Review of Celebrity Reflection Italy and Greek Isles 10 night cruise, 19th May 2017

[peteukmcr]

Such a great review. This is our first cruise with celebrity after several with royal. I was wondering how many people wear taxes and long gowns fir elegant chic evenings. Nit sure if it's worth the carrying them. Thanks

Thank you. As for Evening Chic, there are a few in tuxes and long gowns, but you are not out of place if you don't. We took jackets and wore these with shirts and black pants.

[purdo]

My sister and myself are bringing long gowns, hubby is bringing a jacket and bow tie.

 

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[FiggyWig]

Hi Pete

Thanks for posting your review...we are returning to Celebrity after a 6 year break, previously sailing twice on Solstice around pretty much the same itinerary. Loving the photos which are bringing back fond memories. We are sailing on this itinerary 1st September. Was wondering about the costs of drinks in the bars - do you have any photos of these ? We are not huge drinkers and have never previously bothered with drinks packages. We tend to buy a spirit and mixer set up for our room but on this occasion we have opted for an inside room instead of balcony so thinking the 'drinking at home' might not have quite the same appeal. So perhaps the deciding factor would be the costs of the drinks bought in the bars. We'd probably only have 3 or 4 drinks each a day (more of course on a sea day :-)

 

Also do they still offer the deals of the 'buckets of beer' like 5 for the price of 6 if I recall correctly. They were normally to be found around the pool / lawn bars. Would be good to know in advance so that I can purchase on line - saving us the Tax situation.

 

Looking forward to more of your port reviews - it's always good to get more ideas of different places to visit other than those we have already done...Keep up the good work.

#Love Manchester & London

Fig

[peteukmcr]

Hi Pete

Thanks for posting your review...we are returning to Celebrity after a 6 year break, previously sailing twice on Solstice around pretty much the same itinerary. Loving the photos which are bringing back fond memories. We are sailing on this itinerary 1st September. Was wondering about the costs of drinks in the bars - do you have any photos of these ? We are not huge drinkers and have never previously bothered with drinks packages. We tend to buy a spirit and mixer set up for our room but on this occasion we have opted for an inside room instead of balcony so thinking the 'drinking at home' might not have quite the same appeal. So perhaps the deciding factor would be the costs of the drinks bought in the bars. We'd probably only have 3 or 4 drinks each a day (more of course on a sea day :-)

 

Also do they still offer the deals of the 'buckets of beer' like 5 for the price of 6 if I recall correctly. They were normally to be found around the pool / lawn bars. Would be good to know in advance so that I can purchase on line - saving us the Tax situation.

 

Looking forward to more of your port reviews - it's always good to get more ideas of different places to visit other than those we have already done...Keep up the good work.

#Love Manchester & London

Fig

Welcome back to Celebrity. As for photos of bar prices, unfortunately I don't have any. We had the classic beverage package which I upgraded before we sailed for $11.80 pp per day.

 

As the limits on for this package is $13 per serving I only noticed when drinks were around this price. A lot of wine was around $10 or $11 and cocktails at the Martini Bar $13 and some of those at the World Class bar above that level. As for 'normal' mixed drinks like G&T or beers I didn't notice unfortunately as with having a beverage package you don't get a receipt. Sorry. I also didn't see any offers for buckets of beer around the pool but have to say I wasn't looking for them.

 

Not much help I'm afraid.

[peteukmcr]

Day 4 was a relaxing day at sea and the first Evening Chic evening and also the day when the meet and mingle was held in Cellar Masters at 10:15 am. It was well attended by crew and guests giving people the chance to get to know each other.

 

Although space was limited in the Solarium and around the pool deck, we found plenty of quieter spots on deck 5 to relax on steamer chairs.

 

More later of our next day in the port of Mykonos which was my first visit in 30 years!

[wishuponasea]

Do you pick your fish for them to cook??

 

Few more to whet your appetite [emoji3]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forgot to take a photo of the free ice cream station which had a lot of choice (never sampled it either for some strange reason which is unlike me!). It was very popular though.

 

Anyway, that's it for the moment, I need to get to work as I said, to pay for the next one on Eclipse! More later and over the weekend!

 

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[peteukmcr]

Do you pick your fish for them to cook??

I assume so as this was at the Grill station in the Oceanview Cafe set for dinner.

[peteukmcr]

Day 5 - May 23rd - Mykonos, Greece

 

We awoke to find that contrary to expectation we were docking in Mykonos at the Port of Tourlos (approximately 1.6km or 1.0 mile from the centre of town) and so would not need to tender which was our expectation due to the number of ships in port.

