REVIEW: What has happened to our favorite cruise line??? Silhouette 12/17/17

Graham was not my cup of Tea, but I really miss Donna (last year we ran into her on board, she had switched to onboard cruise sales). We also like Ratti.

 

We are on the Silhouette in 3 weeks and hope our experience matches our previous Silhouette sailings. No idea who the CC host you had was, but it sounds like I should cross my fingers and hope we have someone else.

 

Glad to hear the onboard musicians were good.

We had Graham twice and he was awesome. Good luck with the CCH. The musicians were good, especially a four-piece with an African-American lead singer. Just amazing music. There was one male/female duo that we hated, but the rest were pretty good. The production shows we found to be terrible. Maybe it was just us.

Most of us don't enjoy reading negative reports about Celebrity, but honestly, it is important to share constructive criticism on these boards. How else is Celebrity going to know how many of its customers feel? A cruise is a very special endeavor, one that is planned for and expectations are high for another wonderful cruise. Why would so many of us return time after time if this was not the case? Sure, we all have bad days now and then, but overall the product being offered should make us want to return...sorry your cruise fell short of your expectations.

I SO agree with you Lastdance. Hopefully they still have someone watching the reviews on CC. I doubt it but maybe. We're on a charter next week. Judging by what we experience with the food, that will be the deciding factor of whether to do the Edge inaugural or cancel. It was too expensive to have a mediocre time. We'll see.

Celebrity has been "Royalized" and not in a good way.....not much left of the Modern Luxury cruise line we enjoyed for many years

 

Hoping EDGE elevates Celebrity as something special again,,,,more than an LLP Royal clone!

You may be right and if you are, we may be looking for another favorite cruise line. It's too bad because we became accustomed to a certain level of professionalism from =X= and this cruise fell FAR short of our expectations.

After having cruised X several times along with HAL and Princess in the last 4 years, I know X is still a notch above for us. No, everything is not always perfect and some things from the past have disappeared, but every time we step on a Non-X cruise we are wishing we were back on Celebrity.

With all due respect, when is the last time you were on a =X= cruise? The difference between this past one and the one before two years ago is huge. We did an Oceania cruise (got an amazing deal) in '16 and was blown away. Can't afford them all the time but they are what =X= used to be for us.

It was AWFUL! We got dropped off at the convention center, had no idea where to go (as did the hundreds of others walking aimlessly). We finally found where to enter, went through check in (simple enough) and then waited for buses to take us to the ship. Cluster (blank) is the best way to describe it.

SIL drove back to hotel, got the rest of the family, and they drove to Park and go. Got the shuttle to the convention center and left bags on the sidewalk where directed. They got in line and registered. Hubby commented that he didn't even have me with him and still found his way (He claims I always seem to intuitively know where to go).

We had a wait, but there was AC, toilets, and food. Not a big deal.

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Sorry you have a disappointing time on Silhouette, especially since I am booked on her for 20Jan2019 (out of FLL!).

I recently cruised on Eclipse for the third time on a 14 day cruise (unfortunately she is going to South America next year). Since Eclipse is a similar ship to Silhouette, I share your impressions, especially about the MDR food (although service was decent) and production shows.

 

HOWEVER ... I had a good time. I think the difference is the people on board:

 

The point of all of this? Despite the [many, disappointing] changes that have come from Miami in the LPP tenure, the ship experience really does depend most on those in charge on-board. These people change. I would respectfully suggest that you give Celebrity another chance: you might find that next time you will have an amazing voyage.

Very valid points. Could be the people, which is what we are hoping.

Fear not, Celebrity is way better than Carnival. Also keep in mind you are about 500 times more likely to see a bad review online than a good one. Few people post reviews if their experience was good, but a high percentage will post if it was bad. And people on the same ship can have very different experiences. Same cruise, same meal but different times resulted in vastly different experiences.

If you read my other =X= reviews, they gush with praise. That's probably why I'm so disappointed with this cruise.

Keys2Heaven, I think Orator has a point. If many key crew members have changed since last year, the newly formed crew needs time to coalesce into a real team. It’s the same when key people leave a company or key players leave a college basketball team. If your cruise is in 2020, you shouldn’t have any worries. Which itinerary have you booked?

We sail on Silhouette in June, and I intend to post my honest assessment during or after the cruise. We’ve always had a wonderful time on Celebrity, despite any negative aspects we have experienced. No cruise has been perfect, but I don’t expect perfection on a mainstream cruise. We have always returned home filled to the brim with happy memories of sharing new experiences, visiting beautiful places, and meeting interesting people. Should we find that the negative outweighs the positive on our cruise on Silhouette, I’ll say so. :)

It was AWFUL! We got dropped off at the convention center, had no idea where to go (as did the hundreds of others walking aimlessly). We finally found where to enter, went through check in (simple enough) and then waited for buses to take us to the ship. Cluster (blank) is the best way to describe it.

