My wife and I have sailed with Celebrity for nearly 20 sailings; if not 20. We have ben loyal to this line for many year now. We are Elite Capt. Club members who enjoy sailing at least once a year. Here is a recounting of our sailing on Reflection.
Staring with the ship, it is had to imagine a cleaner or more well maintained ship. I have nothing but accolades to offer concerning the ship, its décor, layout, etc. Our cabin was designed well too as always. First glitch - got to our room and the place was not clean. Called for our cabin steward who had just boarded the ship to begin his contract. In other words, he didn't fail to clean the room. Jude told us not to worry, he would spend the next two hours cleaning the room to his standards. We have greasy finger prints (lotion, body oil, etc.) over all of the doors, the room was thick with dust and grit on hard surfaces, etc. Jude made good on his promise and was an excellent cabin steward for our entire trip. Wish they were all like him.
Food quality was excellent throughout the ship whether it was in Opus, Tuscan Grille or Murano. Top notch service in each location too. Roy and Shurmon (Opus) love their work and it shows. Their enthusiasm made our experiences in Opus outstanding. Shurmon has a wonderful genuineness that made us want to come to dinner each night. Also found her each day at an omelet station taking orders with the same lovely smiles each day. Silvano and Alexander in Murano were also on their game. They worked together like a well crafted machine. Silvano recommended the venison entrée and a wonderful zinfandel to pair wit it. I've had nothing better in years to eat for dinner! got to try the venison folks. Art in the Tuscan Grille had to do it all! He was our waiter, did the job of asst. waiter and also sommelier. This is because the other two were totally inept. Art cheerfully handled everything and he was magnificent. If you go to Tuscan Grille you want Art to wait on you!
Cabin well designed but dirty when we arrived.
This is a good port. However, be warned that the ship docks late in the afternoon and local time is an hour later than the ship time. That leave about 2 hours for a trip ashore in the daylight. San Cristobol is right up the hill and is a good excursion for the 2 hours. We've been to San Juan and San Cristobol many times. We stayed aboard ship.
Charlotte Amalie has been a destination for us for almost 20 years. What once was a primo port is now average at best. If you come here, book a water excursion. downtown has become a rundown shopping area with aggressive "barkers" that has become really annoying. It has made going downtown ($8 taxi ride) not worth the time and effort. Buy your jewelry in St. Maarten.
Love this port. St. Maarten has figured out their economy depends on tourism. As a result they continue to invest in supporting tourism. We took an inland tour with Jan a local who grew up on the Dutch side. Great time. Bought some things too.