SleepingUgly

33 minutes ago, FRMPEI said:

Hi Linda,

 

Where to start?  I did not want to add a comment until I got caught up. I am only up to the end Christmas Day... now I am behind. Love your trip report style of writing rather than a review. I love trip reports with lots of details and photos. Even though I have been on Silhouette a few times I still feel compelled to keep reading. Love how your girls pose with all the crew in your photos.  DW and I love cruising with our boys when we can afford it.  We are going on same cruise March 3. Like you I am the planner with some help from DW.  

 

Keep the good stuff coming.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

Hi Kevin!
 

What an honor that you are here!  I should have mentioned you in my early shout-outs as well because I definitely read your reviews and loved all of them.  Thanks for being someone who inspired me to do this trip report as well.  I trust you and your wife and your boys have all been healthy?  I am really looking forward to reading your trip report on your upcoming cruise, should you decide to write one.  I need to live vicariously through all of your until my next cruise!

Thanks again for reading and following along.  Hope all is well for you up there in PEI!

Linda

Hi - I think you can book an excursion online up to three days before your sailing.  However, I know some of the excursions for our recent cruise had the message "you must book this on the ship" well before the three days.  I am guessing they were sold out already?  Anyway, once onboard, I think you can book an excursion up to 6 pm the night before.  At least, that's the cancellation deadline.

HTH!
 

Linda

1 hour ago, pd7277 said:

How was the entry into the water at Rainbow Beach?  Rocks, shells, big dip?

 

We went to the beach by the ship and entry into the water was very difficult.  Water shoes would have helped some, but still uncomfortable.  Then again, it did have some decent snorkeling.

Hi - I recall the entry was not rocky, but there was a rather steep / sudden drop after the first couple of feet into the ocean.  But after that, it was not too bad and we could walk around comfortably.  I'm sure I would have remembered the little one's constant whining and griping if the rocks had been hard on her feet, but she stayed in the water a good long time with no complaints, so that probably tells us something. 🙂

Linda

1 hour ago, RealBatman said:

One of the yachts you photographed, Illusion V, is available for charter! (She's currently in Palm Beach). A 5 day charter to the Bahamas is a measly $220,000 US (including the security deposit)! A great deal, since she normally charters for $350,000 a week! 🙂 Kind of makes the Silhouette price that much more palatable! 

 

We board Silhouette on Sunday. I'm looking forward to the remainder of your review, and while not wanting it to end, I'm anxious to see what else is in store! As I said before, best review EVER! Thank you!

Right?  Here I am, complaining about how much we spent for our Celebrity cruise, when I didn't realize it but I got meself a right real bargain, yee-haw!  

I hope you have a fantastic trip, and thanks again for the very kind words.  I don't think I will be able to finish before Sunday, so if you have any specific questions before you leave, please let me know!

Linda

3 hours ago, rosewood jo said:

I got that first night was jason Neisstadt  impressionist, another night frank vali show,   abba mania another night in the atrium....that's basically what i'm looking for.  if easier just send me the title of what's going on each night....... silent disco?  how many nights?

I will grab all my copies of the Celebrity Today and give you a summary tomorrow - hope that won't be too late?  Just remember that the "headliner" act will change from cruise to cruise, as entertainers don't stay on the ship the entire time.  For instance, the impersonator - he was due to leave the ship when we docked in St. Maarten and go on another ship.  I'm not sure if they do contracts with only Celebrity, or Royal Caribbean as a whole, and I'm not sure of their upcoming schedules.  

I do know that, on Royal Caribbean, people have emailed the cruiseline around 30 days before their cruise and asked about the entertainment line-up.  I think they will have this information available 30 days out; maybe it is two weeks.  Anyway, I know people have done that on RC cruises on the mega ships, where they need to book tickets in advance, like the ice shows and water shows.  I'm not sure if you can possibly do that with Celebrity as well, if you are interested in a more definitive answer about the entertainers scheduled for your cruise?

Anyway, I'll post more tomorrow about the entertainment on our cruise.

Linda

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

We stayed around Creole Rock for probably around 40 minutes.  We never felt rushed and AJ was out in the waters, leading our group and helping them out.  Once everyone was back on board, they all agreed it was a very worthwhile stop.

