cachouonacruise

Personally, existing service offered by Celebrity is one of the main reasons I choose the cruise line and travel. Some people compare, for example, their use of towels to what they do at home. If I wanted everything the same as it is at home....I would stay home. Part of my enjoyment, on board Celebrity, is being pampered. We love the food, the drinks, the entertainment and the little extras that, for a short while, make us feel special. Service offered is the biggest selling point! The turn down service is one of these little extras. Do I absolutely need it? No. Do I enjoy it? Yes! In my opinion, cruise line have to balance delicately what they choose to cut, or else, they will devalue their product. So, I vote for keeping existing service, including the turn down service as it existed on my June 2022 Silhouette cruise.

Wow! I understand your feeling! I experienced one earthquake in my life, which made the building I was in, crack and shake and it's not an experience I wish to repeat!!! While the earth is shaking, you don't know yet the magnitude it will reach or to which extent, it could be life threatening....It's only well after the shaking stops that you know, if it was a big one or only a minor event. I am very glad to hear that your recent event was only a matter of a temporary adrenaline rush! Enjoy your time at home until your next cruise!

Thank-you very much, Jim, for taking the time to share your live cruise experience and pictures of Solstice and the Mexican Riviera. You are providing us with treasures in the shape of very detailed information! I wish you and Lain, very Merry Holidays and I have to say, that we will miss you on the Celebrity boards when you leave to join the Ponant Board! I really hope your Ponant experience will meet your expectations!

Thanks and you are correct! This said, I worked for an organization which had different ISO certifications and I was trained as an ISO evaluator.... These standards can speak to people involved in the system, for example to regulatory agencies etc. However, most transport organizations can choose to meet one or more ISO standards, nothing is regulated... Then, if during an ISO evaluation review a deficiency is noted, the organization is privately granted a period of time to ...fix...the noted issue.... Then, it will only be verified again during the next cycle of evaluation. For the layman or lay woman passenger, sadly, these ISO standards are not really indicative. Few peolple understand what they really mean or don't mean. Besides, to find which cruise line adheres to which ISO standard and why or why not is not an easy task. If an organization fails to meet an ISO standard or fail to renew it....it will not really be published in the public domain. So, sadly, despite my understanding and training in ISO certification processes, I would not be able as a passenger to rely on the ISO process to assess the safety of an organization.

Thank-you for taking the time of reading and correcting my post. Your last paragraph hits the mark exactly on the point I was trying to make: How do I know that Viking, Carnival, or any other transport organization provides only minimal adhesion to standards? The answer is: I don't know!!! This is, what I would love to know, when making a choice of transport activity!!! Having been involved in the aviation industry for many years, I know that all operators are not equal when it comes to safety. I also know that regulating agencies, investigation agencies are aware of who's first in class and who's borderline in terms of safety. However, for fear of lawsuits, they can't divulge that information. Then, why is it that we don't have a public safety classification system for organizations? We do have a star rating system for hotels and restaurants, we have a health related system, in the shape of published ship health inspection reports? But, to my knowledge....we don't have a public safety report system. It's either meet standards allowed to operate or below standards and grounded! Yet, across the world, regulatory agency standards vary quite a bit... So why is it that as a passenger, when travelling, I am asked to trust blindly operating agencies using unspecified standards! In short, I would love to be able to make better informed decisions. Paying more for champagne and caviar may be fun, but personally, I would prefer to pay more for safety.

First, I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the family of the deceased passenger, and my best wishes for a full return to health and safe way home, to injured and fellow cruise passengers. This said, when Titanic sank, we learned after the fact that the ship operator had taken "cost cutting" measures which either contributed or compounded the impact of the event. When Costa Concordia sank, we learned after the fact, the the ship operator allowed captains to disregard safety procedures to please the crowd. What will we learn about this event about ship building? Decision making process etc? In recent years, It's the second major event involving Viking Ocean. ( the event off the coast of Norway and this event in Antarctica). These events, including the recent ones, raise questions in my mind about the ability of regulation agencies to properly enforce passengers and crew safety and the ability of ship operators to really enforce a strong safety culture. Don't take me wrong, I love cruising! All marketing material from all cruise lines, airlines, as well as their official public communication always state something like : safety, first priority! However, history of more than 100 years seems to disprove these "official" statements and other priorities often come into play in the business of passenger transport. Then, after an event, and its two year investigation, we hear that it will not happen again and then ... it does. From the passenger perspective, why js there no tool to differentiate organizations taking safety seriously, versus those providing minimal adhesion to published standards? We have all kind of information about itineraries, food, prices, entertainment....yet, we're led to believe that safety adhesion is the same for all! I know for a fact, it's not true in the airline business, I am suspecting the same in ship operation business.... So, besides not flying and not cruising, what can I do as a passenger to only deal with corporations with a strong and real safety culture versus others only providing lip service to it!

