Old Moaner Travel
I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list
Celebrity Silhouette
Cruise Date:- May 2019 Four day mini-cruise to Amsterdam from Southampton
I booked this cruise as part of my quest to experience as many different cruise lines as possible and this was my first Celebrity cruise ...... it most certainly will not be my last.
I have to admit it did not start well with, what I thought was a very chaotic check-in process, with lots of unnecessary queuing. I much prefer the system where you are allocated a boarding group number and you are called to check-in by group number.
That said, once at the check-in desk the process was quick and efficient.
The mandatory safety briefing, which lets face it can be a boring chore for regular cruisers, was made interesting by the showing a Bondesque film demonstrating safety factors as well as an amusing cartoon film about the importance of hand washing. Interestingly hand washing and use of hand sanitisers was rigorously enforced onboard, which was good to see.
Well the ship itself was amazing - probably the best laid out ship I have cruised on.
The central atrium is amazing and there are plenty of nooks and crannies, there are even live trees.
An impressive library, a good games room but the absolute treasure was The Hideaway, a small area with an eclectic mix of unusual (very comfortable) chairs and nooks to chill and relax in.
There is also a fantastic observation gallery at the front of the ship.
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The outside area is also impressive with real grass on some of the decks, how they keep that pristine in the sea air is beyond me.
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Grass on the outer deck
Grass on the outer deck
Turning to a subject dear to my heart - food. The buffet is one of the largest I have seen on a cruise ship although that may be an illusion because of the excellent way it has been laid out to make it look spacious.
It has an amazing selection of food and you would have to be the most picky of eaters to find nothing you liked. The curries are especially excellent.
The only minor gripe in the buffet is not enough seating - on most visits it was a struggle to find a table and it was often the case of loitering and grabbing a table as soon as someone left.
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The main restaurant is large and impressive with a mixture of large communal tables with some tables for two. We were lucky enough to have a table for two. One of my biggest bugbears with cruising is having to share a dining table with strangers - although I appreciate, for some, it's a major plus.
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Being picky, my only gripe concerning the main restaurant is dinner is only three courses, having said that portions are generous and you don't come away feeling you could have eaten more.
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We didn't try any of the speciality restaurants but to be honest we didn't need to as, without exception, the quality of food throughout the ship was exceptional - so why pay more when you can have perfection in your pre-paid package?
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There are, as always, the shops to try and tempt you to spend your hard earned readies, I have to confess this is the first cruise ship I have sailed on where they have Fabergé eggs on sale ..... not sure how many of those they sell each cruise?
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Entertainment was good with two shows from the ships ensemble - who were very good. There was also a guest appearance from the amazing Claire Maidin when we were in Amsterdam - we hadn't heard of her before but she is very talented. It's a shame there were not more people to see her but many passengers were still ashore in Amsterdam - they missed a treat.
Being an American cruise line service was exceptional, you couldn't walk past any member of the crew without being greeted with, at least, a cheery smile and hello.
The cabin was very good, narrow but very deep. A silly thing but I liked the way the ends of the bed were rounded, which saved knocks when going to the loo in the middle of the night.
The balcony was a good size although we got a soaking one day when, without any warning, they started hosing the balconies on the floor above resulting on an unexpected waterfall on our balcony and almost ruining my camera.
A real bonus on this cruise was the sailing down the canal from IJmuiden to Amsterdam.
Having previously lived in Amsterdam I didn't go on any excursions but looking at the prices they seemed very expensive for what was on offer.
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