Greetings Cruise Criticals, I recently returned from my first TransAtlantic cruise on board X Reflection 10/21-11/5. Overall, there were aspects of this voyage that I enjoyed tremendously, and others that left something to be desired, particularly with comparison to previous Celebrity sailings in the past. Thank you for the opportunity to post on this board and share my thoughts with you.
I guess a basic background: This is my ~5th reflection sailing, 6th S-class sailing, and first transatlantic. I am between the ages of 24-35 with a professional degree/background, male gender, non-smoker, from Eastern United States if that helps paint a basic picture. I will try to cover as many aspects from the trip as I can remember, and I will do so with as much brute honesty as possible, since I consider valuable feedback to be honest feedback (how can feedback be useful if it's blunted or untrue, right!?)
Flight and Embarkation: We had a flight through MIA to FCO on AlItalia. The flight left and arrived on time, and seemed to be more composed of Americans than any other nationality, which surprised me. I think I figured there's a wealth of ways for Americans to get to Italy, so the plane would be comprised more of Italian nationals used to using their own airline. I found the on-board staff to be either indifferent or rude in their dealings with passengers, and the steward who tried to force me to lower my window shade was particularly a jerk. I reminded him that I paid for the window seat because I would like to look out, particularly during the sunrise, and he has no authority to force me to lower the window shade, as no such rules exist. He picked a fight with me, and of course I ultimately won, although I do appreciate the kind lady who reminded him that sleeping passengers can't possibly be bothered with sunlight if they are truly asleep. Maybe the Italian PM appointed him window-shade-****, who knows. America 1, Alitalia 0. For those of you who already don't like me, that's okay; if you believe in karma, I got stuck behind a man the size of Refrigerator Perry on the plane. While that may seem to be a mundane detail, some of you may understand that the plane seats are tiny, the legroom is minimal, and of course he had to lower his seat as soon as we reached cruising altitude so that the screen on the back of his chair was in my nostril. The left one if you must know :) But his size was so enormous that his sheer mass forced the back of the seat even further back than it normally permits, overcoming whatever mechanism in the seat limits the backward movement. What a long flight. At least I had my window view to take my mind off of it. After we landed in Rome, things became utterly chaotic, as the members of my party who needed wheelchairs were separated from the rest of us and without our knowledge, were whisked through a back exit to the baggage claim building. We were waiting for them to join us off of the plane and they never came, and we had no way of reaching them to find out where they went because obviously, we have no cell coverage in Italy. That was a mess, as the airport staff insisted there was no way to call to ask for help in locating our missing family, who we thought were still on board the plane but as stated, were whisked through a back exit and privately driven to baggage claim. My mom had everyone's passports and paperwork, so you can imagine the panic it caused. Ultimately, I was able to deal with some airport staff in broken Spanish and we found each other. By this point, the bus was surely aching to depart for the soon-to-be-leaving cruise ship, so thank god we booked the transfer through X and they knew they did not have everyone on the bus yet. Luckily, we were mercifully whisked through Italian customs by some airport personnel who were sensitive to the fact that the boat was about to leave. The line for customs looked several hours long but we were through in a matter of minutes. At baggage claim, our bags had already been taken off the carousel as several newly-landed planes full of poeple were waiting their luggage. This made our baggage easy to find and fortunately, all bags were present. We hurriedly made our way to the kind lady waving the X sign and were on our way to the bus, which was quite a hike from the baggage claim. The airport was extremely busy and hectic and running to the X bus through the hoards of people reminded me of the scene at O'Hare in Home Alone, so for those of you less nimble, you may want to consider this when booking a flight for the day of departure.
The bus ride to the port was uneventful and I was taken aback by the beauty of Italy. I truly wish I had a chance to see Italy, but I guess next time. The remainder of my party had already been before and werent interested in seeing Rome again (at least at what it would cost to do so and the missed workdays it would take to do it). There was minimal traffic once we were away from the airport area. The embarkation terminal was quite easy. I believe we were the last bus and one of the last people on board, so there were no lines and the X staff were anxious to greet us and help us with our SeaPasses/photos and get us on board. Once on board, nearly everything was closed or unavailable because they were preparing to begin the muster drill.
