chemmo

We generally find the speciality restaurants very accommodating. Re starters I suggest you ask for them to be served ‘family style’….So you would request, for example, the Caesar salad, meatballs and calamari and two side plates. Totally agree with the comments of others that it is very easy to over order. Portions are not small. Re sides for mains choose different ones as they are served on side plates anyway so easy to share. If you are really too full for dessert remember they have a sorbet (although it isn’t on the menu).

Hi there, Thanks for your reply…Whilst I am not quite up to cruising again yet I am back to reading CC and enjoying some vicarious cruising! Hope you are now fully recovered. Best wishes.

Speak to the Captains Club hostess on week one and he/she will arrange it for you. As you get your new card just check. See the hostess again if there was a problem. Enjoy the laundry!

We love our on ship dining, particularly the speciality restaurants which we mainly dine in. However, we can dine better food wise on a land based holiday with access to real fresh fish and local specialties. ’Ambiance’ of the full dining experience, however, has to be taken into account. Dining is not just about the food, it is about everything from pre dinner drinks to post dinner liqueurs. This is what makes dining on a ship so special…. You choose from one of many options for your pre dinner drink…Perhaps the sunset bar if it isn’t too breezy, the Martini bar to make new friends, the World bar to try something different, your balcony sipping a drink watching the ship leave the port. Then there is the choice of restaurants, Murano for a touch of class, Tuscan for the wonderful views, Lawn Grill for a family BBQ relaxed atmosphere with the smell and sounds of the sea….(yes, we cruise mainly S class). Then post dinner…All the bar choices still available but how magical is it to sip a cognac or a Baileys on your own balcony. Feet up reminiscing about the day…No need for anyone to drive or to get a taxi… So although I have experienced better food in land restaurants if I were to list my top ten dining experiences most of them would be on a cruise…

Best think to do after a knee replacement (or lots of other surgery) is to take a cruise. I speak from experience! Firstly, it gives you the impetus to keep up the post surgery exercises and gives you something to look forward to. Secondly, you can do as little or as much on a cruise as you want to. Swimming daily, ideal. If you have a busy day one day then rest the next. The only thing I would say to be careful about is choosing excursions at ports of call. I now have both knees replaced and much as they are excellent I do think they twist quite easily so I tend to try to avoid cobbled streets, especially wet cobbled streets. I also find they get stiff if kept in one position for long. I did find the minibuses used in places like St Lucia for island tours very tight for leg room and I am small… Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise!

Just read your review, a wonderful start to a cold day in England. Sincere best wishes for a speedy recovery.

We are D+ and E+ so plenty of experience with both lines. Entertainment RC wins. Food Celebrity wins in all venues from the buffet to the speciality restaurants. Strongly suggest you do try the speciality restaurants…Murano’s has a lovely ‘classy’ feel without being stuffy…Tuscan has great wake views and in contrast Lawn Grill has a family BBQ feel. Don’t write off the MDR menu…Food needs to be experienced to be judged…It is a reflection of the variety of quality and choices in the MDR that many guests in the Suite restaurant often choose from the MDR options.

Room service is definitely something that effects some people more than others… One thing I think a lot of cruisers will be doing this year are comparative spreadsheets of cruise lines. Simply looking at a standard veranda price across several lines is no good. You do have to see what comes with each to get a ‘real’ price. Room service charge is simply one of those commodities to add into the equation along with the cost of drinks, specialty restaurants etc. Personally we have always preferred one of us to throw on shorts and T shirt and head to Cafe Al Bacio for quality coffees rather than order the standard coffees from room service. Even when we cruise in a suite where the butler will deliver specialty coffee we often simply collect ourselves…

Pop in the day before you are booked in and let them know. They should be able to provide options you can pre order. If you only let them know on the night the choices may be more limited. Remember the choices of food will not, however, follow the storyline.

Thank you. One of my main reasons for posting was, as you say, to remind fellow CC cruisers ‘of the importance of building memories not putting them off’. There seem to been so many posts recently from people asking ‘Should we upgrade?’, ‘Is the speciality dining worth it?’, ‘Should we cruise?’…. Whilst cost and value for money are important (especially in these difficult times) there are times you can never get again…As a couple we were firm believers that we would make our holidays as special as we could. No regrets.

