We chose this cruise because we had never been to Amsterdam. But, should also mention that we are regular cruisers with celebrity and love them. The checking in procedure was quick and painless as normal. However, we noticed the normal age demographic for celebrity cruises was a lot younger than we normally see. I should also say that we are young at heart and have no problem with people having a good time, however on this cruise we had our eyes opened! There was a lot of groups of what appeared to be stag and hen parties, which is not what we expected to ever see on a celebrity ship, and who were clearly on a mission to drink as much as is humanly possible from the moment the bars opened which was early given that mimosas, bloody Mary's where on offer at breakfast. That's not a problem normally because I myself have in the past had a bloody Mary or two at 10am ish, but, it was the level of bad language and general rudeness of some of these people that was shocking to us. There was also a lot of young family's and the children were left to run riot, while the parents were drinking. I have to say that we were not the only passengers that were shocked and offended by the more unruly behaviour. We even spoke to two different sets of travel agents who were shocked at the behaviour and had even experienced vulgar comments themselves. Two first time couples where also shocked at the behaviour and they said they would not come on celebrity ever again based on this experience. We did try to reassure them that this cruise was not a typical celebrity cruise, and that to not let the current bad behaviour of some drunken fellow passengers put them off cruising with celebrity. All that been said the ship, staff and food was lovely as usual. And we will cruise again with celebrity but hope they don't have any other "booze cruises" planned because I think that would be great shame and a big mistake on celebrity's part. Read Less

Over the years we have been on quite a few cruises. We have done the following as far as I recall. (Royal Caribbean) Vision of the seas, Jewel of the seas. Independence of the seas. Adventure of the seas. (Princess cruises) Grand Princess. (P&O) Britannia 4 times, Azura. (Cunard) Queen Elizabeth 2 times. This time we thought we would try Celebrity Silhouette to see what it was like. A 3 night cruise to Amsterdam. How did it compare to the other ships we have been on? First of all the negative points. The cost of drinks are very expensive! The most expensive I have encountered on all the cruises I have been on! For example a small bottle of Corona Beer 330ml $8.50 and small bottle of cider same size $10.00 that's £13.69 at exchange rate of $1.26 cents to £1.00. In Tesco a few weeks ago 12 bottles of Corona beers same size was £8.00 that's $10.08 just 83 pence a bottle and they are still making a profit! The price in a pub for one bottle is £3.50 or $4.37. Wine in the dining room wine was sold by the glass and was around $10 to $11 but there was no mention of how much the glass contained ? 175ml ? 200ml ? Very strange. So you don't know how much you get for your money? But say you get 4 glasses of wine from one bottle it works out minimum $40 a bottle. Drinking seemed to a big part of the cruise for most guests and I can only imagine that they had a drinks package, which is not cheap, and they were trying to get their money's worth out of it.? The main dining room. It was ok but lacked the grandeur of other ships that we have been on and the dining chairs are not dining chairs in my opinion! The food again was ok but could do better! The self service restaurant on deck 14 pretty much the same as other ships. Food that should be hot is not hot enough! On this ship the British style bacon served at breakfast was pretty dire! Not sure how it was cooked but it was pale and no taste to speak of. However the coffee was pretty good and about the best I have tried on ships! This seemed to be a very noisy ship! It maybe because it was a 3 night cruise over a bank holiday weekend very noisy guests having a good time! A few hen parties and even a wedding party! So pretty hard to find a quiet area to sit unless you sat in the library ! I don't think it is a good idea to allow a large party of people to book a cruise. It is not fair on the other guests. If you like a quieter ship the Queen Elizabeth would be a 10 out of 10 and Celebrity 2 out of 10 . Britannia would be around a 6 out of 10. Entertainment in the main theatre was very good 9/10. We had inside cabin deck 7 and it was a good size! Good size bathroom as well. We got the feeling that this ship was very much for American guests and not for the British. Celebrity say that our safety is their top priority but I would say squeezing as much money out of their guests comes a very close second place. Constant bombardment to buy drinks from the bar, buy special dining packages etc. and what a waste of space the Casino and slot machines take up! So would I book with Celebrity again? May be? It's hard to judge over 3 nights. But I think the ship is better suited for the younger guest. I also think Celebrity think they are better than they actually are! If you want grandeur and opulence go for Cunard! Something in the middle of that, go for P&O ! My score for this ship 6/10. Read Less

