Just Back Sillouette My Opinions

[SI Cruiser]

In regards to the production shows, the band was outstanding. Rory was great on keyboards and the bass player and drummer kept the timing spot on. The absence of a guitarist was obvious as Rory had to cover that on keyboards.

 

As for the two male singers, I thought they were horrendous. Typical cruise ship quality or lack of. The dancers were typical, "I hope to make it Broadway someday" quality.

 

As for Silhouette The Show, the moaning and groaning of the two males along with the monotony of it for 45 minutes put a number of guests in my row to sleep.

 

As for the Cirque attempt, it was a far cry from what I have seen at all Vegas Cirque shows.

[The Big Booper]

 

...>>>SNIP<<<...

 

As for the Cirque attempt, it was a far cry from what I have seen at all Vegas Cirque shows.

 

Of course, the Vegas performers are not doing the show on a ship bouncing along in the North Atlantic at 20+ knots.

 

<<edit>>

 

This is what the show looked like on Solstice last year. I am guessing that the Silhouette show was similar-

 

 

 

[FunCruiser56]

Continued from above,

 

Food/dining

we like to eat at Bistro on 5 when we board and avoid the buffet right off the bat. Food and service was very good and this is a wonderful way to start your cruise, we were disapointed though to find that they no longer serve paninnis here- you have to go to the Porch ($5) for them. This was the start of what we saw as alot of upselling...

 

We had 2nd seating in the main dining room, we asked for a large table but got a table for 4 with a side table for 2 that was about 4" away from our table. Tables are very close together so if you want a romantic table for 2 don't plan on it...

Our first 2 nights were iffy as far as service and we really considered asking for a different table, the next night it was completly different and we really enjoyed our waiter/asst for the rest of the cruise.

Food was good, but not what we have had in the past, a downturn for sure- hit and miss and sometimes not at a good temp (cold) The first night all of us had prime rib and 2 out of 4 were served wrong, my friend who wanted med well was served the same rare meat 3 times! It did improve and we did enjoy most of it, just no Wow factor. Also no Lobster unless it was in sauce and a very small portion also, lots of disapointed people with that one.

We went to Quisine and it is very good food and excellent service- we were stuffed!! save room for the tomestone- YUMMMM My DH is a very picky eater and enjoyed Quisine.

Tuscan grill - wonderful service and food. We should have gone back but ran out of time...

Hardly saw anyone in the Lawn Club Grill and mostly the specialty resturants were never full when we went by them, the Alcoves hardly ever in use, we saw them offered for $38 in the evenings including a bottle of wine!

Many days we enjoyed 2 for 1 drinks from 4-5 and again 9-11, never saw that before so often :D

The officers often were joining in the fun, slot pulls, dance contests, pool volleyball, we did enjoy all their interaction.

There were alot of 'older' folks on this cruise, so lots of wheelchairs and scooters around, mostly not a problem but we were surprised to see them parked in the hallways- thought this could be a problem in the event of a emergency. The Hideaway, the Library and Card room where well used and we really liked that coffee/tea was available 24/7 and a 2 min walk from our cabin.

COFFEE......GOOD!!! I am super picky about my coffee and found the coffee all around the ship was good, strong but not too much ( I did add a little hot water most times) and not bitter... so you can probably leave your French Press at home and be happy;)

 

Overall we really enjoyed our cruise and would have been happy to turn around and jump right back on...

 

I will be happy to answer any questions..

 

Bev

[jcpc]

Sounds like a clueless staff issue to me. You should have had priority disembarcation and there should have been no problem getting your friends into the group with the same number--we have done that many times. I would complain to Celebrity HQ so they can sort out the staff.

Linda,

 

Clueless staff just about sums it up. I have 60+ cruise credits w/Celebrity, and have sailed numerous times in suites......never had any problem getting our group the same number. We didn't even care if we had priority disembarkation (which we DEFINITELY didn't have!!).....we just wanted to be in the same group. 2 cabins were #36, 1 cabin was #38, and I, in my RS, was #40. What a farce.

