Celebrity Silhouette Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The ports we visited were all very interesting but the best part of the trip was the time on the ship.  The crew members were all very congenial and happy to make our days fun.  We had a suite and it was definitely worth the extra money.  Tallinn, Estonia and Helsinki, Finland were my favorite ports along with our 3 days prior in Amsterdam.

Still waiting on refund from an alcove rental that had to be cancelled due to change in itinerary.

We enjoyed this cruise but had several experiences that we felt shouldn't have happened.  The embarkation process was deplorable.  I have never seen such chaos and it took over 2 1/2 hours to get on the ship because there were not enough british immigration people to handle the 3000 guests.  Due to weather our trip to edinburg was delayed which we all understood but we were left out in the bay with very little activity and poor communication from the captain as to what the situation was.  Our last day at sea was also cut very short because the captain said there was stormy wether around amsterdam and he had to get the ship in through the locks.  Everything was shut down about 12;30 in the afternoon and we lost our last day of our cruise  When this happened the crew proceeded to start preparations for the next group of passengers and we all felt we were being pushed out the door with no where to go!  Transport to the airport was good but the luggage was in a pick up at one end of the airport and our flight was all the way at the other end of a very large airport that was quite confusing.  All in all, we had a good vacation and got to be at st andrews for the british open but felt disappointed with celebrity for what is claimed to be a luxury cruise

SHIP, ROOM, STAFF, FOOD AND ENTERTAINMENT WERE ALL EXCELLENT. SHIP'S INTERNET LEAVES MUCH TO BE DESIRED. IT'S SLOW AND COSTLY. WE BOOKED SHORE EXCURSIONS ONLINE PRIOR TO CRUISE AND SAVED OVER ONBOARD BOOKINGS. ALL EXCURSIONS WERE EXCELLENT WITH FOLLOWING EXCEPTIONS: BERLIN PHOTO STOPS WERE TOO RUSHED (POSSIBLY DUE TO LONG DRIVE TIME) AND ITS SPREE RIVER TOUR WAS A WASTE OF TIME. COPENHAGEN'S DRAGOR VILLAGE TOUR'S TRADITIONAL DANISH LUNCH OF PICKLED HERRING, RAW SALMON AND LIVER PATE WAS MOSTLY LEFT UNEATEN BY EVERYONE ON OUR BUS. ALL OTHER TOURS WERE OUTSTANDING.

This was an awesome cruise.  The Celebrity staff is one of the most hard working that I have seen.  They are always ready to do their best to make sure you have a fantastic experience onboard.  The extra touch they offer when returning from an excursion really made our day.  I just love the hot chocolate they give you as you are waiting to board the ship after a fun filled day.  The dining room staff was great. Pero was our waiter and did a great job to make our dinner an "experience".  Randy our bar waiter kept our drinks flowing and Armand also provided us with great service.

Customer relations was always available to help.  The cabin stewards did a wonderful job keeping our cabin in great shape.  I have cruised on several cruise lines and the staff on Celebrity really takes it up a notch to provide great service.  The staff work long hours.  I am an early riser and see them working in the morning and then after leaving the bar in the evening they are still working but always with a smile on their face and a friendly word.

Hands Down Celebrity is the Best Cruise Line!  Wonderful Staff, Great Entertainment and the Meals, Extraordinary.  The travel Itinerary was expertly planned!  Enjoyed every minute, already planning our next cruise!  

People were sick on our cruise everywhere and Celebrity  didn't  have a medical staff that gave a dam!  it was impossible to get aspirin from the doctor without registering for an appt. and there was no one to let you know what was going around.  Celebrity still let people serve themselves at the buffet while Holland America would have served people to prevent more infestation.  The air system must have been old or not kept up to have spread this flu and respiratory infection so fast through the ship the crew was sick as well! Staff didn't have loading or unloading boat organized due to tides and  made everyone wait to disembarke physical disabled when they could have assisted them on another unloading point. Staff other than medical was wonderful  no real organized activities things were always delayed.