 

There were 4 ships in port, Costa neoClassica, Pullmantur (Horizon I think), and MSC Poesia as well as us.

 

Rumour has it that Captain Bouzakis has connections with Mykonos and so gets favourable treatment regarding docking, but not sure how true that is! However, I fully expected to tender especially as the Costa ship was supposed to be staying overnight.

 

 

As excited as I was to visit Mykonos after my last land based vacation there 30 years ago, the morning was a little sombre due to the discovery of the terrorist bomb attack that had taken place at the Manchester Arena at the end of the Ariana Grande concert the previous evening.

 

I may have said earlier, but we live in Manchester and I was born and bred there and have lived there all my life, so waking up to wonderful weather in a picturesque Greek island seemed a little incongruous to me and I have to admit the events played on my mind somewhat on this day.

 

We found out that Celebrity were running a free shuttle service to the town centre all day but when we disembarked we decided to use the 'Seabus' which runs from the port to the town centre for €2 pp. This took around 10 minutes and docked right in the centre. Although the shuttle didn't take much longer, the walk from the drop off point was a little further, although not arduous at all.

 

 

 

Once in town we found a café and had a coffee and got caught up on the free Wi-Fi!

 

We wandered around the town taking in the sights of the famous windmills and the beautiful winding streets lined with bars, cafes, restaurants and of course the shops.

 

 

30 years ago Mykonos had the reputation of being the most expensive Greek island and the premium brand shops lining the streets today leads me to believe that this hasn't changed at all, and most probably made the island even more expensive!

 

An example of the brands there are Gucci, Chopard, Chanel, Hermes, Dior, Louis Vuitton etc. You get the idea!

 

 

 

Obviously due to the number of ships in port, as the day wore on, the crowds winding their way through the narrow streets and along the harbour front got larger and larger.

 

Too many for me, so we stopped on the way back to the catch the shuttle bus at the Kavos tavern on the quayside for lunch. Our first Greek salad of the trip! We would sample more in the upcoming islands too!

 

Once refreshed we walked the short distance to catch the shuttle bus back to the ship.

 

I know there's a lot more to do in Mykonos, especially as the beaches outside of town a stunning, we'd done what we wanted to do and so enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing on board.

Edited June 6, 2017 by peteukmcr

[peteukmcr]

Day 6 - May 24th - Rhodes, Greece

 

Once again we docked in Rhodes very close to the great walled Old town which is a great place to explore. Full of bars, cafes, shops and the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes and the Knights of Saint John.

 

 

We left the ship and walked along the road to the first set of traffic lights and entered the old town through the arch and onto Solomou Alchadef, turned right, and made our way to the 'orange bar' Sintrivani which was quiet at this early time but serves great coffee and has wonderful Wi-Fi!

 

After catching up on the events back home we made our way around the streets visiting the Grand Palace area and then exited the old town to wander along the harbour front towards the Ekklisia Evaggelismos church close to where the Colossus of Rhodes guarded the harbour entrance.

 

 

 

 

I lit a candle in the church for the victims of the Manchester bombing and then we made our way back into the old town for lunch - another chance to sample a Greek salad!

 

 

Edited June 6, 2017 by peteukmcr

[peteukmcr]

Rhodes continued

 

We made our way back through the old town and had lunch at the "Plakaa" taverna overlooking the Hipocrates Fountain.

 

 

 

 

After lunch we made our way back towards the arch where we entered the old town, passing the famous Sea Horse fountain on the way.

 

 

 

 

 

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[AidenL]

Great pictures - really whetting my appetite ! :)

[Sandyrella]

Thank-you so much for this wonderful review! I'm loving your insight and, of course, the pictures are stunning [emoji4]. We'll be doing this itinerary sailing August 11th, just over 2 months to go.

 

 

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[bravostar]

Thanks so much. I really enjoyed this review!!!!:)

[alicat2016]

 

We didn't hear of any discounts on board (not saying there wasn't, unlike on Constellation where they were actively trying to encourage people to dine at a discount later in the sailing).

We were on board too *waves* there were discounts about most days! First day was a fairly big one we had a leaflet in our room.

[Lastdance]

I am enjoying your review and photos. We did this cruise 5 years ago and have it booked for next April 27! It is not to be missed[emoji844] we are cruising with our cruise buddies....

 

 

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[graydogKC]

We have just returned from a fantastic 10 night Italy and Greek Islands cruise on board Celebrity Reflection.

 

This review is of the ship, facilities, staff and services provided, not the ports although I will try and answer any questions you may have.

 

It may take a few days to put it all together with photos, so please bear with me (I've had to return to work to pay for the next one!).

