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| Celebrity Reflection Leaving Port of Miami Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved |
BY 2010 I had made trips to Virginia, New Mexico, Vermont, Maine,Texas, Chicago and Canada - either as family outings or photography - dedicated trips. My view of travel put cruising somewhere in a long list of different ways to travel and things to do. I knew I would do a cruise (or two) someday, but a regular "diet" of it wasn't really in my mind.
I was lukewarm, for a number of reasons. But game
ONE TRIP was to California to visit my daughter, who lived in San Francisco at the time. During our week there, we spent an overnight up in Napa, doing a couple private vineyard tours. One of them was at The O'Brien Estate Vineyard, where we ultimately became a "wine club" member. We have also become friends with the vintners, Bart and Barb O'Brien and have traveled with them a couple times on their club trips. Their first wine club trip was in 2013, and was a Caribbean Cruise. You can see where this is going.
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| Celebrity Reflection Copyright Andy Richards 2022 - All Rights Reserved |
WHILE WE had thoroughly enjoyed our Ruby Princess Caribbean Cruise, as I mentioned in my final post on the topic, I had a kind of "one and done" attitude about the Caribbean Cruises. I liked both cruises we had done and had no doubt that we would do it again. Someday. But in the summer of 2012 (when we recieved the invitation to join the O'Brien Wine Club on a cruise) I really didn't have that on my mental horizon. Partly, I underestimated my wife's enthusiasm for cruising. I knew she liked it too, but I didn't really appreciate how much. I was still kneck deep in my working career and being an owner in a small business, found I had all I could do sometimes to keep it it. As members of the club, we got quarterly shipments of wine and along with them, a nice newsletter from the O'Briens. This one announced the inaugural O'Brien Estate Wine Club Trip. On Celebrity Cruises. Not only would this be the first club trip, but also Bart and Barb's first cruise. I had always figured we would continue to cruise exclusively on Princess. Looking at the cruise - scheduled for early February of 2013, my wife thought the deal looked like a pretty good one and she signed us up. I have to admit, I was lukewarm, for a number of reasons. But game.
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| Celebrity Reflection - San Juan, Puerto Rico - O'Brien Cruise Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved |
LITTLE DID I know at the time, but "game" would become "game-changer." I was - at first - prepared to not like Celebrity as much as Princess. I had already come to enjoy the Princess ships and experience a lot. At the same time, I kept an open mind. Both of our previous cruises had involved family. Indeed the majority of our travel to that point had involved either family visits or travel with close friends and/or family. This would be different. We did not know a soul aboard the Celebrity Ship. We had never participated in any wine club event. It was going to be an adventure. There is a rather fun story behind the choice of the cruise line and ship: the Celebrity Reflection. Rather than re-tell it here, I will link to my post about it: Event Cruising: Tales of A Vineyard Voyage.
THIS TIME cruising out of Miami, we were much more organized, pre-cruise. We arrived in Miami a day before the cruise and stayed at a hotel, not far from the cruise terminal. We wanted to have a true Cuban meal, so we found a restaurant in (or near) Miami's "Little Havana," and "scratched that itch." It was good, by the way. But as an interesting aside, just last February, during our Caribbean Cruise on the Celebrity Beyond, we met some new friends from Canada. They had made a land-based, weeklong trip to Cuba. They said they will never go back. Their biggest gripe: the food was essentially inedible. Much of that may have been related to the food supply, and they were not at a resort or eating in the high-end Havana hotels. Interesting. The next morning we took the hotel shuttle to the cruise terminal and boarded our ship.
