January 3 Reflection Review: Horrible Cruise

[Seabourn Pearls]

Just kidding.

 

We loved it. Every minute of it. It's hard for me to fathom how anybody could take a ride around the Caribbean on the Reflection and not have a great time. We weren't ready to get off.

 

I'm going to do a list of the things we really liked or that exceeded our expectations. Then I'll nitpick and throw out a few suggestions for improvement.

 

1. The public bathrooms. They're cool. They're clean. They smell good. I loved the riddles above the urinals. The first time you discover the automatic slider to the Lawn Club restrooms feels like a scene from Bond, James Bond.

 

2. The Buffet. We're not buffet people but we thought the offerings at the Oceanview Café were terrific. We had no trouble finding plenty of items to our liking.

 

3. The Music. We loved the hip, groovy vibe throughout the ship. I'll agree with others who have complained that at certain times the atmosphere would benefit if the volume were dropped down just a notch or two. But, to us, music is make or break to finding a place to hang out. We thought Reflection had a great sense of how the music should build during the day from very chilly almost ambient beats early in the day to a little bit more of a beat in the afternoon to a good party/dance vibe after dark.

 

We also enjoyed Stan the Pan Man - especially when he was tapping out Zeppelin and Aerosmith, Five O'clock Somewhere, the Soulful Electronica Duo around the Martini Bar, the jazz quartet in the Ensemble Lounge and especially the big band swing sound of the orchestra.

 

4. Lighting -- I believe luck, timing and lighting are the three most important things in life -- with lighting the most often neglected. Reflection's designers understand lighting. All around the ship there are a lot of very thoughtful ideas about how to use lighting to create the right mood.

 

5. Room Steward - Is there anything better than returning to find your cabin all spiffed up? We had Michelle. She was awesome.

 

6. The Sunset Bar -- Sunset. A view of the propeller wash. Great furniture layout. Good music. Meeting new people. And a group of flower shirted dudes wryly delivering any libation you desire. I couldn't spend enough time at the Sunset Bar. I've never seen a better vacation venue for hanging out and knocking back a few cocktails. Take me back there now.

 

7. Café Al Bacio - Great coffee. Great atmosphere. Great service.

 

8. Anytime dining - Never a problem. Minimal wait if any. Not having a schedule on vacation....priceless.

 

9. Meeting New People - Hello Dave, Lorraine, Mark, Jerry, Scott, Cindy, Bruce, Rosemary and many more. There were a ton of nice people on board. I wish we could have met more of you.

 

10. The Captain's voice. My half Greek wife loved the accent. It was somehow both pleasant and reassuring. She had a chance to meet him and let's just say Captain Pappas is a very serious man.

 

11. Flair Bartending -- We'd seen it on YouTube and were expecting it to be cheesy. And maybe it is. But it was still fun seeing a dozen-drink pyramid filled without missing a drop and it never failed to send a jolt into the crowd. We loved it.

 

12. My wife won $1,300 playing roulette. It was even more delightful because the pit boss was a miserable hag.

 

13. Crowding - We never really felt crowded. The main pool was a zoo but that wasn't our scene so we just avoided it. The AquaSpa café was also overrun and we might have liked that. But by and large we had no trouble finding a little space, peace or quiet.

 

I could go on. I'd love to hear what others love about cruising on Celebrity. Please chime in.

 

A few suggestions......

 

1. Cocktail Hour Snacks - From say 4-7pm I'd like to go down to the Oceanview Café and find a station of cocktail hour snacks - some olives, some nuts, some wasabi peas, a snack mix, perhaps some decent cheeses and an assortment of crackers. It would be nice to grab a couple of small bowls or plates and bring them up to the sunset bar or your cabin for snacks to go with drinks before dinner.

 

2. Atrium Microphone Barking -- the atrium is a bad place for trivia, dance classes, game shows....basically any event that involves a lot of loud talking into a microphone. When that stuff is happening it shuts down the Hideaway, the Library, Café Al Bacio, the Passport Bar, Gest Services and so forth. It would be better to relocate it to a confined space like the Skyview Lounge or Celebrity Central or even the Conference Center.

