Source : http://www.plumdeluxe.com
Category : Weddings Hotels In California
By : Hotels In San Diego
Posted By : San Diego Rancho Bernardo CA Hotels
Recently, I had the pleasure of taking a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise in January on Celebrity Cruise’s newest ship, the Reflection. Here are some of my thoughts, impressions and tips from the experience.
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The Ship and the Vibe
The Reflection is the newest in Celebrity’s line of Solstice-class ships, and she’s beautiful. The decor and ambiance is right in line with Celebrity’s tagline of modern luxury–clean lines, elegant but not flowery, fun and playful without crossing the line to garish.
One of the features that distinguishes the Solstice-class ships is the artwork on board, including this fun sculpture in the main elevator lobby, where a live tree has a “reflection” underneath it.
You can even pick up an iPad at the guest services desk that has an art tour of the ship loaded, and take yourself on a self-guided art tour for a couple hours.
My fellow passengers were a good mix of ages. Since I was traveling in mid-January, there weren’t many kids on board, so the mix appeared to be mainly couples and groups of travelers ranging in age from their 20s and 30s up to their 80s or more. While senior travelers were certainly well represented as they are on most cruises, I was struck by how many younger people were on board. Celebrity appears to be doing a good job of appealing to the boomer and younger generations.
The service on board was almost uniformly excellent, a great combination of friendly and helpful. My cabin steward seemed to have a knack for sensing when I was out of the cabin and making sure things were tidied up by the time I got back (and twice a day cabin service is definitely something you can get used to!).
Cabins
Standard cabins on the Reflection are compact but comfortable, with lots of thoughtful touches, like large beach towels to take with you on shore excursions, hooks in the shower to hang your wet bathing suit up, and a TV with great music channel options including 70s and Soul.
I strongly recommend booking at least a balcony cabin or higher category. It’s worth the (usually small) additional cost over an inside or ocean view cabin to have your own outdoor space, especially on sunny sea days when the pool deck can get a little crowded. One of my favorite things was sitting on my balcony watching the water, and it was a great place to have breakfast when I ordered room service.
If you really want to splash out, there’s the Reflection Suite, a 1600 square foot two-bedroom suite with the famous over water shower and a private deck with your own hot tub.
Food/Drink
I am a traditionalist when it comes to dining on a ship; I prefer the late seating in the main dining room over “flexible” dining, because I like having the same group of people and the same wait staff over the course of the week, but Celebrity provides a variety of options to suit any style. I’m also not a fan of the buffet as I like sit down and be served when I’m on vacation, but the few times I went into the buffet for mid-afternoon snack, I was struck by the variety of offerings.
The Reflection has a number of alternative restaurants in addition to the main dining room and the buffet. I didn’t get a chance to try the Lawn Club Grill, where you can grill your own flatbread and steak, or Murano, the romantic continental cuisine restaurant, but I did try:
Qsine ($40 surcharge). It’s hard to describe Qsine–it’s quirky and fun (you order off an iPad), with playful dishes such as the soup in test tubes with souffle combination pictured above. Well worth trying.
Tuscan Grill ($35 surcharge). I loved my dinner at the Tuscan Grill: mozzarella and tomatoes, a pasta Bolognese and a terrific steak. Plus the view of the lighted wake of the ship is mesmerizing.
A Few of My Favorite Things
I cruise to relax, so it’ll come as no surprise that I spent a lot of time in the spa on this cruise, especially the Reflection Lounge, where you can relax and enjoy the view of the sea before or after your treatment.
Another favorite quiet place was the adults-only Solarium Pool, where I came to read but found myself just looking at the changing colored lights of the fountain.
The Sunset Bar at the aft of the top deck is another great place to chill.
Overall, a cruise is a great way to disconnect. Internet access is expensive, so it encourages you to stay off-line (although I did find myself connecting again when we were in port in places where my phone had service.
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