We have been on celebrity solstice ships many times. But over the las5 three years azamara and princess. We took relatives to get a taste of crushing to see if they wanted a longer cruise. Embarkation very good as was disembarkation. Room on deck 9 very clean but showing wear, safe cracked on outside so 8 cut my finger on this, sofa looked worn and outside table had clumps of what looked like wax on it tha5 wouldn’t come off. However I think the standards have gone down, toiletries poor quality, no shower cap or shower gel. Shower head water flowed slowly so that needed replacing, but not a major issue. World class bar , no so work class. The nice cut glasses replaced by thin glasses, a couple of times the tops of glass rims seemed rough due to poor quality. We were told that some of the premium spirits used were not available and saw them use run of mill ones. My hubby doesn’t drink and they refuses to do him a no. Alcoholic drink so he had to get one from another bar and bring it back. The bars had few staff on so the wait was always long. I was surprised when pina colada can in whisky tumbler as did a margarita, In the main dining room food as good as ever. But the wines it suggested were not used. I asked for the recommended glass of calafornian chard. They said yes but he poured cheaper one. I asked why and he said it was not available unless I got a bottle, so why was it recommended and priced on menu by the glass. Areas clean and staff lovely . Cafe very good for coffees. Staff worked hard but they were rushed off their feet at bars and in cafe. I’m booked again in July but if it wasn’t paid for I may reconsider, I’m hoping standards were lower as it was a mini cruise. They need to be careful as their prices are getting higher but I ? That standards have dropped. Read Less

Our previous six cruises were all in the Caribbean and was getting a little old. We chose this cruise for the itinerary. We were very pleased with the cities we visited. The shore excursions were OK but not what we thought, as described by the cruise line. On shore, we were rushed constantly by guides with limited English speaking skills. There was a lot more walking than was described on line. In one case, the bus dropped us on a different pier, about 1/3 mile from where we were docked. On the Eclipse, the crew was excellent. Everyone was nice and helpful and greeted you cheerfully. The food was excellent with enough variety to get through the 12 days. The cabin attendant was excellent and went out of her way to be helpful. Our wait staff, at the restaurant was very good. Upon boarding, we were supposed to received a schedule and invitations to extra events, that were added to our cruise package. It took several days working with Guest Relations to get it right, and we missed some tastings and tour, as a result. This is about the only negative aspect of our cruise. Read Less

My mother in law who is a seasoned cruise traveler wanted to treat us all to a family holiday. I was very much looking forward to this as we were doing the Baltic cruise which I had wanted to do for a while. Boarding went smoothly and the room seemed comfortable and adequate for my family. My husband, me and twin 4 year olds. When we got back to our cabin after dinner to find the kids beds made up I was a little disappointed. The top bed was basically the sofa with a sheet on it. Trundle pull out bed was the second bed. The sofa was ok as just that, a sofa you would be spending very little time sitting on when in the cabin but as a bed it was terrible. it sloped down slightly which meant my twin girl fell off on to her brother a couple of times and it was very uncomfortable to sleep on. We ended up having the kids in the bed with us most nights. Thankfully the main bed was very comfortable and king sized. This was not a family room, it was a double room with a sofa and pull out trundle bed. For what we paid this was not acceptable. The main aim of the cruise seemed to be selling. Everything revolved around trying to get your to buy. Waiters outside the main dining room and buffet every meal with a menu and sign up register for the specialty restaurants, one even following my husband in to the bathroom on one occasion. The talks on each destination were basically a plug of their excursions with very little information outside of what they involved. Sail days in the shops were supposed to be open all day but were closed off until certain "sales" were set up and you got a raffle ticket. There was no shop selling essentials if you happened to forget something. Just overpriced items you could get elsewhere for half the price. Sail days were crowded too with very little seating in any of the areas except the pool, which could get very loud with the activities and a dj playing questionable music. Having two small kids and 5 sail days I was hoping for plenty of activities to keep them entertained. The pool could get crowded but my girl still enjoyed it. My son has a medical condition which meant he couldn't use the pool. He was also very clingy being in a strange place so refused to use the kids club too. My girl did use it and was very happy with the kids club. The staff were very friendly and it seemed to keep those who would attend entertained. That was pretty much it though for small kids. The activities were limited and not suitable for small kids. The movies in the small theatre were not shown on sale days or were on at a time not suitable to attend (too close to dining room booking times or too late at night). The entertainment was very bland and repetitive. Some of the acts being shown on more than one of the days so if you attended once, you were at a loss another night when they had the same show on. The main focus was getting people in to the casino. Drinks package was a waste of money. The kids ones allowed for juice and fountain sodas. We could only find one bar serving fountain sodas and that was drinks mixers only, soda and tonic water, not exactly for kids. We used our cards to buy kids some actual sodas in a can and were charged for them because we ordered them too close to ordering our own drinks, all of which were within the package. You couldn't get more than one drink at a time on each card or you were charged for it. Quality of the drinks was hit and miss too on cocktails, especially in the main theatre. Terrible and undrinkable mostly. My mother in law is a wheelchair user and could only use the bathroom facilities in her cabin. The other toilets in public areas did not suit her disability. She could not transfer herself from wheelchair to toilet because of the position of the support bars. When she brought this up with staff, she was met with an indifferent attitude and made to feel like she was being unreasonable. On the other hand, the food, in the main dining hall and the buffet was excellent. The majority of the staff were friendly and helpful (with the exception of bar staff who seemed like we were bothering them asking for them to bring us a drink). Our room was kept immaculate and the destinations were all brilliant. We only did one of the cruise shore excursions, in St. Petersburg, which I found a lot of fun, well organised and value for money (surprisingly as everything on the ship was overpriced) and the guide very informative. The staff made the kids feel very special which I also appreciated very much as it was their first holiday. I don't think I will be using Celebrity again as the cons far outweighed the pros. Read Less

