Great cruise but skip specialty upcharge by
Dave N from Melbourne, FL
Sailing date: Apr 2013 Pros:
Beautiful Ship
Cons:
Ridiculous upcharge for specialty restaurants; outrageous charge for Internet access
The Silhouette is a very classy ship - there was clearly great painstaking care put into the design of this class of vessel. Having sailed previous generations of Celebrity and Royal Carribean - this was the finest ship.
Ship Quality The finishning details are exceptional on this ship. There is extremely optimal use of space throughout - even with nearly 3000 passengers, you never feel crowded, can always find a deck chair, a seat in the restaurant or a spot in the lounges. The elevator gallery is spectacular.
Dining/Food All the restaurants are decorated very nicely. Black Tie is optional and few people wore it - but many dressed up in business attire for the formal dinners. The Grand Cuvee main restaurant food was pretty good, but not over the top exceptional. It is clear that the great quality that used to be the norm in the main dining room for cruises a few years ago, has now been overcome by bean counters scrimping on every dollar of cost. For example - no escargot - it costs too much. And wine by the bottle is ridiculously and unnecessarily exhorbitant. The attempt is to drive you to the specialty restaurants for a heavy upcharge - way too high for what you get. Of those, some try too hard (Qsine), or not hard enough (Tuscany). Only Murano was top shelf. Ironically, the beef filet was best at the Lawn Club. Yet - next time I would skip the specialty restaurants and stick with the main dining room and the Ocean View open cafe.
Stateroom Quality Very suitable, great shower, very comfortable bed, nice balcony, quiet.
Ship Staff Quality Crew were always available, friendly and cheerful - amazing considering how hard they work and the long hours they pull.
Entertainment & Activities Skip the pre-arranged tours - overpriced and you can step off the ship in every port and find local guides or transport to do the same or better.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Excellent cruise! by
Ron R. from San Antonio Tx
Sailing date: Apr 2013 Pros:
We had no complaints at all. Lisa the cruise director was wonderful, hope she is on another one we take.
Cons:
no complaints
We love evrything about the ship, look forward to doing it again next year.
Ship Quality
Dining/Food
Stateroom Quality
Ship Staff Quality everyone was so friendly, the waiter in the martini bar named Ardness was excellent.
Entertainment & Activities
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Great time. by
A Traveler from upstate NY
Sailing date: Jan 2013 Pros:
New, beautiful ship, excellent food and drinks and service.
Cons:
The tender in Grand Cayman.
Subtle and elegant decor. Clean, shiny and new.
Ship Quality
Dining/Food Opt for aqua class and eat in Blu restaurant, food ,service and decor all beautiful.
Stateroom Quality Aqua class. robes, bottled water, canapes, Ice tea, few extras in the bathroom.
Ship Staff Quality
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Could be better by
A Traveler from MD
Sailing date: Dec 2012 Pros:
dining and art auctions
Cons:
my stateroom
Unlike my previous Celebrity cruises this was rather boring. All interesting excursions were sold out. The day in Coco Cay was especially boring as it was nothing to see there.
I was dissapointed with internet service. Not only that it was very expensive, but the connection was very slow and was interrupted many tiems, so I had to reconnect often and for 30 minutes did not manage to send a single email.
I was dissapointed with the misleading information provided by the staff. For example, I bought a shore excursion that appeared to be very different from the description that was provided to me at teh desk. Also, I was misled by your AquaSPa personnel who described the Persian Garden in a wrong way. In general, I was dissapointed with Persian Garden as the steamroom was often off or broken and the sauna room had very low temperature - almost nobody used it because of this.
Ship Quality I selecetd this cruise to get experience with a new ship, Silhouette. But it provided aboslutely the same quality of the travel as previous, older Celebrity ships. The only new thign was the lawn but I did not use it.
Dining/Food Dinner food was very good. However, I would be much more happy if I get a table in the area with two-people tables instead of sitting alone near big companies.
Breakfast was OK but not as good as previous times. For example, this cruise did not have my favorite Japanese breakfast.
Stateroom Quality I got this room as a promotion, but I would better stay in the room that was offered to me originally. My room faced a storage, so instead of enjoying the view of the ocean, I had to see boxes and barrels. Besides, this room (7105) was just above the anchor and engine, so it was very noisy and often I had a bad sleep.
Ship Staff Quality The staff was not as professional as on pervious cruises. For example, I was disturbed several times while resting in the room (and the staff knew this) with offers for water or ice.
Entertainment & Activities The shows were quite mediocre.
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Very Good Cruise by
A Traveler from Casper, WY
Sailing date: Nov 2012 Pros:
The service
Cons:
Food
Overall it was a good cruise once we got a few problems taken care of. The ship and staff are excellent and this is why I would recommend it.
Ship Quality
Dining/Food This is where Celebrity let us down. We were served poor quality food and it didn't matter if we were in the buffet or a speciality restaurants. We complained and no one cared. They did I hope dumped a lot of food that was spoiled but for what we were expecting it was like eating at the golden corral.
Stateroom Quality I can't tell how other rooms were but our Royal Suite was perfect.
Ship Staff Quality I would give excellent except for the way they handled the food complaints.
Entertainment & Activities We ok but could improve. I didn't help that we had rough seas and they had to cancel some of the shows more hazardous acts.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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An educational cruise by
MWL from South Carolina
Sailing date: Oct 2012 Pros:
The Port lecture series & the ports of call
Cons:
The size of the stateroom w/balcony failed to have adequate storage & our view was obstructed by tenders
With only one day at sea on our cruise, we spent less time
on the ship than usual. The cruise director, Lisa, was
the best we have seen, and quite talented as well. The
staff was very friendly and most accommodating. It was
easy to find your way around the ship, and the library was
one of the most extensive we have experienced. We would
definitely recommend this ship and its captain.
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Dining/Food
Stateroom Quality
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Fabulous first cruise, many more to come by
A Traveler from Pennsylvania
Sailing date: Jun 2012 Pros:
Beautiful ship of luxury- easy on and off ship
Cons:
Exclusive Athens excursion- not worht the money
For a first cruiser this was an amazing experience. Celebrity was well organized and customer service oriented.
Ship Quality
Dining/Food
Stateroom Quality
Ship Staff Quality
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3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Wonderful cruise by
Eleanor Sullivan-Friday from Woodbridge, VA
Sailing date: May 2012 Pros:
Ship and crew were outstanding
Cons:
storage in the staterooms
The ship was beautiful. The crew was great. Food - excellent.
Ship Quality
Dining/Food
Stateroom Quality The storage over the bed is hard to get to. Standing on the bed is the only option
Ship Staff Quality
Entertainment & Activities
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Holy Land cruise by
Robert G from Fairfax County, VA
Sailing date: Sep 2011 Ship is outstanding.
Ship Quality Beautiful ship with great new design features, such as greatly improved bathrooms.
Dining/Food Main dining room was great. Lawn Grill too. Murano-not so much.
Stateroom Quality Not the stateroom that we were told that we were getting.
Ship Staff Quality
Entertainment & Activities
Collapse List of Ports
Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey Don't Miss: Ephesus
Ashdod, Israel Don't Miss: church of the Holy Sepulchre
Haifa, Israel Galilee
Don't Miss: Mount of Beatitudes
Mykonos, Greece Don't Miss: find a hotel with a 'day pass' on the beach.
Naples, Italy Don't Miss: Amalfi Coast
Piraeus (Athens), Greece Don't Miss: Acropolis visit
18 out of 21 people found this review helpful.
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