We then took off for Tintamarre Island.  This was a 20-minute ride away at a very high speed.  The attraction here is that there may be turtles in the area.  Apparently, before the hurricanes last year, this area used to be teeming with turtles, but they have since disappeared.  Hopefully, they will return as time goes on.  We swam with turtles in Barbados previously so it would not have been something new, but it still would have been really cool to see.

As the captain was starting to speed up to get to Tintamarre Island, he cut the engines all of a sudden and told us to be very quiet.  I thought someone had fallen overboard or something.  But, no.  He had spotted dolphins!  They were the first sighting of the season and both Nico and AJ were very, very excited to see their return for the year.  It was really cool to see something that the local experts were also excited about.

We stayed quiet and still and watched the dolphins for a short while.  They didn’t come out of the water much but we could see their fins quite clearly.  It was definitely awesome to have experienced that, and the kids were thrilled.

After that, we continued onto Tintamarre Island, where we dropped anchor once again and everyone got out to snorkel.  The little one wanted to stay onboard so dh stayed with her this time, and I got to go in the water.  I had my underwater camera with me and got a few hazy pictures of a shy turtle who chose to stay far away from me.  I don't blame you, buddy.  I'd stay away from me as well when I'm hangry.  That was the only turtle we saw, and someone else in our group saw a ray as well, but there wasn’t as much to see here as there was near Creole Rock.  The good thing was that the water was much calmer here so we could just swim and relax in the water.  The winds and waves were quite strong around Creole Rock so the swimming conditions were much tougher.

Our oldest chose to swim all the way to Tintamarre Island itself and hang out on the beach for a bit, and then swam back to the boat.  We probably stayed here for another 30 minutes or so, either snorkeling / swimming or relaxing on the boat. 

By now, it was after 12 pm and we were starving, from having done all that swimming and snorkeling.  We were hoping that the next stop would be lunch, but no.  We were now on our way to Pinel Island to pay a visit to the resident iguanas.

It was a quick five-minute ride to Pinel Island, which was packed with people who were hanging out on the beach for the day.  There are restaurants and shops here as well.  But the biggest attractions are the iguanas, which are very used to humans.  You can walk among them with no issues and even pet them (although I don't know if that's encouraged so I didn't try it, but dh ventured and he still has all his fingers).  Some idiots (not from our boat) even tried to pick them up, but the iguanas weren't putting up with any of that monkey business.  I'm not sure if we missed it but it would be nice to have signs put up, reminding visitors to respect these animals, and advising people whether or not you were allowed to touch or you should only look.  Definitely alert dingbats they should not pick them up, but I'm not sure if a sign would resolve that problem.  

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

We arrived at the Creole Rock area probably around 10.15 am or so.  The weather was a bit cloudy and it was sprinkling a bit, but it was still very warm and was not a problem to snorkel.  AJ, the first mate, got in the water with us.  Nico brought out the snorkeling equipment and the fins; pretty much all of us, with the exception of one couple, needed to use their equipment.  They all looked new and well taken care of.

There were quite a few boats in the area already but AJ confidently led most of us closer to Creole Rock, where most of the fish would be.  Our little one wanted to try it, but couldn’t last long after making it halfway, so I had to drag her back to the boat and stay there with her.  Dh and our two other daughters all swam closer to the rock, and they said there were tons of fishes there.  I was disappointed I missed out, but really – I was relaxing on a boat with my little one, the rain having stopped and the sun came out, both of us with drinks in hand and just enjoying the view and the gentle rocking of the boat.  Yeah, I guess we didn’t miss out on much after all.

Here is the little one, after having just gotten in the water

Our oldest, preparing to jump in with her GoPro

Thar she goes!

The girls and dh, heading towards Creole Rock

Right next to the boat, the little one and I saw a few fishies

She's had enough

Our oldest was able to take a cool video with her GoPro of how many fishes there were by Creole Rock.  I couldn't get the video to post, but took some screenshots of an abbreviated version of the video she had posted on Instagram.  Sorry these pictures aren't that great, since they are screenshots of a video, but hopefully, it gives you an idea of what you can expect to see if you are lucky enough to snorkel by Creole Rock.

