Stem to Stern

Lawn Club Grill This was our first time ever experiencing this venue. Over the years I have enjoyed reading generally favorable reviews, even raves about various menu choices. So we were excited to give it a try. Menu. We started with a sausage and pepper pizza. DH has never met a pizza he did not like. I found it just okay. He ate his half, but I was reluctant to finish mine because I didn’t want to fill up before the main and dessert courses arrived. After my underwhelming first course, we hit the salad bar. I guess if this is what living my best salad bar life consists of, well meh.🫤 At this point DH spotted Laura and my mood became elevated. After a brief photo op with her our steaks arrived. Ribeye for DH. He enjoyed it. Side of baked beans. Filet with shrimp and scallop skewer for me. Side of baked beans. Meh. Side of lobster Mac n cheese. Meh. Sides were luke warm temperature. Cookie. Smaller and mushier than I expected. Looking across the Lawn Club toward the restaurant. Across the lawn is a large video screen creating a less than ambient mood when looking toward it from inside the LCG. You can see how extraordinarily bright it is shining on the restaurant. Entrance walk to LCG. The overall experience was fine. The service was fine. We had the Unlimited Speciality Dining Package, so no better time to try them all. Would the experience be worth Celebrity’s normal asking price? IMHO no. I much prefer Luminae and Murano.

@Georgia_Peaches Thanks!🙏😊 I only use an Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. We do not upgrade our phones often. We both upgraded our matching iPhone 7S+ models before the MSC Yacht Club cruise last year. (And then we ended up missing Ocean Cay.) 😭😭😭 So I totally get your home button angst. It has been a very easy transition. At the time Verizon offered us something like $10 or $20 for our old phones. We said, See ya later Verizon! Switched to T-Mobile which we have had before, so we were prepared for any potential idiosyncrasies. So far so good.😁

You are making me hungry, John. All I ever thought to special order in Luminae was onion rings. In hind sight what was I thinking?!? But with 24 hours notice those Luminae onion rings came out damn good.👍 IMHO if afforded the opportunity to sail in The Retreat on M and S class ships I will skip the specialties and stick with Luminae.

I am not sure about his schedule. If he is still on board for your sailing, enjoy the show!!🥳

Hogfish Bar (Ask for Mariluz, tell her Glenda’s friends recommended, and order a Dragonfruit Mojito.)🍹 Hogfish is located on Stock Island very far off the beaten path. This would give you a taste of how the real Key West used to be - trailer parks and all.😂 If you wake up in KW and your view is this, then these are the best directions I can offer. By car it is about a 20 minute drive from the Opal Key Resort sign pictured here. This is where our friends collected us. They have lived in Key West for 30+ years. We saw cabs collecting and dropping off here as well. But I really can’t speak to the cab or Uber or Lyft situation in KW. This sign is located on Front Street at the end of the path between these two buildings. Another remote possibility might be to ask the guy that drives this three-wheeled electric bike, but I doubt he would want to go that far. Although this would make a cool tours-by-locals way to go. I am sure he knows all of the off-map points of interest. But I digress.😂 We were content in our friends’ air-conditioned Toyota Forerunner.😂 I had the Hogfish Sliders and they were delish. I did not go food porn crazy in front of our friends.

You are most welcome.😃 This was our third sailing on her. She is still beautiful and one of our favorite vessels. I see we will be on the same Summit sailing embarking on my birthday next year.🥳

We were not offered the opportunity to partake in the preparation of our food at LCG. I was okay with this.😂🤣😂

We disembarked Silhouette this morning and are home. DH filmed Captain Kirk’s performance. He composed this video of the captain’s final cut of the evening followed by Laura’s reaction and her presentation of a floral bouquet to him. Enjoy!😃

“You’re going to need a bigger bucket list” The grammatical prowess is astounding. 🙄

Likewise. 😀 I will be following you and Linda on your adventures.

