Itinerary
Sunday 13th October	-	Southampton, UK
Monday	-	at sea
Tuesday	-	at sea
Wednesday	-	Ponta Delgada, Azores
Thursday	-	at sea
Friday 18th October	-	Funchal, Madeira
Saturday	-	Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Sunday	-	at sea
Monday	-	Lisbon, Portugal
Tuesday	-	at sea
Wednesday	-	at sea
Thursday 24th October	-	Southampton, UK

Celebrity Silhouette (2011) 4th ship in the Solstice-class.

Photos of sister ship Celebrity Eclipse during our 2015 Iceland Cruise can be found on my account at Captain Martini >>

After a gap of 3 years, this would be a return to Celebrity for Andrew & I but we would be accompanied this time by 6 of our "friends and family". We would celebrate Andrew's birthday on board and on this occasion, for the first time we would travel in Aqua-class, giving us exclusive dining in Celebrity's popular "Blu" Restaurant. (see below)

However, with the Atlantic weather being so unreliable, especially at this time of year, something told me we would never make it to the Azores. So it came as no surprise that when we checked-in, a revised itinerary had already been decided upon. The Azores has been on our itinerary 3 times over the years and only once have ever made it there!

Although there was some disappointment at the cancellation of our visit to the Azores, its replacement with a call at Vigo proved to be a satisfactory substitute.

Revised Itinerary
Sunday 13th October	-	Southampton, UK
Monday	-	at sea
Tuesday	-	Vigo, Spain
Wednesday	-	at sea
Thursday	-	at sea
Friday 18th October	-	Funchal, Madeira
Saturday	-	Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Sunday	-	at sea
Monday	-	Lisbon, Portugal
Tuesday	-	at sea
Wednesday	-	at sea
Thursday 24th October	-	Southampton, UK

		Aqua-class "Blu" Restaurant While the standard of service was well up to and at times beyond that expected of Celebrity Cruises, the menus and food in "Blu" left us all slightly underwhelmed. Our experience was also marred by a number of instances of dishes being served cold or at best luke-warm; and on at least one occasion, undercooked. While open-seating is a benefit, this often results in queues for tables at busy times and the restaurant itself lacks ambience, its blue-accented theme leaving it feeling somewhat cold and austere.
The feeling was that the main Restaurant on board was more attractive and the menus offered greater choice and variety. Given that the cabins in Aqua-class are substantially the same as those in Concierge-class, or in terms of size, any standard cabin, our overall opinion was that the dining experience in "Blu" was not good enough and there were insufficient additional benefits to justify the higher price of Aqua-class.

Cruise Mileage: 3,261 nautical miles
Total Mileage to date: 208,574 n miles