Celebrity reflection 10 night ultimate caribbean cruise - march 23, 2018

[John182]

I too have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip and the photographs have been stunning. Thank you so much for taking the time for sharing your trip with all of us.

 

Give Dexter a pat from me. I grew up with many, many Labs. They are such wonderful dogs,

[Marvy Mare]

I forgot to mention the young couple that we met at dinner that last night in the Opus Restaurant. They were from Memphis, TN. Home of Elvis. Great southern accents. They did have a complaint about the musical entertainment at the various venues. They said that all the music was from the 60s & 70s and geared to the older demographic on Celebrity. I tend to agree with them. I am the older demographic but there were a lot of young people. I like current music and variety, but even the shows at the Reflection theatre in the evening were old music. I missed hearing the Fiesta Duo (Classical Strings), so they would have at least been something different. The Sammy Tones (house band), Pipoka Duo and the Linda Capewell (solo guitarist) all played the 60s, 70s maybe even 80s stuff but not much current. A country band would have been refreshing. I found the Sammy Tones kind of out of tune. I'm not a music connoisseur, I just found them hard to listen to.

 

We found that the entertainment in general was better on our cruise on the Silhouette, but I imagine that it's just the luck of the draw. The cruise entertainers travel from ship to ship. Though I did hear that the entertainment on Royal Caribbean is amazing, but you couldn't just got to the shows, you had to make a reservation.

 

We went back to our room after the show and had a last glass of wine on the patio. Our luggage was gone, just the carry offs left. I have heard reports of people disembarking wearing pjs, because they packed everything. At least they weren't in their birthday suits. You think they would have the clothes that they wore the night before.

 

APRIL 2 - DISEMBARKATION DAY - FOR LAUDERDALE

 

I woke up even earlier than usual. I was hoping to see and maybe even be able to take photos of Miami. It was 4:15 and I heard a noise outside. I went out to check. It was the pilot boat. We were pulling into port and we were docked shortly after 5.

 

4:24 am - Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port

 

 

[Marvy Mare]

I too have thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip and the photographs have been stunning. Thank you so much for taking the time for sharing your trip with all of us.

 

Give Dexter a pat from me. I grew up with many, many Labs. They are such wonderful dogs,

 

Thanks John182. It’s been an interesting project.

 

Dexter seemed to be feeling a little better today. He’ll never make the 3 k park walk with us again but the sunny warmish weather has lifted all our spirits.

 

Maris

[Pepsi36]

I'm sad we have reached the end of the cruise Maris but have thoroughly enjoyed your fantastic review and will keep going back to look at the stunning photo's.

Thank you so much for sharing and bringing back so many memories. I haven't seen myself in any photo's though .

[warb]

Beautiful Photos !! Thank You for taking the time to do this Great Review. We haven't sailed on

 

 

Celebrity. Ship looked beautiful. You have a Good Cruise Report Style.

[Marvy Mare]

I'm sad we have reached the end of the cruise Maris but have thoroughly enjoyed your fantastic review and will keep going back to look at the stunning photo's.

Thank you so much for sharing and bringing back so many memories. I haven't seen myself in any photo's though .

 

Thanks again Pepsi. I’m not quite done yet. I have a few more photos to share. You may see yourself yet. :D

Maris

[oskarNZ]

Thanks so much OskarNZ. Wow, all the way from NZ. January would be mid summer there wouldn't it? I hear it's beautiful and green with lots of sheep:D. I looked back on those photos. I think the first photo at Shirley Heights was the best too. We enjoyed that tour. Lots of great photo opportunities.

 

Chair hogs were entertaining anyway. The deck chair 'police' will find you seating if you ask them. I'm sure your 11 year old will like to be by the pool. That's where a lot of the young people are during the day. As far a a handful of kids; the parents that we were talking to told us that there were a few hundred children & teens on the ship. I would think they got that number from the ones registered with the Kid's & Teen's clubs.

 

Thanks for reading and for the compliments and comments.

 

Maris

 

Yes, mid January is summer and our main school holidays here in NZ. Kids are off from mid December to the end of January, which is why we can get away at that time without needing to take our son out of school.

We are adding this cruise onto the end of some busy weeks in Costa Rica wildlife spotting, so I literally can’t wait! We will have been saving nearly 2 years for this trip when the day finally arrives. :D

 

I’m pleased the deck police will help us out if needed. 👍

Also, interesting to hear that there were 100s of kids onboard. We’re you travelling in school holidays? Everything I have read has lead me to expect very few kids on our cruise, but I would love to be proven wrong. While my son won’t mind too much either way, I would like it if he could make a friend or two who are around his age.

 

Keep up the great work with your report. It’s so enjoyable to read.

[Marvy Mare]

Yes, mid January is summer and our main school holidays here in NZ. Kids are off from mid December to the end of January, which is why we can get away at that time without needing to take our son out of school.

