Review of Silhouette Nov 2016 Transatlantic

And of course, at some point, it was off to the Main Dining Room for dinner:

Husband's appetizer choice: Wild Mushroom Vol-Au-Vent (and no we had never heard of a Vol-Au-Vent before this:

Turns out it's puff pastry. In this case, with tons of mushrooms. Not my thing, that's for sure. I do a lot of things, but 'shrooms are not one of them. Husband, however, was very happy with it.

What I did do was Lobster Bisque and it was quite good:

And this was the only time in the Main Dining Room that we both ordered the same thing...and this one was a rare event for me...we both had the Chateaubriand. Even though the menu indicated a choice of sauces, it was actually served with both. It was simple, well executed and we both were happy with it:

Dessert "no calorie" time!

Husband ordered the frosty bombe which I honestly don't remember whether he liked it or not:

I went with the Panna Cotta, which was disappointing as it was too much like jello. Was hopeful for the basil syrup, but couldn't taste the basil. I did appreciate the blackberry and the blueberry, but a mandarin orange is a mandarin orange:

Speaking of desserts, earlier in the day the lunch buffet was featuring "Taste of France":

We had shared this (as in Husband ate most of it, but the bites I had were very good...a moist delicious carrot cake)

Husband had been very much anticipating tonight's entertainment as he is a huge magic guy. As a result we have been to a lot of magic shows (including at the Magic Castle itself). And it really doesn't take a lot to entertain us, but we both agreed that this show was a big disappointment:

But you know what, it didn't matter because it was a beautiful beautiful night:

And there is always more entertainment somewhere on the ship! We always enjoyed listening to the Meeting Jazz Quartet:

Husband crashed early on this night, but I wasn't about to miss discovering what "Masque Interactive Theme Party with Production Cast Dancers was". So off I went to the Martini Bar to put myself in a hopefully good position to view it. Turned out to be an awesome place to see it from! I met a delightful gal named Joyce from Scotland who was kind enough to spend some time chatting with me, and before we knew it this was happening:

And it was a super fun night in the Martini bar as well!

These Bartenders are SUPER talented! If you want to see just HOW talented, order a martini flight. Or just watch someone else who has ordered it:

I'm really enjoying your review and pictures, thank you! Sailed Silhouette its maiden year and she still looks great judging from your pictures

I'm really enjoying your review and pictures, thank you! Sailed Silhouette its maiden year and she still looks great judging from your pictures

Thank you! I can't begin to imagine how exciting it would have been to be on the maiden voyage, where did it sail from and to?

And then it was Monday November 14th. Another Monday that we were not going to work! :D As if that wasn't wonderful enough, we had gained another hour overnight, AND we woke up to this peaceful beauty:

But there was also a big beautiful ship with lots going on:

As usual for us, we started with breakfast at the Oceanview Cafe.

By now Husband had well-discovered the Corned Beef Hash that was on the English Breakfast station. His plate would usually have a mound of that. While mine was usually egg-related. They really do eggs perfectly, and I would get to enjoy yet another friendly encounter with Arnold. This morning Arnold caught on that I was making an Egg on Cheese Toast, asking me if I would like my over-easy egg on top of my toast. Uh, yes thank you! I also had discovered that they always had nice sauteed onions next to the Asian Breakfast station, which went great on top of the egg, along with some of Arnold's jalapenos. Just had to make sure I had the toast for it going first. (Gal on the toasting station seemed a bit confused at times, but if you stuck with her you would get something toasted)

Husband's plate usually had several pastries as well, but I was holding out for blueberry, and on this day was rewarded:

After breakfast we headed to the Silhouette Theatre for a Beyond the Podium Presentation from Professor Lisa Didier on The Italian Renaissance. This Gal can make ANYone LOVE history! We both thoroughly enjoyed this interesting talk:

I had to leave a little early to head to Tuscan Grille for some cooking:

This was supposed to start at 11, but when I got there a few minutes before 11, they were already underway :( I hated stepping in front of folks to try and find a place to land, but had no choice. And I wasn't the only one. Others were arriving a good fifteen minutes after I did.

It was soon obvious that one Chef was making Risotto and the other a Cake:

These Chefs are not only super talented, but funny as well. Funniest moment was when this Pastry Chef went into the back to find something, he accidentally left his mic on, so the Risotto Chef was interrupted. And I do believe there was the fear of saying something he shouldn't since he obviously didn't know his mic was on. Fortunately for them, there were no embarrassing moment! (although that might've been fun for us :p )

Met back up with Husband who had found yet another watch he had fallen in love with. I could fall in love with this one a lot more than the other, as it was $200 :D compared with the $1800 one he had tried on a few days before. :eek:

Husband decided to think about it some more, which turned out to be a good move, as he found it online for $40 left after we got home (not that he bought it for that yet either, but Christmas is coming;))

As we wandered on we found another deck area to hang out in that we hadn't seen before:

Met back up with Husband who had found yet another watch he had fallen in love with. I could fall in love with this one a lot more than the other, as it was $200 :D compared with the $1800 one he had tried on a few days before. :eek:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Husband decided to think about it some more, which turned out to be a good move, as he found it online for $40 left after we got home (not that he bought it for that yet either, but Christmas is coming;))

 

 

 

As we wandered on we found another deck area to hang out in that we hadn't seen before:

 

 

 

I always enjoyed sitting on that outside deck [emoji4] brings back good memories!

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What a beautiful, happy and positive review you have been posting..along with great pics...we were on the same cruise...and I'm sorry we didn't meet along the way!!! YOU ARE A GEM!!!!!

