Celebrity Silhouette Cruise Reviews - Reviews

See detail comments below as marked.  It is overall a very pleasant trip for s to visit the cities, except there were a few areas do have room for improvements. We will recommend friends/family members to use Celebrity but if they are visiting cities by themselves, better obtain maps from AAA in advance or valuable time would be wasted.  

The friendly staff are amazing! We enjoyed all the entertainment aboard. Great shows! The Silhouette dining room provides excellent meals and service. We enjoyed the spa services. All the staff went out of their way to may a trip a wonderful experience.

We enjoyed so many aspects of the cruise.  The Speciality Restaurants were delicious.  Everything was incredible, it is hard to focus on any one thing.  My husband enjoyed the scones with jam and cream.  The coffee was great and the staff far exceeded our expectations.  

We are disappointed that on this cruise and the others we have booked we cannot enjoy the Aft Cabin Concierge level with Aqua Class benefits of eating.

The itinerary was great.    The cruise line, not so much.    Our first and probably last cruise on Celebrity.    I wouldn't recommend Celebrity at all.  

This is our 27th crossing and the 4th on Celebrity. This is the first Celebrity cruise that has been disappointing. Staffing has been reduced which was felt in the dining -- not the service in the restaurant as much as longer time requirements for the food to be prepared/delivered and a number of meals had to be returned as they were cold by the time they were served.

More importantly, and sadly, the quality of food served both in Blu and Oceanview (food court) has noticeably declined. One veal meal in Blu was flat uneatable. Selections this time were boring. Just sad. Haven't been on a cruise (non-crossing) recently so maybe the cut back and decline is just a cost savings undertaking on the repositioning cruises.

Despite the cool cloudy weather, we had a pleasant transatlantic crossing.  The food was quite good in the main dining room. On several occasions, we felt the servers seemed inexperienced and would benefit from more training.   We have always enjoyed  hearing the classical musicians on previous trips, but this time they had to perform in a very noisy crowded bar and could not even be heard. We very much enjoyed visiting the ports of Lisbon, Le Harve, and Bruges, where we  the weather finally improved. The captain was especially personable and funny.

Okay, I may not actually be a true 'first timer' but it's been over 20 years since I was last on a cruise.  Living in South Florida and not going on at least one cruise is a heresy...so I decided to try it out.  I chose Celebrity Silhouette (CS) based on line reputation and the style of vessel.  Not too big, but loaded with amenities and a good track record for dining.  I chose correctly.  This vessel met or exceeded expectations right from the start.  Impeccably clean, and I mean, we looked for it like health inspectors.  The food did not disappoint and in many ways was consistently beyond what we had expected.  I may have gone in with low expectations (my wife and I are cooks and we traveled with a gourmet chef), nevertheless from start to finish we were pleasantly surprised at the variety and quality of the dining experience.  Both my wife and I purchased drink packages, hers was a 'classic' and mine was 'premium'.  i would say for moderate social drinkers this may have been more than we needed. Unless you are hard straight quality liquor drinkers, a classic package is more than enough (and for some, maybe even too much).  Be advised: you will be encouraged to upgrade to premium every step (bar) along the cruise. Living in South Florida, we did not feel the need to indulge in many of the shore excursions, so our highlights focused mainly on the vessel, the crew service, the food, and the on vessel entertainment.  We were not disappointed.  The crew was extremely professional and friendly...to the extreme! It got to the point where different crew members knew us by our first names and went out of their way to engage us in friendly conversations, often telling us of their experiences and backgrounds...my wife, the people person, loved these encounters. The one exception were the busy bartenders.  As a former bartender, I was maybe more acutely aware of the 'behind the scenes' activities of the bars. And, in defense of the staff, which are from all around the globe, there may be cultural and language issues at play. I would recommend a couple of simple changes to the delivery of drink services, particularly during busy periods (aka, 'surges' which can be anticipated based on history). First, use 'bar-backs' to run glasses and replenish supplies to a busy bar...keep the bartenders at the bar.  Second, encourage and train the bartenders to 'work the bar' in a specified and orderly manner, and make eye contact with the next in line patron (and if really skilled, take that order while filling another).  Everyone knows they are working hard, but most folks just want to know that there is some 'method to the madness'. The on-board services and amenities were very good to excellent.  The casino, while it could use a few more different card games, was great and rarely ever crowded.  Needless to say, we lost overall, but we did have our share of 'ups' during the cruise. There were numerous activities and entertainment venues, some we participated in, many we did not out of personal preference. Everything, from the shows, to the lounge dancing, to trivia contests, were fun and thoroughly enjoyable. Even riding the elevators was cool on this vessel. Art shows, scotch tastings, expense gift drawings...lots of very entertaining sidebars. There's a lot more I could comment on, the leadership of the vessel, the social director, the room attendant, the sommelier...all just plain excellent. If I had to throw in one last recommendation for improvement, and this is purely selfish, add a variety of salsas and srirachas in the Oceanview Cafe buffet area.  Good ones are not all 'hot' and overly spicy...but can add just the right amount of flavor (even coloring) to make an ordinary something (think scrambled eggs), extraordinary!. We will do this again, for sure!