Actually, the video works!  Just click on this link and hopefully, you will be able to watch the video instead of having to rely on my lame screenshots.

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

The boat left Bobby’s Marina around 9.40 am and we sailed along the coastline for a short while, before entering Simpson Bay Lagoon, where we saw quite a few fancy-schmancy yachts docked.  Supposedly, one of them belongs to the owner of Victoria’s Secret.  Not sure who that would be – Les Wexner, the head of L Brands corporation, possibly?  These yachts were all docked on the Dutch side of the island as I think we were told it was friendlier in terms of docking fees as opposed to the French side, or whatever you would call stuff like that.  I wouldn’t know, I have people who hire people to manage people to handle those details for me for my yacht.

We then passed under this really cool bridge to the French side.  Notice how the bridge opens to let boats pass.  This is a very Dutch design, apparently. 

We then continued through the French side of Simpsons Bay.  Here (and, actually, on the Dutch side as well), you can see that damage from last year’s and previous hurricanes are still quite visible and evident.  I'm pretty sure the damaged buildings were all from last year's storms, but some of the boats left in the water may have been from last year or earlier years.

It probably took us around 15 minutes to slowly sail through Simpsons Bay Lagoon.  It was an extremely enjoyable ride.  Soon, however, we left the lagoon behind and entered the Caribbean Sea, where Captain Nico put the metal to the pedal, and we went much faster for the next 10 minutes or so.  We were headed to Creole Rock.

2 hours ago, Jase0581 said:

I am really enjoying your review and photos, thank you for taking the time.  It is getting me excited for my first X cruise on the Silhouette next month.

Thank you for your kind words!  Really glad to you are enjoying the trip report.  Lucky you - you have a vacation to look forward to, instead of reminiscing about! 

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

We left the ship around 8.45 am and exited into the Cavern of Cruise Ships, and also got our photos taken by the ship's photographers, with the Edge docked right next to us.

The directions from Billy Bones told us we had about a 15 to 20-minute easy walk to Bobby's Marina.  They had emailed us a map with very detailed instructions on how to get there.  As we did not know exactly where Bobby's Marina is, and as we weren’t sure if an “easy walk” referred to seasoned triathletes who ran marathons before breakfast five times a week, or to couch taters who considered it a workout if we had to push buttons to change the volume on our TV remote – and you guess which category we fall into – we decided to give ourselves some extra time to get there before the agreed-upon meeting time of 9.30 am.

We walked along the main road that took us from our pier area to Bobby's Marina.  It was an easy walk, with many taxi drivers and tour operators offering to drive us around for the day.  We politely said no to each, and they all pleasantly wished us a good visit and left us alone.

Thanks to the great instructions from Billy Bones, it was not tough to find the marina and the meeting spot.  We checked in around 9.15 am and paid the rest of the excursion’s cost.  We also at this time selected what we wanted to have for lunch, as they would call the restaurant ahead of time so the food would be ready and waiting for us when we arrived.  This turned out to be a Godsend as we were starvin’ Marvins by the time we stopped for lunch after 1 pm.

At promptly 9.30 am, we were directed to follow the first mate, AJ, to our boat.  She and the captain, Nico, were extremely friendly and helpful, and always made sure we had enough to drink while on the boat and were happy to answer any questions we had.  They were a great pair and really helped to make the day extra enjoyable for us.

We had around 12 passengers in our boat so it was quite full (capacity was 14 people, I believe) but there was still plenty of room to sit and move around.  We took off our shoes, which were placed in a basket, and got in the boat and were off!

Our cruise over the holidays (just last month) were ages 3-5 for one group, 6-9 for another, 10-12 for the next, and then the teens' club, 13-17.  It may depend on the breakdown of the kids' ages on your cruise?  For instance, on a Celebrity cruise many years ago, there were less than 20 kids under the age of 12 onboard so they grouped everyone together pretty much.

HTH!

Linda

32 minutes ago, Steve H said:

This is the most entertaining review I’ve ever read, you have a great writing style we are on the Silhouette on Mar. 3rd looking forward to reading more!

