Just Off Silhouette this Morning 1/26-1/30

[TiredofTheGame]

6 hours ago, naples1 said:

We just got off the Celebrity Silhouette this morning.

 

A little history about us. We are regular Celebrity Cruisers and have cruised several other lines and just wanted to give a quick review while its still fresh in my mind. 

 

 

Embarkation was easy. Parked the car walked to the ship from the Garage and walked right in. We arrived at about 12:15pm to very little lines. We dragged our bags up to the room to find it was already cleaned and ready. Room was in pretty good shape. New carpet from the most recent drydock. What did surprise me was on the balcony, it was covered in salt and the railing was rather worn and needed maintenance. I know its a little thing but it was one of the first things i noticed. 

 

As far as the ships public areas, it was pristine. New carpet, everything looked in good shape and the crew was friendly like we have come to expect. 

 

So all the stuff we have read recently about the buffet being limited and cutbacks happening is definitely true. We dont like to complain and will make the most out of any situation, however when you pay a premium and they raise prices on items like drink packages or specialty dining, I get it, the company has to make money but by raising prices you would expect at least a perceived value of said price increases. Not a degregation of said services.

 

The crew we encountere were all excellent as usual. The problem we found is that the food and beverage staff are painfully understaffed. 

 

We were planning on upgrading from the classic to the premium beverage package once onboard once we saw a bartender walkikng around that we liked. Well unfortunatley we never saw any drink servers around the ship pretty much anywhere onboard. We started at the sunset bar and had to go to the bar to get served. Again, the crew were all friendly but they have made major cuts to the beverage staff particularly. 

 

If they want to sell premium drink packages at a premium price, we expect to be able to get a drink from a server at least every 45 minutes or so. this was not the case, nobody was walking around taking drink orders. 

 

For dinner, we opted to do specialty dining each night. We did the Lawn Club the first night and that was just fine. Food and service were good. To my surprise, the restaurant was at least 3/4 empty at 7pm. I figured it was just because it was the first night. It seemed odd though since on the app, there were no dinner times available. 

 

Second night Murano was great. We had a waiter that has been with Celebrity for 20 years and that restaurant was awesome. Again the restaurant was not even half full. 

 

Third night, Sushi on 5. This was as expected. Sushi was decent and service was fine.

 

4th night Tuscan Grill. This place I was looking forward to the whole trip. We have great memories going there on varius Solstice class Ships over the years. This time was different though. Again, the place was about empty at 6:30 pm which really surprised me.The other thing that we noticed is that they were way understaffed in there too. Our waiter no assistants, nobody doing drink service. The Somelier was in the restaurant but didn't even come to our table for 30 minutes. Food was decent but again service was friendly but completely lacking. 

 

Again if they want to charge a premium and advertise themselves as a premium line, they need to step it up. I understand making cuts but when it effects the guest experience, its not going to help. 

 

We will still sail celebrity in the future but by no means are we going to limit ourselves. We will definitely look at other lines including Virgin which I have been hearing alot of good things about. Hopefully Celebrity will get their act together and go back to what they are good at. 

 

This is not a rant, just our observation. 

Thank you for a Honest review!!!

[naples1]

13 minutes ago, newfiegirl4 said:

Thanks fo the review. We are on the Mar 13th sailing. We have premium pkg and are hopeful that I won’t have to wait forever for a drink 🤣.
I’ve been trying to book a speciality restaurant for the first night,  and each time I try it keeps telling me unavailable for that evening. 

So looking forward to getting on board!

You should be able to get drinks at the bar without too much trouble but don’t expect them to be walking around at the pool or solarium or sunset lawn areas. If you didn’t upgrade to the premium drink package, I wouldn't bother unless you feel the need to onboard. As far as restaurant reservations it was the same with us. We just booked times once onboard as soon as we could.

[redjetz]

5 hours ago, naples1 said:

Don’t get me wrong, we had a great time. We always do. You just have to have an open mind and you’ll be fine. Just keep expectations low.

I love your attitude, BUT at Celebrity’s prices not pleased. We love cruising, are Elite plus so have a fair amount of times X, including in April, but we are probably doing a land resort late this summer instead of the cruise we had planned. 

