My Triumphant Return to Celebrity?

[DaKahuna]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Remember when you used to have to wait until you could get to a library or an encyclopedia to know who was right?

 

 Are you trying to say that I am the only one that still has a set of Encyclopedia Briticanica and The Annals of America in their bookcase? 

 

Edited July 31 by DaKahuna

[DaKahuna]

5 hours ago, gordylad said:

why the switch to MSC? I

 

Conundrum is $15 a glass vs $19 on Celebrity.  It's covered by the Premium beverage package and is a $2.40 upcharge over Celebrity's Premium beverage package.  Lots of examples like that just related to alcohol. 

 

[JamieLogical]

28 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 Are you trying to say that I am the only one that still has a set of Encyclopedia Briticanica and The Annals of America in their bookcase? 

 

 

Ah, but how often do you actually look anything up in them instead of just pulling out your phone??!

[DaKahuna]

Just now, JamieLogical said:

 

Ah, but how often do you actually look anything up in them instead of just pulling out your phone??!

 

Never but I have them just in case.  
They will not go with us if we ever move again. 

 

 

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 7/30/2024 at 1:31 PM, JamieLogical said:

I haven't sailed on Celebrity since September 2022, but I just booked the 10-day repositioning cruise on the Silhouette for April. The price was right, which has been very rare in my Celebrity searches for the past two years. Since my last sailing on Celebrity, I have sailed five times on MSC and twice on Princess. I have another Princess sailing coming up on the 10th and then two more MSCs between now and April, so it will definitely be an adjustment back to Celebrity, which I sailed many times between the restart and that September 2022 cruise.

 

What do I need to know about what has changed? I saw that gratuities are no longer part of the Always Included fare. Have there been significant changes to what is included in the Classic Drink package? The price for this sailing was low enough per person per day that we might spring for the upgrade to the Premium package. Do all of the ships have Stalink now? Has that improved the wifi situation at all?

 

What kind of shape is the Silhouette in? I have sailed on the Equinox and loved it. My last Celebrity sailing was on the Solstice and I found it not to be as well maintained and updated as the Equinox was, but I believe that was because the Equinox has been partially revolutionized? Has the Silhouette?

 

Any other stuff you think I should know about returning to Celebrity?

 

We just disembarked the Silhouette a week or two ago, and can report the ship is in fantastic condition. Unlike some of the other Solstice class ships, Silhouette actually got more a fuller "revolutionizing" refurb than others: ie: they pulled out the two skinny strips of lawn used for bocce and expanded seating for the Sunset Bar at the aft of the ship. All of the staterooms received new carpeting, as did many of the public spaces. There was also new seating in various spots throughout the ship, so there was none of the sit+sag chairs with busted springs you can find on older Celebrity ships. They've replaced Cellar Masters with Craft Social, which was a welcome change.

 

Silhouette also has Starlink, and we had zero issues with any sort of coverage issues or wifi infrastructure (as we've had on other Celebrity ships). They've also just loaded a new disco-themed show onto Silhouette, which was surprisingly not bad for a Celebrity production. 
 

If anything, we've found that service/food have improved since 2022 on Celebrity. Back then, they seemed to be having staffing & supply chain issues. Neither seemed evident this trip, and I can report that the MDR menu had one or two more options on it each night than our 2023 cruises. 

In the past year, we've cruised on a bunch of other lines, including the Meraviglia out of Brooklyn. While we enjoyed our MSC experience, it was often a very chaotic energy. At times, this was incredibly enjoyable: bartenders pouring shots into your mouth at the outdoor disco, insane karaoke, parties in the galleria in the middle of the ship. At other times, it was a lot to take in. I saw someone else mention being unable to find a table in the buffet at lunch on the Silhouette... but in no way was the Celebrity buffet comparable to the pandemonium we experienced on MSC. We also ran into random service issues on MSC. Crew regularly seemed flummoxed by the POS system and handheld ordering devices, while the Celebrity crew seemed much more competent and better-trained. 

