!!! SILHOUETTE !!! Western Caribbean- The Ultimate Review & Complete Pictorial Guide!

[turning40withMickey]

FANTASTIC REVIEW, yet again!!!

 

I am following your live review (and can't wait for Breakaway!) and also Chris' live review. Both of you have mentioned Radio, and I am missing out on it! Can you send me there (or at least let me know which ship and I will search for it!)

[gambee]

I know I ran into you many times, I just didn't know it was you. We were right down the hall from you in 8252 and 8254 connecting. I remember some of your shorts and swim trunks that show up in some of your fisheye pics. LOL.

 

I really have been enjoying your reveiw, and I'm actually writing some stuff up for my personal blog, and if I can't remember some thing I'm using your review to jog my memory. :D

 

 

lol, that's funny, I am sure we tend cross people a lot in a ship but if you're not aware of who they are you just keep on going. I guess my shorts were that colorful to remember :D. I am glad you're enjoying the review =)

 

Hi Gambee,

Loving the review. With the turtles, have you ever considered a cruise with a stop in Barbados - you can actually swim with turtles in the open ocean there. It looks to be one of the highlights in our upcoming cruise!

 

Yeah someone told me about that, there are several destinations with turtle encounters in the wild. But I am not sure if you have read my Allure review, were I state that I have a big phobia to large open water. Most of those encounters are in open water and open water attracts sharks, well the phobia more towards sharks. It something I have to work on...

 

You know a few days ago there was a huge great white just off the coast here in Florida :eek:, just by the pier. It was on the news, very scary, my cousin goes snorkeling almost on a daily basis by that pier.

 

 

Thanks Gambee. I just watched the video. I actually needed some of the help from the audience on that one. The karaoke system that they have doesn't really have pitch control, just up one or down one, and I don't think they lowered it at all. I usually do that song down a third from the Chairman of the Board, but gave it the old "what the heck" try.

 

I thought it was great, mom and I really enjoyed it =)

 

Hope you don't mind if I hijack your thread for a moment, Gambee, but in response to olemissreb, the Turtle Farm that you see today is indeed not the same one you went to almost 20 years ago. On my first cruise to Grand Caymen, I wanted to do the turtle farm very much, but another excursion won out. Booked an excursion to do it again in 2006, but we missed that port (not the weather - long story), so we booked it immediately on the next W.Carrib. cruise in 2011 and I was shocked to find that these turtles are indeed raised for food (Caymanians LOVE turtle). I had originally been told that the Turtle Farm was a safe haven, of sorts, for Sea Turtles and turtles were brought here that were injured where they would be rehabilitated, if you will, and released back to the sea, as well as little hatchlings that would be raised there until they had a better chance of survival.

 

I came to find out that the original Turtle Farm that I had been trying to see since 2004 had been totally destroyed in a hurricane and they simply didn't have the funds to rebuild it. I wish that this had been explained to me before I booked the excursion to go to the existing Turtle Farm; however, we still enjoyed it somewhat - I, too, got to hold a turtle, which was pretty cool.

 

I don't mind at all, thanks for the info.

 

Absolutely stunning pictures!! I had talked myself out of the fisheye lens but now I have to get it... Thanks so much for the great review!

 

Yeah they are definitely a fun lens to use and experiment with, but from the responses I thing about 75% of people like it.

[gambee]

Gambee,

 

That fisheye picture of the aft of the ship and the horizon is awsome!!! It's my favorite too!!! Sorry you didn't have good weather in Grand Cayman. I love GC - the water is such a beautiful clear color and you would have loved Stingray City. Glad you posted a photo of HELL because I never knew what it was...........I see no reason to ever visit HELL now! LOL We were on the Silly when she first came to the states and sailed her 12 nights out of NJ. It's interesting because some of your observations are the same ones that I had. Really enjoying your review as it's bringing back lots of memories from our cruise.

