Live From Silhouette – 11/5 TransAtlantic

[tweetylori]

Thanks Jim...am planning on doing a review as soon as I can. Sadly it's been back to work this week, not to mention weird things like cooking, cleaning and laundry...wah!

[LuAnn]

thanks for your posting of "our" cruise...yours and ours of course!!!

 

I think you might have been just down the hall from us...we were in 1635 and I think I saw you on the last AM???

 

Anyway...thanks so much for your great pics and thoughts about this crossing!!!

 

TBH...I am done with X for the T/As.....our experiences as Elite Plus (I hate that name BTW)...

 

The staff on board and the "corporate" office...blamed so many times for everything that went wrong on this crossing...so many in the Elite & Elite Plus class that the venues were "over-run"...and no one...had a " clue" how to fix it all?????? I tried to make suggestions...but was told over and over again it is a "corporate" decision...and yet...near the end of the cruise ..they figured a few things out...like opening another venue for the morning event for Elites and then re-doing the "tea" because the first time was so bad!!!!

 

We did have fun...but ...we will not do a T/A again with X...we will continue to sail with X for other cruises (Asia in '17 and OZ/NZ in '18) but have booked AZ for both of our future T/As...we have been on AZ before for these T/As and will go back to them again!

 

Thanks for posting about the T/A...it was a great time in many ways...as we met many CC members before boarding in "Civi"...and had a great time with them..

 

To help others with your comments is what CC is all about I think...thanks!!! LuAnn

[Jim_Iain]

thanks for your posting of "our" cruise...yours and ours of course!!!

 

I think you might have been just down the hall from us...we were in 1635 and I think I saw you on the last AM???

 

Anyway...thanks so much for your great pics and thoughts about this crossing!!!

 

TBH...I am done with X for the T/As.....our experiences as Elite Plus (I hate that name BTW)...

 

The staff on board and the "corporate" office...blamed so many times for everything that went wrong on this crossing...so many in the Elite & Elite Plus class that the venues were "over-run"...and no one...had a " clue" how to fix it all?????? I tried to make suggestions...but was told over and over again it is a "corporate" decision...and yet...near the end of the cruise ..they figured a few things out...like opening another venue for the morning event for Elites and then re-doing the "tea" because the first time was so bad!!!!

 

We did have fun...but ...we will not do a T/A again with X...we will continue to sail with X for other cruises (Asia in '17 and OZ/NZ in '18) but have booked AZ for both of our future T/As...we have been on AZ before for these T/As and will go back to them again!

 

Thanks for posting about the T/A...it was a great time in many ways...as we met many CC members before boarding in "Civi"...and had a great time with them..

 

To help others with your comments is what CC is all about I think...thanks!!! LuAnn

 

We were in 1615, just down the hall from you.

 

Wow- wasn't aware of all the problems. While we are Elite+ (I also hate the name) but since we were sailing in a suite had all of our drink needs filled in Michael's Club. My understanding is there were about 1,100 E and E+ which about 1/3 of the ship. Good reason why we never went to any of the events.

 

I am sure it is quite a disappointment when you expect certain gatherings and events to be fulfilled as per their loyalty program. Many of the re-positioning cruises are very popular among the E/E+ travelers and are often as heavily attended.

 

We have done quite a number of TA's and love them. I love the days at sea and solitude.

 

We won't be doing a TA again for at least 2 years as we have a B2B from Singapore to Rome planned on Constellation and a B2B to South America on Infinity.

 

Wish you the best and hope you will love the Asia and Australia / NZ Cruises.

[LabGuy64]

WOW......you must have had some very important stuff in that backpack....unless my passport was in there I would have left it and just bought anything I needed. you were both lucky and resourceful to get there only 2 hours later than your partner

 

 

This is my first live posting of a Cruise so bear with me. I will try and answer any questions in a timely manner.

