First X Cruise:SILHOUETTE JAN 17 2016

[TheCount]

Norris

Have been following this excellent adventure. As I first posted to you chronicle, we are on the Silly for our first Celeb cruise after doing 235 night or so on RCCL. Our daughter was in the ice casts on RCCL for some time, so we got to know the other ships well. Seems this is about an Adventure class size?

 

As we have been following this trip log, we are getting a good feeling that we will enjoy our first trip on Celeb.

Food, drink, fun, relax and a good time we anticipate.

 

So, for our knowledge, we have traditionally been formal attire on the formal nights. I see Celeb has gone "Chic". Can you comment on the range of attire? Is true black tie too much? Never could figure out the meaning of "Chic" .

 

Has been an excellent review and report. We hope to be able to find all the places onboard.

 

Many thanks!

The Count

:)

Edited February 11, 2016 by TheCount

[TheCount]

Guess we also need to ask for Val at the Lawn Club

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

Read your entire review today. Awesome pictures and you commentary is hysterical. Can you tell me how similar the Silly is to the Solstice? I've sailed Celebrity before but never on an S class ship. We are going on the Solstice to Alaska in May.

Gale

 

Hi, Gale, it's always gratifying to see a new face and one that has read the whole thing up to date. I'm glad it held your interest thus far.

 

Thanks for the compliments!

 

I haven't set foot on the Solstice but I believe the lawn area is where it would differ from the Silhouette in that the Solstice, the original S class, will have the Corning Glass Show on the lawn and lack the big Adirondacks, Alcoves and hammocks on the grass. Anyone feel free to correct me if I am wrong. The interiors will still be stunning no doubt.

 

The Lawn area is my favorite part of the ship and one of the things that truly set the S Class apart from any other class of ship afloat. The Lawn without the Lawn Club Grill would be a blow to us as we loved the LCG. We also liked the Alcoves and the hammocks on the grass too.

 

It's even possible that we may just sail the Silhouette and the Reflection.

 

It will be interesting to see what the new Edge ships bring to the table.

 

Cheers!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris

Have been following this excellent adventure. As I first posted to you chronicle, we are on the Silly for our first Celeb cruise after doing 235 night or so on RCCL. Our daughter was in the ice casts on RCCL for some time, so we got to know the other ships well. Seems this is about an Adventure class size?

 

As we have been following this trip log, we are getting a good feeling that we will enjoy our first trip on Celeb.

Food, drink, fun, relax and a good time we anticipate.

 

So, for our knowledge, we have traditionally been formal attire on the formal nights. I see Celeb has gone "Chic". Can you comment on the range of attire? Is true black tie too much? Never could figure out the meaning of "Chic" .

 

Has been an excellent review and report. We hope to be able to find all the places onboard.

 

Many thanks!

The Count

:)

 

Count , welcome back. A little whisky perhaps? I have a Mccallan 18 year old single malt here...oops, wait, sorry-I just finished it. Hic!

 

Adventure of the Seas (Voyager Class) has more interior volume than the Silly (122K vs 137K tonnes) but only carries 3100 passengers-just a couple of hundred more than the Silly. There's about 80 more crew members on S though.

 

Range of attire on Elegant Chic night went from designer jeans,open neck shirt to a few tuxedos including some stand-out white dinner jackets.Lots of business suits. The gamut- so feel free to dress up. People can still go to the buffet or specialties if they want to be more casual.

I left my suit at home and wore shirt and tie and Black Dockers pants with a crease. And flip flops. No-black shoes. I don't wear flip flops.

 

You will be dazzled by the Silhouette.

 

Norris

[ClaudiaB]

Except.....if you only sail Silhouette and Reflection, you will miss the best Caribbean itineraries. I hope you can take one of the Equinox or Eclipse two week cruises. Those are wonderful and what we sail most often. A week just isn't long enough - by the time we get relaxed and in the groove we're having to think about packing up to go. I think you said you are still only able to take 7 days and I get that. Sometime though, try and get a cruise that goes to Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, Antigua. Beautiful, wonderful ports. I think you'd like a transatlantic, too. Those are really fun.

 

Still enjoying your review.

[TheCount]

Count , welcome back. A little whisky perhaps? I have a Mccallan 18 year old single malt here...oops, wait, sorry-I just finished it. Hic!

 

Adventure of the Seas (Voyager Class) has more interior volume than the Silly (122K vs 137K tonnes) but only carries 3100 passengers-just a couple of hundred more than the Silly. There's about 80 more crew members on S though.

