Celebrity Reflection ABC Cruise - December 9 - 17

[stbr]

December 9 – 17 on Celebrity Reflection (ABC Islands): What a difference a few months makes😊

 

We are newly home from a very nice 8-day cruise on the Celebrity Reflection.

 

Getting there and Fort Lauderdale:  We flew from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale (Air Canada/on time) a couple of days before the cruise and stayed at Snooze Motel.  I would definitely stay there again. They are exactly what they say they are!  They are a nice motel with great prices across the road from the beach.  There’s no big lobby, 24-hour front desk, swimming pool, etc.  But we got a clean room with a fridge, microwave, sink, dishes, coffee maker, free wifi, etc for a reasonable price.  They also provide beach towels, beach chairs, pool toys, sunscreen, etc.  And the young man in the office was a big help.  This place is all about its location and price. 

On the first night, we didn’t arrive at the hotel until 8pm.  They left us with clear instructions to use the elevator and access our room. We headed next door to Casablanca restaurant and enjoyed a wonderful dinner. The food was great but the singer was too loud. We couldn’t hear ourselves talking. The volume of the singer forced everyone at the tables to shout to have a conversation. Way too much noise.

The next day, we took a great walk along the beach, headed to the nearby Publix for a few essentials, and then had an early dinner at Primanti Brothers Pizza. We really enjoyed our pizza.

 

Embarkation:  Our only hiccup on embarkation day was getting a taxi from the hotel to Port Everglades.  We had to wait for close to 45 minutes. I guess everyone wanted a taxi!  There were a lot of ships in port that day, so I’m guessing a lot of taxi cabs were doing the ship to airport runs.

Boarding was seamless and we dropped off our stuff in our room within 15 minutes of arriving at the port.  We went to Opus for our Concierge lunch (butternut squash soup, salmon, and chocolate cake).  It’s the first time we’ve been concierge class and this was a nice benefit.  We avoided the crowds in the Oceanview Café.

 

The Itinerary:  Two seas days, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, and two more sea days.   The seas were definitely active on the sea days!  It was hard to walk a straight line and I couldn’t have managed without Bonine and Dramamine. In fact, the ship sold out of Bonine! So, a lot of people must have felt the ocean’s motion!  I was very glad to be midship. 

 

On sea days, we just like to hang out, read books, listen to music, etc.  We did attend the Captain Kirk’s talk on ship navigation.  It was interesting. I’d like more of these talks on sea days. 

 

Aruba:  After a nice walk through the town and lunch at 5 O’Clock Somewhere, we took a taxi to Eagle Beach for a few hours.  $15 each way.  We didn’t buy internet on the ship, so we had a leisurely coffee at Starbucks and caught up on emails, etc. 

 

Curacao:  We enjoyed the town and took a long walk.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at La Boheme.  We also started the day with a leisurely coffee at Starbucks again.

 

Bonaire:  I did an amazing snorkeling excursion with Woodwind.  I wouldn’t book anything else if I was in Bonaire. It was my second trip with them.  They’re super friendly and knowledgeable.  They provide everything you need for snorkeling (including prescription masks), give you drinks, a snack after the first snorkel experience, and a full lunch with dessert after the second snorkel experience.  Tasty food, too!  You can’t beat it!  You get all of this for $85 US.  FYI:  They have free wifi at the office. 

 

Staff:  As always, they’re excellent. Our stateroom attendant, Flemmy, took good care of us. Our dining room waiters and assistant waiters (shout out to Jude, Don, Larry, and Jonathan) were amazing.  I wish more people took the time to be kind to the staff on board.  They work very hard and deserve to be treated respectfully.

 

Food:  I referenced this in my title.  What a difference four months makes.  I got some good health news at the very end of June and booked an August celebration cruise the next day. We took a wonderful 9-day Mediterranean cruise on Celebrity Reflection. Don’t get me wrong – we had a wonderful time.  But the only weak spot was the food – main dining room and Oceanview Café. It was a port-intensive cruise, so we made sure to enjoy the wonderful Italian, Spanish, and French foods in the ports to make up for the less-than stellar choices in the dining room. In fact, after day four, we didn’t return to the dining room and instead ate at Oceanview for the remainder of the cruise.

 

Well last week, I enjoyed every meal.  On port days, we had a quick breakfast at the Oceanview Café – fruit, eggs, yogurt, raw fish, etc.  But on sea days, we had a more leisurely breakfast in the dining room. It was always very good.  There were lots of choices at Oceanview for lunch – fish, cheese, meat, salads, pizza, etc.  No complaints there.  On the last sea day, there was a fabulous spread at lunchtime with shrimp, chicken wings, etc.  I had fish most nights in the main dining room and enjoyed every one of them. The salads were tasty. The desserts were yummy.  I also had prime rib (first night) and roast turkey (very tasty).  My husband had beef wellington and enjoyed it.  So, some of our favourites are definitely making their way back to the main dining room menus. This is good to see.

