Celebrity Silhouette Review

Great Entertainment and Relaxed Atmosphere

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Celebrity Silhouette
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Elishe
6-10 Cruises • Age 40s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service

Additional details

Sail Date: May 2017
Cabin: Deluxe Veranda 2D

We always have cruised with HAL but when looking for a Baltic cruise and comparing prices, Celebrity was nearly 2000 USD less plus we got great perks like a classic beverage package and onboard credit. We were a bit apprehensive since it's a big ship with a 3000 passenger capacity but unless we went to the Cuvee dining room or Ocean's View cafe (main dining areas) we never ran into a crowd. The food is very good and choices are plentiful since the Ocean's View cafe (the cafeteria style dining) always highlighted the ports of call food specialties. The dining room provided classic starters/dishes like escargot, prime rib, good seafood. The servers in the dining room are absolutely the best! We also found a little dining nook off the indoor pool area that served beautiful and artfully presented lighter fare for breakfast and lunch. Also, the best place to relax with a specialty coffee and a lovely treat was Café al Bacio & Gelateria.There are many specialty restaurants that you can reserve but come with surcharges. Some are as little $5 and go up to $65 but we didn't go to any of these.

I did like that in nearly every port of call Celebrity provided a shuttle service (small surcharge) to the areas of interest. We did use this service but nearly all of our ports also had HoHo nearby. Celebrity didn't push their own excursions too much, although in St. Petersburg reminded everyone that their tours had priority getting off the ship, and it was madness waiting to get through Russian Customs & Immigration and trying to get to our private tour on time. I really liked that there was much to do even on days in port. There were art lectures (fantastic), dance lessons, water color painting, 3 pools, 6 hot tubs, a huge gym area with classes and trainers plus spa services.

By far my favorite had to be the entertainment. The main theatre provided diverse artists and a young but energetic dance/singers troupe. The various other artists played in the grand foyer (best place for dancing) and Ensemble lounge. More about that...I was amazed at the professional level of a jazz/R&B group on board. Frankly it was the highlight of my cruise. We were privileged to have on board Ray Brown Jr, son of Ray Brown, a famous jazz bass player, and stepson of Ms. Ella Fitzgerald. Their influence really paid off and I never missed a performance! They had great bars, attentive servers, and fun themes in the observation lounge (deck 15) like Motown, Disco, etc. I also liked that there were great get away spots like the "hide away" on deck 7 or the library on 10/11. There was also a games room, LGBT hour at the martini bar, Friends of Bill meetings, Teen/kids areas...something for everyone.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Veranda 2D

Cabin 2D

The cabin was spacious and because it was a "hump" cabin the balcony was bigger than most. It also was not obstructed as the lifeboat was to our left and the only thing we could see was where it was attached. It did not impede our view at all and we saved a bundle! Our steward was attentive and did everything I asked but as typical with cruise ships there is just not enough help as our steward had 14 cabins to attend to every day and the turnover time between cruises never allowed for deep cleaning. I saw that some of the wood panels and door really needed a scrub as well as the couch.

Port Reviews

St. Petersburg

Went with TJ Travel. Small groups in vans made it much easier to get around and personalize the tour. Very good guide.

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