Silhouette Trans-Atlantic---GREAT Cruise

[JAMESFALLETTA]

Background:

Couple in mid-30s. Celebrity is our line of choice. First trans-atlantic. We know this itinerary attracts a more sedate group and we're fine with that--we make our own fun. Last call was midnight around most of the ship.

 

1A cabin mid-ship deck 9 port-side. Love being mid-ship on the S-class--great location. The bigger balcony is not worth it. This is our 3rd 1A--not needed unless adjoining cabin balcony party desired. We brought an inflatable ottoman so we could put our feet up like those Concierge class cabins whose 1As have appropriate furniture for a balcony of that size.

 

Cabin Steward "Moses" was on his last cruise of contract. He started off reading a list of "rules." Such as "I work 8am to noon, and 4pm to 8pm", "if you're in your cabin past noon, it won't be made up until 6pm or so," and, "you cannot take wine glasses out of your cabin because housekeeping tracks them and I can't replace them." This last one bugs my wife because we brought some wine aboard and like to bring a glass to dinner. The first night we actually brought our empty glasses back to the room.

 

Moses had an easy time with us. Due to the frequent time changes we slept in many days and just requested fresh towels rather than a full room cleaning. He did a good job giving us plenty of ice and an ice bucket for the wine daily. He had a major attitude on the 2 nights we ordered room service. It's not our fault that if we order double salads Celebrity doesn't combine them into one bowl, but makes every delivered order a heavy plate plus cover. Moses never gave us a comment card/survey to fill out.

 

Ship is beautiful--our second time sailing Silhouette. Staff very engaging. Wonderful cruise all around. Love the S class. Two cruises again we sailed Constellation. If you're wowed by S class, don't trick yourself into thinking a Solsticized M Class vessel will be identical. Then again we're in the "newer the better" camp.

 

Time changes: Again, first trans-atlantic. I think we'd prefer gaining an hour daily by going east to west. Some days we awoke at 2pm, needing to grab "breakfast" and get ready for 5pm Elite happy hour. Weather was fantastic and seas calm for the most part. Love the lazy sea days, but a great day in Madiera following 6 straight Days at Sea reminded us we also like active port days.

 

Food: Quality of food was fine (to us, the best of main-stream cruise lines), but selection has greatly diminished from my first X cruise in fall of 2010. At that time, I was quite impressed by the huge selection at dinner--varied side dishes that could be ordered, etc. No request was turned down. We had select dining this time, and any time we asked for extra veggies or something not on the menu it was quickly dismissed. Nobody wanted to go the extra mile. I bet it would be different with fixed seating/waiters.

 

Buffet:

The buffet was OK but very repetitive on a 15 day itinerary. Have been on 5 X cruises in past 2.5 years, I'm tired of their menus and may choose another line next time simply for variety. Everything was repeated. Many dishes were clearly re-contructed leftovers from the prior night's main dining room dinner. Breads and ice-creams are fantastic. Not sure if it was a trans-atlantic issue or what, but several items ran out toward the end of the cruise. No guacamole, no white tortillas, no crackers to go with cheese display.

 

I wish the clean buffet plates would be less hot--difficult to pick them up when they're so hot from cleaning. Never had trouble finding a table.

 

Main Dining Room: It seems to me that high quality, expensive entrees are grouped together on the same night, to force an either-or choice. Rather than spreading the higher quality entrees throughout the week and having costly entrees chosen by most on a nightly basis. The result was some nights having very sad low quality all around dinner menus and other nights where the waiter said everything was top notch (formal nights). I think I'm onto something here--think about it.

 

This was our first time using select dining. We found a great table but they wouldn't let us reserve it for the entire time. Told us they'll reserve a time but not a specific table. This is different from what I had heard in prior posts. No big deal. Still like it as early seating is a bit too early for us and late seating too late.

 

We didn't try any specialty restaurants this time. The last 2 nights they all offered 50% off, but we were tired of food by then. Room service was a fiasco. Twice we called down the order taker had the wrong dinner menu in front of him--tried telling me I had the wrong menu in front of me--clueless. One time we got 4 extra items we didn't order, so they probably gave our Steward somebody else's items. He was upset delivering 11 items to us.

 

Cafe Al Bacio had nice desserts and now served some pies and cakes. Wish the variety changed a bit. A couple times we took our desserts to the show and didn't return the plates, and going forward they would insist we dined right there in the cafe if we wanted a plate. I understand. BUT only take-away option is a plastic/paper sleeve which smudges and ruins the desserts, especially pie, which you order. Hey, I'm not stealing the plates, so just like the buffet, too bad if you need to track down where I leave them.

