This was only our second cruise and our first on Celebrity so here goes with our thoughts. Flew from Leeds/Bradford UK to Rome short flight only 2hrs 40 mins.Met by Celebrity reps in baggage reclaim all slick apart from we were not on the list !! no problem we had our docs and so on to the coach for the 60 min drive to the port.Initial views are not up to much and the port itself is not the most attractive but the embarkation was very speedy and so on to the ship into our cabin within one hour forty five mins of touching down....
The cabin was a super deluxe balcony on deck eleven, plenty of hanging space , great shower usual toiletries ,sitting area suffice for our needs and the balcony whilst overhung was good, it did afford shade if you needed it. We went to the buffet for some late lunch and found it ok plenty of choice but like most buffets it always seems lukewarm well apart from the salad !!!!..Back to the cabin and Sherwin our steward arrived with the luggage , although we had prepaid tips i did tip him at the start and the end of the cruise so maybe that was the reason we got extra champagne ! he was very attentive and any request was swiftly dealt with .We found the staff overall to be excellent in their greeting , manner and level of service, nothing was too much trouble my request for wheat free items was always handled without any fuss, we were however surprised at some passengers attitude and rudeness towards the staff, no please or thank you and some with a demanding manner , i might add that these all seemed to be Hispanic , maybe they don't do please or thank you in their country...The ship itself is fantastic all bars , lounges , eating places spotlessly clean and tidy, one downside was that the Sky lounge with its great sunset views seemed to be closed for selected guests on five occasions out of ten , very disappointing . We loved all the speciality restaurants although Qsine was my least favourite however even that was very nice , the Lawn club portions were huge , well huge for us Brits, but food was very nice they even did me a gluten free pizza.Blue was all we had expected , breakfast very civilised , dinner plenty of choice and good quality apart from the pheasant breast i had one night which was overcooked.We only waited once to be seated and took ourselves off to the bar for ten minutes and then were ushered in by our new American friends who insisted we shared a table ..So ship , dining , staff 9/10..
Ports of call , Sicily lovely day out on a small private excursion organised on Cruise Critic from Sicily with Mario (which has proved invaluable for us newbies), visited Taomina and Castelmola with lunch at a traditional trattoria.Athens... long tiring day but again great guide and saw all we needed to on our private tour , we were first up to the Acropolis good job too on the way down we passed hundreds of big parties on their way up....Kusadasi, we only wandered round a few shops and returned to the ship so didn't see much .. Rhodes was very busy , four ships in and streets crowded so a wander round had a drink and back after lunch ...Santorini..took the tender then a speedboat trip to Oiai where we viewed the famous blue domes and took a million photos, bus to Fira was included and we returned via the long queue for the cable car...Mykonos we had booked a transfer to St Johns Resort and Spa and we were delighted , great facilities and food , prompt pick up and return....Naples another private tour of Pompeii then the Amalfi coast with an amazing lunch in a village above Positano, no menu just what Mama cooked that day but awesome food ....Disembarkation was swift and organised..In conclusion Celebrity Reflection was all we hoped it would be , we met some very nice people , chatted , drank , ate, travelled, with most of them and both agreed we would certainly cruise with Celebrity again,, minor complaints and niggles , don't approve of beach shorts and flip flops in bars on evening , even saw a couple of guys in Tuscan Grill wearing shorts, but that is my feeling and if these folks want to look a mess all day good luck to them.. We didn't go to any shows but enjoyed the various small music venues and we are both sorry if there is no wine left in Cellar Masters !!!!
Cabin very good lots of space great shower , balcony nice comfy all round a good choice