MrsNorman

Thank you so much for posting this, and now I know who is going to be speaking during our cruise from June 16th on Queen Victoria. Brilliant. Is there any way of finding out who they are having to entertain us - any guest performers?

23 minutes ago, davecttr said:

Tipping will not be expected, there is no service charge included in the cost of the holiday for the simple reason that including one they would have to list it and people would complain about the amount and the fact that it was compulsory.

 

Rest assured that you will still be paying the crews wages. Of course you can still tip if you want to for the proper reason, a crew member has gone above and beyond of what is expected of them and really enhanced your cruise experience.

 

There will passengers who will say 'we always tip, it is expected', no it is not, they are possibly trying to demonstrate their imagined social superiority over you or they like the master/slave relationship, preferably with tugged forelock! 

Thanks for your reply which has cleared up a bit of confusion and was reassuring.  

I was confused by this when we booked up recently for next year.  We booked via P and O and were told that the charge had been removed, but when I asked if the cost of the holiday included a service charge, I was told "No". So that implied to me that tipping was still expected, but that we would have to give tips at the end of the holiday.  Not that I begrudge giving tips, but the practice of adding them to the account was preferable to us because we could then forget about them. I am not sure I like the new arrangement.

On ‎2‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 7:59 AM, AmandaLMcL said:

We are booked on the Arcadia next year so will be interested to see what you think 🙂

I like writing reviews, so I will post one when we get back!

We have mainly sailed with Celebrity apart from a week on the Marella Dream, which we also enjoyed, but we have booked a 19 day cruise to the Med on the P & O Arcadia for June 2020. So we are interested to see how this thread progresses. We thought we would try a different line, although we love Celebrity.

The one little gripe we have had about Celebrity is that there seemed to be no quiet corners apart from our cabin where we could go to relax and get away from it all. Last year we were on the Baltic cruise with Celeb which followed the Bravo cruise, (we were also on that) and apart from our niggle had a fabulous time.  We would do it all over again if we could.

Like you we loved the Eclipse but things change and we go with the flow. Now we have the Silhouette and I hope we will enjoy cruising on her too from the UK. Food is always subjective but we usually find something we like but we were a little concerned when we heard previously that New York steak had been taken off the daily menu and swapped for Irish stew. I'm sure whatever goes we will have a good time and I'm really pleased that the recent cruise was so good as its a similar itinerary.

Yes it is a shame that the steak had been taken off the daily menu, however, other steak dishes were on the other menu some nights. I had a chateaubriand one evening which was good, and we both had sirloin steak another evening, and one night there was beef wellington. Also in the OV you can usually get a very good minute steak, either as part of the buffet or cooked for you. I am sure you will have a good time regardless of the menu changes - there's always something to enjoy and Silhouette is every bit as good as the Eclipse in our opinion.

Good to hear such positive views, How was the food in the main dining room?

Bearing in mind it is produced for so many people, we thought it was very acceptable. If anything is not to your taste they will bring you something else and the waiters try hard to please. We were on the cruise before the Baltic cruise and we noticed that the menu was the same from the first night onwards on both cruises. There was a reasonable choice (although this had decreased from previous years) and the vast majority of times the food arrived promptly, and hot. Usually the meat was tender and you can choose your preferred degree of done-ness. I noticed that on this ship the food was not so salty as it had been on previous cruises (on the Eclipse). In fact, we thought the food overall was an improvement on the Eclipse, which is saying something as we loved the Eclipse.

On the last chic night one of the appetisers was a scallop in a shell which the people on the next table thought was small as they asked for more and were given it. They also ordered extra lobster. You can order more than one of each dish or more than one dish if you find the portions to be small. We thought they were on the small side but because we had eaten so well during the day we didn't mind. My husband likes being waited on in the dining room but I prefer to see the food before I choose. Also they don't serve a lot of veg in the MDR unless you ask for more veg to be brought. However because they serve a good variety of fruit and salad for breakfast and lunch in the OV, we don't find this to be an issue. Hope this helps and that you have a lovely cruise! Missing it already.

Hi Rascal 1

 

Thank you for that info and I look forward to your review. It's good to know Qsine is still available so fingers crossed it's still there next month!

