OCA REP

We were in 6145 on the Summit at the beginning of the month and had Jose. We liked him very much.

We have this stateroom for our upcoming Bermuda cruise in July. Thanks for sharing... we are looking forward to it!

At least 25% of men were without jackets on formal nights in the MDR/Select Dining on my recent Summit cruise.. Therefore, it's not necessary to reserve specialty restaurants for formal nights. My last four cruises on three different Celebrity ships had no enforcement of formal dress codes in the MDR?

That's a shame

If it is formal night, I believe if you are going to dine in the MDR, you should follow the dress code. We will stick to the specialties or the buffet. We will get one comped dinner for being in a suite, so that only leaves one other evening to cover.

I'm interested in why people book a specialty restaurant on a formal night or why not... We will be on a Bermuda cruise in June with two other couples and want to have one "extra special" night. Trying to decide which night to do it.

We opted out of taking any formal wear on our last cruise and will not take any when we sail to Bermuda in July. We therefore usually booked a specialty for formal evenings.

Amsterdam is a very short flight from gatwick or heathrow and transfer from airport to the pier is a snap. You could easily fly out first thing on embarkation day or last flight the night before

I know. We were just dissappointed that we could not fly in, spend a couple of days touring, join the cruise, and then fly back home. First world problems, you know! :)

There is one sailing each month for June, July and August on the Silhouette out of Amsterdam.

Yeah... this really turned us off when planning our vacation for next year. We wanted to spend a few days in England before sailing the isles. Would definitely prefer if the cruise originated/ended at an English port. We haven't marked it off our list of potential voyages, but wonder if Celebrity may make an adjustment in 2016. Who knows...

You'll get a reserved section in the theatre on formal nights up in the balcony center. (but your kids won't).

They just must not have liked your kids. We had friends traveling with us, that were not in a suite, and our butler escorted us all to our reserved theatre seats on each formal evening. Perhaps it depends on the ship and butler...

Planning on going on the silhouette in jan 2015 for my honeymoon. Try to decide on a SS or aqua class been on a bunch of cruises before but first time in premium room. Need advice is blu worth the smaller room does the perks of the butler beat out blu. My gut says SS but herd amazing things about blu. Please help

Sky Suite for sure.

On our Equinox transatlantic this past fall, we had no problem getting into Blu, but we usually dined in the MDR (or specialty restaurants) with friends. I was not blown away by the dinners in Blu, but breakfast was a treat most mornings. Of course, breakfast served by your butler on your suite balcony is hard to beat too.

Congratulations!

There are so many different cruises to choose from these days, I don't understand why someone would choose a cruise with Formal Nights and complain about it or not participate in it.

And Celebrity makes it very clear that you can enjoy a cruise on their line and NOT participate in formal evenings. I am sorry that you do not understand that. We enjoyed our last cruise and did not wear any formal attire the entire 13 nights. We made use of the specialty restaurants on those evenings and did not skip a beat!

Doesn't make a lot of sense to choose a cruise with formal nights and try to figure out how not to get with the program.

It makes a lot of sense to Celebrity though, as they have multiple dining options that allow you to skip all of the formalities, should you wish.

And looking at the British Isles cruise. Why does it start from Amsterdam? What a daft idea. If it started and finished from Southampton (or Liverpool) it would make life so much easier again with no flying.

Some of us Americans feel your pain. We were planning a British Isles cruise for next year and were looking forward to a few days pre/post cruise in England. Not happy about having to sail from Amsterdam, but we have not marked it off our list just yet!

so i shall wear my light jeans, a nice t shirt and branded blazer. And still look smarter than someone in a battered old suit, tie and short sleeved shirt.

yes!

The men have an advantage here, however, as you can RENT a tuxedo onboard the ship.

Price is reasonable, around $100 iirc.

Correct. I rented a tux on a Holy Land cruise and it was really nice to have it hanging in the stateroom when we boarded. They did a great job with the measurements I supplied; it fit well!

