A Reflection of my Retirement cruise

[soapbxking]

A Reflection on MY Retirement Cruise!!

The following is a hopefully detailed but brief summary/review of my recent sailing onboard the Celebrity Reflection.  After 28 years in law enforcement I decided it was my time to step aside and follow other dreams and passions.  I always said that I would take a Southern Caribbean cruise and that is just what I did.  After researching my options my wife and I decided on an 8 night ABC cruise on the Celebrity Reflection.  It would be our first Celebrity cruise.  We decided Aquaclass was the way to go and booked our cruise!!  The ship sailed from Fort Lauderdale, so after much back and forth(per my wife)  😊  I decided we would do our pre night cruise stay at the Riverside Hotel!!. 

We flew out Friday morning on Delta with no real hiccups to ATL then FLL.  We landed and grabbed an Uber to the Riverside.  Uber was easy but the airport(per the UBER drivers is making it difficult to locate the driver, as it says one placed to stand but the drivers go to another sometimes).  In short fashion we were on our way to the Riverside on Las Olas Blvd.  The hotel has a older and newer side and we were placed in the old.  Lobby was nice, and room was adequate.  Nothing extravagant, but we didn’t need that and we really liked both the room and the hotel.  The hotel has restaurants inside and the Boathouse was across the street.  We had lunch there and it was nice.  We decided to rest for a bit then hit Las Olas that evening as we had reservations for Roccos Tacos and Tequila.  The hotel was truly located perfectly as there are tons of eateries and shops all up and down Las Olas Blvd.  SO awesome looking we wanted to check out each one for sure.  The morning of our sailing we simply walked downstairs and grabbed a table at the hotel and had a great breakfast which was reasonably priced.  I have no issues with recommending this hotel when sailing or staying in Fort Lauderdale.

Sailing day 😊  

Our boarding time was 1130-1200, so we ordered up an UBER and walked downstairs to catch it.  The ride was great, but be prepared to wait to get thru security at the port for sure.  It wasn’t horrible, but once we got thru it was easy sailing(pun intended) to the terminal.  Know that in FLL the digital boards will have your ship and terminal the morning of.    We hopped out, porter greeted us and took our bags and we walked into the terminal.  The terminal already had a number of people there but we went thru with speed and ease.  Once thru security we walked over to a Celebrity person who scanned us in, gave us some information and we were headed onto the ship .  The ship was gorgeous!  We headed up to our room, 1539 on Deck 11 to drop our bags off.  To our surprise our room was ready, but we did drop and go to check out the ship and grab a drink and a bite to eat. 

The Room

As stated we had a Aquaclass room, balcony on Deck 11.  We loved our room.  Standard balcony room but it seemed bigger to us.  Balcony was good size.  We loved the layout of the bathroom, and it had plenty of storage space.  Big suitcases fit under the king bed.  Not a ton of drawer space for clothes for sure.  Bed was comfy for me, btu the wife didn’t like, but she rarely likes any of the beds.  Room Attendant Jason was great, remembered us by name and always had our room clean.  This room was right off the elevators and in the perfect location, and I would purposefully book it again!!

 

The Food

I will say that our last sailing on RCi , the food did not wow us at all.  This cruise was different.  We were blessed to be able to go to BLU however, and this made all the difference in the world.  The ambience, beauty, service and food did not disappoint.  I think I made an effort to get a soup every evening, and all were good!  Our wait staff of Ayman, Ivan, Maria, and even Anush at the front made our Blu experience one we wont forget!!!  I cannot say enough about them!!!  The service was extraordinaire.  We did try the MDR for lunch one day.  It was a bit chaotic but food was good and service was good.  The filet was memorable for sure.

Café al Bacio was great and the staff there was awesome.  Try the Salted Caramel Martini.  OMG!!  Just saying. 

The Oceanview Café was kinda hit or miss on food and frustration.  Could be a zoo sometimes then others not too bad.  Food offerings seemed better than RCI .  The staff there were helpful!

Spa Café.  My wife liked a few of the offerings from this place. 