 

Patty

 

I knew you would love it, the picture is just so different but so cool at the same time. Yeah hell is a dump, I am glad someone wanted to go and I had a chance to stop by.

 

Glad to have you following along Patty.

 

 

Gambee,

 

The review continues to rock! I am sorry that the weather was a bummer, hope it got better as you sailed.

 

If not a FB page, maybe a blog? You are very talented and have a passion for photo's and capturing the moments. Either way, thanks again for letting us travel along.

 

Bill

 

Thanks Bill, yeah I am considering a blog. It is something that I will look into once I am done with the Breakaway REview.

 

 

Gambee I loved all the shots of the turtle farm. It is so much bigger than when we saw it. I don' t think there was even a restaurant in 1989, & 1990. You are right they do raise the turtles for food. Many of the restaurants on the island serve turtle stew, etc. Very sad to see it on a menu after going to visit the turtles.

I saw thrilled to finally see photos of the lawn grill, & the menu also. The lawn grill is where we want to be for our first formal night. I could not get the video for the lawn grill to work? Operator error perhaps?

The fish eye shots from the back of the ship were very, very cool. I also liked the video of the tender ride. This is a terrific review. Thank you for all the extra detail.

 

 

Glad you liked the info on the Lawn, the video works it shows 43 views. But I will look into it later, have you tried another computer?

 

Thank you for the fisheye input, I am really liking that results of that lens.

 

Thank you for being a part of this and following along :)

 

 

Gambee...I've decided. You and me have to be bff's. I won't take no for an answer. You cruise, you drink, you've got obvious style, and you make references to Stewie...you're everything I've ever wanted.

 

I'm sitting here with my mouth open and quite frankly nearly peeing my pants with glee over this review. I even squeee'd a few times out loud like a teenaged girl.

 

Your future bff...Stacey

 

 

Hi Stacey,

 

Gambee has Style I like sound of that :D!

 

Sure ill be your bff =) maybe we could even cruise together eventually, it is a small world after all ;)

 

 

I am glad you love my review, thank you following our crazy adventure.

[gambee]

So where is this bathroom that you can potentially get locked in? I want to avoid it at all costs! I didn't know the bathrooms had electric doors!

 

It is in the aft in between the two patches of lawn. In between the Lawn Grill and the Sunset bar.

 

But I noticed a few other electric bathrooms on board, I think they had one by the solarium as well.

 

Bravo! Agree with all the praise above. Not a fisheye fan but 80% of yours were outstanding, especially the video. Great stuff.

 

Thank you, I will try to improve to make it 100% next time =)

 

 

Gambee, Gambee, Gambee. Day 4 took me 2 HOURS!! :eek: I think I looked at each picture at least for 2 minutes! That's too bad you had bad weather, Grand Cayman is one of my families favorite ports!

 

LOVE the fisheye lens & love that money shot of the Disney Wonder sailing away!

 

There was a picture you had of the water coming against the ship while sailing into the bay and it made me want to break out paint and start replicating it onto a canvas!

 

Thanks again for your continued dedication to this amazing review! You will definitely be a huge inspiration for my first review on here after my Allure cruise! Oh and P.S. you are very creative with pictures that have large mirrors in it, I feel like you are a secret agent and we all try to look at every spot in the picture to see if we see you! Maybe we will get lucky sometime in this review! BTW do you have an Instagram?

 

Thanks again Gambee, looking forward to Day 5!

 

Thank you for your kind words and for following us, I am really glad you liked that picture, I am so proud of it.

 

Reflections are really cool to work with, but lighting is a bit complicated at times. Who knows maybe you're right and will get lucky ;)

 

 

No instagram, sorry. I had it before but it was not my cup of tea and closed the account. I might look into opening a new account now, thanks for the advice.

[gambee]

Another thumbs up for your fisheye lens. :) Love that picture too...

