Overall, this was probably the best cruise we have taken between Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. There was lots to see and do and the excursions we took were all very good. The ship was very clean and well maintained. We slept well every night and were able to truly relax. Some thoughts on specifics . . . Aqua Class We couldn’t find any real value for this upgrade this trip. The Blu Restaurant was the only perk offered. We didn’t have access to Michael’s Lounge, which was unfortunate. The Blu Restaurant was never open early enough for breakfast on days when we had an excursion planned. The dinner menu choices in Blu were almost never as good as the choices in the Opus General Dining Room. We don’t think we would pay for this upgrade again. Premium Drink Package We have been disappointed with the Celebrity drink packages on every cruise we have taken. This time, the only benefit we got from the Premium Package was for wine selections in Blu and Opus. And, the only “premium” wines offered were Mer Soleil Chardonnay and Decoy Cabernet, every single night. No other options to try. And, none of the other bars on the ship offered a premium wine option. Really disappointing for anyone who knows and enjoys wine. Access to Michael’s Lounge would have helped a great deal. Excursions The excursions were really well planned and executed this trip . . . kudos to the organizer(s)!! We spent very little time waiting for our bus number to be called sitting in the Reflection Theater this time. Massage As with every other massage I have had at Canyon Ranch, I tell them where I would like them to spend time and energy (my neck), and they go about doing whatever it is they always do. They spend very little time and zero energy really trying to work through neck pain. Stop asking me if you aren’t going to do anything different. Room Attendant Our room attendant, pronounced E-mah-day, was exceptionally attentive and eager to please us. Whatever he is getting paid, it isn’t enough. He is great and should be treasured!! Opus Dining Room Our server at Table 32, Brian, and our sommelier, Marvin, were both fabulous professionals. We looked forward to joining them about half the evenings on the ship and enjoyed their service to be much more attentive and fun than what we found in Blu. Buffet For what it is, I think the chefs in the buffet do a great job! My only suggestion would be to start serving pastries, fruit and continental items (eggs, sausage and potatoes) earlier than 6:30 am for guests who are planning to take an early excursion and need to eat something (anything) before they leave the ship. Private Pilates Class OJ was very good and we enjoyed his class very much. My only caution to Celebrity would be . . . I’m not sure this class should be advertised as a “Private Pilates” class, because it really is a very general core strength and stretching class. There were no true Pilates elements included in the class. When guests are paying $100 per hour for Pilates, they should get Pilates. Gifts from Friends Since this was my retirement cruise, we received flowers from two of our friends. One arrangement arrived with no card, so we had to put a photo up on Facebook to figure out who sent it to us (not good). When we returned home, the same friends asked if we had also received a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne and a dinner in a specialty restaurant on the evening of our choice. No, we didn't. My husband saw a bottle of Dom Perignon in our refrigerator, but just assumed it was part of the bar. I would think a gift of Dom Perignon would be left on the coffee table in a bucket of ice and with a card. Not well executed and our friends are now trying to work through getting credits from Celebrity. Formal Nights We very much enjoyed the formal "at sea" nights on Celebrity. They have discontinued them and now call the at sea nights "chic". We saw all kinds of attire on the "chic" nights and were quite disappointed. We have booked an Azamara cruise for 2020 in hopes they will have formal nights and a much better premium wine selection. Read Less

We chose this cruise primarily for the itinerary, but also because we love Celebrity. We were on the Silhouette last year, and we knew we'd get a similar experience. The ship is what we consider the perfect size. Not massive like the Royal Caribbean ships, but big enough to have every amenity you need. The selection of speciality dining restaurants are fantastic, and the Opus Dining Room has consistently great food and service. We did find Qsine a bit of a letdown... last year it was more of a "tappas" style of sharing plates that you ordered from iPads, but now it's a live animation show that is a little cheesy without enough food selection. Entertainment was great for the most part. The cast shows are extremely well done, and most of the guest entertainers were fantastic. We did have one letdown night where we left after 2 songs (a "Country & Rock duo" whose name I forget). But the best performer of the week was a singer named Jayne Curry; she had an amazing voice and was VERY funny. The ports on this cruise were all excellent choices. Can't say anything but good things about all of them. We were parts of small group tours organized on CruiseCritic when we did tours, but a couple of places we explored on our own (including renting a car with another couple in Rhodes and driving to Lindos). Our only issue with the ship is the temperature of the fitness centre. The heat in there makes it difficult to workout. I can't understand why it doesn't have better A/C. I would highly recommend both the ship and the itinerary. Read Less

