REFLECTION REVIEW
November 21 – 28, 2015
Cabin 6194
My reviews tend to be a bit lengthy as I try and provide sufficient insight to my comments. I always try to make reviews be balanced and honest. This was our 27th cruise on Celebrity ships. Nearly half of all of our cruises. However for those who want a short to the point review, start here and then read more if interested:
THE GOOD
• Embarkation – Quick and easy
• Ship – in beautiful shape
• Luggage Delivery – quickest ever
• Cruise Critic Party – More officers were there than ever. Very nice!
• Crew – most were as pleasant and helpful as ever
• Captain & Officers – More visible and friendly than ever before
• Specialty Dining – three of our four experiences were great!
• Live Entertainment – good mix and very good musicians/singers
THE LESS THAN STELLAR
• Lack of bar glassware – where is it all going???
• Pizza – Using American cheese is simply bad…and wrong
• Wine Price Not Honored – Pricing on menu not honored when ordering wine in Qsine
• Pole and Case Dancing – REALLY Celebrity???
• Smoking – the entire back of this ship was unusable by mid-week
• Cruise Critic Party – many didn’t get invites in cabin and those that did were wrong
• Disembarkation – crazy disorganized. Luggage didn’t come out in order of disembarkation.
• Capt Club Hostess – by far the least personable Capt Club hostess on any of our Celebrity cruises
• Electronic post cruise survey not received
THE EXTENDED REVIEW
This was a last minute decision to cruise when business took us to Miami just before Thanksgiving. We booked the last veranda cabin showing available. We had sailed Reflection before and knew she was a beautiful ship. We would be sailing Thanksgiving week so we expected lots of families. We just wanted to get away for a bit and this seemed ideal.
PRE-CRUISE HOTEL
We stayed at the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon near the airport. It was close to our business client and having stayed here before a cruise previously, we knew it was a nice hotel. A CVS is on the corner across the street (doesn’t everyone need to stop at a drugstore before boarding a ship) and on Saturday morning it was just about a 15 minute drive to the port.
GETTING TO THE PORT & PARKING
Reflection was docked at Terminal G at the Port of Miami. If driving, we highly recommend taking the tunnel to the port. Super easy, no traffic, avoid downtown Miami streets and it brings you right to the ships. No security check point, either. We parked in the lot directly across from Terminal G (can anyone tell me why they have half of this parking lot blocked off?).
Dropped luggage with a porter and checked in quickly. We arrived at check in about 10:35 and there were already considerable lines to board the ship (not to check in but to board). Guess people are arriving earlier and earlier. We were on board by 11:00 AM and immediately went to reserve our specialty dining.
SPECIALTY DINING
We reserved a 5-night specialty dining package when I did our on-line documentation. When we are traveling alone (my husband and me) we like to try all the specialty restaurants. We plan to eat in the dining room on formal nights (our last formal nights with Celebrity).
We knew that our first evening was selected by Celebrity and that we’d have to select the rest when we boarded. What we didn’t realize was that we HAD to pick two nights at Tuscan Grille and could only dine once at Murano, Qzine and Lawn Club Grille. We’re actually OK with that as we really like Tuscan but it should have been clear on the Celebrity website prior to purchase. I’ve gone back and double checked Celebrity’s website and it doesn’t state anything about which restaurants you must dine in when purchasing the 5-night dining package.
LUGGAGE DELIVERY
This may have been the quickest we’ve ever received luggage. Ours was delivered prior to heading to our muster drill at 3:00 PM. We were quickly unpacked and ready to cruise.
MURANO
It’s nice to see that the great food and service of Murano continues. This was our first night dining assignment by Celebrity. Our waiter (and his assistants) were great and the food was outstanding as usual. The lobster bisque I had was terrific. My husband had the goat cheese soufflé and he said it was good but could use a little more flavor. The tomato coulis was almost non-existent so there wasn’t much other flavor but he said it was still enjoyable. We share the Chateaubriand. It was cooked perfectly to medium rare and served with a red wine sauce and a béarnaise. It was accompanied by fingerling potatoes (they were really yummy) and a selection of root vegetables. Everything on the plate was delicious. Dessert was a chocolate soufflé and a cocoa cake which was more a mousse than a cake (I was good with that) accompanied by a coffee ice cream with a caramel center. Talk about yummy!!! This was a great way to start our evening dinners on Reflection.
