LIVE (kinda live, maybe live?) REFLECTION 10-night Ultimate Caribbean

[aring75]

Your pics of St Lucia are better than anything we have seen on AWE or The Travel Channel. I was kind of ho-hum about those since all they really focused on were the Pitons. You were much more real.

 

 

 

Thanks cltnccruisers! We’ve been to St. Lucia before, but it’s been years. So we really wanted to do something like an island tour. This one worked out great! I appreciate your comment. [emoji4]

 

 

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[aring75]

Thanks for the great info and pix!

 

 

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You are very welcome! [emoji3]

 

 

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[aring75]

We had dinner in the Tuscan Grill tonight, but I got the Blu menu for those who might be interested:

 

 

I’ve heard/read several complaints about Tuscan Grill. The food isn’t as good as it used to be, it’s not as good as the other specialty restaurants, don’t eat here/you won’t like it. But I don’t like people telling me what to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[aring75]

We got a discount to make a reservation here. It’s usually $45 pp. We got a 30% discount on our first night. I’m not sure if I’d pay $90 over and above the cruise fare for the two of us to eat there, but we paid $63, and I think it was worth it.

 

They come around to your table with this huge bunch of fresh basil. They snip pieces into a dish and add olive oil for dipping. Not unique, but very tasty.

 

 

I ordered the crispy calamari. And it was. Crispy. (And pretty good too.)

 

 

The 14oz ribeye. This picture is deceiving. I had already cut about 1/3 of it off and given it to Mark. He said the ribeye was every bit as tender as his filet.

 

 

Instead of the usual sides, I ordered a half order of the lobster rigatoni with my steak.

 

 

After it arrived, Mark was sad that he didn’t have any lobster pasta. So I shared. Reluctantly.

 

 

 

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[aring75]

Dessert:

 

 

 

I ordered the tiramisu. Mark ordered the limoncello cheesecake. Then he decided it would be a great idea to get those donut things “to share.” Yeah.

 

 

 

 

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[aring75]

Donuts “for the table.” I have no idea what these tasted like.

 

 

 

Dinner was good. Very good. I think if you can get Tuscan Grill for a discount, it is absolutely worth it. Otherwise, take a look at the menu and decide for yourself.

 

I left stuffed. So full, in fact, we passed by the gorgeousness that is the Cafe al Bacio dessert case, and I felt nothing.

 

 

 

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[aring75]

Celebrity Today - Day 7 (Martinique):

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[129hutch]

LOVING this! Getting so excited for our quick 4 night on the Reflection leaving on the 18th. We will be celebrating early Christmas and my daughter's 16th birthday. (She's not into fancy Sweet 16 parties and asked for a cruise...fine by me :) On that note, have you noticed many teenagers on board and/or the teen area/club on the ship? TIA

[FlorenceItaly]

LOVING this! Getting so excited for our quick 4 night on the Reflection leaving on the 18th. We will be celebrating early Christmas and my daughter's 16th birthday. (She's not into fancy Sweet 16 parties and asked for a cruise...fine by me :) On that note, have you noticed many teenagers on board and/or the teen area/club on the ship? TIA

 

We have a very active Roll Call for December 18 sailing. Please join us. Below is the thread!

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=54755932#post54755932

[vickykay]

Thanks! I think autocorrect changed my message.

 

Vicky

[blueboro]

There’s nothing on the Barbados Ports board. If you do a Google search for “Barbados Food Tour” it’s the first or second to come up. It’s the one that sounds like “licorice” and it has more than 100 reviews on TripAdvisor. Mostly 4 and 5 star. LMK if you need more info to find it!

 

 

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Thanks so much! We just booked this for our annual brothers/wives cruise for 10 people.

[Paulras]

Celebrity Today - Day 7 (Martinique):

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the great posts. Wondering about that future excursions offer on the top right of page 2 of the Celebrity Today. We're on B2B right after you get off. Wondering if I can book the excursions with a 10% discount for the 2nd cruise on the ship during the 1st cruise? (assuming they do a similar offer)

 

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[Tennant]

I just love your review and thanks for all the information on the alcoves earlier in the week! We are on the 1/2/18 sailing and just can't wait! We are totally crazy and bringing our 10 mth old son along for his first cruise!

[aring75]

LOVING this! Getting so excited for our quick 4 night on the Reflection leaving on the 18th. We will be celebrating early Christmas and my daughter's 16th birthday. (She's not into fancy Sweet 16 parties and asked for a cruise...fine by me :) On that note, have you noticed many teenagers on board and/or the teen area/club on the ship? TIA

 

 

 

What a great sweet 16! There have been a few young people. Early to late teens, but I think many kids are in school until the week (or so) before Christmas. There will probably be more on your sailing.