 

The ship is absolutely beautiful and we had an enjoyable cruise....but there were a couple of additional "service" issues (i.e., screwing up our specialty reservations and looking at me like I had 3 heads when I tried to straighten them out, room service order that took 2 and 1/2 hours - getting an apology from the RS manager and him telling us we would have priority for our next order, which only took 1 hour and 45 minutes!!!, no bar service sitting on deck by the pool.....we ended up walking to the bar and placing our drink order many times, and a few other service issues). All in all......a fun cruise because we made it one.

 

Donette, Captain's Club hostess, was a very pleasant woman. When I told her that I didn't want to be "honored" at the Captain's Club celebration she totally understood and was more than happy to find someone who wanted to be "honored". Whenever we saw her on the ship she went out of her way to be friendly and engaging. Only made it to the Elite Lounge for drinks 2 nights.....it was a madhouse there - so many Elites on this sailing.

 

Dining room tables are TOO CLOSE together and the chairs are so heavy you cannot push yourself into the table. Our waiter and assistant waiter were outstanding......food was okay - nothing over the top.

 

Ate at Tuscan Grill twice - first night the service was outstanding - second time service was just so-so.

 

The Porch and Bistro on Five provide a nice lunch alternative.

 

All in all a good cruise.

[2ndsailing]

That's who I mention in the below post...my boyfriend :)

 

Thanks for posting the link!!

 

How long is your boyfriend on board for? We are doing a b2b on April 22, NJ to Rome; Rome to Venice.

[dpryo319]

How long is your boyfriend on board for? We are doing a b2b on April 22, NJ to Rome; Rome to Venice.

 

His contract unfortunately ends Dec 12.

[Bridge Maven]

Is the ship sailing at full occupancy? When Solstice was new Celebrity waited a while before fully booking it to insure the crew worked well together and could provide excellent service.

[lexdog]

if you do self assist you will be off by 745

[Leibe_]

His contract unfortunately ends Dec 12.

 

I was fortunate in that Rory was on my sailing in October. Excellent pianist and lots of personality.

I have seen many of the shows in LV and in Branson and still enjoyed the production numbers on the Silly. While I thought the choreography could improve in some of the numbers, those kids really worked hard to entertain. Didn't care much for some of the headliners though. I would rather have seen Rory and the rest of the band do some more numbers.

Food in Blu was very good. Some things I didn't care for but that is just my midwest tastebuds. Service in Blu and in my cabin was excellent. Bianca and Gabriel in Blu and Oliver and his assistant in my cabin.

I really didn't find much to complain about. Everything was not perfect but enough of it was that my cruise was a delight and I'm looking forward to boarding the Silly again in Feb.

Maybe having a wonderful time on a wonderful ship has a lot to do with our expectations and attitudes???????

[buffi001]

Continued from above,

 

Food/dining

we like to eat at Bistro on 5 when we board and avoid the buffet right off the bat. Food and service was very good and this is a wonderful way to start your cruise, we were disapointed though to find that they no longer serve paninnis here- you have to go to the Porch ($5) for them. This was the start of what we saw as alot of upselling...

 

We had 2nd seating in the main dining room, we asked for a large table but got a table for 4 with a side table for 2 that was about 4" away from our table. Tables are very close together so if you want a romantic table for 2 don't plan on it...

Our first 2 nights were iffy as far as service and we really considered asking for a different table, the next night it was completly different and we really enjoyed our waiter/asst for the rest of the cruise.

Food was good, but not what we have had in the past, a downturn for sure- hit and miss and sometimes not at a good temp (cold) The first night all of us had prime rib and 2 out of 4 were served wrong, my friend who wanted med well was served the same rare meat 3 times! It did improve and we did enjoy most of it, just no Wow factor. Also no Lobster unless it was in sauce and a very small portion also, lots of disapointed people with that one.

We went to Quisine and it is very good food and excellent service- we were stuffed!! save room for the tomestone- YUMMMM My DH is a very picky eater and enjoyed Quisine.