CC PARTY
We didn’t receive our invite to the Cruise Critic party. When I went down to ask at Guest Relations about when and where the party was and that I didn’t receive my invitation card, I pretty much got a blank stare. It’s on the Lawn Club at 10:15 today I was told. Hmmm….that’s a pretty big area. We did several laps around the Lawn Club and Sunset bar and were just about to give up when we noticed a few officers in the Lawn Club Grill restaurant. Lo and behold, it was the Cruise Critic party. Only 13 people showed up (some late because some invitations had a different time than other invitations…at least they got an invitation). But none of the invitations stated the Lawn Club Grill. With so few people there, if we hadn’t noticed the white officer’s shirts, we would have given up. It was extremely nice that 9 or 10 officers showed up at the party. I felt bad that so few Cruise Critic members showed up. We had over 40 who had pre-registered so I’m guessing some didn’t get invitations and/or some could find it. These parties are a really nice way to meet others on your roll call. I wish more had been there.
LAWN CLUB GRILL
One of our favorite specialty restaurants at sea, we had a delightful evening at the Lawn Club Grill. Our server, Andrea, was terrific. Our food, shared flatbread followed by a filet for me and a ribeye and a piece of snapper for my husband were excellent. My husband said the snapper was even better than his steak. Overall it was a lovely evening in an outdoor atmosphere.
TUSCAN GRILL
Our evening in Tuscan Grill was equally enjoyable. I love the creamy onion soup. Service was quick and efficient and we had a wonderful table window side. Others on our sailing didn’t like Tuscan as much as we did, saying service was slow. But we had great service in all the restaurants.
QZINE
This was my least favorite of our specialty dining experiences. While it was an enjoyable time with friends we met onboard, the evening got off on the wrong foot when I went to order a bottle of wine on the menu and the wine sommelier told me that the pricing listed on the iPad menu was no longer valid and the bottle of wine I wanted to order was now $6 more. “But it says right here that the price is $56,” I said. “But the pricing has increased,” said the sommelier. Trying not to make a scene, I told him we wouldn’t be ordering wine and that water would do.
Beyond that, the food was fine but it certainly wasn’t worthy of a $45 price tag. The best thing was a nice evening with new friends.
MAST GRILL
Ate lunch at the Mast Grill on day 2 and the burger and fries were very good. In fact, they were better than normal. Cooked well but not burnt like they often could be. Day 5, went to Mast grill again for lunch at noon. One person was working the entire grille by themselves. I don’t need to tell you how long the line was. It took about 25 minutes to get one hot dog and one burger. I always feel bad for the lone person working the grill. They were doing their best to keep up but one person can’t handle this venue alone at noon.
OCEANVIEW GRILL
There were highs and lows in here. Seems to always be this way. But I’d say there were more highs than lows this cruise. The crew at the pasta station were much more careful to drain the pasta sufficiently so it didn’t turn to soup in your bowl. The stir fry station food was excellent; the waffles were still very good and the juices (when the machines were working) tasted great. They still need some type of line organization as it’s a free for all when it’s busy and people seem to just stumble over each other, especially in the areas where you are ordering food from scratch. This is still the best buffet area on any ships we sail.
PIZZA
Yes, the pizza is served in the Oceanview Grill but it needs a separate paragraph to bring attention to it. There have been continuous things on our past several cruises that have told me the direction Celebrity is headed, but I think this one thing sealed the deal for us on this cruise. Might not seem important to some; may even seem trivial to others. But it’s a clear message to us. They are now putting American cheese slices on pizza instead of mozzarella. When I asked about it I was told it was started about two weeks ago. I was told if I wanted a pizza made with mozzarella, that they’d make me one that way. REALLY? We’ve now sunk to an all-time low of cost cutting by replacing mozzarella with American cheese slices on pizza!!! “We still sprinkle some mozzarella on the bottom,” I was told. If you stand and watch, it was primarily American. I’ve eaten pizza in a lot of places around the world. I’ve never seen anyone use American cheese slices. Didn’t think it started out that way earlier in the cruise. Did they think no one would notice? Don’t tell me that “maybe they were running low on the mozzarella.” Not buying that!
LACK OF GLASSWARE & PRODUCTS
We noticed quickly there was a lack of glassware throughout the cruise. Actually, it goes beyond glassware. We heard that they were out of Bud Light, jalapenos, various other food items. Not sure how this happens, but it seems to be a continuing bad trend.
The first night in Ensemble Lounge we were begin served Jameson’s and Drambuie in wine glasses. When I asked for an appropriate glass, we were told they didn’t have any. I must have had a funny look on my face because the bar server said “I’ll try and find you one” (and she did). The next night I was served baileys in a wine glass. It was busy and I just drank it. One morning the lady next to me ordered a mimosa served in a wine glass and the bar server apologized saying they were out of champagne glasses. So one has to wonder….are they not replenishing glassware when it breaks (I didn’t see any glassware broken on this cruise); do they not have sufficient people to run the glasses through dishwashers? Are they not putting sufficient glassware on ships anymore? Another cost savings issue? The questions just keep coming.