We chose this company as we hoped to get everything at level 5*. But unfortunately, our hopes were not realized. In the future, we are unlikely to choose a cruise with this company. Pros: the ship is new, beautiful, and comfortable. The cabins are spacious. Staff is well prepared. Cleaning of cabins and service in the main dining room at the proper level. Odds: It takes a lot of time to wait for elevators; the choice of dishes in the main dining room is quite poor. The Cruise director's work corresponds to the ship level 2*, but not 5*. There was our 9th cruise and worse entertainment than here anywhere else was. Poorly organized transfers. The first time we faced the fact that all transfers have to be paid. The excursion to the Florence with the boat was organized badly. It does not correspond to the description in the brochure. Read Less

Looked a great 11 days and it was exactly what the brochure said great sailing and woke up most days in a different place Great staff around the ship and the cabin guy really took care of us he kept the cabin spotless it felt like the fairies had been in Great food entertainment was very professional and the group so entertaining couldn’t fault it in any way Super ship and got to say the captain was so funny he should take up comedy when he stops sailing and the balcony cabins were just what you needed a bit of quiet when you needed it Got to say all in all it was just what we wanted Everything was exicuted wery proffesionally We would highly recommended to our friends and family and would definitely use Celebrity cruise line or sister companies again should we take another cruise hopefully in the near future maybe towards the end of the year Read Less

Overall, it was an amazing trip. We were impressed with the spaciousness of the room, the cleanliness and overall staff engagement. We recommend you determine what you want from your vacation. Our goal with this cruise was to see new places, learn and see history but most importantly relax and have a luxurious 5-star experience. While this cruise is 10-days, make no mistake it's a jam-packed. If you aren't careful, you could need a vacation from your vacation. We wished there would have been a "day at sea" earlier in the schedule. We flew from the US and after flying over 15-hours, getting to Rome and then the port, we were exhausted. While we did book some excursions through the Concierge Desk, we found the "Hop On Hop Off" busses to be more our speed. We could do it at our own pace and weren't shuttled off the ship at a certain time. Murano was our favorite restaurant but QSine is a must experience. We loved the spa, Persian Garden and most importantly the staff. Cindy and Nastasia were amazing! A must do: We wanted an authentic Italian cooking class. I found this place online with amazing reviews. It was truly the highlight of our trip. In Civitacecchia (port near Rome), we found Frederico who owns Ristorante Aqua Pizzeria. He arrived at his restaurant and he had the kitcken ready for us to cook. Not to mention wine to drink too. We made homemade gnocchi, tiramisu and much more. https://www.facebook.com/federico.aqua/ He makes it fun and memorable. He also took us to the port after our cooking class. Please do yourself a favor and enjoy this great experience! Read Less

This was our second cruise on the Reflection and we enjoyed it even more the second time. Boarding at Civitavecchia was easy and quick. The ship is in excellent shape. The food in the dining room was excellent and varied, we had the Classic Drinking Package which was very convenient, we took full advantage of it. Our Cabin Steward was outstanding, thx Finton. Our Balcony Cabin was well situated at aft 7th Deck close to the elevators. We were on Willamette Winery package which had many tastings and one luncheon, it was excellent value and just amazing, learned a lot from the owner. Love the ports our favourite was Villefranche, Malaga and Cartagena. We celebrated an anniversary at QSine "Le petit chef" which is a novelty restaurant with excellent food if somewhat sparse. A the end of the cruise, we stayed on the ship until 9h00 until our taxi van arrived to take us to FCO. The staff was very efficient and always ready to answer our questions and help, the Captain was very funny in his daily announcements. Read Less

