CHICAGOPAUL - LIVE!!!!!!! CRUISE BLOG - November 5th Celebrity Reflection!!!!!!!!!

[chicagopaul]

To answer the question of which drink package we get, we always get the premium. On this cruise there was a GO Best promotion for all suites when we booked so it was included. 

 

I know someone asked about booking on board promotions. I posted the photo above with current promotions that run through most of November. 

 

Cartagena - We have no plans so are open to suggestions! Our plan is to get off relatively early. Walk as much as possible. I’ll activate cellular on my phone and will use it to navigate a few of the historic sites. Our plan is just to grab lunch somewhere, some drinks, and just see what we run into. I love major cities so I figure I’ll let it control us for the day. 

[chicagopaul]

23 hours ago, RealDeal said:

Thanks!!!  Vlad was great....I had a blast making him blush...LOL. 

 

Vlad sends his best! He’s bartending right now with Milton for the day at Sunset. 

[RealDeal]

1 minute ago, chicagopaul said:

 

Vlad sends his best! He’s bartending right now with Milton for the day at Sunset. 

 

Thank you, Paul!!  We loved him!!  

[gordylad]

enjoying the updates.....have you got any trips planned for the next stops cartagena etc

[chicagopaul]

[richsea]

As usual, I am enjoying following your adventures. Problem is, that whenever you talk of enjoying a cocktail, I get the urge to have one myself, and I’m not even on vacation!

I do have one question. In looking at the dailies, I noticed that they have not offered any trivia games. Have they discontinued them?? I certainly hope not!

[MisterMet]

On 11/6/2018 at 5:12 PM, chicagopaul said:

We met our butler this morning when he delivered our breakfast. Sorry no breakfast photos, Edward started eating too quickly. 

 

Our butler is Walter. He seems very nice and very eager to help out. He offered to stick our mini bar with any kind of water, soda, or beer and told us it would just become part of our beverage package. He told us he’d happily bring us canapés to our room or could prepare something nicer. He suggested we could have some people over for a little party and he could prepare something. He reminded us he could shine our shoes anytime, take care of our laundry, etc. He really seemed to want to take care of anything. We’re having him stock the fridge with sparkling water, regular water, and ginger ale. We will definitely take him up on the shoe shines. So far so good! 

 

This morning we grabbed a couple drinks at the sunset bar and then one at the pool bar. The pool bar was packed around 11am. Absolutely packed. We saw Singh at the pool bar! He was our pool bartender on our TA on the Reflection in April. While the sunset bar will be our mainstay I will pop down to see him. He’s also working in Sky this cruise as well. 

 

We had lunch in Luminae. It definitely was not as crowded as yesterday during lunch. We both had the hamachi to start and then the short ribs. The hamachi was excellent. The short ribs were very good. They could’ve had a little more flavor in my opinion but the cook point of the meet was great. They were falling apart and there was just a light amount of fat on top which was melting. Quality seemed very good. 

 

 

 

Paul,

This is the second review of yours I’ve read and am really enjoying this one too.  You really helped us enjoy our Equinox cruise 9/14 with your review of your experiences on her.  My wife (GrazieMommy) wrote here first ever CC review about our voyage and I know you helped her a lot.

 

 Just wondering about your thoughts on meeting your butler the first morning of the cruise?  We’ve only been in a suite once (Equinox)so we don’t know if meeting our butler Dominic within 10 minutes of entering the cabin was just dumb luck, his eagerness to introduce himself to his guests, or a little bit of both?  Dominic was excellent and took tremendous care of us.  Were you disappointed not to have made contact with your butler until the morning after the cruise left?  

 

Being rather her inexperienced in the “suite” life, I don’t know if that would or should bother me?  I guess all that matters is that he/she meets your and Edward’s needs as you see them.

 

Between you and Norris (Bimmer09), you Chicago area guys seem to be great at cruise reviews!  Enjoy your voyage.