 

Range of attire on Elegant Chic night went from designer jeans,open neck shirt to a few tuxedos including some stand-out white dinner jackets.Lots of business suits. The gamut- so feel free to dress up. People can still go to the buffet or specialties if they want to be more casual.

I left my suit at home and wore shirt and tie and Black Dockers pants with a crease. And flip flops. No-black shoes. I don't wear flip flops.

 

YOU'RE A REBEL!

 

You will be dazzled by the Silhouette.

 

Norris

 

Guess I can be a REBEL too. TUX without the B-tie, or my white dinner jacket, designer jeans and flip-flops. HA

 

Now, I too am back to a fine sipping whiskey in 15 Glenfidich. Snow coming into Ontario Canada tonight and making us wish we had B2B to extend the Caribbean heat. Hate the cold, bring on the sun!

[Bimmer09]

Except.....if you only sail Silhouette and Reflection, you will miss the best Caribbean itineraries. I hope you can take one of the Equinox or Eclipse two week cruises. Those are wonderful and what we sail most often. A week just isn't long enough - by the time we get relaxed and in the groove we're having to think about packing up to go. I think you said you are still only able to take 7 days and I get that. Sometime though, try and get a cruise that goes to Bonaire, Curacao, Aruba, Antigua. Beautiful, wonderful ports. I think you'd like a transatlantic, too. Those are really fun.

 

Still enjoying your review.

 

Claudia, yes 7 days on the sea with 2 days either side if we are in Europe but one either side if the Caribbean (it's Ft Lauderdale not Barcelona).

 

The sea will open up to us once we retire.

 

We've been to Aruba and Curacao and love them. We will try other X ships at some point. Maybe even an Azamara Caribbean trip when our vacation time grows. Oceania sends me an e mail every day...looks appealing. We are just in the dating stage with X but off to a good start.

 

Carol is gung-ho for TransAtlantics (sea day lover). Me not so much (port lover) but if we do I hope to chose the Queen Mary 2. I still have family in the U.K.

 

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

Norris

[travelling8]

Each day as I passed the 8 Alcoves on the lawn they were in use for at least part of the day.

On Thursday evening there was a card in our mail slot that showed an Alcove for us for Friday. Fine by me! The Alcoves are yours from 9 a.m to 9 pm. Cost $149 at sea, $99 in port.

 

Norris, are the alcove charges per person or per alcove? I can't seem to find the information about it on the X site.

 

I'm still keeping up with your review and have read your Emerald Princess review as well. I'm sorry about what happened to you upon your return from that cruise and I'm glad that you are well now. Hopefully you have settled things with your insurance company.

 

Thanks for posting all of the pictures! I will now feel at home in 17 days!

 

Kim :)

[bones43]

Very sad this journey is coming to a close . I have thoroughly enjoyed and looked forward to each days postings. We will be on Silly 03/27/16 for the same itinerary . This will be our first experience with Celebrity. Have sailed with Princess in the past so look forward to your comparison.

Thank you for sharing your experience

[mit429]

Norris, are the alcove charges per person or per alcove? I can't seem to find the information about it on the X site.

 

 

 

I'm still keeping up with your review and have read your Emerald Princess review as well. I'm sorry about what happened to you upon your return from that cruise and I'm glad that you are well now. Hopefully you have settled things with your insurance company.

 

 

 

Thanks for posting all of the pictures! I will now feel at home in 17 days!

 

 

 

Kim :)

 

 

It's per alcove :)

 

I'm so excited to try one on my upcoming Silly sail this Sunday!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mit429]

Another amenity that sets these ships apart is the Solarium for adults only.

 

 

Solarium is open from 7 a.m to 11 p.m-very generous hours.

 

Norris, I noticed your usage of "very generous hours" here and assume that given your past experience with Princess, you are comparing most directly to them. What, on average, are the pool hours on their ships.

 

I've always wished that things were open until 1am, or at least a single hot tub. RCCL is pretty good at keeping one hot tub open late, in my experience. I know you're more of a morning person than a night owl, so this is probably not as much of a concern for you -- though some days you might get up early enough to overlap with some extreme night owlers haha

[donswife]

So it took 3 days, and I am officially caught up. I have been re-allocating my Facebook time and general CC browsing to reading your highly engaging review. Does X offer anything like the Ultimate Ship Tour on Princess? We took it on our Caribbean Princess cruise 2 weeks ago, and I just loved it, especially the time up on the bridge (and having our own security officer escort...who knows what mayhem may have otherwise ensued?)

[hockeyguru32]

Tea doesn't come with the snacks until you call your butler. Milk, sir? Yes but just a splash!