Love the "fresh" look you are giving...and the wonderful pics ..both on the ship and off....I've a retired "PR" person...and if I could I would hire you in a heart beat...you go girl!!!! Love each and every comment and post...keep them coming...we haven't reached FL yet!!!! LuAnn

Today was the day when the dining room lunch menu called out to us (well me, mostly), so we decided to give it a whirl for lunch.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on that Shrimp Pad Thai! Ironically, we were sat in the same exact spot as dinner! I don't know if they did it on purpose or not, but we never saw another part of this dining room.

Husband got the Tomatoes Salad (sorry no pic), and I happily tried the Blueberry soup:

Blueberry Soup was terrific! Light, yet rich at the same time. I will say that we were a bit distracted by the table next to us who was (rightfully so) a bit distressed by his plate of pad thai. His plate looked like it had been the victim of a fallen cup of blueberry soup in the kitchen, as it was totally splattered. While he knew it was probably the blueberry soup, it also had a bit of a bloody appearance, so there was some reason for concern. We were trying to mind our own business, but the tables are very close together. It just didn't seem the appropriate time to reach over and take pics of Husband's food, which is why there are no food porn shots of his selections at this lunch.

He had the Tuna Melt Panini, which came out looking like, well, a Tuna Melt Panini. And my Shrimp Pad Thai looked pretty darn awesome:

Sadly, there was nothing about this dish that tasted like Pad Thai! It tasted more like that icky chop suey out of a can from my childhood. The shrimp were perfectly cooked and I ate those, but I couldn't bring myself to waste calories on those noodles. When the Waiter asked if I didn't like it, I expressed disappointment that there wasn't any discernible fish sauce, for instance, he said that people had complained. :rolleyes:

Oh well, there were plenty of other meals to come, including Tuscan Grille on this night!

Husband did let me have a few bites of his Panini (who would have thought an ordinary tuna melt would be better than pad thai?), and he also graciously

shared a few bites of this very good key lime pie:

What a beautiful, happy and positive review you have been posting..along with great pics...we were on the same cruise...and I'm sorry we didn't meet along the way!!! YOU ARE A GEM!!!!!

 

Love the "fresh" look you are giving...and the wonderful pics ..both on the ship and off....I've a retired "PR" person...and if I could I would hire you in a heart beat...you go girl!!!! Love each and every comment and post...keep them coming...we haven't reached FL yet!!!! LuAnn

Thank you so much LuAnn...you MADE my day! :D I wish we had met on the cruise as well. You sound like someone who would have been delightful to hang out with!

After lunch we went back to the cabin. It was another rainy day, as you can see with more raindrops on the railing:

At 2:45 we went up to Sky 14 for Name That Tune: TV Themes, which turned out to be Movie and TV Themes. I sucked at this, but Husband and our Trivia Friend Ben, along with his lovely Wife did quite well. We didn't win though:(

But that was okay, because you know what we DID win? Actually, EVERYone won:D. Yes, all won this beautiful beautiful rainbow:

On our way back down, we stopped to more closely check out all the different art pieces:

We also stopped to see what the Main Dining Room was serving for dinner. Honestly this menu didn't entice either of us, so we decided to go ask if we could switch our Tuscan Grille reservation from the following night, to this night. Luckily for us, they had no trouble moving it (didn't hurt that we are early diners). If they hadn't been able to accommodate us, no big deal, probably would have ordered something off the left side of the menu for a change. This was the right side:

There's never a bad time to stop by the always friendly Martini Bar...I see that this was probably the part on the voyage where Husband started leaning more on the Dirty Martinis versus Manhattans. I do believe this is probably about the time that I learned I could ask for the Kendall Jackson Elegance Chardonnay that I had been enjoying in the Main Dining Room. #lovethepremiumdrinkpackage

Two things we were also looking forward to on this night: This first one was a yes again one:

This one was a definite first:

We had some clouds going on though...was hoping they wouldn't get in the way of our Supermoon!

As the sun set the clouds became even more interesting...what another beautiful evening aboard our Silhouette!

And where in the world were we on this glorious night?

Soon it was time to start heading down to Tuscan Grille for our 6:30 reservations:

Tuscan Grille was waiting for us! We were led to a table for two by the window! Perfect for Supermoon gazing!

Nice oil and fresh herbs always make me happy!

Especially with fantastic breads:

We started by sharing two appetizers: The Bruschetta (which is pronounced with a K sound in the middle not SH (as we had learned on our walking food tour in Rome.) Husband actually ate most of this and loved it:

Our Server Joe (who was excellent, by the way), had suggested the Calamari:

The Calamari was good, but as most fried foods are, quite heavy and rich, especially with the thick aioli. Some pieces of the squid were also a bit thicker than I care for. I felt the need to pace myself however, as we had more coming!

In between courses I was trying to get a decent shot of our Supermoon. I never quite achieved that through the glass. This was the best I came up with, complete with my reflection darn it!

Of course we had to have a pasta course, so we shared the Frutti di Mare Rigatoni: Mussels, Shrimp, Scallops, Calamari in a Chili Tomato "Stew". The Rigatoni was cooked nicely al dente, and each of the seafoods was properly cooked, but this dish didn't have a wow factor for me. Good, but not jumping-up-and-down good.

By now I was realizing I had ordered wrong. While I had really been wanting to try Branzino (it's always the expensive fish on a menu), I was pretty seafooded out at this point, yet two filets appeared:

And Husband couldn't help me with it, because he had a 9 oz filet put down in front of him:

Plus we had also ordered Broccolini and Garlic Mashed Potatoes :eek:

And a Gorgonzola Sauce for Husband's Steak: