Celebrity Reflection Review

Newest S class Celebrity ship

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Celebrity Reflection
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terrytallent1
First Time Cruiser • Age 2020s

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Sail Date: Jan 2013
Cabin: Concierge Class 3

We got off the 14 day New Years Eclipse cruise in Fort Lauderdale at 10:30 AM and got on the Reflection at 2:30 PM in Miami. We were one of the last to board so there was no lines. The weather was great and we enjoyed wandering around to see what differences Celebrity added to their newest Solstice class ship. This was somewhat of a 41st anniversary trip back to our honeymoon spots as we had spent two nights in San Juan and 7 nights in Saint Thomas for our honeymoon.

We were impressed with the artwork throughout the ship. If anything some of the artwork was taking up space we were used to being open for traffic flow on the other Solstice class ships. Like the giant rose in the central courtyard. We were used to the layout of the ship but discovered the Corning Glass area has been converted into a cook your own steak with a chef helping you at night. We chose not to pay extra for that feature. It did make for a nice place to carry your breakfast up one deck from the buffet and eat at a table in the shade overlooking the Boccie area. My little secret dining tip. I always made sure to carry my dirty plate back down one deck so they could add it to the dirty dishes. The sunset bar at the back of the lawn area was the place where cigar smokers hung out so I avoided it as much as possible except for trivia. The elite hostess had been on the Silhouette so we were invited to dine with a senior officer and his wife at the early seating on the first formal night. That was a special treat we will long remember. The elite lounge in the morning was pretty quiet but the afternoons were busy. There was one event that everybody will remember on this cruise. A passenger had a severe cardiovascular event that required the ship to return to the harbor in San Juan where a Coast Guard helicopter had to send down a man then send down a basket and then lift the basket up into the helicopter and then lift the Coast Guard man back up. There was no room for the spouse and baggage so they stayed on the ship. They were travelling with friends that we overheard talking about the event later. Everyone cheered as the helicopter took off for the hospital in San Juan. The Captain announced later that he was in stable condition and recovering at the hospital.

This was the same Captain, cruise director and elite hostess we had on the Silhouette so it was like old home week for us. The shows were good but did not have specialists for the Cirque type acts we just saw on Eclipse. The food seems to have improved but some of the things we liked about Eclipse were NOT incorporated into Reflection. Eclipse offers 4 eggs Benedict choices at the egg station in the buffet in the morning. The only place we saw eggs Benedict was in the main dining room at breakfast. Michael's club no longer has a piano and has turned into a sports bar with lots of TVs and beer from all over the world. It did not seem to be packing them in except during prime sports events. The new Mac computers with large monitors were nice but there was no extra bandwidth to make them any faster than Eclipse. Once more we really enjoyed every day of the cruise. We did more trivia than ever. I participated in the Jeopardy game show and collected lots of runner up logo prizes. We met some new cruise critic friends that we hope to see at future cruises. I wound up being the de facto MC at the cruise critic meeting and gave away lots of logo items we had won on the 14 day Eclipse cruise. The 7 day cruises are much to short anymore. It seemed like we were packing to leave the ship after just a couple of days instead of 7 days. We hiked all the way to the top of El Moro as the Captain put the pedal to the metal and got us to San Juan by 3 while things were still open. That was 2 hours ahead of what were planned for. We took a local taxi to Coki beach for $20 a couple each way. We had snorkeled there before and we were happy with our last snorkel for some 5 months now before we head to Galapagos.

Cabin Review

Concierge Class 3

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