Silhouette Review - 18 Nov out of Rome - Med and Adriatic Seas (13 Nights)

[Iluvcruising2]

The next few posts provide a glimpse of what we did in Venice. We sail into Venice in the morning and the sun was just rising.

 

The ship would be following the channel here, and we will reach the cruise port. We would be the only ship in port that day.

 

After getting off the ship, we would walk to the People Mover station. The people mover would take us to Piazalle Roma (P.Roma).

 

We would buy our 36-hour Vaporetta tickets from here.

 

This was inside the river bus, Line Number 1. 3 seats on each side with a large center aisle. Each boat could take probably 150 to 200 pax. I can imagine that the boats must be packed in summer!

 

Sunny cold day. Nice views from the aft of the river bus.

[Iluvcruising2]

Gondolas, moored for the winter! There were many more Gondolas than passengers during off-season.

 

There is the Doge Palace. I think they are worth a visit. They have very grand rooms within, however, we were not allowed to take photos.

 

The line to enter the Basilica. The line moved very quickly.

 

St Mark's Square. A glorious day! (Wonder how much LG paid to have their huge advert there......)

[Iluvcruising2]

Here are some tourists on a gondola. Frankly, I think it is quite a squeeze to have so many people on the Gondola. Two is ideal!

 

The gondolas bring you through the small canals. Very quaint.

 

This was in Murano, watching the artisans producing Murano glass. They looked pretty, but we didn't buy any. Very fragile stuff!

 

Now, this was a crane on a barge. The crane was actually doing some piling. Bang, bang, bang... we could hear the piling of wood into the river bed. Very interesting.

[Iluvcruising2]

What happens if there is a medical emergency and you need to be evacuated to the nearest hospital?

They send a water ambulance of course! That's the orange boat.

 

This was the F.Nove Vaporetta station, located on the northern side of Venice main island. We had lunch in that pizzeria.

 

Remember to validate your ticket BEFORE you get on the river bus. There are many ticket checkers, especially during high season.

 

The view of the Silhouette from the aft, while the ship was docked in Venice.

 

A closer look.

 

Yes, we were in Venice.

[Iluvcruising2]

Main Dining Room Dinner menu that evening

 

This was the dessert menu.

 

Look carefully. You might find somebody.

 

Price lists for iPad minis and iPads. The ship didn't carry the iPad Air yet.

 

A very empty gym that evening. The gym has a very spacious feel.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Iluvcruising2

[FTLcruisers]

we were on this cruise with you (and stayed on for the TA back for Port Everglades). It was great looking through all the photos of the ship - the Silhouette is a beauty and this itinerary was awesome!

 

Marianne

[Iluvcruising2]

we were on this cruise with you (and stayed on for the TA back for Port Everglades). It was great looking through all the photos of the ship - the Silhouette is a beauty and this itinerary was awesome!

 

Marianne

 

Thanks for your note. Hope you had a great TA cruise!

[NCMtnBoys]

Thanks for the review...re-living the cruise through your pictures and review. I even see us in one of your photos...the formal night dining room! Loved the Silhouette and the itinerary. Had a great time, seems you did as well.

[Iluvcruising2]

Thanks for the review...re-living the cruise through your pictures and review. I even see us in one of your photos...the formal night dining room! Loved the Silhouette and the itinerary. Had a great time, seems you did as well.

 

Thanks for leaving a note.

 

Yes, we had a great time, though somtimes the seas were rather rocky!

[Iluvcruising2]

This was our second day in Venice. The view from Rialto Bridge.

 

These were the narrow touristy streets. We went into many shops to browse.

 

We bought some stuff from the Bata shop. I didn't realise that Bata was founded back in 1894. Long history.

 

We walk, and we walk. I relied heavily on my iPhone app called CityMaps2Go, which doesn't require a data connection. It uses the iPhone GPS. I must say that the major signposts were also useful, e.g. in this picture you can see Per Rialto. We looked at stuff in the Timberland shop but didn't buy any.

 

The rest of the pictures for our second day roaming attempt can be found here:

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2013/12/venice-overnight-call-part-4-roaming.html

[Iluvcruising2]

Oh, before we leave Venice, here are some more Star Wars pictures.

 

Luke Skywalker visiting the local Police station.

 

Looks like a nice place to take a break. Luke can't be fighting Darth Vader all the time. He needed a time-out too.

 

Of course, R2D2 can't be too far behind.

[Iluvcruising2]

Main Dining Room Dinner menu, our 2nd night in Venice.

 

Maine Lobster Ravioli

 

BBQ Pork Spring Roll

 

Pasta Chimayo Linguine

 

Osso Buco (Ox Tail!)

[Iluvcruising2]

Coffee. I have it black.

 

This was the Chocolate lava. I think this was the second time we were having this, not that we mind!

[Iluvcruising2]

We were supposed to be docking at Ravenna, the day after Venice. However, this didn't materialize. The seas were too rough, there were 35 to 40 knot winds and the port of Ravenna was closed. At about 8:30am, the Captain came on the intercom to announce that the decision had been made to skip the port of Ravenna and we would make our way towards Catania. We would have an additional sea day.

 

I think most passengers were fine with this decision. However, there were some unhappy customers, because they had missed this port of call. Oh well, you can't please everybody. Safety should always come first.

 

So this was a day for us to chill. Spare a thought for the crew. During a sea day, the crew works doubly hard. The Cruise Director had to scramble to put together many additional activities for the day. Crew had to work doubly hard. Additional activities they put in included dance lessons at the Centrum.

