SleepingUgly

20 minutes ago, KateWes said:

Sound like a pretty good Christmas Day

It was indeed, and definitely one we won't forget!

Linda

Day 4 – St. Croix (cont.)

A little after 4 pm, dh woke me up so we could get ready to go to the sail away.  We had to be on the helipad by around 4.45 pm as the ship was scheduled to depart St. Croix at 5 pm.  I know a lot of people don't care for this island but we had a really great time.  Rhythms at Rainbow Beach had a nice, relaxing vibe about it, and everyone who worked there was super nice and friendly.  The whole island just had a nice, laid-back feel to it, and not a lot of commercialism, which I really appreciated.  Maybe it was also because it was Christmas Day, but I don't think St. Croix is known for its shopping, which is a nice change of pace from the usual cruise ports.  I look forward to returning someday when it's not Christmas or a holiday so perhaps I can venture into Christiansted and check out some of the more historical sites, or head to Point Udall, the easternmost point of the US.  I like cool sites like that with an interesting claim to fame, so hopefully, we will return soon.

Anyway, we got to Deck 6, forward, around 4.50 pm and got in line to proceed to the helipad for the sail away.  We were greeted with a choice of champagne, mimosa or orange juice upon stepping onto the helipad.  It wasn't too crowded, but it was tough to find a spot right next to the balcony.  Still, we were able to get some pretty good pictures, and a rainbow even made a special appearance towards the end.  Remember to wear closed-toe shoes if you are invited to the helipad for a sail away.  Our invite did not mention that (again, rather poor communication on the part of Celebrity) but, thanks to these boards, I knew the kids couldn't wear sandals or flip-flops so we were OK.  Thank God for Cruise Critic!

55 minutes ago, Nanjen said:

Really enjoying your review, you have a wonderful sense oh humor! Also enjoying the pictures. We will be on her the end of February and this is keeping me excited to get there! 

Thank you, and these next few weeks will seem to drag on, but then a couple of weeks before you leave, time will seem to fly!  Glad to keep you entertained in the meantime, and hope you have a fantastic trip!

Linda

58 minutes ago, bluewhite said:

Linda, l so loved all your recent pictures. Your beautiful children are having such a good time in them. The pictures of Santa's

tummy are priceless. That belt was having a hard time I  think.

Still eight days of your report to look forward to.

Linda

Thanks, Linda, for your compliments!  I feel bad when I look through our pictures and don't see a lot of our middle child, but she's not as much of a camera hog as her sisters (she's like me; she prefers to be behind the lens) and she also spent a lot of time away from us in the evenings, as she went to hang out with her friends.  She met a great group of teens on the ship and they did a lot of stuff together, so I'm sure she still ended up having a great time as well!

Thanks again!

Linda

Day 4 – St. Croix (cont.)

A little after 1 pm, we started to pack up so we could head back to the ship.  We didn’t want to wait around for the last van of the day, thinking that it may be packed.  It was nice not having to drag the lounge chairs back to the restaurant (Rhythms, as we found out its name), as we had to do in St. Thomas.  We simply packed up our stuff, said good-bye and thanks to Noah / Danny, and walked out to the parking lot to wait for the van.

There were two other families waiting with us.  After a few minutes, a van showed up but it wasn't the right one for us.  Apparently, we neglected to realize that there was more than one taxi company in St. Croix.  Stupid tourists.  We had to wait for the van that took our color of tickets.  One of the families boarded this van while the rest of us waited for the right van for us, which arrived just a couple of minutes later.

It was a quick drive back to the port area, which was good because we were hungry.  We could see the ship our entire way back, and also passed by the little beach close to Fort Frederiksted and next to the pier that you could go to very easily by walking, if you didn't feel like going all the way to Rainbow Beach.

