Fresh off Reflection, WONDERFUL!

[JMHalliday]

Returned yesterday 1/14/2017 from Reflection. Sailed from MIA on 1/7...Seven nights, San Juan, St Martin, St Kitts, MIA...

 

Booked Sky Suite, Deck 12, #2129....fantastic.

 

Butler Joaquin, was great, MANY years experience, extremely professional. I did miss his accent once, I asked to reserve a cabana on the lawn, thought he said "they are $50..." booked it, used it for a short time, starting raining SIDEWAYS and blowing 20+ kts...so I bailed out...(wife was in Spa, more on that later)....looked at our account a few days later, discovered "$50" I thought I heard was actually "ONE FIFTY"....OK, live and learn. I was careful to make sure I understood EVERY word Joaquin said after that...

 

Heidi (wife) spa was not quite as great, masseuse talked the entire time, commenting on her skin tone, weight, nationality....she left somewhat relaxed, then began to rethink it...Spa gave her a complimentary do-over and she was VERY pleased...notice to any spa folks, the masseuses will automatically add a tip, her's was $40...if you are fine with that, good, if you dont feel you would have personally gave a $40 tip, you can call Guest Relations and they will remove or adjust it as you wish.

 

Boarding was smooth, now that I look back. as a novice, it was a little hectic, but we were on in 15 minutes or so, then in MIchaels (where Heidi met the bad masseuse) we were offered many "Upgrades for purchase"...we had full WIFI, and Premium Drinks, so there wasn't much left, but we bit on the $70/pp fee for the unlimited Persian Spa....I used it once, it was nice, hot beds, spa, steam, sauna...Heidi used it a few more times, so it was probably good for her to buy it, not me...I thought I would use it more, but when the weather is nice, I want to be outside...I visited it after getting chased out of my lawn cabana by sideways rain :)

 

pools? great! outside was usually VERY busy, but you could find chairs if you spent a few minutes looking. Solairum was really nice, older, quite. 5th or 6th day, the indoor pool was empty, weather was a little rough, not sure if that was the reason...the hot tubs were operating though.

 

Food? Great! ate at Opus once, shrimp cocktails smelled too fishy, sent them back. immediately the Maitre'D appeared saying they were fine, it was the ice they were packed in...OK, but I'm not risking it....remiander of the food was good, and service was very quick.

Ate at Luminae, Lunch on boarding day...it was good, shrimp and scallop skewers , lobster bisque...soup was great, skewers were better than Red Lobster, but not "awesome"....

 

Murano's, GREAT! 8:30 seating was later (we adjusted for the rest of the trip to 6/6:30) food was excellent ! Lobster Flambed tableside, Grilled Venison, great meal!

 

Tuscan, excellent. very good appetizers, Crab Cake, Carpacio, Charcuterie Board, dont get the rib eye, its too thin...the filet is amazing!...skirt steak was OK, but definitely the Filet is the way to go!

 

the Lawn Grill, by far my favorite! ate there twice, and would happily go back tonight! filet, lamb, veal, salmon, the meat is in a meat counter so you can see the cuts, the ribeye here looked AMAZING....

 

The Porch, GREAT! casual, seafood place. lobster bisque, seafood tower, lobster, mussels, shrimp, sallops, and the BEST shrimp cocktail on the ship!...Brother in Law had the backyard burger, a mix of beef, veal and pork I believe, well done and it was still as juicy as could be...

Lobster Rolls were outstanding!

 

Sushi on 5, ate there twice, excellent, short quick meals, we were in between things and just wanted a quick little sushi snack....

 

Ocean View Buffett....great place for a quick snack, had pizza there a few times to carry us thru the afternoon...Pizza was fresh and tasty....we did breakfast there a few days as well, really great omlets, bacon, breads, fruits....

 

we did have our butler bring us breakfast in the room a couple of mornings as well, which was excellent.

 

I used the coffee bar on 5 every morning for cappucinio's which I am missing right now!

 

Favorite bar was Sunset Bar, Martini bar, and the Empire bar outside Michaels on 3.

 

port visit Old San Juan, 3 pm to 10 PM...just walked around OSJ for 2-3 hours, returned and had a relaxing dinner and then a nice cigar on 5th deck watching us untie and depart...

 

St Martin, shopped at the stores, then hopped a taxi to Orient Beach for a few hours...great day! back on board, Sunset cocktails, clean up , head to dinner...then show...