This was my first time on any Celebrity ship although I have cruised more than 20 times on other cruise lines.  The service was excellent and the food and entertainment were both good.  The room was a bit small for two people (I was traveling alone so I had enough room).  There was plenty of closet space and hangers but there was limited drawer space and no shelf space.  The air conditioning system worked well.  Accessibility to the verandah was very good.  

 We experienced nothing but excellent service throughout the ship.  The ship is beautiful and well-maintained.  The food was very good. The entertainment on the ship was good. The ports were ok.

 To be perfectly honest, our cruise on Celebrity Silhouette was somewhat disappointing. We had gone on Princess the last 2 cruises before this one and loved them both. When we booked a terrific Celebrity cruise 5 years ago and considered this line a step up from Princess, we thought we were paying for and would be getting an upgrade from the cruises on Princess. Well, it turned out not to be the case, even though the online reviews were terrific. We were not impressed with the ship's decor, and the "grand" foyer was not grand at all, especially compared to Princess'. The room service breakfast left much to be desired with watery scrambled eggs and small cold pieces of hard bread that were supposed to be the rye bread we ordered. The buffet on the high deck had above average food, (B-) but the service was not good. In the 7 or 8 times we ate there, not one server came over to the table to ask if we wanted the complementary water, coffee or tea. The only ones that appeared were waiters wanting to sell us specialty drinks, beer or liquor. And they appeared twice during each meal. When we finished and sat talking with dirty and empty dishes in front of us, noone came to clear them away until we piled them up ourselves and pushed them to another table. All they cared about was clearing dishes where noone was seated and rarely greeted us. This was just the opposite on Princess where they could not do enough to get us any drink and cleaned off the tables immediately with a smile and a greeting.

Oh, and trying to pass through the gauntlet of people selling merchandise was really a pain.  Many of them had stuff sitting out in front of the shops and would approach you to buy their products. If you looked on the schedule of activities for the day, there were at least 30 listings for presentations which they hoped would lead to sales for those items.  I was so sick of being bombarded with Faberge jewelry, Michael Kors, spa treatments, acupuncture treatments, clothes, etc., etc.  We rarely went to any activity because it was mostly merchandise or kids’ activities. The BINGO games cost double of Princess' and the payoffs were less. In addition the odds of winning were small because hundreds of people were playing at the same time in the theatre venue. They made you balance your cards on your lap, and one false move would make the little slats over the numbers get covered up or go away. At least on Princess they held the BINGO game in a lounge with flat tables for your cards and only about 100 people or less would play. This Silhouette ship was like a floating department store. Sure, Princess did some of this as well, but we never felt bombarded and salespeople rarely pressured you by standing outside trying to reel you in. 

In all fairness, the stateroom was very nice and the attendant was great. This was also true for the dining room meals and the wonderful waiters. We loved most of the entertainment that featured many talented young people. The comedian, Sheridan, was excellent.

 They had no fanfare or party for the captain in the foyer on dress-up night compared to Princess where they pile the champagne glasses real high and pour the champagne on them to make a spectacular flowing fountain with music and confetti. Even the chefs and waiters on this cruise just marched around the dining room with no real excitement or flaming baked Alaska. A big disappointment was that people like us with the Classic Level were not invited to the High Tea. On Princess they had a high tea every afternoon for anyone who wanted to attend. These Princess ships had the best white glove high tea service with fancy tablecloths, great sandwiches and pastries and delicious teas and coffees. We felt like peons, as we always looked forward to those high teas and we were excluded.