Mast Grill.  We tried it once.  Nothing that wowed us but ok for a quick lunch

 

The Ship..  The Reflection is a beautiful ship, always clean, but I wear we never saw anyone hardly cleaning, so they must be invisible haha.  I will say the layout of the ship is such that it makes it feel not s big which is a good thing. 

 

The Bars.

Ok so we visited the Martini Bar, World Class Bar and Pool Bar mostly.  The Martini bar was great but gets very crowded for sure.   Wayan and Superman made the best drinks!!  Victoria in the World Class Bar was awesome and I took a mixology class with her.  It was Great!   Also Barf service in Blu was amazing, I always had a refill waiting 😊

 

Solarium

This was a great area and we visited most sea days.  We could usually find a couple of loungers and the water was very warm.

Persian Gardens

We had full access due to Aquaclass, and the wife loved it.  We used the thermal beds cold room and sauna.  Great.

Shows.

The shows onboard were good.  We didn’t care for the first oner, name I cannot recall, but Broken Strings and the acrobat show were both good.  The illusionist they had onboard was amazing!!  Captain Kirk rocked out in his show.

The Ports

Aruba   Had a great time on our snorkeling excursion, we did the SS Antilla and it was nice.  First stop was great, then the shipwreck, although rough seas was also fun.  Only issue was too many people crammed onto the boat.  Not enough room for everyone to sit.

Curacao

Some of the best snorkeling I have ever done.  We did the Treasures of Caracas Bay excursion. It began with a 40 minute bus ride(air conditioned) wherein we were given a history lesson of the island.    DO it!  Tugboat was so close to you and thousands of fish.  Would do again!

Bonaire

We rented a golf cart from Bonaire Cruisers.  So glad we did.  Easy to find and they had a person guiding you to their location.  We did the Southern Loop.  We stopped so often.  We snorkeled on secluded beaches where we were the only ones there.  SO many beautiful places and things to see.  BRING YOUR WATER SHOES THOUGH!  We saw tons of flamingos.  Would do this again and take Northern Loop 😊  Thanks Bonaire Cruisers!!

Debarkation

We decided to relax and let them take our big bags this time.  So glad we did.  We had breakfast at Blu then headed down to deck 4 and hung out in comfy chairs til they called our number.  Headed down and leisurely walked off the ship.  Customs was facial recognition and easily grabbed our bags in the section given.  I will say that trying to get an UBER was not good.  The system wasn’t working, so we eventually had to grab a cab to the airport.  Have some cash available for this, as many insist on cash.

IN closing, we LOVED our Celebrity cruise and will certainly sail them again.  I know that I probably missed a lot, so if you have any questions, please just ask!!

[HopefulCruiser123]

"  Also Barf service in Blu was amazing, I always had a refill waiting 😊"

 

I swear....some typos are just better than others!  🤣  Thanks for a great retirement review.  DH and I do our retirement trip on Equinox in Spring of 2025.

[hcat]

soapbxking..

CONGRATS on your retirement and 

Thank you for your SERVICE!

 

Great review..very descriptive and to the point.   Glad you  and your wife had a wondeful time.. We like AQ Class as well....

Wish you many more happy times ahead!  

 

 

[soapbxking]

27 minutes ago, HopefulCruiser123 said:

"  Also Barf service in Blu was amazing, I always had a refill waiting 😊"

 

I swear....some typos are just better than others!  🤣  Thanks for a great retirement review.  DH and I do our retirement trip on Equinox in Spring of 2025.

Yeah i havent really read thru it to find my mistakes, i was typing fast 🙂

 

[soapbxking]

13 minutes ago, hcat said:

soapbxking..

CONGRATS on your retirement and 

Thank you for your SERVICE!

 

Great review..very descriptive and to the point.   Glad you  and your wife had a wondeful time.. We like AQ Class as well....

Wish you many more happy times ahead!  

 

 

and the crazy thing is it is not letting me correct, so Barf it is!!

[cbfb]

What time did you have to be out of your cabin on the last day? We were just on Beyond and had to be out at 7:00 which I don’t ever remember it being that early. We are on reflection in AC in May and I am hoping for a little later!!! 

