Celebrity Silhouette - Introduction; Talking with Mr. Ocean Liner

Just over a week ago Celebrity Cruises brought its new ship Celebrity Silhouette to the United States for the first time. The ship was built in Germany and was named there in July. Following that, she did a season of Mediterranean cruises. However, since the United States is still Celebrity’s biggest market, the ship’s arrival in the U.S. was reason to hold another celebration.




All of the top Celebrity executives were there for the American naming ceremony. I asked Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations to give us some thoughts that would introduce us to the ship. In her position, she is responsible for essentially all the services - - dining, accommodations, entertainment etc - - that guests onboard the Celebrity ships utilize and so she is able to talk about the ships from a unique vantage point.



Celebrity Silhouette is the fourth ship in a class of ships that begun with Celebrity Solstice. These ships have won many awards for their elegant design and innovative amenities. However, as good as the individual parts are, they come together into a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Consequently, I was interested in finding out what was the underlying philosophy that was used in creating these ships.



While the first ship in the class received the plaudits of the critics and passengers, Celebrity was not content to build four more (one more is coming in 2012) that were identical to the first. They are quite similar but with each ship the line has come up with new ideas. Lisa pointed out several of the changes that have been made on Silhouette and underlined some of the popular features that have been carried forward.



We also had the opportunity to discuss Celebrity Infinity. Infinity is one of Celebrity’s Millennium class ships and this month, she is going into drydock for three weeks in order to give her some of the features of the Solstice class ships. Lisa outlined some of the changes that will be made during this major revitalization of a popular ship.



My interview with Ms. Lutoff-Perlo is at http://www.beyondships.com/Celebrity-Silhouette-Lutoff-Perlo.html



Also posted this week is my interview with Bill Miller. Bill is one of the most popular onboard lecturers speaking on cruise ships today. Because of his expertise on the history of ocean liners and cruise ships - - 80 books and hundreds of articles - - he is known as “Mr. Ocean Liner.” Moreover, because of his dynamic and entertaining speaking style, his lectures are usually packed with many more guests watching via the onboard television systems.



I spoke with Bill about his background and the passion that drives his work. In addition, I asked him to give us some thoughts about the cruise industry today and the future of passenger ships.



My interview with Mr. Miller is at http://www.beyondships.com/Cruise-people-miller.html

Celebrity Life, Photo Tour of Celebrity Constellation and a Talk with the Capatin Of Caribbean Princess

The cruise lines have come a long way from the days when it was the passengers’ responsibility to entertain themselves. The daily programs published by each ship have pages of information about what is going on around the ships and those are not even complete listings of all that one can do.

Celebrity Cruises has traditionally had a good program of onboard activities. It is a premium line whose target market tends to be interested in more sophisticated activities. They also are more demanding about cuisine, wine and the type of offerings in the ship’s spa. The line has received good marks in the past for its efforts to fulfill these demands.

Nonetheless, Celebrity is revamping its onboard programming. It is reorganizing its activities so that there are tracks of activities that are geared toward specific areas of passenger interest. It is also establishing hosts for each area who will help to guide passengers. The idea is to give the passenger a more valuable and meaningful experience at sea than he or she gets from having a cruise full of unrelated, albeit interesting, activities.

I recently had the opportunity to speak to Ms. Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, Senior Vice President of Hotel Operations for Celebrity Cruises, about the new “Celebrity Life” program. The interview is posted at: http://beyondships.com/Celebrity-art-Lutoff-Perlo.html. It can also be accessed through Beyondships new Celebrity Cruises page. http://beyondships.com/Celebrity.html

I spoke with Ms. Lutoff-Perlo onboard Celebrity Constellation, a ship that I have always found particularly photogenic. She has nice exterior lines that give her a sleek look and the appearance of cutting through the water like an arrow, to use a mixed metaphor. Inside, the ship has a splendid contemporary design with an interesting art collection woven into it. Accordingly, I have updated and expanded the Celebrity Constellation section of Beyondships with quite a few new photos as well as with new menus, recipes and other information. The profile page for Constellation is at http://beyondships.com/Celebrity-Constellation-Profile.html and the photo tour begins at http://beyondships.com/Celebrity-Constellation-Tour-1a.html

Last month, I published an article about the revitalization of Caribbean Princess based in part upon my interviews with Captain Marco Fortezze. During the voyage from which that article arose, I had several talks with Captain Fortezze in which we talked about his career, his style of command and what it is like to drive a ship like Caribbean Princess. Since he is an articulate and intelligent man who has had an interesting career - - he was promoted to captain at the young age of 40 - - I thought I would do a second article specifically about Captain Fortezze. This article should also be of interest to those of you who are interested in the way a ship likes Caribbean Princess operates. It can be found at: http://beyondships.com/Princess-CB-art-Fortezze.html