Aunt Tina

I'd love to hear if the 7am cabin departure time continues. I will be sailing on the Silhouette the end of February. I am not looking forward to people having to haul around their carry-ons all over the ship till we are allowed to get off. The luggage fills up the elevators, and fills the chairs, tables and floor in the oceanview café, making it hard to find a place to sit and becomes a tripping hazaard. If you can't leave your valuables in the room safe, they have to be watched or carried around with you. Sounds like a nightmare to me.

Additionally, it is very difficult to get home to our airport before midnight the day of the debarkation. That makes for a very long and frustrating day. Two years ago we arrived home at midnight, were plowed in at the airport parking lot and had to try to shovel our way out. After finally getting help we got home after 1 am.

Do I really want to do this?

The desserts in the case at Café Al Bacio are free - and wonderful. If you are elite plus you also get speciality tea free.

If you like warm pools - the solarium pool is great. The locker rooms off the solarium have great showers - all the toiletries are there and plenty of towels. Much nicer than walking through the halls wet.

We really liked the lawn club- I don't know anything about grilling - they were great in showing me. You have a choice to have them teach you - or have them do it. The games on the lawn are fun too. They usually have music on the lawn at night once or twice.

I have been on 5 Princess cruises ( last time was 7 years ago) and 20 Celebrity Cruises. I always had problems finding a place to sit in the shade on the Emerald Princess, and really disliked the large screen at the pool always blaring day and night. I was thrilled to find all the great places to sit on the Silhouette. There are triangle "tent"s giving shade near the pool, lots of shade by the windows on the pool deck, shade cloth above the lounge chairs around the upper pool deck, and great places to sit in the solarium.

I loved the resistance machine in the small pool on Princess to swim in place. Nothing like it on Celebrity.

The closets are far superior on Princess. On longer cruises we have left part of our clothing in the suitcase on the smaller Celebrity ships. However, now we get free laundry (elite and elite plus) on Celebrity we don't have to bring so many clothes.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding. It is great you are planning ahead for this trip by checking out your questions with fellow passengers.

I love the Aft cabins - it is very relaxing to sit and watch the wake and sunset. It is also very sunny - and in the Caribbean sometimes too hot to sit on the balcony! I also agree with the others that concierge class is not that great unless it is very close in price to regular balconies. In fact out next cruise it was cheaper - so we will be in a cc balcony in February. I have lowered our fare 3 times since I booked onboard the last cruise in September - and we are paying about half what we booked at for the Silhouette. I did the same thing on the West Coast Cruise - our price was lowered 4 times before final payment. Keep checking the prices before final payment. Use other websites too - Celebrity's site does not easily show all the rooms that are available.

Consider taking private tours rather than ship's tours. Check the ports thread for the islands you will be visiting. There are great snorkeling places. We take private excursions on islands - except when you go to other islands (for example, from St. Thomas to St. John). We have really enjoyed the smaller groups. We did the Captain Bob Cass tour in St. Marten which was great if you like swimming, snorkeling, and fast boats. We did a tour with Godfrey on St. Thomas which included an island tour, time to shop and several hours at your choice of a couple beaches. We did a great tour with Levi Baron in Dominica which included snorkeling, walking a gorge and swimming at a falls.

The ship guarantees it will wait for you on their tours - which is important! However, in 42 cruises I have not had a problem with private tours.

We have really enjoyed our sea days on transatlantic cruises. Check your cruise thread to see what has been organized. If you have special interests put it out on the thread to see if others want to get together. Many times we have seen game/card players get together daily. On one cruise there was a needlework get together every morning at 10 in the sky lounge organized by one cruise critic avid crafter - she offered to assist others interested in learning or needing help. We often arrange /join private tours and arrange to have lunch with people who will be joining us on those tours so we know each other before getting off the ship for the tour. Definitely join the cabin crawl if one is being organized - best way to see other rooms on the ship- especially the suites. We have been entertained in the penthouse twice in cabin crawls - and offered to move in with them! We have had really great guest speakers on the sea days - there are usually several per cruise. The cruise director's staff will hold many more activities on the sea days - we often have trouble deciding which one to go to!

Thank you for finding it. The logo at the top says Cruise Connections - which may have been the old company name.

I'm flying into Melbourne to visit relatives before a Celebrity cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale at the end of February. Several years ago I took a bus that stopped at several cities picking up cruise passengers and took them right to their ship. Does this still exist?

I'm always cold - I hate the dining rooms and the theater in the Caribbean., although the air conditioning is more sensible than it was years ago! I usually wear long sleeves and a jacket in them. Pashmina shawls are usually available on board in the gift shops if you get cold. I had less problems with the temperatures onboard in Alaska and on Trans-Atlantic cruises.

There have been blankets available at the pool on some of my cruises. I often take one with me - and keep it in my tote bag so I have it to go to the theater.

I find cuddleduds (insulated underwear) to be easy to pack, lightweight, and easy to use for layering. I also bought a systems jacket from Lands End which can be used with or without the lining. The lining can be used as a separate jacket.

Enjoy Alaska!

Thanks so much for the information on getting to the Blue Horizon from the airport . Although the train price is tempting it sounds like we should taxi in - leave the walking for touring after we get to the hotel. I'm under 5 feet tall - and manage to fully pack my suitcases to the weight limit!

We are two active senior ladies flying into Vancouver the day before our Celebrity Infinity cruise, and staying overnight at the Blue Horizon. We will have a large suitcase and carry on each. What are the options for getting from the airport to the hotel? Thanks!

They can leave later often because they only travel a few miles to the next island, and it is one of the ports ship often stay later in.

I will check these out. Others on our cruise are going to do it. I appreciate your help!