Once we were back at the pier, we decided to visit the little kiosks / stands set up outside the gate and do some quick shopping first, instead of going back onboard to eat and then coming back out to shop.  Dh and the oldest bought a few knick knacks for themselves (dh collects shotglasses and we got a key chain for the middle child for her collection, and the oldest got a few things for herself and friends ... the two that she has), and I bought the cutest hand-sewn cat from a lady who makes and sells them, raising money for the local animal shelter.  This crazy cat was wearing overalls and had a surfboard and a purple pet dog ... how can you possibly turn that down?  If you happen to visit St. Croix and want a unique souvenir from this island, look for this lady and her stand.  She was the first one next to the gate, and she and her friends are super nice.  We had a lovely chat with them.

Then it was time for the long walk back to the ship.

We went to the Oceanview Cafe to grab lunch, and then went back to the room to shower and rest up.  I took a cool picture of the ropes tying the ship to the pier, and then promptly passed out on my favorite lounger on the balcony.  It was an awesome, amazing nap, and speaking as a connoisseur of naps, that's quite the compliment. 

1 hour ago, mocruzer said:

Very much enjoying your review and pictures 

Thank you!  I've very much enjoyed hearing from those who have not posted much yet on CC but chose to post here.  My goal is to not only record our vacation for my own purposes, but to also help others out because I didn't find a lot of recent info on the Silhouette and I really enjoyed reading the lengthy, detailed trip reports from others who have done a much better job than me.  Also, I know there was a lot of interest this past year on what Celebrity holiday sailings are like so thought I'd help out with future cruisers looking to book a trip during the Christmas and New Year holidays.  Thanks again for tuning in!

Linda

Day 4 – St. Croix (cont.)

Here are a bunch more pictures that we took at Rainbow Beach.  This was a pretty small beach, but the vibe was relaxed and enjoyable, and we sat among some fun, nice people.  There were a couple of heavy downpours during the time we were there, but either we were in the water anyway (the girls loved being able to still be in the ocean while it was raining) or we just all ducked under the umbrella and rode out the storm that way.  The rain never lasted longer than five minutes and then the sun would be out again in full force.  #welcometothetropics

Here is that nice young man who helped us and many other people that day with setting up chairs and getting drinks.  I'm not quite sure what his name was.  Dh, for some reason, started calling him Noah, but I heard others calling him Danny.  Oh, well.  He answered to anything, always with a smile, and when he told me in the pouring rain that he loved his job, he looked like he really meant it. 

Dh took the girls on a short walk past the beach to a rockier area where private homes are located (but the beaches are still public), and he and I walked out there later as well.

The kids had a great time in the water, and tried out our new waterproof / underwater camera too.  The water at that beach was a bit murky to get any good pictures underwater, but we were able to get some much better shots when snorkeling later in St. Maarten and St. Lucia.

Day 4 – St. Croix (cont.)

After all that excitement with Santa, we got ready to head out to ashore.  Once again, we had no plans for this port.  As it was Christmas Day, I didn’t know what would be open and what would be closed.  If we had our way, we would have taken a taxi into Christansted and done an Alexander Hamilton-related walking tour, as our middle child is a huge Hamilton fan (along with every other person in this country, with the possible exception of dh and me), followed up by some shopping and maybe a closer visit at Fort Christiansted.  However, since it was Christmas Day, the fort – which is part of the US National Parks Service – was closed.  Rats.  And I had emailed someone I found online who supposedly dresses up as Alexander Hamilton and leads a walking tour in Christiansted, asking if he was doing a tour that day, but never heard back from him.  Thus, we decided that we would just do something on our own.

Our middle child asked to stay on the ship with her friends; they were going to hang out at the X Club and the pool.  That was fine with us so the four of us prepared to go out.  We left the ship a little after 10 am and got our obligatory pictures taken.  Hey, we bought that photo package.  Dh was determined to get his money's worth.

We decided to go to Rainbow Beach for the day.  We had to walk down a loooong pier to get outside of the gate.

