Well, those are two completely unrelated things, so there's no rational reason to worry.

Regarding your cruise, where does it stop? Your options for excursions and activities differ by destination.

Congratulations on booking your first cruise!
In terms of shore excursions, the best advice I could give you is head over to the Celebrity Cruises website and look at each destination and the recommended shore excursions. Unfortunately, I do not think that the list of excursions available on your sailing will be released until 90-100 day prior, but you can bet on most of the ones currently listed on the celebrity website to be included.

You'll be sailing aboard a great ship, I was fortunate enough to sail on a short voyage on the Reflection when she launched. My advice to you would be to experience some of the specialty restaurants on-board. There is a small additional charge for these, but in my opinion they are well worth it and offer an interesting dining experience.

We prefer not to use the ships shore excursions: too many people being herded around, too much time spent getting a big group through the restrooms, they never seem to spend the time we want at the spots we want.

In some ports, we negotiate with a cabbie/guide to take us to the places I've researched. In others, we've rented a car (or a scooter) and toured on our own. In some, we've done self-guided historical walking tours.

At www.cruisecritic.com, you can find information about private tours in their Ports of Call boards and find fellow passengers with whom to share small group tours in the Roll Call boards.

Agree with abram inre to tours. its usually much less $$ to do them on your own and you will get a better experience too.

Be careful esp. as thisis your 1st cruise to not take too manypictures from the ships photographers. Bear in mind that if they take your pics you don't have to buy them but ships pics can be very expensive and they do add up.

What are your port stops?

I have read that by NOT using the ships excursions you take the risk of the ship leaving without you should your private tour be delayed. has this every happened to anyone or is this something the cruise line puts out so you WILL use theirs

On very rare occasions, people have missed cruise ships, but I've never seen it happen. But whether or not I'd take a ship sponsored excursion depends on the activity. I do agree that most of the time it's cheaper to arrange a tour on your own. But there are times when you almost have to use a ship tour, like with the Americas Cup sailing excursion in Sr Maarten.

There are some excursions that have to be booked through the ship (I was just on Norwegian and I believe the Blue Lagoon Island in Nassau was one). As for going with a private tour, I wouldn't worry about missing the ship. After all, it's bad for their business if they don't get you back on time. I had great luck on a previous cruise with the tours I took. And if all you're doing is going to the beach, you can just take a cab or a water taxi in most places.

Thanks to everyone for their replies! Our ports are San Juan, Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas and Philpsburg - St. Maarten..

I will go to the Celebrity website and check that out. We were going to purchase one soda package and one water package.. is this necessary? From what I have read to purchase alacart is very expensive.

We are really looking to enjoy the days at sea as we have not cruised before..

anyone have any recommendations for a hotel to stay at in Miami that has transportation to the dock?

Several airport hotels offer this (Hampton Inn and Suites Miami South, for example), but I'm not sure that's the best place to stay since you're far away from what Miami has to offer. The Courtyard downtown has a cruise package that includes cruise transfers.

We used the following private tour operator on St. Maarten and she was fab!!

http://www.joyceprince.com/

Here are some:
http://www.miamispringhillsuites.com/html/miami-cruise.asp
Springhill Marriott

http://www.bestwesternonthebay.com/ap-hotels-near-port-miami-1328649065.php
Best Western w/ free airport and port services
http://www.hamptoninnmiamiairport.com/landing/landing/lp8.php
5 min. from airport
http://www.runwayinn.com/port-of-miami-hotel-deals.html

http://meetoncruise.com/ports/Miami.php
miscellaneous info on Miami and port

Good Luck, this should help you find something. We just docked Miami in December from our 15 day transatlantic. We just walked out of the port and there were tons of vendors offering rides to airport, etc. We got a shuttle for $10 pp, just had to wait til van was full (about 15 min.) and got dropped off at each terminal. This would be ok if you were disembarking from the ship heading to airport for flights home.

A few things:
A) I just got back from a Norwegian cruise out of Miami and spent a few nights afterward at the Circa 39 hotel in Miami Beach. It's a good, relatively inexpensive option across the street from the beach and about a 20 minute walk north of the South Beach strip. The cab fare to the hotel was about $25 and so was the shuttle from the hotel to the airport;
B) I would strongly recommend taking a cab to Magen's Bay if you haven't been to St. Thomas.
C) In San Juan, you could easily see the old city on your own, and I believe the ship docks right across from the main gate since it's only stopping for the day.

