Another Live Onboard the Reflection! Mar 4th - 11th Easter Caribbean

[mafig]

Maybe it's me, but I'd have a hard time trying to decide what to order in Blu (not in a good way).:confused:

[Russterus]

Maybe it's me, but I'd have a hard time trying to decide what to order in Blu (not in a good way).:confused:

 

Hi Mafig. I kind of agree, although the halibut that night was really good. I like Blu, but I don't like the menu every night, one reason I purchased the three night specialty package. You can eat in the MDR as well, the people we sat next to last night had done it a couple of times. I do think there are enough options to make every night decent, but I like more variety.

[Russterus]

The couple we sat next to last night were on their first cruise ever. I am glad that they got to experience the last couple of sea days after the crazy weather the first two. Right now the sea is almost glass, the temp is in the upper 70's with blue skies. Perfect cruising weather! The pool is packed and people definitely enjoying themselves.

 

We went with a room service breakfast today, because, well why not? We had one a few days ago where they got the order completely wrong, but it was still good so didn't bother us. Today they had it 100%

 

Some notes about the trip. We got the internet package and I have to admit being surprised at how well it has (mostly) worked. Actually watched some videos with no problems. There are occasional slow downs, but overall much better than a lot of the land based hotels I stay on. Only issue is I can't get my work computer to work, but then again, is that really an issue? :rolleyes:

 

The Game On room on 6 now has video game boards. There are about eight different games you can play, most multi-player so fun. Nothing crazy. My DW and I stop by and play a couple of them every so often. Still has board games available as well. Actually see it used most "normal" times.

 

Cafe El Bacio remains one of my favorite things on Celebrity. I avoid caffeine and do not like coffee, but they have some caffeine free teas that I love. Sitting down and sipping a cup of African Solstice with a biscuit or cookie is a part of our daily routine. So good.

 

The last day of the cruise is always a bittersweet. It has been a great week and sad to see it come to an end. First few times we cruised, I felt like had to do everything I hadn't done but wanted to, but now I just sit here enjoying my balcony. Finally opened up our bottle of welcome aboard Aqua Class bubbly and sipping that, watching a pod(?) of porpoises float by. What can be better than that?!

[Russterus]

Cabin photos for Aqua Class. Our cabin steward has been as amazing as you would expect. Fruits replenished daily, two new waters as well.

 

enhance

 

 

Note the foot rests. My understanding is that these aren't in all the balconies, just Aqua Class and the Suites.

[Russterus]

Grand Foyer

 

Blu. We sat in Ronaldo from the Philippines section far side near the windows. He was great. Tonight is his last night on the ship as his contract ends tomorrow. We aren't eating there, but will stop by to say goodbye and give an additional tip.

 

Fruit and flowers. Flowers were extra. This isn't a great shot of them, but they were nice, anyway and most importantly DW thought they were nice. I always get her flowers for embarkation.

 

Most of the artwork on the ship has a "reflection" motif. I need to get some shots this evening without glare!

 

[Russterus]

St. Kitts is a beautiful island. While we didn't get out and do much more than walk around the port area, we were fortunate to be on the starboard side for sail away. This took us along the south coast of the island. This photo doesn't do justice to how pretty it actually was. I'll work on this shot in the future, but in real life, the sunset lighting on the clouds above the volcano was gorgeous.

 

[benjaminhuf]

St. Kitts is a beautiful island. While we didn't get out and do much more than walk around the port area, we were fortunate to be on the starboard side for sail away. This took us along the south coast of the island. This photo doesn't do justice to how pretty it actually was. I'll work on this shot in the future, but in real life, the sunset lighting on the clouds above the volcano was gorgeous.

 

 

Lovely pic. Amazing to hear that in real life it was even more beautiful!++ But I've been in that situation myself: "The photo is good, but being there was so much more amazing....!"

[mafig]

Hi Mafig. I kind of agree, although the halibut that night was really good. I like Blu, but I don't like the menu every night, one reason I purchased the three night specialty package. You can eat in the MDR as well, the people we sat next to last night had done it a couple of times. I do think there are enough options to make every night decent, but I like more variety.

 

 

Would that Blu menu Wednesday night be the same on Wednesday on Silhouette?

You don't happen to have the MDR menu for that same night, do you?

[jules815]

We'll be going to St. Kitts for the first time on Reflection 4/1. I've done no research about this island at all. Had no idea that was a volcano.

[Russterus]

Would that Blu menu Wednesday night be the same on Wednesday on Silhouette?

You don't happen to have the MDR menu for that same night, do you?

 

 

 

It could be but not necessarily. They have a standard rotation that I believe is the same on all ships, but it isn't a seven day rotation and where they are in it varies.

 

Sorry, haven't checked out any of the MDR menus.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Russterus]

We'll be going to St. Kitts for the first time on Reflection 4/1. I've done no research about this island at all. Had no idea that was a volcano.