We, husband and I, in our mid 30s, booked this cruise back in October - based on the ports and a great package deal with our travel agent, a wine tasting cruise with an Oregon based winery. This is our 8th cruise, and 2nd with Celebrity, first time on the Reflection. As the time grew closer our cruise critic roll call thread was on fire! We had well over 130 pages of posts and the vibe in the roll was awesome - we were so looking forward to meeting everyone. We had a spread sheet set up with hundreds of comments and tours and shared excursions and such all allowing multiple people to update. We shared a taxi from the airport with a couple on our roll call and were at the cruise port at 1045am. We were through check in and on board within 15 minutes. We were given glasses of champagne upon embarkation - but then told we couldn't take the glasses in the elevator.... so there were a bunch of people standing in Deck 4 chugging champagne trying to catch the next elevator - it was funny - we took the stairs. We arrived at the Ocean View Café before they started serving lunch and were one of the first couples in the café. Lunch was great and were approached 3 times about upgrading our beverage package -although we had the premium package. We found all sorts of good food, including a chilled peach soup and a leg of lamb at the carving station. First impressions of the Reflection were A+. We walked around the ship learning the layout - as it's quite different from the Solstice in terms of the Solarium and Spa. We saw the crowds steadily increasing as the day went on. We jumped in the pool, then in the hot tubs and heard the announcement that staterooms were ready at 1 pm. We headed to room 7338 on the starboard side and saw our bags waiting for us right next to the door. :-) We met our room attendant - Rhonda - and she was amazing the entire holiday. We asked for ice - and it was never empty the entire 11 days. The room is well appointed - spacious, clean and neat. The bathroom was well thought out and the room was plenty big enough for all our stuff and suitcases. We went to the Aqua Spa and bought the Persian Garden pass for $159/pp including all gratuities. We then enjoyed the Persian Garden for the afternoon in the sauna, steam room and my favorite - the heated stone benches. We checked out the Fitness Center and were impressed by the size, location on the very front of the ship and the quality of the equipment. Muster drill around 4 - and we were crammed into Qusine - and lucky enough to have chairs as more and more people kept coming in. The cheesy video is the same we've seen for a few years now. Once the drill is over - that's the one and only time the ship felt crowded. We hoofed it from deck 5 up to deck 15 to the Sunset bar for Sailaway - and to meet our Roll Call friends. Sailaway and the Sunset bar was awesome - but the weather was turning wet. We had a tough time getting a drink, as the bar was mobbed - but not a big deal. We met most of our friends at the bar and set up a few last minute tours with others. We then went to the Sky Observation Lounge and met with our travel agent group for a welcome aboard reception. This lounge was very nice and floor to ceiling windows and nice furniture was in good repair. The food and drinks were great, and we were meeting so many awesome fellow cruisers. We headed to dinner after freshening up, and were escorted to our table - all the way in the back. We sat alone for 30 minutes, at a table for 6...then our seat mates arrived - but we didn't speak the same language, so needles to say, dinner was very quiet. We went to the Passport bar after dinner for drinks and listening to some nice music. We didn't see any shows - except for the comedian - really none of the other shows sounded interesting to us. Next morning - bright and early we were off the ship at 645am headed to Cinque Terre. The process for getting off the ship was smooth and efficient and we never waited to get off the ship. The ship provided a mandatory shuttle, as we were parked in a shipyard, and this shuttle was free - no one was allowed to walk into town. We met a group of DIY heading to Cinque Terre from the Roll Call. We purchased the all day train ticket online before our trip for the day we were in port. We shared a taxi to the train station, hopped on the train to the furthest of the five cities and worked our way back towards La Spezia. This was by far my favorite port on this cruise. Cinque Terre was so incredibly beautiful and fun, and we enjoyed the fellowship with the other people from our roll call. Back at the ship an hour or so before all aboard - no issues boarding the ship- again - fast and smooth. The had all sorts of waters awaiting us (orange infused water, cucumber water, grapefruit waters and so on, and cold towels - this was such a nice touch, as it was a hot and muggy afternoon and we walked over 15,000 steps exploring the five lands. At dinner on night 2, we inquired about switching our table and were promptly placed at an awesome table with two other couples - and we hit it off for the rest of the dinners - we were usually one of the last tables out of the dining room. Nice, France was a tender port. We met with a couple from our roll call who were suite guests and we got off the ship with them with no wait early in the morning. We split and Uber to the base of Eze, and hiked the Nietzsche Path with them. This was no easy hike - but was totally enjoyable and a great way to get to the town of Eze to where the shoppes and cafes are for a reasonable amount. We spent a few hours going around the narrow streets and walking up winding roads. We sampled some crepes and French breads and were impressed with both. We enjoyed people watching from the mountain side. Tendering back to the ship was fine- about 25 minutes, including the on and off times. The weather cleared up and I got some great photos of the ship as well as the French Rivera. This port was the prettiest port we pulled into. The Persian Garden was my happy place each and everyday. It was only crowded on the first day - and some people didn't realize it's supposed to be a quiet place - as I listened to a lady tell a stranger her entire life story in the sauna ( I was outside the sauna, lounging in the heated benches. Someone actually went into the sauna and asked her to keep it down - as everyone could hear her. The steam room was wonderful, sauna was hot and the cool room was first for me. Th herbal suite was nice too. I would spend 90-120 minutes in the Persian Garden each and every day - it was so nice to totally relax and unwind. We came back to our room to find a notice from the shore excursions desk - stating our Celebrity excursion in Barcelona (the next day) was cancelled. No information as to why, but a 15% off any other Barcelona excursion. (We had booked another Celebrity excursion in Gibraltar that was cancelled two months prior to the sailing). I was a little upset that they waited till the night before to inform us of the cancellation - as there were tons of tours our rollcall people were doing and filling that we would have jumped in on - but when we went to the shore excursion desk to see what was available - everything was sold out. This was really the only negative we encountered on the whole trip. That evening we were invited to the helipad for sailaway from Nice, and it was also Formal night (Chic night). We were dressed really well - and felt totally overdressed - as many people wore jeans and tees. Sailaway on the helipad was awesome - they provided champagne and some of the officers were out and about for people to speak with them and get some photos with them. Dinner in the Opus dining room was outstanding as always. Lamb, Prime rib, lobster, Pork Lion, Salmon and so one were features during the cruise - everything was very good to outstanding. Our server, Batiz, was over the top - he did everything he could to please us and was very friendly. This night they had a party on the pool deck and we stopped by to see some dancing, fancy, light up drinks being served and plenty of music playing. We danced for a short time and called it a night. Barcelona port was an overnight stop. To get to the city center it cost 5 euros per person, per day for round trip service. The bus dropped us off at Columbus circle. From there we explored on our own and sampled some local cuisine and headed back to a nearly empty ship. That evening the dining room was half full and service was slow, but, that's the nice thing about a cruise - no agenda, no hurry, no big deal. We enjoyed our table mates conversation and he headed to the lawn club and spread out a Celebrity provided blanket and read books as the sun set over Barcelona city scape, it was mostly cloudy however. We passed through the Ocean View Café this evening quite late on our way back from the Sunset Bar and discovered there were having a Barcelona Bazaar. They had TONS of locally acquired smoked meats, cheeses and desserts all local to Barcelona. Speaking to one of the chefs - most of these items were bought in a local Barcelona food market that day - this was really something to see and taste- we had some small samples here and there as we still were full from dinner in the Opus dining room. One of my favorite places for breakfast was the Aqua Spa Café - light fare and fresh made to order smoothies. This was my normal breakfast place before my trip to the spa. Another great spot for amazing Italian coffee was the coffee shop on Deck 5 - tons of coffees to chose from and each one I tried was fantastic. Our second morning in Barcelona we headed out with a couple from cruise critic to do a self booked "secret food tour Barcelona." We caught an Uber to a central Metro station (not using the 5euro shuttle) to meet our tour. This tour was great and I highly recommend it. We headed back onboard and went to the Spa and used the hot tubs - nearly empty public spaces and plenty of sun chairs for everyone. The bar service was average in speed and availability. Each bar carried some things that could only get there, at that bar - and by day 5 we were starting to