A Review of the Celebrity Silhouette- Aqua Class, Beverage Package, Bad Weather

[tmlove17]

SO sorry for the delay! I know people are like, "why start a review if you can't finish it." But I can. :) I am just swamped with grading this week and last because it's the end of our quarter and kids are making up assignments left and right-- with me working VERY late. Needless to say, I got behind...

 

Picking up where we left off-- the excursion which left little to be desired...

 

So as you might recall, we were extremely disappointed in our Jamaica excursion-- not only because of the poor quality of the venue, but also because they did not cancel it, even though it was pouring down rain the entire time. Also, it was frustrating because people could pay $29.95 and be there all day (8 - 3) versus people who paid $49.95 and could only be there from 11:30 - 3, as it operated on an hourly shuttle service to get to and from the site. We ended up only surviving an hour in the rain with the measly food they gave us and headed back to the ship at 12:30. There was a huge line of people also heading back to the ship with us, equally as upset and disappointed with the experience as we were. It wasn’t about spending the $50 per person, it was what we were paying for. I would have much rather spent $50 on a different excursion than to be sitting in the rain with a styrofoam plate for burnt chicken for lunch being hassled by street vendors and staring at these poor pregnant stray dogs!

 

When we got back to the ship, we immediately headed for the Shore Excursions desk to file a complaint about the excursion (since it absolutely was not communicated in their advertisements what it would be like) and to request our money back. This was the only time in which I was truly disappointed with service on the ship because they had an excuse for almost everything. They said, “Well, the only thing that was included with the excursion was the lounge chair and lunch-- everything else was supplementary...” and, “All of Jamaica is public beach, so we cannot prevent vendors from soliciting,” and...”Well the rain has stopped now, so had you stayed at the beach, the sun would have come out...” However, the thing that stopped them in their tracks, incidentally, was the stray dogs report. The agents at the desk were floored when we told them about the multiple stray, pregnant dogs on-site and how sad they were. They said those dogs were unsafe and they should not have been on the grounds, and that they were going to investigate. I felt kind of bad because I am a huge dog lover and I wish that the rest of the circumstances bothered the Celebrity staff, but the fact they were going to investigate and follow-up with us was a plus.

 

About an hour after we returned to the ship, the sun made a brief appearance and those of us on-board flocked to the top deck to get some rays. It was fabulous. I laid for an hour or so on the loungers and it was peacefully quiet, sipped my Red Stripe and savored the fact that we were experiencing our good friend Mr. Sun on a lazy afternoon in Jamaica-- despite the disappointment the morning had brought.

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately, the sun was only out for an hour or so, and we still had three more hours left in port. So, we decided to walk around the town square of Falmouth to shop and see if we could get any Wifi. I am a photographer, and knew that some clients were trying to get a hold of me regarding events I had coming up. I was going to pay for the on-board package but it was just so expensive that I decided to see if there was any free Wifi in port. The square in Falmouth with their Disney-esque shop facades offered WiFi packages for $10 unlimited all day, or your could venture inside Diamonds International to use the Internet, but had to fend off the sales agents while you did so. Since we only had a couple hours left in port, we decided to cut our losses and fend off the DI agents. Besides, I told my husband to try and negotiate a good deal for a watch he wanted while I used the Internet, and that if he got it low enough, I’d buy it for him.

 

 

This doesn't look like regular Jamaica...

 

 

Unsuccessfully, he tried to get the price down on a watch but they wouldn’t really budge. In the meantime, I was able to use the Internet and we spent the rest of the day walking around, balking at the shops and people-watching. If there is any place that is inauthentic in that cruise route, it’s Falmouth. Sadly. Because backing up just next to it is a shack-shantytown with tin-roofed huts and dilapidated shacks. But directly next to the cruise is a clearly cruise-ship-invested shopping center aimed towards tourists. It’s hard not to feel like an ugly American pulling up to the port under those circumstances.

 

Usain Bolt's hometown...

 

 

 

Up next: Success at the tables and the Newlywed game!

[Xcitdcruiser]

Yeah! You're back!

[tmlove17]

Once back on board and during our {rainy} sail-away, we received a phone call from the guest relations department as well as the shore excursions desk to apologize for the poor experience on our prior excursion that morning and to offer us 50% back. They said that the dogs should not have been there, and that they called the tour operating company to request that they keep the dogs away from the beaches from now on. 50% back is better than nothing, so we were okay with that. Obviously, however, we would have preferred our entire amount to be refunded-- but we had to be okay with what we were offered I suppose.