Wow, thanks for the nice compliment, Steve!  I'm glad you are reading and enjoying.  Hope you have a great time on the Silhouette in March!  She is a fantastic ship and I definitely look forward to sailing with her again very soon.

Linda

Day 5 – St. Maarten (cont.)

The plan for today was a full-day snorkeling and beach excursion with Billy Bones Boat Charters (http://www.boatchartersxm.com), from 9.30 am to around 4 pm.  This excursion company has gotten some amazing reviews on TripAdvisor so I emailed them and they were very responsive.  They offer both a half-day and full-day (with lunch) option.  I decided on the full-day option for us since we’d be in port until very late – 11 pm – so I figured we’d still have plenty of time to walk around and shop a bit in the evening.  Little did I know …

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Back to Billy Bones.  The cost for a full-day excursion (http://www.boatchartersxm.com/Cruise-Ship-Passengers/Full-Day-Excursions/Full-Day-ECO-Snorkeling-Beach) was $119 per adult, and $99 for our youngest.  So it’s not cheap for a family of five, but the awesome reviews online had me thinking this would be worth the cost.  Spoiler Alert – It was!

I paid a $119 deposit via PayPal a few months prior to our trip and paid the rest in cash upon arrival.  If you want to pay the rest by credit card, you can but there will be an additional 5% fee for that convenience.

Here is the description of the excursion, from Billy Bones’ website:

The TOUR: First a little sightseeing cruise along the coast with a view of Saba and St. Barth then arrive to the Simpson Bay Lagoon the larges saltwater lagoon in the Caribbean which is also temporary home of the million dollar Mega Yachts. Going under three bridges we heading up to Tintamarre Island where we snorkeling with Turtles and enjoying what’s that gorgeous uninhabited island has to offer. 

Then we cruise over for our next stop to Pinel Island for more snorkeling or check out and feed the iguanas. 

After Pinel Island a nice cruise take us to Creole Rock for more Snorkeling. That amazing rock formation part of the French National Park, loaded with tropical fish and corals. Must see snorkeling destination on the Island, You have a feeling here like in an Aquarium. 

GRAND CASE for lunch just about 5 minutes from Creole Rock, the cuisine capital on the French side waiting for you with a very tasty French lunch which is included in the price. 

When we finish with our lunch Long Bay waiting for us for a real beach time. Here we will introduce you to our unique floating bar time or just relax on the white sand beach and work on your tan. 

Of course on a way back we stop at the Airport beach where you can experience how’s that when a plane landing above your head. We back at the Philipsburg at 3 45pm 

So, overall, they followed this schedule fairly closely, with a couple of exceptions.  We went to Creole Rock first for snorkeling, and then Tintamarre Island, then Pinel Island, then lunch at Grand Case, and then to Maho Beach to watch (from the boat) the planes land and take off, and then to Mullet Bay, where we didn’t really have much beach time – they just let us swim from the boat to the beach and then back to the boat again.  We didn’t return to the dock until maybe 4.20 pm so it was indeed the entire day and a lot of fun.  I would highly recommend this company for a snorkeling tour, even if the name sounds “sketchy as hell,” which is what my oldest daughter said when she first read the itinerary for this trip (which was in the airport, waiting for our flight to FLL … I told you my family is a bunch of lame, non-planners).  

Day 5 – St. Maarten

Starting off with today's Celebrity Today again.  I also attached the one insert we received that day.  Interestingly enough, we didn't get that shopping map of St. Maarten, and I understand it's a duty-free mecca in the Caribbean.  Guess Diamonds International didn't need our business here.

Dh and I got up at 7 am, just in time to watch the Silhouette slowly start to back into port.  Now this was a sight to behold!  The P&O Britannia, MSC Seaside and the brand spankin' new Celebrity Edge were already docked.  Oh, along with my own personal yacht.  Why, Jeeves, you didn't have to follow us from port to port.  I'm trying to go incognito on this vacation so I can mingle with the masses.  Anyway, there would be a total of seven ships in port that day with us – SEVEN!  The Seaside was due to depart around 2 pm, three others around 5-6 pm, and the Edge, a Mirabella ship and the Silhouette were not due to leave until 11 pm.  A whole day in St. Maarten … woo-hoo!  And I had a full day planned for us too, so let’s get it started!

