Silhouette Photo Review - Feb. 9-16 2014

[micmacmissy]

Well, here we go! I’m going to cover our week on the Silhouette as best I can. I figure I’ll go day by day and include our observations and take aways at the end. I’ll try not to leave you hanging and get this finished in a timely manner! My apologies ahead of time: If you’re looking for wonderful high quality photos, this isn’t the review for you. I have a point and shoot Sony Cybershot that has 12 megapixels and about 8 years old (somewhere in Florida, the great Gambee is having heart palpitations) and I didn’t take any food or menu photos. I know, I know, horrors. I was trying to balance getting a few halfway decent photos for a review against totally annoying my travel mates with the constant camera clicking.

 

BACKGROUND

This was our 4th cruise. Previous ones were Celebrity Mercury (1999), Celebrity Millennium (2008) and Royal Caribbean Independence (2013). We have really enjoyed Celebrity in the past, and jumped over to RCCL last year because we took our kids with us. At the time, it had been awhile since we cruised and we enjoyed Royal and found them pretty comparable to Celebrity. And our kids absolutely loved that cruise! (They couldn’t get over that anything they wanted to eat was free, and I think their cruise fare was more than covered by the amount of soft serve they consumed that week!) So you can imagine how annoyed our little angels were when we informed them that this cruise was just for us. I don’t know about you guys, but nice cruise vacations weren’t part of my childhood, but you couldn’t tell that to them! They acted like leaving them home was practically mental abuse. There were tears, bargains, and pleading. And even childish finger pointing (from me, as in: “Who’s got two thumbs and is going on a cruise without her kids? THIS lady!!!”) Actually, they stayed home with an indulgent Grandpa which is a whole different kind of vacation! (The kind where you don’t brush your teeth all week and you stay up too late and you have ice cream on your pancake. For lunch.)

 

We booked this cruise back in July with another couple who aren’t cruisers. (I’d like to add that they are also horrible parents who didn’t love their kids enough to take them along, either.) I was the designated planner, and given my love of planning (okay, it’s an obsession) I got right to work. We booked through an online travel agent who offered $150 OBC on top of the 123 package. We got 1A balconies and the price was $1,419 per person. Fine. Of course, part of being incredibly OCD, I mean, part of being a good planner means you check for price drops religiously, right? And by religiously I mean at least every day. So along came a $799 balcony guarantee that gave me pause. Hmmm….that would be saving us a LOT of money upfront. I called my travel agent. She explained taking the guarantee would mean we were giving up the 123 package and losing all but $50 of OBC. Honestly, we are not huge drinkers. I figured, even if we drank a TON more than normal, we’d still be ahead. I asked my husband if he would miss the big balcony. His reply: “I’ll sleep in a damn supply closet as long as I’m on vacation.” (Let’s just say he’s a low maintenance guy.) Our friends kept the 1A balcony and we took the plunge with the guarantee. And guess what? It worked out FINE. Three weeks later (more daily obsessive checking, now for a cabin assignment instead of a price drop) and we were assigned 2C balcony cabin 6159. Oh no! Dreaded deck 6, with the lifeboats! Obstructions, partial obstructions, and heart failure! Pouring over that one thread with all the S Class photos (oh, you know the one) and knowing the horrible vacation that was about to be ruined by this terrible cabin assignment. (Which we wound up loving, but I’m getting ahead of myself.)

 

PRE CRUISE

Or: This was all so much cheaper LAST year!

The last two times we’ve cruised out of Fort Lauderdale we’ve always stayed at Hyatt Pier 66. It’s got nice pools, it’s close to the airport and the port, and I usually can score a $99 room with a military discount (thanks to low maintenance husband who’s also an Army guy). So imagine my surprise when I went to book this hotel and it was $379! I was not too happy, since $379 is getting close to the Ritz Carlton ballpark, and the Hyatt, while nice, is NOT the Ritz. So I decided to look around. And found that during this particular weekend, Fort Lauderdale was almost completely booked up! So I turned to some other obsessive compulsive planners that I know, I mean, I turned to Cruise Critic for help. And some kind person told me about Last Minute Travel, where I was able to book Hyatt Pier 66 (which was showing sold out everywhere else) for the not-so-bargain price of $269. Oh well.

