Celebrity Reflection Week 1

We headed to South Florida to board the Celebrity Reflection. We had a great week onboard. 

Glenn with the True or False game the first night. 

We has a great day at the Beach Club in Bimini, Bahamas. 

We enjoyed evenings listening to music with Raju in Cellar Masters. 

It was fun getting to know the ship before our big week in the Reflection Suite. 

Fun in Indiana

We had a fun 5 weeks in Indiana finishing unpacking and enjoying the holidays. 

Gwen's White Elephant was a great start to the festivities. 

Ugly Sweater Sunday for the Kids' Christmas program..

Annual Cookie Decorating - My nephew said this cookie looks exactly like me. 

Holiday movie viewing in our apartment's theater was a hit. 

Fun at Conner Prairie

Donut 5K right by our apartment

Lot of walks on the Monon Trail 

A trip to South Bend 

New Year's Eve - We went to Tucci's. New Year's Day - we had Chinese with my cousin.

We watched hockey and soccer.

And one final game night before we leave for the winter. 

St Regis Kanai

We made it to our final resort!! Check-in was easy and our room was ready early. This resort is very spread out but only has about 150 guest rooms. We spent the afternoon at the beach club just lounging in a chair watching the ocean.

 It started getting a little cooler about 5:30 so we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. We decided to try Jack's Club which is the sports bar. It has a menu of pub favorites. We walked in and waited. And waited. About fifteen minutes went by and there wasn't a staff member around. Just us, two televisions, a Foosball table, billiard table and some table games. Finally a supervisor showed up and said "Of course you can order food". But we went with our gut and decided to try the St Regis Bar instead. It was a great choice. There was a great bartender who made us an Elote Old Fashioned and a spicy Horchata cocktail. Both had used roasted corn cobs to enhance the flavor. Both very tasty. We had freshly made guacamole, shrimp aguachile and salmon poke bowl with ponzu. I liked the salmon the best. Thin slices of salmon on top of rice with edamame!! The aquachile was okay but the flavor was mostly just lime juice. It needed more heat or some curry flavor. After our light dinner, the bartender came over and said in honor of Angie's Birthday she'd be getting us a glass of Taittingers champagne!! So delicious!! And then they came out with a chocolate mousse dessert!! 

 Some resorts ask if you're celebrating something. You tell them and they don't ever mention it again. Not here. In addition to this nice surprise, every other waiter we encountered wished Angie a Happy Birthday!! It was a very nice touch.  

After dinner we headed back to the room. Today we will check out the family section of the resort to see how that varies from the adult section, spend more time at the Beach Club where we'll have some lunch. Then we will be back at the St Regis Bar by 6PM to see the champagne bottle sabering. More on that later. Dinner will be at Toro which is their beach side restaurant.

We had another day just relaxing at the pool with a great view of the ocean. Angie read a book and I listened to some podcasts. We swam a little bit in the pool and then sat down for some lunch. The Beach Club menu is heavily focused on seafood. Not a problem for us. We started with the Wellness Salad which was a great mix of quinoa, hearts of palm, arugula, avocado, orange segments and cherry tomatoes. All served with a citrusy vinaigrette. Very good salad but could have used more quinoa. 

 We also had tuna tostada which was thinly sliced tuna along with avocado drizzled with a chili mayonnaise. And then came the tacos!! The highlight was the one called From The Garden. Seared cauliflower, kale and asparagus topped with a matcha sauce!! Also had the octopus and shrimp taco. Octopus was my favorite of those two. A well seasoned marinade and perfect grilling make for a tender octopus. The shrimp one had too much sauce for my taste.  

It was time for a mandatory rest period back in the room. Now getting ready for dinner. But first we will go to the St Regis Bar to see the champagne bottle sabering. Maybe a stop at the Library where they apparently serve chocolate and tea. Then dinner will be at Toro.

Last night in Mexico - for now!!  

We saw the champagne sabering!! 

 Tried some very delicious and smooth Mexican gin (no need for a mixer). They had a delicious amuse bouche at the bar which was a roasted mushroom with rice.  

