The Adriatic and Italy on Celebrity Reflection June 3, 2022

[di T]

Thanks for your lovely review, we will be on Reflection for a b2b in September, your review has got us really looking forward to the trip! Even though in our 21 nights on board we have been to all the ports most are favourites. Haven’t been on Reflection for 4years and sounds like she’s still a beauty! Dianne

[Host Anne]

@PurpleTraveller  WOW!  I've been reading through your wonderful review throughout the week.  I'm another CC member sailing on Reflection in October on your same itinerary. While we've been to Italy multiple times, we have not been to half of the ports on this cruise.  Your detailed journey and wonderful photos have me looking forward to this cruise more than ever.  I'm very impressed with the quality of your photos from your phone.  What a wonderful cruise.  I also loved the friendship you made with the UK passengers!  The same think happened to us more than 20 years ago and we still cruise with our friends from England that we met on a cruise.  One of the very best things about cruising are the wonderful people (passengers and crew) that we meet from all around the world.

 

Thank you again for sharing your experience with all of us.  This is what makes Cruise Critic so valuable.  

 

Terrydtx ~ wishing you a wonderful cruise on Reflection in two weeks.  She remains one of our favorite ships (we were on her in January).

 

VickyKay ~ looking forward to meeting you on Reflection in October!

[carlmm]

On 7/22/2022 at 6:24 AM, PurpleTraveller said:

 

Unfortunately some people were impatient and would help themselves to thing they could reach, using their hands. The worst instance I saw of this was one morning when an older man helped himself to food at the bakery section with his hands. He even bent down so he could lean under the glass/perspex screen while breathing all over the food, not wearing a mask and help himself to food at the very back. The poor crew member working there was calling out "Sir, please stop. Please don't do that" but the man ignored him. A short time later I saw all the food from that section being removed. 

I am glad to read about the removal of the food.

Unfortunately, even when I reported behaviour like touching or sneezing on food, nobody cared.

 

@purpletraveler, thanks for your review.

[Lastdance]

My favorite ship in S-class is the Reflection, so thank you for the detailed information and excellent photos of your cruise.  Love the story about the yacht, as that only happens once in a lifetime. Sorry about testing positive for one cruise, but you did make the best out of it and had no symptoms.  Makes me wonder if the test was a false-positive.  Nonetheless, you shared so many valuable and interesting ideas for cruisers.  I am sure that your future in cruising will be wonderful; hope to see you onboard!

 

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, carlmm said:

I am glad to read about the removal of the food.

Unfortunately, even when I reported behaviour like touching or sneezing on food, nobody cared.

 

@purpletraveler, thanks for your review.

This is why we do not eat in the Buffets while there is still Covid around, the risk is not worth the cost and room service is so much safer.  We do not eat at any land buffets for the same reasons. 

[PurpleTraveller]

12 hours ago, di T said:

Thanks for your lovely review, we will be on Reflection for a b2b in September, your review has got us really looking forward to the trip! Even though in our 21 nights on board we have been to all the ports most are favourites. Haven’t been on Reflection for 4years and sounds like she’s still a beauty! Dianne

 

Thank you! I'm glad the review has helped to get you really looking forward to your cruise, though I'm sure the prospect of enjoying your cruise and ports was already exciting. As you've read I loved Reflection and she really is a beauty. Have a wonderful cruise in September!

 

[PurpleTraveller]

11 hours ago, Host Anne said:

@PurpleTraveller  WOW!  I've been reading through your wonderful review throughout the week.  I'm another CC member sailing on Reflection in October on your same itinerary. While we've been to Italy multiple times, we have not been to half of the ports on this cruise.  Your detailed journey and wonderful photos have me looking forward to this cruise more than ever.  I'm very impressed with the quality of your photos from your phone.  What a wonderful cruise.  I also loved the friendship you made with the UK passengers!  The same think happened to us more than 20 years ago and we still cruise with our friends from England that we met on a cruise.  One of the very best things about cruising are the wonderful people (passengers and crew) that we meet from all around the world.

 

Thank you again for sharing your experience with all of us.  This is what makes Cruise Critic so valuable.  

 

Terrydtx ~ wishing you a wonderful cruise on Reflection in two weeks.  She remains one of our favorite ships (we were on her in January).

 

VickyKay ~ looking forward to meeting you on Reflection in October!

 

Thank you so much! I really like to write reviews after my cruises because I get to relive them all over again.

 

It still amazes me that a phone can take really good photos and this was my first trip not to take my DSLR camera to reduce the weight I had to carry. I have no regrets as my photos are good enough for my needs.

 

You are absolutely correct in that one of the best things about cruising is the people you meet. We met another British couple on a cruise in 2016 and we are the best of friends and we have visited them twice in the UK and they have visited us twice in Australia. The friends we met on this cruise are gorgeous and we hope to meet up with them in the near future.

 

We really did have a wonderful cruise and I hope that your cruise in October is just as wonderful and that you enjoy the ports as much as we did.