 

 

 

Most of the eastern Caribbean islands are volcanic.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Debik]

Thank you for taking the time out on your trip to post your review, I really enjoyed it !!

[Russterus]

Our last day was the most relaxing day of the cruise. We ended up doing...well... almost nothing. We had reservations at QSine but just didn't feel it so cancelled. We had never eaten dinner in the buffet on any cruise, had no idea if it was good or not. We went for it just for the ease of not dressing up, not having to wait around, just get our food and relax. It turned out to be real good. They had steaks and fish to grill so I ordered a ribeye while DW had salmon. Not saying it was good as LCG or Blu, but it was pretty good. One of the reasons we wanted to go this route was to finish dinner before the 7:00 show. We were down in plenty of time to see the Beatles tribute band John, Paul, George and Ringo. They were quite entertaining, had the audience singing and dancing along. Really enjoyed this one.

 

Afterwards, we went up, finished packing and then watched a movie in the room, and sipped the last of our wine. We gave our room steward Cato an extra tip. He was really excellent, as room stewards generally are. We had selected luggage valet which really meant nothing more on Friday night than normal except for extra tag for the airlines. We put them out about 9:30PM and they were gone within fifteen minutes.

 

We were up at 6:00AM Saturday to get ready for embarkation. After a quick breakfast and a farewell to our room, we went down to the theater to await clearance. This was about 7:30 and they had already called the first 11 groups, but not luggage valet. About 8 or so we got the notification we are cleated to go.

 

 

Luggage valet allowed us to skip the baggage pickup and that hassle which made the cost worth it alone. We literally did not see our bags from Friday night until we hit the baggage carousel in MSP to pick up. It took us about ten minutes to go through customs and get into a taxi for the airport. Apparently, there is no requirement to do customs forms anymore. Cato had told us it ended two weeks ago. This was by far the easiest disembarkation ever.

 

 

With that our vacation was done. I will write a final post with summary thoughts later, but despite a couple of issues, it was a great cruise. I love Celebrity and the Reflection is a wonderful ship. We felt we got our money's worth and will plan another Celebrity cruise in the future.

[Russterus]

Thank you for taking the time out on your trip to post your review, I really enjoyed it !!

Thanks Debik, it was fun to do!

[C 2 C]

It could be but not necessarily. They have a standard rotation that I believe is the same on all ships, but it isn't a seven day rotation and where they are in it varies.

 

 

I believe that Blu menus are about to change....

[CMW5060]

Hi there! Just finished up this same cruise! Believe we were on the same tour in St. Maarten. Could have spent more time on the French side. We also ate at LCG the rainy night in San Juan. Excellent meal. As you stated the weather was really rough for a few days, but people overall made the best if it and still had fun. This was our first time cruising Celebrity and won't be our last. We had a Concierge Class room on the 10th floor and an excellent Room Steward. We really had a great time

[JaniceB]

Thank you for doing a live onboard review of cruise. I have really enjoyed it. Wonderful news about the custom forms, I always dread filling them out.

[kprice1218]

Tuesday was St. Maarten day. We visited the island on our last cruise and had booked an off ship excursion with Captain Bob. It was a great tour, taking us around the island by boat, stopping in different places to snorkel and beach visit. Captain Bob was great and had helped set up for my son to propose to his then girlfriend, now wife and made it even more special for them. The problem with that tour is we saw nothing of the island itself. Although we did not plan a tour, last minute booked the Island Tour excursion and set off with a group to visit different spots. The tour included a stop in Marigold which was all too short, but our tour guide was great and gave us a good history of the island and it's people.

 

We returned to the ship and spent the bulk of the afternoon relaxing. DW had another spa visit while I caught up on my reading and enjoying the improved weather.

 

For dinner that night, we booked the Tuscan Grill. Really enjoyed it. Had their Bacon w/Pepper as a starter which is the one thing I did not enjoy. I love bacon in general, like most people, but this just felt like an undercooked piece of fat. DW had calamari which was good. It got a lot better though. For an entree, I went with the Grilled Bronzino and a half order side of Ricotta Gnocchi, both of which were delicious, the fish cooked perfectly, and DW Short rib Pappardelle Ragu which she didn't like, but I loved the bite or two I had. For dessert, had maybe my favorite thing to date on the cruise; a simple fig gelato that was divine. Service was excellent and I definitely would go back here, maybe go for a steak next time.

 

We were tired afterwards so skipped the show. Wandered around a bit to check out some music then called it a night. When we got back to the room, had a surprise. There was a form for luggage valet. I had heard through Cruise Critic that the Eclipse (I believe) was testing it out so had no expectations for it to be here. It is. $25 per guest, bags picked up and checked through to your airline. Sign me up! We filled out the registration and are set up for pickup. We have a late flight so dumping the bags sounds good to me.

 

Wow, this is good news, I called Celebrity last month because I have a late departure in April and they said they discontinued this program, I was really bummed as I was planning on shipping my luggage off and spending the day at the beach....