I am sure it will be. I can't see them removing it at short notice.

We have also just returned from the May 26th cruise and it was really good. We enjoyed the food in the OVC particularly, did not use any speciality restaurants. Captain George was at the end of his three month stint so there will be another captain for you. I am sure you will love the Silhouette, we had an excellent cruise on her.

But do they have proper Cornish or Devon clotted cream for the scones or is it that horrible squirty stuff from a can? :D

We never have the afternoon tea (perhaps we should!) so I can't comment on the cream, but I have to say that the milk tastes different on board. In the buffet on the Eclipse there were three choices: skimmed, "regular", which I think is the same as whole milk, and "half and half" which I think is more like cream to put in coffee. Anyone else, do correct me if I am wrong. We like a good cup of tea, but on board it is not quite the same as at home. For use in the stateroom we usually get one of the little cartons from the breakfast buffet and keep it in the fridge. Your mum would probably be wise to bring her own tea things and tea, because tea always tastes better out of a china cup and you get used to your own brand.

We mostly sail on Celebrity (and are shortly to embark with that line again) but last Autumn we took a cruise on Marella Dream. We were very happy on the Marella Dream for that week. If you choose a cabin towards the back you experience vibrations as we did, but we could not fault the service and enjoyed the food. There were mainly Brits on the cruise so the food was geared to them. The entertainment was variable, but you get that wherever you go. All the staff, without exception, were lovely. We do prefer a balcony so next time we would probably look for a suitable itinerary in one of the newer ships like the Discoveries, but we have many happy memories of the Dream and Marella and would definitely sail with them again in future.

Hi

 

I was just looking through my personal cruise info on the X site when I noticed that it said 'celebration' as an add on for me. What is this?

 

Thanks.

Two years ago we went on the Ireland/Iceland cruise to celebrate my husband's 65th. I think we had "celebration" on the documents because I had telephoned Celebrity to see what was on offer as celebration packages you could buy. I can't remember what they were offering but it would have been expensive and supplying more food and drink when we already had paid for the cruise to celebrate the birthday. However on the first night which was his birthday, the waiter appeared with a little cake and sang Happy Birthday to my husband - he was quite chuffed with that. Also I had brought a happy birthday banner and his birthday cards which I attached to the stateroom wall with tape, magnets would have worked just as well, and later on in the cruise we had a special meal in the Tuscan Grille looking out over the back of the ship at Cobh as we sailed away.

I am confused about this. Does it mean that if we booked up a year ago, like we did for our Baltic cruise in three weeks and the price has come down, Celebrity would either give us on board credit or upgrade us? We would not want to upgrade, but would not say no to some OBC!

Sorry for the delay, I needed some time for research – but I came up half-empty anyway :confused:

 

I think it was this one:

The Only Way to Cross: The Golden Era of the great Atlantic express liners---from the Mauretania to the France and the Queen Elizabeth 2 by John Maxtone-Graham

https://www.amazon.com/Only-Way-Cross-liners-Mauretania/dp/0760706379/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1524801250&sr=8-9&keywords=ocean+liners

Thank you, Jazzbeau for researching that for me. I will have a read ... :)

I was in the guests' choir on the Eclipse in 2016 and part of the flash mob and choir combo when we sailed with here again this earlier this year. Both of these sailings were 14 day cruises with 5 sea days. The first time, we performed more songs and rehearsed on all of the sea days; this time (I think) we rehearsed on the last 3 sea days. So I would think that the guest choir would only be offered on sailings when there are enough sea days to hold the rehearsals.

 

Sue

Thanks for your reply, Sue. The choirs are great fun and my husband loves to take part. We're going on two consecutive cruises on Silhouette next month, the first one is the charter Bravo and as Lottie said, there will be a choir on that one as it is part of the entertainment (even though it is only seven days). The next one is the Baltic and we have five sea days - so I am very hopeful that there will be a choir on that one too! The choir Norman was in on a previous cruise was on the Eclipse, so I have been trying to find out if they do the same on the Silhouette! It seems that they do so that is wonderful.

Day 10: My Motherland.

“Ainda sinto os pés no terreno, onde meus avós bailavam o pezinho.” (I still can feel the feet of my grandparents dancing on the terrain.)