 

That evening, we had a fabulous dinner at Blu, and then I won $40 at Blackjack! I thank my newfound friend that I met at the Molecular Bar who told me to stay away from the slots and to just try a minimum buy-in on Blackjack. I really enjoy gambling (just a small amount though) and Blackjack definitely was my lucky spot. ;) We took the money back to pay for our round-trip drive to Key West when the cruise was over!

 

We also watched the Newlywed Game that night which was hysterical. It is definitely a cruise staple, and I think a lot more fun when people have been drinking. There were a couple of people in the audience who were toasted, and individuals on stage who were revealing a bit too much personal information than I would have-- but it made for a fun and funny night as my husband and I got to compare what our answers would have been... ;)

 

I still have to reaffirm that even if the weather is terrible on your vacation, you CAN have a fabulous trip!! It definitely re-connected my husband and I and we got to fall in love all over again... :)

 

Nightly Lucky Cat drink at the Molecular Bar...

 

 

My husband trying frog legs for the first time...

 

 

Up next: Haiti!

[willma]

So pleased you are back. You were missed!

[chamima]

Life does get in the way - doesn't it????

 

;)

 

Glad you're back to finish, though. :)

Edited April 17, 2013 by chamima

[Coolcruise02]

Great review! Can't wait for more.

[miched]

Jamaica is a ***** hole. We are not fans of the W Caribbean because of that place. Have never had a good experience there. We have stayed at a few AI there and one was a Sandals that is way overrated. Can get a nice cruise on X with the liquor package and still be cheaper and a lot more luxurious.

 

We have found many times that it is better to take a tour from the vendors at the pier for the reasons that you have experienced. If the weather is bad you don't have to go, and they usually offer twice as much for 1/2 the cost.

 

The cruise line will claim that they offer shorter tours so you can do more than one in a day, or do one and have time to shop around the port. Naturally they are trying to accomodate us instead of generating more revenue. :D

 

 

.

[cinderellen]

Just finished reading your review (so far) as it is pouring rain in Chicago this morning so I feel like I should be in your pictures. I love your positive attitude!

 

Ellen

[micmacmissy]

Just stumbled upon your review and I have a two observations:

 

1) You have a very cute necklace collection

 

2) We also did the Chukka Beach Break in Falmouth in January. We opted for the $29 one, since there were 4 of us, and I knew my kids wouldn't eat enough to justify it. Granted, the day we were there it was very warm and sunny, which can go a long ways to a good attitude. We arrived there at 8am and they had NO shuttles back until 1pm.

 

Once the second wave of passengers showed up (the "with lunch" excursion), they started setting up more chairs- even though we were practically at the water's edge, they started setting up a row of chairs directly in front of us- not even leaving any room to walk between the rows. I was a little annoyed at that, but we were leaving soon. Botton line was that that beach was too narrow and small to accomodate that many people.

 

The stray dogs were EVERYWHERE. Luckily no pregnant ones. This was actually the highlight of the day for my kids (aged 10 and 12). The dogs would come up...one, then two, three, and four...and the kids gave them each names and were petting them, etc. Two dogs even snuggled up on my daughter's lounge chair. When the fifth one came over, I got a little grossed out, started worrying about fleas, and sent them on their way.

 

There were several vendors there, but they didn't bother us too much. The key: no eye contact! I keep my sunglasses on and my gaze diverted- you can't even say hello or they're all over you (we used to live in NYC so we're not easily initimidated by these types anyway).

 

There was also a ton of sea grass (thick brown stuff) that kept washing up on the beach. There was a guy with a shovel and wheelbarrow who was supposed to be cleaning it off the beach...which he did for the first hour. After that he slowed down, until finally he napped and hung out under a tree and this kelp was ALL over the beach. Gross. Another bummer for people who were late arrivals, having to walk over that muck.

 

On the ride back to port, our van driver stopped at some roadside shack where someone brought a bag out to him...sketchy. I didn't unclench until we were back inside the port. I was more worried about having the kids with us...it's just not a safe area, and you can tell the Jamaicans are pretty desperate.

 

I have a bunch of pictures of the Chukka excursion in the trip report I wrote: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1782311

 

Good for you for getting your money back! I will probably avoid Falmouth in the future...or maybe just count it as another sea day.

