few days we again did our own thing here - besides we are well aware of the carpet sales issue that seems to accompany tours. The Reflection moored near Istanbul Modern which is on the Asian side while much of what people want (Topkapi; Blue Mosque; Hagia Sophia Museum) is on the European side. From our stateroom we had a view of the Topkapi Palace; Blue Mosque etc. There were Taxis available almost as soon as you got off the ship and it cost € 10 to Topkapi -we also find it an interesting walk which we did on return). One thing we did note was that some were turned away at the Topkapi gate as they has not purchased entry tickets - the ticket office is about 150 yds away from the gate. We toured Topkapi palce and then purchased lunch and while under the restaurant awning the heavens opened -thunder ; lightning;rain - was someone giving me a message as I was about to go to the Blue Mosque? The street vendors magically started selling umbrellas.

 

For our second morning at Istanbul we had though of visiting the Rahmi M Koç Museum but as it was again raining (it seems to be quite good at that) we visited Dolambache Palace which is on the Asian side and a short way from the ship. As sparse Topkapi is Dolambache Palace is more modern and quite ornate.

 

KUSADASI:

 

Ephesus Tour: We pre-booked a tour to Ephesus which was as expected hot, humid and crowded - but not as bad as when we last visited. Suncream,water, hat, sunglasses. good footwear is recommended.

 

The tour also included a visit to a ''theme park'' in reality a tourist shoping centre where every now and again a short mock fight between two gladiators is held - do not rush to visit. Declined the carpet presentation.

 

We do like the port at Kusadasi as it has shops etc withing the port itself

 

 

MYKONAS: We thought about staying on the ship, since we do not like beaches but in the end did go ashore and wandered around the town and its side streets for a couple of hours. A windy day and waves were breaking over the front as we walked along - some restaurants have tables right on the edge of the front - can make it interesting.

 

ATHENS:

We thought again of staying onboard but in the end caught the X80 bus (€4)to near the Acropolis -visited the site and then headed back to the ship for a lazy afternoon.

 

NAPLES:

We booked the ships tour to Pompei (the guide informed that its only one 'i') and had a good tour of the site given the time available. The guide was excellent and we found the site well worth a visit.

 

DISEMBARKATION AND FLIGHT HOME:

We left the ship at 09:30 and waited only a few minutes for our taxi cab to the airport.

 

Would we sail on Celebrity Reflection again - YES - my family loved every minute

Edited August 17, 2014 by 4Mast

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[RJHNorthyorks]

Thanks for your review. We sail August 25 th.

[bvocruise]

Nice review! Which hotel did you stay at in Rome? Would you recommend it?

[drarill]

Great review!! thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us!

:)

[sunluva7]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I agree that the noise by the main pool was deafening and exactly our reason for spending our time at the quieter Solarium. We got caught in the same rain in Istanbul after leaving Hagia Sophia. The umbrella vendors seemed to appear out of nowhere ... it was quite amusing. Glad you had a great cruise!

[EagleRocker]

Thank you for your review. Lots of helpful info for our trip next year, so much appreciated.