 

Thanks again and happy cruising. 🛳️

 

[PurpleTraveller]

9 hours ago, carlmm said:

I am glad to read about the removal of the food.

Unfortunately, even when I reported behaviour like touching or sneezing on food, nobody cared.

 

@purpletraveler, thanks for your review.

 

Thanks! Thank you for reading the review and hope you enjoyed it.

 

I was also very pleased to see that they removed the food. The thought of the food being left for other passengers to eat makes me shudder. I don't know why that man and others helping themselves with their hands think that their behaviour is acceptable but unfortunately is seen frequently. It is disappointing to hear that they didn't take action when you pointed out something.

 

[PurpleTraveller]

8 hours ago, Lastdance said:

My favorite ship in S-class is the Reflection, so thank you for the detailed information and excellent photos of your cruise.  Love the story about the yacht, as that only happens once in a lifetime. Sorry about testing positive for one cruise, but you did make the best out of it and had no symptoms.  Makes me wonder if the test was a false-positive.  Nonetheless, you shared so many valuable and interesting ideas for cruisers.  I am sure that your future in cruising will be wonderful; hope to see you onboard!

 

 

Thank you so much! I am with you as Reflection is now my favourite ship.

 

We had such a wonderful time with our new friends on the yacht that we will remember that day with immense pleasure forever.

 

It was a shame that we tested positive before our second cruise but we did make the best of it. We did wonder if the result was false since we had no symptoms and we tested negative two days later but it is what it is and we still had a good time in Spain before we returned home 

 

Hopefully my review will help and inspire future cruisers. 

 

Thanks again and you never know, we may meet up one day on a cruise! 🛳️

 

[misterkevin]

I read your meticulously written review with zeal as we embark on the same itinerary in 10 days. Thank you for your keen authorship and more for your gloriously detailed photographic compositions. That you took these with a handheld phone is astonishing— you have the eye of an artist. I greatly appreciate your contribution.👏👏👏

 

[PurpleTraveller]

2 hours ago, misterkevin said:

I read your meticulously written review with zeal as we embark on the same itinerary in 10 days. Thank you for your keen authorship and more for your gloriously detailed photographic compositions. That you took these with a handheld phone is astonishing— you have the eye of an artist. I greatly appreciate your contribution.👏👏👏

 

 

Thank you so much for your lovely comments! I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the review and photos. I love taking photos even though I'm a rank amateur but I do admit I am pleased with the quality of photos taken on my fairly new phone. I did worry that relying just on my phone may result in disappointment but I'm pleased to say that I wasn't disappointed at all. Phone cameras have come a long way in recent times.

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise! The itinerary is great and I hope you enjoy the ports. 

 

Happy sailing and thanks again! 🛳️

 

[bluwes]

On 7/18/2022 at 5:41 PM, kebrown said:

Do you remember what level in the Opus Main Dining Room is reserved for passengers who have Select Dining?

if your query is not answered later on this thread, we were on last week and it was Deck 4, which is the Upper level of the Opus

[vickykay]

Purple,

  

Thanks again for the review.  Loved “cruising” along with you and can’t wait for our cruise in Oct.

 

Host Anne,

Also looking forward to meeting you especially since reading all your posts on these boards.

 

Vicky

[PurpleTraveller]

4 hours ago, vickykay said:

Purple,

  

Thanks again for the review.  Loved “cruising” along with you and can’t wait for our cruise in Oct.

 

Host Anne,

Also looking forward to meeting you especially since reading all your posts on these boards.

 

Vicky

 

Thanks! Hope you have a wonderful cruise and enjoy it as much as we did. 😊

 

[vickykay]

Thanks!

[cruisequeen4ever]

As a fellow long-time Princess pax, it’s always interesting to read experiences

of people trying other cruise lines. Our sailing on Celebrity reconfirmed our appreciation of Princess, but I am going to try it again with a friend next year after receiving a Celebrity offer I couldn’t refuse. 

 

On a different note, I realized based on your signature that we must have sailed together twice in the past. ☺️ On one of those sailings, I recall there being many Australians who were on for 21 days and were starting to grow weary after traveling for so long. Some of them were on our excursion to Cinque Terre on the Royal in 2016. Were you guys on that excursion? 
 

So sorry you ended up missing your second cruise due to Covid! Happy planning for your next one! 

[PurpleTraveller]

18 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

As a fellow long-time Princess pax, it’s always interesting to read experiences

of people trying other cruise lines. Our sailing on Celebrity reconfirmed our appreciation of Princess, but I am going to try it again with a friend next year after receiving a Celebrity offer I couldn’t refuse. 

 

On a different note, I realized based on your signature that we must have sailed together twice in the past. ☺️ On one of those sailings, I recall there being many Australians who were on for 21 days and were starting to grow weary after traveling for so long. Some of them were on our excursion to Cinque Terre on the Royal in 2016. Were you guys on that excursion? 
 

So sorry you ended up missing your second cruise due to Covid! Happy planning for your next one! 