[Jeremiah1212]

it’s possible they pull back on specialty dining staff on the short 4 nighters. Those attract a different group of first timers, budget conscious, etc who won’t typically splurge on extras. FWIW aside from Murano I don’t think I’ve ever been in a completely full specialty and that goes back well before COVID. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Jeremiah1212

[sunandsnow]

Thank you for posting your review. We will be on Silhouette for 10 days the end of February. It will be our first cruise back since Covid. I am hoping things are better with the dining choices than I'm imagining. We were traveling the maritime Islands in Canada last fall. The hotel staffs  were wonderful. They were so happy to be open again with customers. I was hoping the cruise lines would be similar in their approach. Trying to get/keep customers instead of making cuts everywhere while charging more. I do understand there are post Covid problems everywhere but  sometimes it seems like an easy excuse to raise prices and decrease service. I'm glad we have 6 ports to visit. Maybe we'll have to plan some dining off the ship especially for my husband who loves seafood and a good steak.  I'm still looking forward to the cruise but with lower expectations.

 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by sunandsnow

[Oceangoer2]

21 hours ago, jelayne said:

The specialty restaurants have been limiting bookings since fall, maybe before, due to lack of staff.  

And they did themselves a disservice last Nov. '22 Equinox.  First Murano online res. was 6pm.  We arrived a few minutes before to an almost full dining room.  They had opened the res. at 5:30.  With less staff and full tables it was not a great dining experience and our table seemed to be in the 'overflow' area.  Even the maitre d' looked harrassed and was trying to serve. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Oceangoer2

[CruisingNole]

19 hours ago, naples1 said:

You should be able to get drinks at the bar without too much trouble but don’t expect them to be walking around at the pool or solarium or sunset lawn areas. If you didn’t upgrade to the premium drink package, I wouldn't bother unless you feel the need to onboard. As far as restaurant reservations it was the same with us. We just booked times once onboard as soon as we could.

Curious as to why you say this. Did you find that most drinks were included in the regular package and felt the upgrade was not needed?

[kd1224]

Also just off the Silhouette yesterday.  For us, the entire experience exceeded our expectations.  Maybe because we were bracing ourselves to be disappointed since our last cruise on Celebrity was on the Solstice 5 years ago and we were sorely disappointed all around.  Our last 3 cruises have been on Oceania and Seabourn.

 

The only reason we booked Celebrity is because we had a pre-COVID FCC that was going to expire.   We booked Aqua Class for the first time and really enjoyed Blu for breakfast and dinner most nights.  Service, selection, and quality was all great.  Murano on the first night was also up to par.  

 

Can’t really comment on the buffet choices since we only visited once for lunch when we really enjoyed the fresh roasted carved Turkey on a delicious freshly baked roll.  Also tried the pizza which was quite good.  Other lunches we enjoyed the spa cafe and the mast grill.  

 

Also upgraded to the premium package and had no issue getting drinks anywhere, even poolside.  In fact, many times we turned down the offer from the servers to get more drinks.  We had drinks nightly at the Martini Bar and were very impressed with the gorgeous Reidel martini glasses.  With the exception of the first nite, we had no trouble getting seats around 6.  I did notice that the bartenders, rightfully so, were not as quick to serve the patrons who called out “hey boss” or some other less than respectful term trying to get their attention.  As soon those passengers called out “sir” they were immediately served.  

 

The ship is in tip top shape and outfitted with beautiful artwork throughout.  Soft furnishings / decor and lighting all helped the experience to feel like a luxury line.  We would sail Silhouette again in a heartbeat.  Not sure we would book Aqua Class again but for this short cruise the total fare turned out to be only a little bit more money than a verandah if you add in tips, wifi and classic beverage package which were included for Aqua Class.   I must say, much to our surprise we are very seriously considering trying an E class ship next.  

[naples1]

49 minutes ago, kd1224 said:

Also just off the Silhouette yesterday.  For us, the entire experience exceeded our expectations.  Maybe because we were bracing ourselves to be disappointed since our last cruise on Celebrity was on the Solstice 5 years ago and we were sorely disappointed all around.  Our last 3 cruises have been on Oceania and Seabourn.

 

The only reason we booked Celebrity is because we had a pre-COVID FCC that was going to expire.   We booked Aqua Class for the first time and really enjoyed Blu for breakfast and dinner most nights.  Service, selection, and quality was all great.  Murano on the first night was also up to par.  

 

Can’t really comment on the buffet choices since we only visited once for lunch when we really enjoyed the fresh roasted carved Turkey on a delicious freshly baked roll.  Also tried the pizza which was quite good.  Other lunches we enjoyed the spa cafe and the mast grill.  

 

Also upgraded to the premium package and had no issue getting drinks anywhere, even poolside.  In fact, many times we turned down the offer from the servers to get more drinks.  We had drinks nightly at the Martini Bar and were very impressed with the gorgeous Reidel martini glasses.  With the exception of the first nite, we had no trouble getting seats around 6.  I did notice that the bartenders, rightfully so, were not as quick to serve the patrons who called out “hey boss” or some other less than respectful term trying to get their attention.  As soon those passengers called out “sir” they were immediately served.  