 

Thank you =)

 

OK...so up until this point I had been following the review on my phone. Just finally had a chance to check in tonight on the computer and wow!! these photos really are amazing. I have liked the fish eye photos from Day 4 from around the ship because it gives a much better idea of how it is laid out. And of course the shot of the other ship in the distance looking like it was circling the outside of the globe was cool as heck.

 

As for turtle farms - there is an excellent Turtle Hospital in Marathon, FL (the middle island in the Florida Keys). It is an actual turtle rescue operation which saves injured turtles from the wild and releases them. They show the entire premises and do a lot of education about the various diseases turtles get and how they get damaged in the ocean. It really is amazing and I highly recommend anyone interested visit. I don't even remember if there was a fee or not, I am guessing maybe something minimal, but it went to rehabbing turtles. They had a cute gift shop too, in fact I am wearing the shirt I bought from there right now!

 

Thanks again Gambee...great review. I feel like I am on the cruise right now getting in the groove of the routine but worrying that my 'cruise' is more than halfway over already!

 

Thanks for the info on the turtle hospital, I might just have to go there one day.

 

I know right, we will hit day 5 soon, =(, I have been fortunate enough to stay on vacation while writing this review. But it now seems to be coming to an end.

 

 

The Karaoke was at some odd times and usually during dinner or a show we had missed in the previous week. I know I did go during the last night when it was in the Quasar, but can't remember if I went other nights that week.

 

We missed the one in Quasar, if it was on the last day the one at 7pm that was a bad time for us.

 

 

Gambee, my dear friend, I should be doing my homework love. I have a 1400 word paper to write and that's what I should be focused on, but nooooooo, I am fully engaged in your wonderful review.

 

I've never sailed on Celebrity but will be going to Europe next year on the Equinox. You've gotta come, please say you'll come.

 

Your pictures are amazing, and I found myself ROTFL at some of your comment (I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you)

 

OK, I could have been finished by now. So there's tomorrow. Yes tomorrow I will finish my paper! We'll see.

 

Thanks again for your amazing review.

 

Go do your HW :D!

 

Thank you for following along and I hope you have a great Europe cruise. As for gambee going, I am not really sure that is in our plans just right now, but possibly for 2015.

 

Love everything about this review. Thanks for all your hard work in putting this up for all to see. The fisheye shots are great. The video does make me a little woozy but it's useful to look at; gives a better idea of where you are and where you are going than the regular lens would do. I am actually amazed at how steady you were able to the hold the camera as you were walking - and how you managed to keep your toes out of the frame! Thanks Gambee; looking forward to more.

 

Well actually to be honest it was not that stable, youtube stabilized the video for me. Granted it was not horrible, but it had some bouncing and such.

 

Thank you for commenting, I will be working on the next set today at work and maybe post a little tonight.

 

Gaaaaaaaa....I'm not getting my E-mail notifications from cc that new posts have been posted.... :eek: :( What's up with that?

 

That's odd, I never activated that feature on mine. But I will tell you that I post on a daily basis, maybe no review material, but at least responding to comments.

 

Those fish eye pictures are simply stunning, especially the interior images. :D

 

Glad you like them Dave :)

[gambee]

I would love to friend him too on FB, but we don't even know his name, lol! Tough to find, and I'm sure he wants to be incognito there, being famous on Cruise Critic is probably enough.

 

Something like that ;)

 

 

FANTASTIC REVIEW, yet again!!!

 

I am following your live review (and can't wait for Breakaway!) and also Chris' live review. Both of you have mentioned Radio, and I am missing out on it! Can you send me there (or at least let me know which ship and I will search for it!)

 

Thanks for following both bugsy and me :)

 

Radio review is here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=37933662#post37933662

 

He is in Bermuda right now.

[4774Papa]

gambee,

I know the water was cold, but what did you hear about the sting-ray swim at Grand Cayman? My Daughter has been there and loves it.

[gambee]

gambee,

I know the water was cold, but what did you hear about the sting-ray swim at Grand Cayman? My Daughter has been there and loves it.