Chris

We are cruising on the Infinity in September from Vancouver to San Francisco. Air fares from Rochester to Seattle are much cheaper than Rochester to Vancouver. Is it possible to take a train, shuttle or bus to Vancouver from Seattle if we arrive a day or two early? Is it a reasonable thing to do?

Thanks for any info!

Chris

I'm going to be on a cruise stopping in Monterey in September and have booked an all day tour with others from the ship with Evan:

Ag Venture Tours & Consulting Contact Details

Email: evan@agventuretours.com

Address:

285 Hawthorne St

Monterey, California, 93940

I've been on the Summit 7 times going to Hawaii, New England, Bermuda and the Caribbean. I've been on the Silhouette 4 times for transAtlantic cruises and the Caribbean. I love both for different reasons.

It is an advantage to sail from Puerto Rico on the Summit where you are immediately in warm weather. Sailing from Florida in winter can give you cool weather on the way to your first port, and on the way back into Florida.

Sea days often translate into no where to sit by the pool. If you want to sit anywhere else there is plenty of room - just not near the pool, music or pool activities.

There are more activites/entertainment provided on sea days on Silhouette; with everyone off ship in port on the Summit there are many fewer ship activities.

The islands have wonderful beaches - much better than sitting around the pool or ship on sea days. Take the Summit and go to a beach or hotel beach on each of the islands. In Barbados we took a wonderful 6 hour private tour swiiming and snorkeling. on a catamaran. Antigua has gorgeous beaches. Take the ship's tour to St. John from St. Thomas and go to Trunk Bay for swimming and snorkeling - my favorite beach in the world (so far anyway!)

Murano on Summit is fabulous - so is the Tuscan.

The crew and officers on the Summit are wonderful. Ashley the Captains Club hostess is the best. Captain Kate is the first American female ship's captain and was seen everywhere on the ship.

I think the eastern Caribbean is more interesting and has better beaches.

Enjoy!

Was on the Silhouette first week in March. The Bistro on 5 was available - we ate there on embarcation day. However - it took over half an hour for any food to come after we ordered, and the service continued to be very slow. Only a few tables were occupied. The menu was greatly reduced from the menu we had on the Summit in September.

Just returned from the Silhouette March 6 sailing from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. The ship did NOT change time. We had a private tour in St. Maarten and had to go by local island time not ship's time. We had to rush right off to make the meeting time. It also meant that we had a little extra time when we got back - the schedule on return would only have given us 30 minutes to be back on board.

Just returned from Silhouette last weekend. OBCN was not refundable in the casino for cash with the 5% fee.

Just got off the Silhouette last Sunday. Select dining was a disaster. No matter when we showed up there was a major wait. We tried at 6 - we tried at 8:30. Twice when we asked to join others at a table we waited for over 40 minutes, then, when I went to ask how much longer- we were told they were suddenly ready for us, but sharing was not a possibility. When we looked down to 2nd seating, there were tons of empty tables and larger tables that only had two people at them. I'd prefer to go back to 2nd seating than deal with select dining again. We spent two weeks on the Summit in fall, and had a great time with select dining. I think the Silhouette has an operational/managment problem with their select dining. We saw the host being inappropriately blasted by a passenger one night when she too waited over 40 minutes. One person handled it on the Summit quite well, two people on the Silhouette could not get it right!

We tried to get a discount in the specialty diining restaurants - could not get one. We enjoyed the Lawn Grill at lunch, the Tuscan restaurant on the last night, and Quisine. We booked them on Wednesday and made changes on Friday without a problem.

We ate at the Bistro on 5 for lunch when embarking the first day. Although there were only a few people there, the wait for food was over 30 minutes. Agree that the menu was more limited than when we ate on the Summit last fall.

For those who remember Marie from Mauritius from the Tuscan Restaurant - she has been promoted to Hostess in Blu. We were very pleased for her.

I'm looking forward to boarding the Silhouette on Sunday. Thank you for all the great pictures! Your review is a real resource to see for those who have never been on a ship - I'm referring your site to those who haven't!

I was able to get shareholders credit on the past TA I did. If you have Royal Caribbean stock check out the OBC for the TA.

I'm sailing on the 28th. Would appreciate info on cashing in OBC in the casino - is it still possible to cash in non-refundable OBC for the 5% fee?

The staff on the Summit is the best. I have been on Summit 5 times, including the two week New England cruise last fall with Captain Kate. At least a dozen senior officers , including Captain Kate, came to the Cruise Critic meet and greet. We love Ashley, the Captain's Club Hostess. As Monica said, it is large enough to be comfortable and interesting, and small enough to easily get around and get to know others.

You will get an equivalent status on Celebrity for your Platinum on Royal.

We have sailed frequently on the Summit and second the vote for Ashley. She is very welcoming, remembers people's names and important information and goes out of her way to assist passengers. When I wanted to organize a lunch for a group going out on a private tour later in the cruise she assisted me with arrangements until the new staff person in charge came on board. She even typed a quick invitation letter to them for me. Can't wait to see her again.

I was on the 14 day Summit cruise to New England last September/October. It was wonderful. We love the Summit and have sailed on her many times. It is small enough to be cozy and large enough to have a variety of activites and plenty of room for everyone. The a dozen senior staff officers attended the Cruise Critic meet and greet - including the new Captain Kate. The officers make a real effort to get to know passengers.

The overnight in Quebec was great - we were docked at one of the farther out docks - but it had a shuttle bus. It was near the public market which was great - an inexpensive way to bring back some great souveniers (maple butter) and othe items.

In one of the main ports the ship bought a lobster for each person on board to have for dinner that night.

When we left the NJ harbor, Captain Kate turned the ship from side to side so everyone had a great and upclose view of the Statue of Liberty.

There was free wifi in the terminal in Quebec for the two days which came in very handy.

I vote for Celebrity.