Took the 11/16 sailing on Celebrity’s new Reflection. This is my second sailing on Celebrity - my first being with the Solstice, so I have something to compare to. All in all, the Reflection met my expectations on this cruise. The ship is gorgeous (just like the solstice) and I did enjoy some of the changes they made (such as The Hideaway and the increased number shops on the Promenade.) The shopping on the ship has gotten even better and we really enjoyed it along with the special events. We got in on quite a few items too! The art auctions are better  they are not just for the very wealthy anymore which is nice. Just like on the Solstice the cabins are great and the hotel staff is just fantastic!

Now, on to a few things that I found to be negative. We sailed out of Miami this time vs. Lauderdale so I don’t know if the differences are from that or not, but, first of all, the crowd has changed. We liked Celebrity because it’s a quieter cruise with mostly older people but I’d say the average age on this cruise was 50 and there were just "louder” people in general. We also noticed a lot more children which I was surprised about. We don’t have small children so try to avoid "family cruises” at all costs. All this is still ok, but the one thing that we found really annoying was the DJ on the pool deck. This was the Miami DJ and (oh my gosh) dance/club music on a celebrity cruise by the pool in the early afternoon? So frustrating. The other frustration is  you cannot even get a chair by the pool unless you are out there by 8am.

Now  the next thing I will say is my opinion because I have the comparison of the Solstice ship. The officers and cruise director team are just not as good as when we were on the Solstice. On Solstice, the Captain and the Cruise Director really made the cruise phenomenal. They were very visible, made announcements all the time (jokes, funny stories, etc.) Lisa, the cruise director had such passion and really engaged with the passengers. While the Reflection team was fine, it’s hard to live up to our Solstice cruise in 2010. I will state though that the entertainment on the ship was very good! One other thing I noticed to be different - while most of the crew was excellent, I did pick up on many of them seeming stressed/tired, etc. I just remember on the Solstice it was different - I noticed none of this. Would we sail again with Celebrity? I think so. But, I have to admit, we are tempted to try a Holland America. Read more