celebritydave

We are disappointed that they are doing away with the footstools. Now there is one more  reason for us to not to book Concierge cabins any more. We will buy some inflatable ones and book a larger balcony. We do spend a lot of time relaxing on our balcony especially on sea days. We love doing transatlantic cruises, so a larger balcony will be nice.  

 Is silk harvest still on the Equinox? 

1 hour ago, dkjretired said:

Also, to add to above comments, wine is only allowed to be brought on board at embarkation, not at ports.  If you buy it at ports it will be held until you leave the ship. 

When we do European cruises, they usually don't care. We have done winery tours and brought back 4 bottles of wine and they let us keep it.   

we always sail concierge class if it's less than 200. On our November cruise we upgraded for 50$. We have a cruise booked for August 2019 and concierge class is 500$ more. Definitely not worth it. 

We had the Celebrity Dressing on the Silhouette TA last month. My favorite dressing.

I keep a small knife with wine opener in my shaving kit when I travel. I always put it in my checked bag. Never had a problem having that in our cabin. I did once have a similar knife (2.75 inch blade) in my shore bag (containing t-Shirts, etc) when I went on shore from the Celebrity Century and I was "relieved" at the screening machine as I returned from shore. Not a big deal as I usually do not need nor carry even a small pocket knife ashore.

 

I have travel on Celebrity and most other of the major cruise lines without ever having a problem with that knife/wine opener in my checked bags. But I guess I am getting paranoid in my old age.....can anyone offer any evidence that Celebrity will confiscate my knife/wine opener in my checked bag? I know what Ceelb's web site says about any sharp item (what the heck is that?), but surely this doesn't apply?

 

Another question, I generally have a Leatherman "micra" tool in my pocket. Its scissors are handy for cutting the cable ties off my bags when I fly. Anyone offer any evidence that may cause a problem? Not that it's proof one way or the other, but I just completed a cruise on Carnival with that tool in my pocket every time I went on/off the ship.

 

Thanks for your experiences!

 

Doug

I have a large Swiss Army knife plus a wine opener that I put in checked luggage, not a problem.

Dave

My wife and I have taken 6 Viking cruises (5 river and 1 ocean). We are avid Viking voyagers. We love them.

 

Here is my pictorial website of all six of our Viking cruises (Grand European in July 2014, China in May 2015, Southern France in October 2015, Russia in July 2016, Portugal in September 2016 and Caribbean in November 2016) as well as two recent trips we did on our own to Britain in July 2015 and New Zealand in March 2016. Also on my site are links to my CruiseCritic reviews of the 6 cruises.

 

http://www.RhodesVacations.com

 

On most Viking trips, many people assume that I am the official Viking photographer since I am everywhere taking pictures. I am not. I am just a guest with photography as a hobby. I take 6,000+ pictures per trip but cull them down to about the best 600 for posting on my website.

 

If you have a chance to look at the site, I hope you enjoy it and hope it gets you eager for your next travel adventure.

I just finished looking at your pictures of the Russia cruise you took. Your pictures are fantastic! We have been talking about doing this cruise for quite a few years. After seeing you pictures, we are convinced!

Thanks again for posting,

Dave

I have been eating the Celebrity burgers at the mast grill since 1995. I have always thought they were pretty good, better than most fast food restaurants. Are they frozen? sure, a lot of the meat is frozen and still tastes pretty good.

I would be very disappointed if they stopped serving free burgers and hot dogs at the mast grill.

Dave

Thanks for your advice. It is an issue of timing. We still haven't finalized our plans yet, but now that we know the train station is ok, it gives us more flexibility on our times.

Dave

Went to the St Petersburg viewing yesterday afternoon. There wasn't any line. They offered us water or sparkling cider to drink. We got to keep the glasses. They had a table set up with information on cruises and a brochure on the Edge. The brochure has pretty much the same information as the website, but the deck plans are easier to read.

You could sign up to win a cruise and they had someone taking pictures where you could choose your background. We entered the trailer and received a bag of the truffle popcorn and a Celebrity rep gave a short introduction to the film.

The film lasted about 15 minutes and included brief shots of destinations. The part on the ship was pretty good but not too much new information. It was put together very well. My wife, who works in marketing, thought it was a slick presentation.I am glad I went, but was a bit disappointed that there was no new information.

The Tiburtina station is fine and there are always cabs there. I'm curious, however, about why you're thinking of using this station as it's a bit out of the way. Most of the trains to and from Orvieto begin or end at Termini station in Rome, while Tiburtina is either the first stop (on the way to Orvieto) or the penultimate (on the way back).

 

Where is your hotel in Rome located? Perhaps that's driving your train station choice?

 

As for Orvieto, it's true that the train station is two and a half miles from the historic center of town but that's not an issue. The train station is in the valley while the town is up on the hill, there is a funicolare to take you from one to the other, simply walk across the piazza from the train station and buy a ticket.

The train times are more inline with our schedule. we are staying at the Albergo Cesari.

