For the amount you end up spending, there are better options.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Pier Terminal 25 at Fort Lauderdale is very spacious and organized. Embarkation went smoothly without large wait times. Staff was friendly and helpful. Dropped off large bags with porters. We carried our carry on bags to the stateroom. The stateroom was ready and we placed all our carry on bags in the stateroom. Got lunch at the buffet. Explored the ship, especially the 14th and 15th decks. The views were stunning.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Main dining was good, some of the dishes like fish was not that great. The menu should have a picture of the dish. Not everyone understand what a dish is just by reading it. Pictures helps along with descriptions. Some of the desserts were not good either. The most annoying part is that not even a lemonade or soda drinks like coke, pepsi, sprite, ice tea, hot tea or coffee is provided. The drink packages cost is ridiculously high. Why would someone who may drink couple of coffee or tea or soda (non-alcoholic beverages) need to pay about $39 per person per day. I assume on average folks may get lets say 2 regular coffee or tea, 2 soda drinks, and 2 bottled water. That would only cost about less than $10 per person per day. It's outrageous that Cruise ships take advantage of folks by charging 5 times that. Even the coffee shop is ridiculous, they offer free pastries but coffee and tea or other drinks cost anywhere from $6 to $15 plus.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
There is nothing interesting on Celebrity reflection other than some extremely low fun activities some of the crew does in the main foyer. The crew that does activities need more training. Celebrity reflection is extremely boring regarding activities.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
One show called Broken Strings was somewhat ok. Rest of the programs were extremely boring. Some of the good movies were late at night. They just have one theater on Celebrity reflection.
Children's Programs
1 out of 5
N/A
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Service staff were generally good. But I think there is room for improvement. Everyone did their job but it did not come out as exemplary service.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The stateroom was clean but bathroom tiles had some dirt stains. The carpet in the stateroom just seemed like it was vacuumed but not deep cleaned. One of the pillow cases had marks on them. Towels were clean and neat but very hard. Toiletries were good. The plates in the buffet were not that clean. The tumblers provided for fountain drinks were not kept in a neat and clean manner.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
Size of cabin was okay, the main Bed size is good but it was not comfortable, plenty space for two adults, the bunk bed was good, the sofa bed was not comfortable. There is no plug points to charge phones near the bed. The wood piece that's on top of the balcony railing shows its age. The glass also had stains. They do not provide bottled water in the cabin. The mini fridge has couple of soda, small wine bottles and large mineral water bottles but you will be charged an arm and a leg if you use it.
Ship tip
Look at deals from other cruise ships, especially look at the activities available, entertainment and even port of stops. You will find way better cruise that the one to Key west and Coco Cay.
Information on how best to utilize your time at Key west is not provided. It's totally up to you to figure it out. Not everyone is a savvy traveler and some help in figuring out various options would have been very helpful. Visiting southernmost point was disappointing as there were large lines to stand in front of the monument and get a picture. There is no parking there, everything is a rush due to crowds. We visited Fort Zachary beach but due to Jelly Fish alert could not enjoy the waters. Read reviews that it is a good beginner snorkeling spot but I was not sure about how shallow the waters are and there is no lifeguards. After doing just these two activities we did not have time to see around Key West.
Coco Cay Island is good. There is no guidance on how best to spend time on Coco Cay. There were two cruise ships that arrived at Coco Cay at the same time, one was Royal Caribbean Icon of seas with a capacity of 5600 guests. Celebrity Reflection has a capacity of 3000 guests. So the island got crowded pretty quick. The pool, beach, snack shop and everything soon became shoulder to shoulder. There is nothing much other than the beach and pool at this island. The water park activities extort exorbitant ticket price per person.
Disembarkation was quick, efficient and easy. We took out our luggage including large boxes by ourselves so we did not end up waiting and looking for our luggage in the terminal. Plus avoided having to pack up everything and leave the boxes outside cabin the prior night. Loved that we did not have to yank out passport or other ID for Disembarkation, the face detection is awesome, would love to see that at airports.
PS maybe folks don't realize that there is an App on your phone for all cruise lines and you find alot of info there pre cruise, for next time. You gotta try again!!
I see this was your first cruise. I am very sorry you did not know until too late that the coffee, tea, water, and even ice tea n lemonade at the buffet AND main dining room are free if not in a bottle.
We loved Reflection in April 2024. I only wish you had a friend to show you the ropes around a cruise. We dont buy drink packages, but do buy 2 or 3 sodas or specialty coffees like latte, a day. The rest is free from the buffet. A note to the wise, this lase April there was an option on our Celebrity App to buy bottled water or Perrier pre cruise and a "case" of 12 or whatever you paid for would be in your cabin on embarkation. We did that. We were a 9 day that was too short for us!! Lol.
You sound like a Carnival or NCL cruiser if you want a menu with photos, LOL. I agree the entertainment won’t rock anybody’s world on Celebrity, but it’s a classy cruise line for the over 50 crowd who just want to kick back with good friends and some beverages.
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