Tuscan grill - wonderful service and food. We should have gone back but ran out of time...

Hardly saw anyone in the Lawn Club Grill and mostly the specialty resturants were never full when we went by them, the Alcoves hardly ever in use, we saw them offered for $38 in the evenings including a bottle of wine!

Many days we enjoyed 2 for 1 drinks from 4-5 and again 9-11, never saw that before so often :D

The officers often were joining in the fun, slot pulls, dance contests, pool volleyball, we did enjoy all their interaction.

There were alot of 'older' folks on this cruise, so lots of wheelchairs and scooters around, mostly not a problem but we were surprised to see them parked in the hallways- thought this could be a problem in the event of a emergency. The Hideaway, the Library and Card room where well used and we really liked that coffee/tea was available 24/7 and a 2 min walk from our cabin.

COFFEE......GOOD!!! I am super picky about my coffee and found the coffee all around the ship was good, strong but not too much ( I did add a little hot water most times) and not bitter... so you can probably leave your French Press at home and be happy;)

 

Overall we really enjoyed our cruise and would have been happy to turn around and jump right back on...

 

I will be happy to answer any questions..

 

Bev

 

 

Bev

 

Where were the 2 for 1 drinks offered. Was it in one particular lounge,

or throughout the ship?

[CaroleV]

I'm also fresh off the 11/6 sailing....

 

Liked the food in the main dining room & decided against going to specialty dining because we didnt feel the need. The food was great so why spend $80.00. We had late seating. We had one breakfast & one lunch in the dining room, the rest at the buffets. Liked the food in the buffet too. Liked the layout of the buffet also.

 

Liked the three spreads to put on bread at dinner. Missed the pepper guy. Had a PRIVATE table for 2, thank goodness. I don't consider it a table for 2 if its an inch from another table for two.

 

Liked the extra big elevators & thought they were pretty quick. Beautiful & well stocked library. Liked the pool deck, plenty of chairs & shade. Wish the solarium pool was heated, very disapointed with that.

 

The main dance foor was in the middle of the lobby. It was not pleasant watching people try to dance on a small marble circle next to a staircase. There are not alot of places to sit so most people hang over the railing or stand around trying not to block the seated peoples view. We sat at the bar for a before dinner drink, if we were lucky enough to get a seat. I just wondered how much money the ship lost on not selling drinks due to the lack of seating. Needless to say, we didnt drink much before dinner. We also like to dance a bit & didnt dance much because of the cramped dance floor. I felt bad for some of the couples who really liked to dance & looked hampered by the small space. There were some empty spaces on the ship that made no sense to me like the 2 painted rooms with rocks in them. Not sure what their purpose was but they were very pretty (& empty). The wine room didnt seem to have much going on & neither did Michaels Club. There were a few people sitting in them but not alot.

 

The room had some odd storage. There were 3 deep drawers & storage above the bed. This was not too good for the many old people who had to get into the high spaces. I had my husband stuff his clothes up there because he is taller. I'm 5'2" & found it easier if I stood on the bed to put stuff up there & get it out. Needless to say, he gave me the deep drawes The end tables were very small & just had 2 openings without doors. My underwear kept falling out of them. sheesh.

 

The talk of the ship was the bathroom sink. I don't think the designer washed his face in it before he ordered it. Water splashed all over the place because the faucet was too short or placed wrong. We solved the problem by placing a towel on the side of the sink but it still seemed to spill over the edge onto my feet & floor. If seemed pretty funny that a billion dollar ship got the bathroom sink sooo wrong. Shower stall was wonderful, nice & big. No removeable shower head or clothesline anymore, oh well.

 

Cruise Director Paul & Esperanza, his sidekick were excellent. Corey the pianist is a sweety pie. Captian Pagonis was everywhere, even at debarcation keeping everyone spirits up as were waited for the busses to get our luggage.

 

We had a wonderful time but feel the M class ships meet our needs more, only because we like a rendevous lounge & a T pool. Its a really beautiful ship & the staff is very proud of her. We were thrilled that we were on the 1st cruise out of the NYC area on this lovely ship.