We were then directed to an area for taxis.  There was a line of maybe around six people in front of us, waiting to buy tickets from a woman seated behind a table.  It cost $6 round trip per person to get to Rainbow Beach, but you could also choose to walk there as well, if you wanted to since the bus ride took only about 10 minutes and the GPS showed the beach was a little over one mile away.  We did see some people walking to / from the beach on our way there and back, but it may have been a bit dangerous with kids as there is no sidewalk so you have to walk on the side of the road.

After we purchased our tickets, we then had to wait for a van.  This is apparently how we wait in line these days.

The four of us split up into two vans and got in around 10.30 am.  The little one and I got in one van, and dh and the oldest got in another one.  Our driver was funny – she was in a hurry and didn’t have time for the very slow driver in front of us.  She was honking her horn at him and muttering to herself, “C’mon!  Move it!  You drive like a man.”  I am going to have to remember that one and use it sometime.

We got to Rainbow Beach about 10 minutes later and was told by the driver that the last van would depart from the beach at 2 pm and to make sure we held onto our tickets.  That was a bit earlier than we wanted to leave, but it’s OK.

We walked into the little bar / restaurant located on the beach and spoke with a nice young man about renting loungers and umbrellas.  He told us that chairs cost $5 each to rent, $10 per lounger and $10 for an umbrella.  We at first chose to rent just two chairs, since we thought the sun would be bearable, like the day before in St. Thomas, but after just 10 minutes or so, we realized the sun was much hotter today (even though we were only 19 miles from St. Thomas).  So we ended up renting an umbrella as well.  He set us up in a nice, front-row location.

In my opinion, it was great that chairs and loungers had already been set up along the beach, and that the young man would set up extra chairs for you.  That way, there wasn't anarchy in people setting their stuff up around the beach, wherever they wanted to.  I saw him speaking with people who came later who wanted chairs set up in front of others, and he very politely told them he couldn't do that for them.

35 minutes ago, chamima said:

My husband just remarked about how we haven't had any snow so far (and I told him him to keep his mouth shut and not jinx us!)

Our youngest daughter lives in DC so she probably woke up to what you had.

SO SORRY!!!

I hope it melts by Friday because we're taking them on a Disney cruise and she needs to get out of there.

Yes, Karen, tell your husband to shut it.  You don't need no crazy talk like that right before leaving on vacation.  The forecast here is just cold this week and the next good chance of snow isn't until the weekend, so I am pretty sure your daughter and her family will be able to escape on Friday with no problem.  I'd love to hear about your Disney cruise when you return - I've heard nothing but awesome things about them!

Linda

34 minutes ago, Decpl said:

Linda, we got the same here in Delaware, But you review warmed us up when we got 

in from shoveling. Now get ready for the game, Go Eagles!

Kand J

They had an incredible game last week, although I was rooting for the Bears.  What a finish!

Linda

36 minutes ago, effinaround said:

Oh wow!  Fortunately, I haven't had to shovel yet this season.  We had a dump in November when I was away and that has been it. I hope it stays that way!

Agree, and hoping the same for you!  It's supposed to be a rough weather for us here, but we've had a few easy winters so I guess it's time.

Linda

Day 4 – St. Croix

Let’s not break with tradition and start with today’s Celebrity Today.  We had also received an invite to the helipad for the sail away that evening.  Cool – we are so there!  Sorry but I could not find the invite to take a picture of it, but we got one - I swear!  We didn't crash the party just so we could imbibe endless glasses of watered-down mimosas.  If you want to see the invite, please let me know and I will look for it.  I know we kept the two that we received; they just weren't in the same pile as the dailies.

Merry Christmas!  We woke around 8 am to yet another lovely view.

We got the girls up right away since Santa Claus would be making his appearance.  The little one, still a firm believer and not having had any conversations with Dear Leader Trump to sway her otherwise, was super excited about this so of course we could not miss it.