I have a severely disabled child and booked this last minute ( June ) as it was the only cruise available these school hols with a disabled cabin. I booked 2 cabins the first for me and my 2 boys aged 13 and 14 one of whom is disabled and the second for my eldest girl age 18. Both were balcony cabins and lovely. They were well appointed and clean and up to date. The disabled cabin had automatic door opening which was great when exiting the room but a problem when entering as the door was shutting before I got the wheelchair in. THere are still no sockets near the bed which means having to have extension cords accross the floor at night when using a feeding pump. the accessto the balcony was great and a ramp provided. There was plenty of room for the wheelchair on the balcony. Dining- We ate in the main dining room and ocean view buffet every day bar one when we went in the Tuscan.The staff in the main dining room were wonderful In particular the waiters Hayden and Erik and the sommelier Rosa. The maitrre di Meno was also wonderful and they made a real effort to be nice and welcoming to my disabled son who ended up with us quite a few times due to problems with Kids club. They did little magic tricks and made it fun when bearing in mind he can't eat and is tube fed sitting through a meal can be boring.The food was fine and the choice ok so we didn't feel the need to eat at speciality restaurants. Entetainment- On the whole very good but absolutely nothing for children on most ships there is at least a kids early evening disco and some sort of child freindly act .On this ship there was nothing In addition the kids club was bad so much so that after a week Ihad a meeting with guest relations after which things improved, I judge this against P and O , Royal Caribean and Cunard where my disabled son has complained when he couldn't go in and had to come on shore or come out as staff were having breaks. My son cannot speak but even so it was obvious things were not good. I went twice in the first 2 days and found him sat alone in an empty kids room when I asked Why? I was told the other kids had gone on a scavenger hunt I asked why he hadn't and was told that wasn't something staff would do. So my child who is quadriplegic and can't speak or even move his chair himself was left sat alone! THe kids club shuts at 10pm and we were on second sitting for evening meal we were not getting entree's until 9.40pm and so on the third day I was by my watch 4 mins late though I was greeted by the demand 'Where have you been we shut at 10pm and it is now 9 mins past 10 . You will be charged and if you want us to look after your child after 10pm you must book 24hours in advance.' Needless to say he did not go for the next few days in the evening then He agreed to go in for 30mins one morning I took him up at 11.30am and was told they only had a couple of kids so they had sent them in to the teen section and I could go look for them or my son could stay with them for lunch and I could pay. Needless to say he didn't ( my son has delayed development so was in the 9-12 age group) It was after this I had a meeting with guest relations and it is fair to say tings did improve but from talking to other passengers my experience was not unusual. FRom the night I was late my son chose to stay with us and if he did go it was for about and hour then we would go and fetch him between starter and main course so we weren't late . ( no mean feat when you realise the dining room is the furthest point aft on deck 3 and kids club the furthest poit forward on deck 15 and 2 out of 4 lifts don't even go to deck 15.) So I say again DON'T GO WITH CELEBRITY IF YOU HAVE KIDS Excursions- Very poor to non existant if wheelchair freindly required Service- THroughout the ship with the exception of kids club the staf are freindly helpful and couteous at all times the best I have come accross so it is a great pity I could not cruise with them again but sorry guys the kids club is a deal breaker for me . Read Less

