LIVE from the Reflection Nov 12-19

[bjahil47]

Following along on your cruise!  Have a great time!

[NC State]

Nice!  We will be on this ship Dec '24.  Can't wait! 

[kk20]

We woke up just outside of Jamaica and are currently being backed into our ‘parking spot’ at the pier. It looks like the symphony of the seas is waiting for her turn next.

 

Since our 2018 cruise to Alaska, where the captain did a 360° turn on a dime so everyone onboard could see the glacier we were at, I find it amazing how they can manoeuvre these massive ships and make it seem effortless 

[Arzeena]

Enjoying your review! Thanks.
We will be on the Reflection in January.
Are you taking an excursion in Jamaica? I would love to hear about  it.

[kk20]

26 minutes ago, Arzeena said:

Enjoying your review! Thanks.
We will be on the Reflection in January.
Are you taking an excursion in Jamaica? I would love to hear about  it.

Thanks!
We had an all inclusive beach day reserved, but that excursion was cancelled by Celebrity. I then booked us on a river tubing excursion but after watching youtube videos on it and learning of the dengue fever outbreaks that Jamaica is having, we decided that leisurely floating down a slow moving river might not be the best thing to do.

So for now, we’re going to get off and walk around the port and see if there’s anything that interests us 

[hcat]

which port in Jamaica?

[kk20]

12 minutes ago, hcat said:

which port in Jamaica?

Falmouth

[39august]

I didn't know Celebrity ever used the Falmouth port. That's too bad. Nothing near Falmouth is interesting. Pretty port area though. 

[raudacruise]

13 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Luggage Valet seems to be Equinox only so far this season

No Luggage Valet for my Nov. 2 Reflection cruise.  Would be nice if they added Silhouette for my February cruises.

 

Southwest’s curbside check-in let my 52# suitcase slide by.  Can’t trust my luggage scale.  My butler offered me the use of his luggage scale which turned out to be him hefting the suitcases and declaring both well under 50#.  Nope.

[themutis]

Are you using the wifi?  And if so do you have the standard or premium?   We are wondering about the performance.

[kk20]

26 minutes ago, themutis said:

Are you using the wifi?  And if so do you have the standard or premium?   We are wondering about the performance.

Yes. Our travel agency group rates still include wifi, classic beverage pkg and gratuities. We upgraded our wifi to premium with our obc.

 

Up until now we have only sailed on m class ships and we have found that their internet seems to be more stable than onboard the reflection.

It’s not horrible, just spotty at times and the upload speed is awful. I can’t load any videos longer than about 10 seconds.
(First world problems, I know)

[annenj]

@kk20Martini bar is one of our favorite place to visit. 😉 

What's the average martini cost these days? Wondering if classic package covers most or if you're better off with the premium.

If you have a pic of the menu, that would be great!

[kk20]

11 minutes ago, annenj said:

@kk20Martini bar is one of our favorite place to visit. 😉 

What's the average martini cost these days? Wondering if classic package covers most or if you're better off with the premium.

If you have a pic of the menu, that would be great!

Martinis are running $17 as of now. I’ll post menu pics later on today, as I’m sure we’ll end up there 😝

[kk20]

We got off the ship and just wondered through the shops in the port this morning. Somehow I managed not to go into any jewelry stores! And I didn’t even purchase my normal ‘island name, established xxxx’ t-shirt.

The highlight of the port was some performers playing the drums, dancing and doing acrobatics. 

 

Once back onboard we headed down to the solarium for some hot tub and pool time. There was no bar service until after the crew had finished their safety drills and the poor single bartender at the pool bar was getting crushed during this time too. Thankfully there was a very outspoken guest who was directing traffic and dictating who was to be served next 😅

 

We grabbed a quick salad and sandwich from the ovc for lunch, as we have reservations at sushi on 5 tonight and want to be nice and hungry for that! 

[kk20]

So I may get flamed for this, but we just had a full miss from Sushi on 5. (We have previously enjoyed all out meals here on the m class ships)

On the second day we stopped by and asked if they had fresh ground wasabi onboard for this sailing, as we know it’s not always available. We were told yes, so we made reservations. 
Turns out they don’t have it available. Our waiter said he would check for us but didn’t let us know they had none. Instead we were just served our main courses with a very mild horseradish wasabi paste. We had to inquire about it again. We were told different stories from the waiter and the supervisor (none available from the ‘shop’ and that it had gone bad bad and couldn’t be served)

I love salty food but the soy sauce overpowered any wasabi taste with its saltyness. Costco packs of soy and wasabi are better than what we were served. And again, we’ve  only had positive experiences at sushi on 5 before tonight. 
We were also charged for lobster wontons that we never received. But they did take it off the bill plus 20% off for our issues.

