Spring Break - Caribbean Cruise

We took a last minute spur of the moment trip to the Caribbean over Spring Break, and ended up on the Celebrity Reflection. going to Puerto Rico, St. Maarten and St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.   We got a very reasonable price, with none of the expected school-holiday-price gouge.  Apparently because Celebrity doesn't target families as their preferred demographic, they don't charge a premium for school break holidays.  The time we took a Royal Caribbean cruise at Spring Break on the Oasis of the Seas, I think the premium was almost 100%, ie. we could have taken the same trip a week later for half the price.  The cheapness of the Celebrity pricing made me worry that it wouldn't be nice or family-friendly, but we found it to be nicer than all the other ships we have cruised on, and, surprisingly, had the best kids club programming- better than Disney even.

At Sailaway.

Obligatory towel animal shot.

 Our room was lovely, but Declan had to sleep on the least comfortable pullout on the Seven Seas.  The whole ship was only a year old, but they seemed to be using pre-War technology on the pull out.  There was sharp exposed metal that Declan had to climb over to get in and out of bed.  Poor baby looked as though he'd been mauled by a cheetah by the end of the week!  Anomalous crappy thing in an otherwise lovely ship.

Celebrity targets the spa-loving demographic, which apparently includes Declan.  

Food was very good- I would say noticeably better than the other ships we've been on, but we didn't eat in the main dining room, opting instead for the spa cuisine specialty restaurant.  

One night we had dinner at a different specialty restaurants- Qsine, which was a molecular gastronomy type establishment.  Declan loved it- especially how playfully all the food was presented, like the sushi lollipops.  This dinner had a terrible, unforeseen consequence:  now whenever Declan is asked what his favourite food is, he will say "molecular gastronomy" which is so punchworthy, I can't even.  

Breakfast on our balcony - if you look carefully you can see the beauty of the natural surroundings- Senor Frogs in the background.

There were a lot of fun adult activities onboard too- including a faux Amazing Race type game that Shane and I took way too seriously.  In the final round, I actually committed battery against a stranger in the ship's elevator.  In my defense, he kind of started it, and it clinched the silver medal for us! Super fun.  

Obligatory Bingo game