Live Blog: Reflection, Italy, Croatia and Montenegro. September 16-September 26.

[Purplsmurf]

9 hours ago, calicakes said:

Her parents moved to waukesha, so when we would come to visit, we stayed in waukesha. All her siblings still live in the area. Brookfield and waukesha. Her aunt is in Pewaukee.

Wow! Now that is really crazy! The people you could meet on here! 😂 Keep enjoying the cruise! We loved that itinerary!

[calicakes]

I've noticed some recycling of ingredients on the buffet. Breakfast sausage cut up in a bowl with tomatoes. It is now tomato sausage salad. It didn't look appealing. 

 

The fried rice today at lunch, was dry. It looked like the same rice from last night.

[calicakes]

We ordered from main dining menu for dinner.  They forgot to include the stuffing on both our plates. I also ask for the spatzell from the Luminae menu.

[shirazcruiser]

We're booked on the same "Beautiful Taormina by Land and Sea" on our upcoming May cruise and overlooked there is a 30 minute swimming option.  When the water was too rough in the grotto, did the boat still linger in the area or continue to sail on? 

[calicakes]

32 minutes ago, shirazcruiser said:

We're booked on the same "Beautiful Taormina by Land and Sea" on our upcoming May cruise and overlooked there is a 30 minute swimming option.  When the water was too rough in the grotto, did the boat still linger in the area or continue to sail on? 

 The boat went into the grotto and then came right out.  He then took us to a different place to swim. The water was crystal clear beautiful but a little too cold someone

[shirazcruiser]

4 minutes ago, calicakes said:

 The boat went into the grotto and then came right out.  He then took us to a different place to swim. The water was crystal clear beautiful but a little too cold someone

Did anyone swim...you'd have to be prepared to have dry clothes to continue touring?  Did you take a tour in Naples?

[calicakes]

17 minutes ago, shirazcruiser said:

Did anyone swim...you'd have to be prepared to have dry clothes to continue touring?  Did you take a tour in Naples?

2 men swam. They wore suits under their clothes. They dried off as best as they could and then put clothing back on. We just walked around naples for a few hours. We were going to go to capri, but j wasn't up for the boat ride. They would not let us come back on our own from Capri,they said we had to be there for 8 hours. this was the Capri on your own excursion through the ship.

[shirazcruiser]

9 minutes ago, calicakes said:

We just walked around naples for a few hours. We were going to go to capri, but j wasn't up for the boat ride. They would not let us come back on our own from Capri,they said we had to be there for 8 hours. this was the Capri on your own excursion through the ship.

Oh...Capri is beautiful and the hydrofoil over is fun!  

[Jeremiah1212]

On 9/23/2022 at 12:29 PM, calicakes said:

We ate in OV for dinner.  The menu in Luminae did NOT appeal to either of us.  Quite frankly, neither did OV, but we WE WERE planning on going to the Silent Disco for Suite guests so we wanted a quick dinner.    

 

We began talking with a couple sitting next to us.  They both just got out of quarantine.  They were on the PREVIOUS cruise and tested positive a day before debarkation.  Italy would not let them off the ship, so they were forced to continue their quarantine on another cruise.  The man told me that when the medical staff came around to test him, he glanced down on their paperwork and saw at least 20 names and there were at least 20 tests on their tray. 

 

I'm pretty sure the suite next to ours is in Quarantine.  They have been taking ALL OF their meals as room service and tonight, their trash was bagged up sitting outside their room.    There are quite a few cabins on this floor that are taking all meals with room service, AKA they've been in deep sleep almost the entire cruise. 

 

With all that being said, we decided to skip the disco.   We were required to wear an N95 on the bus ride today.  Very few folks are wearing them onboard and the elevators are always packed.   

 

We were on the prior cruise (disembarked the 16th) and have COVID along with several others. All sorts of open coughing, hacking and sneezing on board as the cruise progressed. Lots of red trash bags in the hallway and trays of half eaten food. If Silent Disco isn't a superspreader then nothing is 😷

[Shawnkat]

On 9/18/2022 at 10:40 AM, terrydtx said:

Unless they have a new beef provider since last month, stay away from the beef steaks in Luminae.  The NY strip and rib eyes were totally inedible, full of gristle and so tough they couldn't be cut with a steak knife. This became a running joke among the Luminae guests, we all accused Celebrity of buying old milk cows for the steaks.  The Maitre D told us that Celebrity was using a new beef provider and were having many many complaints from guests in Luminae.  However, we did steaks one night in the Lawn Grill and the steaks were delicious, but we were told the LG buys their beef from a different provider than the MDR and Luminae.