 

That would be my number 1 thing to do in Grand Cayman, unfortunately all the tours to stingray city were cancelled for that day, including ours.

 

Our tour refunded us the money that same day.

[TsdSrl]

Radio review is here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=37933662#post37933662

 

He is in Bermuda right now.

 

Just wonderful! Thanks, Gambee... now I have another review to follow. Now if I can only keep my boss out of my office while I catch up on Radio's LIVE review. The nerve of some people... interupting me while I follow along with all of these great reviews! Oh wait... I'm at work! Oooops...

Edited April 10, 2013 by TsdSrl

[helen haywood]

That wonderful shot of yours with the fish eye aft....certainly does prove, once and for ever, that the earth is not flat!

[gambee]

Just wonderful! Thanks, Gambee... now I have another review to follow. Now if I can only keep my boss out of my office while I catch up on Radio's LIVE review. The nerve of some people... interupting me while I follow along with all of these great reviews! Oh wait... I'm at work! Oooops...

 

lol, don't get fired!

 

 

That wonderful shot of yours with the fish eye aft....certainly does prove, once and for ever, that the earth is not flat!

 

Glad you liked it :)

 

That was exactly what I wanted to prove with that picture! :D

[TsdSrl]

lol, don't get fired!

 

 

Yeah, I have to agree... that would put a damper on our Solstice cruise next month! Doh! You did it again! I'm still at work! Grrr... :eek:

 

P.S. I did catch up with Radio's review!

Edited April 10, 2013 by TsdSrl

[seadancer]

Can't wait to read through this on the weekend Gambee .

Chris got us Hooked on the other post . Yours will probably have us going crazy.

[cafediem2]

Thanks Gambee. I just watched the video. I actually needed some of the help from the audience on that one. The karaoke system that they have doesn't really have pitch control, just up one or down one, and I don't think they lowered it at all. I usually do that song down a third from the Chairman of the Board, but gave it the old "what the heck" try.

 

I just watched it too - you sounded great!:)

And Gambee, you sounded like you were having fun, which is a good thing!

Still enjoying the review, but the list of cocktails I simply must try when my Adriatic cruise finally arrives is growing longer and longer, thanks to all those great pictures :cool:

[gambee]

Can't wait to read through this on the weekend Gambee .

Chris got us Hooked on the other post . Yours will probably have us going crazy.

 

I hope you like it :)

 

 

I just watched it too - you sounded great!:)

And Gambee, you sounded like you were having fun, which is a good thing!

Still enjoying the review, but the list of cocktails I simply must try when my Adriatic cruise finally arrives is growing longer and longer, thanks to all those great pictures :cool:

 

I still have a lot more drink pictures to come!

[gambee]

Hello everyone,

 

I have another 13 hour work day today. I did bring my computer to work and since yesterday I selected and edited all the pictures, all I have to do today is put it together and write.

 

I will try to post a short set later on today :)

 

[TsdSrl]

Hello everyone,

 

I have another 13 hour work day today. I did bring my computer to work and since yesterday I selected and edited all the pictures, all I have to do today is put it together and write.

 

I will try to post a short set later on today :)

 

 

 

'Someone' gave me a bit of advice earlier and I thought I would pass it along... "lol, don't get fired!" :p

[Dolby1000]

 

 

After Karaoke we decided to head to the room and call it a night, it had been a very long day and we were beat. We had a great time in Grand Cayman, I got to hold a turtle how cool is that?!?!?! But the funny thing is that the Best port of this trip had yet to come, how much better could it get? Well my friends, it can get much better :)

 

 

 

I took this picture just before heading to bed

 

 

 

 

 

We had hope for better weather for Jamaica. Gambee had big plans for Jamaica!

 

 

Day 4, Finished!

 

 

I am exhausted... :D

 

 

All of your pictures are outstanding, but, really, this moon shot over the ocean and the reflection on the water is one of your best. Truly an amazing shot. I know you have your favorite shot, but I think this one is mine.