"Game" would become "Game Changer"
THE BOARDING process was probably as quick and efficient as we had experienced (and in my view Celebrity continues to have this process well in hand). Like all ships on boarding days, there was "organized chaos" once on board. Like always, we had dropped our primary luggage off with the porters outside the ship and had small carry on stuff only with us. It was mid-day and the primary place to get something to eat was going to be the buffet. That is always the suggestion when boarding. Back in those days, you would wait on board (usually in a bar or the buffet) for an announcement that your stateroom was ready. You were given your keycard as part of the boarding process, but asked not to go to your stateroom until it was annouced as ready (usually a block of rooms). For those who haven't currently cruised, that has all changed these days. At least it has for Celebrity and Princess. Getting on one of the elevators to get up to the buffet was obviously going to be a challenge. As we stood waiting for a break in the crowd, we overheard some folks talking about a restaurant on Deck 5 called "Bistro on 5" that was open. We were close and went directly there and were immediately seated. In 2013, the bistro served essentially only crepes: savory and sweet. For a $15 upcharge (we thought that was pretty reasonable) you chose a savory and then for desert a sweet choice of crepes. They were very good and our table by the window was nice as we could watch the continued boarding process. We liked Bistro on 5 so much that we were back there again during the week. There is still a Bistro on 5 on most Celebrity Ships, but they now have a wider menu. I don't know whether they have crepes or not these days.
THE SHIP was clean and modern and our stateroom was quite nice. The Princess ships are kind of traditional cruise ship nautical. The bathrooms in the balcony staterooms are about the same size, but the Princess ships all have full bathtubs. The Celebrity Ships have showers instead. But they are generous sized (and I prefer them anyway). The stateroom decor is decidely more modern. The Reflection was pretty new at that time (it is the newest/last in line of the Solstice Class of 5 ships) and had some pretty cool amenities.
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| The Lawn Bocce Court - Celebrity Reflection Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved |
THE SOLSTICE class ships added a feature that was a first at sea, on the top deck at their stern, known as "The Lawn." This was a broad area across the back of the ship that had actual natural grass (cut like a lawn). That area extended around the aft stack on both sides and is used for croquet and bocce. Very cool. There is seating on both sides of the ship, and then at the back the Sunset Bar and more seating. It is aptly named and we have watched many a sunset from there.
the Celebrity buffet not only had a better variety, but the food was better
ONE BIG difference was the setup of the buffet - always a large and central feature of a cruise ship. Princess (and we learned years later, Holland America as well) have a kind of traditional design where the kitchen area is in the middle and the buffet serving areas line the outside of that on both sides of the ship - almost cafeteria style. Celebrity's design is much more open and "modular" feeling with the middle area housing different "stations." I think that from an efficiency standpoint, it actually works better because people can move around all sides of a particular station that has food they want. I still preferred the Princess buffet from my memory, not so much because of the layout but because of the variety of food offerings. But my view was myopic. I mostly ate in the buffet for breakfast, preferring to dine in the dining room for dinner, and either the buffet or the grill for lunch when we were on board during the day. for many of our cruises in the future, we were off the ship at lunch time. I felt that the breakfast offereings were better on Princess. What I later learned was that you could get all the same things on Celebrity by going to one of the made to order stations. I also learned over time that for lunches and dinners, the Celebrity buffet not only had a better variety, but the food was better. By a magnitude.
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| Celebrity Reflection - "Opus" Main Dining Room Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved |
IN 2013, the mainstream cruise lines (with the notable exception of Norwegian - who probably pioneered the concept of "flexible" or "any time" dining), were still primarily doing "set times" and assigned seating. The O'Brien group had a few reserved tables and we were assigned an 8-top for the week. Our tablemates would be the same - just as in the other cruises we had been on (in Alaska, we had an 8-top - on the Ruby Princess in the Caribbean, however, for whatever reason, we were just the 4 of us traveling together at our own 4-top).
THE O'BRIEN cruise had a few scheduled events - primarily during at sea days and when we were onboard. For port days, we were more or less on our own. On the first evening there was a "welcoming" reception featuring some light hors d'oeuvres, and (of course) O'Brien wines. We stopped and said hello to Bart and Barb, but it seemed like there were groups traveling together and we felt a bit disconnected, so we left. Later, in the dining room, we met our table mates. I always like to introduce some levity here in the form of a funny ancecdote when one fits the narrative. We were the first to arrive at our table and were seated, when 4 of our eight arrived: Penny, her mom and her boyfriend, and another friend of Penny's. They introduced themselves and Penny apologized for her husband, Lou and their other friend who would be along later. It seems they didn't believe the dress code, showed up at the dining room in shorts, and were immediately turned away. Sent to the principal's office, so to speak. I wondered what we were getting ourselved into.
