Reflection LIVE 2/3/24-2/11/24: 8 Crazy Nights of ABC Islands

[SSAtlantic]

You are most definitely in a “hump” balcony deluxe veranda. The balcony is by far larger than a regular balcony. We usually book on the back slant whereas you are in the forward slant. I am interested to know how the wind is on your balcony as we would be open to more possibilities. Enjoy this itinerary, we were on in early January for the same. If you are snorkeling in Bonaire with Woodwind, they are a great company;  Bring an extra $40, one of the guides takes a couple of hundred photos of fish and guests that you can purchase and they send you a link later that day. 
Have throughly enjoyed all your trip reports in the past. 
Sorry to read of your recent loss and that you are solo cruising. Hope the cruise helps to calm and relax you. 

[LisaLeone]

10 hours ago, Mrs_Tiki said:

Oh my gosh, another @GenerationX live review! It is taking all of my self-discipline to make myself finish my comparison of the Ascent and MSC Seashore before I dive into this delightful escape.

And please do because it is one of the three I'm reading!

 

Charla, I am so happy you have this healing time...happier still that your lovely husband sacrificed his for yours. What a tremendous picture of what marriage can be. Enjoy... I know you shall! 💕

[Mrs_Tiki]

16 minutes ago, LisaLeone said:

And please do because it is one of the three I'm reading!

 

Charla, I am so happy you have this healing time...happier still that your lovely husband sacrificed his for yours. What a tremendous picture of what marriage can be. Enjoy... I know you shall! 💕

It is done and posted! And I agree that Jeremy’s sacrifice is indicative of a beautiful marital partnership. 

[GenerationX]

13 hours ago, Mrs_Tiki said:

Oh my gosh, another @GenerationX live review! It is taking all of my self-discipline to make myself finish my comparison of the Ascent and MSC Seashore before I dive into this delightful escape.

Thank you so much for your wonderful Seashore vs Ascent comparison! I agree with so many of your observations.
 

I’m sad that I missed the Ascent sailing with so many of my favorite CC people on it. 
 

I really hope our cruising paths cross again very soon!

[MzShae]

Charla, I'm sorry for your loss. I know that being solo wasn't the plan, but you're all in and having a great time. I'm enjoying reading so far, and l hope it's great till the end. Jeremy is a great husband too! I think my late husband would have done the same. 💜

[abbydancer2003]

I'm curious about the ice thing.  I thought, in non-sute rooms, the room steward brings ice.  Am I wrong?

[GenerationX]

7 hours ago, raudacruise said:

When I boarded Reflection in November as a solo cruiser the person checking me in fussed at me because my husband wasn’t with me.  He passed away 10 years ago.

 

 I’m so sorry for the loss of your husband.  It’s absolutely disgusting that you were treated that way.  
 

When I sail solo I’m often shocked at how complete strangers seem to think it’s their business to cross examine me as to why a woman would dare to be enjoying herself without a man.

[GenerationX]

Well, well, well…if it isn’t Charla rolling into her stateroom barefoot at 2am covered in sweat with her Jimmy Choo wedges tucked under her armpit…

 

I’ll do a full report in the morning of my evening exploits.  In the meantime, I’m getting a little fresh air on my veranda before collapsing.  We are making serious knots southward which makes sense given how far we have to go from Fort Lauderdale to the southern Caribbean in just 2 sea days.  In Map Dress scale it’s the distance from my hips to my lower thigh.  😂  (Have I mentioned that dry January is no más? lol) Fortunately the seas are incredibly calm so Reflection isn’t rocking much.

 

I’m also grateful that the buffet is closed and there’s no pizza on the room service menu anymore or I’d definitely be spending like $15 right now (non-suite room service charges and tip) for a mediocre (MSC wins by a mile when it comes to pizza, sorry Celebrity) Italian carb lullaby that would make its way promptly to take up semi permanent residence on said thighs.

 

Sweet dreams from off the coast of Cuba!

 

 

 

 

 

[Jazzbo]

19 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Pro tip: before you get to port, be sure to either have a printout of your xpress pass or take a screenshot of it on your phone.  When I got to the terminal the Celebrity app picked that moment to freeze up on me, but it didn’t slow me down because I never trust technology and had both a printout and screenshot for scanning.

 

That was about as long as I could resist the siren song of shakers rattling a deck above at the martini bar and went to grab my absolute favorite: the French 75 martini (also not a thing at martini bar on E class, boo).

 

Cheers from Reflection! 🥂

 

Charla — I also do the print outs. I haven’t done screenshots, but that’s a great idea. 
 

The French 75 is also one of my favorites — have one for me! 🍸

I’m thoroughly enjoying your live review (as always). Thanks for taking us along with you!

