![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Delivery of the cheese course is nothing short of immaculate. My perfect Dover sole is presented to me and then whisked away to be filleted and served. One of the hallmarks of dining in Murano is the tableside service, so it is well worth choosing a dish such as flambéed lobster to see it being prepared in front of you. While you can find Murano, Tuscan Grille, Blu, Qsine and Lawn Club Grill on the other four Solstice-class ships – and various others in the Celebrity fleet – The Porch, which serves panini, pastries and salads near the lawn on Deck 15, and Bistro on Five are both new to Reflection. However, we aim to please and had a lunch and breakfast in the Oceanview Café one dinner in the dazzling white main dining room, Opus another dinner in one of the line’s popular specialty restaurants, Murano and a champagne high tea, again in Murano. There are 12 eateries and restaurants on Reflection, but on such a short cruise it’s impossible to see all of them, let alone do an extensive taste-testing. All staterooms on Reflection are, on average, 15 per cent larger than those on other Celebrity ships. My Deluxe Ocean View verandah stateroom on Deck 6 is spacious at 192 square feet (almost the same size as the Reflection Suite’s balcony!), comfortable and stylish. A personal ‘European-style’ butler is all part of the service, as it is in the Signature and AquaClass Suites. The Reflection Suite sleeps up to six people and boasts all the amenities found in the Signature Suites, including high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows and balcony doors, a bath on the 194-square-foot balcony and iPad remote control for everything from the music system to mattress elevation. This is the suite that features a shower hanging over the side of the ship, which is the brainchild of Celebrity Cruises chairman Richard Fain, as was the real-grass lawn deck that first appeared on Celebrity Solstice. In terms of modern luxury accommodation, the Reflection Suite on Deck 14 is the star of the show. British-born Bayley, who has been with the company for 31 years, says Celebrity Cruises aims to attract affluent guests who are willing to pay a premium for the experience of “modern luxury”. Celebrity Cruises president and CEO Michael Bayley says the ship is the “epitome of German engineering”, and that in five years the line has “outdone itself” in terms of environmental responsibility, as each ship in the fleet becomes progressively more efficient. Reflection is the biggest of the five Solstice-class ships and can accommodate 3,030 passengers, although on this sailing there are about 1,500 plus the regular crew of 1,255. Captain Pagonis said he had been waiting for this moment since the ship’s construction in Germany began in 2011. Sailing away at sunset is a stirring occasion – three long blasts on the ship’s whistle and Captain Nicholas Pagonis manoeuvres the 126,000-ton Celebrity Reflection gently astern and out to sea on her first official cruise, to Amsterdam. One ‘public space’ that does not exist is a laundrette, a facility many Australian and British cruisers will miss. How do you reach the books on the very high shelves or are they just there for show? Certainly it’s beautifully designed, as are all of the ship’s public spaces – a clever combination of contemporary and classic. Everything is open for business, from the bars, cafes and restaurants to the shops, casino and library. This two-day pre-inaugural cruise is to check everything is working as it should and there are a few signs of it still being a work in progress – tradespeople are applying finishing touches to fixtures and fittings – although, of course, the ship has undergone all her sea trials. There is a palpable air of excitement in the busy port, shared by everyone from the ground crew to Celebrity Cruises staff and passengers from around the world. Celebrity Reflection towers majestically above the Eemshaven Sugar Terminal in Holland, surrounded by turbine windmills, cranes, containers and gantries. Seeing a new ship for the first time is a thrilling experience. ![]()
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