[jagoffee]

I agree with you all the way !! The types of people who don't like the more modern production shows are usually the stuffies and squares variety. I remember watching these types leave early(about 3 or 4 couples) on the "Edge" show that played on the Eclipse last spring and summer. I loved the show, and yes it was Edgy but that what we want.

 

:cool: :cool:

 

Did not realize that was I stuffy and square, but my wife and I do not like that type of show. Of course we realize that others do.

[startrek77]

Bev,

 

How many Formal nights and what nights:confused:

 

Also did they have lobster in the MDR on any of the Formal Nights:eek:

 

Thanks,

 

Linda

[FunCruiser56]

The 2 for 1 drink specials- 4-5 at the pool/outside bars and the 9-11 specials were any inside bars, except the molecular bar drinks were buy one get one 50% off. they listed these specials in the half sheet that was tucked inside the daily. If you were around the pool the pool guys would come around and start announcing it a few minutes before the hour and sometimes what ever entertainment was at the pool would make an announcement. We usually went to the Sunset bar.

 

3 formal nights and no lobster, except for the lobster chunks in some kind of sauce on puff pastry on the 3rd formal night and then on the last night they offered lobster ravioli. I don't eat lobster but our table neighbors did and they were not happy! You could pay the upsell and eat in Murano and have lobster if you wanted to spend $80 a couple;)

 

I also forgot to mention the subject of smoking- really was not an issue for us. our cabin was midship on deck 8 portside (8297) and yes we could smell smoke, but it was just the smell not like your breathing it in. Smokers stuck to their areas, so if you did not go there you were fine. I would not have any problem booking a cabin in this same area again but would probably not go any lower.

 

Bev

 

Bev

[Hlitner]

A couple of thoughts about some of the posts. Being "stuffy" becuase we leave (or do not even attend) the productions shows is quite a comment. We attend many production shows, walk out of quite a few..and enjoy others. But it is not about stuffy...it is about seeing the same shows too many times (we cruise an awful lot). Recently X has made an effort to design some of their shows that are a bit different, and we salute them for that fact. When we were on the Summit (last month) the most popular show of the week (standing room only) was a classical pianist who had a special show in the afternoon. Many of us liked his evening show (with a variety of music) but you could not get a seat when he did an entire show of classical music. But few cruises have this type of entertainment. We recall one long cruise where we must have heard "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" peformed more then 6 times by various entertainers. In fact, on the Summit we used just this example (in a discussion with the CD) as a complement because we had not heard that music...and he laughed and said it was part of the show that same evening.

 

As to the dance floor comment (too small) this seems to be true on many modern cruise ships where they now allocate lots of space for alternative restaurants but do not have much in the way of dance floors. My advice to the poster who mentioned this fact is that they go on the Queen Mary 2 which has a dance floor (in the ballroom) that can easily accomodate 100 couples.

 

We also look forward to the "unheated" indoor pool. We do not want our pools to be like hot tubs...but do understand that some folks like their bathtubs.

 

Hank

[dpryo319]

I'm also fresh off the 11/6 sailing....

 

 

 

Cruise Director Paul & Esperanza, his sidekick were excellent. Corey the pianist is a sweety pie. Captian Pagonis was everywhere, even at debarcation keeping everyone spirits up as were waited for the busses to get our luggage.

 

.

 

Did you happen to meet my bf Rory? He is also a piano player on board. The last night of that cruise, Paul (CD), Sara Story (vocalist), and Rory (pianist) played a little set in the grand foyer...said it was a nice turn out!

[dpryo319]

I was fortunate in that Rory was on my sailing in October. Excellent pianist and lots of personality.

I have seen many of the shows in LV and in Branson and still enjoyed the production numbers on the Silly. While I thought the choreography could improve in some of the numbers, those kids really worked hard to entertain. Didn't care much for some of the headliners though. I would rather have seen Rory and the rest of the band do some more numbers.

?

