Just back from a week in Norway on Silhouette, a few ramblings

[PrincessPete]

We returned yesterday from a one week cruise on Celebrity Silhouette to Norway. I will be posting a full review in the near future but just a few comments in advance of that.

We had a really excellent cruise - our second Celebrity cruise and was thoroughly enjoyable.

The trip got off to a very good start with the smoothest embarkation we have had in all our many cruises. We actually left home 55 miles away (on the south coast near Worthing) at 0845 on sailing day and were parked, checked in and onboard by 1030! Amazing.

The embarkation day lunch in the restaurant was most enjoyable and set the scene for a week of outstanding food. We were on Select Dining but had been unable to get the times we preferred in advance, around 1930 – 1945, obviously the peak time. A quick visit to the charming Maître D’ managed to link our booking with that of our daughter and son-in-law who were with us and we were given the time we wanted.

Indeed every night we were placed on the same table for four with the same wonderful waiters so it was almost fixed time dining, but at 1945 as opposed to the 1800 (too early for us) or 2030 sittings (too late). As mentioned above, the food was outstanding.

Our cabin was a Concierge Class Balcony on deck 9, nicely located near the central lifts and we were very well looked after by the steward. The cabin was fine with absolutely no noise from anywhere.

The entertainment on Celebrity is not really our scene but not an issue as we don’t cruise for the shows - I must add they were very well received on the times we glanced into the theatre.

What we did love was the music in the bars – we found the delightful Ensemble Lounge on our first walk round the ship and went there very evening before dinner. There were about 5 different musical performers ranging from a five piece band through classical to a brilliant country singer/guitarist and they were all really good.

The drinks service in the Ensemble Lounge (and everywhere on the ship) was excellent and although we did wonder whether it might be a little slow as everyone appeared to have a drinks package, the staff were forever coming round topping the drinks up.

As for the ship itself, we really liked it – very easy to get around and everything in good order despite a refit approaching soon.

Anything we did not like? As regular Celebrity cruisers will know, many of the bars are “walk through” areas - in the case of the Ensemble Lounge through to three restaurants at the far end so there were often many people walking through the lounge. We do prefer “enclosed” rooms but we knew the set up in advance so it was not a problem.

The only other thing we did not like was having lunch one day in the restaurant at a table for two – it was next to two other tables for two. The waiter took the orders from the three tables – we just wanted a main course but the people on the other tables also had two starters each and we had to wait until they had finished them before getting our only course. The waiter was quite put out when I asked for our mains 25 minutes after he had served the first starter at the adjacent table. A very small point but either it is a table for 2 and served accordingly or, due to the closeness of tables, it is a table for 6 with everyone served together.

Ignoring that trivial event we loved the cruise and had a great week. The weather was a bit mixed (heavy rain in Stavanger) but was largely dry in wonderful Flam and Alesund – such gorgeous ports. We have never been that keen on Bergen which is a lot more built up – the Bryggen area with the old timber houses is lovely, though, and the view from the top of the funicular is good. Not our favourite port though by a long way, others of course may have a different view.

So that is a few ramblings on an excellent week and it all finished with the smoothest disembarkation ever – still in the cabin asleep at 0630 and home by 0945, including a relaxed breakfast onboard! Celebrity really do have the first and last day processes down to a fine art – and everything in between was pretty darn good as well!

Hope this might have been of some interest.

Kind regards.

Peter

 

 

 

[TeeRick]

Thank you for your review.  We really enjoyed Silhouette when we sailed a few years back.  We are trying to find a cruise that does Norway in the near future.

[JanineM]

We were on the previous week and have just gotten back to the States. Our experience was quite similar to yours - very smooth seas with unbelievably good weather! 

[Angel75]

Thank you for posting these thoughts; I'll be looking forward to your full review.  My husband and I will be on the Silhouette to Norway next June.

[Zubsin]

We are cruising in May... looking forward to reading your review

[jdacombe]

We were on that cruise the week before and I must admit that the whole 7 days from start to finish was fantastic, great food, lovely ship, beautiful ports of call. We spent most of our drinking time in the World Class Bar and sampled some delicious cocktalis.