 

There's a wrong way to make tea-our butler can tell you how. You put cold milk in the cup, pop in a tea bag and then boiling water which is cooled by the cold milk. This is how you get a weak cup of tea. Undrinkable. Different teas require different water temperatures-e.g 175 degF for green tea, 212degF for English Breakfast which is what I drink. Let the teabag soak for a few minutes (5 for strong manly tea) then squeeze it to get the last ounce of flavor.

Put the milk in a little jug and give it to the drinker to apply themselves.

 

 

I agree with your tea analogy. Early Grey it is for me

[hockeyguru32]

THE END IS NIGH

[/b]

 

Yikes-a bit dramatic there. Not quite the end but it is nigh as this is our last day sailing on the ship. After that we have a day back in Fort Lauderdale to decompress before flying home to Chicago. There will be a cruise summary at the end followed by an interview with our cat Little Snowy on whether she missed us or not.

 

 

 

Do I get a chocolate for mention the end is near by Blue Eyes. I did it my wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[Bimmer09]

Norris, are the alcove charges per person or per alcove? I can't seem to find the information about it on the X site.

 

I'm still keeping up with your review and have read your Emerald Princess review as well. I'm sorry about what happened to you upon your return from that cruise and I'm glad that you are well now. Hopefully you have settled things with your insurance company.

 

Thanks for posting all of the pictures! I will now feel at home in 17 days!

 

Kim :)

 

Kim, I know this has been answered as yes the $149 is the total price for the Alcove on sea days but they have room for about 5 people so that could spread the cost among friends. Carol loves them and we'll book them again. As I don't sit still for long I get less value from them. Princess has a private (for a fee) area called the Sanctuary which is an adults only quiet zone with steward service and free munchies/afternoon tea delivered to your chosen lounger. It's called the Sanctuary and costs $30 a day each person if you book for the week which we usually do-you will have seen it in the Emerald review.

 

The Alcoves are a nice place to relax and be waited on.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris, I noticed your usage of "very generous hours" here and assume that given your past experience with Princess, you are comparing most directly to them. What, on average, are the pool hours on their ships.

 

I've always wished that things were open until 1am, or at least a single hot tub. RCCL is pretty good at keeping one hot tub open late, in my experience. I know you're more of a morning person than a night owl, so this is probably not as much of a concern for you -- though some days you might get up early enough to overlap with some extreme night owlers haha

 

Mit, I have spent an hour trying to find a concrete answer for you using the PCL website, the CC search engine and my own photos. The short answer is times aren't listed.

 

The ships I sail have 5 pools-none indoors and one of the 5 is a kids wading pool.

The big pools are ready by 6 a.m- I watch them being cleaned by a robot underwater vacuum when I am up early.

 

In the Princess Patters-the daily news sheet, pools hours aren't listed and the bars that serve them are listed at various opening times -e.g the bar open the longest is from 6 a.m ONWARD...no closing time. I sit at a bar above one of the pools-it opens at 10 and it closes at 7 pm daily. By that time all the deck loungers are stowed and stacked on deck. I have photos of pools without nets on them at 7pm-but nowhere to sit.

 

So I think the answer is for the uncovered pools that they are available from 6 a.m until the deck master gives the Ok to net them over. I've seen people in the hot tubs after dark but not in the pools.

 

The Ship's spa has it's own pool (open to all) but it's small. It features a current machine. It serves the swimmers in the private Sanctuary above but the Sanctuary closes at 5.30 so most potential users are gone then.

 

On the ships which do have an indoor pool I have no idea. If there's anyone reading who does know, feel free to chime in.

 

Only when there are Deck Parties with streamers and live bands rocking are the pool decks alive after dark. You might get two of those in a 7 day warm weather cruise.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

So it took 3 days, and I am officially caught up. I have been re-allocating my Facebook time and general CC browsing to reading your highly engaging review. Does X offer anything like the Ultimate Ship Tour on Princess? We took it on our Caribbean Princess cruise 2 weeks ago, and I just loved it, especially the time up on the bridge (and having our own security officer escort...who knows what mayhem may have otherwise ensued?)

 

I have done 3 of the Princess USTs and I do believe X offers them as I read about it in one of Oliver's reviews (Miaminice). He said you ask about it at Guest Relations and sign up there. I didn't on this trip but will try it on the Reflection.

Oliver took pics on the X bridge.

 

There was a notice in the Monday (first sea day) newsletter which said

 

See how it's done-behind the scenes tour. Fee applies. Sign up before Thursday at Guest Relations.