[Stem to Stern]

7 hours ago, GenerationX said:

 In Map Dress scale it’s the distance from my hips to my lower thigh.  😂  (Have I mentioned that dry January is no más? lol)

Oh Lordie Lordie.  I got a feelin' it was a good, good night for you.  Good thing you stockpiled all that morning after H2O in your minifridge.  It is not a great weather Sunday back on land, so show us some sunshine over the next couple sea days if you can.  Are Conundrum and Whispering Angel back down below the Premium Package ceiling?

Edited February 4 by Stem to Stern

[GenerationX]

28 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

Oh Lordie Lordie.  I got a feelin' it was a good, good night for you.  Good thing you stockpiled all that morning after H2O in your minifridge.  It is not a great weather Sunday back on land, so show us some sunshine over the next couple sea days if you can.  Are Conundrum and Whispering Angel back down below the Premium Package ceiling?

Yikes! Looks like we got out of dodge just in time!  Unfortunately we’re short of sunshine this morning out on the Caribbean as well but hopefully the sun breaks through soon.  I can confirm that Whispering Angel is back in the premium package but I didn’t see Conundrum on the wine list last night.  I’ll check on it at dinner tonight.

[GenerationX]

Good morning from the Reflection pool deck!  It’s a busy day at sea. I’m watching Equinox and Grandeur of the Seas pass us heading back north and it looks like we’re  in a race south with Scarlet Lady.

 

It’s a little cool and grey today, but that’s not keeping the crowds from  the deck chairs surrounding the completely empty pool.  After a short hunt I did find a place to relax near the solarium and I can’t wait to get started on this cruise’s vacation read. 

 

There are several servers walking around taking drink orders but I decided to go get my own so that I can keep my blood circulating after breakfast.  I didn’t plan to start the day with cocktails but my awesome server at MDR breakfast, Param is a bad influence.  😂

 

Speaking of breakfast, I know  I still owe a report on last night, but so far while it’s not the intimate Luminae/Blu experience and there have been a couple of little drink service hiccups (to be expected first 24 hours of a sold out cruise), I’ve been pretty satisfied with the MDR.  

 

This morning the maitre d greeted me by name and coffee and pastry service was almost instant (try the apple danish btw they’re great).   When I ordered my Greek yogurt frittata, Param strongly recommended that I start my vacation day with a mimosa and who am I to go against an expert suggestion.  When my food came, said mimosa still hadn’t arrived, but Param saw the issue and got it for me himself in less than a minute…and then had the drink server bring me a second one as soon as it got half full to make sure there’d be no more waits for drinks for me.

 

As I was finishing breakfast, Nikola the assistant maitre d was going around to tables and introducing himself and giving everyone his direct phone extension to call with any issues or specialty dining needs.  When he found out I was sailing solo, he asked if I might be interested in the last spot for an activity being offered on the last sea day that I’ve never seen on my cruises before.  Apparently the ship’s executive chef is going to give a small group cooking class and you get to eat your work product for lunch afterwards. I’ll be sure to report on how it goes.

 

I’m going to read a chapter or 2, then I’ll fill you all in on last night.  Agenda for the day is basically reading and relaxing, maybe a little casino time, then tonight I plan to hit world class bar for pre-show happy hour followed by the production show and MDR chic night dinner.  Happy SundayFunday from Reflection!

 

 

 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

@GenerationXThanks for another fun review. I'm glad to see they are bringing back some cooking demonstrations, they been lacking for a few years now. I did one similar years ago, it was held in Tuscan. Can't wait to see your review.

Edited February 4 by CHEZMARYLOU

[Azulann]

 Love your  book title. I like reading biographies. Great way to relax on a sea day! 

[GenerationX]

So about last night…

 

I started the night in Ensemble lounge having a pre-dinner cocktail listening to our acoustic duo Time Machine.  The vocalist has a beautiful voice.  I think it’s time for an AV upgrade on Reflection though, the sound system wasn’t doing her justice.  I tried a new drink from the sparkling cocktail menu, the Elderflower Fizz and really liked it. Very light and floral but not sweet.

 

After the set I headed to the MDR for dinner.  It’s been so long since I sailed outside of Blu/Luminae that I completely forgot that one of the first thing onboard to do’s is to go check out our table assigned in the main dining room and inquire about changes if needed.  

 

When it’s Jeremy and I we much prefer to have a table to ourselves, but since I was solo I was hoping to be seated at a larger table with some company.  It ended up working out (sort of) when I got to dinner as I was seated at a big 8 top table, but for about 15 minutes I was the only inhabitant.  Fortunately a wonderful couple from Ireland joined me just as I was ordering my appetizers.  Sorry, we ended up having such great dinner conversation that I forgot to get pics of most of my food!