 

We really enjoyed our Celebrity cruise and loved the design of Reflection but did miss some Princess things. I think we would be very happy to cruise with either Celebrity or Princess in the future. It would come down to itinerary and price. This week I booked an Alaskan cruise for June 2023 with Princess and are really looking forward to it as we haven't done an Alaskan cruise before.

 

We did 21 days on Royal Princess leaving from Barcelona on June 25, 2016. Was that the cruise you were on? We weren't on your tour to Cinque Terre as we went there in 2014 but went to San Gimignano and Pisa when we were in Livorno in 2016. We find six weeks is about our limit to travel overseas before we start to fade. What was the other cruise we were on together? It really is a small world when it comes to cruising, isn't it? Maybe we'll meet up in person on a cruise one day.

 

It was a pity we missed our second cruise but we were lucky to not be sick and we made the best of it. Now I have to start planning for Alaska!

 

I hope you enjoy your Celebrity cruise next year! 🛳️

 

[theopup]

Thanks for sharing all the beautiful photos

[PurpleTraveller]

3 hours ago, theopup said:

Thanks for sharing all the beautiful photos

 

You are very welcome. Thank you for reading along. Hope you enjoy all of the review. 😊

 

[librarylady19]

Thank you for your wonderfully detailed review with lovely photographs. Seems you had a wonderful time.

I just booked this exact cabin for a Caribbean cruise next year and was happy to hear you didn't experience any noise issues from your neighbors. This will be my 3rd time on Reflection - can't wait. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

20 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

We really enjoyed our Celebrity cruise and loved the design of Reflection but did miss some Princess things. I think we would be very happy to cruise with either Celebrity or Princess in the future. It would come down to itinerary and price. This week I booked an Alaskan cruise for June 2023 with Princess and are really looking forward to it as we haven't done an Alaskan cruise before.

 

We did 21 days on Royal Princess leaving from Barcelona on June 25, 2016. Was that the cruise you were on? We weren't on your tour to Cinque Terre as we went there in 2014 but went to San Gimignano and Pisa when we were in Livorno in 2016. We find six weeks is about our limit to travel overseas before we start to fade. What was the other cruise we were on together? It really is a small world when it comes to cruising, isn't it? Maybe we'll meet up in person on a cruise one day.

 

It was a pity we missed our second cruise but we were lucky to not be sick and we made the best of it. Now I have to start planning for Alaska!

 

I hope you enjoy your Celebrity cruise next year! 🛳️

 

It’s nice you’ve had good experiences on both cruise lines. Oh ok; I thinnnnnk we actually disembarked on 6/25/16 from the Royal. ☺️ We did 17 days on the Regal in June of 2014. I hope you love your AK cruise; that’s where we live, and we’ve done many AK cruises. Princess really does do it best, so good choice. Happy planning! We are blissfully back to our pre-Covid Christmas cruise tradition aboard Princess; I can’t wait to be back at sea! 

[PurpleTraveller]

3 hours ago, librarylady19 said:

Thank you for your wonderfully detailed review with lovely photographs. Seems you had a wonderful time.

I just booked this exact cabin for a Caribbean cruise next year and was happy to hear you didn't experience any noise issues from your neighbors. This will be my 3rd time on Reflection - can't wait. 

 

Thanks! So glad you enjoyed the review and photos. We did have a wonderful time and would very happily sail again on Reflection in the future.

 

Cabin 8106 is great but you will get noise and vibration when docking or mooring. Despite this we loved this cabin and would stay there again.

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise next year. 🛳️

 

[PurpleTraveller]

2 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

It’s nice you’ve had good experiences on both cruise lines. Oh ok; I thinnnnnk we actually disembarked on 6/25/16 from the Royal. ☺️ We did 17 days on the Regal in June of 2014. I hope you love your AK cruise; that’s where we live, and we’ve done many AK cruises. Princess really does do it best, so good choice. Happy planning! We are blissfully back to our pre-Covid Christmas cruise tradition aboard Princess; I can’t wait to be back at sea! 

 

We also did the 17 days on Regal in June 2014. That was our first cruise and had such a wonderful time we were hooked. We have cruised every year since then (well except for 2020 and 2021 due to Covid). It is so good to be cruising again!

 

We are really excited to do an Alaskan cruise and we are combining it with some time in Canada and visiting friends near Seattle. So another great trip to plan and look forward to!

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise! 🛳️

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

23 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

We also did the 17 days on Regal in June 2014. That was our first cruise and had such a wonderful time we were hooked. We have cruised every year since then (well except for 2020 and 2021 due to Covid). It is so good to be cruising again!

 

We are really excited to do an Alaskan cruise and we are combining it with some time in Canada and visiting friends near Seattle. So another great trip to plan and look forward to!

 

Hope you have a wonderful cruise! 🛳️

 

That’s so cool your first cruise was on that special sailing! 😀 

[Scottishclover]

What a wonderful review. We just booked this same itinerary on the Beyond next year. We were swithering between this and another itinerary but your fantastic photos have confirmed that we came to the right decision. With all the detail you included, you’ve made my planning a lot easier too! Thank you.