 

First time as Elite members using the voucher system. It was pretty good. A few nights we chilled at the pool with beers. You didn't have to dress up to use vouchers in the Sky Lounge, as it's no longer an elite-only function. Used vouchers are Martini Bar, Ensemble Lounge, and Sky Lounge. When first arriving at 5pm, they had a lot of pre-made drinks. Elite also get smaller wine glasses/pours. With tipping, sometimes we got more than 3 drinks each......After the first week, we were tired of drinking and stopped going.

 

Entertainment: We saw a couple shows that were fine. I like the new late-night comedy--just wish they added another comedian or two for variety. The party band (Runaways) were good, but had limited song selections--very very repetitive.

 

There were interesting series of lectures about crime and another about sports. I liked that the talks were recorded and on demand in your stateroom if you missed one.

 

During sea days we would look at the daily program, and used a highlighter to see which activities either charged a fee, or were designed to get you to spend more money (like specialty restaurant tasting, port shopping talk etc.) 95% of the Celebrity Life activities cost money or are thinly veiled sales pitches. It's like this on all main stream lines--at least Celebrity doesn't have the annoying announcements. Don't expect to be entertained. Again, we make our own fun.

 

We pre-paid gratuities. Celebrity gave us $300 OBC from open passages, and we got it back in cash less the 5% fee at the casino. I had $175 OBC from my travel agent which was refunded to us. A fantastic deal--best part was 15 nights without email/internet/work to reconnect as a couple.

 

Overall, a great cruise. Officers and staff spot on. Looking to go up-market next time just for variety, especially in food department. Perhaps Oceana or Azamara.

[Lois R]

Hi, thanks for the review and glad you had a good cruise.:)

 

Sounds like Moses had a ATTITUDE PROBLEM:eek:....he read you a list

of rules?:confused:.....OMG..........that sounds totally funky (to me anyway).

[happy cruzer]

Loved your review. The cabin steward with rules, I've had before, and usually they are the abolutely most concientitious person. No problem with them usually. The only thing is if they do fall short, you tend to remember. Everyone in the world is different.

 

Love Celebrity's room service and it does end up being quite a load the way it is plated. But cest la vie, that just the way it is.

 

Tolerance helps even out the little wrinkles.

 

Again love your review and we love transatl cruises. Would love to one on a S class ship. Thank you for sharing.

[Texed]

Thanks for posting. :)

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[stereo]

Ihave booked a 1A cabin for a fall TA . Onboard booking gives me a $300 OBC-nonrefundable from Celebrity--I called captains club and customer service after reading that the obc can not (I repeat can not )be used in the casino( with or without the 5% charge) all celebrity reps confimed that the obc can not be used in the casino--please tell me what steps you used to cash out the obc--I was upgraded to the 1A by booking on board so I am not paying more for the larger balcony but I would like to cash out my obc--Thanks again

[rkacruiser]

I am surprised that your cabin steward delivered your room service orders. I had room service breakfast several times and other than an extremely early order one morning, a charming your lady always delivered my order. And, she was always on time or a bit early.

 

Never had an issue with taking wine glasses out of the cabin and having them replaced. (Although it took maybe a day or two for the replacement to happen.)

 

I am glad that you had a pleasant cruise inspite of having such a cabin steward with an attitude.

[cruiseclues]

Great review ...and I agree with your about the grouping of the best food items on certain nights...probably to save money. :):):):)

[zoncom]

Read on my Silhoutte TA rollcall they may use vouchers. Curious, are they for

Elite drink menu

only, only certain hours, or any drink, anywhere; even dining room?Thanks.

[drarill]

Great review!! Thanks for posting!:)

[DrivesLikeMario]

Your cabin steward sure was sub-par! That is usually one area I tip heavily in if the cabin steward is good. That guy wouldn't have gotten an extra penny from me. In fact, I would've written a note to his supervisor or on a comment card. Even if he was leaving, that is no excuse for that kind of treatment. Maybe they won't hire him for the next contract?

[cruis247g]

Thank you so much for the review. Overall it sounds very nice. I had one cabin steward who was truly not good (this was our steward, while ironically, my children in the next room had a fabulous steward!). However, I've never had so many "rules". Is this common and we've just been lucky in avoiding it or is this a rare exception? Thank you.

[Lois R]

Thank you so much for the review. Overall it sounds very nice. I had one cabin steward who was truly not good (this was our steward, while ironically, my children in the next room had a fabulous steward!). However, I've never had so many "rules". Is this common and we've just been lucky in avoiding it or is this a rare exception? Thank you.

 

Hi,:) in my opinion, this was definitely "the exception". I can't recall

ever being "read a list of rules":eek:...and I realize there are rules

out there for everything. But from they way I read the review?

Sounds like Moses had an attitude about it.