If you are not in Blu or not in a Suite, eating in a specialty restaurant for the three formal nights at the average cost of $80 per couple per night would be around $240. I wonder how much it would cost to bring that extra piece of luggage on board the airplane? :confused:

We were in a suite, but that's not the point... we all just decided to go casual since we were on vacation. No luggage limit on Delta either since we are Diamond Medallion and have no reason to worry about luggage weight, etc.

My question is whether or not the 3 stated formal nights are really all that formal now with the packing restrictions we all have with flights. We are spending a 3rd week in Europe after the cruise so obviously we will already have a lot to bring with us.

They are formal, but no more formal than other formal nights when cruising on Celebrity. If I had to rank them, we found the Mediterranean to be the most formal, followed by Transatlantics, and then Caribbean sailings.

Our group of four made the decision to not do formal on the fall Equinox transatlantic this past year and were very happy with that. The specialty restaurants hit the spot and, as others have mentioned, there are deals out there to be had.

Enjoy!

We don't want to make a reservation. We read somewhere they make you use the free dinner in the first three nights. Just want to know if can we eat any time during the week. We plan on booking on the ship once we see about getting a discount also.

When we boarded in Barcelona for the Fall Equinox transatlantic, there was a note (in our suite) informing us that we had a reservation in Tuscan Grille for our first night aboard. We had not made the reservation and had already swung a discount deal for that evening in Silk Harvest.

We asked that our butler reschedule Tuscan Grille for another evening and it was no problem. A couple of days later, we had him make reservations for our second complimentary specialty restaurant dinner.

Everything worked out very well and there was never any indication that we were required to use the complimentary dinner during the first three nights.

Enjoy!

Hello to all; Has anyone done the British Isles on the Silhouette??? I would love to hear the "Pros and Cons" of the entire experience. From the ship itself to the actual iteniary etc. Is the sky suite worth the extra dollars??? Hope to hear from you as my family thinks "we gotta do this one". I told them to hold their horses before we take the plunge.

I was honestly a little bit disapointed that Silhouette was assigned to this route for 2015. Was hopeful that an M Class vessel would be doing this again and would cruise from England itself, as we were wanting to spend a few days pre (or) post cruise in the London area. Nothing wrong with Amsterdam, but I'd rather a British Isles cruise depart from... well, a British Isle. ;-)

We had a Sky Suite on the Equinox Fall 2013 TA and thoroughly enjoyed it. The extra space was great with all the extra sea days. Just because we are now a little spoiled, we will probably do a Sky Suite again if we book the British Isles cruise for 2015.

Sure, you would miss out on a couple of free speciality dining trips and won't get reserved seating in the theatre, but otherwise you'll be quids in.

I guess it might depend on the ship (or butler), but on our last cruise we were in a Sky Suite and our traveling companions were in Concierge Class. On the formal evenings, our butler met us at the assigned spot and escorted all four of us to the reserved theatre seating.

Our last cruise (TA) on Equinox sent us more often to our cabin than we would have done voluntarily

We were on this same voyage and really had no complaints about sounds levels at any of the venues. There was a time or two that the sound was a little loud in the theatre, but it certainly was not a deal breaker.

We couldn't use the library or the card room

Really? You could certainly hear the atrium music from these two rooms, but it was not overly intrusive by any means. I kicked back in the library on most days and read my Kindle. The card room seemed well used and we never had to shout, or raise our voices, when playing cards. I used a table there to write my Christmas cards at one point and the space was pretty serene.

the Martini Bar

We enjoyed drinks here just about every evening before dinner and never felt the need to retreat because the music was too loud. Most times we set in one of the more private areas, and not directly at the bar. We certainly were never shouting at each other when making conversation!

Café al Bacio

Again, you're grasping at straws... We were here multiple times during the day and night and were never offended by music volume. About the only time it might have been considered loud was when live music was playing directly in the cafe. And then, only for people setting along the aisle closest to the lifts.

or the bar ( forgot its name) on the guest relations deck.