The muster drill was uneventful of course, except I found one oddity; I was assigned to a station in the reflection theater, and once I checked in with the kind cruise lady holding the clipboard, she told me I would have to go downstairs to the lower level of the theater because they had no more seats left. Now, I would think that in the wake of Titanic, they would be careful to measure how many passengers are assigned to each muster station and each muster station would have an appropriate number of seats to ensure an orderly evacuation if necessary to do so. I didn't think muster stations (and in emergency, lifeboats) are something you can really "overbook." Whatever, but it definitely struck me as odd that I had to be sent to a different muster station.
Sailaway commenced on time and we had a lovely time in the familiar opus restaurant with the delicious thai beef spring rolls, prime rib, and the like.
I don't intend on writing this as a day-by-day account, but a more generalized and structured review, with a stream-of-conscience order to it, so bare with me (Not a pro at this!)
Ports of Call:
Civitavecchia: See above
Villefrance-sur-Mer: Very picturesque port. We were anchored in a bay approx 15 min from Nice in one direction and 15 min from Monaco at the other. Taxis at the port only seemed interested in multi-hour tours, so we opted to take the SNCF train. We went to Nice, which was a gorgeous French Riviera city. Very nice shopping, easy to navigate, and the Promenade was very relaxing. We spent about an hour walking along it and saw the lobby of the 5-star Le Negresco Hotel. It was truly a lobby to marvel at, including a room that is made to evoke the Palace of Versailles. I stopped for a minute to pay respects at the makeshift memorial to the Nice Bastille Day victims. It is just truly so heartbreaking that one ***** felt the urge to ruin such a spectacular evening for so many innocent people, and just as sad that it's something we have had to experiences in so many cities worldwide these days. Nice seemed to have a lot of nice (no pun intended) shopping and if we had only stayed in Nice, probably would have been a slower-paced and relaxing day. Some of the family was tired out by the physical travel and wanted to return to the ship, so they did so while my father and I took advantage of the close proximity of Monaco. Monaco was one of the most spectacular places I've ever seen; the density, the wealth and affluence, the cars (if you're into cars, what a treat), the steep hillsides...just so much packed into a small space. We had about 2 hours to explore so we hit the ground running, descending the mountain that the train dropped us off and climbing up the mountain to the casino. Spectacular views of the harbor, and it's just amazing how every building (of which there are tons in Monaco) are in an amazing state of condition. Cleanliness was A++. The Casino was busy with many tourists and you could go in and take pictures, except there was a 10 euro cost to enter the game room and no photography allowed, so we skipped that. I got a picture with one of the Saudi Prince's cars, as he was inside gambling (there was a sticker on the car indicating whose car this was, if you're wondering how I knew). With about an hour left, we descended this mountain, walked along the harbor, and quickly climbed the much steeper mountain to the prince's palace. There's a beautiful rustic town by the palace with narrow cobblestoned streets, embassies, shops, etc. It would have been great to explore, but we had a matter of minutes if we wanted to make the ship, so we pretty much climbed the mountain, took pictures of the palace, and descended the mountain to head back for the train. We climbed back up the half-mountain to the train station, caught our motorized chariot and made our way back to Villefranche (15 mins) and to the ship, where the tender rides were executed in a very orderly fashion.