Italiantable, Caribbean ports are easy to do on your own, no need to book tours unless you want to scuba, snorkel or whatever.

Our ports are San Juan, Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas and Philpsburg - St. Maarten..

San Juan - very easy to do on your own. It's been a few years since we docked there but I'm sure things haven't changed much. Here's a nice website that has a walking tour of Old San Juan:
http://gopuertorico.about.com/od/oldsanjuan/ss/WalkingTour.htm

"We begin our tour at the Plaza de la Dársena, at the foot of the city. Why here? Two reasons: one, if you're coming off a cruise ship, the plaza is on your left as you make your way into the city. And two, this is where you'll find the La Casita Tourism Information Center, where you can pick up maps and other useful information. From here, you'll head towards your first stop: the imposing Castillo de San Cristóbal." (info quoted from website)

Lots of good info on above website for San Juan. Also, you can barter w/ the merchants in the stores, not sure if all of them. I was able to purchase some nice jewelry while there.

I know that some people will head to one of the resort hotels for the day. I am not sure if you have to pay to use the resort, others may advise.

ST. THOMAS: Charlotte Amalia is the town where you will dock. Here is a terrific website w/ info on the two ports.
http://www.beyondships.com/Ports-StThomas-2.html

Again, shopping in St. Thomas is great! You can definitely barter here and I have purchased some nice jewelry here. Last time my camera died so I bought a new camera while there.

Megan's Bay is a lovely beach where you can spend the day. Your ship may offer a shuttle service to the beach so check out the tours.
Otherwise, you may be able to share a taxi ride w/ other cruisemates wanting to go to the beach.

We have take two tours while on the island w/ Roy Sheridan. He's a fantastic tour guide, very popular as well. I do not have his contact info. Sometimes he will be standing in the mall area when you get off the ship looking for passengers. Everyone knows Roy once you have been to St. Thomas! A cruiser that took his tour said the following: "Roy Sheridan, a veteran tour guide of 30+ years and voted by the local Chamber as best tour operator. He told us it gave him privileges to take us to see things that others weren't allowed to go. This ultimately meant Blue Beard's castle complex, which was kind of neat. This guy was so knowledgeable and the tour so comprehensive that we finally did consider ourselves lucky to run into Roy and enjoy a nice tour. $25 per person. Excellent tour."

http://www.havefunwithus.net/packages.html (Known as Papa Bear)

http://www.sunnylistontours.com/

I do not personally have any knowledge of either of the above two tours so can't vouch for what kind of tour you get.

You will find many vendors standing on the shore waiting for your business. Good luck.

St. Maarten - we've been there a couple of times. Again, easy to do on your own. You can take a water taxi to Front St. and just walk along the shops, etc. Great bartering here, bought tons of jewelry.
You will find vendors looking to take you on a tour there as well. They will be lined up on the dock when you get off the ship. If you just want to beach, then nice beaches as well.

http://www.philipsburg-info.com/
Map of Philipsburg St. Martin

Where You're Docked:

The A.C. Wathey Pier & Port Facility, St. Maarten's pier and cruise terminal, is a boon to cruise passengers, especially those who find tendering unpleasant, inconvenient or physically challenging. In most cases, ships will dock there, where it's less than one mile to the heart of Philipsburg. (Inexpensive water taxis are available for those who don't want to walk.) On busy days when lots of ships are in port, tendering to Little Pier, right in the center of Philipsburg, is still a possibility.

We took a water taxi to town, was very reasonable for a round trip.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/newport.cfm?ID=13
Cruise Critic info on St. Martin - lots of good stuff there!

Have fun planning your cruise. You will love it! As with visiting any foreign countries/ports, be aware of your surroundings and be careful when walking about the islands.

May

Luv2Travel15.. this is so helpful.. I knew I could count on getting great information.. thanks will review and start planning!

Italiantable, glad this info was helpful. You will enjoy your cruise. I might also suggest that you go over to the www.cruisecritic.com boards that I referenced as you will find tons of info there on the islands you will be visiting. I would check out the "Roll Call" section after you are on the site, find Celebrity, then your Reflections roll call and others will be posting there on what to do. You may also find some tours that people organized and are looking to share, will save some money. The ship's tours may not be that expensive for the Caribbean either. Check them out.