Hi Jim, Thank-you so much for posting one more review! I really look forward to read it! So, we have been on Solstice in 2017 and Silhouette in 2022. Although they are ships from the same class, there were some notable differences. I am curious to see if these differences still exist: Solstice 2017: I don't remember any cabanas, the hot glass show was open every night, Cellar Masters was one of the bars. ( I don't remember if the World Class Bar was on Solstice back then and I know the Porch Specialty Restaurant was not). Silhouette 2022: No hot glass show, no Cellar Masters Bar. However, we loved the Porch Specialty restaurant and the World Class Bar. Cabanas were available. I believe the Sky Lounge was a bit smaller on Silhouette than Solstice, since on Solstice it was accessible from the port and starboard side of the ship, while on Silhouette, we could only access the lounge from one side. So I hope, you will be able to update us on the Solstice evolution. I wish you and Lain, good weather and beautiful cruises on Solstice!

Sadly, for the leaves to change color, we need at least to have cold nights. And in Quebec or on the St-Lawrence River, it often is quite chilly in the fall, especially with the wind. (I live in Montreal, and we are often "surprised" not being dressed warm enough when visiting Quebec. Last week, when visiting the Quebec mosaicultures, was no exception! In my opinion, the best time of the year to visit Quebec, Montreal, Charlottetown, Sydney etc... is the summer. You will not see the colored leaves, but you will be able to enjoy all the festivals, the restaurant terrasses and so many more fun outdoor activities. It is also less likely to end up with a "full" rainy day in the summer. Sadly, few cruise lines operate in our area in the summer and I don't believe Celebrity is one of them.

Regarding Celebrity excursions, when they come on sale, it has been my experience that the only way to benefit from the new "sale" price is unfortunately to cancel and re-book. This is a bit annoying, because it means you will initially be refunded the higher price than re-charged the lower amount. Typically, Celebrity will not just refund you the difference. It's a bit of work and a lot of confusing transactions, but sometimes, the sale price is worth the effort. One element to consider, though, if your excursion is almost fully booked, if you cancel it, you may not be able to re-book it. As a result, in the past, when a "sale" price becomes available for a specific excursion or a bunch of them, when the benefit was worth it, I called a Shore Excursion Celebrity Rep. The Rep was able to advise me, if I cancelled my excursion with the intent of re-booking, if my odds of success were good or not. This way, I was able to benefit from good price reductions without risking to lose my excursion. Good Luck!

The World Class Bar on Silhouette had a nice menu and offered a great mixology class, including drinks not on the menu. I will definitely keep that bar in mind!

I have already access to a medical insurance program through work. So, I was mainly interested in travel insurance covering cancellation, trip interruption, lost luggage etc. Earlier this year, it was quite difficult to find cruise travel insurance due to Covid and the Canadian Government advice to avoid all cruise travel. Fortunately for us, in March 2022, the government advice was lifted. So, finding insurance became easier. Meanwhile, we had received an acceptable quote from Manulife, which I was happy with. But, the lifting of the advice allowed me to use the insurance included on my credit card from Caisses Popular Desjardins. ( Other Canadian banks seems to offer similar benefits). I just had to pay to increase the amount of the coverage, which was much cheaper.

Thank-you very much Sbcs5390 for taking the time to share your experience in San Juan. It's very informative!

Very interesting details. I have never heard of going through security, back out, and then return. So, you must have had to go through security twice?

Wow! Thank-you very much for sharing your experiences. Based on that feedback.... we will definitely take a cab! Thanks again!

Hello all, Trying something different on our upcoming March cruise and I am wondering if you can help me better understand how it works. We are flying on the day of sailing. So, to minimize risk, we booked our flights and transfers using Flights by Celebrity. Our flight will be landing Puerto-Rico at about 2 PM. On my receipt, the transfer time is showing only at 6 PM. It seems to involve a long wait at the airport. I am wondering if this 6 PM time is a hard time or if Celebrity will watch arriving flights and provides various shuttle service from the Airport to the port on that day? When times come to do the Check-in process, would you select a time based on your flight arrival time (taking into account all the deplaning process and a possible prompt shuttle service) or would you select a 6:30 PM time, based on the indicated shuttle time in our papers? P.s. If known, what is the approximate cost for a cab between the airport and the port in San-Juan Puerto-Rico? Easily accessible? Thank-you for your help!

Being a francophone from the province of Quebec, I cannot call myself a fan of the British Monarchy. This said, Queen Elizabeth II really set the highest possible standard about what it means to be a Head of State. Her service dedication to her country and the Commonwealth was exemplary. Her poise, her class, her attitude, her steadiness even through the most difficult moments deserved the utmost respect and admiration, even from a Frenchie like myself. Queen Elizabeth II spent most of her long life under the microscope of public scrutiny, and nothing negative was found or reported, on the contrary! Very few celebrities and Heads of State have been able to cope with that constant pressure. Her courage, attention to details and her ability to show empathy when it mattered were all exceptional. Her departure signals the end of an era. I don't think it will be possible for anyone to emulate such a long and unique leadership!!! R.I.P Queen Elizabeth and my most sincere condolences to you all from the United Kingdom!