 

The ship is in tip top shape and outfitted with beautiful artwork throughout.  Soft furnishings / decor and lighting all helped the experience to feel like a luxury line.  We would sail Silhouette again in a heartbeat.  Not sure we would book Aqua Class again but for this short cruise the total fare turned out to be only a little bit more money than a verandah if you add in tips, wifi and classic beverage package which were included for Aqua Class.   I must say, much to our surprise we are very seriously considering trying an E class ship next.  

Im glad your experience was different than ours. Again we thought the crew that were there were excellent. Friendly and very helpful. We have no gripes with the current staff. We typically book aqua class but since it was last minute, we just had a standard cabin. That’s why we booked specialty restaurants. 
 

if you had good drink service around the ship, good for you. We just did not see it. Especially having really good experience with celebrity in the past and we know what to expect. 

[angelsinmyarms]

We were also on this cruise and agree with your post.   The ship is beautiful and our room was pristine.  The food service, however, was below our  expectations as was the quality of the food and the portions.  We upgraded to Concerige level this cruise and so were invited to a luncheon just after we boarded.  We had such high hopes for the lunch - but it was not good.  We waited way too long between courses and my grilled chicken was really tough.  At dinner that night in the main dining room, my "mixed vegetable" side was one floret of broccoli, 3 baby carrots and about 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes.   We were sad to see how stressed the staff were too.  

 

Things at the Oceanview cafe are a mess too.  The place was packed at lunch, with every table full and long lines at each station.  I waited at least 20 people deep in the Mexican line only to wander around the entire restaurant searching for a place to sit.  However, after the main dining hours the place was a ghosttown with hardly anything available to eat.  Snacking outside of regular dining hours was nearly impossible.  I will say though, that room service was prompt each morning - although we quickly learned to order way more than we usually do, because portions were so small.

 

We purchased the unlimited NA drink package but often found it difficult to use.  Tracking down a server was hard, and when my husband went to the bar to get drinks for us himself he was only allowed to get one at a time unless he took my card with him too.  

 

We had been looking forward to this cruise with so much excitement but sadly it did not live up to our expectations.  We will likely not choose Celebrity again. The next time we cruise we will give Virgin a try.  

[TiredofTheGame]

14 minutes ago, angelsinmyarms said:

We were also on this cruise and agree with your post.   The ship is beautiful and our room was pristine.  The food service, however, was below our  expectations as was the quality of the food and the portions.  We upgraded to Concerige level this cruise and so were invited to a luncheon just after we boarded.  We had such high hopes for the lunch - but it was not good.  We waited way too long between courses and my grilled chicken was really tough.  At dinner that night in the main dining room, my "mixed vegetable" side was one floret of broccoli, 3 baby carrots and about 2 tablespoons of mashed potatoes.   We were sad to see how stressed the staff were too.  

 

Things at the Oceanview cafe are a mess too.  The place was packed at lunch, with every table full and long lines at each station.  I waited at least 20 people deep in the Mexican line only to wander around the entire restaurant searching for a place to sit.  However, after the main dining hours the place was a ghosttown with hardly anything available to eat.  Snacking outside of regular dining hours was nearly impossible.  I will say though, that room service was prompt each morning - although we quickly learned to order way more than we usually do, because portions were so small.

 

We purchased the unlimited NA drink package but often found it difficult to use.  Tracking down a server was hard, and when my husband went to the bar to get drinks for us himself he was only allowed to get one at a time unless he took my card with him too.  

 

We had been looking forward to this cruise with so much excitement but sadly it did not live up to our expectations.  We will likely not choose Celebrity again. The next time we cruise we will give Virgin a try.  

Hearing great things about Virgin!!!

[aml3679]

Enjoying 

On her in November 

[Canuker]

Chicken & Egg  - and Golden Goose.

Several posters on this thread have used the word "cutbacks".

Have Celebrity indeed cut back positions on board? Or is it a question of not being able to hire enough people to fill the positions?

I ask because so many employers, especial those in the hospitality industry generally are unable to fill vacancies. If you don't have kitchen staff, servers become redundant.

For whatever reason, people left their jobs at the start of the pandemic. Presumably they were let go by the cruise industry, which shut down completely. All these people need to put bread on their table; it seems entirely feasible that these folk have found alternative employment and have chosen to stick with it rather than return to the ships.

I am no insider; can anyone shed light on this issue within the cruise industry?

