MrsNorman

I hope that the rocking ship did not make you feel queasy after your breakfast. It is wonderful to read a blog from someone who is on the Silhouette now, we are going to be sailing on her in just over a month's time, firstly on the Bravo Cruise and then on the Baltic. Someone said that Sue Denning is the cruise director at the moment.

Hope you enjoy yourself. We are imagining ourselves on the cruise too, looking forward to ours in 4-5 weeks.

Looking forward to reading more! We are sailing on Silhouette in May, first time on Silhouette but we have sailed on the Eclipse which we loved. Hoping you have a really lovely crossing! Have you plans for when you reach the UK or will you be flying back soon after?

I love the OVC for breakfast, lunch and dinner, there is always so much choice. :) Does anyone else get lost in it, or is it just me?

I went to a chef's talk on our last cruise on the Eclipse. In answer to a question about gluten free, he said that they use a separate kitchen area for preparing gluten free items. Probably they also do that on the Silhouette. There are so many coeliac sufferers around that it seems probable that the ship is well prepared for this, and I hope you enjoy your mini cruise when you go!

Thank you for the interesting review. We are sailing on the Silhouette next month after it sails over to Europe. I am sure I shall be sampling the Indian food in the buffet - hubby is not a fan of Indian food so I don't often get a taste of it so I will make the most of it while on board!

Hi, we are going to be sailing on the Bravo cruise and the following Baltic cruise in May and June. Just wondering if anyone who has recently sailed on her knows what classes etc have currently been available? We are quite happy to amuse ourselves, which is a good thing because our experience on the Eclipse was that there were not a huge number of attractions like this to go to. My husband was in the choir and I went to a couple of chefs' presentations, which were interesting. We attended a class on knee pain which ended up with my husband buying a pair of insoles for his shoes- expensive! But there was nothing like an art class, which I would like. Does anyone have any experience of what is on offer on Silhouette please?

Thank you in advance.

The upselling in the spa/hairdresser seems to be common whichever line you sail with. My hairdresser at home, who knows someone who worked as a hairdresser onboard said that she said that they work on a points system which means that their salary is based on how much they can sell. I sailed with Thomson/Marella last Autumn and had a wash and blow dry, and the hairdresser insisted I needed products which would cost fifty quid in our money (shampoo and conditioner) and said I needed it for my coloured hair! And I don't even colour it, I am lucky enough to have natural blond hair with hardly any grey. So I explained this. I firmly declined any such products but I did give her a small extra tip, as I felt sorry for her. I have had a manicure on Eclipse, hair do and tooth whitening and each time was encouraged to buy the products but didn't.

All my treatments were good, except for perhaps the tooth whitening, which I learnt afterwards that I would need a course of, not just one off.

We had it on the Reflection and I’ve seen it “advertised” on the back page of the daily schedule. No write up, just a time listed for practice. Perhaps you can find recent Dailies from Silhouette and see if they’ve had any listed.

Thank you for your reply. What I decided to do was to go on the Celebrity website and I noticed they had live chat. I "spoke" to someone and asked if there were guest choirs on the Silhouette and he said he would get in touch with the ship and see if he could get any information that way. He will email me back within 72 hours. We're not really worried if there is no choir. But it would be nice to know.

We were on Equinox for a Med cruise a few years ago, and there was a choir that performed on the last sea day in the Atrium. One of our friends was in the choir and she told us that choirs are only formed on cruises lasting longer than 7 days. So on a Baltics cruise, you might be in luck! Enjoy your cruise and take care of the ship, as we will be boarding June 9. ;)

Thank you, and you enjoy your cruise too! :)

We have had a choir on Silhouette it was a few years ago on a cruise to Israel. My husband took part, they did a fantastic performance in the last day.

 

Chiko a member of the entertainment staff was the choir master he was amazing. I so wish we could come across him again on any cruise he was a brilliant singer, he made the Karaoke worth going to.

 

 

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Thank you, that is good to hear! Maybe I will contact Celebrity and specially request a guest choir on our Baltic cruise! There were many people on our Iceland cruise who enjoyed the experience. They obviously need a choir master with the right skills mix and personality to do it though, like Chiko was on your cruise to Israel and like Rachel, who was the choir mistress on our cruise. She was excellent too. She could sing every one of the different parts with no effort when training the choir. I wonder what they are doing now?

It's a lovely thing to take part in. My hubby enjoyed the experience and it was good to see him up on the stage in the theatre.

Thanks for your replies everyone. It looks as if it may be a "no" then ... However we are also going on the Bravo chartered Cruise just before the Baltic one on Silhouette and there is definitely going to be a choir on the Bravo. I am sure we will have a great time on our Baltic Cruise anyway. Cheers!

In 2016 we went to Iceland and Ireland on the Eclipse and my husband enjoyed taking part in the Guests' choir. It was produced by a member of the entertainments team called Rachel, I can't remember her surname and she was very good as a producer. The choir performed on the last day in the theatre. This year we are going to the Baltic on Silhouette in May and I was wondering if anyone who had been on Silhouette recently remembered seeing one being put on or took part themselves? It would be nice if he could take part on our Baltic cruise!

We love that day as people that go early and you have the ship to yourself enjoy !!!!

Thank you, it is brilliant that we can stay on the ship and be fed and enjoy the day.

Thank you for your replies. It will not be too much of a disappointment if there are no Greek dishes on Dream next month - it is just really nice to have food I have not had to cook, and from what we have heard, the food is very nice. We can always go and find a taverna when we are in port. :)

Your are spot on Mrs Norman, thank you for your kind words.

Indeed they did miss out - and to think they have seen all that Northern Ireland has to offer... well I am speechless!!! :rolleyes:

 

To say Belfast & Northern Ireland have came a long way is an understatement & I am thankful to say, we have turned a corner. 2017 Belfast Harbour has welcomed 150,000 cruise visitors and is the gateway to very many sites and attractions Northern Ireland has to offer our international friends.

