Celebrity Silhouette Review

Wonderful Cruise with Great Ports of Call

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Celebrity Silhouette
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robheckman3
10+ Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jul 2015
Cabin: Deluxe Veranda 1B
Traveled with children

We are a family of five and this is our second cruise on Celebrity. We did a previous trip on the Equinox out of Rome. This ship is exactly the same as the Equinox except they changed the lawn club from a friendly oasis to an exclusive area that was never used. Overall the trip was great and the ship is beautiful. The staff on-board are very friendly and will help in any way possible. Our cabin was on the 9th deck and was spotless. The cabin stewards constantly kept everything clean. The ship is very clean and it was nice to see the attention to detail keeping everything looking good including the public areas and restrooms. The beverage package special was a great plus and we upgraded to the premium package so that almost all drinks were included. The nice part is everything below 13 per glass is free and you only pay the difference if you get something that cost more. Being able to order any drink was very nice for 12 days. The ports of call were incredible across the Baltic. The North Sea was foggy but the rest of the trip was great and the sea was like a lake with no movement. The Baltic in early July was a wonderful time to visit with mid to upper 70s and very little rain. In fact we hit Berlin on the hottest day ever recorded at 38.5c or 101F. I booked all but one tour on my on and would recommend "ALLA TOURS" for Tallin and St Petersburg. We had a grand private tour in St Petersburg and it was well worth it. We also booked a Ballet show at the Mariinsky theater. We did a private bike tour of Berlin with Fat Tire Bikes (under the TV Tower) and that was incredible seeing all the sites on a bike with a nice breeze. It was a brutal day but we all made it including my mother who is in her late 60s. We decided to create our own tour in Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen. Most ports are walking accessible and you do not need to book a tour through the ship.

Unfortunately being the Equinox previously we had high expectations for this ship. The main dining room is very hit or miss and the food quality are not as high as the Equinox. It took three tries to get a steak medium rare. The first one came out well done, the second was rare to raw and the third was charm. The Chicken Kiev looked frozen out of a box and had no flavor. The veal chop and lobster were actually quite good. Our waiter was good but not great and his assistant was no where to be seen. Order carefully in the main dining room. I think they are pushing the speciality restaurants more which is why the quality of food is not as high in the main dining room. Murano and Tuscan were both very good, but they should be at $50 and $45 a pop per person. So for a family of five the meal is $250 for Murano and $225 for Tuscan. If you ask for a discount on day one you can get one (we did and got BOGO which cut the cost in half for one meal) and I did hear they were offering guests up to 40% off at Tuscan to fill the place. It was very disappointing that they have created two ships in one with the guests in Suites getting the Michael Club and having a separate glassed off area of the dining room with a different menu. Maybe the food on the other side is better in the main dining room. Now for the real issues with the ship. Constant up-selling of junk watches, jewelery and gifts. The art auction was a joke and nobody bought anything from the snake oil salesman. Who is going to buy $75K paintings on a cruise with no prove that the art is real. The prices were crazy and it was full retail plus 20% so very few takers. Finally, the entertainment was dreadful and I have never seen so many people walk out on a show in the middle. The theater is great and our previous trip the acts were quite good. The dancers and singers on the ship were very good, but the special acts were horrible. If the cruise director hires or screens the acts then the ship needs a new cruise director. The captain and crew are great and the ports of call made the trip. If Celebrity could tone down the selling, improve the main dining room service and food quality and improve the entertainment acts then it would be a world class cruise. I know some of these comments are nit picky, but if you pay thousands for a cruise you want the best value possible and Celebrity can fix these small items and make it even better.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Veranda 1B

Cabin 1B

Great location near the elevator and fits a family of four with the drop down beds. My mother was in the other cabin and really enjoyed the space. The balcony connected so it was quite large.

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