 

I agree.  We were on Reflection for the Aug 26 sailing.  We also found the rib eye and NY strip disappointing.  I'm not normally a filet mignon person but it was better than then others.

 

[calicakes]

11 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

We were on the prior cruise (disembarked the 16th) and have COVID along with several others. All sorts of open coughing, hacking and sneezing on board as the cruise progressed. Lots of red trash bags in the hallway and trays of half eaten food. If Silent Disco isn't a superspreader then nothing is 😷

I hope its mild for you.  Fingers crossed we get home and we're spared.  I'm hoping the 5th booster shot we got on Sept 8th will have kicked in.  

[calicakes]

Good Morning.  We dock in Livorno at 9:30am.  We have a private excursion with members of the roll call.  We're stopping in Pisa for about 20 min and then we're going to Florence.  We're on our own in Florence.  Not sure what we're going to do.  Its a colder and rainy day so far.  We brought rain poncho's with us, however, we didn't bring a sweatshirt or warmer jacket.  

Edited September 25, 2022 by calicakes

[calicakes]

We are currently in Florence, the driver took us here 1st stopping at pisa on the way back. We had a porchetta sandwich for lunch. 5 euro.

[calicakes]

We stopped in Pisa on our way back.

[hcat]

Were there alot of vendors hawking stuff as you entered the Miracle  pathway?  We hated that..one of them actually grabbed on to  me to push his junk...big mistake on his part..middle age does not always mean weak!.. The tower and other bldgs were impressive but we  found the whole okace a bit if a " tourist trap"

 

We loved Florence..great art and architecture...beautiful vibe, good food  and great buys on leather when we were there...would love to go back again some day.

 

On another topic.. the food on board sounds "uneven"...not much to rave about!

[hcat]

31 minutes ago, calicakes said:

We stopped in Pisa on our way back.

Very nice  shot!

[calicakes]

17 minutes ago, hcat said:

Were there alot of vendors hawking stuff as you entered the Miracle  pathway?  We hated that..one of them actually grabbed on to  me to push his junk...big mistake on his part..middle age does not always mean weak!.. The tower and other bldgs were impressive but we  found the whole okace a bit if a " tourist trap"

 

We loved Florence..great art and architecture...beautiful vibe, good food  and great buys on leather when we were there...would love to go back again some day.

 

On another topic.. the food on board sounds "uneven"...not much to rave about!

Yes.  Lot of vendors and very pushy.

[calicakes]

Dinner. Our last one.  Julie ordered the pork chop from the main dining menu. I had Turbot. I switched the sides. I took the sides from the filet. Beet salad from mdr .  I finally got some cake. Almond cake from luminae. J had banana blueberry crumble from. Mdr.

[Lastdance]

30 minutes ago, calicakes said:

Yes.  Lot of vendors and very pushy.

I have been all over Italy, but never to Pisa...sounds like I made a good decision.  My DH is older, but has many talents when needed.  Sorry to hear about the food elevator going down, but I know it is not dampening your trip, along with being retired and moving to Naples.  You have so many things to be thrilled about that are forthcoming.  Your pups are missing you too, but know you will return.

Edited September 25, 2022 by Lastdance

[calicakes]

We left the ship this morning at 6:30. We walked off through Michael's club. We arrived at airport at 7:40. Checked in, went to airport lounge at 820. Our flight to jfk.has been delayed. I hope we make our connection to LA.

[Jim_Iain]

8 hours ago, calicakes said:

We left the ship this morning at 6:30. We walked off through Michael's club. We arrived at airport at 7:40. Checked in, went to airport lounge at 820. Our flight to jfk.has been delayed. I hope we make our connection to LA.

 

Thanks for taking the time and hard work to do a Live Report.    I really enjoyed following along .   Good luck on your flight home.

 

Jim & Iain

[sdnich]

I just caught up reading your report I enjoyed following along also and your pictures. We are on the summit right now out to sea and I just ordered room service for lunch didn’t feel like going to the restaurant!  hopefully people don’t think that we have Covid!! 
I hope  you make your connection it is never fun traveling home !!

[Redking]

Adding my thanks for your review. Great photos. Hope you enjoyed your celebrations and safe travels home.

[Lastdance]

Safe travel back to CA!  Thank you for sharing your trip with us.

[hcat]

Great  live from thread...nice blend of food, places, ship etc along with  lovely photos and relatable commentary.

Thanks!