All these sorts of decisions are made, ultimately, by land-based management and the ships have to deal with it all as best they can. Lord knows, a cruise ship employee was busy enough pre-Covid. It must be worse for them now - another reason why people may be reluctant to return to the ships.

When things get bad, companies invariably abandon their tried and true product delivery and resort to cash-flow management. Everyone - employees, customers, suppliers - suffers as the business struggles to stay (no pun here) afloat.

It's my anecdotal opinion that cruise lines make their profit not so much by selling cruises. They make the real margins from money spent while on board - booze, premium food, excursions, casinos, jewelry, etc. It is no coincidence that marketing of these sorts of things has become much more aggressive of late. But if guests feel this money is wasted, they will not be keen to repeat the experience.

Lastly, it used to be that cruise lines were quite competitive. While not a quasi cartel (like airlines and gasoline companies) they seem to be moving in that direction. There are, after all, just three companies that control a large percentage of the cruise market in the West. They can only go so far with this watered down customer experience before folk start to look for alternatives for their vacation dollars that don't involve ships. If that happens, with the kind of debt and assets they have on their balance sheets, the industry is in trouble.

Five years ago in 2018, for example, Carnival's publicly traded shares were around US$70. They slid steadily through 2019 when they ended the year around $50. Covid then sent them down to around $12.50. Today, almost 3 years later and out of lockdown they are trading at $12.10. The big difference between then and now is the interest on all the cash they borrowed to stay afloat during the lockdown.

So instead of paying on board staff to help enhance your vacation pleasure, they're paying creditors.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Canuker

[naples1]

53 minutes ago, Canuker said:

Chicken & Egg  - and Golden Goose.

Several posters on this thread have used the word "cutbacks".

Have Celebrity indeed cut back positions on board? Or is it a question of not being able to hire enough people to fill the positions?

I ask because so many employers, especial those in the hospitality industry generally are unable to fill vacancies. If you don't have kitchen staff, servers become redundant.

For whatever reason, people left their jobs at the start of the pandemic. Presumably they were let go by the cruise industry, which shut down completely. All these people need to put bread on their table; it seems entirely feasible that these folk have found alternative employment and have chosen to stick with it rather than return to the ships.

I am no insider; can anyone shed light on this issue within the cruise industry?

All these sorts of decisions are made, ultimately, by land-based management and the ships have to deal with it all as best they can. Lord knows, a cruise ship employee was busy enough pre-Covid. It must be worse for them now - another reason why people may be reluctant to return to the ships.

When things get bad, companies invariably abandon their tried and true product delivery and resort to cash-flow management. Everyone - employees, customers, suppliers - suffers as the business struggles to stay (no pun here) afloat.

It's my anecdotal opinion that cruise lines make their profit not so much by selling cruises. They make the real margins from money spent while on board - booze, premium food, excursions, casinos, jewelry, etc. It is no coincidence that marketing of these sorts of things has become much more aggressive of late. But if guests feel this money is wasted, they will not be keen to repeat the experience.

Lastly, it used to be that cruise lines were quite competitive. While not a quasi cartel (like airlines and gasoline companies) they seem to be moving in that direction. There are, after all, just three companies that control a large percentage of the cruise market in the West. They can only go so far with this watered down customer experience before folk start to look for alternatives for their vacation dollars that don't involve ships. If that happens, with the kind of debt and assets they have on their balance sheets, the industry is in trouble.

Five years ago in 2018, for example, Carnival's publicly traded shares were around US$70. They slid steadily through 2019 when they ended the year around $50. Covid then sent them down to around $12.50. Today, almost 3 years later and out of lockdown they are trading at $12.10. The big difference between then and now is the interest on all the cash they borrowed to stay afloat during the lockdown.

So instead of paying on board staff to help enhance your vacation pleasure, they're paying creditors.

Sounds pretty accurate to me. We live in Florida and like to cruise because of the convenience and value. They have tanken away alot of the value. We will keep on cruising but have also increased our traveling to other areas around Florida and beyond pluse we are starting to consider other cruiselines as well . I mentioned Virgin. From what I have heard from others that have cruised with them, they have it together and will continue to grow if they keep up their current business model. If Celebrity cant deliver on what they are selling or have short staff, maybe they should not fill the rooms to keep the service level up. I dont know what the solution is but i think there will be dire consequences for the company if they continue this path. 

[Linsie]

have. Just  spent 14 days on silhouette….service has been wonderful because the employees go above and beyond.

Food in MDR has been way below previous standards both in quality and quantity.

We shouldn’t have to spend an exorbitant amount to get somewhat upscale food in specialty restaurants. We should feel special on a cruise…even in MDR.