I’m so sorry you had such a dismal cruise. The embarkation alone sounds brutal! DH and I sailed twice last year, in April and June. Though we enjoyed both, I’d have to say our shipboard experience on the first, Reflection was one of the best, while our experience on the second, Summit, was the worst. We were amazed by how different the ships felt. One felt happy, while the other felt rather unhappy or perhaps stressed. We sail Silhouette in June, so I hope they’ve pulled it together by then. If the MDR remains awful, I guess we’ll be spending a lot of time in OVC. BTW I really appreciate your honest assessment of your cruise, and the fact that you included details.

With all due respect, when is the last time you were on a =X= cruise? The difference between this past one and the one before two years ago is huge. We did an Oceania cruise (got an amazing deal) in '16 and was blown away. Can't afford them all the time but they are what =X= used to be for us.

Two cruises in the past 14 months...both on Silhouette...and one next week on Reflection. We were on HAL in August in the Med. and were wishing much of the time we were back on X. Interestingly, my brother and wife decided to spend about 3 times as much for a Silversea cruise on their new Silver Muse ship in August in the Med. Upon return they said it was not as good as the Silhouette cruise in February 2017 and definitely NOT WORTH the money. Also, they have done 2 Oceania cruises in the past 2.5 years and also feel it is not worth the extra $$$. So, while X is not perfect, the grass is not always greener...only more expensive.

Silhouette was Ship of the Year last year and the most amazing crew was sent to other ships. From F&B Manager down the dining services were completely changed. The HD was sent to Constellation and a Captain was transferred to another ship. This might partially explain the decline on Silhouette that some cruisers are reporting. I notice many new names on Arno's charts. Experienced MCC have been promoted to Suite Managers and there are many new CC Hosts and Hostesses. Some experienced Hosts/Hostesses have moved to Future Cruises where they don't need to deal with rude passengers. Others have left Celebrity. I'm seeing new names all over the charts, including recently promoted Captains. This is all normal as an experienced Officer corps ages. Might take time before new training shows results and I see this as the real challenge to Celebrity.

Thanks for all this very relevant background Orator. Apparently Corporate didn't think through all the possible negatives that might result from moving everyone at the same time.

As a retired Director of Training & Development, perhaps the smarter decision might have been to leave a few key personnel is all areas to help train the new ones on the ways that made the Silhouette the Ship of the Year. She certainly was that caliber the other five times we sailed her prior to this past January 7sailing. Hoping the ongoing training will bring her back to number ONE.

The management changes Orator mentioned, in particular in the F&B area, shed lot of light on the issues many of us experienced on the Jan 26 Silhouette cruise. We felt the crew didn't communicate well with guests or each other. Hopefully this will improve.

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I was on the Jan 14th sailing and feel we must have been on different silhouette from the one everyone else was on after reading the horrible reviews. We thought the food was was very good and we couldn't get over how friendly the staff was. Some of the shows were not to our liking but everyone has different tastes. All in all we had a fantastic experience

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I was on the Jan 14th sailing and feel we must have been on different silhouette from the one everyone else was on after reading the horrible reviews. We thought the food was was very good and we couldn't get over how friendly the staff was. Some of the shows were not to our liking but everyone has different tastes. All in all we had a fantastic experience

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That’s great! I’m happy to see that some people are having good experiences on Silhouette, since I’ll soon board her myself. Did you dine in the MDR?

Ok, I am stumped. What is a CCH?

Ok, I am stumped. What is a CCH?

Captain’s Club Host, I believe:)

I read a lot of bad reviews from " old time X- cruisers"- for years we did hold a candle- and a big one at that- for X- no longer!

I was about to try the new Edge- but decided against it and choose HAL´s Niew Amsterdam instead. Half the price - same length of cruise- much better destionations. Our last HAL cruise was what X once was! Might be I come back to X to give it another try- for time beeing Cunard and HAL suit me nicely!

