Ports of Call: San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten

Travel Time: November 28-December 5, 2015

48 friends and family. 7 days. 3 islands. 1 big ship. If that doesn’t define fun, I don’t know what does. Of all our cruising adventures, this by far was one of the best experiences!!! (http://www.celebritycruises.com/ships/celebrity-reflection?shipCode=RF)

Terahl started planning this trip during the summer of 2014.Having set up our reservation so early, we benefited from a fantastic deal including a balcony view in our room, concierge service and the beverage package (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). We arrived on Thursday, November 26th in Miami and spent a few days with friends both in Ft. Lauderdale and South Beach. On Saturday morning, November 28th, we were ready to board our ship. Because we selected the concierge package, we were able to board the ship quickly. The staff was very efficient and organized. As always, our first stop on embarking is the lunch buffet where we ran into a few other friends. From the beginning, I noticed the ship was extremely clean. The food was great with a wide variety ranging from American, Mexican, Indian and Thai cuisine. After about an hour, we headed to our stateroom where our luggage was waiting. As we entered, our first thoughts were ‘wow, this room is huge!’. For anyone who has ever cruised, you know it is expected to have a shoe box as your sleeping area. But on Celebrity, it was completely different! It honestly felt like a hotel room; equipped with sofa, vanity desk and flat screen TV. Anyone concerned with claustrophobia would not have a problem on this ship.

As far as activities on the ship, there weren’t very many. The crowd was definitely more ‘mature’ so all the activities were pretty low-speed. In fact, I felt we were the only ones really participating in the pool side games and late night dancing. Fortunately though, with 48 people we were far from bored. We had so many people in our group, we were able to reserve one of the small theaters to have a Watchtower discussion. I will say the musical performance in the Reflection theater was definitely the best I’ve seen on a cruise ship. The performer hanging by her neck from a hula hoop was a nice touch. For our group, however, it seemed our activities were pretty planned out when at sea. You could find us in one of three places: 1) sitting by the pool watching the team volleyball or getting a burger from the Mast Grill 2) the game room on deck 9 playing Bid Whist or Monopoly Deal or 3) in the Sky Lounge on deck 14 tearing up the dance floor with a few Moscow Mule’s in hand.

Now let’s talk about the ports of call. San Juan was our first location. We arrived at 3pm and did not have to return to the ship until 11pm. We had a bus guide named Hector drive us around the city. It seemed like a good idea but he hardly ever stopped which meant we weren’t able to take many pictures. He did make one important stop, however, and that was at the Bethel Branch. Although, most of us wish we knew we were going there ahead of time. Since most of us had on shorts, we weren’t able to enter for a tour. So it turned into a quick ‘drive-by’. We ended our tour at a popular Puerto Rican restaurant called El Jibarito. It was fantastic! I highly recommend the mofongo if you visit. Other than that, pretty much everything else in San Juan seemed empty or closed. We weren’t sure if it was because it was a Monday or perhaps because we were the only ship at port, but overall San Juan was a little lack luster. Our second stop was St. Thomas. We had an excursion planned for 40 of us to take a tour of the island which included snorkeling by the beach and going to the top of Paradise Point. The weather was perfect which made for a great trip. Not to mention some of us were on the ‘party bus’ which made for an even more entertaining ride. Our final port of call was St. Maarten. The weather was perfect so we hit the beach for some more sun and snorkeling. We chose Maho Beach (‘Airport Beach’) as recommended by our Cruise Director. It was a fun experience seeing airplanes as they landed on the runway directly next to the beach. However, it was not fun being stuck in traffic for over an hour on our return nearly missing our cruise. Highly recommend only going in the morning or not at all.

Overall, the trip was a lot of fun. Even more so, we enjoyed all the wonderful company of our family and friends. There were so many laughs and memories that were created. Our ‘Gatsby’-themed dinner was especially memorable. Would we cruise with Celebrity again? Absolutely yes. The food was great, rooming was comfortable and the price was reasonable. But the best part? Being with the ones we love the most. Can’t wait to see what our future cruising plans will bring us! #Oasis2017

For the full album, please ‘click’ on the link below:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9wdmz6ew6bwxoqkt6

Enjoy the photos!

Agape,

Asia Johnson