Will hesitate to continue to cruise with X. 

[Oceangoer2]

4 hours ago, Linsie said:

have. Just  spent 14 days on silhouette….service has been wonderful because the employees go above and beyond.

Food in MDR has been way below previous standards both in quality and quantity.

We shouldn’t have to spend an exorbitant amount to get somewhat upscale food in specialty restaurants. We should feel special on a cruise…even in MDR.

Will hesitate to continue to cruise with X. 

Is it the menu choices or the poor prep or the overcooking?  Can you describe why you feel the MDR food has 'slipped'?

[georgew4]

Regarding the lack of staff...here's our theory...

With more and more people subscribing to a drink package, the cruise lines (not Celebrity specific) are not hiring the additional bartenders and servers...thus saving $$ for lack of service to serve drinks!!  We were on EDGE pre covid and found people 3 and 4 deep around the bars begging for a bartender...who were running around nonstop!!  The fewer servers/bartenders, the fewer drinks, the more $$ in the company's pockets!!

[Fisherjs34]

On 1/30/2023 at 1:28 PM, naples1 said:

We just got off the Celebrity Silhouette this morning.

 

A little history about us. We are regular Celebrity Cruisers and have cruised several other lines and just wanted to give a quick review while its still fresh in my mind. 

 

 

Embarkation was easy. Parked the car walked to the ship from the Garage and walked right in. We arrived at about 12:15pm to very little lines. We dragged our bags up to the room to find it was already cleaned and ready. Room was in pretty good shape. New carpet from the most recent drydock. What did surprise me was on the balcony, it was covered in salt and the railing was rather worn and needed maintenance. I know its a little thing but it was one of the first things i noticed. 

 

As far as the ships public areas, it was pristine. New carpet, everything looked in good shape and the crew was friendly like we have come to expect. 

 

So all the stuff we have read recently about the buffet being limited and cutbacks happening is definitely true. We dont like to complain and will make the most out of any situation, however when you pay a premium and they raise prices on items like drink packages or specialty dining, I get it, the company has to make money but by raising prices you would expect at least a perceived value of said price increases. Not a degregation of said services.

 

The crew we encountere were all excellent as usual. The problem we found is that the food and beverage staff are painfully understaffed. 

 

We were planning on upgrading from the classic to the premium beverage package once onboard once we saw a bartender walkikng around that we liked. Well unfortunatley we never saw any drink servers around the ship pretty much anywhere onboard. We started at the sunset bar and had to go to the bar to get served. Again, the crew were all friendly but they have made major cuts to the beverage staff particularly. 

 

If they want to sell premium drink packages at a premium price, we expect to be able to get a drink from a server at least every 45 minutes or so. this was not the case, nobody was walking around taking drink orders. 

 

For dinner, we opted to do specialty dining each night. We did the Lawn Club the first night and that was just fine. Food and service were good. To my surprise, the restaurant was at least 3/4 empty at 7pm. I figured it was just because it was the first night. It seemed odd though since on the app, there were no dinner times available. 

 

Second night Murano was great. We had a waiter that has been with Celebrity for 20 years and that restaurant was awesome. Again the restaurant was not even half full. 

 

Third night, Sushi on 5. This was as expected. Sushi was decent and service was fine.

 

4th night Tuscan Grill. This place I was looking forward to the whole trip. We have great memories going there on varius Solstice class Ships over the years. This time was different though. Again, the place was about empty at 6:30 pm which really surprised me.The other thing that we noticed is that they were way understaffed in there too. Our waiter no assistants, nobody doing drink service. The Somelier was in the restaurant but didn't even come to our table for 30 minutes. Food was decent but again service was friendly but completely lacking. 

 

Again if they want to charge a premium and advertise themselves as a premium line, they need to step it up. I understand making cuts but when it effects the guest experience, its not going to help. 

 

We will still sail celebrity in the future but by no means are we going to limit ourselves. We will definitely look at other lines including Virgin which I have been hearing alot of good things about. Hopefully Celebrity will get their act together and go back to what they are good at. 

 

This is not a rant, just our observation. 

Be glad you ate at the specialty restaurants and not the MDR. We also ate at Murano on our 1/30 cruise and it was like eating at Wolfgang Pucks compared to MDR cafeteria food.

[Fisherjs34]

The Celebrity Silhouette MDR mantra: How are we going to disappoint you today! Let met count the ways. Slow service, poor menu choices ( No beef Wellington,Prime Rib or NY Strip), poor quality food, small portions. Congrats Celebrity you are the New Carnival budget cruise line but wait a minute why are your prices so much higher than Carnivals??? IDK