 

Drink:  We didn’t take the drinks package. I can’t drink much because of a cancer drug, so it’s just not worth it for us.  And because the drinks packages are so expensive, I think there are a lot of people who want to get their money’s worth – LOL.  I don’t blame them. But for those who only want to have a couple of drinks a day, I have to say that the price per drink is totally outrageous for what you’re getting.  I don’t like being gouged.

 

Entertainment:  Well, thanks to the Bonine and Dramamine, I didn’t make it to all of the evening shows – slept well, though😊 But there were definitely a few standouts.  First, we loved listening to Mike Redden (singer/guitar player).  He understands his audience and has a great voice.  Plain and simple.  He’s not shrieking into the microphone.  You feel like you’re part of a musical experience when you listen to him sing.  In fact, I noticed that people stopped having conversations and instead actively listened to him instead.  He had some shows at the pool, a couple at the sunset bar, and a couple of places that we missed because it was at dinner time. But we thought he was great and hope to see him on future cruises. 

 

I really enjoyed the classical piano player. I’d love more of this. I wish I could remember his name.

 

Captain Kirk (see Redneck Bob’s comments) rocked the ship.  It was a great show.  I’m hoping that he adds some Metallica if we’re lucky enough to have him as our captain on future cruises.

 

The comedian and magician were fun, too.  Again, I forget their names.

 

We had already seen Elysium on our summer cruise. It’s good. But I’m not sure I get the theme. They are talented acrobats though. 

 

The cruise director and activities staff were very involved and visible. They’re always so positive. 

 

Disembarkation:  We had an 11:20am flight and travel only with carry-on luggage, so we chose to do the self-disembark. Even though the disembarkation schedule said 7:30am, we were off the ship earlier than that and at FLL before 8am.  As another poster mentioned, FLL’s terminal two was great. We had a coffee, browsed a bit (there’s a great book selection), and waited for our flight (which was on time). 

All in, we had a great vacation. In one of the ports, I saw a bus that had a huge message painted along its side.  It said, “Too blessed to be stressed”.  That’s a fine sentiment. 

 

 

 

[hcat]

great review...love your closing line!

Amen.

[lola2013]

I have booked and canceled (due to the pandemic) Snooze Inn a couple of times, but I have two nights booked there pre-cruise in April.  I’m happy to read your glowing report about the place.  And no trip to Ft. Lauderdale is complete without a trip to Primanti Brothers.  I actually had two lunches and one breakfast there a couple of weeks ago!

Thanks for the great Reflection review.

Susan

[SkystheLimit]

Thank you for the review.  We are booked on the same itinerary with FCC in March and have been a bit apprehensive with some of the changes.  Our friends were on your cruise and said it was a great trip.  So, we are now getting excited like in olden days.

[imlulu]

Thanks for writing the review about your vacation. We are on the same itinerary and ship in 17 days. Hopefully our trip is as nice as yours. 

[Sophie's Mom1]

Really enjoyed reading your review. We are doing an 8 day cruise on Reflection in March so your comments were of much interest.  When we disembark, instead of rushing to the airport to fly home, we are spending 2 relaxing days at Snooze Hotel. We're looking forward to it and will definitely try Primanti Brothers.

[stbr]

11 hours ago, lola2013 said:

I have booked and canceled (due to the pandemic) Snooze Inn a couple of times, but I have two nights booked there pre-cruise in April.  I’m happy to read your glowing report about the place.  And no trip to Ft. Lauderdale is complete without a trip to Primanti Brothers.  I actually had two lunches and one breakfast there a couple of weeks ago!

Thanks for the great Reflection review.

Susan

 

You're welcome, Susan. We'll definitely return to Snooze and Primanti Brothers 😁

[stbr]

9 hours ago, Sophie's Mom1 said:

Really enjoyed reading your review. We are doing an 8 day cruise on Reflection in March so your comments were of much interest.  When we disembark, instead of rushing to the airport to fly home, we are spending 2 relaxing days at Snooze Hotel. We're looking forward to it and will definitely try Primanti Brothers.

Try Casablanca too!  Enjoy your trip!

[CunucuMom]

Thank you for sharing your lovely experience.  More importantly, blessings to you for your positive health news.  Best wishes that many sailings are in your future.