The Reflection

Celebrity Reflection is the 5th and final ship built for Celebrity as part of the Solstice Class. It was the only ship of this class we had not sailed on. So we were interested to see what differences or similarities we could spot when aboard.

We got the hotel shuttle over to Port Everglades and arrived at our appointed time of 11:30AM. The boarding process is much different from when we first started cruising. A Smartphone is essential these days; we checked in and did our health declarations on the Celebrity app. We used our boarding passes to get on the ship – either paper or the digital app version would work. Once aboard we picked up our SeaPass cards at our stateroom where we could drop off our carry on luggage. The heavier stuff would arrive later on.

The first stop was at the library where Maria grabbed a few novels to read on the cruise. The library has always been a nice feature on the S-class ships and this one did not disappoint.

Here’s how the library looks from our deck (12.) You can just see the top of the ficus tree which is always something you’ll find in the central foyer of Solstice class ships.

Next we headed up to deck 15 to see the Lawn Club Grill. We planned to have dinner there later on in the cruise.

Then we went down to have a Concierge Class welcome lunch in the Main Dining Room. This was great, as we managed to avoid the crunch of embarcation day humanity in the Oceanview Cafe.

After this luncheon we finished up our Muster Drill activities by going down and registering at our Muster Station. It is so dumbed down from when we began. Most of it you do on your Smartphone.

Time to depart! We were the third ship out of Port Everglades – preceded by Caribbean Princess, and the shiny new Celebrity Apex. Here we go up the channel, passing by Nieuw Amsterdam. We saw everything from our 12th deck balcony – no need to go up to deck 15.

The biggest ship in port that day was Odyssey of the Seas.

And here is Viking Mars – a bit smaller one.

Finally we passed Silver Dawn – one of the Silversea luxury cruisers. Of the 6 ships in PEV that day Royal Caribbean owns 4 of them.

Here we go out the exit channel from the port to the sea.

Passed by some land dwelling folks who waved enthusiastically. We waved back.

Here is land’s end and the Hollywood Beach. A few more wavers on the shore.

We dropped off the Port Everglades pilot and started our two day journey to San Juan. Lots more cruising was ahead of us!