This vacation knocked our socks off. That is, it would have, if we'd been wearing socks. Our goal was to escape our hometown (Park City, UT) during a busy vacation week, swap our ski gear for swimwear, and treat our kids (two boys, 6 & 10) to a special vacation. We had cruised three times, previously, never with children, and twice on Celebrity. We had the guidance of a terrific travel agent, who is a close friend, and with whom we'd cruised on Celebrity, once before. She knows our taste, our entire family's preference for fine dining, and assured us that the Reflection would suit us perfectly. We booked a Sky Suite, then upgraded to a Celebrity Suite. Prior to departure, we upgraded to premium beverage packages and took care of our specialty restaurant bookings, as one was included with our suite booking. (Murano for my husband's birthday, sans kiddos, and Q-sine, because the Celebrity agent suggested it would be fun for the kids.) we knew we would have shipboard credit, but opted to take advantage of pre-sailing discounts on those items.

We'd only ever traveled in standard or veranda staterooms, so the suite exceeded our expectations. We felt very grateful that we were able to enjoy such a gracious, welcoming space.

We did not use a hotel near the port: we have lots of family and friends in South Florida, and spent a few days visiting them prior to sailing. We spent the night before embarkation with friends who live about 15 minutes from the port, and hired a car service to pick us up at their home the morning we sailed. Because we were in a suite, we had preferred boarding, which went very smoothly. We took some time to explore the ship with the kids, had lunch on the pool deck, and visited the public areas of the ship. We went to the kids' club, where we signed up both boys for t heir age-appropriate groups, and upgraded to the deluxe/VIP package, as it included all the "late night" parties, and special tours and activities. We visited the spa to book services for our first day, at sea. My husband booked a pedicure, I booked a seaweed wrap and massage. We also visited the Internet cafe to purchase a wifi packge (using onboard credit). As soon as the cabins were available, we visited our stateroom. The butler greeted us, enthusiastically, and offered to unpack for us when the luggage arrived, offered to make any reservations we needed, etc. We opted to unpack, ourselves, but the steward and butler were helpful in other ways, making reservations throughout the week, finding little treats for the boys, etc. Read more