That one line in a song about the Azores just about makes me cry every time I hear it as my parents both were born in the Azores and I still have family here especially my grandmother.

Since we were here for one day I wanted to surprise my aunt and grandmother. I had arranged for my cousin to pick me up at the pier and bring me to my grandmothers house. Another cousin of mine spilt the beans to my aunt I was coming but my aunt kept it a secret from my grandmother. I arrived and was greeted with much love and my grandmother was inside. I opened the door to the house and saw my grandmother standing up about to sit down to watch TV and I greeted her and immediately the tear started rolling down her face upon seeing me. (I was hoping I wasn’t going to give her a heart attack. {I last visited was in August so it’s only been several months since I was there.}) We cried for a bit and hugged it out. I spent the day with my family and visiting other relatives that were working just to say hello and see how everyone is doing. I did go around the island on a tour even though I have seen it many of times. The island of São Miguel is beautiful. I would rate it one of the most beautiful in the world. When I get a chance I will post pictures I have taken over the years. After a nice day in Ponta Delgada, it was time to say “Até Logo” (See you later) to my family, which is always the hardest thing to do. I tried not to cry again hugging my grandmother goodbye but it’s very hard to have a concrete relationship with someone so close to you, yet because you live in two different worlds it puts a heavy strain on the relationship. Obviously my grandmother is in her 80’s so leaving her hurts more and more each year.. I have a deep connection to the island. A sense of belonging, a sense of yearning. I can feel the volcanic pulse on the ground where my feet stand. Honestly it’s tough to explain and sometimes even for myself to comprehend. I filmed sailaway from Ponta Delgada at the sunset bar since we docked bow facing forward. Afterward I went back to my stateroom to shower for the Tuscan grille tonight, I went back to my stateroom and just cried for 20 minutes as I got ready. Honestly I wish I could tell you why I cried, even though I know I will be back again and again. I finally dried my eyes and started heading for the Tuscan Grille.

 

Tuscan Grille Review:

I was one of the first people at Tuscan so I got a lovely window seat. My waiter knew my name from when he booked my specialty dining on day 1. I was amazed 10 days later he remembered my name still. Even better; the Maître d’ of Tuscan was from Portugal! We enjoyed the conversation of our day on the island and he was phenomenal, we even share the same last name!

The food was heavenly, to say the least. I had the beef Carpaccio, fillet mignon and lobster rigatoni Alfredo, which was so creamy and delicious, and a decedent tiramisu. The limoncello is also wonderful, it goes down so well and was a wonderful digestif. After dinner I went to the sunset bar for a drink and conveniently my trivia team was there so I joined in and talked about how they all enjoyed Ponta Delgada which made me super happy! The show was a singer from England who was on “Britain’s Got Talent” and lost to the 90 year old Spanish dancing lady. He had a wonderful voice and was very playful and had some British humor I do appreciate, afterward I went straight to bed, watching some British television.

 

 

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That is a lovely post, EpochTraveller, thank you for sharing it with us. I am going to read it again later.

Well Mrs Norman ... as you know, there will definitely be a ship's choir on our music charter cruise on Silhouette in May.

 

I look forward to hearing Mr Norman singing his heart out. 😄

Yes! There will definitely be a choir on that one. Thank you, hopefully you will hear Norman singing his heart out in that!

See you soon

Trish and Norman

I'm a bit late answering this, but since it's not May yet, perhaps not TOO late! We were on the Eclipse, April 1-15, and there was both a choir AND a flash mob. My husband and I participated in the choir and enjoyed it very much. It was headed up by two of the singer/dancer performers, with piano accompaniment. We practiced twice, both on at-sea days, and performed the last night on the steps in the Grand Foyer. Fun!!!

That's wonderful news to hear that Celebrity guest choirs are still being held. I contacted Celebrity to see if they were going to have a choir on the Silhouette cruise that we are going on in May/June and he said he would get back to me but didn't. But a few days ago someone who is on Silhouette at the moment and doing a great blog, messaged me to say that there was a choir on that sailing. All this is very encouraging so it seems likely that my husband Norman will be able to take part on our cruise. He finds it very fun to do! It creates great memories and I love to go and see the end result.