figure out which ones we had to visit. The next day was our first of two sea days on an 11 day cruise. This afternoon the pool deck and Solstice deck were filling up until noon time. We saw some, not a ton, but many chair hogs - reserving their loungers for hours before they are used. We found a canopy in the Solarium and stayed there for hours together, napping, snacking and watching the ocean pass by. It was so relaxing and enjoyable, and this little 'basket canopy' was semi private and enjoyable. We were very impressed with the friendliness of all the crew on the ship -each one would stop, look at us, and say pleasantly - good morning or good day ect. We loved chatting with a few that we would see everyday, and we got to know them - where they are from - when they get to see their families again , are they getting off the ship on the next port, ect. Speaking of that - the ship was so clean - and bright - everywhere we looked we could see someone cleaning. All the public areas were clean, the spa was cleaned and refreshed multiple times during the day, our stateroom was freshened up every time we left the room. We were pleased to see the pride the crew takes in the ship. We had a wine tasting and a behind the scenes tour of the wine tower on the sea day as well - both were fun and the tower tour was awesome to learn about. We also did an outstanding cabin crawl - organized by a great gal in our roll call - this was a great way to meet others from the roll call and see other cabin categories. Next port was Malaga, Spain. A 4Euro pp shuttle was offered to take guests to the town. We chose to walk, it was only a 20 minute walk to the beach and shops. We had no formal plans here, we found a leafy palm tree on the beach, and spent the afternoon at the beach and strolling the boardwalk. We caught a late lunch at the Ocean View Café and were again impressed by the choices and quality of the food there. Tons of desserts, ice creams, salads, soups, breads, meats, carving station, Mexican choices, Asian choices, grill station (burgers, chicken and steaks cooked to order) pizza choices and fruits. We never had a bad meal here or anywhere. The menu changed daily, but some choices were there for the entire week. Gibraltar was our next port and we met with some roll call people for a 3 hour tour of the Rock of Gibraltar. There was 8 us and we got an early start. We met our driver right on the pier and we were off. This was such a fascinating place and enjoyed this tour so much. We saw, and drove over, the road/airport runway, all around. under, through and over the Rock. We saw the monkeys, the Pillars of Hercules, saw Africa, walked though the caves (AWESOME), the WWII siege tunnels, saw the 100 ton gun, Europa point and the light house. We seemed to be one step ahead of the crowds and saw so much in such a short time. It was amazing and we had a good group. We sailed away from Gibraltar at 2 pm, making our day very short - but still was such a great day- I'd love go come back there again! We had another wine tasting today at the Tuscan Grill and saw dolphins playing in the wake of the ship! This was incredible and they followed us for almost an hour, we were seated right at the window and the windows are at the very aft of the ship and we saw multiple calves and full grown dolphins. Next stop was Cartagena, Spain. This was a beautiful stop - parked right next to a marina. This was a very walkable town - we did a self walking tour around the city, and found lots of things to explore, the roman ruins, the old tower, some bull ring remains and some peacocks, they were just roaming around looking for food. This port was very nice - and the cleanest of all the ports we visited. The streets were made of marble. We stopped at the Spanish Naval Museum, within sight of the cruise ship - not more than a quarter mile from the ship. We stopped here for some snacks and some trinkets from Spain. On our way back to the ship the little visitors center was open right outside the ship and they had very nice maps and such - those would have been handy on the way out - but we left very early - before 8am, so the center wasn't open yet. There was a catamaran sailboat that had hourly tours that left from the same marina and I believe it as 11 Euro/pp. We didn't do this, but saw lots of people going. The ship sure looked good in this setting - lots of crew members painting the hull and washing the balconies. The Reflection just gleamed. We attended the Captains' Cocktail Hour this evening and Capt. Demetrious was funny and personable. I cruised with his brother on the Solstice last May and they were so alike. The Captain gave a power point presentation on the last sea day and he was hilarious! We enjoyed that very much, we learned about him, about the ship and about Celebrity as a cruise line. I recommend this presentation if you get a chance. Ibiza was our next and final port stop before heading home to Rome. We booked with SailingDivingIbiza for a private 8 hr sailing excursion on the owners