DH and I landed at AMS around 8 a.m., local time. We gathered our 3 bags of luggage and caught a taxi to the port. When we told the taxi driver we need to go to the port - that we were sailing on the Celebrity Reflection, he looked at us dumbfounded and said he needed an address to put into his GPS. First time that has ever happened to us! Anyway, after a few wrong turns and us craning our necks to see the ship so we could direct him, we arrived. (58 euros) (Should have taken the train from AMS to the port - station was just across the street.

Since it was a rainy day, we decided to just wait at the port to board. We got through the check-in line quickly, but then had to wait about 30-40 min to go through security, etc. Boarding went smoothly. We boarded around 11:30 a.m.. We looked around a bit and then went to Oceanview Cafe for lunch. It was very crowded, but no more than usual on the day of embarkation. Since it was cool and rainy no one was taking advantage of the seating outside. The food in the Oceanview was very good - about the same as the other Solstice class cruises we have been on. We then walked around the ship a bit to see the changes.

The number of tiled chairs in the Persian Garden have doubled. The also have added a hamam (sp?) room and a "cold" room. Of course, they still have the showers and traditional sauna rooms. The Relaxation Room is the same. They have moved some of the atrium rooms around and added others. There is now a "Hideaway" room for reading. Looked like a nice space and usually had coffee available. They have also added a dedicated "Future Cruise" section on the 12th deck (Captains Club is still on deck 5). No more Quasar as it is now a space that is used for purposes similar to Celebrity Central - games/talks, etc. The Mast Bar at the aft of the ship has changed quite a bit. The spiral stairway on the aft has been moved and the space has been taken over by the bar (which was moved away from the wall). Read more