 

For dinner I had my favorite escargot and the cream of mushroom soup to start then a medium rare prime rib and finished up with a double espresso and dulce de leche for dessert.  I thought everything I ate was good  and portions were generous.  

 

Our serving team was great with the exception of drink service. A sommelier hadn’t showed up by the time our appetizers arrived so our server Peter offered to take our wine order if we knew what we wanted so that we wouldn’t have to wait any longer (we did, Decoys all around).  

 

A smiling face in a burgundy vest did eventually show up to refill our glasses half way through entrees, but he seemed very rushed and didn’t introduce himself. On the flip side, said unnamed somm clearly has a better memory than I do though, because he walked by as I was reading on the pool deck this morning and smiled at me said “keep enjoying your mimosa, I’ll have your Decoy ready later tonight”.

 

I get the sense that there just aren’t enough drink servers and somms assigned for the MDR and the folks who are there are doing their best while stretched thin.

 

After dinner I headed to the martini bar for a cosmo and to watch the 80’s dance party in the grand foyer.  It wasn’t long before I bumped into @CruiseCrew123 and her friends and JOINED said dance party until it wrapped up at 11:30pm.  Just when I was about to call it a night, I started chatting with a super fun group of guys from Miami (Jeremy needn’t be jealous…how shall I put this…these men were wearing pastel Versace, were talking about how they scored tickets for the Eros Tour and had better hip moves on the dance floor than I do…I was at zero risk of any improper advances) and joined them to hit the late night party at the sky lounge.  

 

It was a small (maybe a dozen people) but mighty party and the DJ was spinning some great tunes.  Most of the last men and women standing were my age or older.  It was pretty funny to see like 3 or 4 ship security officers standing around arms crossed with serious expressions watching carefully lest the wild and crazy silver haired ladies in capri pants doing the sprinkler get out of hand. 😂

 

Good news guys: the sun is finally out!!!

 

I think I’ll go join the aqua fit class then hit MDR lunch and promptly put back on every calorie I burn.  For the afternoon I think I’ll change reading locations to the sunset bar.

 

This Widow Clicquot book is dangerous. I only had the one poolside mimosa after breakfast then have been sticking to my water, but reading this is making me crave champagne bad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4 by GenerationX

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I'm amazed that 9215 was the last cabin available.  That's definitely a deluxe veranda (formerly a 1A) and, as first off the hump, has the largest balcony.  I normally get the ones on the aft of the hump, so I will be interested to hear how the forward-facing one is for wind.

[Lena11033]

1 hour ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

@GenerationXThanks for another fun review. I'm glad to see they are bringing back some cooking demonstrations, they been lacking for a few years now. I did one similar years ago, it was held in Tuscan. Can't wait to see your review.

 

I noticed on my upcoming cruise that they had a cooking class for beignets (my last couple didn't have any classes)

[cinderellen]

Charla,

So glad to follow along with you on another cruise. It is so fun to read your threads! In regards to the sommelier issue, I will say we experienced a similar problem on our Reflection TA in October in the MDR. Although our dinners were in Blu where there were two sommeliers, they were extremely busy. We had lunch most days in the MDR. This is not something we normally do but my husband really liked it. Getting a glass of wine was a challenge most days. We always had to ask our waiter to send a sommelier over. Sometimes it was near the end of our lunch when they did finally come. First world problems 🙃. 
Ellen

[DaKahuna]

@GenerationX   I agree with @abbydancer2003 your room steward should be able to provide you with buckets of ice twice a day, or at least ours did when we said in a Veranda stateroom.

 Glad that you are having your usual great time and are continuing to make new friends.  Keep that dance floor hopping as only you can.   

 

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

I'm amazed that 9215 was the last cabin available.  That's definitely a deluxe veranda (formerly a 1A) and, as first off the hump, has the largest balcony.  I normally get the ones on the aft of the hump, so I will be interested to hear how the forward-facing one is for wind.

Agree, that’s a nice cabin, I’ve sailed on the forward hump, wasn’t bad at all wind wise. 
 

Enjoying your review…thanks for it. 

[Reesetiff]

3 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Good morning from the Reflection pool deck!  It’s a busy day at sea. I’m watching Equinox and Grandeur of the Seas pass us heading back north and it looks like we’re  in a race south with Scarlet Lady.

 

It’s a little cool and grey today, but that’s not keeping the crowds from  the deck chairs surrounding the completely empty pool.  After a short hunt I did find a place to relax near the solarium and I can’t wait to get started on this cruise’s vacation read. 