We had ordered room service for breakfast that morning, as we had an early start to our day.  We had placed our order and left it hanging on our front door the previous night.  I had asked for the food to be delivered between 8-8.30 am.  At 7.55 am, we got the call that the food was on its way.  Nice wake-up call feature, if you ask me.  A couple of minutes after that, we heard the knock on our door.  Our food had arrived!

We woke the girls up and, since the weather was so nice, decided to eat out on the balcony.  Our balcony had been extended by Joaquim that first day when he opened up the divider so we had a lot more space to work with.  We pushed the two round tables next to each other so we could eat together.  They had plated all food onto five plates, as we had indicated there would be five of us, but we had to pick what we each wanted and put onto our own plates.  They provided way too much food and drinks – plenty of coffee and juices and smoothies – which was good because we would need a big breakfast that day.  The food was still hot and very tasty, and eating outside in the Caribbean with a view of the St. Maarten port on Boxing Day, was an experience you simply could not top.

5 minutes ago, Sheal said:

Wow!  I so wish I was there.  It looks so relaxing compared to my stressful holiday entertaining the family of 20 in my shoebox.  Maybe if I loved to cook and clean I would enjoy it more but I don't.

 

Christmas in St. Croix sounds awesome, even if the shops were closed.  No biggie there, besides cooking and cleaning I hate shopping.  Well, maybe for others.:)

 

 

 

 

I definitely did not miss all the cleaning and cooking for Christmas this year, although we still had to take down our decorations when we returned because the little one really wanted to put some up before we left.  As you may have figured out by now, I pretty much do whatever she asks of me ...

Linda

16 minutes ago, jbranch said:

We missed the big snow here in Philly area , we moved from Ashburn last year. Sailing Jan 20 on Silhouette.

Really enjoying your review.

Lucky you!  It continued to snow most of the day yesterday so we ended up with around 10 inches of snow out here by Dulles Airport.  Schools closed today, of course, and there's another possibility of more snow this weekend.  Ugh, I need another vacation!

Linda

17 minutes ago, effinaround said:

Nah, he doesn't look drunk.  He's.....just at an....advanced stage of merriment shall we say.

I swear the photogs tell people to pose that way just for their own sense of humour! I think they shame you into buying them so you get them off the display rack and shorten the humiliation factor.

I think you may be onto something there re: the photographers!  I mean, can you blame them? 🙂

Linda

2 hours ago, rosewood jo said:

What’s the process like at port Everglades to get onto silhouette? Is it face recognition?  Or old school many lanes to check in, get ur pic taken, then up the ramp u go?   I just went thru new edge embarkation and it was wonderful.   I am spoiled!

So we boarded in Terminal 29, not the new terminal (25).  It was ... security screening, then regular check-in (no health forms to fill out; they just asked if anyone has been or felt sick in the past seven days), got our pictures taken and got our Sea Passes, and then we were on our way.  So, old-school check-in, but Silhouette isn't on the Celebrity app yet so that may have something to do with it.  I'm guessing that after its dry dock (in early 2020, I believe), the check-in process may be updated as well.

Linda

9 hours ago, KateWes said:

Helipad sail away looks awesome! We’re there a lot of people there? Worth going?

I would say that it is worthwhile to go, especially if it's your first invite.  After that, if I were to be invited again, I may just do so if the scenery was worth it or we didn't have anything else (like a nap) planned.  We had an aft cabin anyway so we had pretty much the same view, but from the opposite end of the ship.  I can see how the view may be different from the side of the ship but, for us, it was fairly similar.  Still, a very interesting experience!  I would say there were maybe 100 or so folks there, so it wasn't too crowded but we were one of the last to arrive and couldn't find a spot right by the railing.  Only when clouds moved in and people thought it was going to pour so they started leaving, were we able to have more room to move about.  The rain held off as well, so that worked in our favor.  HTH!

Linda

Day 4 – St. Croix (cont.)