My pleasure.😇 It is my understanding that he is only on Silhouette temporarily. My friend was on Reflection in December and said he was on board that ship then. She said he was the best entertainment on the cruise.😂 @Georgia_Peaches Hopefully Captain Kirk will be back on Reflection for you and your mother. I told my 81 year old mother to come on this sailing with us. At the time of our booking she could have had a Prime Inside all to her herself for a steal. She declined since it is hard for her to break out of her comfort zone. I think you will make a wonderful memory or two with your mother on the cruise.

Murano was as good as we remembered it to be after several years since we last indulged. @kiwichick62 If you have not done it yet, you are in for a treat. Amuse-bouche: shrimp with mango salsa IMG_3593.mov We both started with the lobster bisque. Next for me was the goat cheese soufflé. DH had the salmon parfait. We also shared the pork belly. Next was the Chateaubriand for Two. We shared a lobster tail. This was prepared table side. Petit four tray IMG_3612.mov Dessert for me: Grand Marnier Soufflé. Dessert for DH: Chocolate Soufflé.

My pleasure. It has been a fun one. But aren’t they all?😂 There has been a lot of commotion on the ship but fortunately the Solstice class ships are so spacious there are plenty of places on board to get away from the crowds of people. Plus sailing out of Port Everglades is so easy for us. Enjoy your upcoming cruise and don’t forget to catch Captain Kirk on stage!😉

We are enjoying our last “sea day” and one of our Elite perks in the Persian Garden on board Silhouette docked in Nassau along with six other ships.😱 I thought I would post a few reflections and musings about our 4-night quickie sailing. We had the pleasure of having a couple of very brief, yet delightful encounters with the President of Celebrity Cruises Laura Hodges Bethge while she was unexpectedly on board the last few days. Fortunately DH and I refrained from instigating any intensive conversations or great debates about foot stools, gratuities, or Conundrum. So please do not ask why I did not ask her this or that. By the way if I had opted for Conundrum in Le Petit Chef last night I would have been subjected to the $2.40 upcharge since it is still priced at $19 per glass. I opted for the $17 Decoy instead.😉 Rewind to the awkward moment at Lawn Club Grill on Day 1 when DH spotted the President of Celebrity Cruises across the restaurant as she was passing through to say hello to someone. I began batting my eyelashes and waving for Laura to come over to our table. She was very gracious and all smiles as we introduced ourselves and took advantage of a brief photo op. I know many of you have already had the pleasure of meeting her. But for us it felt like kind of a big deal. Last night the Master of the vessel took to the stage in the Celebrity Theater for one of his live performances. He sang, played the guitar, and even jumped on the drums during one song. We heard Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Sweet Home Alabama, Hey Jude, and Living on a Prayer among others. He was on the drums for Summer of 69. If you ever sail with Captain Kirk I strongly urge you to take in one or all of his performances while on board. Laura enjoyed clapping and waving her hands from her front row seat during Captain Kirk’s set. She seemed very excited to take the stage and present the captain with a large bouquet of flowers at the end of the show. She genuinely seemed wowed by his talents. Rocking Captain Kirk has been a thing since last fall and it has already been reported about on here previously, but I wanted to share a few of my favorable impressions of the cruise as well as a few of the hundreds of pics I snapped. This morning Laura was given a great send off on the dock in Nassau by many officers including the captain as she disembarked the ship.

I believe The Porch is only open for lunch on sea days.

We lerrrrve Murano. This one we have done previously. LCG was pretty good. I will come back with more details in the morning. We are getting ready to catch Captain Kirk’s performance in the theater.🤩 He sings and plays the guitar.

I think because we booked asap we were okay in this regard. The options offered each evening were either on the earlier side or later. We do not eat early typically, so we were fine with 8:00 or 8:30 each evening.

Murano was also open for lunch today.