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| Lou and Penny - O'Brien Cruise - Celebrity Reflection |
THE UPSHOT of all that is that Lou and Penny have become wonderful friends, who have visited us at our Florida home a couple times and with whom we have traveled back to the O'Brien Vineyard and stayed together in a VRBO in Napa for some additional wine tasting on our own. We keep in regular touch and I am sure will continue to see each other - and maybe travel together again soon. We spent some fun dinners with them and Penny's mom and boyfriend (their friends were mostly "MIA" during the dinners due to other events coinciding with that time period, so we never really go to know them).
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| Martini Bar - Celebrity Reflection Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved |
CELEBRITY SHIPS, as we have grown to know them, all have certain consistent features. One of the central and primary such features is their "Martini Bar." Although changes over time have benn slightly controversial among some cruisers, they certainly remain the "entertainment - central" feature of celebrity ships. Celebrity currently maintains 3 classes of ships, the oldest "Millenium" class, the "Solstice" class and the currently newest "Edge" class. On the Millenium and Solstice Class ships, the bar has been set in its own space, to one side of the ship with a large, somewhat intimate seating area forward of the bar and a small alcove area with feature gins and vodka on ice to the rear. The bar itself was traditionally an ice-toped elongated oval with bar stools all around. At times - usually before and immediately after dinner hour, it is a very popular (and hence, crowded) spot. But havving seating all around the bar made the space seem large, and conducive to a crowded situation. The drinks are good. But the real show is probably the bartenders who juggle bottles and go through an eloborate and amazing to watch preparation of "flights" of martinis sometimes number as high as 15 all at once. We have found it a great spot to gather for a before dinner cocktail. The Edge class ships brought some major changes to the Martini Bar, but it remains a very popular spot on the ship. I will talk more about that as we travel forward in time.
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| Martini Bar - Celebrity Reflection Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved |
AS POPULAR as the Martini Bar is, my personal favorite is the Sunset Bar. I have personally spent the majority of my on board time there over the years, especially on Solstice and Edge ships. On the Millennium ships, the sunset bar was almost an afterthought on the back of the buffet. It was still a nice place to watch a sunset and relatively popular. But the Solstice and her sister ships brought a complete new design and with it "feel" to the Sunset Bar. Placed a deck above the old Millennium location, it was away from the buffet deck and on its own. They are flanked by those "lawn" areas I spoke about earlier. On the port side is a smoking area. Importantly - for me - really the only place on the ship where cigar smoking is allowed.
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| The Sunset Bar - Celebrity Reflection Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved |
ONE OF the reasons the O'Briens selected Celebrity was the connection with the name "Reflection" (see the link above). Hand in hand with that, though, at that time Celebrity held itself out as a very wine-centric cruise line. The main dining room (MDR), on all he Solstice ships feature a 2-story wine tower. At one time (still in 2013) that was a central feature of the dining room and the line received awards for its wine offerings. In addition, there was a dedicated spot on the ships called Cellar Masters, which had a sommelier and an excellent selection of wines. For whatever reasons that focus seems to have dimmed in recent years, with Cellar Masters being replaced on the some of the ships with their "Craft Social" bar and/or gastropub offering. The wine offerings on board today are generally limited and somewhat "pedestrian" - at least for the connoisseur. But in 2013, they were still full-bore wine-centric. One of the things we signed up for on board was a Reidel glass tasting. Before I did it I would have said it was pure "B.S." But the key isn't the brand of the glass. There is some real science to the shapes and sizes of glassware in directing the tastes and aromas to the right places. I have found this to be the case with whiskey tasting also. The Reidel tasting was kind of cool. We each receive a coupon for 4 Riedel glasses as well as the tasting itself. The glasses were shipped to us at home. I still have them. We also got a tour of the wine tower which was kind of cool.
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| Wine Tower - Celebrity Reflection Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved |
BY THE time we disembarked in Miami at the end of the cruise, I had become a convert. As time went on I grew to believe that although I still liked Princess, Celebrity was just a bit above and beyond it. My next cruise - a Princess Cruise - would cement that feeling. But not to get the cart in front of the horse. The next few posts will cover the rest of our Celebrity Reflection cruise. I will say, though, that we have cruised on The Reflection several more (5 total) times and it is my own personal favorite cruise ship.