This was my third cruise on Celebrity, and a very disappointing one.  It definitely wasn't worth the money.  The shore excursions--especially the ones involved using tenders--seemed incredibly disorganized.  Even if it was nowhere near the time of the shore excursion, we were urged over and over again to leave the ship via tender because there was "no waiting."  Once we'd get to the dock of the port we were visiting, the tour buses were not waiting for us because we were usually 1-1/2 hours early.  There was nowhere to sit and it was terribly cold and windy.  This seems like a rookie mistake that shouldn't have happened.  I would have much rather waited comfortably in my cabin.  The last straw was departure day from Amsterdam on June 21.  We had to wait on the bus to the airport for about 45 minutes because the luggage hadn't been loaded on the trucks.  Once we left the departure area, we still beat the trucks to the airport.  There was ONE person from Celebrity to try and help over 3,000 unhappy customers.  It was raining and the luggage was just dumped in front of the airport.  People were furious.  I upgraded to Concierge class on this trip.  I don't feel that the extra money was worth it because I still had to wait in lines, albeit not as much as I would have with regular passage.  I heard some other passengers complaining about Concierge class and how they'd gone to guest services to air their grievances.  They were told that management "knew" something was wrong with Concierge class, yet no one seemed to be willing to do anything about it.  Also, at the last minute, we were told that we couldn't go into Wales.  Since I booked this trip many, many months ago I feel that this shouldn't have happened.  The itinerary had been set far enough in advance to avoid something like this.  I definitely feel that I paid too much for this cruise and got relatively little in return.  I don't know if I will ever book a trip on Celebrity again and I doubt that Celebrity will get a lot of repeat business from this trip.

The cruise had a wonderful itinerary.  Other than the 1 day in Fredericia Denmark which was not quite ready for cruise ship traffic, there was an appropriate amount of time in each port.  The Waramunde Germany port as a gateway to Berlin is a bit too far - spending 12 hours in a bus to get to see Berlin really doesn't make sense.

The major issue we had on the trip was the sanitation aspect.  About 30% of the people were from China. Most of them do not have the proper habits for being in a confined area.  People sneezed and coughed without covering their mouths - sometimes right over the food.  Most did not wash properly after using the toilets.  3 of the 4 people in our group came back sick and are on anti-biotics.  If a lot of the people are from around the world, I would suggest that a drill on hygiene is more important than one on life-saving.  

My wife convinced me to go to this cruise although I personally thought it would be too long with too many stops. But I have to admit, among all the more than 10 cruises that I taken in my life, this was by far the most memorable and enjoyable. All stops except Helsinki were quite interesting and better than I expected. Saint Petersburg and Copenhagen were the most fun and luckily we had two night stops there but we even wished we had more time in both cities.

If you have the ability to be away for two weeks, definitely consider this trip.

We enjoyed the cruise primarily because we wanted to visit so many Baltic cities.  All were wonderful but St. Petersburg was fabulous.  You cannot adequately describe how magnificent the palaces and cathedrals are.  The guides on all our trips were excellent.  They spoke very good English and were full of interesting information.

The staff on the ship were very friendly and anxious to accommodate any needs.  We ate in the Aqua Class restaurant and the food was very good, varied, and well prepared.

We did not see all the shows but those we did were excellent.

We are not big cruising people but if you like cruising on a big ship, then I would recommend the Silhouette.  It was a very good experience. We really have no negative comments.

Overall the cruise was a great experience that allowed us to visit several countries that we had not visited before.

The shortcoming for the cruise were:

- After entering all our personal and financial data into their database and receiving an "express pass", and using their transfer service, we spent 4 hours after arriving at the airport before arriving at the ship and then had to redo our ship boarding card since the one issued after the1.5 hour wait at the airport did not work.  Therefore we had no time to visit Amsterdam.

- The shows on board were not the quality that we expected.

- They have a happy hour but it was not published anywhere, you have to find it on your own.

- At the ports there was inadequate information for independent travelers on how to get to the cities from the ship and to get around to see the sites.