[andyfriend80]

On 9/9/2019 at 3:14 PM, PrincessPete said:

We returned yesterday from a one week cruise on Celebrity Silhouette to Norway. I will be posting a full review in the near future but just a few comments in advance of that.

We had a really excellent cruise - our second Celebrity cruise and was thoroughly enjoyable.

The trip got off to a very good start with the smoothest embarkation we have had in all our many cruises. We actually left home 55 miles away (on the south coast near Worthing) at 0845 on sailing day and were parked, checked in and onboard by 1030! Amazing.

The embarkation day lunch in the restaurant was most enjoyable and set the scene for a week of outstanding food. We were on Select Dining but had been unable to get the times we preferred in advance, around 1930 – 1945, obviously the peak time. A quick visit to the charming Maître D’ managed to link our booking with that of our daughter and son-in-law who were with us and we were given the time we wanted.

Indeed every night we were placed on the same table for four with the same wonderful waiters so it was almost fixed time dining, but at 1945 as opposed to the 1800 (too early for us) or 2030 sittings (too late). As mentioned above, the food was outstanding.

Our cabin was a Concierge Class Balcony on deck 9, nicely located near the central lifts and we were very well looked after by the steward. The cabin was fine with absolutely no noise from anywhere.

The entertainment on Celebrity is not really our scene but not an issue as we don’t cruise for the shows - I must add they were very well received on the times we glanced into the theatre.

What we did love was the music in the bars – we found the delightful Ensemble Lounge on our first walk round the ship and went there very evening before dinner. There were about 5 different musical performers ranging from a five piece band through classical to a brilliant country singer/guitarist and they were all really good.

The drinks service in the Ensemble Lounge (and everywhere on the ship) was excellent and although we did wonder whether it might be a little slow as everyone appeared to have a drinks package, the staff were forever coming round topping the drinks up.

As for the ship itself, we really liked it – very easy to get around and everything in good order despite a refit approaching soon.

Anything we did not like? As regular Celebrity cruisers will know, many of the bars are “walk through” areas - in the case of the Ensemble Lounge through to three restaurants at the far end so there were often many people walking through the lounge. We do prefer “enclosed” rooms but we knew the set up in advance so it was not a problem.

The only other thing we did not like was having lunch one day in the restaurant at a table for two – it was next to two other tables for two. The waiter took the orders from the three tables – we just wanted a main course but the people on the other tables also had two starters each and we had to wait until they had finished them before getting our only course. The waiter was quite put out when I asked for our mains 25 minutes after he had served the first starter at the adjacent table. A very small point but either it is a table for 2 and served accordingly or, due to the closeness of tables, it is a table for 6 with everyone served together.

Ignoring that trivial event we loved the cruise and had a great week. The weather was a bit mixed (heavy rain in Stavanger) but was largely dry in wonderful Flam and Alesund – such gorgeous ports. We have never been that keen on Bergen which is a lot more built up – the Bryggen area with the old timber houses is lovely, though, and the view from the top of the funicular is good. Not our favourite port though by a long way, others of course may have a different view.

So that is a few ramblings on an excellent week and it all finished with the smoothest disembarkation ever – still in the cabin asleep at 0630 and home by 0945, including a relaxed breakfast onboard! Celebrity really do have the first and last day processes down to a fine art – and everything in between was pretty darn good as well!

Hope this might have been of some interest.

Kind regards.

Peter

 

 

 

We were on this cruise too; deck 9 Concierge and also from Worthing!

 

Overall I thought it was a great trip.  First time on Silhouette (we have been on Eclipse & Equinox) and first time cruising with baby.  We are booked on Ireland/Iceland next year so looking forward to seeing how the refit works out.

Edited September 10, 2019 by andyfriend80

[Suite Susie]

We were also on board and had a fab time.  Loved the ship and we tried all the specialty restaurants.  Great entertainment and we met so many great people.  It was a really social, fun cruise and thoroughly enjoyed the Ports as well as the ship.