Marseille: We came to Marseille on a cold and dreary day. The city is a sprawling metropolis, and maybe the weather contributed, but it looked like a very "dumpy" and bleak place to be. I was already familiar with its reputation as a hotbed for Islamism in France and issues they have been facing with immigration, particularly in that city. So there is the potential that this biased my view of the city, but I found the city had a lot of old block-looking high rises (like something you'd see in a soviet country) with graffiti everywhere. The graffiti, oh my. I've never seen so much in my entire life; literally every surface with it. There have to be some very nice and ritzy parts of the city, because a city of 800,000 has to have SOME nice areas I presume, but I just didn't see them. We had to kind of decide if we wanted to explore the Old Port area and the Notre Dame Basilica that dominates the skyline, or venture out to the French countryside/surrounding area. After taking a look at what the city looked like, we opted for the latter. A taxi took us to the main train station in the heart of town, Gare St.-Charles, and we boarded a bus for Aix-en-Provence. Taxis to Gare St charles run about 20 euros and the bus for 3 of us was under $30 USD roundtrip. The ride to Aix is about 20 minutes long and the bus felt very safe. Aix en Provence was beautiful, rustic, and quaint. It felt like a world away from the busy and slummier Marseille. The problem with our day in Aix was that it was Sunday and nearly everything was closed. No market, even the Longchamp and Tommy Hilfiger stores were closed. There were a few brasseries and cafes open but that was about it. The people there were very kind and patient with our pathetic French (English wasn't going particularly well so we had to do our best). The dogs were also quite beautiful and well behaved. As previously stated, the conditions were dreary on this day. Gray, wet, and cold. So we only walked around Aix as long as my parents could stand the cold and then we returned to the Marseille train station and caught a taxi back to the ship for another ~20 euro. Interestingly, our taxi driver who took us to the station in the morning took credit cards but we couldn't find a single driver who would take credit on the way back, so definitely have some euros on hand if you plan to hire a taxi in Marseille. In talking to some of hte passengers, many agreed that Marseille felt quite dilapidated and unsafe, although some who went to the old city truly enjoyed it. In hindsight, maybe that would have been the better choice simply because nothing in Aix was open, although it was surely a prettier city.
Barcelona: Barcelona blew away all expectation, what a fun place! It is quite clean and beautiful and has something for everyone. The boat docks in a terminal that is not in walking distance to the main tourism area (Marseille as well). The port provides a tram for 5 euros that covers your shuttle rides from the port to the main tourism area (La Rambla) for the day. Since we were in Barcelona overnight, you had to buy a different pass for the first day than the second (couldn't just re-use it). I didn't think the drop off point for the buses was all that useful, it still required a good 5 minute walk to the end of the wide boulevard that is La Rambla, which means the nearest subway is also 5 minutes walk at a minimum. I presume they dropped us off there because it was easiest for the drivers to navigate and gave them a place to park. We walked around La Rambla and the gothic quarter, enjoying all of the bodegas, street performers, and eccentric shops. We walked over to the Universitat area and descended into the subway, bought a 2 day unlimited pass, and made our way to the Sagrada, which is about a 10 minute subway ride. It is a cool sight to see, although we did not go inside due to the long lines and health considerations for someone in my party. After dropping off the family member back on the boat and grabbing a quick lunch in Oceanview cafe, my father and I hopped back on the shuttle and then the subway and went deep into the city to visit the FC Barcelona soccer stadium. This was a neat experience, as this is equivalent to a visit to Yankee Stadium for those of you unfamiliar with European sport. We got to tour the visitor locker room, press box, walk on the field, and look at all of the trophies and Messi's awards. This costs about 23 euros and is self-guided. Being arguably the world's most successful team of the past 15 years in the world's biggest sport, there are tourists from all over the world visiting the stadium and they accomodate nearly every language with audioguides. It was very pleasant to see how kind everyone was to each other, taking pictures for one another with each other's phones and cameras even though language barriers existed between nearly every individual present. It was a nice testament to the bond sports can