Dinner was at Toro. Some excellent dishes starting with a Flamed Salmon Roll and Crab Soup. Slightly seared salmon maki was tasty especially with the ponzu dipping sauce. The crab soup was loaded with crabmeat and also had roasted corn and a drizzle of chili oil for some heat. Mains were Cusco Chicken which was a marinated thigh in chifa style. 

 It was a fancier version of Peruvian chicken. I had the catch of the day which was grouper. Perfectly cooked fish which had a delicious adobe sauce that added some heat but not overwhelming. There was also a chayote salad and a grilled avocado with a corn pico de Gallo. Chayote is like a green squash. 

 The dish came with fresh tortillas so you could make your perfect bite. A well composed dish.  

Tomorrow we will be picked up at the resort at 7:55. It's about an hour to CUN. Then we have a non-stop flight to IND at 10:55. It's been a great two weeks in Mexico! More adventures to come in 2024!! But first we will get to spend the longest time at home in about a year. Five weeks in our apartment!! We need some time to unpack some more things. Hang up pictures. All the things you do when you have a place to hang your hat.

Hilton Playa del Carmen

We checked out of the Secrets Tulum at 1PM and then had a nice lunch at Veranda. Some excellent chicken Tikka, fish Tikka, Moroccan meatballs and octopus/shrimp aguachile. Our transfer left the Secrets Tulum at 2:50 . We tried to leave as much sand behind us as possible. We did our best. The drive to Hilton Playa del Carmen was about an hour.  

Check-in was easy and we had our room. We needed to do some laundry to get us through the next five days, so I started organizing that. We had sixteen pieces which ended up being $799 MXN. Comparable pricing to hotels in the United States. There aren't any all-inclusive resorts I've stayed at that have self service laundry. So if you're on an extended trip, you have a few choices. Use the "wash and rinse" method in your hotel, find a laundromat in the area, or do what we've been doing by using the hotels valet laundry service. The last is obviously most convenient. 

A friend of ours who is also a travel advisor from Tampa was joining us at this hotel. Angie and Jenn will have four site inspections on Tuesday. We all had dinner at Pelicanos which is a restaurant right at the beach.  

Today Angie and Jenn will head off for their site inspections at 8:30. 

Yesterday Angie left the resort at 8:30 for four site inspections. I stayed behind this time and explored the resort. The resort has three restaurants open for breakfast. Kalamata is a breakfast buffet with mostly American favorites. I started there and had some Greek yogurt, granola and honey. Maria Petrona has a la carte offerings. I went there for some avocado toast with a side of scrambled eggs. The guacamole was decent. Would have been a better dish if the bread was actually toast. It was served with a "pod" which appeared to be a leaf wrapped around a fig with some additional seeds. A very odd addition which didn't add much to the dish. Pelicanos is another restaurant open for breakfast. We ate here the first night. It's also a la carte and has different offerings than the first two. I didn't try anything from there but maybe will today. 

At 10:45 I headed to the spa for my pedicure. My feet needed it!! Plus they had those special massaging chairs that let you configure them any way you like and adjust the massaging action. A great value for $64 USD plus gratuity. After my pedicure, I stopped by Barefoot which is the poolside restaurant. Other resorts in the Hilton all-inclusive family such as Secrets and Dreams have a Barefoot Grill. At those hotels they serve grilled favorites like burgers, dogs along with pizza and sometimes tacos. Here at the Hilton Barefoot (minus the Grill) offers healthier options such as quinoa bowls salads and wraps. A nice change for something lighter. I had the Barefoot Bowl which was labelled as vegan. It was broccoli , fried tofu, sweet potato, chickpeas, edamame, cucumber and spouts on top of quinoa. Drizzled with a great tamarind and peanut sauce. So tasty!!   

