Twenty-five years ago, my wife and I took our very first cruise on the Celebrity Mercury. We were mesmerized by the incandescent beauty of the ship, the helpfulness and efficiency of the crew, the top-notch quality of the food at every venue and the enjoyable excursions in the Western Caribbean. Long years later, we still treasure our memories of the cruise. We then took two cruises on the Carnival Cruise Line at the urging of family members. Needless to say, we were quite disappointed by the sloppiness and low quality of all aspects of the cruises. Indeed, the second Carnival Cruise, in every significant way, was nothing short of a nightmare at sea. Imagine our delighted anticipation when we booked our fourth cruise together on Celebrity's gorgeous Silhouette. The ship was beautiful, immaculate and perfectly maintained. The staff and crew were mostly enthusiastically helpful and knowledgeable. I say "mostly" because the servers in bars and restaurants and the upper-level management all over the ship were extremely well-trained and studiously concerned about our welfare. However, when attempting to solve some unexpected problems, we found the mid-level management, to whom one first speaks regarding any concerns that pop up, to be cold, aloof and unhelpful. This was unfortunate. When cruising, and paying good money to do so, you expect those charged with aiding in smoothing out the wrinkles, that often, if not inevitably, arise on any cruise, to be genuinely sympathetic to one's concerns. On two occasions, one regarding lack of wi-fi in my brother's stateroom, and the other regarding our table assignment in the Grande Cuvée dining room, the staff to whom we brought our concerns were unhelpful and unsympathetic to say the least. In each case, after the mid-level staff had escalated and bungled the issue, the upper-level management stepped in to save the day. In any event, I want to assure readers of this review, that, overall, we were very pleased with our experiences on the luxurious Silhouette. There isn't room to list all of the many positive aspects of our cruise, but standouts were: our dining room waiter, Moses, our room-steward, Cruz, the lovely verandah in our room, the amazing variety and quality of the food in the Ocean View Café buffet and the perfectly efficient running of all aspects of the ship and itinerary. There are some things not to expect to be impressed by, they include: a hard bed and hard sofa in the stateroom, cheap bath linens, the underwhelming variety and quality of the food in the main dining room and the Premium Beverage Package proving not to be a good value. All in all, I'm so very glad to say, Celebrity, you're still the Best!