 

Introduction - I am Jim and my partner is Iain and we are from the Sunnyvale, CA about 1 hours south of San Francisco in the middle of Silicon Valley. This is our 20th cruise and our 7th TransAtlantic on Celebrity, as a matter of fact we have never sailed another line. We love the Celebrity product and have never found a reason to shift to another line.

We booked this cruise about 2 years ago. Normally I book the first day the new cruises are announced in order to get the best selection of cabins. We always travel suites and booked Celebrity Suite 1615 a nice hump cabin for this cruise.

Lesson One - Make a check list and make sure you read it before leaving the house!

I wanted to start my posts with a lesson I learned the hard way. This comes from a seasoned traveler who has traveled over 2 million miles by air on business.

We started our trip rushing to make a 8AM flight out of SFO. I had everything planned and on a checklist. Suite cases were by the front door everything was checked off my check list and by backpack was next to my living room chair with all my electronics and travel documents. I loaded the rental car up and off we went. We dropped the car at Avis and was on the SkyTrain to the terminal when I looked down and said to Iain - where’s my backpack? Panic time as I remembered I had not put it in the car. Luckily Iain had his travel documents and passport with him. I had Iain take the suite cases to check in and I booked an Uber to try to run home and back again.

Of course I was delayed further by my credit card on Uber expiring and having to update my profile and then the driver going to the wrong terminal to pick me up. I texted the driver and he finally circled around and grabbed me burning up 15 minutes of precious time. Of course the San Francisco traffic started building up by that time also. I didn’t get back to the house until 7:30 knowing there was no way I could make it back in time to make the flight.

Iain is not a techie and hates cellphones so of course he didn’t have his phone with him (another lesson learned by both of us). I had him paged at SFO and told him to take off and I would get to Rome somehow.

I immediately called ChoicAir and was hoping that their “Guarantee” would be helpful. They tried all types of things but AmericanAirlines didn’t have any connections that could get me there until at least Sunday (a day after the ship sails). The did find a Lufthansa flight but said it would cost me $900 for a coach seat. The reservation I had was in Business Class L. Luckily I remembered I had taken out Insurance and called my agent. She told me not to worry and make a claim prior to booking. Great idea.

Thinking out of the box I checked United Airlines and found SuperSaver Points flight out of San Jose Airport only 10 minutes away that would leave in 2 hours. I immediately booked it for 30,000 miles. The flight was San Jose to Vancouver to Frankfurt and then on to Rome. I would arrive just 2 hours after Iain.

The next task was to try to reach Iain. His flight was already airborne and by schedules I saw I had a 1 hour window after I got to Vancouver before his PHL-FCO flight departed. Tried as I may, having him paged 3 times and no response I finally sent him an e-mail in hope he would somehow check his e-mail.

I then remembered that the hotel booking was in my name. I called Hilton and had them add his name added to the reservation so he could check into our room.

To make a long story short - I arrived safe and sound. Iain remembered he had his Ipad with him and was able to retrieve the message and we were joyfully reunited at FCO Airport Hilton.

Let’s hope the rest of the trip is relaxing.

[Jim_Iain]

WOW......you must have had some very important stuff in that backpack....unless my passport was in there I would have left it and just bought anything I needed. you were both lucky and resourceful to get there only 2 hours later than your partner

 

Yea.. .number one in importance was indeed my Passport. Without that it was a show stopper.

 

Jim

[voyager90265]

Jim...thanks so much for a great review. We had a wonderful crossing as well. I must say, that by the time the port stops were concluded we were ready for the sea days.

 

I have read about the issues with the Elite events. We had a beverage package so we only attended one of the Elite cocktail events. We did not find it understaffed at all nor did we find the bars over run. I think they only "problem" if you want to call it that was with some slow service at Ensemble Lounge on one night but nothing to write home about. We also found Guest Relations and the hotel staff very accommodating to our needs.

 

We have already booked the same crossing for next year as it is the only one which works for my schedule. More than likely we will just stay onboard during many of the port calls.

 

Have a great holiday and may you enjoy nothing but calm seas in future sailings.