[jennmaybe]

Happy Retirement and thank you for so many years of service!  You are actually my former neighbor as I am from Winston-Salem.  Moved to FL 3 yrs ago!  We wanted easy access to cruises all year long. 😜🏝

 

We have our first Celebrity cruise coming up in May and on Reflection.  I am so happy to see this report!

[janetz]

Great review.

I believe we were on the same cruise!
Loved the Martini Bar 🤗

Wonderful ship, great crew, and Captain Kirk put on a great show!
 

[theopup]

Thanks for a thorough and very positive review. We sail in 8 days so enjoyed your comments 

 

congratulations on your retirement 

[mayleeman]

@theopup We are on on Feb 3, too. Haven't seen you on the roll call. Here's a link. (not a very active one but you might see people you want to meet)

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2877432-february-03-2024-reflection-abc-islands/page/1/

 

 

 

Edited January 26 by mayleeman

[jean87510]

9 hours ago, soapbxking said:

A Reflection on MY Retirement Cruise!!

The following is a hopefully detailed but brief summary/review of my recent sailing onboard the Celebrity Reflection.  After 28 years in law enforcement I decided it was my time to step aside and follow other dreams and passions.  I always said that I would take a Southern Caribbean cruise and that is just what I did.  After researching my options my wife and I decided on an 8 night ABC cruise on the Celebrity Reflection.  It would be our first Celebrity cruise.  We decided Aquaclass was the way to go and booked our cruise!!  The ship sailed from Fort Lauderdale, so after much back and forth(per my wife)  😊  I decided we would do our pre night cruise stay at the Riverside Hotel!!. 

We flew out Friday morning on Delta with no real hiccups to ATL then FLL.  We landed and grabbed an Uber to the Riverside.  Uber was easy but the airport(per the UBER drivers is making it difficult to locate the driver, as it says one placed to stand but the drivers go to another sometimes).  In short fashion we were on our way to the Riverside on Las Olas Blvd.  The hotel has a older and newer side and we were placed in the old.  Lobby was nice, and room was adequate.  Nothing extravagant, but we didn’t need that and we really liked both the room and the hotel.  The hotel has restaurants inside and the Boathouse was across the street.  We had lunch there and it was nice.  We decided to rest for a bit then hit Las Olas that evening as we had reservations for Roccos Tacos and Tequila.  The hotel was truly located perfectly as there are tons of eateries and shops all up and down Las Olas Blvd.  SO awesome looking we wanted to check out each one for sure.  The morning of our sailing we simply walked downstairs and grabbed a table at the hotel and had a great breakfast which was reasonably priced.  I have no issues with recommending this hotel when sailing or staying in Fort Lauderdale.

Sailing day 😊  

Our boarding time was 1130-1200, so we ordered up an UBER and walked downstairs to catch it.  The ride was great, but be prepared to wait to get thru security at the port for sure.  It wasn’t horrible, but once we got thru it was easy sailing(pun intended) to the terminal.  Know that in FLL the digital boards will have your ship and terminal the morning of.    We hopped out, porter greeted us and took our bags and we walked into the terminal.  The terminal already had a number of people there but we went thru with speed and ease.  Once thru security we walked over to a Celebrity person who scanned us in, gave us some information and we were headed onto the ship .  The ship was gorgeous!  We headed up to our room, 1539 on Deck 11 to drop our bags off.  To our surprise our room was ready, but we did drop and go to check out the ship and grab a drink and a bite to eat. 

The Room

As stated we had a Aquaclass room, balcony on Deck 11.  We loved our room.  Standard balcony room but it seemed bigger to us.  Balcony was good size.  We loved the layout of the bathroom, and it had plenty of storage space.  Big suitcases fit under the king bed.  Not a ton of drawer space for clothes for sure.  Bed was comfy for me, btu the wife didn’t like, but she rarely likes any of the beds.  Room Attendant Jason was great, remembered us by name and always had our room clean.  This room was right off the elevators and in the perfect location, and I would purposefully book it again!!