I was on Silhouette for the British Isle cruise last July. This was our first Celebrity cruise. We have had many fun cruises on Carnival with lots of friends a kids. We decided to upgrade and tried Princess. Nobody in our group of 25 liked it. Several of our friends had moved up to Celebrity and raved about it. Our experience was very mixed. Ship was very pretty, stateroom service was excellent but the food in the buffet was horrid and the MDR was only slightly better. I actually lost weight on the cruise. However, we feel we may have just hit an off week and are booked on Eclipse for the Antarctica cruise next year. When I booked directly the lovely girl advised us to eat in the speciality restaurants rather than upgrade to get Blu. I thought that was funny but probably good advice. We live outside of NYC so we are used to great restaurants and the food on Carnival Breeze was significantly better than on Silhouette. That was the huge surprise to us.

Sorry you have a disappointing time on Silhouette, especially since I am booked on her for 20Jan2019 (out of FLL!).

I recently cruised on Eclipse for the third time on a 14 day cruise (unfortunately she is going to South America next year). Since Eclipse is a similar ship to Silhouette, I share your impressions, especially about the MDR food (although service was decent) and production shows.

 

HOWEVER ... I had a good time. I think the difference is the people on board:

 

 

Capt. Leo is engaging (and cute according to my GF) and is always around, as is his staff (especially Andrea the Hotel Director who seems to be everywhere). All X Captains can steer the boat safely: that is assumed. However, Capt. Leo's real contribution is how his staff behaves (and it all starts at the TOP). They seem like family and it shows: they are consistently friendly and always have a warm greeting for the passengers. The officers are engaging and actually talk with you.

 

 

The other Eclipse asset to mention is our Cruise Director, Eddy-from-Wales. He is GENUINE and professional, unlike other CDs that we have experienced who act more like 80s game show hosts. Eddy goes out of his way to make our experience fulfilling and pleasant, despite having to follow Corporate dictates. He actually listens to passengers' needs and wants. A small example of this is arranging some music in the Celebrity Central (a quiet area) so that the music (from Classical to Ellington/Porter) can be heard and appreciated as opposed to noisy venues like the Grand Foyer. He also gives talks about what he is passionate about, rather than the usual drivel.

 

 

The point of all of this? Despite the [many, disappointing] changes that have come from Miami in the LPP tenure, the ship experience really does depend most on those in charge on-board. These people change. I would respectfully suggest that you give Celebrity another chance: you might find that next time you will have an amazing voyage.

 

 

Good luck with your travels

Unfortunately I have to say that our experience on our last B2B cruises on Silhouette in 2015 was quite similar to that of the OP. We kept remarking to ourselves that something was just not quite right with the crew. Since then we have cruised three times on the Reflection, and have another one coming up. We are always asked why the Reflection is our favorite ship. For the very reasons you state, it all starts at the top! On the Reflection everyone, from the Captain to the washroom attendants, works together to create a positive, welcoming and friendly vibe on the ship. YMMV, but I agree that the OP should try another X ship.

I’ve written recently about the changes I’ve observed over the last few years, and the OP saw much the same.

Generic food,,,

The incessant hawking, selling and promoting...the upsell pressure has made sailing on a Celebrity cruise annoying. The most annoying for me is the daily Captains club, Michaels club hostess phone calls.....Leave me alone! :).

I’m currently sailing on a Seabourn cruise and enjoying the difference. Believe it or not, the price isn’t much different than sailing in a Celebrity Sky suite, when one considers all the Celebrity extras.

Ok, I am stumped. What is a CCH?

Capt's Club Hostess

With all due respect, when is the last time you were on a =X= cruise? The difference between this past one and the one before two years ago is huge. We did an Oceania cruise (got an amazing deal) in '16 and was blown away. Can't afford them all the time but they are what =X= used to be for us.

My parents are long time X loyals. 6 months ago we took them on an Oceania cruise and they said many times during that sailing that it reminded them of the Celebrity of 12+ years ago. We will be sailing Reflection in about a month after a terrible experience on Summit im summer of 2016. I pray this is a good experience, if not it'll be back to O for us, and cruising less often because of the cost.

You may be right and if you are, we may be looking for another favorite cruise line. It's too bad because we became accustomed to a certain level of professionalism from =X= and this cruise fell FAR short of our expectations.

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I was on Silhouette for the British Isle cruise last July. This was our first Celebrity cruise. ,,,. Our experience was very mixed. Ship was very pretty, stateroom service was excellent but the food in the buffet was horrid and the MDR was only slightly better. I actually lost weight on the cruise.

I still smile when I recall the teeny, single scallop that was the starter one night. I think this cruise may have been atypical and have good hopes that you will enjoy your next X cruise.

I still smile when I recall the teeny, single scallop that was the starter one night. I think this cruise may have been atypical and have good hopes that you will enjoy your next X cruise.

I also had the single scallop appetizer. My table mate was served first and burst out laughing and then mine arrived. It was comical.

Thanks for the review.