Sebastien V

[First of all: I'm a French speaker, so please excuse any linguistic errors.] Just back from a seven-day cruise in the Norwegian fjords, aboard the Celebrity Silhouette. I would like to give a little review in the form of random thoughts. It's not my intention to point out a very particular element, nor to offer a complete review of the cruise. There's a bit too much material for the former, not enough for the latter. Perhaps I should also add that we are relatively new to cruising: this is our seventh since 2017, with a significant slowdown due to the events of 2020. Overall, we are satisfied. No more, no less. The Silhouette is still quite young: first sailed in 2011. She could suffer from comparison with the new generation. We crossed the Atlantic on the Beyond in 2022, and this is a completely different story. The Silhouette represents a fairly classic cruising experience, which is not to be disliked. But this puts her in direct competition with other cruise lines presenting themselves as premium. On this cruise in any case, the demographic was quite young, with quite a few families, sometimes with children. The atmosphere is quite relaxed. The element that disappointed us most: the quality of the food, and even more so the quality of the wines. Only at the Murano and, to a lesser extent, the Tuscan Grille, could the experience be described as fully successful. Even Sushi on Five fell short of the quality found in similar establishments on other ships. The MDR proved to be of such poor quality that we abandoned it. In particular, the escargots were of very small size and tasted strangely. We fell back on the buffet. However, we found the quality of the ingredients there lacking, as well as the excessive use of fat. The wines? Even worse. I had already read some unflattering comments about Celebrity on this site. Unfortunately, this was fully confirmed. We had a Premium Drink Package, so we expected a Premium experience. Finding a bar offering wines, and even more champagnes, to match the package was complicated enough. More than once, I've ordered a real French champagne and received a low-end substitute (horrible "Duc de Valmer"). Such processes are not a service problem when they happen frequently. It's because management tells them that cruisers can't tell the difference between real champagne and sparkling wine anyway, so there's no point in serving them something expensive. I sincerely hope I'm wrong. Is the Avivo Sangiovese, certainly to my taste, really priced at 15 euros a glass? Unless I'm mistaken, the bottle costs less than 7 euros to buy. I've written about it elsewhere and I stand by it: when it comes to food and drink, Princess beats Celebrity. Flat out. As for the shows and entertainment, they varied greatly. We enjoyed the two main shows: the dancers and singers were very committed, even if the installations weren't state-of-the-art anymore on this ship. The energy of the participants was very high. I'm less enthusiastic about the solo performances, but that may be a personal judgement. The great classics are still there, and as pleasing as ever: musical entertainment, silent disco party, martini bar, etc. We thought the choice of ports was a good one. Molde and Olden offer absolutely incredible scenery, yet are very different in style. The arrival and departure at both ports were breathtaking. Alesund is quite pretty, although curiously enough, the town seemed lethargic the whole day (with very few restaurants open). Stavanger, on the other hand, seems inundated with mass tourism, and revels in it. We opted to visit the ports and not stay in a bus for two hours, even to see the most beautiful things. We have not regretted this choice. One thing remains constant: the quality of service. Thanks to Paz, our room attendant, always efficient, always in a good mood. Thanks to the waiters, sometimes moody, but always kind. This won't be enough to make me choose Celebrity specifically for my next cruise, but at least thanks to the service I won’t exclude it either.

We traveled with both Celebrity, on the Beyond (a transatlantic crossing) and the Princess Diamond, for seven days, to the Southern Islands of Japan and Keelung. We were there at the beginning of September, and were faced with a typhoon, which added two days at sea. In short, compared to the Beyond, the Princess Diamond boat seemed a little old to us, while still retaining beautiful remains. The service was nothing short of excellent. The entertainment seemed two or three notches below what Celebrity offers. The quality of the MDR, on the other hand, was much higher than what we experienced on that of Celebrity. Unfortunately, their steakhouse was replaced by another concept, Brazilian grills, which spoke less to us. We also really liked the wines on Princess. Whatever the choice, please keep in mind that our Japanese friends, the majority on the Princess Diamond, are generally much more reserved than the Europeans (we are from Belgium) and Americans. They don't know much English. However, they are definitely more respectful of others, and their enthusiasm for all dances is extraordinary!

Hello to all, After having read all the messages above, I thought it would be useful to refocus on the main subject, the transatlantic cruise on the Celebrity Beyond, and to propose our experience, necessarily subjective. First of all, this is my first message on this platform, and our experience of cruises in general is quite limited. Before the pandemic, we had traveled twice with RCCL. Enchanted by the experience, we had several projects in Asia in 2020-2021, which were each time cancelled for reasons we all know. So we left with an extraordinary desire to travel. You will also excuse the language mistakes: I am a French speaker. The transatlantic trip itself was disrupted by particularly bad weather for two days, which others have already explained. I am especially sorry for the other travelers and for the crew members who got sick, because for me it was not a problem. I was expecting this kind of situation. Maybe even worse. I had been warned that the Atlantic was a stormy ocean. We met so many kind and interesting people on board this ship that the desire to cruise only grew stronger. Cruises also allow me to disconnect for a while from a exhausting work life. Not being able to access my emails or receive any messages on my cell phone is an incredible luxury in this day and age. The transatlantic aspect reinforces these two elements. On the other hand, I am really disappointed by the lack of staff on board. This lack was felt everywhere. Those who had not booked the specialty restaurants weeks in advance, as we did, were unable to reserve a table. The MDR was on the verge of dying some nights, with a staff that kept its kindness despite the terrible conditions. Waiting times in most bars at night were nothing like what we had experienced on RCCL. Perhaps the fact that all passengers had a drink package accentuated this. I hope that all this is not an omen of the evolution of cruises towards a policy aimed exclusively at profit. Or maybe I have an idealistic view of things. By the way, we were also victims of the total unpreparedness of the cab services upon arrival. We too waited for a good two hours, under the yelling of an overwhelmed staff. We even saw an ulcerated passenger try to hit one of these staff members with her bag - an inexcusable thing. We paid $110 excluding tip to be driven with another couple to our hotel in Manhattan. But we don't blame Celebrity. We would simply have appreciated better communication between the port authorities, the ship owner and the cab companies. Such a communication is in the interest of all actors. Will we travel with this company again in the future? If the price is right, and the destination suits us, probably. But Celebrity did not convince us to give them exclusivity. Seb