 

3. Main Pool - Okay, this was not our scene. It was noisy, greasy and jammed with humanity.

 

4. The Grass -- It was a clever idea and a great marketing ploy. But the grass, IMHO, is a colossal waste of precious space. It requires a ton of maintenance, is often roped off, and is underutilized. I think it's time to reimagine that space, perhaps with a fountain or reflecting pool (ha, get it) or some other water feature that might relieve some of the crowding by the main pool.

 

5. Art - I found the art on board underwhelming.

 

6. The Red Rose - It should be thrown overboard.

 

I wish I was back on board right now.

[vulcan1971]

Just kidding.

 

 

 

We loved it. Every minute of it. It's hard for me to fathom how anybody could take a ride around the Caribbean on the Reflection and not have a great time. We weren't ready to get off.

 

 

 

I'm going to do a list of the things we really liked or that exceeded our expectations. Then I'll nitpick and throw out a few suggestions for improvement.

 

 

 

1. The public bathrooms. They're cool. They're clean. They smell good. I loved the riddles above the urinals. The first time you discover the automatic slider to the Lawn Club restrooms feels like a scene from Bond, James Bond.

 

 

 

2. The Buffet. We're not buffet people but we thought the offerings at the Oceanview Café were terrific. We had no trouble finding plenty of items to our liking.

 

 

 

3. The Music. We loved the hip, groovy vibe throughout the ship. I'll agree with others who have complained that at certain times the atmosphere would benefit if the volume were dropped down just a notch or two. But, to us, music is make or break to finding a place to hang out. We thought Reflection had a great sense of how the music should build during the day from very chilly almost ambient beats early in the day to a little bit more of a beat in the afternoon to a good party/dance vibe after dark.

 

 

 

We also enjoyed Stan the Pan Man - especially when he was tapping out Zeppelin and Aerosmith, Five O'clock Somewhere, the Soulful Electronica Duo around the Martini Bar, the jazz quartet in the Ensemble Lounge and especially the big band swing sound of the orchestra.

 

 

 

4. Lighting -- I believe luck, timing and lighting are the three most important things in life -- with lighting the most often neglected. Reflection's designers understand lighting. All around the ship there are a lot of very thoughtful ideas about how to use lighting to create the right mood.

 

 

 

5. Room Steward - Is there anything better than returning to find your cabin all spiffed up? We had Michelle. She was awesome.

 

 

 

6. The Sunset Bar -- Sunset. A view of the propeller wash. Great furniture layout. Good music. Meeting new people. And a group of flower shirted dudes wryly delivering any libation you desire. I couldn't spend enough time at the Sunset Bar. I've never seen a better vacation venue for hanging out and knocking back a few cocktails. Take me back there now.

 

 

 

7. Café Al Bacio - Great coffee. Great atmosphere. Great service.

 

 

 

8. Anytime dining - Never a problem. Minimal wait if any. Not having a schedule on vacation....priceless.

 

 

 

9. Meeting New People - Hello Dave, Lorraine, Mark, Jerry, Scott, Cindy, Bruce, Rosemary and many more. There were a ton of nice people on board. I wish we could have met more of you.

 

 

 

10. The Captain's voice. My half Greek wife loved the accent. It was somehow both pleasant and reassuring. She had a chance to meet him and let's just say Captain Pappas is a very serious man.

 

 

 

11. Flair Bartending -- We'd seen it on YouTube and were expecting it to be cheesy. And maybe it is. But it was still fun seeing a dozen-drink pyramid filled without missing a drop and it never failed to send a jolt into the crowd. We loved it.

 

 

 

12. My wife won $1,300 playing roulette. It was even more delightful because the pit boss was a miserable hag.

 

 

 

13. Crowding - We never really felt crowded. The main pool was a zoo but that wasn't our scene so we just avoided it. The AquaSpa café was also overrun and we might have liked that. But by and large we had no trouble finding a little space, peace or quiet.