It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow, I spoke with my cousins, one of which is a tour guide for cruise ships on the island and she let me know tomorrow is going to be mass chaos as it is the first time they will be having this many ships. I did read that they are calling in taxi drivers from other cities to come to Ponta Delgada to help out, but our public transport system is going to be interesting. Luckily my cousins are picking me up!

 

 

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I bet that all the local coach firms will be waiting at the port to take people on excursions!. Are all those ships able to dock in the port at Ponta Delgada or will some of them have to tender? I expect people on the island will have been preparing for this influx of cruisers, because hopefully the visitors will be spending lots of money.

Couldn't agree more. I've been on a bunch of X cruises and still haven't had a chance to enjoy every offering from OV Cafe!

 

 

My thought exactly - the variety is just incredible. I'm pretty sure if someone could come up with something they couldn't find or something else they'd like made, that the staff would take care of it for you! Having said that, I haven't been able to find cheese blintzes in years :(

The OV café certainly does have plenty of variety. I particularly like the breakfast and usually have some of the lovely soaked muesli - oatmeal soaked in milk with fruit and nuts. I had it with some hot cooked bananas in syrup, which were delicious. There was a lovely "morning bread" freshly baked that was like a brioche. I always wondered what "grits" was like, and it turned out to be a bland porridge made with, I think, maize. As someone said, the variety was such that I couldn't honestly think of anything that was lacking, and I will definitely try the American Pancakes on my next trip.

I recently read a book about the "golden age" of ocean liners. The tables and chairs in the dining room were bolted down [because the ships had no stabilizers]. The meals had many courses, but there was no choice -- not even for fussy eaters, food allergies, or vegans. Men had to wear black-tie or white-tie depending on the night [nothing more casual] – and women were expected to have at least 5 different outfits each day with no repeats on the entire crossing. Thank God I was born too late to experience that "golden age" !!! [Of course, that was only for First Class passengers – my forebears sailed steerage and only had to worry about bringing their own food to last the journey!]

That sounds like an interesting book, Jazzbeau. Can you remember what it was called and the author? Thanks.

They do have a guest choir! For some odd reason why voice sounds lovely in the shower, as if I’m singing with the angels. When I sing outside the shower the angelic voice I had gets lost. I wish I could sing, I sing so much, just not in front of others!

 

 

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Great! Keep singing, never stop!! I am so pleased to hear that there is a guest choir. Because it seems likely that there will also be one on our Baltic cruise in May, and my husband, Norman can be in it as he really enjoys singing in choirs. XX

Thank you for your latest instalment! When we go on Silhouette in four weeks, our stateroom is near to the hideaway so we are looking forward to going in there for a read, hopefully not dropping off to sleep in there! (I think you can get coffee from there and hear music from the atrium).

A question: do you happen to know if they have a guest choir on your cruise? If so, are you going to be in it?

Anyone care to answer ?

We have been on the Eclipse but you are asking about times that we are trying not to be tempted, so I can't really be more help. There is an extensive breakfast buffet during the time we eat but I guess it would be scaled down for the late breakfast while they clear up to prepare for lunch. I am guessing that maybe the freshly cooked eggs and omelette stations close down - maybe. Afternoon tea consists of cakes and scones and little sandwiches. All very nice but we try to give these a miss! We have been in the buffet quite late-ish for a last cuppa tea and there seem to be things like cheese and cooked meats, and bread, that you could prepare a sandwich, and a few dessert items and fruit. You will love the Eclipse. Have a great time!

Thanks for your lively review, we are savouring the anticipation of our forthcoming cruises all the more because of it. I was disappointed to hear that you found the buffet not very varied in its offerings though. On the Eclipse, we thought it was great.

What do you think of the entertainment on board? Apart from there being the lovely Sue Denning, we would love to know what the talent is like on board.

Have a great time and we will catch up with you later and thanks once again.

We're on the Baltic cruise with you. Very jealous of your back 2 back. You will feel very smug staying on board as everyone else disembarks at Southampton.

I'm enjoying this thread too in anticipation of our first Silhouette Cruise in May....[emoji51]

 

 

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Hi, nice to hear from you. I have done a reply on the thread for the 26th May cruise, as I didn't want to hijack EpochTraveller's blog with my ramblings.