 

I will break it down into the following sections:

 

• Cruise Summary
  
• Food and Drink
  
• Dining Venues
  
• Entertainment and other Venues
  
• Lounges
  
• Pool Deck
  
• Services
  
• Accommodations
  
• Captain's Club
  
• Internet Access (Xcelerate)
  
• Conclusions
  

For today here's the summary.

 

Cruise Summary

 

We travelled from Manchester, UK to Rome on 18th May and stayed in the Hotel De La Ville in Civitavecchia overnight before the cruise.

 

In summary, we thoroughly enjoyed our 2nd sailing with Celebrity. Reflection is just beautiful, with a great layout with plentyof space and is very impressive. The Lawn Club is a great unique space offering a great casual area to relax.

 

This was a 10-night sailing from Civitavecchia (Italy) toMessina (Sicily), Valetta (Malta), the Greek Islands of Mykonos, Rhodes andSantorini. Piraeus for Athens and Naples (Italy).

 

Embarkation

 

We arrived by private hotel shuttle at the check in area at 10:35 am on 19th May, our bags were taken by stewards, we completed the health questionnaire, cleared security, checked in and was on board by 10:45 amand offered a welcome beverage as we boarded.

 

Oceanview Café opened for lunch at 11:30 am and staterooms were available at 12:30 pm.

 

Disembarkation

 

We left the ship with no lines at 08:30 am, located our bags (no immigration checks), then found our private shared shuttle driver and were on our way to the airport by 9:00 at the latest.

 

Great experiences and far superior to many other ports and we have always had good service here in Civitavecchia.

 

I'm afraid that's all for tonight (it's 9:30 pm here in the UK :)).

 

Thank you for all your great information. We love ballroom dancing. What options were there for big band or dancing in general?

[YoYothe cat1]

Going home, did you have an easy or hard time at the airport ? How long did it take to get through customs and security and make it to your gate ? Thank you.

 

Cindy

[peteukmcr]

Thank you for all your great information. We love ballroom dancing. What options were there for big band or dancing in general?

 

 

 

Most ballroom dancing I saw was on deck 3 in the atrium but I have to honest and say it's not something we were specifically looking for.

 

 

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[peteukmcr]

Going home, did you have an easy or hard time at the airport ? How long did it take to get through customs and security and make it to your gate ? Thank you.

 

 

 

Cindy

I think our experience was somewhat distorted due to the issues being experienced by British Airways over that particular weekend which were still having a knock on effect on the Monday (public holiday too).

 

So I would say it depends what airline you are travelling with and from which terminal you are departing.

 

We waited in the BA bag drop line (having used the airport free wi-fi to check in online whilst in line) for over 1 hour.

 

Once our bags had been tagged and our boarding passes printed it only took a few minutes to clear security and passport control. So that was the easy part!

 

We departed from terminal 3 and it's quite large and so the departure gates are spread out and some time needs to be allowed to walk to them.

 

We had plenty of time because we arrived by 10:00 am and our flight was scheduled to depart at 12:55, but in fact was delayed for over an hour, departing after 2pm in reality.

 

As with any major airport, there are so many variables that can have an impact on a journey through the terminal, such as time of departure, airline, destination and number of others travelling at the same time.

 

 

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Edited June 7, 2017 by peteukmcr

[peteukmcr]

Day 7 - May 25th - Santorini, Greece

 

We arrived in Santorini and as this is a tender port, all ships anchored would be sending tenders back and forth to the small dock below Thira all day long.

 

As we've been lucky to visit Santorini on many occasions (a Greek isle cruise always seems to include this island) as mentioned, earlier I'd decided to pre book an Alcove on the Lawn Club for the day as I knew we'd not spend much time ashore.

 

Our main purpose of going ashore would be for a Greek Salad for lunch, free Wi-Fi and to take some shots of the several ships in port!

 

So, as the Alcoves are available for 12 hours (9 am - 9 pm) I went up to the Lawn Club after breakfast to see which we'd one been allocated (a card had been left for us in the 'post slot' above the cabin number outside the door overnight confirming our booking).

 

The Alcove attendant was preparing them and as none had been allocated he let me choose, and then took the card to show it was now reserved.

 

 

We gathered our things to go and relax for a couple of hours in our Alcove. My theory was that as there were several ships anchored this morning (Costa neoClassica, Majestic Princess, Windstar and later Celestyal Olympia) , there would be a rush for the cable car up to Thira and I so thought we'd head over about 11:30 am and by then the lines would be minimal.

 

 

So we headed off around 11:30 am and boarded a tender with no wait in line. However, when we arrived at the dock, this is where my theory was blown apart! The line for the cable car was the longest we'd ever experienced in our several visits to Santorini!