Just a few more pictures taken from the helipad.  Dh was fascinated with the rainbows (yes, two of them!), I see ...

We left the helipad around 5.30 pm to return to the rooms to get ready for the second evening chic night.  As it was Christmas, there was to be a special holiday performance put on by the Silhouette performers that evening so, of course, the little one wanted to go.  We go ready and made it to the theater in time for the 7 pm show.

First, we tackled the ship’s photographers so we could get our cleaned-up selves preserved for posterity.  Don't even ask me what the heck was going on with the little one's facial expressions in these.

Check out this picture, also known as the Awkward 1980s Prom Pose.  Is it just me, or does dh look super drunk and that he’s giving me the Heimlich?  Or we’re demonstrating moves in some sort of self-defense class, all with big, stupid grins on our faces.  Seriously, those asinine poses they make you do sometime for these pictures.  

The show that evening was pretty entertaining.  Some of the performances were the very same ones from the Grand Foyer the previous night - including the always popular, "I want a hippopotamus for Hanukah" - but Sue and Kate also put on a bit of a skit and they were quite fun to watch.  Sue has an amazing singing voice and is really a lot of fun to watch; she definitely is a great asset for Celebrity and you would be very fortunate to have her being the Cruise Director on any of your trips.  The performance also included a lovely and moving tribute to members of the military, as well as a children’s choir, featuring kids who attended the Fun Factory on a regular basis and had time to rehearse.  Our little one, as you know, avoided the place like the plague, so she was not there performing for the masses.

After the show finished, we waited for most of the audience to clear out first so we didn’t have to fight to swim upstream with the rest of the salmons.  We noticed the captain sitting up front, as his son had been in the children’s choir.  The little one wanted to get a picture with him, and he was very gracious and obliged her request. 

We then made our way to dinner, where my oh-so-refined children made us all proud with their lovely table manners.  I don't remember what I had as a starter that evening, but I had the turkey for the entree.  It was just OK - edible and somewhat enjoyable, but nothing that made me cry.

Dinner that night was kind of a mess.  For some reason, service was extremely slow and really dragged.  We sat down around 8.30 pm and placed our orders just five minutes after that.  However, we didn’t get our appetizer until 9.10 pm, and our entrée didn’t arrive until it was almost 10 pm!  As such, we skipped dessert that night and went to the photo gallery to check out our pictures, and then went to the Sky Lounge for the oldest and youngest to dance for a bit.  We stayed for only 15 minutes or so and then went back to the room.  Tomorrow is St. Maarten, and we actually have a full day planned, so we needed our rest.  It had been a great Christmas Day!

1 hour ago, effinaround said:

Empty wine glass next to the keyboard I presume, Linda?

Empty wine BOTTLE next to the keyboard! 🙂

Linda

1 hour ago, Nclgetawaymenhoney said:

Great read, really enjoying your review.  

Thank you, and glad you are here and enjoying the review!

Linda

1 hour ago, micheleata said:

Still loving your report and pictures!

 

Thanks for continuing to hang in there!

Linda

1 hour ago, jpodds said:

Linda. What does your signature ("not Chicago, unfortunately") mean...an inquiring Chicago mind wants to know😃😃😃

Hi - I love that city.  I went to college in nearby Evanston and then lived in downtown Chicago (near the Water Tower) for a couple of years after that.  I have the best memories of being a single girl in the city - even during the brutal winters.  Which raises the question ... do I love and miss Chicago, or do I love and miss being single?  Hmmm ... 

Linda

1 hour ago, chamima said:

 

Linda

I never take any closed-toe shoes on our cruises and have never been turned away from the helipad sailaway. (At least so far. Watch - it'll happen on our next cruise)

I was turned away from the Elite happy hour once (which I still think was ridiculous) but never from the sailaway. I don't wear sneakers so my only closed-toes shoes are heavy winter ones.................

Thanks, Karen, that is good to know.  My oldest was bemoaning the fact that her kicks didn't really go with her outfit, and I had to tell her to suck it up an deal with it.  Don't let her know that I was wrong because, really, who would believe that anyway. 🙂

Linda