Cruise Blog

Iglu's Managing Director, Simone Clark, was onboard the Celebrity Silhouette for the naming ceremony last week. Here's what she thought of the occasion.

I've just returned from two nights onboard the brand new Celebrity ship, Celebrity Silhouette. She is the fourth of the new generation Solstice class ships and in my opinion the best.

The ceremony was in Hamburg and featured entertainment from some of the crew. The Captain, Dimitrios Kafetzis, and his team, sang the Greek National Anthem - a reference to Celebrity's Greek origins.

This beautifully designed ship, has some superb enhancements for your enjoyment:

The Lawn Club has been transformed. The glass blowing has gone and has been replaced by the Porch, a cafe where you can enjoy breakfast or lunch outdoors. The Lawn Club Grill is another enhancement - where for $30 per person, guests can barbecue their own dinner under the watchful eye of the chef. There are also new places to sit and relax, with cabanas that you can hire for the day, hammocks and giant chairs. All these new features, really bring the Lawn Club to life - making it a hub of relaxed activity.

The Hideaway is another popular new feature of the ship - situated between the library, card room and iLounge - this is simply a cool and quiet area where guests can sit and relax with a book for an hour or two in one of the modern chairs, cubby holes or even in their own tree house! Pure bliss for those of us with busy lives.

The old favourite Michael's club has evolved into a sports bar, serving international bottled beer, sure to be popular. You will also still find the superb specialty dining venues, Tuscan Grill, Qsine and Muranos' - all mouthwatering!

Simone Clark, Iglu's Managing Director, was onboard P&O Cruises newest and most intimate ship, Adonia, for her launch party on Saturday, and here's what she has to say about this exciting new cruise liner.

We arrived in Southampton on a very sunny Saturday for the naming ceremony of P&O Cruises' new ship, Adonia. Small, but perfectly formed, she was dwarfed by the other ships in port: Aurora, Celebrity Eclipse and the newly refurbished, Grand Princess. The ship carries just over 700 passengers and she has a small ship charm, with beautiful furnishings and a relaxed ambience.

The celebrations began on deck in the sunshine, with British, pink sparkling wine; cucumber sandwiches and delicious (very British) canapés of coronation chicken and scones — how civilised. We enjoyed music and dancing, before Dame Shirley Bassey made her grand entrance to name the ship. She pressed a giant diamond button and the bottle of Balfour Brut Rose swung across the pool area — all very exciting!

Then time to explore the ship... which was beautifully decorated, with tasteful soft furnishings, giving the public rooms a light and airy feel. I felt that she had a country house type feel — very relaxed, yet elegant. As a small ship, there are two main areas for the evening entertainment and we sampled both... we enjoyed pre-dinner canapés in the lovely Curzon lounge and enjoyed Cabaret in there later on, from the Overtones group. We also enjoyed post dinner drinks in the Crow's Nest at the top of the ship, which has a small dance floor and enjoys panoramic views.

Dinner for the naming ceremony was a delicious feast of British specialties — fresh seafood including crayfish, lobster and salmon, followed by asparagus soup, Beef fillet, chocolate deserts and finally a selection of regional cheeses. Oh, then coffee, home made truffles and sweets. Absolutely delicious!