[Jim_Iain]

I'm glad you also enjoyed the cruise. I agree it was quite port intensive to begin the cruise. We usually take a walk around the port and not much more. This cruise we ventured out on our own and took numerous train trips to sightsee on our own.

 

We were getting ready for the end of our next cruise where we will be getting a 15 day Eurorail Ticket after the cruise and visit Italy before ending in Vienna. Haven't Eurorailed in many years.

 

We loved this cruise as there were so many ports we had never visited.

 

Jim

[Northern Aurora]

Jim_Ian: Just a quick note to let you know that I enjoyed reading the account of your adventures. And I fully expect that someday we will be checking in at the Fairbanks airport only to realize that one of our carry-ons was left at the house, and, of course, it will be the one with our travel document folder (which has the passports)! Fortunately for us we live about a 25 minute drive from our airport.

[Northern Aurora]

thanks for your posting of "our" cruise...yours and ours of course!!!

 

.....

 

TBH...I am done with X for the T/As.....our experiences as Elite Plus (I hate that name BTW)...

 

The staff on board and the "corporate" office...blamed so many times for everything that went wrong on this crossing...so many in the Elite & Elite Plus class that the venues were "over-run"...and no one...had a " clue" how to fix it all?????? I tried to make suggestions...but was told over and over again it is a "corporate" decision...and yet...near the end of the cruise ..they figured a few things out...like opening another venue for the morning event for Elites and then re-doing the "tea" because the first time was so bad!!!!

 

We did have fun...but ...we will not do a T/A again with X...we will continue to sail with X for other cruises (Asia in '17 and OZ/NZ in '18) but have booked AZ for both of our future T/As...we have been on AZ before for these T/As and will go back to them again!

 

.....

 

To help others with your comments is what CC is all about I think...thanks!!! LuAnn

 

LuAnn: I realize that you don't want to "high-jack" Jim_Ian's thread, but I think it would be helpful if you would consider posting your experiences/impressions on how Celebrity could improve the onboard experience on cruises when they have so many Elite and Elite+ passengers onboard. We've done five trans-Atlantic crossings and each time there was at least 1000 Elite and Elite+ passengers on board. Possibly consider starting another thread devoted to this topic?

[Jleegb]

I am Jim, and my significant other David, are going on our first repositioning cruise. You sound like you guys have done many cruises, are there any obstacles on the sil we should look out for? Any info would be helpful, we leave the 23rd of April out of Ft. La di da.

[Jim_Iain]

I am Jim, and my significant other David, are going on our first repositioning cruise. You sound like you guys have done many cruises, are there any obstacles on the sil we should look out for? Any info would be helpful, we leave the 23rd of April out of Ft. La di da.

 

Silhouette is a lovely ship and really enjoyed her. We love TransAtlantics which you could probably discern from the list in my signature.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that when you go East bound you will be loosing 6 hours due to time zone changes on the way over. So far we have only done West bounds. Iain hates getting up early. Many I have talked to that took the Eastbound said they enjoyed it because by the time they got to Europe they were already acclimated to European time.

 

Couple tips on the ship. There is an area called the Hideaway that is really nice for quiet reading and relaxation. Normally very empty. They also have a Coffee and Tea station setup here and is nice if you want to avoid the crowds in the buffet area.

 

I love the layout of the ship as I do a lot of walking to keep from putting on weight during the cruise. I take a long loop around the Lido Deck climb the steps to the Lawn Deck around the aft of the shift back to the Llido then forward up the stairs to the forward Lawn club deck and back. It comes in at about 1/3 mile per lap. Iain isn't as adventuresome and sits at the Lawn club and reads.

 

The wonderful thing of a Transatlantic is the sea days. You have nothing planned and can do as much or as little as you like. Don't feel guilty if you totally decompress from the busy world we live in and do nothing.

 

I would really recommend Murano's for a special evening. They present European French style food with impeccable service and dome service. If it is a special occasion definitely let them know.

 

If you have any specific feel free to ask or even contact me direct - my e-mail is an underlined link in my Signature line.

 

Jim