 

St Kitts, just shopped, then relaxing day on the ship...

 

2 days at sea, rough day on Thursday, Capt altered course west, along the Dominican coast past Cuba, the turn right north to Miami, smoothed right out...

 

Did the "inside the ship" tour Friday. it was cool. 2 hours, could have been 1.5....started on Bridge, really great, then laundry, crew areas, "I-95 corridor"...supply / storage, then main dining room galley, then ended in main dining room....had about 18 folks, which would have been better if they limited it to 12 or so...

 

my only true complaint, and remember its been our 1st cruise...was disembarkation...I was told by guest relations that as a "suite quest" my disembark options were "what ever I wanted"...as long as we were off by 10 AM...our flight home was 4:30 PM....6 hours in MIA airport, followed by 3 hour layover in ATL....ugh....well, it turns out you must be OUT of the Suite by EIGHT AM!....if you want to leave the ship at 10, you can hang out in Michael's Lounge...which is what we did.

 

I was able to change flights to 2 PM, but now that I know the departure program, we will be out of the room at 8, and off the ship at 9, and on the plane home at noon....lesson learned, no worries.

 

it was a great trip, booked through Rob Steinfeld at Expedia Cruises....we booked our next one for Nov/Dec this year already on Reflection and can't wait to go!

[H2OH!]

thanks for sharing your thoughts!

 

We board on 1/28 and will be 3rd time on reflection...can't wait!

[Sch-uite Sailing]

Thanks for the great review! We're in Sky Suite 2128 in about 33 days!

 

Sent from my SM-G935T using Forums mobile app

[jelayne]

Thanks for your review. The Reflection is one of our favorites.

 

I see you are new to posting on Cruuse Critic. The CC guidelines do not allow posting the names of travel agents/companies. You may find your post edited by a moderator.

[JFontaine]

Thanks for your report. If it rained most of the day that you had the alcove, you should be able to call guest services and get a refund. I've had them many times, and once it rained starting at 10:30 for the rest of the day. Charge was easily removed.

[easyboy]

Thanks for your feedback. Glad you had a wonderful time.

 

 

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[Lastdance]

I really appreciated your review. Thanks for sharing and I am glad that you enjoyed your cruise. We sail to Europe on the Reflection for a TA in April, also in a suite and are counting down the days....

 

 

 

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Edited January 16, 2017 by Lastdance

[CruisinNewb]

We were on the same trip and also had a great time.

 

What day did you have sideways rain? We had alcoves the last two sea days and although it rained hard briefly the last sea day our canopy kept us dry and there was no need to evacuate :)

[tweetylori]

Sounds like you had a great time...thanks for sharing!

[Texed]

J M ,

 

Thanks for posting. :)

[JMHalliday]

sorry about my T/A endorsement, no problem if they need to edit it.

 

I booked the cabana on Sunday...it was rainy early in the morning, by 11-ish when I arrived it cleared up, but by 1-ish it poured for an hour or so...

 

I asked our butler if he thought I could get a refund and he didn't think so, in the future I will go directly to GR...they are great

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[cynbar]

Thanks for your review --- but I do have a question! It woulds like you only ate in Luminae once, for the embarkation lunch, and I'm just curious why. We'll be in your first suite this weekend since Luminae was introduced, and I'm not sure what to expect. Also, did you not visit Michael's Club too often? Those two perks are a main part of the extra cost of a suite, so I'm wondering if there was a problem.

[jules815]

Thanks for your review.

[JMHalliday]

cynbar, no issues...regrettably I did not visit Michaels enough. the Premium Liquor plan has Knob Creek Bourbon, Michaels is the ONLY bar I could find it, most of the other bars had Woodford Reserve and Makers Mark....I spent most of the time up on deck, Sunset bar, Mast Bar, or Martini Bar and Casino Bar...

 

we looked at Luminae once for dinner, it looked good to me, but there were more choices for the other 3 folks in our group in main dining, so that's where we ended up. outside of that, we wanted to try Murano, Tuscany, Lawn Grill...

so it was not anything wrong with either, just go caught up in other things going on.

 

we reserved an 11 night Ultimate West Caribbean for November already! 3 doors down from our last suite...and will spend more time in Michaels and Luminae....$100/night for "specialty" dining adds up pretty quick...

[JFontaine]

For next time, you can order off of the main dining room menu in Luminae. We do it all the time, and we aren't the only ones.