[Iluvcruising2]

Since we had time to walk around the ship, we did. This was the Blu Restaurant, for the Aqua Class passengers.

 

Another angle of Blu.

 

During this additional sea day, the seas were rather rocky indeed! The Captain told us that we should exit the weather system and get to much calmer waters by late afternoon. He turned out to be absolutely correct. I guess with modern radar systems, the Bridge crew can forecast the sea state ahead quite accurately.

Edited December 22, 2013 by Iluvcruising2

[Chitown12562]

That's for the review and great pictures. This is a cruise I am thinking about taking one day. Loved the ship, Venice, and St Marks Basilica!

 

I'll visit your web page and look at some of the videos too!

Edited December 22, 2013 by Chitown12562

[Iluvcruising2]

That's for the review and great pictures. This is a cruise I am thinking about taking one day. Loved the ship, Venice, and St Marks Basilica!

 

I'll visit your web page and look at some of the videos too!

 

Thanks for leaving a note. Yes, this was a great cruise indeed and I would personally recommend Celebrity Cruises, especially if you do not have young ones with you!

 

(Overall, I think my kids still like Royal better though they had a very good time on Celebrity. This is to be expected since Royal is geared towards families with kids.)

[cruise kitty]

We were supposed to be docking at Ravenna, the day after Venice. However, this didn't materialize. The seas were too rough, there were 35 to 40 knot winds and the port of Ravenna was closed. At about 8:30am, the Captain came on the intercom to announce that the decision had been made to skip the port of Ravenna and we would make our way towards Catania. We would have an additional sea day.

 

I think most passengers were fine with this decision. However, there were some unhappy customers, because they had missed this port of call. Oh well, you can't please everybody. Safety should always come first.

 

So this was a day for us to chill. Spare a thought for the crew. During a sea day, the crew works doubly hard. The Cruise Director had to scramble to put together many additional activities for the day. Crew had to work doubly hard. Additional activities they put in included dance lessons at the Centrum.

 

I was up at 5:30 for the Ravenna day, blow drying my hair around 6ish, looking outside & realizing something was a bit wrong, by 6:45, we'd already made a few circles outside the dock area, but were unable to pull in, spoke w/cabin attendant shortly after 7 & he confirmed we probably wouldn't be docking, but they were looking for an alternative port.

 

We had breakfast in Blu, & then hightailed it to the chairs near guest relations to watch the side show of semi hysterical passengers demanding "compensation" Really? Missed ports are a part of cruising, but some folks don't realize this. Although I was really looking forward to Ravenna, I enjoyed the bonus sea day. & DH really enjoyed watching the complainers at the desk. :D

[Iluvcruising2]

This was the main dining room menu on our additional sea day.

 

Some fried balls. hah!

 

Soup.

 

Some fish. It tasted quite good.

Edited December 23, 2013 by Iluvcruising2

[Iluvcruising2]

There have been many questions and comments on the Brunch on Celebrity. We had our Brunch on a sea day. The brunch was not well advertised, I found it on the Celebrity Today.

 

We were in the line before the doors opened. It was definitely crowded.

 

Here is a view of the Main Dining Room where brunch was served.

 

Look at the red X - for Celebrity

 

For more pictures, please refer to my blog post:

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2013/12/brunch-on-celebrity-silhouette-nov-2013.html

[Iluvcruising2]

Here are some pictures of the Celebrity iLounge. You had to come here to get your Internet set up. We used our free Internet minutes (45 minutes per Elite member). The staff helped me to set up my iPad to access the Internet and I could access from my stateroom. Take note though, the access speeds were usually very slow. Good enough for emails.

 

Some of the iMacs available for us. You could surf Royal Caribbean websites for free. Good place to check up on your next cruise!

 

To refrain from eating or drinking in the iLounge.

 

I have put more pictures as well as a short video my blog post - http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2013/12/celebrity-silhouette-apple-ilounge-video.html

[Iluvcruising2]

This was our final sea day, which was the third last day of the cruise. The next two days were port days, before we reach Rome.

 

We attended a very good lecture by the Captain title the secrets of navigation. Captain Dimitros was able to add a lot of humour into a rather serious topic. I learnt a lot from this lecture. Worth attending, if you know nothing, like me. Subsequently I found out that they put the entire lecture into the on-demand TV in the stateroom. So you could watch the lecture without attending and that was cool!

 

That's the captain speaking.

[Iluvcruising2]

It was a very calm sea day. That was nice. The seas were rather rough earlier in this cruise.

 

May the Force be with you.

 

This was the outside seating area of the Oceanview Cafe. You can see that the are is rather large.

[Iluvcruising2]

Dinner time! This was the Main Dining Room menu, Formal Night, on the final sea day. I enjoyed this menu the most.

 

This was the Creamy Salmon Rilette. It had a small serving of caviar.

 

Squash risotto, which had scallops.

[Iluvcruising2]

This was the lobster.

 

This was the Beef Wellington, something my kid really liked.

 

The dessert menu for the evening.

 

The Baked Alaska. We liked this a lot.

 

This next video was taken after the final formal night dinner was served. I didn't know that they could turn the MDR into a Disco! It was fun. Patti Honacki was on the staircase between Deck 3 and 4, giving a short speech to recognize the waiters, assistant waiters and chefs on board. Fun!

 

I just found out that Cruise Director Patti Honacki has a public facebook page. She just got on the Silhouette on 18 Nov, taking over from Lisa Richard.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ive-Cruised-with-Cruise-Director-Patti-Honacki/327193559690