Tag: Celebrity Reflection

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Where to Go with Your Tax Refund: The Eastern Caribbean

March 5, 2013 at 9:27 PM | by | Comment (1)

Tax day is coming, and you're probably excited...but not because you look forward to sifting through receipts and credit card statements. You're excited because you're getting a fat refund. Probably. The economy may be on its way back up, but you should try to stretch that tax refund as far as you can...like with a little "you did a great job last year" trip—a Tax Refund Vacation.

Newsflash. This is actually the best time to take a Caribbean cruise. It's not the holidays (with their premium prices), nor is it hurricane season. A ship is not a Florida beach full of spring breakers, and the temperatures are just right for tanning and swimming without sweating your face off.

Our mind immediately jumps to the newest ship plying the waves, the Celebrity Reflection. We've been on it ourselves and we recently spotted it pulling into St. Maarten, another destination that's definitely tops for a Tax Refund Vacation.

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The Evolution of Cruise Ships, from 1975 to 2013: The Ship Itself

February 8, 2013 at 12:03 PM | by | Comments (0)

Imagine a cruise. Now picture yourself on that cruise. Are you playing shuffleboard and gobbling rum cakes? God, let's hope not. Over the next several days, we're going to dig back into the era responsible for creating these cruise stereotypes—the fun-in-the-sun 1970s, when ocean liners turned into cruise ships and voyages into vacations. In sharp contrast, we'll look at cruising 2013-style onboard the newest ship on the seas, the Celebrity Reflection.

The Cruising 1975 vs. 2013 Series:

1. Activities
2. Technology
3. Dining and drinking
4. Cabins and suites
5. The ships themselves

The average ship of 1975 had eight guest decks, none of them named with any creativity (ex: "Main Deck," "B Deck") while the Celebrity Reflection and similar megaships regularly boast of 13 or 14 guest decks with names ("Solstice Deck") that sound more natural than naval.

Sure, 13 decks to explore sounds like quite a bit, but then consider that the number of cabins has also risen from 500 in 1975 to 1,500 in 2013, so all that fresh space means more room for more new friends. Oh, and the chance of scoring a cabin with a verandah? Nearly 0% in 1975, depending on your ship. Heck, having a large window was living in luxury, and a dinner plate-sized porthole was far more common. In 2013, the percentage of cabins with private verandahs has skyrocketed to an impressive 85% on the Reflection, and even portholes on the lowest decks have expanded to dimensions approaching picture windows.

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The Evolution of Cruise Ships, from 1975 to 2013: Cabins and Suites

February 6, 2013 at 9:33 AM | by | Comment (1)

Imagine a cruise. Now picture yourself on that cruise. Are you playing shuffleboard and gobbling rum cakes? God, let's hope not. Over the next several days, we're going to dig back into the era responsible for creating these cruise stereotypes—the fun-in-the-sun 1970s, when ocean liners turned into cruise ships and voyages into vacations. In sharp contrast, we'll look at cruising 2013-style onboard the newest ship on the seas, the Celebrity Reflection.

The Cruising 1975 vs. 2013 Series:

1. Activities
2. Technology
3. Dining and drinking
4. Cabins and suites
5. The ships themselves

There was once a time when going on a cruise meant days of fun in the sun balanced out by the small miseries of showering in a teeny-tiny restroom, sleeping in a dreary room without a balcony (or even a window larger than a dinner plate), and forgoing the usual comforts of home. Happily those days are in the past and instead cruisers can bunk down in two-bedroom suites with wet bars, baby grand pianos, massive bathrooms larger than studio apartments, and balconies galore. Even the average cabin of 2013 makes suites of 1975 looks like steerage class. Ah, evolution.

Naturally prices have risen as well—like from $550 double occupancy for a 7-day Caribbean cruise in 1975 to $890 for the same in 2013—but though the price is nearly double, the amenities and space ratios are easily quadrupled.