SHIP SHAPE
Reflections is fantastic shape. She is extremely clean. Every railing is perfectly varnished (I can’t say that for all Celebrity ships). Crew was cleaning, sweeping, washing, etc. constantly. The only place that was below par was the Oceanview outside back deck. At times that area fell into the disgusting category. There were definitely fewer staff assigned to clean tables and the floor in this area. Tables would sit dirty for 30 minutes at a time. Passengers would simply more dirty dishes to another table that had dirty dishes so they had a place to sit and eat. Modern luxury??? Other than this, Reflection is in great shape.
OUTSTANDING CAPTAIN
Captain Peppas and his officers were frequently seen around the ship, attending a variety of activities and being cordial to passengers. However, Capt. Peppas went one step further than I’ve ever seen. Two nights in a row, he came by our table in different specialty restaurants to wish us an enjoyable meal. I’ve never seen a captain do this before. It was an extremely nice gesture on his part and appreciated by the passengers.
MUSIC
I’ve been complaining about loud music (often rap) for the past two years. This cruise wasn’t as bad as there was a far greater variety of music played overall. But we didn’t really need to have the DJ set up at the gangway exit once again playing lout rap when we departed the ship in our first Caribbean port in San Juan. Do people really want to hear loud rap when they get off the ship in the Caribbean?
CRUISE STAFF (Cruise Director and his staff) and CREW IN GENERAL
Yep…they really are down to just the cruise director and one cruise staff member. I thought before long someone would realize that two people couldn’t possibly do the work of five or six in the past. But that’s not the case. Given the circumstances, they were great. But definitely stretched thin. Megan did a stellar job with trivia. Hope she’s recovered! I don’t think she could have possibly done more yet she always maintained her fun and positive attitude. Thanks for the fun, Megan!
CAPTAIN’S CLUB
I’ve felt this for the past year but Captain Club members (unless you are Zenith) are no longer truly important. Yes, there are still some nice perks as Elite Plus (240 internet minutes and the evening happy hour from 5 – 7) but each time we sail, it’s apparent that there is less and less offered to long time loyal members (except Zenith) and more done for those in suites, even if it’s their first Celebrity cruise. Invitations that used to be offered such as Sailaway on the helipad or dinner with an officer are things of the past for Captain Club members.
When I stopped by the Capt. Club hostess desk to ask a question, when she looked up and asked what I wanted, she sounded like I was imposing on her. So unlike our past experiences with Capt. Club hosts and hostesses. Of the six nights we went to the Capt. Club happy hour in Sky, I only ever saw her once where she talked to two or three people and left. Made me really miss Graham!
SERVICE
Cabin Attendant
Edmond was by far one of the most efficient and considerate cabin attendants we’ve ever had.
He was pleasant, always saying hello even from down the hall. He’d see us coming and run to open the door for us. There wasn’t anything we needed during the week because Edmond was so efficient!
Dining Room Staff
Since we had the specialty dining package, our nights in the dining room were limited but our waiters were terrific. We were sorry we didn’t have a chance to dine with them more evenings. Salem, our waiter, and Radomir, our assistant, were pleasant, helpful, honest and efficient. We actually skipped our last specialty dining reservation so we could dine in the dining room with them and our tablemates the last evening.
Bar Servers
While it might have been tough to get glassware, the bar servers were great. Love getting to know them and enjoy evenings chatting. As all of the crew, these folks work VERY hard to make our cruise enjoyable. They certainly did that for us on this cruise. De’ Ana was among the best we’ve had.
SHORE EXCURSIONS
We don’t do many ship excursions any longer but every once in awhile when it’s convenience we do. They now make you come to the theater, walk all the way to the stage, up the stairs where they give you the excursion round sticker and you wait in the theater to be called (actual tickets are delivered to your cabin). I have no problem with the theater as a waiting spot but why make people (many older folks struggled) walk all the down to the stage? Couldn’t they have staff saying “only one person needs to go to the stage to get the stickers?” Since we often travel with two people who have walking issues, it would have been very nice to be told that not everyone had to go to the stage.
ENTERTAINMENT
While Celebrity’s “orchestra” is now just a small “band” of five or six people, I was still glad to see there was still a good variety of other live entertainment on board. A guitar player; a female duo; a jazz group and the pool band were all pretty good. I still don’t understand why Celebrity needs two DJs although it was nice that they mixed up the music content this cruise.
I only went to one show in the theater and the production cast wasn’t quite as good as the one on Equinox earlier in the year. Gareth Oliver was on board but we’ve seen him twice in the last year. He’s hilarious if you haven’t seen him yet.