I would say the original poster got very unlucky.

[JAMESFALLETTA]

Ihave booked a 1A cabin for a fall TA . Onboard booking gives me a $300 OBC-nonrefundable from Celebrity--I called captains club and customer service after reading that the obc can not (I repeat can not )be used in the casino( with or without the 5% charge) all celebrity reps confimed that the obc can not be used in the casino--please tell me what steps you used to cash out the obc--I was upgraded to the 1A by booking on board so I am not paying more for the larger balcony but I would like to cash out my obc--Thanks again

Show your sea pass card to the cashier in the casino. Ask to charge $286 worth of cash or chips to your cabin. With the 5% fee it amounts to $300.30. Your credit card will be charged the outstanding balance of $.30 at the conclusion of the cruise, but better than charging $285 and not using the whole $300. I've done this on several X cruises without a problem. Use some of the cash with your captains club match play coupons on Roulette or Blackjack...they put the odds in your favor mathematically. Cheers

[JAMESFALLETTA]

Read on my Silhoutte TA rollcall they may use vouchers. Curious, are they for

Elite drink menu

only, only certain hours, or any drink, anywhere; even dining room?Thanks.

Couchers were 5pm to 7pm, every night except embarcation and day of Officers Cocktail reception. Same drink menu as Elite hour. Can be used at any bar except Wine Cellars and Michaels Club I believe. Nobody stoppedus from walking into MDR with glass of wine. Search boards for more threads on this topic.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Couchers were 5pm to 7pm, every night except embarcation and day of Officers Cocktail reception. Same drink menu as Elite hour. Can be used at any bar except Wine Cellars and Michaels Club I believe. Nobody stoppedus from walking into MDR with glass of wine. Search boards for more threads on this topic.

 

There was tons of elite at the sunset bar 90% of the time , one evening we had to go to Oceanview sitting area since there was no seats up there

[11dfr11]

At least you met your steward and he conversed with you. Our steward was terrible. His name was Ozman. He didn't clean the room, bring our afternoon delights, wine glasses, etc. I reported it over and over again. When I got home I wrote a letter to corporate, CC club, and I made a phone call. I got a very nice response and they threw in $300.00 extra off our next sailing on April 20,2014. This is besides the on board credit of $300.00 and the $250.00 discount for being on a balcony Aqua. So they hooked us in. Now we have to see what the airfare will be from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale.

The cruise was fantastic and we had absolutely no complaints except our steward.

Cruise Critic people were so so much fun. We made our own tours and if you go to St.Lucia, you should really hook up with Cosol. He was so so wonderful!:)

[Lois R]

At least you met your steward and he conversed with you. Our steward was terrible. His name was Ozman. He didn't clean the room, bring our afternoon delights, wine glasses, etc. I reported it over and over again. When I got home I wrote a letter to corporate, CC club, and I made a phone call. I got a very nice response and they threw in $300.00 extra off our next sailing on April 20,2014. This is besides the on board credit of $300.00 and the $250.00 discount for being on a balcony Aqua. So they hooked us in. Now we have to see what the airfare will be from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale.

The cruise was fantastic and we had absolutely no complaints except our steward.

Cruise Critic people were so so much fun. We made our own tours and if you go to St.Lucia, you should really hook up with Cosol. He was so so wonderful!:)

 

OMG....that is unacceptable:eek:....he did not clean your room?:confused:

EVER?:confused: Did you speak with Head of Housekeeping 1 2 1 about it?

What about your bathroom and the towels? Did he not change them out?

 

 

Glad you ended up having a good cruise:) and Celebrity made things

right but a cabin attendant who did nothing for you the entire time?

Sounds like someone definitely dropped the ball.:(

[Dave85]

Thanks for the balanced review! Much appreciated.

 

I wouldn't have tolerated that kind of attitude from a cabin steward... just MHO. I don't spend a lot of money to go on a nice vacation to be addressed in such a manner. There are nice, or at least more acceptable, ways for a cabin steward to indicate their work schedule than to include it in a list of rules you must follow to receive service you've paid for.

 

Again, just MHO. I respect that those guys work hard but there's a limit to what's acceptable. Amazingly (*sarcasm*), I've managed to get through 28 cruises where I received normal cabin steward service, 23 of which on lines not considered as "upscale" as Celebrity, without being subject to such a list of rules.

[dmk]

You are so right about those "hot" plates. Sometimes it was very difficult to find a cool plate for a salad.

[stereo]

Thanks for telling me what steps you took to cash out--when I called Celeb--all the reps told me that if I followed the steps that worked for you the following would happen--my obc from my travel agent would be reduced--then my credit card would be charged--my celebrity obc woud remain as if I never bought chips--go figure