produce and the many cultures that the game of soccer transcends. I also liked how the stadium, like Fenway Park or Wrigley field (it's as old), is located in a residential part of the city. I felt like a true Barcelonian walking the narrow streets past the apartments, laundromats, groceries, etc. There were no tourists in sight, save for the stadium itself. It is truly a beautiful place and actually felt a lot to me like Brooklyn does! I never felt out of place or like I was halfway around the world. People going to and from work/school, running errands in the neighborhood, texting/talking on the phones, walking the dog. Everyone was kind. I speak zero Catalan (what a weird language that is--for those of you out there who know some degree of traditional Castilian Spanish, it is so different!) but the locals all completely understood my semi-decent American-accented Castilian Spanish. Special thanks to the very generous restaurant owner who let me use the bathroom when I was having one-heck-of-an-emergency and couldn't even make it back to the train station. He has no idea how badly I needed that, although the look of horror on my face and repetition of "puedo pagarte! puedo pagarte" (translation: I can pay you!) maybe did indicate how badly I did. I am indebted to him forever. After that pit stop, made it back to the boat and spent the night on board before heading back out the next day. The next day, we went to the Parc Guell via subway; the park is split in two. The "upper" (higher) part is free and available to walk at any time, but the lower/inside part of the park requires admission. When we arrived to the park (~10am), the earliest time you could buy a ticket for was at 430 PM, everything earlier was already sold out. The ship departed at 3PM so that was not an option. If you want to see the lower part and all of the Gaudi monuments, you will have to buy in advance, you've been warned. I took a few photos of the sprawling city below the park and headed out. Please note the park is about a 15-20 minute subway ride (it's closer to the end of the line) and then about a 20 minute walk through the city from the station (Lesseps). Everything I said about the Camp Nou (FC Barcelona stadium) applies here; we walked roughly a mile+ through the true city amongst the locals which was very rewarding and far different from the Rambla area that the shuttle drops you in. After the Park Guell and adventure through the city back to the subway, we went to the Passeig de Gracia, which is like Champs-Elysees or 5th Avenue of Barcelona. All of the high fashion is there (Chanel/Cartier/Zegna, etc), and everything is a premium product or newly released (translation: no bargains or sales to be had here). We just looked in the windows and most of the stores seemed relatively empty, perhaps due to the premium/expensive nature of them. We took a look at the exterior of the Gaudi buildings on the block and headed back to the ship. All in all I loved Barcelona and wish I'd had time for the Montjuic stuff and some of the museums. I strongly advise buying a subway ticket and going to town with it, pun intended. There are so many must-see sights as well as cool neighborhoods away from the tourist areas to explore.
Strait of Gibraltar: On the way to Tenerife, we passed through the strait, and I was excited to be able to see both Europe and Africa at the same time. Unfortunately, we passed through around 730 PM and it was already dusk. Combined with quite foggy conditions, you could barely see anything. Some distant lights was all you could see of Gibraltar, and there wasn't a prayer of seeing the Rock. Morocco was similiarly some lights in the distance, but that was it. In fact, it was already black/dark out by the time we went by a visible part of Morocco. I wish the captain had been able to get us there a bit earlier, because maybe the sunlight could have made things more visible.
Tenerife: This felt the most like a Caribbean port, in that it is a "town" at the base of a volcanic island that is a colony of a much larger parent country. There are a lot of stores in Tenerife to walk around; cafes, candy shops, clothing stores. Be advised it is mostly uphill but the incline is minimal and NOTHING like the inclines in Monaco. We wandered up the main road and came to the main government building (Capitol? Not sure) for all of the Canary Islands. I asked the armed guard in spanish if it was available for touring, and it is definitely not open to the public, but I tried. From there we went to the Market (Market of Our Lady of Africa), which was a bustling but traditional food market with many butchers, gelaterias, and cheese-sellers (surely there's a better word for that). After perusing the sights and smells of the market, we returned to the ship. Other members of the family did an island tour and saw the Teide National Park and the black-lava sand beaches and truly enjoyed what they saw.
