Just returned Silhouette great cruise!

[kborth]

Just got back from eastern Med cruise and loved our first time on Celebrity. Great crew, food, beautiful ship and wonderful passengers.

[C 2 C]

Just got back from eastern Med cruise and loved our first time on Celebrity. Great crew, food, beautiful ship and wonderful passengers.

 

Could you post the names of the senior officers on board? I'm always interested in the people responsible for ensuring we have a great time onboard.

[stickey_mouse]

Just got back from eastern Med cruise and loved our first time on Celebrity. Great crew, food, beautiful ship and wonderful passengers.

 

What class of cabin did you have? How was the food in the MDR?

[noggy1980]

What class of cabin did you have? How was the food in the MDR?

 

I'm not the op but we just back from the same cruise and had an accessible balcony cabin, the room was great, the ship was stunning, the crew were friendly and we had a great trip.

 

For us the food in the MDR was a mixed bag, some dishes were delicious but some were poor, The slow cooked meats were all fantastic but some of the roasted meats were disappointing, I'll have the veal please, medium rare, sorry sir it only comes well done, err no ty. Next day I'll have the duck breast please, medium rare, sorry sir it only comes well done. shame. The rack of lamb came medium rare though and that was fabulous.

 

The specialty restaurants though were all spectacular. the filet steak in the lawn club grill was soo good we went back for it again, the lobster in murano was stunning and so tender, beautifully cooked and I really enjoyed the tuscan grill too. Qsine was decent but its alot more fun with a bigger group and we were just a couple.

 

I was the youngish guy in the wheelchair normally with a big smile on my face if you saw me around the ship.

 

We loved the silhouette.

[Chatterbox Scot]

Totally agree about the food. Dry chicken. Over cooked. Extra sauce? I could not cut it. Feel there is an excessive fear of food poisoning. And you have to like green beans and carrots. Sometimes there would be a winner. However, there is plenty of food around and plenty of choice.

[noggy1980]

I felt the meats were more overcooked for convenience and to lower the amount of work. We are only going to cook these dishes 1 specific way and they seem to have chosen well done so that everyone is willing to eat it. This just means though the meat is ruined for everyone to cater to the few fussy people who don't like blood in their meat (not that it is blood at all)

 

Our waiter at the formal night advised us not to have lobster as while it's great when its fresh the frozen ones are not good and get lots of complaints. I was unclear weather he meant he didn't know if they were fresh or frozen this time, or if some were fresh and some were frozen, or if he was saying they are all frozen.

 

The MDR was disappointing to us this cruise and our waiter wasn't great, one couple left the table as they disliked him so much. We ended up eating in speciality restaurants alot more than we had planned. 6 times.

Edited June 25, 2014 by noggy1980

[nekzaadvakil]

Also back from the cruise on the Silhouette and it was fantastic, although not as good as 2013. Our Hotel Director, Christophe is brilliant and there is a marked improvement from 2013 (if it was possible). The Cruise director (Damien) was no where close to Alejandro (in 2013) although the activities managers (Manuel and Maarten) more than made up in terms of humor and passion.

 

We missed our caption Dimitrios who was heading the Silhouette in 2013, since he was really really funny. We tried the Qsine restaurant (got a 20% discount when we booked once we were on board) and we thought it was ok. Great presentation, ordinary food. On the last day, it was being offered for at a 50% discount.

 

Rome, Naples, Malta, Mykonos, Crete were good. Santorini, Rhodes, Kusadasi were spectacular. Sea days (only 2) were the best and most required. The sail into Venice with the music in the background was an amazing experience. Too bad the Silhouette wont be able to do the same cruise after this year ends (only smaller ships).

 

All in all an excellent cruise. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are the best.

[drarill]

Just got back from eastern Med cruise and loved our first time on Celebrity. Great crew, food, beautiful ship and wonderful passengers.

 

Welcome back!! good to know you liked the beautiful Silhouette!!:)

[Barwick Cruiser]

We were also on this June 10 cruise and agree quite a bit with the previous posters. It was our first time on an S class ship and we can now see why so many love them, although we did miss the T-pool from previous M class trips.

 

Our cabin stewards were good, but not once did they use our names to address us, something we appreciated previously. They did a good basic job of cleaning but had to be asked to clean the dried up bird poop on our balcony deck...still there after three days, I just don't think you should have to point that out and ask to have it specially done.