 

 

 

I could go on. I'd love to hear what others love about cruising on Celebrity. Please chime in.

 

 

 

A few suggestions......

 

 

 

1. Cocktail Hour Snacks - From say 4-7pm I'd like to go down to the Oceanview Café and find a station of cocktail hour snacks - some olives, some nuts, some wasabi peas, a snack mix, perhaps some decent cheeses and an assortment of crackers. It would be nice to grab a couple of small bowls or plates and bring them up to the sunset bar or your cabin for snacks to go with drinks before dinner.

 

 

 

2. Atrium Microphone Barking -- the atrium is a bad place for trivia, dance classes, game shows....basically any event that involves a lot of loud talking into a microphone. When that stuff is happening it shuts down the Hideaway, the Library, Café Al Bacio, the Passport Bar, Gest Services and so forth. It would be better to relocate it to a confined space like the Skyview Lounge or Celebrity Central or even the Conference Center.

 

 

 

3. Main Pool - Okay, this was not our scene. It was noisy, greasy and jammed with humanity.

 

 

 

4. The Grass -- It was a clever idea and a great marketing ploy. But the grass, IMHO, is a colossal waste of precious space. It requires a ton of maintenance, is often roped off, and is underutilized. I think it's time to reimagine that space, perhaps with a fountain or reflecting pool (ha, get it) or some other water feature that might relieve some of the crowding by the main pool.

 

 

 

5. Art - I found the art on board underwhelming.

 

 

 

6. The Red Rose - It should be thrown overboard.

 

 

 

I wish I was back on board right now.

 

 

Thanks for your entertaining and enlightening review. I'm glad to hear the Reflection is still as wonderful as I remember from 2013.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6 Plus on the T-Mobile 4G LTE Network using Tapatalk Pro

[suizas]

What type of room were you in and would you recommend? Also, you mentioned the main pool was a little crazy... Are there other options?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[elena7seas]

You really hooked me in with the title to your thread. I was thinking....how could ANY Celebrity cruise be horrible? So glad you had a great time.

 

Thanks for posting your entertaining review.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Thanks for your review. Glad you had a good time.

 

I agree with your comments about the atrium. And they don't necessarily have to throw the red rose overboard, but they could relocate it somewhere where it's not taking up valuable real estate.

 

I'll let you in on a secret. We found decent crackers (Carr's), real cheese, and olives in the buffet. Think it was more around lunch time. We just loaded up a platter or two and took them to the room to save for cocktail hour (we had two 1A cabins side by side, so were able to have cocktails on the balcony).

 

Linda

 

[Andy]

Thank you for your enjoyable and informative review. Glad you had a great time on Reflection. Welcome Home !

[Queen of Oakville]

I really don't remember the red rose?

 

 

It was mid-week before hubby found the afternoon sushi. Every night he'd come back to the cabin to get read for dinner with a beer and a plate of sushi. I always seemed to hit it too early before anything was put out. I always had the intention to get a cheese plate to with a glass of wine while getting dressed for dinner. never happened.

 

oh well, I have my silhouette cruise to look forward to!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Seabourn Pearls]

What type of room were you in and would you recommend? Also, you mentioned the main pool was a little crazy... Are there other options?

 

We had cabin 8252, category 1A. It was first off the hump so the largest balcony in the veranda category. Very close to elevators. Very convenient.

 

Balcony was HUGE. Because it was just astern of the hump it was shielded from the wind. Given the depth it was easy to slid back towards the sliders if you wanted to avoid the sun.

 

That said, the balcony was big enough to accommodate better furniture....loungers, a small dining table, at the very least some foot rests. In the absence of an upgraded furniture configuration I would probably opt for category 2A - deck 7 on the hump. Same convenient location, more compact balcony, better views forward, and a savings of $50-$80.

[C 2 C]

Great summary of life onboard... Including the Red Rose..