[tmlove17]

I was really excited and I’ll admit-- anticipating feeling guilty-- to visit Haiti. I had no idea what to expect, as the only images I’d really seen of Haiti were from the earthquake destruction and its aftermath. We have many friends who travel multiple times a year in efforts to rebuild and through our church, but we had not been yet. And then here we are, sailing up on a large cruise ship to one of the most broken places north of the equator. While those feelings were not unjustified, I was surprised to see how incredibly gorgeous Labadee was when we sailed in-- and this was in rainy, cloudy weather! Yet again, it was grey and rainy and yet again, we were bummed that sunny relaxation would not be happening. In fact, this particular day in Haiti provided the worst, wet weather we had seen the entire trip. The last few days the sun would peek out, albeit temporarily, but during our stop in Labadee it never came out. That didn’t stop us from getting out to explore the island, even though we had to wear rain jackets and sweaters to do so.

 

The hills of Labadee in the morning...

 

 

More views of Labadee from the ship

 

 

Walking into the town square of Labadee

 

 

Labadee shores

 

 

I was really torn about Haiti, and here’s why: Labadee was beautiful. So fun, so well thought-out and so beautiful. We got to purchase goods that were handmade in Haiti and meet local Haitians who were SO friendly-- even though a little pushy, they were much more authentically friendly than the Jamaicans. What was hard for us about Labadee was that it was clearly an American-built port. It was like being at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon-- roller coasters, ziplines, pirate-themed signs & statues, rustic stalls for the vendors, carved trails for walking, etc. It was a fantastic little place to spend the day, but I felt like I was at a theme park. Many people would have no problem with that and I don’t think otherwise about them, but it was just hard to connect this beautiful little commercial island with Haiti. I’m not saying I did not enjoy my time in Labadee, because I did, I just felt a bit conflicted. As in, “I’m in Haiti????” Overall, Labadee is a beautiful cruise stop and the Haitians are so nice and friendly. The mountains are GORGEOUS and so is the water-- it just wasn’t entirely “authentically” the Haiti I have seen in images and heard from stories from friends, that’s all. The moral of the story: Enjoy it. Labadee is a very entertaining cruise stop, and I can imagine that it’s ten times more beautiful when the weather is nice.

 

Shopping at the vendor stalls

 

 

Next up: One more day at sea, and “Did we seriously just book another cruise?!?”

[tmlove17]

More Labadee pictures...

 

 

No one was really laying out...

 

 

Exploring along some of the trails...

 

 

My husband being... himself

 

 

View of the ship!

 

 

If you get a massage, this is what your view is...

 

 

Overally, we really did not do anything in Labadee except for explore the walking trails, see the entire place, shop a little bit at the vendor stalls, and then eat some food in the buffet line. We did not zip line or rent boats (they were not renting watercraft that day because of the weather), so we really cannot comment on any of those things. It was such a bummer that the weather was so bad in such a beautiful place, but like I said, it was kind of like we were at Typhoon Lagoon anyway. The beauty of the land was in the hills and in the people we met.

[tmlove17]

Yeah! You're back!

 

Thanks for reading!! :)

[tmlove17]

So pleased you are back. You were missed!

 

Thank you! That is so nice of you to say. :)

 

Life does get in the way - doesn't it????

 

;)

 

Glad you're back to finish, though. :)

 

I know. Those day jobs... :( But thank you for reading-- I really appreciate it!

[tmlove17]

Jamaica is a ***** hole. We are not fans of the W Caribbean because of that place. Have never had a good experience there. We have stayed at a few AI there and one was a Sandals that is way overrated. Can get a nice cruise on X with the liquor package and still be cheaper and a lot more luxurious.

 

We have found many times that it is better to take a tour from the vendors at the pier for the reasons that you have experienced. If the weather is bad you don't have to go, and they usually offer twice as much for 1/2 the cost.

 

The cruise line will claim that they offer shorter tours so you can do more than one in a day, or do one and have time to shop around the port. Naturally they are trying to accomodate us instead of generating more revenue. :D

 

 

.

 

It was really bizarre for me in Jamaica to have such a poor experience. Seriously-- you always hear of honeymoons in Jamaica and vacations in Jamaica and all of these wonderful, tropical experiences... but we just were very disappointed. Friends of ours went to Montego Bay and Ocho Rios during the trip and they said it was even worse than Falmouth. I don't know what the difference is-- maybe there are better cities on the island? And I totally agree with you about vendor excursions. The ONLY reason we went with the ship was because we heard a lot of negative things about the island from people who had traveled (i.e., getting back from their excursions late from broken down buses, only to have missed the ship...) that we did not want to chance it.