 

Same thing happened with airfare. Southwest flies direct from our airport to FLL, and last year, I got all four of us $69 one way tickets! Yes, our family of four flew to FLL and back for less than $500. Last year. This year, it was $500 for just the two of us…no bargains to be found. Fun fact: even super obsessive, organized, planning people forget things. (Like to check in for their flight 24 hours before.) When I logged on to Southwest (16 hours before our flight), I got a message that said, “Online check-in for this flight has ended. You will get a boarding pass at the airport, you loser.” And you know what happens then? You get to the airport and the lovely skycap who checks your luggage says, “I can’t give you a boarding pass. Hopefully you can get one at the gate.” (Side note for all you relaxed, calm, optimistic vacation planners who annoyingly insist everything will work out no matter what: THIS IS WHY YOU FLY IN A DAY EARLY.) Luckily, we got to the gate early enough to get a boarding pass on this (oversold) flight. Our friends boarding numbers were A25. Ours was something like Y97. But who cares?! At that point I would have ridden in the cargo hold just to get to Florida.

So now we’re in Florida. Cab from FLL to the Hyatt was $20 for four people. Had lovely rooms with veranda overlooking pool area (actually our friends room was across the hall overlooking the not-so-lovely parking lot area). The bed was nice and comfy and there was a great shower. We dropped our stuff and headed up to the Tower observation deck to see the ships leaving port, and then we headed to the restaurant for dinner. We usually eat the Hyatt restaurant, Pelican Landing. Good food, right on the water, a few beers, and we were all set. That night, we hung out in the hotel lobby/bar area watching some Olympics and having a few drinks. A quick phone call to the kids to pretend we missed them, and we were off to bed.

 

Hyatt Pier 66, the tower:

 

Pool area:

 

Pool view room:

 

Room: (yuck, I hate a tile floor)

 

Party shower:

 

Wow, I am super exhausted. Hats off to those of you who post tons of pictures and go on for pages...this takes awhile! It's even harder knowing that there are no cocktails awaiting me and I have to turn down my own bed tonight. Ugh. More soon!

[CPA92]

Love a review that includes photos! Will watch for your next post. I'm sailing at the end of March and that can't come quick enough as we are getting clobbered my yet another snow storm.

[poolwife]

Love, love your writing. You cracked me up about your kids. Sounds like they have an awesome Grandpa they must adore. I am really looking forward to the rest of your review as we sail on the Silhouette on March 2. I am sooo excited and so looking forward to it. Was your trip Easter or western Caribbean? If you were eastern what did you do on St. Kitts and St. Maarten? Also did you eat in the Lawn Club grill? How was it?

Well really looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[micmacmissy]

Love, love your writing. You cracked me up about your kids. Sounds like they have an awesome Grandpa they must adore. I am really looking forward to the rest of your review as we sail on the Silhouette on March 2. I am sooo excited and so looking forward to it. Was your trip Easter or western Caribbean? If you were eastern what did you do on St. Kitts and St. Maarten? Also did you eat in the Lawn Club grill? How was it?

Well really looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

 

Yes, Grandpa is the best EVER. Our trip was western, so I can't help with St. Kitts or St. Maarten. We did eat in the Lawn Club Grill. Their flatbread/pizza was really good, as was the dessert (warm cookie). Unfortunately, the service there wasn't great...and the restaurant wasn't even full that night. (Most people rave about the service there, maybe it was an off night?) I personally HATE cooking, and I'm certainly not going to volunteer to do it on vacation, but you'll have that option too!

[lvssushi]

Kids never change no matter how old they are! My two (college graduates) complained that they weren't coming with us on our cruise next month!

 

I will admit, this is our first cruise we have taken without them but I have no guilt!. :D

 

Looking forward to reading more of your review!:cool:

[MisterBill99]

We did eat in the Lawn Club Grill. Their flatbread/pizza was really good, as was the dessert (warm cookie). Unfortunately, the service there wasn't great...and the restaurant wasn't even full that night. (Most people rave about the service there, maybe it was an off night?) I personally HATE cooking, and I'm certainly not going to volunteer to do it on vacation, but you'll have that option too!

We were on the same cruise and ate at LCG 3 times since we had the Ultimate Dining Package, and they were the restaurant open for lunch on the last sea day. I cooked at lunch so I could get the apron :-). Flatbreads are good but they're just pizza. We got one the first time but skipped it the other times to concentrate on the grilled food and sides/dessert. The lamb chops are excellent, as was the filet mignon. As for service, it was generally good, but they're not as quick about delivering food as they should be, especially since you can see that your food is ready (when I did the grilling, I had to wait a couple of minutes for the waiter to deliver it as he was with another table and then went to do something else before getting our tray.