 

 

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[aring75]

Thanks for the great posts. Wondering about that future excursions offer on the top right of page 2 of the Celebrity Today. We're on B2B right after you get off. Wondering if I can book the excursions with a 10% discount for the 2nd cruise on the ship during the 1st cruise? (assuming they do a similar offer)

 

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I dialed the extension (I was going to ask), but it just rang and rang. We are in port getting ready to leave Martinique right now though. I’ll try to remember to do it later, but I see no reason why you couldn’t!

 

Here’s hoping they offer this discount on your first cruise. BTW, I’m jealous of your B2B!!

 

 

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[Paulras]

I dialed the extension (I was going to ask), but it just rang and rang. We are in port getting ready to leave Martinique right now though. I’ll try to remember to do it later, but I see no reason why you couldn’t!

 

Here’s hoping they offer this discount on your first cruise. BTW, I’m jealous of your B2B!!

 

 

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Just stay on for 15 more days! Enjoy Martinique

 

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[aring75]

When I opened our curtains to the balcony this morning, I saw we were already docked in Martinique next to the Royal Clipper tall ship.

 

 

We’ve been to Martinique once before, but it was 10 years ago when we took a cruise with my parents. It’s changed a lot since then.

 

 

We originally booked a tour through the cruise line for Martinique. However, when we boarded we had a notice in the cabin that the tour had been canceled. None of the other ship’s tours appealed to us, so I got on my phone and started googling.

 

I found a tour on TripAdvisor through a company called Beyond the Beach. Our guide would take us on a 4-5 hour tour through the southwest corner of the island, sightseeing, stopping at a local artisan community and pottery kiln, a beach stop for swimming or snorkeling, an outdoor market with local goods, and sampling at a rum factory. Sounded like a plan!

 

We were to meet our guide at the cruise terminal exit. In the picture below, it’s the end of the pier - right after the first two white canopies.

 

 

 

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[aring75]

They mention in the description of the tour that they guarantee groups of 12 people or fewer. And they delivered...there were four of us.

 

We first headed to la Village de poterie (guys, I make no promises that anything is spelled correctly, this is totally from memory and it’s probably awful). This was an artisan and craft village. It also had the bumpiest road I have ever experienced In. My. Life.

 

 

There are probably ten different individual buildings each with a different vendor/artisan. There’s several places with pottery and clay works. There’s a spice vendor and one with clothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[aring75]

After the pottery village we drove to the village of Le Anse d’Arlet. Here we stopped for roughly an hours worth of beach time. (I would have happily stayed longer, but the other couple we toured with finished long before we did.)

 

The beach here was small and not really anything special. But the water was perfect and the snorkeling was great!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[aring75]

More snorkeling (seriously, I have so many underwater pictures I could bore you to tears with them!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[aring75]

Can you see the sea urchin?

 

 

And this one’s a little blurry, but can you see the sea snake?

 

 

We were only here for an hour and we explored probably a third of the area around these rocks. I could have easily spent another couple of hours here!

 

 

I found out later, if you just wanted to come over to this beach (or some nearby) there are ferries that leave right from the pier area where the cruise ships dock. In the picture below, do you see the three small docks jutting out on the right-hand side of the picture (one of them is partially hidden by the ship’s bridge)?

 

 

If you walk to the end of the pier and turn right, you just keep walking until you reach those docks. Ferries run to the beaches and back all day. I think it’s 7€ pp, but they take US dollars with NO problems.

 

There are signs telling you which ferry is going to which beach, and there is a person standing there answering questions and directing tourists in the morning. Just be sure you check the return times for your ferry and allow plenty of time to get back.

 

 

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[aring75]

This is the pier where the ferry docks at the beach at Anse d’Arlet.

 

 

 

After snorkeling, we continued on our sightseeing tour to Le Diamant.

 

 

 

Stopping at a memorial known as Cap 110 recognizing lives lost in the harbor one fateful night long ago.

 

 

 

 

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[aring75]

We stopped at an outdoor market on the beach.

 

 

 

 

We continued on to a rum distillery. This always seems like a better idea in theory than in practice. I’m just not someone who drinks rum without finding lovely things to mix with it. But it was a nice stop.

 

 

 

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[aring75]

This used to be a working windmill at the rum distillery.

 

 

You can opt to take a guided tour of the distillery. We opted not to.

 

 

Many bottles of rum!

 

 

After the stop at the distillery, we headed back to Fort de France. We drove through the downtown area where we looked at several points of interest before we were dropped off back at the cruise terminal.

 

Our day started at 8:45am (we were scheduled to start at 9:00) and we returned just before 2:00pm. So the tour took approximately 5 hours. We paid $84.90 each (which I thought was a little high when I booked it, but all the excursions in Martinique were pricey). Drinks throughout the day were included (water, juice, punch, etc).

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, but if we return anytime soon, I think we may just take the ferry on our own. I will check the schedule to be sure we can make it there and back with no issues, but if so, that will be our plan.

 

 

 

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[Mosttoyswin]

There is no such thing as too many underwater pictures. I’ve always enjoyed them but now that I can no longer snorkel it’s great to see them.