We are adding this cruise onto the end of some busy weeks in Costa Rica wildlife spotting, so I literally can’t wait! We will have been saving nearly 2 years for this trip when the day finally arrives. :D

 

I’m pleased the deck police will help us out if needed. 👍

Also, interesting to hear that there were 100s of kids onboard. We’re you travelling in school holidays? Everything I have read has lead me to expect very few kids on our cruise, but I would love to be proven wrong. While my son won’t mind too much either way, I would like it if he could make a friend or two who are around his age.

 

Keep up the great work with your report. It’s so enjoyable to read.

 

I hear that the wildlife spotting in Costa Rica is amazing. Sounds like a fantastic vacation. In Ontario, Canada where we live March Break is usually the 2nd full week in March. I think that may vary in other parts of the country and in the US the break could be any time in March. Christmas break is for 2 weeks starting just before Christmas. Most of the people on the cruise were from the US and Canada, but we met people from all over Europe (a number of them were traveling with children) and of course Australia. As a former teacher, I remember that parents often take their children out of school for a week or two for vacation when venues won't be so busy. So, though there won't be as many children as on Disney or Carnival, I'm sure your son will have a wonderful time & hopefully make a few friends.

[Marvy Mare]

Beautiful Photos !! Thank You for taking the time to do this Great Review. We haven't sailed on

 

 

Celebrity. Ship looked beautiful. You have a Good Cruise Report Style.

 

Thank you. We loved Celebrity on our two cruises. Nothing to compare it to though.

[Marvy Mare]

APRIL 2, FORT LAUDERDALE

 

 

 

 

At 6:20 a fire truck and ambulance pulled up.

The ambulance attendants didn't seem to be in a big hurry, but shortly after this photo was taken they brought a man? out on a stretcher. He seemed to be propped up and conscious but not a great way to end vacation.

[miched]

You mentioned that you booked a 14 day Caribbean cruise in 2020. We usually book those and like many were disappointed that they have replaced them with 11 and 12 day cruises and that is all that I can find.

 

What month is it?

 

Thanks

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Marvy Mare]

You mentioned that you booked a 14 day Caribbean cruise in 2020. We usually book those and like many were disappointed that they have replaced them with 11 and 12 day cruises and that is all that I can find.

 

What month is it?

 

Thanks

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

Oops! My mistake. I guess I was just dreaming. It is only an 11 night cruise. I was thinking about those lucky Germans that we met in Barbados. It's the March 2, 11 night Ultimate Caribbean. Sorry about that. It's so far away, that I wasn't paying much attention. I guess the 14 night are mostly TAs?

[Marvy Mare]

FORT LAUDERDALE - APRIL 2

 

I think there were a couple of Celebrity ships in port. Not sure which one this is?

 

6:20 am

I went about for my last walk around deck 15. There was only one person up there walking this morning.

 

By 6:45 there were a few people having breakfast.

 

Another dramatic morning sky.

 

Early morning Fort Lauderdale skyline?

 

The view from deck 15.

[Marvy Mare]

 

The basketball court.

 

The track tunnel. On some windy mornings it was a great place to catch your breath.

 

People heading down to wait for disembarkation.What a long word that is. I preferred it without the dis.

[Marvy Mare]

I think all those pipes are 'art' but maybe they have something to do with watering the tree too. I wonder if it will be bigger when we are back in 2 years?

 

We were to meet on the 4th floor in the main dining room for our disembarkation call at 8:15. I've been thinking that I didn't mention our room attendant. His name was Suboush, from India. A very nice man, quite serious. I tried joking with him a few times, but I think language was a barrier. We had no complaints though. Any requests that we made were followed up.

 

We were out of our room by 8:00 and walked down to the Opus.

 

If you were waiting in the dining room or having breakfast,maybe you're in these photos.

 

Ken is praying that disembarking goes smoothly. You can see my camera bag on the chair next to him & the large purse I used as my carry on. It fit a bottle of wine and not much else.

 

I thought that I would get this done today, but we're not off the ship yet.

 

It's a beautiful day here in central Ontario. I'm going to head out for a bike ride before it gets too hot!! Hard to believe it went down to 2 a couple of nights ago. Welcome to Spring in Ontario.

[Marvy Mare]

Getting ready for the next cruise.

 

 

There are lots of wine bottles in this big structure. I'm not sure what it's called. A wine tree?

 

One last photo aboard the Reflection. At 8:15 our number 11 was called. Getting off the ship was quick & easy. Just like getting on the ship but a lot less fun. Within 1/2 hour of ours names being called we had our luggage and were waiting for Eliot, from Go for our ride. I have to thank Ken for this. He arranged those Go rides and he makes sure that we have all our documents when needed. There was a woman behind us in line who suddenly realized that she didn't have her Passport. That would never happen to us. It could easily happen to me if I traveled alone, but Ken as a former 'Boy Scout' is "Always Prepared". I was a Girl Guide but the lessons didn't stick. I suppose in this age of gender neutral it's just Scouts and Guides now. But, I bet there are more Girl Scouts than Boy Guides.

[Marvy Mare]

It was a short drive to the Courtyard Marriot Fort Lauderdale Airport and Cruiseport. We had to wait awhile to check in but I think we were in our room by noon. There were other travellers there waiting to go on cruises and returning. Some of the 'bikers' from our cruise were loading up their bikes into a trailer to head home to wherever.