 

My kids (also college grads living at home but who have jobs) were also not thrilled about not joining us, and I guess it was made even worse by their having to shovel 16" of snow while we were away!

[riclop]

Thanks for starting your review.

[micmacmissy]

Day One – Embarkation

 

We woke up pretty early and walked from the Hyatt over the bridge to Einstein Bagels for a quick breakfast. This is a great way to see all the ships in port and get a little morning stretch. We packed up our stuff and jumped in a taxi to the port. (They will try to get you to take their shuttle for $11 per person, but then you’re waiting for them to fill up their van. Get in a taxi for $20 and you’ll go straight there!)

 

We arrived at the Pier around 10:30am, and we were on the ship by 11:30am, latest. They have a very smooth and organized process. We got our Sea Pass cards printed and they had our room number, but Tom & Linda Murphy’s name on them. Who are Tom & Linda? Why are they in 6159? And <gasp> did we maybe get an upgrade??? Are we headed to the Deluxe Captain Super Sweet Suite? We waited while the port woman checked on the issue. And….um, no. Just a mixup and we were on our way. In the same room.

 

 

Normally we get on the ship and I am so hyper, I just want to walk around and see EVERYTHING. Immediately! But we were traveling with friends who know how to relax and wanted to get started right away. (So strange!) For some reason, they didn’t want to take my 98-point tour of the ship while I point out everything I’ve researched. So we parked ourselves up on deck 15 aft, behind the Lawn Club, where there is the Sunset Bar and some nice padded lawn chairs. The weather was awesome! Bar servers were everywhere, too.

 

We walked by the pool on the way up:

 

Walked past the lawn club (the lawn there looked almost as bad as my lawn at home. Which is saying something!)

 

Ahh...here we are! We sat here for a couple hours until rooms were ready.

 

Views from the top deck of other ships in port:

[micmacmissy]

Finally at 1:45pm there was an announcement that staterooms were ready.

 

And I was anxious to see my horrible, terrible, obstructed balcony, where I would be forced to endure sunny, 80 degree weather all week with evil lifeboats obstructing part of my view.

 

And here it is:

 

View while sitting down:

 

View up and down while standing up:

 

So, honestly, this didn't bother me at all. I thought it would. But it didn't. In fact, having just seen Captain Phillips, it was like a movie prop right outside my balcony. They should stick a Tom Hanks dummy in there and charge people more for that room!

 

Here's what it looked like while at sea (keep in mind this is sitting down and I'm SHORT!)

 

Here is one leaning way over:

[micmacmissy]

The rooms are tiny. Like, boxy tiny. I'm 5'2 and I felt like I could maybe reach the ceiling while also touching the wall. The design of the room with the angled wall is a little tight. I know they can pack more rooms in that way, but this was smaller than the M class stateroom, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, it was in great condition with plenty of storage. That is, once you realize that these are above the bed:

 

 

The closet is big, but there are only 3 drawers, not enough to store folded clothes. Once you discover the overbed bins, you can really fit a lot of stuff.

 

Bathroom was tiny but well organized, plenty of storage for all your stuff:

 

Water pressure was awesome, and plenty of hot water.

 

The only pictures of the room have my husband lounging all over the bed. Trust me, you don't want to see that. So google and you'll find them somewhere else, without a guy on the bed snoring with his mouth open.

 

Almost time for muster drill (ugh) and sail away (yay!)

[Chitown12562]

Thanks for the great pictures and the review. I'll take the view from that balcony over the view I have now of our recent snow fall any day!

[Brentngigi]

Enjoyable and well written review! Can't wait to read the rest.

[jannam]

Awesome review so far. You have me chuckling at my desk while reading. We will be sailing the same itinerary on March 23. Can't wait!

[helen haywood]

Love your review and I'm sure Gambee the Great won't mind keeping his title!

[FRMPEI]

. That is, once you realize that these are above the bed:

 

 

OMG that is so funny because that is exactly what happened to us back in 2010 on our first "S" class Equinox. I think it was a couple of days before we discovered that over the bed storage.

 

Loving the review and pictures.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[micmacmissy]

Our muster station was in the photo shop area at 3:45. I would suggest you do NOT arrive early to muster. We did, and they lined us up against the back wall, shoulder to shoulder. And then proceeded to line others up in front of us, until we were packed in. That's fine, but I felt sorry for all the older folks (and there were a lot of them) they were forced to stand 20+ minutes crowded in with everyone else. Older folks should have muster in the theatre, or somewhere they can sit down. Now keep in mind, I'm only 40(ish), but I'm an old lady at heart. I can't stand kids these days with the loud music and the tattoos and the long muster drills, standing up. ;)

 

Get me outta here!!!!