 

Thanks for the nice compliment :) I will be sure to pass it on!

 

I agree with your last part...I would have loved to see them have more "big band" nights...maybe something like that in the theater? Would be fantastic!

[Bridge Maven]

I agree with you all the way !! The types of people who don't like the more modern production shows are usually the stuffies and squares variety. I remember watching these types leave early(about 3 or 4 couples) on the "Edge" show that played on the Eclipse last spring and summer. I loved the show, and yes it was Edgy but that what we want.

 

:cool: :cool:

 

It is unfair to characterize passengers who don't like cruise production shows as stuffy. It has a lot more to do with one's personal likes and dislikes, as well as their basis of comparison. I saw my first Broadway show as a young child during the fifties and have been going to the theater on a regular basis all my life. Since I am use to seeing the best theatrical productions in the world, I don't enjoy production shows at sea and would prefer to listen to whatever music is playing in another venue of the ship.

[bob brown]

I am not especially fond of lobster, can take it or leave it, but I know a lot of people love it and look forward to at least getting a rock lobster tail on formal night. So I am surprised that Celebrity has decided not to offer it in MDR. Even NCL, which probably has the lowest budget for all MDR's continues to offer it. This in itself may make Celebrity a deal-killer for some on the fence on which line to book...

[tom5178]

The problem at Bayonne is that there is no ramp/ gangway infrastructure. The only deck that we could disembark is deck 2 which is of course a very tight area. In other ports, you can get off on deck 3 or 4 or sometimes even 5. There is much more room on those decks to help prevent bottlenecks.

 

Other than that, it was great to be able to be home in less than two hours with no pre-post cruise flying. I also liked the extra sea days getting to and from the Carribean

 

The 11-6 Silhouette sailing was the oldest cruise I have ever been on and the wheelchairs, scooters were also casuing bottlenecks, especially getting on the buses back to the terminal. The scooters seem to be getting bigger. My partner had his legs jammed between two deck chairs when one lady "hit the gas instead of the brakes" on her scooter and in reverse slammed into my chair pushing it into my partner's. Before hitting my chair she ran over her son's toes. ANother scooter accident happened when a man was backing out of the elevator and also hit the gas instead of brake and ran into a lady. It was treacherous being on foot on this sailing.

[vamcd]

The problem at Bayonne is that there is no ramp/ gangway infrastructure. The only deck that we could disembark is deck 2 which is of course a very tight area. In other ports, you can get off on deck 3 or 4 or sometimes even 5. There is much more room on those decks to help prevent bottlenecks.

 

Other than that, it was great to be able to be home in less than two hours with no pre-post cruise flying. I also liked the extra sea days getting to and from the Carribean

 

The 11-6 Silhouette sailing was the oldest cruise I have ever been on and the wheelchairs, scooters were also casuing bottlenecks, especially getting on the buses back to the terminal. The scooters seem to be getting bigger. My partner had his legs jammed between two deck chairs when one lady "hit the gas instead of the brakes" on her scooter and in reverse slammed into my chair pushing it into my partner's. Before hitting my chair she ran over her son's toes. ANother scooter accident happened when a man was backing out of the elevator and also hit the gas instead of brake and ran into a lady. It was treacherous being on foot on this sailing.

 

I,too, feel your pain concerning the scooters, wheel chairs, etc....I know they are needed by some, but not all. I did find 95% of those who interacted with us to be very rude and felt they were entitled. We definitely in the minority on our last cruise. There should be some sort of "rules of the road" for them. We had a great comedian on board who included this issue in his show; pretty funny, although 75% attending his act walked out...if you can't take the heat....

 

I am sure our 11/30 will be the same; we are prepared to be pushed, butted, and run over; it seems to be the norm....

[celebrity]

The problem at Bayonne is that there is no ramp/ gangway infrastructure. The only deck that we could disembark is deck 2 which is of course a very tight area. In other ports, you can get off on deck 3 or 4 or sometimes even 5. There is much more room on those decks to help prevent bottlenecks.