 

Trip

[HAM]

Hi richsea, if you look at the daily planner page, on the lower right there is a box that highlights the featured film, trivia, and live music for that day.

[Corgi Girl]

Hi Paul,  I LOVE your review.  So much detail and so much fun!  Quick question.  I will be sailing in a Sky Suite.  I was wondering how the set-up is before you board.  I know there is a suite waiting area, but I have heard that Royal Suite, Penthouse, and possibly other suites have a separate check-in area and/or they get escorted onboard first.  Did you happen to notice if that occurred when you boarded?  Thanks.

[richsea]

1 hour ago, HAM said:

Hi richsea, if you look at the daily planner page, on the lower right there is a box that highlights the featured film, trivia, and live music for that day.

I see it now. Thanks HAM. Senior moment!

[chicagopaul]

11 hours ago, taylortime05 said:

Paul,  is the pool area packed by early morning?  I've read that the Reflection seems busier than Eclipse or Equinox because on the Reflection they got rid of some common space and added more cabins.  We were on the Eclipse couple of years ago in December and were always able to find 2 chairs around the pool.  It could get busy at times but even if we couldn't get 2 chairs right around the pool there were chairs available near by looking out over the water.  I'm hoping it's the same on our 14 night Reflection cruise leaving Dec 7th. 

 

Yes the last two sea days the pool was very crowded. I’d say lots of people were laying out and at the pool bar even by 9:30. Around lunch time people were using chairs even on the solstice deck. I’ve spent lots of time up by sunset / lawn club so I can’t speak to how well the pool butlers have been taking care of chair hogs. 

[chicagopaul]

I’ll get to the questions likely later tonight. Thank you again for all the nice comments! I want to update you on a few random items right now before heading out to the martini bar. 

 

Dinner Last Night: You saw the photos posted above. But what did we have? The small salad was a kale salad with a unique style Cesar dressing. I thought it was excellent. We decided to get the NY Strip and I have to say I was quite impressed! Cook quality was on point, but I was most impressed with the quality of the meat and the flavor. We had a veal cannelloni to split which was very good, better than others I’ve had. 

 

Public Restrooms: You May remember when I was on the Equinox in August / September I complained about the lack of real towels in the public restrooms and the lack of attendants. Well, this cruise there is no issue. Towels fully stocked and attendants very visible. 

 

Butler: I saw the question about not meeting our butler on embarkation day. We’re we disappointed? I’d say we were a bit indifferent and maybe just disappointed at the timing but that was our fault and not his. It was just a unique situation. We unpacked then took a nap

so had the do not disturb sign out. Walter our butler looked for us in Michaels and Luminae but we were last minute in Murano. He called and left us a message but we didn’t see it until the morning. No fault at all on him. 

 

We did chat with him today about dinner. I asked him about dining in the room and he was enthusiastic about setting it up and then I said I’d like something off menu, likely some Indian food and he seemed very excited to set it up for us. Our mini bar has been routinely stocked with our few requests. For laundry he told us today to just leave it to the side and he’d pick it up. No need to fill out forms, put in laundry bag or anything like that. 

[abbydancer2003]

2 minutes ago, chicagopaul said:

 

Dinner Last Night: You saw the photos posted above. But what did we have? The small salad was a kale salad with a unique style Cesar dressing. I thought it was excellent.

 

I'm laughing because the night it was on the menu on the Equinox, I asked for it with romaine instead of kale.  We had a bit of trouble getting our outstanding waiter to understand, but he came through with it.  Maybe next time I'll try it with kale, although when I deal with raw kale in a salad, I massage it for about 20 minutes first.

[chicagopaul]

Good Morning from Cartagena! I’m having my morning drink with Milton and then we will head out and take a cab to the old city. Though the new city area with all the high rises on water looks quite appealing. Very excited to check this city out but my goodness is it warm. The humidity is incredible! 

 

We plan to walk around the sites, check out the walled city area in the old city. We’re going to grab a drink at the Santa Teresa hotel which should have great views. Then we will find a place in the old city area for lunch. 