 

So after the muster drill we headed up to the Solstice Deck for sailaway. Be warned that if you do sailaway up here, this is where the ship's horn is located. So I had a heart attack and blew out my eardrums along with my sailaway drink.

 

Oasis (or was it Allure?) left first. Amazing how they turn that behemoth around.

 

 

Passing the beach. I wonder if the folks in those condos ever get sick of the cheering, the airhorns, every single week?

 

Edited February 18, 2014 by micmacmissy

[virginialucy]

The rooms are tiny. Like, boxy tiny. I'm 5'2 and I felt like I could maybe reach the ceiling while also touching the wall. The design of the room with the angled wall is a little tight. I know they can pack more rooms in that way, but this was smaller than the M class stateroom, I'm pretty sure. Anyway, it was in great condition with plenty of storage. That is, once you realize that these are above the bed:

 

 

The closet is big, but there are only 3 drawers, not enough to store folded clothes. Once you discover the overbed bins, you can really fit a lot of stuff.

 

Bathroom was tiny but well organized, plenty of storage for all your stuff:

 

Water pressure was awesome, and plenty of hot water.

 

The only pictures of the room have my husband lounging all over the bed. Trust me, you don't want to see that. So google and you'll find them somewhere else, without a guy on the bed snoring with his mouth open.

 

Almost time for muster drill (ugh) and sail away (yay!)

 

I'm also 5'2". Did you have trouble reaching the storage cabinets over the bed? I'm thinking about bringing some storage cubes for those cabinets but if I can't reach them anyway I might not bother.

[micmacmissy]

Okay. I'm starving. Let's talk about dinner. One of the first thing we checked in our cabin was our dining assignment, which should be late seating with our friends. Check! Called our friends in their cabin and asked their assignment. They said, "Early seating, table 2163." Ha Ha. Very funny. No, really. What's your table?

 

Well, turns out they weren't kidding, so we hiked down to the MDR. Where there were 82 other people (okay, maybe more like 12) trying to iron out their assignments. Left the husbands there to wait our turn and we went and made reservations in Murano and Qsine. The maitre d' couldn't get us late seating all together, so we signed up for Select Dining and got a reservation for 8pm that night. All good, right? I assured our friends that this was the way to go...after all, last year on Royal we had this kind of dining and we never waited more than 2 minutes for a table, and we had the same awesome waiters every night. And somewhere upstairs, God laughed when I said that.

 

When we showed up at the MDR, it was chaos. People everywhere. With reservations, without reservations, just mass confusion and one very tense young woman at the podium. I gave her our name. She told us "Wait in the martini lounge and my colleague will come get you. Half an hour." Um, but wait: we have a reservation. "Wait in martini lounge. My colleague will come get you." in a slightly more authoritative tone. I was honestly afraid this woman was going to jump me. I think she was cranky because her bun was really tight. We were obedient and waited as she told us.

 

Sure enough, about 1/2 hr later her "colleague" came and got us. And led us back into the dining room to table...2265. No. 2268. No. Let's try 2292. Wait, no, there is someone already sitting there. Where is 2268? He hurried off to look, leaving the four of us standing mashed between other people's tables looking a little lost. Meanwhile, waiters are trying to get past, asking us what we are doing (how should WE know?!) and I was hungry. I was just about to pick some bread off someone's table when a manager came up from the back. He immediately whisked us off to a table in an empty back room and sent a waiter out. Phew. Rescued! The rest of the dinner was good. I assured our friends that on the first night, these things happen. Tomorrow will be much better!!! And God laughed harder.

 

After dinner (sorry, no menus or food photos, but I had prime rib and it was good!) we headed to the theatre. Look, cruising is great, but let's be honest: the entertainment is pretty mediocre. I've seen high school productions that are better than some cruise ship shows, honestly. But my husband is so optimistic and our friends were new to it, so we went. I think the show was called "Seriously Mediocre Stage Show" or something like that. Actually, the show was a comedy show with Cory Kahane, who is a comedienne from Last Comic Standing. I've actually seen her before and she's pretty good. But playing to a cruise ship crowd and keeping it clean is rough. The show was rough. Time to drink more! (That helps the enjoyment level of a cruise ship production, trust me!)