 

There are several servers walking around taking drink orders but I decided to go get my own so that I can keep my blood circulating after breakfast.  I didn’t plan to start the day with cocktails but my awesome server at MDR breakfast, Param is a bad influence.  😂

 

Speaking of breakfast, I know  I still owe a report on last night, but so far while it’s not the intimate Luminae/Blu experience and there have been a couple of little drink service hiccups (to be expected first 24 hours of a sold out cruise), I’ve been pretty satisfied with the MDR.  

 

This morning the maitre d greeted me by name and coffee and pastry service was almost instant (try the apple danish btw they’re great).   When I ordered my Greek yogurt frittata, Param strongly recommended that I start my vacation day with a mimosa and who am I to go against an expert suggestion.  When my food came, said mimosa still hadn’t arrived, but Param saw the issue and got it for me himself in less than a minute…and then had the drink server bring me a second one as soon as it got half full to make sure there’d be no more waits for drinks for me.

 

As I was finishing breakfast, Nikola the assistant maitre d was going around to tables and introducing himself and giving everyone his direct phone extension to call with any issues or specialty dining needs.  When he found out I was sailing solo, he asked if I might be interested in the last spot for an activity being offered on the last sea day that I’ve never seen on my cruises before.  Apparently the ship’s executive chef is going to give a small group cooking class and you get to eat your work product for lunch afterwards. I’ll be sure to report on how it goes.

 

I’m going to read a chapter or 2, then I’ll fill you all in on last night.  Agenda for the day is basically reading and relaxing, maybe a little casino time, then tonight I plan to hit world class bar for pre-show happy hour followed by the production show and MDR chic night dinner.  Happy SundayFunday from Reflection!

 

 

 

I love your reading that book. She is fascinating. My hubs got it for me years ago and I blew thru it quickly. I won’t spoil it but I now drink champagne with a different perspective.  There is another book you might like about champagne, The Winemakers Wife. . 

[RedneckBob]

GenerationX ,  who is your Captain on the Reflection?

[Reel Love]

GenerationX, thank you so much for once again doing a live review!  I 100% know that I am not alone in saying that your reviews/writing style brings lots of smiles and several laughs to many of us here on Cruise Critic who still have to wait several weeks before boarding.

So sorry to hear about your recent losses and challenges  😔   Given the stresses you have faced recently, this cruise is well deserved to relax, and so sorry that Jeremy was unable to sail with you!  Without a doubt you have a great guy in your life!!!!  🙂

[sbt518]

On 2/3/2024 at 1:57 PM, GenerationX said:

 

 

 

That was about as long as I could resist the siren song of shakers rattling a deck above at the martini bar and went to grab my absolute favorite: the French 75 martini (also not a thing at martini bar on E class, boo).

 

 

 

Have you ever tried the Bitter French cocktail?

I, like you, adore all things bubbly and drink a lot of sparkling wine, champagne, prosecco, cava, basically whatever I can get!  And I adore a French 75 but the Bitter French is delicious too and if you make friends with any of the bartenders around the ship (which, of course, being your effervescent self, of course you will) they will make you one assuming they have the ingredients.

Bitter French

Ingredients

1 ounce Plymouth gin

1⁄4 ounce Campari

1⁄2 ounce fresh lemon juice

1⁄2 ounce simple syrup (1:1 sugar:water)

Champagne

Garnish: 1 grapefruit twist

 

Basically mix all the ingredients and top with champagne serve as a French 75 or other champagne cocktail.

 

Again, thanks for sharing your trip with us and I had to laugh at GenZ's breakfast with your mom, because as an overindulgent aunt myself, I've definitely fed my niece ice cream multiple times a day when she visited.  But as my sister said, that's why it's called vacation and you don't do it every day!

[GenerationX]

The mind reels that with all my luggage I could’ve forgotten anything I could possibly need on this cruise, but boom, here it is. My white evening gloves are still sitting on top of my chest of drawers at home.  Oh well. 🤷🏽‍♀️

 

Sharing some pics from MDR lunch.  The Andalusian salad was nothing special but I got my veggies in.  The pear raspberry cobbler dessert would have been really good if it had been warm (as advertised) instead of room temp.  The duck teriyaki was more well done than I like my duck but was really good. I cleaned my plate.

 

There’s a duck dish on the  menu tonight too, but is it too extra to have duck twice in one day???

 

The bars around the ship are completely slammed and apparently there’s an issue with the dishwasher by the specialty restaurants and the poor Ensemble lounge guys were running low of glassware, so I’m drinking my Pinot noir from a daiquiri glass…first world problems…

 

More to come later from evening chic night.  For now it’s showtime!