We were happy to see MSNBC, CNN and FOX on the trip going, but that all disappeared on the way back. There were all these movies we had no interest in or had seen before, and they never announced the name of the program or when the program would repeat like on Princess so that you could plan. I would turn on the TV and nowhere was info about what you were watching.

And finally, they were alerted prior to the cruise that it was David's birthday cruise, and the only recognition of that was an envelope delivered to our room saying "Happy Birthday" and inviting us to a lecture on Faberge. Well, it was not a special invite, as anyone and his uncle could have attended, as we noted it was on the daily list of activities for everyone. We must say the presentation was excellent, but it evidently was a ploy to have us buy some jewelry in their shop. In contrast, on Princess, we found a wonderful "Happy Birthday" poster on the stateroom door for my 66th birthday which we celebrated on the ship. It was so nice and covered in real balloons. On the day of my birthday a wonderful chocolate cake was delivered to our stateroom and at dinner our waiters came out with our desserts with sparkles and sang "Happy Birthday." We were also serenaded by one of the waiters who played guitar and sang beautifully.

Regarding the ports-they were very interesting and we did have a good time touring the cities. In Saint Martin, our friends who live there picked us up at the port and took us out for a wonderful day.

Prior to this cruise I had read many reviews which were mostly glowing.  Well, we don’t know what Silhouette ship they were on, perhaps in an alternate universe. We are not saying the cruise was horrible, but we expected a lot more for the money we paid. In no way was it the fault of Phyllis Cronin, our agent, as she did get us this very good room at a very good price and she had no way of knowing about the experiences we described.

We hope you will take this criticism as a helpful tool to divert people who would feel uncomfortable on a cruise like this and steer them toward another kind of cruise.  

Booking with Aaron Pecinagonzalez was made easy, and his follow up was great.

We had enjoyable time with our family. As usual, Celebrity is top notch.

We have been to these ports many times, wish there were other places that would be included. I realize being a big ship, limits ports.

The cruise was very relaxing. Ports were nice too. Food was very good although the service was a tad slow. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't acknowledge that this was our honeymoon until we went to guest relations. Then they sent us a bottle of wine and flowers which was very nice. Good mix of ages and kinds of people from all over. We were seated with nice people for dinner.

LOVE the staff. All were very nice and hospitable. Barista employees don't look happy, no smiles but great service. CLEANEST SHIP EVER-staff always cleaning and disinfecting public areas. we had a group of 8 and no one got sick-a rare occasion for a cruise. GUEST SERVICES-were very helpful for all our needs.

CRUISE DIRECTOR and Managers were great fun and entertaining. What a wonderful group of hosts. Really enjoyed the Silent Disco wished someone would instruct ballroom dance and not just play music. Our group wanted to learn more but no instruction was being offered. ENTERTAINMENT was PHENOMENAL. Wow is all we had to say! of all the things we did, we all made sure to see every evening. Gym was neat and clean and modern equipment. Some folks really enjoyed the outdoor walking track.

HATE:

CELEBRITY..FIX YOUR WEBSITE!! very difficult to navigate. CLASSIC DRINK PACKAGE-was changed the week before our trip and some people were disappointed they didn't get the drinks they thought were available. WHERE DID THE SMOOTHIES GO? the bar in the buffet was available for making smoothies on our last Celeb.cruise, really missed that. Now only the spa makes them. Don't understand THAT concept. Massage packages are priced about $45-50 per person too high!! Same with the Garden experience and the lawn cabanas. We would not recommend any of these services based on price alone. Staff was very friendly.

The turtles in Grand Caymen and the beach beds in cococay were the best! Main dining room staff very attentive! Love the interactive TV to see charges to the room.  I wish the room TV had better/more channels and the ability to see photos like on the solstice ship

The cruise was phenomenal. The food, live activity and entertainment on the ship was simply awesome and the staff was exceptional. The captain was hilarious and super cool, every inch of this huge vessel was spotless. They did a great job of getting you to the excursions and back on the ship.  

Recommendation- Just do a little reading about the destinations and excursions as one of our excursion was partially closed because of new archeological findings and active digging.