[tmlove17]

Just stumbled upon your review and I have a two observations:

 

1) You have a very cute necklace collection

 

2) We also did the Chukka Beach Break in Falmouth in January. We opted for the $29 one, since there were 4 of us, and I knew my kids wouldn't eat enough to justify it. Granted, the day we were there it was very warm and sunny, which can go a long ways to a good attitude. We arrived there at 8am and they had NO shuttles back until 1pm.

 

Once the second wave of passengers showed up (the "with lunch" excursion), they started setting up more chairs- even though we were practically at the water's edge, they started setting up a row of chairs directly in front of us- not even leaving any room to walk between the rows. I was a little annoyed at that, but we were leaving soon. Botton line was that that beach was too narrow and small to accomodate that many people.

 

The stray dogs were EVERYWHERE. Luckily no pregnant ones. This was actually the highlight of the day for my kids (aged 10 and 12). The dogs would come up...one, then two, three, and four...and the kids gave them each names and were petting them, etc. Two dogs even snuggled up on my daughter's lounge chair. When the fifth one came over, I got a little grossed out, started worrying about fleas, and sent them on their way.

 

There were several vendors there, but they didn't bother us too much. The key: no eye contact! I keep my sunglasses on and my gaze diverted- you can't even say hello or they're all over you (we used to live in NYC so we're not easily initimidated by these types anyway).

 

There was also a ton of sea grass (thick brown stuff) that kept washing up on the beach. There was a guy with a shovel and wheelbarrow who was supposed to be cleaning it off the beach...which he did for the first hour. After that he slowed down, until finally he napped and hung out under a tree and this kelp was ALL over the beach. Gross. Another bummer for people who were late arrivals, having to walk over that muck.

 

On the ride back to port, our van driver stopped at some roadside shack where someone brought a bag out to him...sketchy. I didn't unclench until we were back inside the port. I was more worried about having the kids with us...it's just not a safe area, and you can tell the Jamaicans are pretty desperate.

 

I have a bunch of pictures of the Chukka excursion in the trip report I wrote: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1782311

 

Good for you for getting your money back! I will probably avoid Falmouth in the future...or maybe just count it as another sea day.

 

Thank you for the necklace compliment! I am a stylist with a company called Stella & Dot (along with teaching and photography-- gotta do what I love!) so I have acquired quite the collection of their fabulous jewelry pieces. :)

 

That is interesting to hear your experience with the Chukka Beach Break. You were right to do the cheaper option and have longer at the beach-- it was just such a rip-off in my opinion to pay the $50 per person for the "lunch beach break" and to have a shorter time. The guy driving us said that we could come and go at any time-- and they sent shuttles every hour. Like I said, people could get there at 8:00 and leave at 3:00, and there was no telling who came earlier or what. I would definitely have done the early excursion had I known, but then again, I wish I would have known it was a public beach with vendors and stray dogs, and then I probably would have just hired a cab for 1/2 the price... :)

[tmlove17]

Just finished reading your review (so far) as it is pouring rain in Chicago this morning so I feel like I should be in your pictures. I love your positive attitude!

 

Ellen

 

It's raining here in Oregon too... sigh... if only I weren't working, I'd feel like I was back on vacation. ;) Thank you for reading!!

[tmlove17]

Great review! Can't wait for more.

 

Thank you for reading! I am trying to post one "day" per day. ;) I appreciate you tuning in!

[tmlove17]

I'm crawling out of the abyss to finish this review... :)

 

I'm a photographer + teacher, and April literally exploded for me with jobs & teaching requirements. I think I haven't had a day off in over three weeks! Needless to say, I haven't even logged onto these boards since then. I feel so bad for having started a review and taking so long to finish it!

 

I soooo miss the Silhouette and everything about her, but am counting down the days until our upcoming cruise on the Reflection! We'll be sailing the Mediterranean on one of those "pinch me, is this real?" cruises with a fabulous itinerary. Until then... :)

 

-----

 

Final Day: At Sea

 

The next day after Labadee, we had an "at sea" day, and wouldn't you know it, it was the day the sun decided to come out. It figured.