 

Other than that, it was great to be able to be home in less than two hours with no pre-post cruise flying. I also liked the extra sea days getting to and from the Carribean

 

The 11-6 Silhouette sailing was the oldest cruise I have ever been on and the wheelchairs, scooters were also casuing bottlenecks, especially getting on the buses back to the terminal. The scooters seem to be getting bigger. My partner had his legs jammed between two deck chairs when one lady "hit the gas instead of the brakes" on her scooter and in reverse slammed into my chair pushing it into my partner's. Before hitting my chair she ran over her son's toes. ANother scooter accident happened when a man was backing out of the elevator and also hit the gas instead of brake and ran into a lady. It was treacherous being on foot on this sailing.

 

 

 

So sorry to hear about your partner and son. I hope the woman at least apologized.

[tom5178]

So sorry to hear about your partner and son. I hope the woman at least apologized.

 

Thank you. It was my partners legs (he was not hurt) but it was her own son's toes. I think he was ok but I am sure that it must have hurt. the lady was a bit shaken, but she seemd ok. She did apologize. We felt bad though she also had a portable O2 tank with her and it had to be balanced on the scooter. I think that they need to take a look at the scooter situation and maybe have limits in the types. many hallways had them parked outside the rooms and I am sure that it would cause a safety issue in the event of an emergency. there were some scooters that were like Cadilacs.

 

the two accidents that we saw were both due to the operator panicking and hitting the gas instead of just letting go to make it stop.

 

As I said, this was the oldest cruise I have ever been on. Even the staff were commenting about it. We still had a great time because we make our own fun, and as a son of an infirmed mother who cannot travel, I am thankful that these people are still able to travel. Just think that they need to address the asfety issue.

[m1celt]

We are sailing on Silhouette in a month's time! How was the debarkation process at Cape Liberty?

 

A few questions for Suite guests (We've book a Sky Suite)

- Is there a DVD player in room?

- Were Suite guests invited to Barefoot beach in Labadee?

- We will be in stateroom 2126 - I know it is under the buffet area, is it very noisy at night?

 

Thanks!

 

We also just got off the 11/6 sailing, our cabin was 2127 directly across the ship for where you will be. There is no DVD player in the cabin. There will be some occasional noise - it is from the dish carts rolling along the floor. It sounds like distant thunder. We were expecting it because we had 2123 on the Solstice last year. However, it would appear that they must have added more insulation because it was not as loud on the Silhouette. It never bothered us enough to use the earplugs that I had brought. I think it is mainly passengers who are expecting the cabin to be dead silent that are upset by the noise. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[bob brown]

Thank you. It was my partners legs (he was not hurt) but it was her own son's toes. I think he was ok but I am sure that it must have hurt. the lady was a bit shaken, but she seemd ok. She did apologize. We felt bad though she also had a portable O2 tank with her and it had to be balanced on the scooter. I think that they need to take a look at the scooter situation and maybe have limits in the types. many hallways had them parked outside the rooms and I am sure that it would cause a safety issue in the event of an emergency. there were some scooters that were like Cadilacs.

 

the two accidents that we saw were both due to the operator panicking and hitting the gas instead of just letting go to make it stop.

 

As I said, this was the oldest cruise I have ever been on. Even the staff were commenting about it. We still had a great time because we make our own fun, and as a son of an infirmed mother who cannot travel, I am thankful that these people are still able to travel. Just think that they need to address the asfety issue.

I agree with your observations....some scooters are small and nimble to be used indoors, others are much larger and designed to roll over grass and rough pavement outdoors. The cruise line officials should bring up this at their next conference and adapt an industry wide standard for bringing these on board. They could do this in consult with the scooter industry and break these down into 'classes'...A, B, C, etc. and then designate which are permitted.

As for leaving them in passageways, this is "not permitted" for safety, but in practice it seems to be tolerated as they do not want to get into confrontations with physically challenged passengers. These passageways if occupied by a scooter, oftern will not be wide enough for another to pass by. A definite safety and convenience issue.