personal home and sailboat. This was definitely a highlight for us. We sailed from Ibiza to Formentera and then back again. Once back onboard we missed dinner by a few minutes and went to the Ocean View Café for dinner and we were not disappointed. Dinner here was great - fast bar service, good food and a great view as we sailed away from Ibiza. The sunset was beautiful. Our last day on the cruise was at sea and full of activities. Our travel agent set up a private tour of the galleys with the executive chef and then a wine pairing luncheon at the Tuscan Grille. These were both wonderful, and the food at the Tuscan Grille was outstanding. We went to the Persian Gardens, swam in the Solarium, danced in the Centrum, attended the Captains' PowerPoint, did some trivia and spent some time in the casino. We had a hammock hung on our balcony and I spent a few hours in the late afternoon napping. We then began packing and getting ready to leave our great ship. We had a lovely dinner again (as always) and spent a few hours at the Sunset Bar enjoying ourselves and meeting some great people. Last morning -Disembarkation- We chose to self-disembark, since we only had one large bag each and one small carryon between the two of us. We walked down to deck 4, walked out and were waiting for our transfer to the airport (booked with roll call people, a group of 8) with in 10 minutes. It was literally the quickest and easiest disembarkation we've ever had. No customs to go through since all the ports were in the EU. Overall - an outstanding cruise. An A rating for everything. The ship was clean, well maintained, bright, great selection of food, wonderful drinks, good bar staff, outstanding room steward and very good dining room staff. Every staff member we encountered was helpful and polite. The cabin was fine, everything was in working order and modern. The Entertainment wasn't our cup of tea - but we like to do things on our own and kept ourselves entertained. The ports were very good, but wished Celebrity would cover the costs of the transfers at every port. We would go again in a heartbeat, this itinerary as well as the Reflection. It was the small touches that made it such a memorable experience for us - cold towels offered at embarkation, chocolates on the pillows for turndown, garnishes on the dinner plates and especially the Persian Garden. Read Less

This trip marked 31 nights this calendar year in suites with Celebrity so, if nothing else, I've got Luminae's menus committed to memory! First the good, and there's quite a bit of good here! The ship is in fantastic shape. The crew, excluding officers, are stellar. Seriously, similar to the Summit, this ship is filled with folks who are welcoming and willing to go above and beyond to make one's vacation a terrific experience. When I learned that Al Bacio didn't stock my favorite Al Bacio dessert, a simple inquiry to the MC concierge as to how things differ among ships led to a full size tart in my cabin two days later. Another positive is that in general there's enough space on board to forget just how many fellow vacationers share the ship.An unfortunate exception would be the cramped Michael's Club. In general the food was fantastic. The buffet put out terrifically fresh, tasty and varied dishes. Late afternoon/early evenings in the Persian Garden, and by and large around the pools, it was possible to feel as though one were traveling alone. And this PG is pretty fabulous. From sauna to ice-room to heated benches, it's a great place for relaxing, and a super spot from which to enjoy sail-a-ways. And now the not so great: The officers--I'm not one who needs to chat up the captain by any stretch of the imagination, but I've never before encountered so many instances where a white outfit seemed to ensure a lack of common courtesy such as saying "pardon me" when pushing past or at least nodding on a elevator when greeted. The cruise director-- I don't generally pay much attention to this role, but this fellow and his socks went beyond the pail in obnoxiousness--the slide show of embarrassing pictures of other people gleaned from his internet surfing ought to be enough for RCI management to disavow association with him. To the extent that he is responsible for the poor entertainment bookings and use of venues on board he also scores low marks in my book. Entertainment-- I generally miss shows(using that time for pool and spa), but just having enjoyed a few of the performers on the Summit, thought I'd give some a try here. Big mistake. Whoever is in charge of sound on the Reflection is either deaf or incompetent. Every performer was so over amplified that ear plugs were required. As I left a particularly weak male solo show, in a pretty empty auditorium, I discovered that the cognoscenti had wisely gathered in seats several feet outside the theater, where the sound was far less thunderous. Amazingly one of the worst performances was the ship's singers' "intimate cabaret" night . For some reason a couple of the troupe thought it a good time for trying out pieces that are outside of their ranges. 