SMOKING
I know this is a controversial subject and I do try to approach it objectively. I know people still smoke…we often sail with passengers who do. I think most try to remain respectful of the rules but like so many things, it only takes a few who ignore the rules to make it miserable for everyone.
The Sunset Bar is our favorite spot on the S-Class ships. But Celebrity’s smoking policy (or lack of enforcement of it) was making the entire back area of the ship unusable.
In defense of smokers (don’t start flaming me), there are NO signs anywhere on the ship that indicate where you can and can’t smoke. It’s posted in the rules (how many people read those?) but unless you really know the rules, it’s easy to see what smokers do what they do.
When we first boarded, ash trays were placed on the far rear tables of the port side of the ship. As the week went on, smokers moved closer and closer to the bar itself (at times, there were ash trays on the port side of the bar). Add cigar smokers to the mix with smokers moving closer to the bar with each passing day, you couldn’t sit anywhere at the back of the ship. In fact, you couldn’t even sit on the starboard side of the ship where the lawn is located and get away from the smoke.
I’d really like Celebrity to clearly post smoking/no smoking signs and have their staff enforce them. To all the smokers that abide by the rules, thanks!
OVERALL PRICES
Celebrity is thinking far too much of themselves these days. Escalating prices in specialty restaurants, drinks and nearly everything else on the ship (including cruise fares) is at the point of being a bit overpriced for what we are getting. $15+ for a martini unless you have the premium package. $45 for Qsine! More than $4 for a soft drink. While I realize many people have a drink package, not everyone does. With nearly everyone receiving free drinks, free gratuities and onboard credits these days, it’s apparent that Celebrity is trying to make up what they are giving away on cruisers who weren’t fortunate enough to book the promotion.
CRAZY STUFF
Another one I’m not making up….one evening in Cellar Masters they had cage and pole dancing! I hadn’t realized that Celebrity was turning into Las Vegas. I didn’t make it down to Cellar Masters that night but with all the other crazy things Celebrity is doing (Wonderland for example) nothing surprises me.
DISEMBARKATION
We had early disembarkation at 7:30 just after those who were walk-offs. No problem getting off the ship. However, when we arrived in the luggage terminal we were surprised to see bag tags 7 and 11 off-loading on the carousel where we were assigned. We had luggage tag #4 scheduled for 7:30. Bags 7 and 11 were scheduled for nearly 30 minutes later. We had grabbed a porter and he went out to the dock areas to see what was going on. He said Celebrity off-loaded carts 7 and 11 first and 4 were behind them. Essentially you have luggage for people disembarking later and no luggage for those disembarking first. The porter had to go back out to the dock area when a handful of #4 luggage was delivered but not ours. More #4 carts found behind carts with later tags. It was at the point that the carousels were full with #7 and 11 bags and there was no place to add more bags because the 7 and 11 folks were still on the ship.
After about 20 minutes, we did get our bags but it was apparent that those off-loading the ship weren’t paying any attention to the luggage tag numbers.
CRUISE SURVEYS
Paper surveys are a thing of the past. I’m fine with that. Saves a lot of paper. We were told we would receive an email to an electronic survey by 10:00 AM on disembarkation morning if our email was on file with Celebrity. We’d have seven days to complete it.
Guess what….no survey for me. They definitely have my email. I got all kinds of pre-cruise emails – book your shore excursions, book your specialty restaurants, etc. When my survey didn’t arrive by the end of the day on Sunday, I emailed Celebrity to ask them to resend it and received an auto-response saying it would take up to 7 days to respond to my email. SEVEN DAYS?!? Amazingly, I heard from them today….7 days and about an two hours after the survey time expired. I don’t think that was intentional but really, how can it take them seven days to respond? Have they cut customer service that much, too? I’m feeling my comments wouldn’t really matter to Celebrity anyway at this point.
SAD REALIZATION
We’ve come to the realization that Celebrity simply wants a different demographic than we fit at this point in time. It’s sad because we do love the crew and the ships. But it’s time to take our money elsewhere. It’s a lot of little things that add to feeling like Celebrity no longer cares about loyal passengers. Perhaps they don’t realize that it’s much less expensive to keep a good customer than to recruit new ones. We’ll miss the crew members we’ve gotten to know over the years but I’m sure we’ll meet more on other lines we’re going to try over the next few years. We’ll miss the Celebrity loyal folks we’ve gotten to know through Cruise Critic as well. Hope to see you out there on another ship someday! We have one more Celebrity upcoming cruise that was booked a year ago with family and friends. But after that, it’s onto other lines. Bon Voyage!