Will do a cruise with celebrity any day, what an experience 

This is our third trip with Celebrity, the second on the Silhouette.  We sailed from Fort Lauderdale to the private island, Cococay, then to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica.  We went Aquaclass and had the Classic drinks package included in the price of the cruise, we upgraded to the Premium package just before we sailed and it was well worth it, no large bar bill at the end of the cruise and it gave us the opportunity to try stuff that we may not normally try for fear of not liking it and wasting it.  Our cabin was spotless and well kept by Stanley our room attendant.  We enjoy eating in Blu each night, its a smaller dining room and a little more intimate, the staff get to know you quickly and make you feel so welcome.  All the food was good, including the Ocean Cafe, we also at at the Tuscan restaurant which was excellent too.  It was easy to find quiet spots on deck to relax or we could go and watch the hi-jinx by the pool!  We managed to catch several shows, the comedian and comedian/impressionist were very funny, the Beatles tribute band was not too bad as long as they were singing, but their wigs and speaking voices were dreadful, awful parodies of an English accent!  We also went to see the Captain's talk about navigation, and he provided a lot of information in a fun and humerous way, he is such a hoot, the daily announcements had everyone laughing!  We were pleasantly surprised by Celebrity's private island, Cococay,  it was very clean, plenty of sunbeds, easy to get away from the noise if thats what you want, the bbq was good, the water all kinds of beautiful blues!  we have been to other cruise lines private islands and were not impressed, they were crowded and very noisy, Cococay was quite lovely!  Embarkation was quick and painless, disembarkation was easy, there were the usual lines at immigration, but thats not the fault of the cruise line!  Only fly in the ointment was the idiot that flouted the no-smoking rules regarding cabins and balconies on the deck above us, not only did we have to put up with the stink we also had ash floating down on us and we also saw him flick his cigarette butts overboard.  At least thats where we hope they went, they could have blown back into someones balcony and started a fire/burnt someone.  Security were advised and took a very dim view of what was going on, we have no idea whether or not they caught up with the idiot, although he did disappear pretty sharpish on the last evening at sea while he was polluting the atmosphere on his balcony!

The entertainment was our best experience.  The dinner menu was excellent and we were very satisfied.  Service by our head waiter Vadym, his assistant Brain and Maco who provided us with wine and cocktails was top notch.  We gave them an A for service.

Celebrity cruise line amazed me a second time on this vacation. I continue to be impressed by the service and detail to which they aim for excellence. A cruise with this line is relaxing, pampering, and true paradise. The days at sea were terrific and the entertainment in the theatre was very good. The desserts onboard not as good as the other food. Also, my birthday was screwed up. The line that my companion ordered was not delivered to our table on the night of my birthday. An 'alcohol removed' wine labled Fre' was set, which was also in our room upon arrival. It tastes terrible and the wine master that we had was very smug about it and he did not respond as he should have by apologizing and fixing the situation. He claimed it was wine and appeared uninterested and busy.

We were cabin 1662 on the Celebrity Siloutte March 24th-April 2nd. Also, my birthday cake was not a surprise because the staff came out and asked me if I wanted my first name on it..haha.

Lastly, a bartender in the Sky Lounge told me he was going to make me a birthday drink, which I assumed was complimentary, then he charged me $15 for it. These things did not make my birthday feel special, so that was a loss. It was actually one of the worst birthdays I have had. I choose Celebrity cruise for my birthday, so I expected a special experience, which did not happen. Yet, the rest of the cruise and ports were so nice and I was grateful to be away for my birthday. The dining staff did sing happy birthday to me which was very sweet.

Also, the eggs on the ship were too runny for my taste, but those are small details.

My husband and I had wonderful time with friends on this cruise.  This was our first time with a balcony cabin and we enjoyed sitting on the balcony watching the blue water of the Caribbean, soaking up the sun, and in awe of the beauty of the area.

We enjoyed the food, entertainment and excursions.   We felt blessed by our experience and look forward to our next cruise with Celebrity.

Overall everything was very positive. Our service at Dinner was top notch. I liked all the different bars and they offered top shelf liquor, beer, and wine. The premium drink package is the way to go. I don't drink a lot but when I do I prefer quality over quantity. Only negative was outside bar service was lacking even when no one else was at the bar waiting. The ships captain was very engaging along with the Entertainment staff. The Cruise director was also best I have seen, she even greeted us and every passenger when we departed ship and wish us safe travels. I have done many cruises and never seen that.  I'll cruise with Celebrity again in the future.