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The Evolution of Cruise Ships, from 1975 to 2013: Drinking and Dining

February 4, 2013 at 1:04 PM | by | Comment (1)

Imagine a cruise. Now picture yourself on that cruise. Are you playing shuffleboard and gobbling rum cakes? God, let's hope not. Over the next several days, we're going to dig back into the era responsible for creating these cruise stereotypes—the fun-in-the-sun 1970s, when ocean liners turned into cruise ships and voyages into vacations. In sharp contrast, we'll look at cruising 2013-style onboard the newest ship on the seas, the Celebrity Reflection.

The Cruising 1975 vs. 2013 Series:

1. Activities
2. Technology
3. Dining and drinking
4. Cabins and suites
5. The ships themselves

Beef Wellington. Poached lobster. A tower of chocolate eclairs. Daisy-shaped pats of butter to accompany as many glistening dinner rolls as you care to eat. These are the usual suspects on a cruise ship's menu, and it's as true today as it was in 1975. The big difference is that, now, there are actually other options. The ships of 2013 offer healthy and light cuisine, cater to vegetarians and food allergies, and even employ sushi chefs to handcraft rolls to order.

Boiling it down, the decades have brought a needed shift to put quality over quantity.

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The Evolution of Cruise Ships, from 1975 to 2013: Technology

February 1, 2013 at 11:17 AM | by | Comment (1)

Imagine a cruise. Now picture yourself on that cruise. Are you playing shuffleboard and gobbling rum cakes? God, let's hope not. Over the next several days, we're going to dig back into the era responsible for creating these cruise stereotypes—the fun-in-the-sun 1970s, when ocean liners turned into cruise ships and voyages into vacations. In sharp contrast, we'll look at cruising 2013-style onboard the newest ship on the seas, the Celebrity Reflection.

The Cruising 1975 vs. 2013 Series:

1. Activities
2. Technology
3. Dining and drinking
4. Cabins and suites
5. The ships themselves

There were no cell phones in 1975, or personal computers. Of course this is huge "duh" fact, but let that sink in for a moment when you think of the hundreds of passengers onboard a cruise ship and their near complete break with communication when they stepped onboard. Sure, there were in-room radios and ship-to-shore calling, if you wanted to pay the per-minute price, but nothing like the connectivity they now offer.

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The Evolution of Cruise Ships, from 1975 to 2013: Onboard Activities

January 30, 2013 at 5:46 PM | by | Comments (0)

Imagine a cruise. Now picture yourself on that cruise. Are you playing shuffleboard and gobbling rum cakes? God, let's hope not. Over the next several days, we're going to dig back into the era responsible for creating these cruise stereotypes—the fun-in-the-sun 1970s, when ocean liners turned into cruise ships and voyages into vacations. In sharp contrast, we'll look at cruising 2013-style onboard the newest ship on the seas, the Celebrity Reflection.

The Cruising 1975 vs. 2013 Series:

1. Activities
2. Technology
3. Dining and drinking
4. Cabins and suites
5. The ships themselves

"We're getting weirder."

It's a phrase that's been popping up in print more and more often, in attempts to describe how modern interests are evolving faster than ever before. Sure, we have the internet and its constant stream of new information and influences to mostly thank for that. Instead of coffee, we're drinking macchiatos or requesting cups brewed through a Chemex. Instead of going out for a steak dinner, we're hungry for hamachi or sous-vide venison. We're getting weirder and, oh boy, do the cruise lines know it.

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Wish You Were Here: Somewhere Off the Coast of Florida

December 3, 2012 at 2:09 PM | by | Comments (0)

Ahoy! If you're hanging out in Florida and are anywhere near the coast from Miami on up to West Palm Beach, break out a pair of binoculars to spot us. Just look for a white sliver on the horizon, that'll actually be the ginormous white Celebrity Cruises ship Celebrity Reflection. We promise to wave back.

There's no ultimate destination other than a return to Miami for the start of the Art Basel festival of contemporary art. You see, this is a preview cruise—the ship's maiden US voyage. It's a bit like an airport practice run, when terminals invite people to come simulate operations so, on opening day, the kinks have been well worked out. We would say we're "kicking the tires" of the Reflection but, well, it's a boat with a massive hull...and a multi-million modern art collection with 6,059 original pieces from the likes of Jeff Koons, Anish Kapoor, Christo, Marina Abramovic, Richard Prince and Robert Rauschenberg.

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