 

After the "entertainment" we headed off to bed. Oooh, the bed was comfortable. Bigger than a queen, very comfy, but man, those pillows. They are very...pillowy. Like, 16 inches high pillowy. Ugh. If you're a tummy sleeper and you need a flatter pillow, just ask for it. I did that the next morning, and our wonderful stateroom attendant Jefferi brought me a wonderfully flat pillow. The pillow was SO much better I almost invited Jefferi to try it out with me. :eek: (Just kidding. I left him a tip instead.)

 

So: stateroom comfiness, cleanliness, turn down service: A+!

Giant pillowy pillows: F

[micmacmissy]

I'm also 5'2". Did you have trouble reaching the storage cabinets over the bed? I'm thinking about bringing some storage cubes for those cabinets but if I can't reach them anyway I might not bother.

 

Nope, no trouble reaching them. I also stood on the bed! :)

[Turtles06]

I'm also 5'2". Did you have trouble reaching the storage cabinets over the bed? I'm thinking about bringing some storage cubes for those cabinets but if I can't reach them anyway I might not bother.

 

Pretty much same height as I am. We've sailed on the Eclipse and it was not easy for me to reach those cabinets without standing on the bed. Here's a tip I read on here: take the life jackets out of their bin under the bed and put them in those cabinets, and use the bin under the bed for storage.

 

OP: thanks for taking the time to post your review. We'll be on the Silhouette this fall, and even though we've sailed on the Eclipse, it's always informative to read about a specific ship (particularly since the specialty restaurants are different). Did you find that the alcoves (which are not on the Eclipse) detracted from the lawn and the views from the lawn?

Edited February 18, 2014 by Turtles06

[virginialucy]

We were on the same cruise and ate at LCG 3 times since we had the Ultimate Dining Package, and they were the restaurant open for lunch on the last sea day. I cooked at lunch so I could get the apron :-). Flatbreads are good but they're just pizza. We got one the first time but skipped it the other times to concentrate on the grilled food and sides/dessert. The lamb chops are excellent, as was the filet mignon. As for service, it was generally good, but they're not as quick about delivering food as they should be, especially since you can see that your food is ready (when I did the grilling, I had to wait a couple of minutes for the waiter to deliver it as he was with another table and then went to do something else before getting our tray.

 

My kids (also college grads living at home but who have jobs) were also not thrilled about not joining us, and I guess it was made even worse by their having to shovel 16" of snow while we were away!

 

We're thinking about doing Lawn Club Grill for lunch if it's offered. Is the menu the same as dinner? Can you get that awesome-looking cookie dessert at lunch?

[micmacmissy]

Day Two: At Sea

 

Woke up and hit the gym. We probably got there around 7:30am and it was packed! No treadmills to be had. After about 10 minutes I was able to find one, but there were a lot of people around. I think everyone's intentions are still good on the first sea day, don't you think? Then by Day 3, everyone hits the buffet instead. (And by Day 6 everyone's given up and they strap on the feed bag and wear it around the ship.)

 

Gym is super clean, lots of treadmills and ellipticals, one rowing machine, and a bunch of weight equipment and free weights. Also lots of yoga and bosu balls to use. Music piped in was kinda loud (I could hear it over my ipod, and did I mention I'm an old lady when it comes to noise?). They had a lovely cooler of cold towels for after your workout. Ahhh.

 

I forgot photos of the gym. But you're not here for the photos- go visit Gambee's site at http://www.cruisewithgambee.com and you will see loads of wonderful photos of every nook on the ship. Even the toilet paper holder. (And no, I'm not kidding this time.)

 

After the gym we hit the buffet, because I was starving! Celebrity does this well...much better than Royal. Breakfast was great. Somehow they manage to keep the sausage and bacon nice and hot, and they have made to order omelets (which, dang, I didn't discover until day 5 but they were delicious). They also have good waffles (if you get them fresh, don't you dare take those warm soggy ones out of the chafing dish!) and lots of fresh fruit, yogurt, etc. We never had trouble finding a good spot to sit, and the whole buffet area is very clean.

 

The hand sanitizer people are out in full force. One lady squirted into my hand so enthusiastically that I got five tablespoons of it and a huge squirt on my leg. Geez, do I look that dirty?! Whatever they're doing, I guess it's working, since no one got sick on this trip.

