Lovely ship but very expensive extras

This was our first Celebrity cruise, we usually favour either Cunard or P&O. The price was right and we got good value for money. Our inside cabin was well fitted, very clean and the beds were extremely comfy. The shower even had doors which is a great improvement on the usual shower curtain. The ship is beautiful with plenty of places to sit inside and out and the Sky Lounge soon became a favourite. Needless to say there was always some sort of music playing which can be tedious at times. This is a very American ship and the food relected this – pancakes and grits etc for breakfast, and always burgers, hot dogs and fries available at lunchtimes and evenings in the buffet. The choices in the restaurant weren’t that many but the food here was good, if rather cold. We were somewhat surprised that most days we berthed during the morning and departed early afternoon which didn’t give us much time ashore. Our main grumble was with the cost of excursions, drinks and in shops. As we had visited all of the destinations before and we didn’t book any excursions, and if prices in shops are too high you just don’t buy. What I really took issue with was the cost of drinks from the bar. Most passengers seemed to have a drinks package included with the cost of their cruise, we did not. On the first morning we went to discuss the possibility of buying a drinks package mainly because my husband loves his coffee and we are both partial to a g and t before dinner when on holiday. There are two packages on offer, the higher priced one would have cost us a whopping $1000! There was a ‘ special offer’ on the day we enquired which reduced this to $800 but even this didn’t tempt us! Drinks can be purchased as and when of course but there is an 18% service charge which results in a can of beer costing nearly £10. Ludicrous in our opinion.There is no guest launderette on the Silhouette and a small bag of laundry could be washed, dried and folded for $50. Again thanks, but no thanks. Would we travel with Celebrity again? I don’t think so.