 

The Food

I will say that our last sailing on RCi , the food did not wow us at all.  This cruise was different.  We were blessed to be able to go to BLU however, and this made all the difference in the world.  The ambience, beauty, service and food did not disappoint.  I think I made an effort to get a soup every evening, and all were good!  Our wait staff of Ayman, Ivan, Maria, and even Anush at the front made our Blu experience one we wont forget!!!  I cannot say enough about them!!!  The service was extraordinaire.  We did try the MDR for lunch one day.  It was a bit chaotic but food was good and service was good.  The filet was memorable for sure.

Café al Bacio was great and the staff there was awesome.  Try the Salted Caramel Martini.  OMG!!  Just saying. 

The Oceanview Café was kinda hit or miss on food and frustration.  Could be a zoo sometimes then others not too bad.  Food offerings seemed better than RCI .  The staff there were helpful!

Spa Café.  My wife liked a few of the offerings from this place. 

Mast Grill.  We tried it once.  Nothing that wowed us but ok for a quick lunch

 

The Ship..  The Reflection is a beautiful ship, always clean, but I wear we never saw anyone hardly cleaning, so they must be invisible haha.  I will say the layout of the ship is such that it makes it feel not s big which is a good thing. 

 

The Bars.

Ok so we visited the Martini Bar, World Class Bar and Pool Bar mostly.  The Martini bar was great but gets very crowded for sure.   Wayan and Superman made the best drinks!!  Victoria in the World Class Bar was awesome and I took a mixology class with her.  It was Great!   Also Barf service in Blu was amazing, I always had a refill waiting 😊

 

Solarium

This was a great area and we visited most sea days.  We could usually find a couple of loungers and the water was very warm.

Persian Gardens

We had full access due to Aquaclass, and the wife loved it.  We used the thermal beds cold room and sauna.  Great.

Shows.

The shows onboard were good.  We didn’t care for the first oner, name I cannot recall, but Broken Strings and the acrobat show were both good.  The illusionist they had onboard was amazing!!  Captain Kirk rocked out in his show.

The Ports

Aruba   Had a great time on our snorkeling excursion, we did the SS Antilla and it was nice.  First stop was great, then the shipwreck, although rough seas was also fun.  Only issue was too many people crammed onto the boat.  Not enough room for everyone to sit.

Curacao

Some of the best snorkeling I have ever done.  We did the Treasures of Caracas Bay excursion. It began with a 40 minute bus ride(air conditioned) wherein we were given a history lesson of the island.    DO it!  Tugboat was so close to you and thousands of fish.  Would do again!

Bonaire

We rented a golf cart from Bonaire Cruisers.  So glad we did.  Easy to find and they had a person guiding you to their location.  We did the Southern Loop.  We stopped so often.  We snorkeled on secluded beaches where we were the only ones there.  SO many beautiful places and things to see.  BRING YOUR WATER SHOES THOUGH!  We saw tons of flamingos.  Would do this again and take Northern Loop 😊  Thanks Bonaire Cruisers!!

Debarkation

We decided to relax and let them take our big bags this time.  So glad we did.  We had breakfast at Blu then headed down to deck 4 and hung out in comfy chairs til they called our number.  Headed down and leisurely walked off the ship.  Customs was facial recognition and easily grabbed our bags in the section given.  I will say that trying to get an UBER was not good.  The system wasn’t working, so we eventually had to grab a cab to the airport.  Have some cash available for this, as many insist on cash.

IN closing, we LOVED our Celebrity cruise and will certainly sail them again.  I know that I probably missed a lot, so if you have any questions, please just ask!!

We always go to Tugboat via rental car.  There is another snorkeling area near Tugboat that is walkable but a distance that has even better snorkeling.

 

We are on the Reflection in May.  Unfortunately no ABCs for us as we got stuck with cococay and bimini.  Thank you for your service!!

[hcat]

We gave a shirt like this to our son in law..Retired..20 yr NYPD. 

[Sphynxlady]

Was the water in cans or back to plastic bottles? Boarding Equinox tomorrow.

[cinderellen]

We loved Anush in Blu! She made our trip! I’m glad you had a good experience. We found Blu to be hit or miss back in October. I remind myself that it was a completely full ship on a very long cruise (two weeks). Congratulations on your retirement. What a great way to celebrate.