 

You could see both the Cruiseport and Airport from the hotel. We had a room with a view and there was a nice pool, but there was really no where to go from the hotel. We walked over to Bass Pro or is it Pro Bass. The store in Vaughn, Ontario is almost identical to the one near our hotel, other than the fish in the fish tank and the sign on the door about concealed weapons. In retrospect, I wish that we had just gone to the airport and home. Next time.

 

My last few photos later.

[Marvy Mare]

Fort Lauderdale

Our view of the airport from our balcony.

I see a couple of Celebrity ships in this photo. One is probably the Reflection.

 

Sunset over the highway isn't as beautiful as sunset over he ocean.

[Marvy Mare]

FORT LAUDERDALE TO TORONTO TO LAKEFIELD - APRIL 3

 

 

Outdoor World is either Pro Bass or Bass Pro

 

The plane we flew home in.

 

Just kidding, but wouldn't that be cool. Our flight was delayed by about 1/2 hour. We got into Toronto about 5:30 and my wonderful brother picked us up at the airport. He is one brave city driver! We didn't stay at his place, just hopped in our car & drove home. It was just starting to freeze rain and we approached Peterborough. Our youngest son had picked up the dogs from the kennel. Stella, the young one gets excited if you walk out to the car & back, so you can imagine our greeting.

That's it, that's all. Until 2 years from now, maybe. Thanks for following this & adding comments, compliments and suggestions. I really loved the compliments:D. To Pepsi36 and Nanatravel who were on the cruise with us, thanks for the regular comments. It kept me motivated. Where else can you find people who truly enjoy vacation photos? Well, me actually. I'll continue to follow other reviews; Deladane (Dana), who writes amazingly detailed reviews and is writing about Aruba right now (we hope to be there on our next cruise) and Bimmer09, a fantastic photographer and very literate and humorous reviewer, who has been most helpful with this. Can't wait to see his Cuba photos & review in the new year! I've seen some Cuba photos online. It looks like a photographers paradise. I now have 2 Cruise Critic Idols.

Thanks all

Maris

Now I'm done, Ken said that he was going to read this! :cool:

[Pepsi36]

Thanks again Maris. You're a star. This was my first Celebrity cruise and hopefully not my last. I'm back with RCCL next year as we find it so easy to sail out of Southampton but I'll look out for your reviews next time you sail. XX

[deladane]

Wonderful job Maris! I loved following along with your review, and your photos are beautiful! :) Funny you mentioned that Ken is going to read your review... just yesterday, I asked my husband admitted he never finished reading my review of our honeymoon last year, let alone starting to read this review! haha He said it's too long, but to be fair, he did experience it in real life the first time around! hehe I look forward to reading any other cruise reviews you post in the future (even if it's not for another 2 years!)

[sp2]

I’ve been following along all this time Maris!

Great review and your photos are beautiful - good job!

 

Your pictures of disembarkation early morning in Fort Lauderdale made me sad too, to see it end. My hubby and I have cruised 24 times, and it never fails to make me shed a little tear that last morning, when you’ve returned to port and it’s all over - sigh! So we vow to come back the following year so that it’s not goodbye, just au revoir!

 

Thanks for a very enjoyable read. We have sailed the Reflection so it was nice to see her again through your camera lens!

 

Sharon

[Marvy Mare]

Thanks again Maris. You're a star. This was my first Celebrity cruise and hopefully not my last. I'm back with RCCL next year as we find it so easy to sail out of Southampton but I'll look out for your reviews next time you sail. XX

 

Thanks Pepsi36. Enjoy your future cruses!

[Marvy Mare]

Wonderful job Maris! I loved following along with your review, and your photos are beautiful! :) Funny you mentioned that Ken is going to read your review... just yesterday, I asked my husband admitted he never finished reading my review of our honeymoon last year, let alone starting to read this review! haha He said it's too long, but to be fair, he did experience it in real life the first time around! hehe I look forward to reading any other cruise reviews you post in the future (even if it's not for another 2 years!)

 

That’s funny about your husband not finishing reading your review. I read it - lol. A dream vacation for sure. Keep up the great reviews. I’ll be sure to use them to help with future plans.

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

I’ve been following along all this time Maris!

Great review and your photos are beautiful - good job!

 

Your pictures of disembarkation early morning in Fort Lauderdale made me sad too, to see it end. My hubby and I have cruised 24 times, and it never fails to make me shed a little tear that last morning, when you’ve returned to port and it’s all over - sigh! So we vow to come back the following year so that it’s not goodbye, just au revoir!

 

Thanks for a very enjoyable read. We have sailed the Reflection so it was nice to see her again through your camera lens!

 

Sharon

 

Sharon.

Thanks for following. 24 cruises! Wow! Yes, that last day is sad. I get so excited leading up to a vacation & then it’s over so soon.

I’m actually a bit sad to be done with this review because it let me enjoy it all over again.

It’s almost summer here now. We’ll be camping soon. Not quite like cruising but still pretty great.

 

Maris