After my snack, I headed to the swim up bar. There were no empty pool loungers to be found, so I grabbed a towel and found a safe spot on the ground along the pool area to put my sandals, sun screen and phone. If there is one thing that resorts should add it's "cubbies" or lockers. Some sort of small storage area for guests that don't need a lounger since they plan to be in the pool the majority of the time. Most resorts (including this one) have a thirty minute lounger rule. If your chair is seen as "unoccupied" for thirty minutes, the staff is supposed to collect your items and store them at the towel station. We even had to sign a T&C regarding this when we checked in. But it isn't being followed by any guest I saw. And it makes it very difficult for the staff to enforce since they are there to provide guests with great service. Makes it awkward when they are asked to be chair monitors. Much of the problem would be resolved if resorts set up additional storage options.   

I needed another snack so I got out of the pool and went back to Barefoot. This time I had the vegetarian wrap. Another great assortment of seasoned grilled vegetables along with panela cheese, which is a dry crumbly cow's milk cheese with a mild flavor. Similar to paneer in Indian cuisine. It was served with a chipotle dipping sauce. Really tasty - and nice grill marks.  

After my snack I couldn't find a pool chair at the main pool so I sat at the quiet pool for about an hour. Then I headed back to the swim up bar since I wanted to watch the Penguin Race!! Guests had to place a kickball between their legs and walk along the winding line of a long cargo rope the staff had placed on the pool deck. It really did make them walk like penguins . Once they got to the end, they had to drop the ball into a pail. Sort of like a chicken laying an egg!! Pretty funny to watch. Guests who made it through the first round, then had the more challenging second round. It was now a ping pong ball with the same rope course. And they had to drop that into a regular sized drinking glass. Good poolside entertainment!!

It was then time for pool volleyball!! It was nice to just have adults playing. We played four games and our team won three of them. It was now time to head back to the room. Angie had returned from her site inspections. Dinner was at Kalamata where they had your starters set up on a large buffet. They had a great salad bar, delicious onion soup along with meats, cheese and pizza. Then you could order your main. I went with chicken parmesan with pesto fettuccine and Angie had spaghetti and meatballs. Both very good!! After dinner we caught the end of the circus show happening in the lobby. 

Today Angie has two more site inspections, including this hotel. I plan to be at the main pool since I have a filming assignment. There will be a foam party at Noon!

Yesterday the resort had a foam party!!! I always find it fascinating how foam changes some people. The resort played the same type of music it has played the last two days. And no one was dancing around the edges of the pool or on the runway. Yet they add lots of foam and suddenly the crowd goes wild with twerking, grinding and general overt frivolity!! Very fun to watch from the sidelines.  

Today we will be checking into the St Regis Kanai resort for our final two nights. This is the first hotel i've stayed at in Mexico that isn't an all inclusive. So it will be interesting to compare to our stays at the other six resorts on this trip.

Secrets Tulum

We arrived at Secrets Tulum about 11:30 and checked in. Our room wasn't ready but we were prepared for that. We had worn out swimming costumes and were going to head to the Secrets Tulum Beach Club !! Unlike most all inclusive resorts, this one isn't located at a beach. So instead they have a beach club about five miles away and use a shuttle to take you there. We dropped off our luggage with the bellman and got on the shuttle.  

The beach club had a nice setup with lots of comfortable seating under shade-producing palms. 

They had a small restaurant and another bar where you could order food. We had some snacks of pizza and wings. Nothing more Mexican than that!! After about an hour at the beach, we took the next shuttle back to the hotel. We had been told our room should be ready by 1:30 but it wasn't. So we headed to one of the poolside restaurants called The Grotto.

 Angie had lobster and caviar flatbread. I had lobster Mac and cheese. Both were pretty decent. 

We also did a bit of exploring around the resort. While this resort isn't on the beach, the designers didn't let that stop them from including sand. And I mean sand everywhere!! The lobby has seating near reception and the Rendezvous lobby bar. And the seats and tables are essentially in sand pits. The Edgewater pool bar, which is in the middle of three pools is on its own island of sand. The chairs around all the pools are in sand. To access the Halftime Sports Bar you have to walk through sand. If you want to rinse your feet or sandals at the foot wash you have to walk through sand. It's everywhere!! I can't imagine why they thought this was a good idea. Make sure you're subscribed to Angie's FB page Trips with Angie since she'll have a full tour coming soon.