 

The captain came to our table that night after we sailed away from Labadee and told us to claim our seats on the deck early because we'd be in for some sunshine. Boy was he right! I think that day every passenger on board was on the top decks and for good reason: We had not seen the sun in nearly a week! It felt so good to "decompress" from the trip by literally laying out and doing nothing but eating, drinking and sleeping under the sun. We were very happy and sun-drunk that night, and thought to ourselves that we probably wouldn't have been able to handle that much sun all week, anyway. ;)

 

We also booked another cruise on board and took advantage of a special "President's Week Sailing Special," where if you booked a trip to Europe, you received all 3 of the 1, 2, 3 Go! promotion. So we decided to book our dream cruise to Northern Europe for next summer... which we will promptly cancel if we end up getting pregnant. :) (Apparently trip insurance doesn't cover pregnancy!) We would like to have a family sometime soon, but this was a great deal and a great price so re-booking on board didn't hurt us, and we have a long time to cancel before we lose our deposit. It is a 12-night cruise to Scandinavia and Russia and will be AMAZING!

 

Anyway, we didn't do much that last day at sea except sleep in the sun and rebook our next cruise, and then of course had to pack up. The worst part of the trip... :(

 

The next day, during debarkation, we had a 9am departure time and seriously-- we did not get out of the customs line until almost noon. It was BAD. DO NOT book flights out right now that depart any time before noon.

 

We stayed two more nights in Fort Lauderdale and visited Miami on that first day (yuck) and then Key West on the second day (amazing!). We stayed at a very disappointing hotel-- the Marriott by the Marina. I will never stay there again!! But thankfully we were out exploring both days so we did not have to stay very long in our rooms. They nickel and dimed the pants off of us, so it was a good thing those excursions were cancelled on board the ship or we would have definitely been in the hole. I digress...

 

Overall, there was nothing I would change about this cruise except the weather (and even that is iffy because of the $$ we got back from cancelled excursions). Some of our favorite things to do:

 

1. Sit on our balcony and look over the ocean, enjoying the views while reading and drinking wine

 

2. The premium beverage package!!! Enough said.

 

3. Eating in Blu... I will miss that luxury on our next cruise!

 

4. The people we met (awesome)

 

5. Spending some time in the casino each night

 

6. The Molecular Bar (black mamba and dragonfly!)

 

7. Pre-dinner trips to the Persian Gardens...

 

If you are going on the silhouette anytime soon, bon voyage! You will have an AMAZING time.

[willma]

Great to see you have come back to conclude your story.

I hope you come back and post reviews on your next trip, as you write very well.

[Xcitdcruiser]

Thank you so much for coming back to finish the review! Cannot wait to hear about your next cruise... or your baby planning!!

[LynMcGad]

Loved your review. I will be doing the same itinerary on the Silhouette next Jan. Just crossed off the beach excursion in Jamaica off our list of possible excursions, and decided to definitely upgrade to the Premium package. Thanks for a great review. And you and your DH are so cute!.

[raineyo]

Nice review can't wait to read more and see your pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Archaegeo]

Many people love the Western Caribbean cruise specifically for Cozumel and the private island of Labadee and do not get off the ship at all in Jamaica.

 

Jamaica is doing themselves no favors with repeat tourist business by being so pushy. I FULLY appreciate the low level of economic welfare there, but you cant encourage a tourism economy unless people enjoy themselves and want to return and tell their friends to go.

 

Most people in Jamaica do Dunn Rivers Falls, which is definitely worth doing once, but even there you have to exit through an open air market maze where you just get continuously accosted.

 

We are doing that same itinerary on the Allure in Oct, and Jamaica is our Enjoy the Ship day, there is no way I am taking my 8 mo daughter out into town there.

 

You are right that Falmouth is a misrepresentation of the island, it is 100% a tourist shopping experience, but with mostly non-island stores.

 

Also, we LOVE Labadee, just think of it as exactly like Typhoon island, it is a private island built for the RCI cruise lines (X, Azumara and RCL) to stop at. We love getting a cabana on the beach and just relaxing the day away (of course minus your weather) If you understand it is not a stop in Haiti, you can accept it more.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Archaegeo

[Azulann]

This was one of the best personal narratives of a cruise vacation I have read on CC.

Thank you so much.

Hope both of your plans come true, your European cruise and beginning a family.

[tmlove17]

This was one of the best personal narratives of a cruise vacation I have read on CC.

Thank you so much.

Hope both of your plans come true, your European cruise and beginning a family.

 

What a sincerely kind compliment! I'm sorry for such a delay in finishing the report but I appreciate your reading it :)