11 nights is a long time, with plenty of opportunity for entertainment, thus I wonder why only one comedian? and why such a dud? While he had some pretty good physical comedy, this guy's material sounded as though lifted from a VCR he'd found in his parent's house--jokes about the gps voice, and "did you pack your bags yourself," were pretty good when first done a decade and a half or so ago. The "suite life"--Several missteps here on this trip. While individual servers in Luminae were terrific, something wasn't right all trip--several evenings the entire server team disappeared for confabs which left tables unserved while giggles could be heard from behind the serving stations. Michael's was so small that one loud conversation made the whole space too noisy. ( and while i understand that some folks deal with hearing challenges, I do mind them leaning as far away as possible from their conversation companions and proceeding to yell at them.) Finally embarkation was, as I am coming to expect from Celebrity, a cluster. It was just after schlepping my bags out of the required shuttle bus and finally finding the mis-turned suites sign when, seeking out a working pen for the paper work that had just been shoved at me that I realized I might not be as cut out for mass market cruising as I'd thought. Celebrity seems to think it doesn't really have to pay attention to the opening experience, and given its success, apparently it doesn't. But this trip I cancelled a couple of upcoming trips with them and substituted one on Aza and one on ultra tiny SD1. I'm not "abandoning "the CC ship, but I am giving it a rest until some of the ships come out of drydock next year. In the meantime we'll see what life is like in some other pastures. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the date, route and high standard of the ship. We used to enjoy the late night adult comedy shows in Celebrity Central, but no more - a great pity. No line dancing, no raw egg competition, no paper airplanes. I don't know if this is due to the passenger mix or cutbacks in activities. No liar's club either - what a pity as our Captain is a great comedian and always a pleasure listening to his "true story" remarks. Biggest complaint is the non recognition of vegetarian lifestyle. Once again I spoke to the F&B manager who promised to ensure the salads were kept separate from the fish and cold meats but to no avail. There are 2 salad bars in the Oceanview cafe and it would be so simple to have one only for salads and the other with the proteins alongside. I was really annoyed when I helped myself to some pickled cucumbers to put on my cheese roll only to find some tuna salad on the cucumber slices, either because someone had used the same appliance to take tuna and cucumber, or they had dropped some tuna into the pickled cucumbers. I pointed this out to the F&B manager but did not eat any more pickled cucumbers. At the Indian specialities station there was a dish marked "vegetable curry" - on checking I saw it did not have the vegetarian symbol and it had meat in the dish - not acceptable. Excellent idea (elite class) to load 3 drinks pp daily onto the cabin card so that you can drink at any bar on the ship and not have to go to the sky lounge, especially if you do not feel like dressing up. We cruise for a relaxed holiday and do not take any tours. Our "thing" is to get off the ship around 10:00 for a couple of hours walk around the port of call before returning for late lunch, siesta and to enjoy the evening's entertainment, be it the shows or music spots. Last show of the cruise was out of this world, never seen anything like it before, acrobats putting circque du soleil to shame! Read Less

We chose this cruise as we were looking for a Celebrity cruise out of Rome (Civitavecchia) including at least a few new ports. Embarkation and disembarkation were very smooth. The ship is very nice, the food was very good. I appreciate this as I'm lactose-intolerant and my food, including desserts was excellent. As we spend our time between Montreal and Rome (Italy) we always have access to great restaurants. Whenever we do the specialty restaurants on board we come away a little disappointed. For example, in the Tuscan Grill my husband's pasta was quite overcooked (the noodles had actually split!), my soup was warm, not hot, and his steak was seriously over salted. My fish was perfect. We had 4 stops in Spain and Malaga was a pleasant surprise - very pretty. For foodies out there, you have to see the Boqueria (market) in Barcelona - it's fantastic. Dining room and stateroom service were excellent. Our inside stateroom was very spacious. Entertainment was hit and miss as per usual. Cast shows were okay, good talent but shows not cohesive. Most guest entertainers were very good, except for the hypnotist who kept trying to guilt people into participating. We're Elite Plus members on Celebrity and truly appreciate the associated benefits. Read Less