Celebrity Reflection - - interview, review, menus, video

This week we complete our profile of Celebrity Reflection with several new items.

First, we have an interview with Hotel Director Julian Brackenbury and Cruise Director Paul Buya. I first met Julian on the stately Celebrity Summit when that ship was cruising the Caribbean. I met him again when Celebrity was preparing to re-vilatize Summit adding a panoply of features as part of the line's Solsticization project. Paul, I know from Celebrity Silhouette, a ship I found to have a strong pulse. As the person in charge of entertainment there, Paul played no small part in making it a lively cruise experience.

I asked them to tell us what is new about Celebrity Reflection? The ship is the fifth and final ship in the Solstice class Each ship in the class has retained the essential Solstice design but each of the prior ships has been somewhat different. As they replied, Celebrity has not run out of new ideas but has channel in its thinking in a new direction. The interview is posted at http://www.beyondships2.com/celebrity-reflection-interview.html

We also have a review of the Murano specialty restaurant. There are Muranos on each of the Solstice class ships and on Celebrity Century. They offer perhaps the most elegant, old school fine dining experience at sea. The review is at http://www.beyondships2.com/celebrity-reflection-murano.html

We have also added a menus page to the Celebrity Reflection profile with examples of menus from the main dining room and some of the specialty restaurants. http://www.beyondships2.com/celebrity-reflection-menus.html

Finally, we have a short video showing the ship in several Caribbean ports. http://www.beyondships2.com/celebrity-reflection-video.html

So who is Celebrity Reflection for? In my opinion, she is for experienced cruisers who like what used to be called the better things in life. She ius a pretty ship with attention to detail in the design. She has an excellent array of dining options. She has a good enrichment program although not as strong as Cunard or Holland America. She is not a party boat but rather is sophisticated without being stuffy.

Celebrity Summit - - new photos and interview

This summer Celebrity Cruises has Celebrity Summit doing cruises from New York to Bermuda. To a certain extent, one could say that Celebrity really got its start doing this run with its first two ships the Horizon and the Zenith back in the 1990s. However, it has been a number of years since Celebrity has done these cruises on a regular basis.

Bermuda is a natural destination for Celebrity. Like Bermuda, Celebrity is sophisticated but relaxed and traditional but not old-fashioned. Given this affinity, I booked onto the Summit for one of her week long cruises.

Summit is a Millennium class ship, which means that she is big but not quite a mega-cruise ship. She has nice modern lines but done in a way that suggest motion so that she always looks like she is speeding along. (That was a trick that the designers of the great ocean liners also used; the SS United States is a good example - - she conveys a feeling of motion even while sitting still). Inside, she has an elegant, contemporary atmosphere.

My cruise on Summit enabled me to obtain more material for the Celebrity Summit section of Beyondships. As a result, I have posted new menus, daily programs and other information about the ship at http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Summit-Profile.html In addition, I have added about 50 new photos to the photo tour of the ship. http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Summit-Tour-1.html

Most cruise lines rank their ships based upon the results they obtain from the questionnaires that they ask passengers to fill out at the end of each cruise. Summit usually ranks first or second each time the results are tabulated. In addition, she does well in ticket sales both on her Bermuda cruises and on the Caribbean cruises she does out of San Juan in the winter.

Nonetheless, Celebrity is investing some $16 million in enhancements to Summit. The idea is to add some of the features that guests have found popular on Celebrity’s new Solstice class of ships. This "Solsticizing" of the Summit will be done during a refit next Spring.

I had the opportunity to talk with Julian Brackenbury, Summit’s Hotel Director, about this project. Julian is already working planning for the refit and preparing the ship to go into dry dock. I asked him to outline what will be done to Summit, how the officers and crew are preparing for the refit, and the role of the crew in doing the work. Our conversation is at http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Summit-art-Solsticizing.html

There will be more about Summit next time, as I also did an interview with Captain Frantzis. I will also be posting a review of the Normandie, the specialty restaurant on Summit.

I would also like to mention two unrelated items.

