{"id":15325,"date":"2012-12-07T01:08:40","date_gmt":"2012-12-07T09:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=15325"},"modified":"2012-12-07T01:08:40","modified_gmt":"2012-12-07T09:08:40","slug":"friday-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=15325","title":{"rendered":"No. 5 Reflects Best of Solstice"},"content":{"rendered":"

In wondering whether we'd be able to tell the difference between the Celebrity Reflection<\/a> and the Eclipse<\/a>, the only other Solstice Class<\/em> ship we'd been on, we quickly realized the answer was in the measurements.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Reflection is 60 centimeters wider.<\/p>\n

Two feet.<\/p>\n

Cruisers who were on the Solstice<\/a>, the five-year-old matriarch of the Class, may have noticed. Or ship nerds may have spotted that 24 inches of additional real estate.<\/p>\n

But not us.<\/p>\n

Oh we could see — when told — that the Reflection has an extra deck. And that the observation lounge we'd enjoyed two years ago on the Eclipse was only half that size on Reflection…but it didn't matter because it wasn't full of people on either ship.<\/p>\n

And that there were no talented glass blowers from Corning on this ship, which was fine because when we watched, somewhere out on the Atlantic Ocean, it was cold and windy and the furnaces the glass blowers used served a dual purpose by keeping us warm…or warmish.<\/p>\n

While the people at Celebrity (like the people at any cruise line) brag about the quality of their new ship, the one thing they have right is it will be hard to duplicate the ships of Solstice. Actually, that's the other thing they got right: These are beautiful and functional ships.<\/p>\n

The Reflection is the biggest and, arguably, the best. Frommer's<\/em><\/a> picked Solstice Class<\/em> the "Best Cruise Ships" last year. Conde Nast <\/em><\/a>readers chose Celebrity the No. 1 large-ship cruise line, also in 2011. Imagine what everybody will be saying once they get to know the Reflection.<\/p>\n

Our first Celebrity cruise was on the Millennium<\/a>, the flagship of another class, one that is being "Solsticized" ship by ship. We were impressed by everything on the Millennium, home for 14 days, and nothing that happened on the Eclipse or Reflection has changed our minds. As much as the ships are so hard to tell apart because of their excellence, the same is true of the people who make them so comfortable.<\/p>\n

The Eclipse was No. 3 in the pecking order, the Silhouette<\/a> was No. 4, a year ahead of the Reflection. While we've never been on the Silhouette, it's obvious that only the architects can tell the difference.<\/p>\n

Or the nerds.<\/p>\n

Note: We're also covering the North American debut of the Reflection for our colleague Phil Reimer this week. You'll find a different but equally interesting story from the new ship at www.ports.andbows.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tCarnival Freedom<\/a>
\n\t6 nights
\n\tFebruary 3, 2013
\n\tFort Lauderdale<\/a> (return): Key West<\/a>, Grand Cayman<\/a>, Ocho Rios<\/a>
\n\tInside: $369
\n\tCost per day: $61<\/strong><\/span>
\n\twww.carnival.com<\/a>
\n\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In wondering whether we'd be able to tell the difference between the Celebrity Reflection and the Eclipse, the only other Solstice Class ship we'd been on, we quickly realized the answer was in the measurements. The Reflection is 60 centimeters wider. Two feet. Cruisers who were on the Solstice, the five-year-old matriarch of the Class,… Continue reading No. 5 Reflects Best of Solstice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[137,154,965,138,451,78,809,459,912,72,86,35,151,26,27],"class_list":["post-15325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-caribbean-cruises","tag-carnival","tag-carnival-freedom","tag-celebrity-cruises","tag-celebrity-eclipse","tag-celebrity-millennium","tag-celebrity-reflection","tag-celebrity-silhouette","tag-cruise-bargains","tag-cruise-deals","tag-cruise-ships","tag-cruises","tag-new-cruise-ships","tag-phil-reimer","tag-ports-and-bows","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}