We had breakfast in the Oceanview Café, like usual, and then went outside to wait for Santa.  It was kind of a confusing experience.  At last night’s show, Sue had told us to be on the open decks to wait for him.  OK, kind of vague, but we’ll try to figure it out.  Then, in the Celebrity Today, it noted that Santa would be arriving and to be on the open decks of 12, 14 and 15 to watch for him, and that he would then make his way to the Grand Foyer.  OK, some more details so that’s good.

That morning, we waited on the Solstice Deck for the king of elves to arrive.  By now, we had already lost our middle child, who saw her friends and scampered off to be with them instead.  Hey, it's her vacation too, right?  The oldest and younger (i.e., "ball" and "chain") stuck with me, of course.

We finally saw Santa arriving via a small boat a little before 9 am. 

Since Santa obviously got on the ship on a lower deck, and the Today had said he was heading to the Grand Foyer after that, we rushed down to Deck 3 to wait for him.  Only to be told by Celebrity personnel that he had gone back up to the upper decks and would be making his way down, deck to deck, and not end up in the Grand Foyer until 10 am.  Well, okie dokie then.  That may have been a detail worthy of being included in the Celebrity Today.  No worries.  We went back up to Deck 12, by the pool to wait for Santa.  I felt like a teeny bopper chasing the Beatles out to their limo after their performance on the Ed Sullivan show, but anything for my children, right?

We caught his Pied Piper parade by the pool, and the little one was able to give him a high five for being a good sport and getting all dolled up in that outfit – complete with lumpy pillow and fake beard – and still being able to maintain a smile and not gnash his teeth at all the little grubby-pawed whipper snappers running circles around him.

The parade wound its way down to Deck 3, from staircase to staircase.  Santa got to his throne by 9.30 am, so there went that detail of how “Santa won’t be here until 10 am.”  Man, they really need to coordinate better with events like this and the communicate better with guests.  But, hey, it’s Christmas and we’re in St. Croix and I’m next to the passport bar.  Mango mojito, anyone?

The little one was able to get a picture not only with Santa, but also Sue and Kate, the director of Celebrity Life Activities.  Both were super nice and accommodating.  Our middle child also was able to get a gift and picture with Santa, posing with one of her new friends she met on the ship.  I wasn't able to get a picture of them but the ship's photographer got one.  All children under the age of 18 were able to get a gift from Santa.  I think the older one got a small backpack and one of those pop-up buttons for the back of her cellphone, and the little one got an insulated lunch bag and a fidget spinner.  Everything had the Celebrity Cruises logo on them, of course.  Not terribly exciting gifts, but I thought it was a very nice gesture they did for the kids.  Certainly made me feel better about having paid thousands more than “usual” pricing for a holiday cruise.

42 minutes ago, chamima said:

 

Thanks Linda!

I'm thrilled to hear there were "movies under the stars " by the pool.

It's one of the things I love about Princess - laying on a deck chair under the warm Caribbean night sky and watching a movie (or even dozing sometimes ).

That's probably an even better location than the lawn (for me , at least)

Karen - I hope the weather proves to be nicer for you than it did for us.  I think we wanted to experience this a couple of times, but the winds made it a bit too uncomfortable to enjoy.  Also, since we had late seating and didn't finish dinner until after 10 pm pretty much everyday, that also didn't help.  The one time we walked by the pool area when a movie was being shown, I didn't see anyone out there, but again, hoping for a totally different experience for you on your cruise!

Linda

13 minutes ago, effinaround said:

Linda, I think you should play a part in the sequel!

Agree!  It's called "poor relations." 🙂

Linda

Welp, two weeks ago, we were in 80-some degree heat and sun and cruising the Caribbean Sea.  This morning, I woke up to this scene in our front and back yards ...

1 hour ago, chamima said:

Linda

We're on the Silhouette for the Oscars and someone on our Roll Call just asked if they would show it on the large screen on the lawn.

I wasn't aware that the Silhouette had a large screen on the lawn.

Does she?

If so, did they ever show movies up there at night?

Thanks!