 

We didn't bring any formal clothes so on those nights we ate at Tuscan Grille for 20% off and then Qsine for 30% off. Both dinners were excellent with great service and a 2-top at the window! Otherwise we were Select Dining, showed up at various times and only had to wait for a 2-top twice and those waits were less than 5 minutes. Good service, although rushed and the food was generally good to excellent. We also ate in the Main Dining for breakfast most days and even for lunch when they were open. AquaSpa was a disappointment after previous visits on other ships. The food choices were limited and you really had to know about the cook to order to realize it was available.

 

Only ate at the Buffet twice, once for dinner and once for lunch. Both times were ok, very chaotic but never had trouble finding a seat...think it's more an issue for me of so much choice tho! Nice to make up a salad and sit out back on the aft deck.

 

Used the laundry service once, had the Select coupon for $20 bag and it was supposed to come back the next day but apparently it was busy and took two days so keep that in mind if you send something that you might want back the next day! Otherwise, everything was clean and neatly folded, nothing shrunk including the tops I normally hang to dry...nice!

 

We enjoyed the Ports, even the ones we'd been to before. Stayed on the ship for Athens and enjoyed a personal sea day. In Naples we took the ferry to Capri. Did a guided tour in Ephesus, DH went diving in Mykonos and the others we just toured on our own or with others from the ship.

 

Weather on this cruise was the best ever, no rain, hardly even any clouds and the calmest seas imaginable! Met so many wonderful people from all around the world and even with 3000 people onboard it's amazing how often you run into the same ones!

Cathy

[noggy1980]

The weather really was stunning, we'd been on the ship 8 or 9 days before we saw the sun going behind the clouds and a day later before I even felt the ship move.

[Barwick Cruiser]

The weather really was stunning, we'd been on the ship 8 or 9 days before we saw the sun going behind the clouds and a day later before I even felt the ship move.

 

So true! From what we heard from the crew, the previous sailing experienced rain, lots of clouds and rougher seas...we certainly got very lucky for our two weeks!

[Susie51]

Thank you for sharing your cruise experiences. Can you request cold water wash and low heat dry for your laundry?

[MissBreezy]

Does Sillie still do the "as much as you can fit for $__" laundry bag towards the end of the cruise? My husband is CERTAIN, oh so certain that he can take five shirts and four shorts for a 11 night cruise plus 4 extra days because he can just "wash them" :confused:. I keep trying to tell him that laundry is expensive on X and he needs to pack more but maybe if there's a laundry special towards the end we can compromise :D

[lovestx]

We too were on this fabulous cruise and had as much fun or more than our equinox eastern med in 2012. I actually really liked Damien's personality as he was much better than Patti our cd on equinox.

 

We are not high enough up in captains club to get a laundry deal but friends who are said that they got the all you can fit in a bag offer. We knew to pack lots of shirts and just did some hand laundry when necessary

 

Given all of the negative comments about the silhouette before we sailed, we were pleasantly surprised at the high level of service and friendliness of the crew. Was it perfect? No. But overall it was a fantastic trip.

 

Noggy I am sorry we didn't meet you. There were quite a few folks in wheelchairs and I wondered how's you made out in the ports with all of the cobblestone. Glad you had fun

 

Tuscan grille was a highlight. Murano less so but still good

 

Hard to come back to reality!

Edited June 25, 2014 by lovestx

[Tiggertastic]

maximum 30 items wash and fold only

 

We had a fantastic time too and met wonderful people, had some lovely relaxing days and good food and good service (although have had better on an S Class), a couple of hiccups at Qsine and Lawn Club from staff given too many tables to serve at once.

 

The rest of the trip was great, the steak in tuscan just melted in your mouth, the martini bar was good fun and too had a lovely relaxing day in the ship on a port day and it was heaven

 

Looking forward to going back on board in 9 weeks

[Barwick Cruiser]

Does Sillie still do the "as much as you can fit for $__" laundry bag towards the end of the cruise? My husband is CERTAIN, oh so certain that he can take five shirts and four shorts for a 11 night cruise plus 4 extra days because he can just "wash them" :confused:. I keep trying to tell him that laundry is expensive on X and he needs to pack more but maybe if there's a laundry special towards the end we can compromise :D

 

On our sheet of Select members coupons we had one that offered all you can fit in the bag for $20...this is offered on cruises of a minimum of 12 nights. Not sure how many things we fit in the bag but with a lot of good rolling and scrunching we sure jammed it full!! We only used one coupon, didn't need to use the second one. The coupon was good anytime during the cruise not including the day before debarkation.

