We have had a variety of cruise experiences over almost 40 years, starting with a Rhine Cruise on KD Line, family cruises on, Costa, RC, Carnival and Princess, couples cruises on Renaissance, Sea Dream, Windstar, Star Clipper, Orient Line and Oceania, and in the last 15 months cruises on Oceania, HAL, Viking and Crystal. We chose this cruise because we invited some friends who had cruised Celebrity before and enjoyed it. The itinerary included new and old stops for us and 4 at sea days to enjoy the ship and spa. We chose a cabin in Aqua class under the (mistaken) assumption that the cabin (nice Veranda!), Spa and restaurant upgrade to Blu would make it worthwhile. Blu however, and the food on the ship overall made that a big NO.

We are not fans of large ships for a variety of reasons; the largest ships we were previously on were a pre-inaugural family cruise on the Carnival Pride and then the Noordam last February, but we enjoyed them and every other cruise we've been on to a greater or lesser extent. Noordam was a big surprise: we had no expectations about the food and it turned out to be quite good, especially at the pop up and higher class restaurant, but even in the main dining room, with very good service as well. Reflection was also a surprise but for the wrong reason.

Our cabin (1623) was nice, relatively quiet (subject to next door passengers) good AC and working fridge and veranda wide enough to lay out on the provided chairs and accompanying stools. Mario, our attendant was great. The shower is a multi-jet one, very nice. We got afternoon snacks every day; they were a mixed bag. Read more