We eventually got our room and did a little more exploring of the pools. They have small waterways that connect some of them. That's one way to avoid the sand - temporarily. And all the pool areas are built into and around natural rock formations. So it's definitely got an authentic Tulum vibe. As it got close to sunset we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. No reservations are required at this resort.

 We were headed to Olio which is their Mediterranean restaurant. We had a few starters of Greek Salad, Tuna Tartar and falafel. The salad had a delicious feta cheese that really brought it together since the dressing needed a bit more vinegar. The falafel had great flavor but just weren't crispy. They were more like the texture of a Howard Johnson's croquette. Children of the 1970's might know what I am talking about. The two highlights of the meal were Moroccan stuffed eggplant and Moroccan chermoula fish. The eggplant had a delicious mixture of pumpkin, couscous, tomato and pine nuts along with a cilantro yogurt sauce. 

 The dish was a whole roasted fish that had been stuffed with chermoula.

 I didn't know what this was so I had to look it up. It's similar to the consistency of a chutney, just with warm Moroccan spices of cumin, garlic and coriander. I think it may have had some paprika and saffron as well. Plus some chilis for a bit of heat. Both wonderful dishes!! No dessert.

Today we plan to get some breakfast at the Bluewater Grill. Followed by a little pool time. We'll check out at noon. There is also another restaurant called Veranda that we want to try. Our transfer won't be here until three when we'll head one hour north to Playa del Carmen where we are staying three nights at the Hilton Playa del Carmen.

Hilton Tulum

Yesterday we made it to Hilton Tulum! The layout of this hotel is night and day compared to Dreams Aventuras. Where that was a seven story complex with a small footprint, the Hilton is a large crescent shaped resort on the ocean with rooms spread out over six buildings.

 It also looks like a popular resort for groups. When we walked into the resort there was a large group of about 200 that were checking out. Luckily there was no line for checking in and we had our room quickly. There are two main pools and several other pools near the individual buildings. Plus a kid's club and splash/water park at the far end. You could easily walk to most places at Dreams Aventuras in a few minutes. Our room at Hilton Tulum was a third of a mile from the lobby. They have golf carts if you don't want the added exercise. 

We started with some lunch at Seasalt which has some great views. 

 They had some delicious tuna ceviche and something called prime rib chicharron. Small pieces of prime rib which had been flash fried similar to chicharron. Very tasty!! The guacamole was decent but couldn't compare to what we had at Royalton Chic. Another reason to try all these resorts.  

After lunch we walked to the main pool and got some chairs. The place was empty, apparently just vacated by that large group we saw earlier. According to the activities schedule there was supposed to be a pool party but it wasn't happening today. We learned later that was likely because of a small wedding that was happening near the beach. The main pools also didn't have a swim up bar which we were looking forward to. But there was good bar service at our chairs enjoyed the view but didn't get into the pool. The skies were starting to darken about 5:30 PM with some scattered showers so we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. 

We checked out the lobby bar and had a snack of some really great chicken wings and super crispy truffle fries!! It was really surprising they had this snack menu. We then headed to Maxal for our 8 PM Mexican dinner. They had some really good dishes. The bone marrow was delicious, especially the side dish of roasted mushrooms and huitlacoche, which is a little bit like a truffle. Angie had a very tasty fundido with corn, sausage and more of that huitlacoche!! For mains I had shrimp cilantro and Angie had the Grilled Vegetables from the vegan menu. Those vegetables were the highlight of the meal. 

 They were a little bit spicy but so well seasoned. Too often vegan dishes end up being a "throwaway" meaning they just put some vegetables on a plate and call it a day. Not here. This was a well thought out dish. 

After dinner we headed back to the lobby bar where they had a silent disco. We strapped on our headsets and alternated between the three channels, each with their associated glowing light of red, blue or green. 

It's always fun to watch others dancing together, especially when each person is on a different channel!! Definitely try it if you haven't. Many cruise lines offer this now. I've seen it most on Celebrity.  