 

After breakfast and changing, it was time to get comatose by the pool. Except: chair hogs. When will these people LEARN?! By 8am you saw all kinds of towels, books, flip flops, towel clips, etc, marking off the chairs. Sigh. It takes every ounces of my willpower not to move this stuff around. We did find a nice spot (again, up on the Solstice Deck) and spent most of the day lounging.

 

In the afternoon I headed to the spa for a facial. It was FANTASTIC. Although not cheap. Everyone in the spa was very friendly and there was no high pressure product sell. I left feeling radiant (my face, anyway) and she told me not to get my face wet when I took a shower that evening. So I went to take a shower and forget it. It is impossible to shower without getting your face wet. Oh well. I showered, got my face wet, and we dressed and headed to Michael's Club.

 

 

We love beer and we were psyched to hit up Michael's Club. They advertised beer tasting at 7pm, so the four of us showed up. The waitress there was confused when we told her we were there for beer tasting. She said she could only do a beer tasting for 3, 6, 9, or 12. And there were 8 people in total. So, she told our party of 4 and their party of 4 that we could choose 3 people to do the tasting. Now, does that make any sense to you?! She explained it was because each beer served 3. We offered to split each beer 4 ways, and she seemed okay with that. So the beer tasting was enjoyable (although now I think back, we were charged for 4 even though we had beer for 3). I'm still confused.

 

Anyway, I've heard that some ships are taking away Michael's Club and designating it as suite guests only? Not sure how true that is, but if it is true, it's a shame. This is such a nice spot, right off the Ensemble lounge (so you can hear the live music coming in), it would be a shame to lose it. They have a great beer selection, too.

 

 

I would include photos of the beer tasting, but my eyes are half closed in every picture. Which I'm sure has everything to do with my being exhausted, and nothing to do with the variety of 6 beers that I sucked down. Am I right?

 

So we head back to the MDR, where we will immediately be whisked to our table. We reminded the scary podium lady that we wanted the same waiter and had a reservation, but she waved us off to some other table in some other section and man...these MDR tables are CLOSE together. Like, as in inches apart. What are they thinking? You could easily hear your neighbors. Oh well. Can't remember what we ate, but it was adequate.

 

We headed to the Molecular Bar for some drinks. I've heard rave reviews about this place, and the drinks were okay, but not fantastic. And the ambiance isn't that great, it's sort of a pass through. But I did my part for the review and slugged back a ginger mojito...

 

 

After drinks was another stage production; I think it was called "Celebrity Silhouette presents A Thoroughly Uninspired Stage Show." Actually the cruise director kept referring to it as a "Cirque style" show. Um, so it's not Cirque Soleil, but it's....Cirque...adjacent? Either way, I sent my husband off to the show and I hit the blackjack table. A girl can only take so much.

 

Casino: Sloppy dealers! Lots of wayward cards slipping around. They were nice enough, and I can't complain because I broke even on blackjack. Thank goodness there is no smoking in the casino anymore! (I thought I was going to need an iron lung after our last Royal Caribbean cruise. You can't even see your hand in front of your face for all the smoke that was in there!) Definitely keeps me out. But with no smoke, I was free to gamble away the kids' college fund all week long.

 

That's it for the sea day...tomorrow...Cozumel!

Edited February 18, 2014 by micmacmissy

[micmacmissy]

Pretty much same height as I am. We've sailed on the Eclipse and it was not easy for me to reach those cabinets without standing on the bed. Here's a tip I read on here: take the life jackets out of their bin under the bed and put them in those cabinets, and use the bin under the bed for storage.

 

OP: thanks for taking the time to post your review. We'll be on the Silhouette this fall, and even though we've sailed on the Eclipse, it's always informative to read about a specific ship (particularly since the specialty restaurants are different). Did you find that the alcoves (which are not on the Eclipse) detracted from the lawn and the views from the lawn?

 

To be honest, we didn't use the lawn at all. The alcoves were there, and do take up a lot of space, and only once did I see anyone using them. Kinda a waste of space, in my opinion. (I know, revenue, revenue!) And the lawn left over was very, very tiny. Not sure how they play bocce or croquet or football or whatever they do up there!

[micmacmissy]

We're thinking about doing Lawn Club Grill for lunch if it's offered. Is the menu the same as dinner? Can you get that awesome-looking cookie dessert at lunch?

 

The Lawn Club was only open for lunch on the last sea day, from noon-1:30pm. No idea if the menu is the same as dinner or what the charge is, though.

Edited February 18, 2014 by micmacmissy

[lovestx]

Thanks for the review and the great humor! It's a pleasure to read on a snowy day in Boston!