[pris993]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise and the Silhouette. We are booked on her for October for 14 nights out of Rome.

 

Not surprised about reports on food in the MDR, we have felt X does not do a good job of responding to special requests of any sort. Our experience, we are elite on X, is it is always hit and miss. So we actually prefer the buffet especially when we are in the Mediterranean, after our day in port we go and get what we like at the buffet and bring a plate back to enjoy on our balcony before the ship leaves port. Or, we have a late lunch in port. Either way we skip the MDR on X.

[KirkNC]

Welcome home, hope you had a good cruise.

[kborth]

What class of cabin did you have? How was the food in the MDR?

 

Hi we had a guarantee inside, first time trying this and loved it. We only ate in the MDR a few times because I was exhausted after excursions but we found the food to be quite good but small portions. My hubbie liked the Oceanview best as he could have lots of choice. . One thing I particularly enjoyed was the steaks from the grill there with baked potatoes but everything was enjoyed , clothes are tight!

[kborth]

Welcome home, hope you had a good cruise.

 

Thanks very much. . We loved the vibes on this ship, lots to do but also lots of space and quiet places . What impressed me the most was on disembarkation day how nicely we were treated by the crew and did not feel at all rushed . First cruise in many that this occurred.

[Ashman51]

Just a few comments on this great cruise. Yes, we really enjoyed it, ship was brilliant, the ports exceeded our expectations, and the weather was perfect. To be totally accurate there was 2 mins of rain in Chania but even my wife disputes that.

1. Celebrity cutbacks - there is no shower gel any more, no quartet singing around the ship, the 8 piece band is now 7 piece, no port guides in rooms. There might be a few more but we didn't notice. We expected mdr portions to be small but we felt they were bigger than before and the food here was really good, those who complain must be extremely fussy, in my humble opinion.

2. Issues - the up selling of the speciality restaurants was unceasing and annoying. They are just too dear and we felt they were not too busy hence all the activity. I support the view that we pay a lot for the cruise so why pay loads more for the experience. Also noticed the photos are now $30 dollars, and this is way too much. We didn't use the Aqua Spa at all as we saw no good offers being given, plus the basic cost is just far too high. Celebrity also need to innovate more and come up with industry leading initiatives, eg free wifi. They need to add value for us the consumer rather than see us as people to fleece more money out of

3. What was good - stateroom attendants were brilliant, entertainment we felt was excellent, Damien was great too, and the variety good. I enjoyed the cirque du soliel things except the singing, it was just wailing.... All the food was good, T-bone steak on the last night was fab. Bistro on 5 and cafe el bacio were great too, we also did the porch once and enjoyed it too. The ship was also very clean and no indication of any norovirus etc.. Also loved being able to watch the World Cup

4. The ports - santorini was the highlight for us, but Rhodes was also a pleasant surprise especially Lindos and St. Paul's bay. The tours we did in Athens, Rhodes, and Ephesus were great but we could have done without the rugs! All others such as Venice and Capri were done DIY and enjoyed

5. Biggest annoyance - embarking the ship to find Venice docking time was moved to 12.00, 4 hours later. How could they do this? And even then docking was at 1.30, plus they moved the ship at 6.15 and not 7.00 as informed. Those staying on in Venice might not have minded but those like me going home next day really only got half a day there. Should we ask for a refund???

6. Cruise critic event - we couldn't make this as we had been travelling all day and were zonked. First sea day would be better

 

Great memories from another great cruise, but it's what you make of it yourself and your attitude that can make a huge difference.

No doubt many of you will have a different view from me so what do you think?

 

Ashley

[nekzaadvakil]

HI Ashley,

 

We had all the port guides in our room on the 1st day itself. Maybe your stateroom attendant missed it.

 

Agree on the specialty dining bit, they were really trying to sell them. I managed to get a 20% discount at Qsine, but was not all that impressed.

 

Also another cutback was that there were just 2 activity managers instead of 4. Although M&M (Manuel and Martin) were great, you could see they were overworked at times.

 

But a great cruise nevertheless.