Entertainment: The house band on the ship was Sound Stars. My family very much enjoyed their talent and I thought they were definitely in the upper echelon of house bands we've had. Much better than LAX, who we had last time. The lead singer, Amy, was an absolute sweetheart and has a lot of fun doing her thing up there. My only complaint about the band, which extends to nearly all of the acts on the ship, was everything was so OLD! The Tennessee Waltz, really?!?!?! The music was so dated that I talked to the CD as well as Amy about it, both of whom expressed that they love to play contemporary music and certainly know how to, but had to cater to the elderly masses on board. This was extremely frustrating for a younger cruiser like me. It seemed like every song played on board was at least 30 years old, and while I enjoy and appreciate the genius of the Beatles and the Stones, that's definitely not the only genre I want to listen to. I definitely feel that Amy and Tom from the band could have performed one heck of a duet of "Closer" by the Chainsmokers that's currently #1 right now. Before I'm vilified as another milennial listening to "trash," I truly do listen to everything, from Rasta music to Elton John to Bieber to Metallica. It would have been nice to have a true blend of music, instead of everything falling into elderly-people music, or that Beatles/Stones/CCR type of category. Some OneRepublic/Matchbox 20/Tom Petty/Bob Marley and modern top 40 music thrown into the mix would have been much better. Nonetheless, the band was indeed talented and they are a good band, it was the song selection that was nauseating at times, and I'm convinced that wasn't entirely their decision. Maarten was the CD and a very stand-up guy in person, going out of his way to greet me and remembered my name. I liked him as a person, but could do without the very contrived and corny showmanship stuff he did when he had a microphone in hand and stage underneath him. If he just stuck to just being himself and a normal adult, he would have been better off, because he's actually a decent guy. I did not attend the production shows, so I cannot comment on them. I did attend the magic show by Jason Bishop and he was outstanding. Truly a comic as well, and same goes for the juggling show by Thomas John. Thomas has a somewhat slow and dry delivery that takes getting used to, but once he warmed up to the crowd and the crowd warmed to him, it was a great show and he received an ovation. The rest of the shows seemed to lack much variety...violinists, pianists, tap dancing, etc. See my gripe about the complete and utter lack of anything modern being performed on board for the reason I did not attend. There was a show performed by a group called the Tenors of Rock, which the crowd seemed to love but I disliked. To me, they were a washed-up 90s boy band butchering some of the greatest rock songs of all time. Clearly, to each their own, since the crowd loved it and they will be performing a residency at Harrah's Las Vegas. I felt they slowed down and obliterated some of the great hard-rock elements of bands like AC/DC and Guns n Roses and turned them into a schoolgirl broadway version of the real thing, which disappointed me tremendously. I'm sure Axl Rose wouldn't have disagreed.
The game shows were hosted by Jaz, who was a good-natured Indian guy, but just is really not cut out for the job. He did not grow up with these shows and doesn't really understand how they work. He mispronounced half of the words/answers and just seemed clueless most of the time. Not an indictment on him as a person, just an honest critique. We had Kathy from USA a year ago and she was phenomenal. One place I have a soft spot for Jaz is for dealing with the crowds some of these games attract. We went to trivia, and the crowd was HYPER competitive to say the least. They were like, out for blood. Over trivia! It was both appalling and laughable how serious and feisty these people are over a GAME that has no bearing over anything, to win something they certainly do not need. A free t shirt or a deck of cards, really?! You're grown adults, stop bickering over whether a nickname counts as a correct answer, or if it's not correct because a letter wasn't capitalized. It was so off-putting that we did not go back to trivia for the rest of the cruise. I don't know who these people are trying to impress or whatnot, but I suspect they do some serious introspection. It's just meant to be fun and friendly, not the civil war.
A real nice touch by the cruise: we sailed during the world series, which obviously was a huge moment in history for the numerous Cubs fans on board. Kudos to Maarten for calling X in Miami and arranging for Game 7 to be broadcast (with sound) in the Celebrity Central, which was well-attended by rabid cubs fans (and a few for the Indians). They also took over a conference room for a more bare-bones Game 6 watch party which was generous. I am sure those of the people on board from Chicago (who weren't shy about it lol) appreciated the opportunity to see something they waited their whole lives for.
The casino was dead for the first week-plus of the cruise, but picked up in activity the last few days at sea, particularly the craps table.
It seemed like the shops were absolutely struggling to make any sales, especially in the jewelry stores. Many of the salespeople looked bored and lonely and with minimal business. I felt bad for them really. Not sure why this sailing was so insanely slow for sales.
