Celebrity Reflection Review
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It's fun to read the reviews of the same cruise to see how differently others see the same journey! We truly enjoyed the ship and itinerary, made all the better by the welcoming Captain, officers and crew. Having joined the Meet and Greet, we realized the incredible connection Celebrity has with CruiseCritic. On the Equinox last December we had a group of around 100 with a handful of crew. This time with about a third of that size, the first person who greeted me was the Captain followed by leading officers and the Cruise Director...almost as many as guests! We also suspect that this CC list inspired our invitation to sailaway on the Helipad from Athens to meet again with a glass of champagne in hand...nice touch and way to end a great port day!
* Embarkation: From Hotel Traghetto (pretty Spartan but worked for the price and location and made all the better by the fabulous pizza place next door!YUM!) we crossed the street to the shuttle and after some mild confusion (who cares! we were there early and we knew we'd be aboard soon and painlessly), we boarded and lunched til our rooms were ready by 1pm. Our ride in from Rome was worth every penny of the shared shuttle coast of Bob's Limo. Door to door service in a Mercedes Benz and only the two of us for 67Euros. They'd done the same from the airport too...shared but only two of us for 37E!! We ended our cruise with four people sharing for 105Euros and the driver spared us the agony of going to the wrong terminal... he knew better than the airline, misdirecting us through online check in!
* Food: I've never enjoyed the buffet more! Good food: Indian food had better spicing than the Equinox's bland offering, and the theme nights were great! Nothing like eating a well executed Turkish buffet of delights while sitting in the aft watching the ferries on the Bosphorus Straits and hearing the call to prayer as the lights of the mosques came on...and sailing away on the aft from Santorini with a Greek buffet..well done and bonus! Otherwise we ate in the Main Dining Room. I think Select Dining is not working well... if you tried to reserve, the tables were gone well before 10am in the morning and though the buzzer system works well to bring you back from the bar when a table is finally ready, it loses that dining anytime idea. If people want reservations, combine it with the set seating times and let everyone just walk in as they come to the "select" floor.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean View with Verandah 2A
Great location near the main mid elevators. No noise whatsoever! Regular size room and verandah on the flat of the bump out. However, recommend the starboard and hoping that is better as the smoking area is on port 5th. The smoke didn't rise but the noise from people who stayed outside with their drinks to smoke, lingered to party there in large noisy groups til the wee hours. The sound proofing of the doors, thankfully, dulled their voices but it didn't give us the peace at night to sit out and listen to the waves or leave the door open while we slept.
Port Reviews
Rome (Civitavecchia)
We came in from Canada so stayed in Rome a couple of days to ensure our flight got in on time and to revisit some sites. Recommend A Trastevere de M.E. as a great room in an easy location across the bridge in minutes to major sites and across the street to nightlife galore in restaurants and bars. Very comfortable area.
Mykonos
Nice break to do it yourself, taking photos of the lovely white buildings and windmills. Wish I'd tried a beach though as the water was so crystal clear! Stumbled across a very chi-chi area of Louis Vuitton etc... lawdy-daw and unexpected.