Hogfish where Mariluz will take great care of you.👍👍

We have not dined prolifically at specialty restaurants on board Celebrity’s ships. So when the opportunity presented itself during a flash sale, I booked the unlimited speciality dining package through the planner for the cruise we are currently on. Until this cruise we had never dined at The Porch, Lawn Club Grill, or Le Petit Chef. With all of our weak move up bids from DV Deluxe Verandah to The Retreat coming up unsuccessful, we are enjoying trying them all out and avoiding the main dining room and the buffet. We also enjoyed two Elite breakfasts in Tuscan Grill so far. In Key West we had lunch off the ship. As soon as we boarded on Thursday we went to Murano and booked the following: Thu - Lawn Club Grill Fri - Murano Sat lunch - The Porch Sat dinner - Le Petit Chef Sun - Tuscan Grill The cruise has been a bit lively which is to be expected on a short 4-day long weekend sailing out of Port Everglades. Even more so with 650 Tampa Bay Bucs fans on board.😱 This partial charter came to light after we booked and the topic surfaced during our roll call conversations. Not to mention we also have the bridal party of 90-plus participants on board with their daily themes, as well as two other on board weddings.🤗 Nevertheless we are still having a fabulous time. I just wanted to offer a positive post for whatever it might be worth. This is our third time on Silhouette. I would be happy to try to answer any questions not related to The Porch. Today we arrived a few minutes early at The Porch for our 1:00pm reservation. We were able to select the table of our choice. We selected a four-top with a view of the sea and aft toward the Lawn Club. We were served by Salvio from Goa, India. He was perfectly attentive and professional without being overly intrusive. I ordered Whispering Angel and DH had a Pinot Grigio. We enjoyed our wine for a few minutes before placing our order. A plate of wonderful, soft cheesy garlic brioche was served and enjoyed while we sipped and stared at the sea. We both started with Blackened Mahi Mahi Tacos on hard shells which I initially thought was weird, but they were very manageable and tasty. Next I had the huge portion of Red Snapper Ceviche while DH had the Romaine and Avocado Salad. We both had the Lobster Roll for our main which had a bit of a chipotle kick. I ended with the Dessert Trio while DH just stuck with the Chocolate Mousse. This all sounds like a lot, but we both have large appetites.😂 Yet at the end of the meal neither of us felt uncomfortably full. And this should get us through until our 8:00pm reservation at La petit Chef. The photos should pretty much tell the rest of the story of our very pleasant and enjoyable lunch experience at The Porch today. Give it a try if you ever get the chance!😉

All of us Cruiseaholics seem to find each other or run into each other at some point or another.😂🤣😂🤣😂

This is my understanding. There has been nothing to indicate she won’t continue a typical captain’s schedule of three months on and three months off. I am no groupie either, but having experienced a sailing on Equinox with her I found nothing about her typical and everything delightful. I am optimistic she will be at the helm when we try Beyond later this year.

Do you mind sharing what you did? Both were ship’s excursions only because I tend to gravitate toward deals that have incredible stacks of OBC. I think we have seen the last of those days as far as Celebrity is concerned. But I digress.😂 December 2017 Crystal Serenity Late port change due to 2017 hurricanes. We took an air-conditioned bus tour around the island. Highlights included a stop at Shirley’s Lookout, a national park with historical artifacts and jaw dropping views (We have all seen the pics of Antiqua in the cruise catalogs in our mailboxes.) as well as a stop at UNESCO Heritage Site Nelson’s Dockyard where we saw among other things historical buildings, plenty of feral cats, and Cyan, the yacht owned by U2’s The Edge. Our guide was informative and continuously mentioned points of interest along the way. December 2022 Azamara Onward We boarded a catamaran almost directly from the ship. We sailed for miles around the island to a beach stop, followed by a lobster lunch on board, and finally a second beach stop. I believe Mystic Cruises is the tour company. They have multiple boats. I am pretty sure they offer various types of sailing excursions and work with various cruise lines. I hope this information has been helpful to fellow cruisers. As Coco mentioned she is doing a private tour which is an excellent idea if you have a small group. She is known for crafting these unique plans. Love that about her. For just the two of us it was just simpler to join the ship’s tour. I forgot how many were on the tour with us.

We love gorgeous Antiqua. Both times we made stops there we planned interesting things to do and both times everything worked out beautifully. We will be stopping there again in 2025. Enjoy!!🌴😀

All checked in at Terminal 25 and ready to board at 10:20am. Yay!!!😁