Reflection Retreat, first timers, worth it?

[imserious]

Impressions and review by a first time cruiser. (Warning a bit long.)

 

For reference some of my preferences below.

> Nicer hotels, occasional four seasons which never fails

> Like good authentic food, not flavor bombs. Street food to Michelin stars

> Generally prefer exploring on my own, having authentic learning experiences and not doing cookie cutter things. 

 

Wasn’t sure if I would like a cruise. Wasn’t sure if I would like the boat since it is not the newest. Wasn’t sure I’d feel that The Retreat was worth it. Honestly went in with modest expectations. Have been surprised by a number of things and ultimately feel like this was a great experience.

 

Some of my observations and thoughts below.

 

1. The pre-cruise Retreat concierge is great. I would use it to answer any of your questions and help you prep for your trip.

 

2. Embarkation and debarkation with the retreat was excellent. For someone who travels a bit and appreciates the things that make travel easier like pre-check and airport lounges, this felt similar. This is most apparent when you tender at a port. No matter how well they do this- it takes awhile. Leaving the ship they walk you straight to the tender. On the way back to the ship, there was a MASSIVE line. My family was let in the front of the line for the next tender. Someone behind us was appalled but then realized we had some other kind of pass.

 

3. Luminae surpassed expectations. I couldn’t imagine cruise food to be any good- even an exclusive restaurant. The service was great although the wine was often late as the sommelier was very busy. The wine list was pretty basic (even the premium list) but nice to be able to pick from a variety. I didn’t like upcharged wine given the price we already paid. Each dinner came with an amuse bouche which was nicely done. Everything we ate was ok to great with a few dishes we thought we legitimately very well done. So no real misses. The AYCE aspect allowed for some creativity. While the menu is amuse, starter, entree and dessert- a few times we created our own 5 course meal and paired it with cocktail, wines and port. That was fun. You can also order off the Opus menu which we did a few times. Incredible that we walked in and always were seated promptly and served. Not sure how they do that consistently.

 

4. I also got sick of luminae. This surprised me the most. On maybe Day 3 I was overwhelmed by the whole experience. Too many things to do, too much to eat, too many people. I didn’t have a breakdown, but I needed a break. The cruise started feeling a little gross to me, gluttonous. I like fine dining but I’m not used to having fine dining back to back forever. I took an evening off of any alcohol and skipped dinner. I felt much better the next day. 

 

5. Land days were disappointing. This ship was only on land from about 9-6 or so. First issue was that I believe they changed the arrival departure times which caused a lot of headaches coordinating with onshore excursions. This process of aligning times with excursions was not smooth but it all worked out. Second is that due to the limited window you can only do 1 or 2 things at each stop. So the time is quite short. If you’ve never been to a location I would be modest in your ambitions and be ok just seeing a bit of the island.

 

6. Poker was surprisingly fun. By night 2 or 3 there were quickly regulars that showed up every night. There were a few serious poker players, then some casual, fishy ego and super nitty players. Didn’t know the casino was so legit, but that’s the newbie in me. Met a number of folks who had their cruise nearly comped due to their gambling status.

 

7. I enjoy cigars. I enjoy them especially on vacation. Naturally I sought out the smoking situation. Turns out after meeting a few Celebrity veteran cruisers, they claimed that the Celebrity S class ships and the Reflection in particular was best for cigar smoking. Half of the Sunset Bar was dedicated to smoking. They had nice cushioned seats, night lights, wind shields, covered and open areas. It was nice during the day and at night. There are other places to enjoy a cigar but this was the most pleasant.

 

8. You can’t do it all. Celebrity does a nice job of having lots of different events for different interests happening throughout the day. While I barely took advantage of what they offered I appreciated the effort. I had a bit of FOMO. My lesson learned here is plan to accomplish a few things and let the rest of it go. The first few days I felt like I was trying to do everything that looked interesting and it was too much and not relaxing.

 

9. The sunset veranda aft suite was really great. Plenty of space for 3 and the port window and balcony window made the room feel quite open. Veranda was roomy and shady more often than I thought it would be. Since there is little overhang shade really depends on the direction of the boat. More often than not it had shade. Or I could sit right in front of the window and have a similar lounging spot.

 

10. Surprisingly not enough time to do nothing. Brought a book and had a few shows queued up for downtime and never touched them. Too much to do and explore. Feel like either you’re a veteran who has done it all and knows what they like or you have to intentionally set aside time to do nothing. Funny I thought.

 

11. The butler and concierge were great. I don’t know what I was missing with the old way of doing things, but I had a lead guy, Dusko, that was always around and could help with anything, all the time. Concierge at Michael’s was super accommodating. So maybe things have changed, but all good to me.

 

12. Last, is room service. We ordered room service for a few breakfasts on the veranda and a few odds and ends. Room service quality was high and timing very responsive. I was very surprised how strong their room service was.

 

So overall impressions? Very positive. 

 

We enjoyed Celebrity and found the food and service surpassed my expectations. The price seemed fair for what you are getting. I also enjoyed the retreat and the sunset suite. For me, the food and extra service were worth it. If you can, I say go for it. However we’ve ruined future cruises and can’t imagine not having that same retreat experience again.

[39august]

Sounds like you had a corner aft Sunset Sky Suite. Is that correct?

[imserious]

 

1 minute ago, 39august said:

Sounds like you had a corner aft Sunset Sky Suite. Is that correct?

That’s correct. 9th floor.

[Winemaker_1]

3 hours ago, imserious said:

 The butler and concierge were great. I don’t know what I was missing with the old way of doing things, but I had a lead guy, Dusko, that was always around and could help with anything, all the time. Concierge at Michael’s was super accommodating. So maybe things have changed, but all good to me.

What's a lead guy?  Was Dusko your room attendant?  

[Lastdance]

33 minutes ago, Winemaker_1 said:

What's a lead guy?  Was Dusko your room attendant?  

Lead guy...Retreat Host???

[markeb]

4 hours ago, imserious said:

4. I also got sick of luminae. This surprised me the most. On maybe Day 3 I was overwhelmed by the whole experience. Too many things to do, too much to eat, too many people. I didn’t have a breakdown, but I needed a break. The cruise started feeling a little gross to me, gluttonous. I like fine dining but I’m not used to having fine dining back to back forever. I took an evening off of any alcohol and skipped dinner. I felt much better the next day. 

 

It's interesting, but I recognize this comment and could probably have made it myself. I've done a lot of travel and have eaten in more than one Michelin starred restaurant around the world. As great as the food was in each of them, I can't imagine eating in them multiple days in a row. Luminae certainly isn't at that level, but it is designed as a fine dining experience. It's also your main meal venue in the Retreat. I would never eat multiple courses plus dessert at home, or every evening when traveling. We skip dinner (at least a full dinner) a lot when traveling on land. I need to do that more often on the cruise. There have definitely been nights when I'd love a simple dinner salad and maybe a little soup. Depending on the ship you can sort of do that with the every day items from the MDR, but it's not how they're set up. And, of course, the portions sizes are almost all too big! (Ducking for the incoming from everyone who orders two entrees because the portion are too small).

[imserious]

1 hour ago, Winemaker_1 said:

What's a lead guy?  Was Dusko your room attendant?  

I think room attendant is right. Our head butler was Vishnu which is basically the team manager and Dusko was assigned to our room. He was always in the hallway, also exchanged hellos and always available. Had both on speed dial and very good service.

[imserious]

17 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

It's interesting, but I recognize this comment and could probably have made it myself. I've done a lot of travel and have eaten in more than one Michelin starred restaurant around the world. As great as the food was in each of them, I can't imagine eating in them multiple days in a row. Luminae certainly isn't at that level, but it is designed as a fine dining experience. It's also your main meal venue in the Retreat. I would never eat multiple courses plus dessert at home, or every evening when traveling. We skip dinner (at least a full dinner) a lot when traveling on land. I need to do that more often on the cruise. There have definitely been nights when I'd love a simple dinner salad and maybe a little soup. Depending on the ship you can sort of do that with the every day items from the MDR, but it's not how they're set up. And, of course, the portions sizes are almost all too big! (Ducking for the incoming from everyone who orders two entrees because the portion are too small).

To add to this, I was pleasantly surprised that the portions were small. This way we tried a lot of dishes and didn’t feel overstuffed. At times I asked for a half portion. 
 

I remember a few guests lamented the reduced portion sizes. I guess I’m in the minority here. You can always get a double portion. American vs European portions sizes are VERY different. Maybe that’s a part of it.

[2flacruisers]

I have a question regarding Michael's Club/Retreat Lounge...I have heard talk that Michael's club/Retreat Lounge that you have to be Aqua Suite or higher to be admitted entrance to Michael's on the Reflection....it is this true?

[jelayne]

No Michael’s Club aka Retreat Lounge is for all suite guests, just as Luminae. 

[2flacruisers]

20 minutes ago, jelayne said:

No Michael’s Club aka Retreat Lounge is for all suite guests, just as Luminae. 

TY

 

[daydreamer16]

Thanks for your review, love the positivity! 

[LabMom57]

On 12/27/2023 at 1:50 PM, markeb said:

 

There have definitely been nights when I'd love a simple dinner salad and maybe a little soup. 

 Our last cruise was our first Penthouse cabin on Oceania. It afforded us dinner from anywhere on the ship. We had more than one dinner in our cabin that was just a salad or sandwich. We also have learned to listen to our bodies when we cruise!

[imserious]

I would like to try Oceania. My neighbor cruises with them and enjoys it.