First, Captain Nick Bates of Queen Mary 2 retired this week. I have had the privilege of knowing Nick for nearly 20 years and he has had a very interesting career including commanding the legendary Queen Elizabeth 2. (See my interview with Captain Bates http://www.beyondships.com/QM2-art-Bates.html ) He has a delightful sense of humor that anhances any occasion. This was reflected in his noon day announcements on QM2 and in his book “A Pinch of Salt.” All the best to him in his new life.

Second, ship enthusiasts in the New York area may be interested that on September 12, there will be six passenger ships in the harbor - - QM2, Celebrity Summit, Carnival Miracle, Norwegian Dawn, Veendam (HAL) and P&O Cruises’ Aurora. All of these are of significant size and from major cruise lines. While six ships is a weekly occurrence in ports like Fort Lauderdale and Miami, it has been a long time since so many ships called in New York on a single day. In fact, one might have to go back to the ocean liner era to find so many first-tier ships in the harbor.

Talking with QM2 Captain Nick Bates and Celebrity Summit HD Julian Brackenbury

Beyondships presents two inside interviews this week. One continues Beyondships in-depth coverage of Queen Mary 2 while the other adds to last week’s profile of Celebrity Summit.

My first memory of Nick Bates was of him being lowered down the side of the Queen Elizabeth 2 in the middle of the night. QE2 had just struck two submerged rocks off the coast of Massachusetts and Nick was being sent down to inspect the hull. It was a great relief to the passengers that he decided to come back to the ship rather than sail away. There was significant damage but as Nick correctly determined, it did not threaten the integrity of the hull.

At that time, Nick was Chief Officer of QE2. Not long after that, he became Staff Captain and in those positions had responsibility for maintaining the ship and seeing her through some of the major changes that ship underwent in the 1990s.

Nick was not the typical Cunard officer. He was not at all reserved. Rather, his Irish wit and love of a good laugh enlivened the tables he hosted at dinner and the various passenger receptions. At the same time, he was clearly proud of being a part of Cunard and had a justifiable pride in the legendary ship.

As time went on, Nick was given his own commands, first with the other Cunard ships, then Qe2, then a time with Princess Cruises. Most recently, Nick has been alternating with Commodore Bernard Warner as the master of Cunard’s flagship Queen Mary 2.
Captain Bates still combines the qualities he displayed when I first met him. He is still very serious when it comes to his command. However, he is also able to weave his lighthearted approach to life into relations with passengers. Indeed, he has compiled the stories that he tells during his noonday announcements into a popular book, the profits of which he donates to charity.

My conversation with Captain Bates about his 35-year career and about his current command appears at: http://www.beyondships.com/QM2-art-Bates.html

The second interview that I have posted this week is with Julian Brackenbury, Hotel Director of the Celebrity Summit. Julian has also had an interesting career in the cruise ship industry but in this interview, I asked him to tell us about Summit. The goal was to round out the Beyondships’ profile of Summit with an insider’s perspective about the vacation experience that one can expect on Summit. The interview appears at: http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Summit-art-brackenbury.html

Turning to the news . . .

As I mentioned last week, Royal Caribbean has continued to have its ships call at the line’s private resort in Labadee, Haiti. In addition to helping maintain the local economy, the ships have brought supplies for the earthquake victims in Haiti. To my surprise, Royal has been criticized for this move on the grounds that people should not be vacationing and enjoying themselves on one part of the island when there is so much misery elsewhere in Haiti. This strikes me as an unfair criticism. The issue for Royal is whether to have the ships call in Haiti or go somewhere else. If the ships went somewhere else, people would still be vacationing and enjoying themselves despite the misery in Haiti. If the ships continue to call in Haiti, at least there will be some benefit to the people of Haiti in the form of jobs and supplies. Thus, in my opinion, Royal is doing the right thing.

Princess Cruises received a thank you from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the weather observations made on Princess ships These observations help NOAA track weather patterns. The ships measure air temperature, humidity, wind direction and strength, sea waves and swells. They then send information at a minimum of every six hours when at sea to a database which is forwarded to NOAA. The Princess ships sent more observations to NOAA in 2009 than any other cruise line.