 

Celebrity is going to definitely be a different vibe than MSC, especially on a repo cruise, but otherwise, we still find it a higher-quality product that hasn't changed for the worse since 2022. 

[Stem to Stern]

Sorry if this has been answered and please do not take offense to the question.  None is intended and I apologize if the q sounds a bit odd.

What is “triumphant” about your return to Celebrity?

 

Sit n sag - a new and inventive but appropriate description of some of the older as well as some of the newer Hoppen furniture.😀

[Arzeena]

23 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

So I met a bunch of solo cruises on an NCL Breakaway sailing over Halloween 2022. My brother actually dragged me onto that cruise, because I had sworn off NCL before that. Anyway, on that sailing I met a bunch of solo cruisers and one of them was a huge fan of MSC. He convinced all of us to join him on the inaugural sailing on the MSC Meraviglia out of NYC that following April. I decided to make it a semi-B2B and my husband and I did the repositioning cruise out of Port Canaveral, and then I did the inaugural out of NYC with my solo cruise crew. I never looked back. I LOVE MSC! The price is right, I love the two ships I have sailed on so far. That solo cruise crew sailed together again over Halloween on the Meraviglia last year and we are booked on it again for this Halloween. Unfortunately, our fearless leader, the one who got us all turned on to MSC in the first place, passed away in February.

 

Unfortunately, MSC does have limited itineraries out of the east coast. We try to do all of the non-standard ones we can (husband and I are doing a 10-day to St. Maarten, San Juan, St. Thomas, and Puerto Plata out of NYC in January), but we cruise more frequently than those sorts of itineraries are available. Thus the subbing in Princess (and now Celebrity) in between.

 

Please, Jamie can you mention the name of your fearless leader? I hope it is not the person who I am thinking of.

[hcat]

Even E Class ships will be dwarfed by MSC. In January, we were docked on ASCENT right across from a huge MSC  ship in St Kitts.  It really was huge and carried a different demographic... many more families.

 

Glad we saw it up close.. not our size or  style!

[PTC DAWG]

23 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

Sorry if this has been answered and please do not take offense to the question.  None is intended and I apologize if the q sounds a bit odd.

What is “triumphant” about your return to Celebrity?

 

.😀

Just a play on words I’m sure, she seems like a great person..I haven’t sailed with her or her Husband, but wouldn’t hesitate to. We have a kindred spirit I believe, especially when it comes to drinks. 🙂

 

She has this repo cruise on my radar..problem is I already have 3 cruises booked..one on MSC YC in Jan 2025. 
 

I started reading her posts on the NCL board..we talked some about Celebrity then..

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

Please, Jamie can you mention the name of your fearless leader? I hope it is not the person who I am thinking of.

 

It was @ESCARGO. I miss him dearly and our October sailing will definitely not be the same without him! I have spoken with his brother and shared many memories and stories about how he touched the lives of so many avid cruisers.

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Arzeena said:

Please, Jamie can you mention the name of your fearless leader? I hope it is not the person who I am thinking of.

 

Oh, no meaning really. I was just trying to be humorous.

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

It was @ESCARGO. I miss him dearly and our October sailing will definitely not be the same without him! I have spoken with his brother and shared many memories and stories about how he touched the lives of so many avid cruisers.

OH NO NO! I am so sorry to hear this. Please convey my condolences to his family. I have no family contact for Ted. I am so so sorry and very sad to hear this. We first met him years ago on NCL.

[Arzeena]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Oh, no meaning really. I was just trying to be humorous.

I completely understand.

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I haven’t sailed with her or her Husband, but wouldn’t hesitate to. We have a kindred spirit I believe, especially when it comes to drinks. 🙂

 

 I have and I can say both her and her husband are wonderful people and I would gladly sail with them anytime. 

 

 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 I have and I can say both her and her husband are wonderful people and I would gladly sail with them anytime. 

 

 

 

I am sure we will cross paths again!