We set on the couches around the atrium a time or two to listen to the various performers playing there. It was louder then, but not enough to disturb us... besides, we were there to listen to the entertainment. The Passport Bar sits in a position directly opposite Guest Relations and I never had to yell there or ask one of the personnel to repeat themselves because I couldn't hear them.

With the inflated prices for the 2014/2015 itineraries , the hassle with the customer service and the noise level we mentioned it may be time to try Cunard or Azamara.

I think you've hit on something here... perhaps you do need to try another cruise line. We were on the same sailing and did not have the excessive list of complaints you have posted. You went a little overboard complaining about almost every venue on the ship... and that causes you to lose credibility.

Best of luck finding your happy place! :confused:

The on board agent said it wasn't available but I booked a cabin anyhow. Later another private travel agent got the cabin I wanted for me and I was able to transfer the booking that I made on board. The on board agent lost the booking so she was not happy, but I was.

The future cruise sales staff does not lose sleep over a sailing transferring to a travel agency. My understanding is that, if you booked your existing cruise with an agency, the future cruise will be given to the same agency unless you specify otherwise. The onboard sales staff is there to book future business for the cruise line. They would probably actually prefer that all of the servicing be handled by an external travel agency.

The only reason to book anything other than a veranda cat is for the extra Captain Club points, or for access to Blu in Aqua.

Not exactly true... we normally book a suite and enjoy the added space (on the balconies too) and perks. The extra Captain Club points and Blu access are cool too!

Those balconies are not only fully covered, they are deep, expansive, and pure heaven, IMHO.

Thanks for this information. We just booked this cabin for our upcoming cruise to Bermuda!

A recent review said that the guitarist Sean Golden had left the Equinox in January. Do you happen to know who may have replaced him as "easy-listening' type entertainment for places such as the Sunset Bar?

Sean was the best of the rotating entertainers on the Equinox when we did the November Transatlantic. I wonder if he's moved to another ship... or just moved on?

I am wondering if anyone who received a Celebrity FCC for any of the cancelled Millennium cruises last Fall have used them on an RCCL cruise. I remember specific posts on Cruisecritic by passengers who transferred their cruise refund to RCCL, but do not recall anyone using the FCC.

 

I am trying to use my FCC and am running into roadblocks after being assured I could use it on RCCL.

We applied ours yesterday to a Bermuda sailing on the Summit. When I was reading the cerificate numbers to our TA, one of the bullets clearly states the following:

"Valid only for the cruise brand shown above."

Celebrity Cruises is the brand shown at the top of the FCC, not Royal Caribbean. Hopefully you can sort it out... or at least find a Celebrity cruise you might enjoy

Hi, glad you found music you enjoyed:).....but not sure I get your

last line:eek:...not as bad as others would have you believe:confused:

Bad is the operative word.....some of us are disappointed it is no

longer offered.....I think it is just differing opinions....we all have

likes and dislikes.

You took it exactly as I meant it. We all do have differing opinions, and what remains after a cappela departs is not all that bad. ;)

Those two female duo sets of girls was absolutely the worst we have ever heard anywhere.

Horrid... just horrid!

I just got off a back to back on the Equinox. There was no a cappella group on either leg. The musical entertainment was very disappointing compared to previous cruises on Equinox and other Celebrity ships.

We did the westbound transatlantic on the Equinox and there was no a cappella group on board... and we did not miss them. The Equinox does have a superb guitar player/singer named Sean Golden, whose personality is just as great as his singing. There was also another group on board, Trio Sunrise, that we enjoyed at various locations around the ship.

It's not really as bad as others would have you believe...

On a positive note we had Sean Golden on our cruise and he is Great!! I hope he is with us on our cruise this spring. :)

We really did enjoy Sean during our recent Equinox Transatlantic!