Silhouette lost at sea?

[turbobob]

I have to thank everyone who has participated on this thread and made my evening. I laughed for an hour reading everyone's comments. You're a sport, turbobob, for not going ballistic in response to some of these rude (but really funny) comments. If I knew how to take this thread viral I would. As for me, give me a lounge chair and a cocktail on any cruise ship and I could not be happier.

 

 

Thanks for you comment, my wife and I enjoyed them too. It's like most social media today, anyone who disagrees with "my" opinion is, at best, misguided and often times far more seriously impaired. There is lots of room in my world for people with different opinions, alternate "facts" bother bother me more but people who rely on those will never be swayed.

 

If you get the cabin next to ours, I'll pass you a glass of good wine around the veranda railing

[turbobob]

If you don't pay for pressing, you don't get pressing. It's very simple. They were providing laundry services not dry cleaning services. Land side laundry services don't press either. You are comparing apples and oranges.

 

Also, did you consider that the ship needs to account for tides, depth, other traffic? distance from any other ships? These things are not in the ship's control. Celebrity is also not in control of the weather.

 

I think you should abandon Celebrity and be happier on another cruise line. Then you can accuse them of being unfocused on customer service over things they can't control.

 

 

I waited to get my shirts back from the laundry to post this photo of my shirts , washed, pressed and on hangers (for $1.75). In my limited experience this is not unique to Alpharetta GA, I have received similar if not identical service in: Rancho Bernardo, CA; Corvallis, OR; Marietta, GA (kinda cheating because it's just down the road from Alpharetta); Destrehan, LA; Somerset NJ; Buffalo, NY; Newark, DE; Philadelphia, PA; and Ithaca, NY. I have also received my laundry washed and pressed on Princess, RCL, Oceania, Celebrity Constellation, Azamara, and Seabourn. The slip for service, photo attached, lists,: laundry, dry cleaning, and press only. Are you suggesting that if someone wants a shirt washed they need to send it in as laundry and pay $7.00 and then send it in to be pressed at another $5.00.?

 

I don't care if you choose to disagree; you opinion is just as personally valid to you as mine is to me. If the laundry service in your neighborhood only does wash-and-fold that is very different from my experience in multiple locations around the USA and on multiple cruise lines, including Celebrity. Please do not try to invalidate my experience with either your opinion or your experience.

[Jleegb]

Well said...But some people will always find something to complain about. I am thankful just to be able to cruise!

Thank You!!! I have just started to cruise and have found Celebrity to be great for my needs. Love the Silhouette and are taking her again on a transatlantic this April, can't wait!! Equinox was nice too but I am partial to the Silhouette. Maybe the person who posted needs a time out from cruising!?! Jaded? Hope I never get to that level of expectations. Enjoying the cruise.

[Covepointcruiser]

We send our laundry out 4 times on a 12 day cruise, We are Elite Plus so we each get two coupons. It allows us to travel with just carryons if we choose.

 

So true, however the included laundry is only wash and fold. It certainly is not for anything that you want wrinkle free. They will also pit annoying scratchy tags on every item you wash. It helps to peel the tags off before you wear that item of clothing.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Why compare local on-shore laundry with on-board laundry? Because on-shore laundry has to meet customer's expectations or the business quickly goes elsewhere.

 

Perspective? On-shore laundry competition is across the street. Where is the "elsewhere" for the onboard laundry? Hint: on other cruise lines that have laundromats for passengers who can waste valuable cruise time washing and ironing their own clothes. If that solution seems better to you, you know where to go.

[smtcan]

So true, however the included laundry is only wash and fold. It certainly is not for anything that you want wrinkle free. They will also pit annoying scratchy tags on every item you wash. It helps to peel the tags off before you wear that item of clothing.

 

True. If you pay for laundry it is pressed and returned on hangers where appropriate. The Elite benefit is clearly stated to be WASH AND FOLD. When we use that, we use the free pressing coupon for an item that needs to be ironed and mark that clearly on the order sheet. As another poster said, pants often come back pressed side to side, so go back to be redone.