- After 12 days the food was monotonous and breakfast at the restaurant took about 30 min to get 2 eggs over easy.

- On departure, using their tranfer service, we had a 4 hour wait at the airport.  Would have liked another hour of rest before a long day of travel.

The pluses were adequate time in the cities visited. The staff was always pleasant, friendly and extremely helpful. The room and ship were always neat and clean. Food overall was very good, just could use some more variety. The shopping on board ship and what was available in the towns was explained well. Fellow passengers made the trip very enjoyable.

Cruise was good and ports were beautiful.  Our disappointment came in the area of ship entertainment.  It received a flunking grade.  The onboard music was  really poor.  We highly suggest that Celebrity invest in good entertainment if they wish to keep their guest coming back.  This was the first time in a long time that  I  did not put down a deposit on a future cruise.  I just would not want to sign myself for more boring evenings onboard.  

The steaks in the main dining room were tough and lacked flavor.  This was in contract to those served in the specialty dining rooms where the steaks actually had flavor and were tender enough to cut with a knife.

Celebrity, you have definitely fallen in rankings in our book!

Ports of call with the exception of Frederica Germany were excellent and provided an opportunity to sample the culture and sights of Scandinavia & Russia.  More time could have been allotted in Amsterdam and Berlin with less in Copenhagen. The ship itself was a perfect size enabling everyone to move around and disembark without confusion.  Service and Food was good with several choices.  Cabin size adequate.  House band "Top Notch" outstanding although nightly show entertainment poor as it included local talent and "circus quality" performances.  Shore excursions very expensive.  Shopping on board adequate with the addition of some new "high end" shopping. Independent research on ports of call and private touring should be explored after booking.  On the whole a very good cruise to take for someone who hasn't visited this area previously.

Very comfortable vacation-- the same bed every night, good food, very secure, very clean, always on time, very helpful staff and the weather was un-expectedly good.

Nice ports, some walkable (but not too much information ahead of time about really how far things are) distance from the ship. I felt like the excursions were more expensive than other places. Cruise age was averaging around 60+/- for attendees. The band was great, very talented and able to have a much of different styles. I'd recommend getting your own visa for Russia so you can explore more- we had to be back at the ship by 5:30. 

Excellente cruise, this cruise can be called senior cruise since he population was 70% over 60 years old. I suggest to eliminate the Fredericia DM stop over, since it is no really any thing interested to see in such small city., rather to have an extra day in St Petersburg. The specialty restaurants were very great choice as well as to have the basic or premium beverage package (this is a plus)

Took the first baltic cruise in the spring. The sights and stops made were wonderful especially Stockholm.  If I was to do this again I would go later in the year as our temperatures were between 3 and 13 degrees celsius. As a result of the cooler temperatures the upper decks and pool were not used.  I would highly recommend that passenger arrange for a private tour when in 'St. Petersburg rather than taking the tours with Celebrity.  Fellow passengers that did this had a much better experience than we did and no issues with the visa requirements.  Most of the other stops have a hop on hop off bus available at the port which is a good option.  Shows in the theatre were great but i found the food was a little disappointing. 

Generally our cruise was very good. I found that some of the food in the BLU dining room  wasn't as good as it could have been. 3 times the fish was cooked in broth. The cook couldn't find some more interesting recipes?

We only took 3 ships tours, and one we spent 3 hours between leaving time and first stop at the Hermitage. They need to improve the customs area in St. Petersburg.

We picked this cruise based on the itinerary and we were not disappointed.  All of the ports were very good and we wished we had more time in Copenhagen.  The ship is new and very nice.  We were impressed by the good service in the restaurants and bars.  The food was good but only average.  The ship is a little like the airlines, they want to nickel and dime you for everything they can and that definitely does detract from the service.

Liked: Silhouette's quiet elegance; majority of co-travelers were a highly educated and well traveled lot; very well trained staff.  Disliked: many hidden costs at all levels; very few interesting activities for 8 solid days at sea.  In spite of these shortcomings, I would recommend it to other travelers.