Italiantable, glad this info was helpful. You will enjoy your cruise. I might also suggest that you go over to the www.cruisecritic.com boards that I referenced as you will find tons of info there on the islands you will be visiting. I would check out the "Roll Call" section after you are on the site, find Celebrity, then your Reflections roll call and others will be posting there on what to do. You may also find some tours that people organized and are looking to share, will save some money. The ship's tours may not be that expensive for the Caribbean either. Check them out.

Italiantable, glad this info was helpful. You will enjoy your cruise. I might also suggest that you go over to the www.cruisecritic.com boards that I referenced as you will find tons of info there on the islands you will be visiting. I would check out the "Roll Call" section after you are on the site, find Celebrity, then your Reflections roll call and others will be posting there on what to do. You may also find some tours that people organized and are looking to share, will save some money. The ship's tours may not be that expensive for the Caribbean either. Check them out.

Sorry for the triple posts, wouldn't post after I hit submit! Oh well...

Congrats on booking your cruise! I wouldn't worry about mishaps like the recent one, obviously they're rare. I'm also a first time cruiser, so I'm reading a lot about what to expect. Be sure to visit www.cruisecritic.com like many above have suggested. It's a great site with information on anything you can imagine! I guess the overwhelming tip I'm hearing from reading and family for a short cruise is.... don't bring too much! Cruisediva.com has loads of packing lists, so I'm finding that a good place to start, along with some general tips that I found in this article www.cheapestcruise.info/packing-for-a-cruise/ I'm using these tips, like color coordinating outfits and I plan to ziplock bag and compress everything and bring only ONE bag. Maybe I'm dreaming, but traveling light sounds great! Hope your cruise is fantastic!

"I would strongly recommend taking a cab to Magen's Bay if you haven't been to St. Thomas"
Just find out how many ships will be docked at St Thomas at the same time. Magen's Bay could be very crowded and there are many beaches on St. Thomas that you could visit instead.

"shopping in St. Thomas is great"
In the downtown area, there are many many shops. However, if you are interested in purchasing perfume, stop at "Perfumaria" (I think that's the name) located in the Yacht Basin on the way back to the ship. Their prices were at least $10-30 lower than in downtown St. Thomas and much lower than the ship. I bought my new favorite perfume in a 3.5oz size for $10 more than 1.5 oz at the local Macys back home.

For St. Maartin, if you choose to stay on the Dutch side, there are beaches right in the downtown area. We paid $10pp (all day use) for a padded lounge chair next to the water, umbrella, table and for an additional $2.50, a tall cool pina colada delivered straight to you on the beach. We hit the beach early, stayed for a long while, then did our shopping in the afternoon before heading back to the ship.
You should be aware that on the French side of St. Martin, you will be charged in Euros.

"We were going to purchase one soda package and one water package.. is this necessary? "
Water on the ship is filtered with a reverse osmosis process and very good. No need for a water package. With a soda package, just ask yourself if you will drink $X worth of soda during your trip. You can always get coffee/tea/iced teas at no charge. It may have changed, but on some ships you could always ask for soda in the main dining room at no charge and cappuchino at dinner at no charge. However, I don't know if that's still the case.

I agree with the other posters' suggestions about cruise critic, etc.
Enjoy your trip.

To see which ships are in port with you:
http://ships.cruisett.com/schedule/Celebrity_Cruises/Celebrity_Reflection/February_2014/

You're going to love Celebrity.

Bon Voyage!

Meghan Travelor.. thank you for that link!

GBelle.. great ideas.. oh.. I can just see my self with that Pina Colada! We will get the soda package because my husband drinks soda.. I do not..

3Doxens.. that is a great link as well.. I never thought to check what other ships were there..

I recently returned from these ports.

If you dock in old San Juan, walk up the hill from the ship 2 blocks to Starbucks for a coffee fix. Turn right after coming out and walk 2 blocks to Trolley Stop #3 that will take you around old San Juan and up to El Morro fort for Free.
You can get out at any stop & hop on next one. There were HUGE crowds waiting to get on at Stop #1 & couldn't.

I like the French side of St Martin so after the all-day $7 water taxi to Front Street I walked to Back Street where vans come along w/sign in window indicating town. Flagged one for Marigot & handed the $2 to drive when I got out. Plenty of cafes, bazaars etc to see.

In St Thomas took the $4 shared taxi to town to shop.

Do peruse cruisecritic as others have suggested & sign up under ROLL CALL & see if there is a Meet & Greet aboard.
You can meet others & ask questions there.