Karen - I am sad to admit that we did not make it up to the lawn very often and I did not take any pictures of that area.  However, I honestly don't recall seeing a screen in that area and they never advertised anything being shown on the lawn.  In fact, when they showed "movies under the stars" in the evenings, they did so in the pool area.  They also showed movies in Celebrity Central throughout the day so perhaps they will show the Oscars there or by the pool?  

You don't need to watch the Oscars - I'll tell you what will win Best Picture.  Crazy Rich Asians.  At least, that's the opinion of this crazy poor Asian. 🙂

Linda

2 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

That may be true, but we have also purchased Motrin from the nurse at the front desk for a couple of dollars

Our daughter did try to go to the health center in the afternoon of the first sea day but it was closed when she went and she said she felt like she was down in the dungeon.  Next time, we'll be sure to remember to go there first and see if we can just get some Motrin, but she did end up taking it a few times during the rest of the cruise so not sure if the cost would have added up anyway, if we had to keep running back to purchase a packet each time.  Really appreciate the suggestion!

Linda

2 hours ago, KateWes said:

Following along! Enjoying all the on board photos! Looking forward to seeing more! 

Thanks for keeping up!  We do actually do more stuff than sit around the beach and drink.  I think we also at times get up to go pee in the ocean.  

Linda

9 hours ago, rosewood jo said:

You have a fabulous sense of humor.  You should be a stand up comedian!

Oooh, like Joey Gladstone, my all-time most favoritest comedian?  Cut. It. Out!

Thanks for reading and for the ego boost! 

Linda

10 hours ago, batoryfirst said:

What a wonderful night I have had reading your delightful review & watching the Cowboys lose. I used to live in Alexandria & remain a Redskin fan. 

 

Nancy

Amen, Nancy! 🙂  We are not Redskins fans. either - or, let me rephrase ... we are not big Daniel Snyder fans - but we were indeed rooting against the Cowboys.  Today's games should be quite good as well.  Thanks for following along and for the kind words!

Linda

20 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Linda, it is snowing in Chicago but on Monday we are flying to Miami to join the Azamara Journey for a 9 day Cuba cruise so I am packing sunscreen!

The review will be titled "X Cruiser sails Azamara to Cuba" and will be launched on the Celebrity Board when I get home on January 25th. I hope you'll pop in and say hi once it is underway.

 

Six cameras.

Nine days.

Only One Survivor!

 

 Sadly I can't afford Jeff Probst to introduce it...

 

Norris

I hope you and Carol have a fantastic trip, Norris!  (How scary is it that I know your wife's name?  That's how closely I've read your reviews, haha.  I'm not a stalker, I swear it!)  I was considering Azamara as well when we were looking at Oceania for our Greek Isles summer cruise.  Can't wait to read all about it!

Jeff Probst is over-rated.  Think you need Count von Count.  I've heard he does amazing things with numbers.

Linda

Day 4 – St. Thomas (cont.)

It was soon sail away time.  The Serenade departed first, and we had a front row seat to her leaving the pier.

Then it was our turn.  We were able to capture photos of the sail away while the sun was still out, to dusk, to nighttime.  It was a beautiful sail away and so glad we were able to be a part of it.

We then got ready to go to the show that night.  It was a young magician by the name of Trent James.  He very much resembled our oldest daughter’s boyfriend – except the boyfriend is 6’5” – so I think she had an extra interest in the show that night.  He actually put on a very good show.  It may have dragged a bit and could have been wrapped up in, say 35 minutes instead of 45 minutes, but he was funny and engaging and personable.  The magic was quite good as well.  I had never been in the audience for a magic show before – had only seen on TV – so it was pretty cool to watch a performance in-person.  If Trent James is performing on your cruise, I highly recommend that you go and watch.  He really is very good.