 

The wash and fold isn’t brilliant, but works for t shirts, pjs and underwear so cuts down on packing for a longer cruise. I wouldn’t send anything delicate to the ship's laundry.

 

Sheila

[dkjretired]

We have experience with laundry in NJ and Pa. Our NJ laundry is higher priced than Celebrity while our Pa laundry is about the same. The comment about laundry being five times what he pays at home is I’m sure an exaggeration, if not they should get a new laundry at home.

 

This is one of those threads where you wish the OP had read the boards before cruising, he would have learned about the shortcomings vs the hype of Concierge cabins.

[toptoff]

I have been struggling with why our 12 day British Isles cruise was not more enjoyable than it was. It can't be the small stateroom because the cabins were just as small on the Constellation and we enjoyed those voyages. It can't be the service because from stateroom attendant through dining staff the service was great. Embarkation and disembarkation were flawless. I think the ship design is silly but that's not enough to be the problem, we enjoyed our voyage on the even sillier Anthem of the Seas just a month ago. Yet Silhouette was not enjoyable even with Elite and Concierge perks.

 

First thing that tweaked me was our Concierge. We stopped at his desk as soon as we had access to our cabin to make specialty dinner reservations for that evening and the next night - an "at sea" day - and were told it would be difficult but since we were flexible with timing he would see what he could do. He didn't. We had dinner at The Porch the first night, there was one other couple there, as walk-ins. The next morning I made dinner reservations at Murano for that evening and Q-Sine the next night at a table near the Guest Services desk. Not very difficult. We never heard from the Concierge.

 

Then there was laundry service. When I take shirts and pants to our local cleaners they are washed and pressed and returned on hangers. My first load of shirts and pants came back washed and folded (no ironing) at 5X the cost of my local laundry (yes, I expect to pay more but I also expect the same service). The second load came back washed and ironed (incorrectly ironed but ironed) and on hangers. The third load was washed and folded. They were all the same style shirt and pant....but the service was inconsistent and well below expectations. I call this a management failure.

 

Ships tours. We had only one tour where the tour service was unacceptable but multiple times when the ship's tour organization was flawed. Almost everyone on the Tattoo excursion understands the difficult logistics of moving that many people to and from shore on tenders and almost everyone on the excursion knows it could have been done much better by having the ship moored closer to the dock (as it was on Day 2 in Edinburgh) and using more tenders. The "ship" could have taken better care of those customers. We went on a number of long tours, tours that should have been the first ones off the ship to compensate for the length of the tour but two out of three times we barely made it back by "on board" time - and two busses on the same tour delayed the ship departing - because the start of the tour was late in the morning. I call this a management failure.

 

Venues for activities. Morning lectures on sea days were SRO, after the first time why weren't they moved to the empty theater? Afternoon trivia was SRO but we were told no other venue was available ...... maybe Tuscan Grill? On a ship this size there should be space for ship's activities that are appropriate for the size of the audience. I call this a management failure.

 

It's too early to write off Celebrity, based on one cruise and the hype for Edge, but I do think I am going to write off Silhouette because the current management does not seem to be interested in my business.

 

I would imagine they're 'over the moon'.

[countess5]

We love the Shilouette and sailed her last year in August on the British Isle cruise and it was fantastic! You get what you deserve when you set your expectations. 😀

 

Also sailed her in the Baltics the year before, again fantastic! 👍

[jkgourmet]

We send our laundry out 4 times on a 12 day cruise, We are Elite Plus so we each get two coupons. It allows us to travel with just carryons if we choose.

 

I'm totally floored by this need for so much laundry! We travel with carry on exclusively, whether it's a cruise or land based trip.

In 20+ cruises, I don't ever remember using ship laundry. Is it simply that you guys who are Elite's just gotta use those freebies?

 

On our longer cruises (19 to 21 days, with extra days in the departure port), we've dropped off stuff at a same day laundry. On one or two trips , we utilized on board self service laundry facilites. We wash out stuff in the sink if necessary (and I miss the cabin clotheslines.)

 

You guys must sweat a lot.