chemmo

Fantastic! I will continue to follow. We cruise from Athens next September and looking for a hotel in the Plaka area. Ideally with a view like yours….Your opinions, please!

Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise, Rollie. I will be interested to hear your views on the E class RS. We have been put off by the tiny balcony. However, with E class in Southampton from next year we will have to decide on a room type… We did get pj’s on one cruise but not on another so hit and miss. Personally I found the sizing odd…I ordered small and the sleeves dangled! Definitely the best perks of the suite are the bar set up and the included speciality dining. I strongly suggest you pre book your speciality dining before boarding to ensure you get the times you want. Enjoy your cruise and RS experience!

Sincere thanks for a wonderful vicarious cruise holiday. I have enjoyed your adventures daily with my morning coffee! Enjoy Athens, it really is a lovely city. My favourite area to sit, eat and drink watching the world go by is Plaka…I had the best moussaka ever there! I also enjoyed the local brandy Metaxa (not sure on the spelling) with coffee…

Last time we booked a bar set up it came with six mixers and some sort of mixed nut pack. If you explain to the shoreside concierge/concierge on board that the reason you have booked the bar set up is because of your medical issues, despite having a premium drinks package I hope they would top up as necessary. I know the bar set up isn’t cheap but once you have medical issues it is often worth paying a few $/£ for convenience…. Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise…

Hi there, I also have some issues making it hard for me to carry drinks, snacks back to my room. This has been one of the reasons that booking a RS or PH has appealed to us. We have enjoyed having the stocked sodas, beers, and 2 litres of spirits. One option open to you could be to purchase the in suite bar set up for your regular afternoon tipple or nightcap… I also suggest you contact the shoreside concierge a couple of weeks before your cruise and explain you know that an in suite minibar is not included with a SS but you have some medical issues and would be grateful if they could arrange for your room to be stocked with x, y, z…If the message doesn’t get through you could have the same conversation with the Retreat Concierge. There is a big difference between providing a guest with disabilities a service and providing everyone with a service…I would be hopeful that your request would be met. However, bringing mixed drinks to your suite is not a perk for any suite. Even in the PH we do not usually request that. I will occasionally totter back to my suite from the Retreat Lounge with a Baileys in a larger glass end of night to reduce spillage rather than phone the butler and expect him to bring me one!

Your room attendant will bring you ice twice daily. People have reported being able to have their fridges emptied (or if not just empty yourself and let your room attendant know you have done so and where you have put the contents). First few days of your cruise simply pick up a couple of cans or bottles to take to your room, you will I am sure, find neither of these things an issue big enough to take the glow off your retirement cruise! The Silhouette is a beautiful ship and the Retreat Deck is lovely as is the Retreat Lounge…Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise!

“I really like Rhodes, Greece so far. It’s really beautiful and there’s nice shopping, great food, it’s definitely a place that I didn’t expect that much from, but I’m glad we visited”… Stockjock, so glad you have have enjoyed your first taste of Greece. We love Greece! Over the years we have enjoyed spending full holidays on some of the islands. Enjoying their history, beauty and wonderful hospitality. Crete and Rhodes being two of our favourites. In the evening they really become special…

Before drinks packages I was really cautious about trying new cocktails…A lot of money to spend if you don’t like it when it comes. Since we have had a package I have worked my way through the menus! Another vote for spicy mangotini! Love it!

Reliably inconsistent seems to be the answer! I can only ask when I board!

Wouldn’t it be nice if from Southampton there was a two way Mediterranean cruise focusing mainly on islands and including a taste of North Africa. One fourteen night leg Southampton to Cyprus and then reverse but with a totally different itinerary. Just a few suggestions…. Southampton, Le Havre, Gibraltar, Ibiza, Corsica, Elba, Sicily, Corfu, Santorini (overnight), (another island if time) Cyprus. Cyprus, Alexandra, Crete, Malta (overnight), Tunisia, Morocco, Lisbon, Vigo, Southampton. You could go one way and enjoy a week either in Cyprus or in UK or both or simply join the two cruises and have a month at sea!

I am also an iffy sailor, I take sea sickness tablets from the day before I cruise until day three when I will take or not take depending on the forecast. I don’t know how much is psychological that I feel if I have taken the tablets I will be OK but since I got into this routine I have been fine…even when cruising from Southampton! We really made the most of the speciality restaurants on Silhouette. We did enjoy lunch in the Porch on sea days. Much as every cruise is different we were aware that a ‘free’ Porch lunch was one of the offers when booking a speciality package on board. It may be worth chatting after boarding… Looking forward to following along!

