dlk3010

Hello, My DH and I are two seniors, planning a cruise to the Caribbean in February, and can't decide between Celebrity Silhouette, and RCL Nieuw Amsterdam. Itineraries are both great, ships sound great, so we are wondering about some of the small things. We love fresh flowers in the public areas, and real dairy whipped cream in the dining room for afternoon tea. Do either of these ships serve food for those of us who often return from excursions around 5:00pm? We have been on about 5 cruises, and have not liked the artificial flowers on some ships. The artificial cool whip kind of cream on even the fanciest desserts. And are often starving when returning to a ship in the late afternoon, only to find a pizza bar the only option until dinner. Also, loved the interactive cooking demonstrations available on HAL. Do Celebrity or RCL do those? We would love some opinions from all you knowledgeable travelers!.

dlk3010

Yikes! What was I thinking? Nieuw Amsterdam is a HAL ship, not RCL. Sorry!

Reme

That's what I thought. We were on RCL at the turn of the century and on Celebrity twice later on. I suspect that you would enjoy the food and demos on Celebrity more. Also the cabins are bigger. If you are planning a party cruise, RCL may be better.

Betsy

Have never been on HAL but have been on several Celebrity cruises and are happily booked for two more. One deciding factor may be that Celebrity has a couple of very restricted smoking areas on the whole ship while, I believe, HAL allows smoking in more areas. If that matters to you, check HAL's smoking policy. In additionm, I believe Celebrity has a slightly younger demographic than HAL.

ParrotMom

Why hasn't somebody mentioned that at least on the Celebrity line there are "teas" served in the late afternoon..I had never gone because it was too close to early seating

Cathinjoetown

The Celebrity Reflection had fresh flowers on a Med cruise we took in May, not in profusion but there were small vases in the staterooms and our friend's suite had a larger bouquet. Flowers also were on the tables in the dining rooms. I remember a large ficus (I think) in one of the atriums.

There were OTT flower displays at the end of cruise brunch buffet.

I guess afternoon tea may have been served but we didn't try it.

These questions are best asked directly of your specific cruise because although much is cookie-cutter, these small things vary from ship to ship and cruise to cruise.

nini

We have done two Celebrity cruises and were in Aqua Class. Flowers and Champagne were in our stateroom when we boarded. The recent cruise was a Baltic one and there were several at sea days. On one of these days there was a formal tea offered at two seatings-12 noon & 2 pm. The tea was wonderful-maybe as nice as any we have had in England-complete with strawberries & champagne and a string quartet. There was a charge of $25 per person & well worth it.

geetika

We travel Concierge Class and Celebrity always has champagne in our cabin when we board, they also have a fruit basket and a small vase with fresh flowers. Afternoon tea is served in the MDR I think, there's also a really nice English tea for Elite members on one of the sea days, apart from the one nini mentions. The teas were on the Eurpoean sailings, don't believe they had them on the Alaska/Caribbean itineraries.

nini

The afternoon tea was in the specialty restaurant (ship was the Constellation). Yes, a fruit basket was brought each day and canapés available if requested. We like Celebrity and plan to do the Adriatic cruise in May that leaves from Venice.