Celebrity Silhouette Overview

Celebrity’s Solstice-class ships are some of the most beautiful and distinctive megaships ever built, offering super-modern styling, sophisticated spas and relaxation areas, a wealth of fantastic dining options, beautifully designed staterooms and suites, and a vibe that feels much more upscale than you’d expect, especially given Celebrity’s competitive pricing. Launched in 2011, Celebrity Silhouette is the fourth of the Solstice-class ships. Measuring 122,400 gross tons and carrying 2,886 guests at double occupancy, she’s a huge but exceptionally well laid out vessel with an interior design that really flows from room to room, creating a unified feel. In fact, Celebrity’s Solstice Class vessels rank among our favorites. In 2008, we gushed over Silhouette’s sister. Simply put: Celebrity’s Solstice class ships are attractive and variety-filled vessels that are certain to please almost any palate. Solstice isn’t quite in the league of the luxury vessels we write about here, but it’s pretty darn close. Some have called Solstice, Crystal Lite, and indeed Solstice could be a contender to such luxury players as Crystal Cruises. With Silhouette, Celebrity began pushing the envelope of the original Solstice-class design, re-imagining some of the Solstice-class’s signature spaces and adding new venues to make the experience even more rich, modern, and beyond the ordinary.

Lawn Club & Pool Deck On Celebrity Silhouette

The Lawn Club, for instance, the half-acre real grass lawn that’s long been the iconic Solstice-class venue, has been rethought and re-engineered to be both more relaxing and more social. At one end of the space, The Lawn Club Grill has been designed to offer a casual and interactive backyard barbecue experience. Flanking the Lawn Club Grill, there’s The Porch, a casual breakfast and lunch spot, and on the other side an art studio. Read more about the two dining venues further down on this page. Port and starboard, the lawn is rimmed by The Alcoves, eight semi-private, shaded cabanas that can accommodate two to four guests, and offer plush seating, themed picnic baskets, WiFi, and an a la carte beverage menu.

Nearby, there’s a row of hammocks for the ultimate shuck-off-your-cares experience. On the lawn itself, guests can play croquet, putt around some golf balls, play a game of bocce, or take a little picnic. A couple decks down, Silhouette’s pool deck is one of the most serene and resort-like in the cruise industry, its two pools surrounded by 25-foot A-frame canopies that have luxurious day beds at their bases and large cantilevered awnings up top, providing shade for chaise lounges spread out along two decks.

Forward of the pools is a glass-ceilinged, adults-only Solarium offering a lap pool, cushioned teak lounge chairs, and a super-relaxing atmosphere. We like this area a lot. There’s also a small Aqua Spa Cafe for breakfast and lunch (no charge), which we enjoy quite a lot.

Public Rooms On Celebrity Silhouette

Inside, Silhouette feels like a spread in an upscale lifestyles magazine. Her Grand Foyer is designed as an homage to grand ocean liner cruising, while 50 feet up a full-size, 20-foot tall tree sits suspended in a planter, adding a hint of surrealism.

Opposite the tree, The Hideaway was designed to be like a treehouse for adults, a place to go where you really want to get away from it all. There’s super-comfortable seating for just 30 people, plus two raised “nests” for the lucky guests who get there first.

Other rooms onboard run the upscale gamut, from the Napa-inspired Cellar Masters wine bar to the fashion-world Martini Bar and Crush — the former with a perpetually frosted bar, the latter with an ice-filled table from which bartenders dispense sample pairings of vodka and caviar. Michael’s Club, a staple aboard Celebrity’s ships from the beginning, has been re-imagined here as a gourmet beer and whiskey bar, serving a menu of up to 50 international beers, plus fine whiskeys, scotches, and cognacs. The ship’s AquaSpa is done in beautiful minimalist style, all clean lines and soothing colors. Besides massages, facials, and other traditional treatments, the spa menu includes acupuncture, teeth whitening, Botox wrinkle treatments, and other trendy options. For a different kind of trendy option, guests can surf the web, buy the latest iPads and iPods, or take a class from an Apple-certified professional at the iLounge, a sleek, modern technology space developed in association with Apple.

For kids, Silhouette offers a large, light-filled children’s center and separate teen center near the very top of the ship. Read more of our Celebrity Silhouette review next week.