Friends of ours are just off Silhouette and loved it. They were new to Celebrity usually being Cunard cruisers. I had been nagging them for years to try Celebrity then was worried to find they had booked a short cruise that had been described as ‘rowdy’ last year and then I read about the MDR menu changes….As two of them had had health issues recently I really didn’t want them to be disappointed Following posts on here I was especially concerned that they would be disappointed with the food. However, they really enjoyed. I had warned them that veggie selection had received a bad press and they simply ordered two of the starter salads to be delivered as side salads for their mains to share between the four of them. They soon got into the habit of double ordering the prawn cocktail! It was the staff and the ambiance they really enjoyed, they would look at cruising Celebrity again. What didn’t go down so well was the cost of drinks. They had decided, not being big drinkers and with planned excursions to simply buy drinks as they went along. They found (as many of us do) that once you add coffee, water etc to bar bill it does make a package more viable.

It is an unfortunate fact that sometimes bending rules in good faith can have repercussions. I remember when free laundry was first introduced for RS and PH guests. It was listed as ‘unlimited’ and then just before our cruise became twice per cruise. We queried this on board and were told it was because many guests in higher suites are travelling with extended family and some were simply sending in the full family wash. In reality now whilst the ‘twice per cruise’ rule is there as long as the quantity sent in is reasonable there is no problem. From a recent post ordering room service in a top suite from a specialty restaurant or Luminae is no longer allowed. Much as this disappoints me I am not in the least surprised. We would occasionally (perhaps once per cruise) request an in suite dinner 24 hours in advance from our butler. We would discuss what we wanted and it would be arranged. Sometimes our butler would offer something not even on any menu. However, in recent years there have been more guests reporting on CC they have ordered room service from Luminae and the speciality restaurants without pre planning and have been accommodated. I totally understand if many guests are doing this and frequently that this would put pressure on Luminae, the speciality restaurants and the butler service. What we had always seen as a ‘treat’ not a right in un upper suite had become to some an expectation and then becomes non sustainable…The inevitable consequence is the ‘reasonable’ guest only requesting occasionally and giving 24 hours warning has lost a much valued treat. On our next cruise in an upper suite I will discuss with the butler possibilities for one special meal and see what they can do…If they can’t I will sadly accept it…It is a treat not a perk attached to the room.

I really worry about the Retreat Team members being overwhelmed with requests for fridge emptying and restocking by guests who don’t know about the changes…They will be at the hard end of complaints too. Wouldn’t it be better to leave the fridges empty with a card on top saying something like…. ”The mini fridge is left empty for you to stock with items of your choice. If you would like it stocked with pay for items please phone……” Surely this must be more hygienic too? I wouldn’t want to drink from a can that moves weekly in and out a fridge! The room attendant would not need to check and report usage at the end of the cruise, nor re-fill… This would also, perhaps allow the Retreat Team some discretion in perhaps offering to get water, soda etc for guests with mobility issues or are elderly and can’t carry a bag full of drinks to their room…On reflection, however, the basket on the front of those mobility scooters may be ideal.

Murano for the food Tuscan for the views!

Our impression of Luminae is exactly the same as yours…No faulting the service but we do find the menu limited. The menu is not helped by the way it is described, on our first few visits we were often surprised with what was delivered. After that we would ask exactly what x, y or z was and frequently asked for sauces to be served on the side. We also found vegetables were frequently a garnish rather than a portion and got in the habit of ordering a side salad each meal. We are planning on dining mainly in Tuscan or Sushi. Whilst we know both well from other cruises it would be nice to know what they are like on Infinity. If you visit either please comment on food and service…

What a pleasure to read your review! Such a lovely balance of admitting there are areas for improvement but the general impression of a cruise well enjoyed shines through!

Looking forward to following your posts! Hope you have a fantastic cruise! We had a fantastic cruise on Silhouette, hope you enjoy too.

I raise my glass here in the UK to you both “Make every moment of your cruise time together special, make it count…”

A bit like me 40 years ago…I am still petite but not sure I can vouch for the rest!

As a new phase in my life begins I am more alert to looking at future cruising opportunities…I am sure you are going to be overwhelmed with questions…

Absolutely! I have clear memories of a rep trying to convince me a RS was a bigger room than a PH on the Eclipse as the RS was the biggest room on RC! When she finally got the information up (which we directed her to) her understanding of perks included/needing paying for was scary as she tried to sell us a premium drinks package! Needless to say we decided not to go ahead with booking… We have found UK TA’s lacking in general knowledge of cruises and sometimes have a real preference to recommend one line over another…

We board on the 19th…The itinerary has a lovely balance of places new and revisited…

So looking forward to following your adventures! We are not boarding Infinity until next September so interested as to how you find her. Surprisingly we considered just about every ship in the fleet before we decided we fancied a return to M class. There is something about the ship’s layout that is very classy. Your window looks lovely! I can imagine sitting next to it reading a book on a sea day!

Oh, I love your live posts! Almost like being there. It will be interesting to read the ‘facts’ of the small ship experience and to get a flavour for the ‘feel’. Over the years I think it has been the ambiance of Celebrity that has kept many of us loyal… How many of us will you tempt to try a dalliance with another?