You likely had the best option: some leaf colors and still nice weather. When the leaves begin to change colors....it's because weather is getting cooler, especially at night! By that time, it can get quite chilly and windy on the St-Lawrence river, especially around the Gaspé Peninsula. Because of the wind in the fall, the river and the estuary can be a bit rockier too. So you did very well!!! P.s. Thank-you so much for all the beautiful pictures for the past three cruises! Wow! The wealth of information and experience that you share with us is amazing!

May be for a future visit, but a few members suggested a stop at Chutes Montmorency, which indeed are very nice. But, nobody said a word yet about Ile d'Orléans just across from the falls. Ile d'Orléans was home to a renowned French Canadian Poet Félix Leclerc. On the Island, the poet's home is now a museum. Also on Ile d'Orléans, you will find a world class unique "winery' making world medal winner Cream of Cassis. On the site, you can taste fortified Cream of Cassis wine, Cream of Cassis gin, Cream of Cassis vodka and other Cream of Cassis products, including even ice cream! On the Ile d'Orléans, you will also find wineries ( white wines are fairly good), berry farms, quaint restaurants and little shops. The island located on the St-Lawrence offers nice views of the river. Driving around the Island by car takes about 1.5 hours, so, depending on your interests and available time, it could be a nice visit. P.s. I could not resist mentioning this jewel, but rest assured, I own nothing on the island. So, Jim and Lain, since you seemed very interested in the Quebec area, and you travel a lot, I thought I would mention this in case you should decide to come back. ( P.s. For People with Irish Ascendance, another Island in the area is filled with history.).

Jim and Lain, bravo! you have finally reached the closest point to our home! lol! We're just 2.5 hours further up the St-Lawrence River known in French as Fleuve St-Laurent, living in a small town on the south shore of Montreal and the river. I hope you will really enjoy your day in Quebec City and I look forward to see it through the keen eyes of your camera!

Out of the group of people, only two or three will go on stage. The first two, to play the normal Deal or no Deal game and the last one to spin the wheel to win either a free cruise or casino cash money. On Silhouette, the game was not played in the main theatre, but in a smaller venue situated beside. So, the "crowd" is not that big and the presence on stage not too intimidating. This said, if your "badlucky" enough to have a card called on stage, you can always switch card with a loved one or go with the flow. It does not last long, and if you play with the game, it can be fun and you could leave with nice benefits.

The cost is similar to what it was to play bingo. I forgot the exact prices, since it varied depending on the number of cards purchased. I have in mind prices ranging between $25 and $40 U.S. This said, you don't buy cards "just to play in the audience". All purchased cards give you a chance to be selected to play on stage. One card (player) from the audience is randomly selected. The rest of the people, just then become audience players.

On Silhouette, I think I was lucky. After the main game, I won to play the wheel offering the "free" cruise and other casino prizes. The highest casino reward available on that wheel was $250. I wrote "free cruise" because of all the expected restrictions. For example, having to pay return flights from home to the cruise port, limited choice of cabin category, limited allotted time frames, and other items not covered such as port fees, excursions, drinks, etc.... In short, in my mind, it feels more like a reduced fare cruise....for a destination and at a time that may not be convenient to me.... So not so free after all... But, as it turned out for me, I won the $250 casino prize, and in addition to having fun at the casino, I brought home, $133 U.S real cash out of that prize, which was not so bad. Funnily enough, it was the second time in my life, winning "gambling" money. (I never seem to be able to win real cash). Merchants at home, wanting to encourage us to but local, organized a draw, which I won.....The prize was....$1000 dollars of lottery tickets!!! Can you imagine going into a convenience store, having to spend $1000 in one session, for tickets often costing only $1 or $2... So, I have been there done that and I can say that it's a bit weird, fun, embarrassing, long, etc... An experience to remember...Definitely!

I wish you to have a guide that was as passionate as ours when we did this tour in 2015. We really had a great time and a good lunch! Enjoy!

In the past (before Covid) Toronto Pearson, in my experience, has been an efficient transit airport. This said....we live in Canada and March occurs during our fabulously renowned winter. Departing the day we board the cruise ship is....risky enough. Adding to the equation, the likelihood of delays due to de-icing, runway closures, weather or ATC, significantly increases the risk that either us or our luggage would miss our connecting flight; which was.... concerning. Sadly, I have experienced that a few times, in my past life. Nobody was to blame, just normal life during winter in Canada. So, going non-stop to a sun destination from one of our snowy airport is really reassuring.

Just in case it could be of interest to other passengers. Air Canada has recently added a new direct flight from Montreal to Puerto-Rico and the fare is better for March 2023. For your consideration.