Great cruise

Celebrity Reflection Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

Jab

Contributor Level: Third Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 66

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

Sail date: August 25, 2014

Ship: Celebrity Reflection

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 1605

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 10 years ago

Review summary

Ship is clean. Stateroom was superb as were the attendants.

Quality of food was very good if not totally inspired. Entertainment was OK, not great but not bad either.

We were in Aqua class. Excellent but a problem with the Blu dining room on this ship is that they allow the suites and the additional cabins put on the Reflection to eat in the Blu dining room. This results in waits for your dinner. We had a some unfortunate incidents in which they forgot about us waiting despite giving us a pager and this was really very poor. This is a system problem which the cruise company needs to address. We did not have similar issues with Equinox or Ecclipse, sister ships but which had less Aqua rooms and no Aqua suites and also did not allow the Suites from other classes to eat in the dining room. Unfortunately on Reflection the dining room was not increased in size and this creates the issue on this ship though I have heard they may be adding another dining room as they have clearly realized the issue.

Since our dining experience is such an important part of the cruise for us, these episodes of dropped appointments, especially since it happened again on our last night, left a bitter taste in our mouth for the whole cruise. Other than the dining room gaffuffle, the experience in every other regard was satisfactory.

I would consider this ship and this cruise but I would question whether it is worth the upgrade to pay for the Aqua class, which I had felt in the past it was. I would not probably go on Aqua class on this ship in the future.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Please see my general comment about my very upsetting experience about being given a pager on 2 occasions and being forgotton (which in 7 dinings in the Blu dining room of my 11 dinings) is simply unacceptable.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

In fairness, We tend to relax and enjoy our balcony, some sun time on the deck and do not get too involved so cannot really comment.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Typical of all Celebrity ships. After a number of cruises, the entertainment becomes redundant. Quality was satisfactory.

Children's Programs

N/a

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Except for my experience with the Maitre D/ Assistant Maitre D in the Blu, which was not their fault but due to Celebrity increasing the numbers of diners allowed in the Blu dining room, resulting in waits, and overwhelming of the Maitre D/Assistant Maitre D.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Superb. Great ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

Superb large balcony...allows both sun and shade. I would definitely go on the hump of the ship again.

Ship tip

Avoid Blu and Aqua class unless you are really into spa. The dining room issues (see above) needs to be addressed before I would consider Blu again. Food was good but there is a problem with the service. Overall, a very nice cruise ship however. Very clean, stable and most of the staff is wonderful

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

3 out of 5

We stayed in Rome before so Civitavecchia was really only an arrival point.

Thumbs Up 0

Santorini, Greece

5 out of 5

Nice for a day to try wine and see the country side.

Thumbs Up 1

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

5 out of 5

Must be scene. Ephesus is spectacular.

Thumbs Up 1

Mykonos, Greece

3 out of 5

Probably good if you like beaches. See Mykonos or Santorini....one is enough...either or.

Thumbs Up 1

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

3 out of 5

See Accropolis. The city is big. Was quite clean this time compared to 1 year before the Olympics when Athens was in disarray.

Thumbs Up 1

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5

Forget Sorrento....if never been, go to Positano and take in Pompeii. Capri is absolutely wonderful and worth doing on your own....no need for the ship tour.

Thumbs Up 1

1 Comment

glomarrone 9 years ago

I always wondered what I was missing by not booking the Aqua class. Thanks for posting.

Thumbs Up 0

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