So wonderful to read your post. I was unsure if I should report on the forum at all but somehow felt it would be like not telling friends of many years…Over morning coffee I would relate to Pete the latest happenings. We would discuss changes and follow live posts. If someone asked a question or made a comment we felt we could add to we would discuss the response. As you say, we were introduced by CC and your friendship is treasured. Your emails in recent months have supported me so much. Your ‘morning distractions’ (thanks for this mornings) have given me a focus to remember each day that ‘life will go on…’. It will never be the same but it will go on. I will find a new normal…I know when Pete wished me a Happy New Year he meant it…He wanted me to continue to live life to the full…

Sincere best wishes for a full recovery. So pleased you are also ‘making it count’. Many people assume it is only the rich who book higher suites when in reality many, like us, are simply choosing to enjoy life the best we can. On our last few cruises mobility was becoming an issue for both of us. We could no longer easily enjoy the sightseeing but we could still enjoy the sea and the ship! The Silhouette really is a wonderful ship. We loved our last cruise on her, especially the extra speciality dining venues. Please post when you are on board. It would be lovely to follow your adventures.

I remember many of our shared conversations. I seem to remember chat about when our respective children were no longer cruising with us. Our son never stopped cruising with us! As a young adult he holidayed with friends but somehow always managed to fit in a cruise with us too. Then as he met his fiancée we thought the end of our family cruises would happen but no, she simply joined us too. The close bond my husband and son share is, I am sure, partially due to the quality time they spent cruising. Wonderful memories!

We have enjoyed your posts too. I was the ‘typist’ in our joint CC venture. When we did live posts we would discuss what to write…I would draft and read to Mr Chemmo. He would invariably think of something important I had missed, add more factual information and check my spelling! Following his edit we would then post. We have many wonderful cruise photographs and land holiday photographs too…condolences today have been coming in from Australia and the USA as well as the UK from friends we have made over so many years…So many people don’t get to do what we have…We have visited so many wonderful places, made so many wonderful friends…In the months before we lost my husband we had many happy afternoons reminiscing our adventures… We feel very blessed.

Sincere thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers… Memories will comfort me… As a family we will cruise again…. Chemmo will go on…

Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise…Silhouette is our favourite ship…

My little posh frock seems to have a life of its own, regularly resurfacing in a range of posts…. My husband would be so amused to see it mentioned once again, especially in this post! I do still have the dress I think I need to wear it first night when I have the courage to cruise once again…

Virtual hugs are much appreciated. Like yourself, posting live has always enriched our cruise experience. We loved to be able to pass on factual information or tips that may help other cruisers and also to simply share our experience. During the last few challenging months we have been vicariously enjoying the live posts of others, especially yours…Until I feel ready to cruise again I will continue to do so.

We did not go on the Silvermoon in Barbados… Like you friend said, it is important to focus on how blessed we were to enjoy the time we had…

Part of the pleasure of cruising for us has been the planning and anticipation…We have both loved asking questions on CC and answering the queries of others. We always felt very much a part of the CC family, hence my reporting his loss. ‘Chemmo’ will continue, I will still be following and posting…

Thank you! Although we have made the toast ‘Making it count…’ for many years in many venues it has always been extra special when cruising….We used to always dine in Tuscan Grill first night of a cruise and make the toast with our first drink as we saw the port slip into the distance and day drift into night…Magical moments…

On New Years Eve my husband looked each of us in the eye and wished us a wonderful 2023. He knew he wouldn’t be with us but did want us to continue to enjoy life to the full. We do have cruises booked, when we are ready we will return to the sea…

This was totally our outlook on life. We have known for some months that Mr Chemmo would cruise no more but he and I took great comfort from the fact we had done so much. We have traveled the world, made so many wonderful friends, enjoyed so many amazing moments….Quiet times on the balcony, wonderful meals in Murano….No regrets. As those who have followed my live reports over the years will know our son invariably came with us. He is comforted by the fact that cruises also gave him quality time with his Dad. We are so pleased that we did one final cruise with him and his fiancée last year. During the time of his illness I have continued to post…Particularly encouraging those who say ‘should we upgrade’ or ‘should we try a drinks package’ or ‘should we try a dining package’ to go for it! We have no regrets…So pleased that we did enjoy our cruises to the full.

Under the name of ‘Chemmo’ my husband and myself have regularly contributed to CC over many years. At first to ask questions and, in more recent years, as we became more experienced to offer information and advice, particularly about the RS and PH experience. We loved doing our live reports. My beloved husband is now sleeping his last sleep, no more shared cruises but no regrets either… Our cruise toast was always to ‘Making it count’…We did…We enjoyed so many happy times… Chemmo will continue with me and his son and future daughter in law…The heart will go on…

In our experience even in the PH the binoculars are rubbish….We usually bring our own. If you have significant OBC you could buy a pair on board. May be worth starting a new thread to see if decent binoculars are for sale on your ship…