Thank you for your lovely post and reply to mine. We would personally always want to take advantage of a chance to visit Northern Ireland, because we love it and it is a great destination. We visited last year while we were on the Ireland and Iceland cruise and everything was very well organised. We thought we would have to wait for a shuttle into the city but no, it seemed like all of Belfast's bus drivers were out there lined up and waiting to whisk people off the dockside and into the centre if they wanted to see the city rather than explore further afield or go on a tour.

While there we had a marvellous tour on a HOHO bus with the driver giving a really good commentary as we went. He made us all laugh a lot too, as well as telling us some of the history of the region. It was only the second time we had seen Belfast because we normally head off towards the North to visit relatives in County Antrim. So we have seen quite a few of the sights there but don't feel we have in any way exhausted everything that there is to see and do in N I.

The morning of our visit we opened the curtains in the cabin to see that we were sailing past Rathlin Island, seeing it from an unusual angle and stayed some time at the window identifying all the known landmarks as we sailed around the coastline. That's one of our best memories of the cruise.

That said, I have to say that we sometimes skip a destination or two while on a cruise if we fancy a lazy day on board! We just have to, sometimes!

I'd love to hear about your experience when you get back as I have booked to sail on The Dream in June as part of our Honeymoon and have booked a Balcony cabin my Fiancee is a first time cruiser( it will be my 2nd ).

I just thought I would post another reply to your post as you may be interested to see this review

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=545532

if you haven't already. It was interesting to see a picture of the 10 balconies on deck 8 taken from the port among the photos. Review called "Fun in the Sun", posted in 2016. (Thank you to whoever posted it, for an interesting review, especially the photos).

Just wondering what sort of food we will have on the Dream when we go on the above cruise. Do they offer Greek specialties? I do love to taste regional food when I go on holiday. :)

I'd love to hear about your experience when you get back as I have booked to sail on The Dream in June as part of our Honeymoon and have booked a Balcony cabin my Fiancee is a first time cruiser( it will be my 2nd ).

Hi, I shall definitely be posting a review when I get back, and we are really looking forward to the cruise. So far so good, as the booking process was really easy and the girls very helpful. This will be our 4th cruise, the first one with Thomson although we have had excellent package hols with them before, so I am sure our cruise will be GREAT!!

We had a balcony cabin which I think was 8000 on the Dream on our Greek cruise last year. The cabin itself was bright and all furnishings were new. There was enough space although not huge and plenty of UK plugs and a couple of USB type ones for charging phones etc.The balcony was compact but ok just a couple of chairs and a small table on it. The general area was quiet apart from occasionally when the door opened but not enough to bother us, we enjoyed it and I think we had Clarins toiletries.Personally I would always choose to have a balcony cabin as I like to have an early morning cuppa watching the world go by enjoying peace and quiet before I join the world. Enjoy yours hope you have a fab cruise.

Many thanks for your reply, that was good to know. We like having a balcony cabin for the same reason, hopefully a little oasis of peace where we can look at the sea. We like to come back to the cabin for a couple of hours in the afternoon and that's why we enjoy a balcony. Thanks very much, I am sure the cruise will be lovely :)

Firstly your cases will need to be put out the night before you leave the ship usually before 2am So you will need to plan your hand luggage so you have things to hand for the day you leave the ship. You will need to vacate your cabin on day of departure approx 8am Hand luggage can be left in the appointed secure place during the day as per notification you will receive the day before departure. You can then enjoy departure day as you please and do not have to leave the ship if you don't want to Meals and drinks continue as any other day. You will be advised the day before when you need to disembark and get the coach to the airport usually three hours before your flight from Corfu Have a great time we love Dream especially Waters Edge

Thank you! That is very helpful and I am pleased to hear that you love Dream. This will be our first cruise with Thomson although we have had great package holidays with them in the past. :)

You have to be out of your cabin quite early in the morning but you do not leave the ship until your transfer coach comes to collect you about 3 hours before your flight.

Your luggage will be on the dock side, and hand luggage can be left in one of the lounges where a member of staff will be there to look after it.

For the rest of the day you are free to make use of the ship's facilities or to go ashore. There is usually a cabin you can have for half an hour to freshen up (arrange this at reception) or you can pay to have a late check out cabin to yourselves.

Corfu town is very close, in the past we have spent a couple of hours there.

Thank you! That is very helpful and reassuring. :)

Hi Cruisers, another Thomson query. We have booked for the above on October 20, flying back to Norwich from Corfu on the 27th. However our flight back is not until 19.35 local time. Has anyone on here had experience of having a long wait in between disembarkation and their flight back? I presume we will not be able to wait on the ship, and we will have our cases to wheel around all day. Thank you in advance for any suggestions or tips.

Hi Cruisers. I have been looking out for reviews about the Thomson Dream balcony cabins because my husband and I have booked one of them (8014) when we go on the Aegean Meze cruise on October 20. I have not been able to find any, maybe because these cabins are only fairly recently installed. I'm expecting them to be up to date and comfortable, as they're new, but would love to read comments by people who have experienced them.

Cruise Critic seems to be a bit out of date as the deck information is stating that there are "no cabins on Deck 8" and the area they are supposed to be in is the casino on the deck plan.

When we were on Eclipse last time I went to a talk by the head chef about cooking the perfect fish, and he also answered questions about other aspects of food preparation and mentioned sushi. He said that they always use fish that has been frozen and defrosted for sushi, the reason being that fish sometimes carry parasites which would be killed by the freezing process. This sounds like a good idea to me - except that maybe that's why the sushi is a bit tasteless, as some people have reported, after having been frozen.