That was it I guess. very low-key.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Very sad this journey is coming to a close . I have thoroughly enjoyed and looked forward to each days postings. We will be on Silly 03/27/16 for the same itinerary . This will be our first experience with Celebrity. Have sailed with Princess in the past so look forward to your comparison.

Thank you for sharing your experience

 

Bones-welcome and thanks for following along!

 

I'll be doing a Princess/X comparison on the Princess board after this so pop over there when I am done here.

 

It will be a fair fight-no gouging, biting, hitting below the belt etc.

 

Photos and pie charts (or at least pie) will be used. I will discuss the Core Competencies and Paradigms of each. Tim will give a Powerpoint demonstration and there will be a lot of "takeaways" (I'm not talking Chinese food here).

 

Thanks for stopping by and for your enthusiasm. I've had fun meeting so many new people.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

THE END IS NIGH

[/b]

 

Yikes-a bit dramatic there. Not quite the end but it is nigh as this is our last day sailing on the ship. After that we have a day back in Fort Lauderdale to decompress before flying home to Chicago. There will be a cruise summary at the end followed by an interview with our cat Little Snowy on whether she missed us or not.

 

 

 

Do I get a chocolate for mention the end is near by Blue Eyes. I did it my wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

 

I think a pillow chocolate is due and I like that you read my little titles at the top of each post. However the chocolates are all gone (said while wiping mouth with napkin).

 

On my next sailing I will be raiding the Steward's hall cart while he's making a bed.

 

Thanks for following along!

 

Norris

[Iamcruzin]

I'm a displaced Princess cruiser as well. Will be sailing on Celebrity for the second time in May. I look forward to reading your review.

[Bimmer09]

I'm a displaced Princess cruiser as well. Will be sailing on Celebrity for the second time in May. I look forward to reading your review.

 

Mike, displaced?

 

Does this mean "no more Princess?" or like us "just mixing it up?"

 

I am happy that now we have two great lines to sail.

 

Norris

[Iamcruzin]

Hey Norris, I'll take the liberty of answering this question, both because you and I have chatted before, and because SoxFanCruiser is my better half (or vice versa). ;) We are sailing on the Silhouette, doing the same itinerary.

 

I have been looking forward to your review.

 

And I have to say that my story of landing on the Silhouette is just a bit similar to yours. As I've mentioned (and as you can see below), we are long time Princess cruisers. Princess fits us very well, but I've wanted to at least try another line for some time. I'm also a bit of a ship nerd - though nowhere near as expert as you - and when I saw the first Solstice Class ship I immediately began to drool. But, I've had some difficulty convincing the DH to jump ship (pun intended) due in part to all the perks we get being Elite on Princess. When we discovered that we could essentially "buy" our way into the equivalent perks by sailing Aqua Class on Celebrity, he was finally convinced.

 

And so, here we are, waiting very impatiently for our sail away in just under 3 weeks. In the meantime, I will content myself enjoying another of your always entertaining reviews. Pray continue, good sir. :D

 

p.s. - and, while I do not want to be seen as a "basher", I do have to agree with you about the Celebrity website experience: it is absolutely excruciating, when it's functional at all. I feel like it's designed by a deranged video game creator who takes delight in forcing visitors to navigate a labyrinthian maze, simultaneously solving puzzles along the way in order to open secret levels that permit access to prized information such as boarding passes and luggage tags, what excursions you have already booked, what reservations you have made, and especially the meaning of the promotional packages you have taken advantage of. ;)

 

I have been following this board for 3 years and It seems one of the biggest complaints has been the website. I don't even bother with it. I have found it faster to do everything over the phone as sad as that sounds. I hope you will report back on your Aqua experience.

[Iamcruzin]

Mike, displaced?

 

Does this mean "no more Princess?" or like us "just mixing it up?"

 

I am happy that now we have two great lines to sail.

 

Norris

 

No I love Princess but the itineraries don't work for me anymore. We are limited to 7 day cruises in the Caribbean and the timing never works out for us. We wanted to celebrate our 25th anniversary on Princess since we spent our honeymoon on the original Crown Princess. However, I was able to book a Bermuda cruise (Princess doesn't sail there) for a great price with the drink package, paid gratuity and $300 OBC. The bonus is that the sail date is during our anniversary and we don't have to fly to port. Princess is still my first choice but now I'm willing to sleep around.

[nursedibdob]

Norris

 

I'm so sad this is coming to an end. I've looked forward to it every morning. I think the CC community should club together to send you on another cruise so that we can share the vicarious pleasure of your enjoyment

 

Debbie

[cwbabe48]

Does anyone know if I can reserve the Alcove ahead of our cruise?

Thanks