[cruzemaven]

Just a few comments on this great cruise. Yes, we really enjoyed it, ship was brilliant, the ports exceeded our expectations, and the weather was perfect. To be totally accurate there was 2 mins of rain in Chania but even my wife disputes that.

 

1. Celebrity cutbacks - there is no shower gel any more, no quartet singing around the ship, the 8 piece band is now 7 piece, no port guides in rooms. There might be a few more but we didn't notice. We expected mdr portions to be small but we felt they were bigger than before and the food here was really good, those who complain must be extremely fussy, in my humble opinion.

 

2. Issues - the up selling of the speciality restaurants was unceasing and annoying. They are just too dear and we felt they were not too busy hence all the activity. I support the view that we pay a lot for the cruise so why pay loads more for the experience. Also noticed the photos are now $30 dollars, and this is way too much. We didn't use the Aqua Spa at all as we saw no good offers being given, plus the basic cost is just far too high. Celebrity also need to innovate more and come up with industry leading initiatives, eg free wifi. They need to add value for us the consumer rather than see us as people to fleece more money out of

 

3. What was good - stateroom attendants were brilliant, entertainment we felt was excellent, Damien was great too, and the variety good. I enjoyed the cirque du soliel things except the singing, it was just wailing.... All the food was good, T-bone steak on the last night was fab. Bistro on 5 and cafe el bacio were great too, we also did the porch once and enjoyed it too. The ship was also very clean and no indication of any norovirus etc.. Also loved being able to watch the World Cup

 

4. The ports - santorini was the highlight for us, but Rhodes was also a pleasant surprise especially Lindos and St. Paul's bay. The tours we did in Athens, Rhodes, and Ephesus were great but we could have done without the rugs! All others such as Venice and Capri were done DIY and enjoyed

 

5. Biggest annoyance - embarking the ship to find Venice docking time was moved to 12.00, 4 hours later. How could they do this? And even then docking was at 1.30, plus they moved the ship at 6.15 and not 7.00 as informed. Those staying on in Venice might not have minded but those like me going home next day really only got half a day there. Should we ask for a refund???

 

6. Cruise critic event - we couldn't make this as we had been travelling all day and were zonked. First sea day would be better

 

 

 

Great memories from another great cruise, but it's what you make of it yourself and your attitude that can make a huge difference.

 

No doubt many of you will have a different view from me so what do you think?

 

 

 

Ashley

 

 

We will be embarking on the same cruise itinerary in two weeks. Late arrival into Venice would cause us to rearrange our departure plans. Did they offer an explanation for the late arrival into Venice? Unfortunately, due to flight arrangements we must disembark The Silhouette the day she arrives in Venice. We will have to scramble to change our plans, if the ship arrives 4 hours later than scheduled. I'm looking at the Venice port schedule and notice that there will be four large cruise ships in the port of Venice at the time of our arrival at 9 am. I wonder if this could be the reason for the delay when you were on board. If so, then there is a good possibility we will have a delayed situation, too. With only two weeks until departure we might have time to alter our plans. But, if they don't inform the passengers until they board the ship, it will make it more difficult for us. With a 9 am arrival we were hoping to disembark around noon...now, not so sure!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[kdooley]

We just arrived into Venice yesterday on the Silhouette - right on time. We do docked at 10 and were at the train station by 10:30.

 

Was going to post about no shower gel in Verandas too! I purposely left mine at home and when I arrived and saw a bar of soap.....not happy! I went to the shop and asked to buy some and they didn't have any so the clerk called and had them deliver one to my room (after fussing about not being in the proper class).

 

Other than getting a terrible cold (along with a lot of others I noticed), it was a very nice cruise.

 

Sail away from Venice was AMAZING!

[kdooley]

Forgot one thing on departing early (it wouldn't let me edit). We told them 3 different times we were departing early and they took note the first time and just kept saying to come to the desk at 10:30 after they docked. The night before we got a message while we were at dinner saying they needed our passports by 9pm (message came around 8pm). This was the first we heard about the passports. We got the message at 9:30 and ran down, luckily there was no deadline and they were able to collect them for arrival (they give you a receipt to use when you collect them the next day).

 

Also there was confusion as to which gangway to use - there were supposed to be two, one for people walking to town and one for the boat shuttle. We just walked off at the main one and were stopped at the gate. They had to call back to confirm that we were paid in full.