Today we'll check out of this resort and head to Secrets Tulum which is about twenty five minutes south. Our transfer comes at 11 AM. Angie is now headed off to finish her filming of the resort. We'll meet up later for breakfast at the buffet.

Dreams Aventuras

Yesterday was our last full day at Dreams Adventuras. This hotel is situated in a section of Riveria Maya with several other shops, restaurants, hotels, private clubs , condos and timeshares. All within walking distance. Which is very unusual to find outside the Hotel Zone. 

The first night we had sushi appetizers at Gohan. We listened to the Mariachi band on the beach. 

Our dinner was Oceana and it was very good. 

 Angie finished up some work in the morning. We then had an opportunity for a site inspection at the family resorts Catalonia Riveria Maya and Catalonia Yucatan Beach.  

We returned back to Dreams about 12:20 and grabbed some lunch at the buffet. They had a decent salad bar as well as some good chicken wings. Surprisingly not many Mexican dishes except for a few ceviches. We went back to the room and I got ready for the pool. Angie had more voiceover work to complete.  

When we checked in on Thursday, there was a large wedding party checking in around the same time. Given that this is a smaller resort, I wondered what impact that would have on the different venues. I quickly found out when I got to the Sugar Reef pool bar. If Wedding Takeover was a reality show, I was making a cameo appearance. I quickly learned that nearly the entire pool was filled with this same wedding party and their guests. I got to meet many of them, including the bride. I wasn't able to narrow down who the groom was but I have my lead suspects. One was the twin brother since he was the only person actively avoiding the bride!! They were a lot of fun to be around. Although some of the guests will be having a hard time making it to today's ceremony. I'm speaking of the other twin, Drew!! He was really enjoying his house tequila shots and chasing those with mimosas. I also talked to another wedding guest from Wisconsin who was a real life version of "90 Day Fiance". He was going to be marrying someone from Venezuela. Although in his case it was 250 days.  

Angie joined me about 4PM, just in time for the "Crazy Game". The entertainment staff set up a series of hoops on one end of the pool. And guests were given Frisbees to try to get a Frisbee to fly through one of them. If successful? They'd win a bottle of rum. No one could do it. Sensing this, the staff started lifting up the hoops to "guide" the Frisbees into the hoops and we had a winner!! They also set up the pool volleyball net. Each of our teams kept trying to get Drew to be on the other team. Let's just say he wasn't playing his best. Although he did manage to score two serving aces!! After volleyball Angie went into the ocean. It was pretty shallow so not the best for swimming.  

After getting ready for dinner, we checked into Portofino (Italian) for our dinner. It was going to be a 30 minute wait so they gave us a pager. This worked out perfectly since we wanted to see the tree lighting in the lobby. Make sure you're following Angie's FB page Trips with Angie since she'll have a resort tour which just may include more about this.  

Dinner was pretty good. Started with a delicious arugula salad with blue cheese and honey mustard. I also tried the roasted tomato soup. This was the lone misstep of the night. The soup had no detectable tomato flavor. I'm not sure what flavor it even has except "earthy smoke". Not pleasant and I didn't finish it. Much better was the pesto fettuccine with duck. While it desperately needed more pesto flavor, the pasta was cooked well and had a creamy, cheesey sauce with shreds of duck. The best dish of the night was chicken rollatini. These were small wheels of Parmesan coated chicken. So crispy and yet the chicken was not overcooked. And served with a savory tomato gravy along with buttery mashed potato with bacon!! A really great dish. No dessert. We headed back to the room since we didn't want to see the evening show. We have been enjoying getting to sleep early.  

Today Angie will complete her filming of that resort and finish up some work. We will try to fit in some pool time before we have lunch at Barefoot Grill which is the beach restaurant with taco, fajitas, pizza, burgers and hot dogs. Yesterday I tried a pork carnita taco with pineapple. Today, I am going to see if they will make me a pork carnita pizza with pineapple. Our transfer will arrive at 1:30 to take us to our next hotel, Hilton Tulum.