The port side process was smooth, but the embarkation process proper was a little clunky. I have been cruising for many years, but this was the first time I had to wait to board the ship. Once the wait was over, embarkation moved along pretty well. The design of the ship is very attractive. I have cruised with the Equinox, Reflection and Solstice before, all sister ships of the Silhouette. I was traveling with my wife and children, as well as my in-laws. Unfortunately for me, my experience on this particular voyage was quite poor.

For starters, the cabin was incredibly dusty and allergenic. My son and myself were both sneezing and coughing from the moment we entered our state room. The cabin was so dusty that my son had recurrent asthma attacks while in our room. My wife developed a rash on her arm and torso. The stateroom attendant was not of much help in getting the cabin cleaned. After a visit to guest relations, an in depth cleaning was performed with immediate improvements.

We had reservations for early seating for 6 people. We were offered a nice table towards the back of the main dining room. Food in the main dinning room though was horrible. We actually had to send the food back several times during the first 2-3 days of cruising. We ended up not going back to main dinning room after multiple attempts to address the food quality issues. Unfortunately service and food quality in Ocean View Cafe was also poor. It was common for food staples like cereal to run out during breakfast service. When requesting cereal, some staff member answered that there were over 4000 people on board and that they sometimes run out of things. Not quite the answer I expected. Food quality and availability issues were addressed with multiple people while on board the ship. After countless attempts at addressing food services, the Maitre'D made arrangements for the last 2 nights at specialty restaurants. Having young children makes dining in such establishment difficult and that was our original reason to aim for the main dining room service in the first place. I do not expect 5 start gourmet food in the main dining room, but I also don't expect to be sick from what we are being served. Read more