We will be in Rome for 5 days before our TA cruise on the Silhouette in November and we will be doing a day trip out of Rome to Orvieto. We were thinking about taking the train from Tiburtina. Is the station in good condition? Is it easy to get a cab from the station?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Dave

On the first night of the cruise, I look for the bartender that is working the hardest and seems friendly, then I get his attention to get my drinks. I give him a nice extra tip that night and after that he always comes to us when we sit down and gives great service. I then tip a bit extra every time we are there. We always end up getting one or more free martinis during the cruise. We call it our 'adopt a bartender' program. It has worked very well on all our Celebrty cruises since 2004.

I'd rather they spend the money on the prime beef and the service staff, rather than buying a name that adds nothing. At least with Thomas Keller, Seabourn got some new recipes. Steakhouses are all about the decor, not the menu.

Me too. I would hate to see a chain restaurant on a cruise ship. I have a Ruth Chris down the road. Hopefully, they will come up with a new idea. Like they did on the S class with the Lawn Club and Quisine.

Dave

We sailed the Solstice 2 weeks after she was launched and it was a great cruise. We also sailed the first TA of the Eclipse. Would love to sail Edge right after she is launched.

Dave

On my Birthday, how cool is that?

Thanks Andy, looking forward to seeing the new Edge class!!!

Dave

On our December cruise aboard the Silhouette, the Concierge menu had 2 entrees, Salmon or Rack of Lamb. Both were very good, but it would be nice if they had one more choice.

Dave

On the Silhouette, the balcony cabins have an alternating layout. One layout has the bed by the balcony, the other layout has the bed by the bath. There are advantages to both, mostly it's just personal preference.

We prefer the bed by the bath then we can sit on the couch by the glass doors and look out.

Dave

Day 5 - Grand Cayman

 

We arrived in Grand Cayman at 10am (30 minutes earlier than the official scheduled arrival time). Tender tickets for non-shore excursion guests were available starting at 9am in Cellar Masters. I got there at 9:05, there was no line, and I was given 2 tickets for group 8. The girl said they were giving out about 30 tickets per group. She said the tender can hold up to 200ppl, so we should expect to be on the 2nd tender.

 

At 10:15am, the ship was cleared by the local officials, and they called tender groups 1-5. At 10:30, they called for groups 6-10, so we were off and on shore before 11am.

 

I had booked an independent jet ski excursion to Stingray City through Fat Fish Adventures in advance of our cruise. They only take small groups (max is 10-12 i believe), so it seemed like the right choice for us. More about the tour below...

 

We had some time to kill before the scheduled meeting time, so we walked around the port shopping area and then decided to pop into this place Paradise Seaside Grill for a snack (it's located down past the Hard Rock Cafe):

 

It was right on the water and had awesome fresh seafood and the best conch fritters I have had in a long time (the Menu said they were "award winning"). Highly recommended if you are looking for a place to eat in Cayman. Simple, very casual and, best of all - fresh!

 

The rep from Fat Fish Adventures picked us up right on schedule at 1:30pm and drove us about 15 minutes to where the jet skis were docked. We waited there for the group before us to return. There were a total of 10 ppl on our tour (the others were a group of 8, also from the Silhouette). We rode with 2ppl per jetski. It was definitely a little rough out on the open water (this morning I could feel the muscles in my arms and legs that I never knew I had!). But it was a blast and it was great being in such a small group of people at Stingray City. There were a few other boats there, but it wasn't crazy. The guide brought squid to feed them, and we each got a chance to feed and hold one. He also gave us a lot of info about stingrays. After the stingrays, we were off to snorkel at Rum Point. We were the only ones there and we snorkeled for probably 20 minutes. Saw a 4 foot eel as soon as we jumped in and that was cool. He was just swimming around.

 

After snorkeling, the guide took us to a small beach to see several starfish that hang out there. This was a nice little unexpected bonus! And finally, on the way back to the dock, he took us slowly through the mangroves and that was beautiful too. All in all, it was a great tour. Took about 3.75 hours (longer than expected) and we were back at the ship by 5:15 (last tender was 5:45). The guide knew what time we had to be back and he did a good job of managing the time to ensure we got the most out of the experience while still making it back with time to spare.

 

Back on the ship, we went and checked out the dinner menus of course!

 

MDR Dinner Menu:

 

BLU Dinner Menu:

 

 

More on dinner in just a second...

We got off the ship too and ended up having lunch at this restaurant. We both had the wahoo and it was excellent. We didn't have the wahoo for dinner on the ship.

Hey Jim,

Enjoying your post very much. We are on the Silhouette in Dec and again on the Nov '17 TA.

Thanks for posting the menus. I have noticed a few new Martinis, we will have to check them out.

The Silhouette is our favorite ship, looking forward to sailing again in December.

Dave

Well I will be on the Transatlantic. You might be delayed while they work to pry my clinging hands off our balcony :D

Me too!!

Nice pictures, thanks for posting, we have to wait until Nov '17 until we board her again:(

Dave

That sparking wine really isn't good - however - when mixed with OJ - they make wonderful mimosas :D

We always exchange ours for a bottle of red wine

LOL, my wife gives a big thumbs up on that! She loves them!

Same for us, love the footstools!

I am so glad that Celebrity did NOT go that way and build a super size ship. The S class ships are just right and I am glad to hear the Edge class will be a bit smaller.

Dave