[ASell]

Good morning Paul !

I am trying to get all my ducks in a row for my Dec 1 cruise.  

Can you give me an idea of how much things like the Macallan Tasting / Don Julio Tasting run  ( just a ball park if you know) ?

Also, I see a Taj Mahal indian dining event.... have you done that and how much of an add on cost is that, if they are advertising ?

 

No need to go search it out, I can do that when I get on board, but if you happen to know 🙂

 

Enjoy your day, guys !!!

[chicagopaul]

Here are the daily papers for today! 

 

 

[sykimball1498]

12 minutes ago, chicagopaul said:

Good Morning from Cartagena! I’m having my morning drink with Milton and then we will head out and take a cab to the old city. Though the new city area with all the high rises on water looks quite appealing. Very excited to check this city out but my goodness is it warm. The humidity is incredible! 

 

We plan to walk around the sites, check out the walled city area in the old city. We’re going to grab a drink at the Santa Teresa hotel which should have great views. Then we will find a place in the old city area for lunch. 

Old Town Cartegena is great!  Very walkable and lots of picturesque things.  Make sure you bring your camera!

[Eloise4Ever]

Hi Paul, I am enjoying your review enormously as I always do. I love that you give so much information. I was wondering, if you get a chance, could you post a photo of Komang, I Made and Agung from the Martini bar please? (As long as they don't mind of course!) I believe Komang and I Made were working in the Martini Bar on Eclipse on our cruise from Southampton to the Canary Islands in September 2017 and I Made and Agung on our Eclipse TA and Norway cruises earlier this year. I would love to see a photo of them. They are all so different but great guys. I got to know Komang and I Made after I witnessed a guest speak very rudely to them last year. I tried to comfort them afterwards as they were quite shaken. I offered to tell their Manager their side of the story if anything was made of the incident. Fortunately, everything was ok. Boon, who you have mentioned before, was also in MB on that cruise. Another great guy.

[jagoffee]

Paul, I have been enjoying your updates as always.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

To enhanced your enjoyment, I thought I would share the view this morning from our Chicago’s Northern Suburb back door.

 

It might make the humidity more tolerable.

[ecslady]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

Paul, I have been enjoying your updates as always.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

To enhanced your enjoyment, I thought I would share the view this morning from our Chicago’s Northern Suburb back door.

 

It might make the humidity more tolerable.

 

 

Oh My - Seeing that snow, even makes the rain today in NJ more tolerable! I sure hope it makes the humidity more tolerable for Paul.

[chicagopaul]

Thank you for the snow pictures! It definitely makes the humidity more tolerable. While it was humid it was a really beautiful day. We really enjoyed the old city and the people were all very friendly. I could see ya definitely coming back to visit the city in a different way in the future. 

 

We ended up taking a small group bus into town. The cost, including return pick up was $10 per person. We had a moderator / tour guide of sorts that was very friendly, gave us tips on what to see and avoid, and gave us random facts on the short drive. 

 

Clouds are starting to roll in now but hopefully it will be dry for sail away. Let’s see if some photos can post now 

[chicagopaul]

[hcat]

4 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Paul, I have been enjoying your updates as always.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

To enhanced your enjoyment, I thought I would share the view this morning from our Chicago’s Northern Suburb back door.

 

It might make the humidity more tolerable.

 

It is a beautiful view.....but makes me happy that we  head south this weekend...cruising in January!

[hcat]

Paul...great photos of Cartagena..How was the heat and humidity? Did the bus have A/C?

 

Enjoy!

Edited November 9, 2018 by hcat

[chicagopaul]

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

Paul...great photos of Cartagena..How was the heat and humidity? Did the bus have A/C?

 

Enjoy!

 

Heat and humidity were high but tolerable. And yes the bus actually had great a/c. I was surprised. Also our suite has been keeping very cold even though the sun was beating down on it most of the day.