 

Thanks for sharing your adventure, loving the review.

 

OWD

[sredish]

Love it all! The fish eye lense pics are also very cool. My hub is also a "amateur" photog and he would LOOOOVE hanging out with you...

 

I remember reading once another LIVE review and he posted a fish eye photo. A woman commented on the photo, "Oh! Look how far you can see in the photo! You can actually see the curvature of the earth!!" :D Tee hee.

 

your bff, Stacey

Edited April 10, 2013 by sredish

[sredish]

Hi Stacey,

 

Gambee has Style I like sound of that :D!

 

Sure ill be your bff =) maybe we could even cruise together eventually, it is a small world after all ;)

 

 

I am glad you love my review, thank you following our crazy adventure.

 

Oh good. Then it's settled. Now that I know you're also an Office fan, it's even more solidified in my brain. Cruising with Gambee would be so fun, I already know it. We can run away from acapela groups and trip obnoxious neighbors as they run past us down hallways. Grab your bf, I'll grab the hub, and away we go.

 

your bff, Stacey

[SenatorsFan]

Very awesome fish eye shot of the Wonder. That was our first cruise way back in 2006 and the one that started the cruising bug for us.:)

I agree that the moon reflection night shot is also great.

Heather

[s8222]

I have to say, I am not much a fan of fisheye lenses, but this shot is AWESOME!! I agree with you!! I also LOVED your fisheye video tour! Do you have any more of those! Totally awesome!!

 

That's me walking down the stairs, in the second picture of post 888. And I am also in one of your pictures in post 886 watching Disney Wonders' sail-away.

 

I feel special now that I have appeared in one of your pictures...;-).

Keep up the good work on your wonderful review!

Edited April 10, 2013 by s8222
Adding post numbers

[travellink]

I really liked the fisheye tour through the ship!

[gambee]

'Someone' gave me a bit of advice earlier and I thought I would pass it along... "lol, don't get fired!" :p

 

Lol, I know right?

 

All of your pictures are outstanding, but, really, this moon shot over the ocean and the reflection on the water is one of your best. Truly an amazing shot. I know you have your favorite shot, but I think this one is mine.

 

Thanks for sharing your adventure, loving the review.

 

OWD

 

I did like that picture as well, plus it showed a grim of positive outlook for the next days weather...

 

However the picture is flawed, getting a picture like that on a moving ship is extremely hard. I took like 50 pictures of that same scene and that was the best one. I almost did not post it because I was not truly satisfied with the results.

 

Thanks for commenting on it :)

[Cruise Arizona]

Gambee,

 

I know you must have heard them too! There were one or two families with several kids who allowed their children to run in the halls. Since you and I were only a few cabins apart we both share this experience.

 

Those that know me from this board know that I have been cruising with my kids since they were 7 and 9. I have always had a rule:

 

No Running, Ever on a Cruise Ship!

 

I ingrained that into my children since day one, mostly to be courteous to others who might not be as spry as them, and for safety reasons, but our neighbors, added another reason:

 

Running is really the only noise that can be heard from the hallways in the rooms.

 

I never heard voices, or noise from the other areas of the ship, but the running reverberates very loudly into the staterooms.

 

I hardly even noticed the 500+ kids on this cruise. Celebrity youth kept them well occupied, and for the most party they were nice kids with nice families who were very attentive to the kids.

 

To be honest, the running wasn't that often and that bad, but when I would hear it I'd say to myself "oh its those kids running again" and I love kids.:D

 

I also have to admit to acutally breaking my own rule one day. I was booking a future cruise and had to run back to my room to get my Credit Card. I tried to run as softly as possible. :o

 

I hope this post doesn't sound too grumpy, because it absolutely did not ruin my cruise at all, the weather didn't even bother me, but kids and adults don't run in the halls. (unless you do it very softly to get your credit card when booking a future cruise) :D