After the show and the obligatory picture the little one wanted taken with him, we stopped by the Grand Foyer, where some of the Celebrity singers were performing Christmas carols, and Sue Denning and some of the officers were also in attendance.  Of course, this being the 21^st Century, we must be inclusive, so they also sang “Feliz Navidad” for the Spanish speakers onboard.  I’m not sure but this may have actually been more insulting than accommodating?  Then they also sang a couple of Hanukah songs – and changed up “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas” to “I want a hippopotamus for Hanukah” … Why, for the love of God, why?  Because of the alliteration with hippopotamus and Hanukah?  … and that was as inclusive as things got.  Still, it was a nice performance and helped put us even more in the Christmas mood.

After the performance, we went to the MDR for dinner.  Here is the menu.  I ordered from the classic menu tonight - the French onion soup and the sirloin.  You can see I enjoyed my steak so much from the picture I took of it ... which is when I remembered I should take a picture of it.

Again, Joseph and Dexter treated us like family and took very good care of us.  The little one had ordered the filet mignon that night, and Joseph was kind enough to cut up her meat.  The oldest had ordered rack of lamb that night, and Joseph was kind enough to cut up her meat.  She can do linear algebra like nobody's business and code up a storm and serve as a TA to a freshman lab that studies viruses that attack bacteria, but she can’t use a steak knife to save her life.  Welcome to your future, America!

After dinner, we went to check things out in the Sky Lounge again and let the little one dance a bit.  Not sure where she gets all that energy, but she needs to bottle that up and keep it to herself, because I don’t want any of that.  Me likey me naps.  Around 11.30 pm or so, we went back to the cabins and were all in bed by midnight.  Tomorrow – Christmas Day and Santa!

22 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

 

Count me as one, reading everyday and enjoying the witty narrative and great pics!

Norris

Thanks, Norris, and that is quite the compliment coming from you!  Appreciate your sticking it out.  Hope all is well in Chicago!

Linda

45 minutes ago, jpodds said:

$18 for a bottle of Motrin...Holy Cow... Gonna rethink taking the travel size bottle....

Right?  We thought we were prepared but guess not.  Make sure you take enough with you, and then some!

Linda

Day 4 – St. Thomas (cont.)

We got back onboard and went right to the Oceanview Café to grab some lunch.  It wasn’t too crowded by then as it was 1.30 pm, and all of the food was still set out so that was much appreciated.  We plonked ourselves down at a table and just chowed down, we were so tired and hungry.  I think I also guzzled down three glasses of apple juice in a row; my little one was impressed.  Who knew her mom was so cool.  We decided that we did not want to go all the way back into town to do our shopping – really, I wasn’t in the mood to be pressured into deciding whether or not I wanted to buy a $20,000 ring in under 10 minutes – and there were plenty of little shops in the port area, so we thought we’d just shop there instead.

Our stomachs full and our energy restored, we went back to the cabins and dropped our stuff off, freshened up a bit and went back out.  There was a cute little holiday display right on the pier, and the little one wanted to do a photo shoot with it.  This wasn't no highfalutin, fashion photo shoot.  More like, did-I-drop-this-kid-on-her-head-when-she-was-a-baby or what-the-heck-was-I-smoking-when-I-was-pregnant-with-her photo shoot.

We had one goal on this shopping trip – Motrin.  Our oldest had been having some bad headaches for the past couple of days so she had already used up most of the children’s Motrin we had brought with us.  Granted, we had brought only half a bottle, so we needed to replenish.  We found a small general store-type of shop and got the Motrin.  It was $18 for the smallest bottle ever.  Ugh, highway robbery at its best, but we needed to get it so we made the little one do a song and dance for some coins from passers-by, and she earned about 45 cents that went towards the purchase of the Motrin.  The 45 cents actually came from someone who offered to pay us if she would just stop, please make her stop!  Hey, whatever it takes.

We walked around a bit more after that but the girls didn't find anything of interest for themselves or their friends, so we decided to head back to the ship.

We returned to the ship around 3.30 pm to cat chow … uh, I mean canapes, in our room.

We rested and relaxed, and also got some nice pictures from our balcony.  I am really loving these aft cabins!