 

Yes, I know it’s not

like we ran into a huge problem, but what we received vs what we expected was a downer

[SRQbeachgirl]

Following along! We'll be on the Reflection in 10 days, so I'm using your review to get me through until then. 

[ReginaHeck]

We are on the Reflections in March 2024. We usually cruise Royal Caribbean. My question is, do they have a daily activity pamphlet (cruise compass)? Something where we can plan our day with. Thank you for the view, we have a veranda as well. travelling with our 10 yr old grandson. I'll be watching your posts. thanks

[cruisestitch]

Daily planner—- delivered each evening

[kk20]

So last night’s sushi didn’t agree with me, so today was a pretty low key day with me spending most of the day in bed instead of snorkelling in grand cayman as originally planned. 
 

We had room service breakfast, then headed to the solarium again. After a quick dip, I couldn’t get comfortable on the lounger so I opted to just head back to the cabin. The hubs brought me a sandwich from the ovc for lunch and I managed to make it down to the passport bar for an adult beverage before heading back to the cabin again.

 

We eventually made it to the ovc so I could get some soup and sorbet in me. It was English night at the buffet so Dave got to enjoy roast beef, yorkshire pudding and some pot pie. The fish and chips also looked really good. 
 

We wondered down to the shops after dinner and I managed to burn through all but $.62 of our non refundable obc. 

 

We’re now at al bacio enjoying the live band in the grand foyer

[ReginaHeck]

18 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Daily planner—- delivered each evening

Thank you - enjoy the rest of your cruise 

[retired dude]

so shocked that anyone would get a bad meal in a place with the work sushi in it. We use that stuff for bait to catch a real fish and then cook it....lol

[the penguins]

On 11/14/2023 at 3:36 PM, kk20 said:

Thanks! We definitely didn’t have inflatable raft as a possibility 

The rafts also give the extra capacity needed to enable everyone to be evacuated from just one side of the ship.

[the penguins]

On 11/14/2023 at 2:52 PM, kk20 said:

After dinner last night we managed to grab a couple of chairs at the martini bar and settled in for some adult beverages. 
 

We checked a few times to see if we could snag a seat at the casino so Dave could watch the Bills game, but it just kept getting busier and they didn’t have the volume on on any of the tvs, so I went and got an ipad to stream the game. We have upgraded to premium internet but couldn’t get the game to stream 👎 It seems like the internet onboard is very, very spotty and unreliable compared to the other ships we’ve been on.

 

We ended up coming back to our cabin to watch the game. We angled the tv our towards the balcony and turned our chairs around to watch it with our balcony door open 

 

We slept in this morning and are now enjoying some coffee and treats from cafe al bacio on our balcony. No plans for today! It’s a sea day, so we expect the pool deck to be a place we’ll avoid 😹
 

 

Please don't keep the balcony door open.

Not only does it put a lot more strain on the system in your cabin but as the Aircon units run pairs of cabins it affects your neighbour as well. 

[hcat]

On 11/15/2023 at 1:48 PM, kk20 said:

We got off the ship and just wondered through the shops in the port this morning. Somehow I managed not to go into any jewelry stores! And I didn’t even purchase my normal ‘island name, established xxxx’ t-shirt.

The highlight of the port was some performers playing the drums, dancing and doing acrobatics. 

 

Once back onboard we headed down to the solarium for some hot tub and pool time. There was no bar service until after the crew had finished their safety drills and the poor single bartender at the pool bar was getting crushed during this time too. Thankfully there was a very outspoken guest who was directing traffic and dictating who was to be served next 😅

 

We grabbed a quick salad and sandwich from the ovc for lunch, as we have reservations at sushi on 5 tonight and want to be nice and hungry for that! 

great photos!

 

We like this port even if it  is sort of  artificial like Costa Mayo.  There were  some nice shops with  beautiful handmade clothes, island music, craft items, good rum.  We  had a nice "local" lunch spot (sorry cannot recall  name.)

 

We booked an excursion from  Falmouth but it was poorly organized not professional  ...long wait fo mini bus so we cancellsd out.   Decided not to try again or venture past the Port gates!

[hcat]

3 minutes ago, the penguins said:

Please don't keep the balcony door open.

Not only does it put a lot more strain on the system in your cabin but as the Aircon units run pairs of cabins it affects your neighbour as well. 

Agree, esp overnight..it creates a serial air issue in the hallway...along with a loud whoosing  whistle in other cabins.   We had to put a blanket at our cabin door to muffle.. stewards went along  the hallway reminding folks to close their doors.. 

 

the balcony is a nice spot..but   hope all close their cabin door  (and don't get locked out!)