 

Despite the shortcomings we're happy to still be onboard. .....

[miataman19]

Thanks for the review. We'll be on board in 2 days. Sunset Bar here I come :D

[Seabourn Pearls]

"I agree with your comments about the atrium. And they don't necessarily have to throw the red rose overboard, but they could relocate it somewhere where it's not taking up valuable real estate."

 

Re, Linda,

 

I wasn't especially put off by the location of the rose sculpture in the atrium. I think it's ugly and a poor aesthetic match to everything else around it. It sticks out like, well, like a giant tomato-red steel sculpture of a rose in an otherwise refined and elegant setting.

[matondo]

Your title had me scared as I am booked on the Reflection November 2016. Of course I am one of those people that can't help themselves and read on anyway and I am glad I did.

 

We took our first Celebrity cruise (Equinox) last November, has it really been 2 months already? The pools on that ship were crowded as well. Aside from the pool area it really never seem crowded, except of course on the first land last day in the buffet area.

[Seabourn Pearls]

What type of room were you in and would you recommend? Also, you mentioned the main pool was a little crazy... Are there other options?

 

 

The solarium pool is just forward of the main pool. It's serene and peaceful with loungers for catching diffused sun and reading. The fountain is very cool, especially at night. Be sure to go there during deserted hours at least once during your cruise. I thought the fountain was mesmerizing and playful. It would be a nice installment for the first hooka lounge at sea.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

 

We had cabin 8252, category 1A. It was first off the hump so the largest balcony in the veranda category. Very close to elevators. Very convenient.

 

Balcony was HUGE. Because it was just astern of the hump it was shielded from the wind. Given the depth it was easy to slid back towards the sliders if you wanted to avoid the sun.

 

That said, the balcony was big enough to accommodate better furniture....loungers, a small dining table, at the very least some foot rests. In the absence of an upgraded furniture configuration I would probably opt for category 2A - deck 7 on the hump. Same convenient location, more compact balcony, better views forward, and a savings of $50-$80.

 

Love those large 1A balconies! But they do need footstools at least. I wish Celebrity weren't so stuck on the theory that balcony furniture should match the category of cabin. Some AQ or CC balconies are not large enough for footstools and, in fact, don't have them. The balcony furniture should be based on the size of the balcony. But that probably makes too much sense for the suits in Miami.

[S&G1968]

Sounds great! Thanks for the review...

 

~Steve

[kenevenpar]

You mean this bad boy:

 

[S&G1968]

:eek:

[Seabourn Pearls]

Mother of God! It's even worse than I remember. It's an atrocity.

 

It should be gifted to the Royal Family of Yemen in grateful recognition of their humanitarian efforts around the globe.

[C 2 C]

Mother of God! It's even worse than I remember. It's an atrocity.

 

It should be gifted to the Royal Family of Yemen in grateful recognition of their humanitarian efforts around the globe.

 

18 thumbs up.

[Queen of Oakville]

You mean this bad boy:

 

 

I must have been taking full advantage of the drink package, because I do not remember seeing that at all :eek:

[Seabourn Pearls]

It's really quite amazing when you consider all the brilliant minds that must come together to conceive, design and execute a marvel of engineering like the Reflection, and then create all the magnificent public spaces on board.

 

It's like they finished the entire project when a ninja team from Carnival snuck past Papenburg security and epoxied this hideous thing to the atrium floor, wired to explode if moved.

 

I don't understand how it's possible for that god awful flower to get through the vetting process.

[flyingv4me]

My eyes! :eek:

[kayehall]

I must have been taking full advantage of the drink package, because I do not remember seeing that at all :eek:

 

 

Mother of God is right....What were they thinking?:eek:

[scubamommy!]

Great review, we are looking forward to our trip on Reflection in March! One question please. Can one ask for footstools? I mean I know I can ask, I guess I should rephrase that, has one ever received when asking for footstools on the balcony? Or even extra chairs? We have one of those large balconies and hope to invite my brother and his girl for some wine one night on the balcony.