 

Although the line moved quite quickly it took around 20 minutes to reach the town.

 

We headed for a café for a beer and free Wi-Fi.

 

So here's my first warning about Santorini. DO NOT get enticed into the 'lounge café Drosos' which has a sign outside 'Caldera Sunset View'. There are a couple of youngsters trying hard to get cruise guests into the bar with the promise of great views, free Wi-Fi and good food and drink.

 

Anyway, we ordered 2 local beers and tried to login into the Wi-Fi which was pretty poor and we didn't get a great view. On asking for the check I was shocked to be told it was €28 for 2 local beers! The average price is around €4.50. I demanded to be shown the menu, and was presented with one that clearly had the prices 're-written', no doubt for the benefit of cruise visitors. I had no option but to pay, but that left a nasty taste.

 

 

We then made our way through the winding streets (which were very busy) to a taverna recommended for lunch. Theoni's Kitchen is highly recommended and it didn't disappoint. It doesn't have sea views but the value for money food (in terms of quantity, quality and friendly service) is hard to beat.

 

We ordered a Greek Salad for 2 and bread. Little did we know we'd get a huge salad accompanied by fresh warm bread with an olive tapenade. We also ordered a half carafe of white wine.

 

 

After we'd devoured the salad and bread (it was wonderful) and asked for the check, we were presented with a complimentary dessert. What service! And of course the total was less than the cost of 2 beers at Drosos! Oh and they have fast Wi-Fi which enabled us to catch up with events at home (still a priority after the event earlier in the week).

 

 

We then headed back towards the centre of town to catch the cable car back down to the tender dock. Mmm, well part way towards the cable car, but still quite a way from the entrance, there was a line, a long line! We later found out people we in this line for more than 1 hour.

 

 

So, we decided to do something we've never done and never intended to do, and that was walk down the reported 600 steps down to the dock. Believe me it's not for the faint hearted, as you are constantly dodging the donkeys that barge up and down in a line, sometimes nearly pinning you the walls (they know exactly where they need to walk) and their droppings. You also need to be very careful when passing them if they are stopped as they have a habit of kicking back.

 

Anyway, we made it down after around 40 minutes, quite relieved if not with legs feeling like jelly!

 

We headed back to the ship and enjoyed the rest of the day in our Alcove where the attendants provided free water and sodas and some wonderful hot chicken skewers and a fruit plate from room service.

 

As we could use the Alcove until 9 pm, we could experience sail away from there and once we dressed for dinner we returned and enjoyed a cocktail or 2 in there before heading off the MDR.

 

A great day, with some learning points! Check all menus in cafes and don't attempt to walk down from Thira!

Edited June 7, 2017 by peteukmcr

[alicat2016]

I queued 2 hours it was horrendous! I have a heart condition so it was my only way off the island. The cable car guy said an extra unexpected ship turned up and over 10k people used the cable car that day will not go back too much for me. I eavesdropped a conversation in ocean view someone took the donkey they got half way down then it changed its mind and bolted back up the steps lol made me giggle. I enjoyed watching the steps from my room seeing everyone come down was funny!!

[peteukmcr]

Some more photos of the day in Santorini

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[peteukmcr]

I queued 2 hours it was horrendous! I have a heart condition so it was my only way off the island. The cable car guy said an extra unexpected ship turned up and over 10k people used the cable car that day �� will not go back too much for me. I eavesdropped a conversation in ocean view someone took the donkey they got half way down then it changed its mind and bolted back up the steps lol made me giggle. I enjoyed watching the steps from my room seeing everyone come down was funny!!

Sorry to read that you had waited so long for the cable car. I know I shouldn't find the escapades of the donkey so amusing, but it is funny!

[FiggyWig]

Your stories of the 'donkey steps' made me smile and reminded me of our visit there in 2009...we too decided against joining the masses queuing to get back down in the cable car so chose to join in with the donkeys (on foot...not on their backs!) Being a little younger then we found it a not too hard and a comical experience dodging the donkeys who as you say knew exactly where they were going and with quite some determination. But what made us laugh was whilst we took our time watching our footings, our then 13 year old son galloped on down ahead of us dodging in and out around the beasts, making it in around 5 minutes ! A memory he has kept to this day. Oh..the joys of being youthful[emoji1]

 

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[MartinsCruise]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post all of this along with the beautiful pictures. We'll be on the Eclipse next September which has a similar itinerary. It will be our first trip to this area so I'm gathering as much information as I can. If all goes well, I will spend my birthday in Mykonos.