Dining
As experienced cruisers with X, we cannot believe how far below their previous standard that the food in the MDR and Oceanview has fallen. The pizza is on par with Cici's pizza buffet, some of the steaks in oceanview were inedible, and while it's hard to articulate into words, the quality just severely dropped. One of those things you just know right away when you've sailed X as many times as we have before. What we cannot figure out is, did they ACTUALLY start cheapening the quality, or was it that we are used to American suppliers on Carib cruises and the food was supplied by a european supplier this time? Or was it that a 2 wk TA cruise cost about the same as 1 week in the caribbean, so the $ spent per customer on food had to be halved? We are not sure and would love to find out why, although we are hoping this isn't the new celebrity standard. Yikes. The french fries used to be one of my favorite foods on earth, and I'm sure some of you out there know exactly what I'm talking about. Well they've gone from golden deliciousness (some of the best I've ever had) to a yellow mound of cheap frozen "stuff." In fact, 99% of the fries I was served on board weren't even salted!! I have never seen such a thing in my life!!! Who serves unsalted french fries? At a minimum, X definitely used to serve them salted like every other restaurant, ever. Mast grill burgers were cooked well done (fact of life: meat cooked well done is never done well!), and one day, my burger looked and tasted like a missing NHL hockey puck. It was truly inedible in every sense of the word. Consistency was also a major issue on our cruise. I ordered a hamburger via room service (and painstakingly spent 5 minutes defining what it means to have NOTHING ON IT) only to be served a cheeseburger at my door. Pizza ordered to the room came back burned or cold after a sizeable wait. I know I may sound like a ingrate or brat, which I don't intend to, but there are certainly standards and expectations when it comes to the dining on board; in fact, this bar was set by celebrity itself on previous trips. Sadly, the reflection on this voyage fell well below those expectations both in quality and consistency. One night at dinner, I had to send 4 NY Sirloin steaks because they came out raw. 4!!! IN A ROW! The waiter was embarrassed, the maitre D was humiliated, and they even brought the MDR chef and his line cook (responsible for cooking it) to come out and stare at the raw meat. They didn't have words, except for "Sorry." Many thanks to our amazing assistant Maitre D who happily served us filet mignon for the next few nights to make up for the colossal fail.
Dining in the Oceanview was an experience to say the least. The crowds were so thick that finding a table was a challenge on most days. I strongly suggest that X widen the hours of operation to allow for less congestion. Simply put, there's way too many people in there trying to dine all at the same time, and the restaurant cannot handle the load. Surely from a quality standpoint (see above), but also from a capacity standpoint. Also, I have never seen so many passengers (many of whom clearly have not missed a meal in many years) act like they've never eaten before. People cutting in line, people reaching over your plate to grab an item with the tongs instead of waiting the extra 15 seconds until they are in front of the tray...it was embarrassing. Have some class. And this is coming from someone half their age (at least!). One woman cut me in line for a baked pasta dish (I believe a variant of Mac n Cheese)...when she served herself with the spoon, it left some strands of cheese from her plate into the big tray of food on the buffet line. She then used her free hand to break the strands of cheese, of course breaking the strands in two....therefore, half of the strands went back into the tray on the buffet line if you didn't follow where I was going with that. I had to tell this women, over 2x my age, that she should not be touching the food that other people have to eat, and this is a vector for contamination and public illness. She then tried to deny it and said she did no such thing. I wasn't afraid to ask her, in front of at least 7 or 8 people, which hallucinogen she thinks I am using, and that this is utterly disgusting and unsanitary. Another passenger came by to tell me they witnessed the scene and thanked me for saying something. I saw another guy try to take a slice of pizza that wasn't fully cut, and use his free hand to rip away the piece that he did not want, leaving it on the tray for someone else to come by and take later. My lord was this revolting.
Specialty Restaurants: Due to significant dietary considerations within our party, we skip the specialty restaurants because the cost doesnt justify the limited options for those with dietary concerns, so I cannot offer any feedback.
Well, this has gotten significantly longer than I ever intended it to. I know at points I sounded bratty, perhaps uneducated, perhaps entitled, but I assure you I am generally none of those things. This is just my honest, unrestrainted and uninhibited thoughts about this cruise. I truly appreciate you taking the time to read it and offer your feedback. One thing I do want to address, is that I suspect someone to say that I should seek out Carnival or something if I seek a younger crowd and better entertainment. A younger crowd is something I was desperately craving (this felt like a HAL ship), HOWEVER, I have sailed CCL multiple times in the past and this feedback is moot and unhelpful because I do not enjoy their poor quality in pretty much every category. There's a reason we sail X and the quality is a big reason why. In fact, given how disappointing the some of the passenger behavior and food was on this sailing, I don't even want to imagine how far through the floor Carnival's has fallen. Just wanted to add that if anyone was going to suggest that. Hope all are well and looking forward to their vacations. Many thanks to all who did make this an enjoyable vacation.