Ship was clean and on the whole the staff were friendly, not impressed with the casino staff however as didn't seem to like the fact we weren't 'high rollers' and when we left heard them say 'thank god for that'..!!!!! Cabin was good but wouldn't recommend more than three people, we were a family of four and it was extremely tight for space. The overall food and drink were good but what I left this whole experience with was annoyance at constantly searching for tables and chairs whether it be in the buffet, coffee shop, bars, pool. and I don't like being told we had to 'pick' our times to visit certain places? If that's the case then you have too many passengers on your ship. Wouldn't cruise with celebrity again for this reason. We'll have to pick more carefully the type of ship with sail with. *Shout out to the dining room staff, Magdiel and the wine waiter, Nyomen were amazing...! Read Less

Just back off a 14 night cruise in the Baltic on Silhouette with our 15-yr-old son. It was our first time with Celebrity, after having been with P&O (Ventura) and RCI (Navigator OTS), and we were largely impressed – the negatives being so minor we intend to do a similar cruise again next year on the same ship. Getting the negatives out of the way to start with – We were on deck 6 and found that occasionally the noise from the entertainment was intrusive, but it never went on too late so it never became a big problem. The allocation of the dining table in the MDR was a bit chaotic for the first night but we were allocated a permanent table for the rest of the cruise by the second night. The shops on the ship tend to be for the high-end market – so lots of jewellery and watch shops but not much in terms of fragrances and day-to-day purchases (toiletries etc). The excursions are pretty expensive, as were the speciality dining (which we never tried but nor were we tempted to, despite the frequent promoting) The storage in the cabin was barely enough for the three of us (storage in the bathroom was ample, however). Seating in the bar areas could have been more generous – finding a table, especially when live music was on or due, could be tricky (we found this worse on the RCI ship though). Now the positives - The quality of the food in the MDR ranged from good (on occasion) to excellent (frequently). The staff there were extremely friendly and efficient and very attentive – the best I have seen on a cruise. The check-in was done in record time – we didn't queue for longer than about 2 minutes – and getting on board was swift – as was disembarkation. The overall price we paid for the cruise was on a par with the previous companies, but we got free drinks packages for each of us thrown in (which were ideal for us), plus $150 onboard spend and 40 minutes of internet time (an offer they seem to be improving on for next year). The buffet (Ocean View Cafe) had a good range of food for breakfast and lunch, with plenty of soft drink options. Celebrity, in our minds, deserve the reputation they have. Ports Zeebrugge – this was on our first full day, and we were too tired to go to Bruges, so we wandered around the port. There was not a lot to see but you could take the tram to the seaside resort up the coast. Copenhagen – really liked this city – not too busy, loads of people on bicycles, stupidly expensive though. The ship docks about 10 minutes away from the Little Mermaid, but the ($20) shuttle takes you into the centre of town, which is a bit of a walk away. Stockholm – nice city but busier than Copenhagen. Good art galleries though. Again, very expensive. Tallinn – highlight of the tour. Lovely old town, lots of beautiful buildings, and we found (in Olde Hansa off the main square) a great, albeit quirky, place to eat. St Petersburg – glad we saw it. Went on one of the arranged tours, and saw the Summer palace in Pushkin, plus the city highlights. Very busy indeed. The palace involved a lot of standing around and shuffling through rooms along with several hundred other tourists from our and other cruise ships. Warnemunde (for Berlin). Did not go to Berlin as we did not fancy the long travel to and from the city. Warnemunde itself was a nice seaside town though. Read Less

Enjoyed the cruise destinations & the ship was excellent. 120,000t so plenty of space despite lots of passengers. Facilities were excellent with lots to do. Staff are excellent, all were cheerful, polite & helpful. Food was of a high standard & I'd say there is no need to pay extra for speciality dining imo. Breakfast is very busy at the buffet so go early to avoid seating issues. Entertainment was excellent with some well known acts such as Bobby Davro My only slight moan is at onboard drinks prices are way too high. $8 for a bottle of Bud is ridiculous. Look for a special offer that includes a drinks package. The Baltic destinations were interesting & well worth a visit. I'd advise using TripAdvisor to find the best places to visit & the most economical way to do it. Onboard excursions are good but expensive so there are often cheaper alternatives arrange locally. Read Less

We chose this cruise purely on the port destinations however we were surprised and delighted with the quality of the entertainment and facilities on board. Guest relations/Customer Service was excellent. Excursions/trips were a bit pricey but they did not disappoint. Plenty to choose from however and pleased that Hop on Hop off buses all waited at the port(s) so venturing out on your own was very easy too. Food/Dining was excellent. Please to find that teas/coffees/squash were all included in the price as they can all add up over 2 weeks. The entertainment was great.... did not expect so many British well known artists to appear so it was a real treat to see people like Bobby Davro. The singers/band around the ship was also nice along with the 2 cinema films we saw. My holiday also got me hooked on silent discos... they were hilarious!. Will definitely be going on a Celebrity Cruise again! Read Less