First-time Cruiser’s Review of Silhouette’s Western Caribbean 1-27-2014

[LynMcGad]

First a little about us--My husband is 58 and I am 60, and we are both retired. Over the years we have taken very, very few vacations. Kids, college expenses, etc. always were the priority. But a year ago I decided it was time for us and booked a 7 night cruise on the Silhouette. I knew I would love it, but wasn’t so sure that it would be my husband’s cup of tea. I hoped that this cruise would be the first of more to come. So to stack the deck in my favor, I booked a veranda on the hump, a 4 night specialty dining package, and upgraded our 123 Go classic drink package to the premium package.

 

Embarkation was a bit hectic. We live in middle Georgia and decided to drive down to Ft. Lauderdale a couple of days early. We stayed in a hotel near the Sawgrass Mills shopping center and it was a quick and easy drive to the port. Hubby left me and luggage at the terminal while he parked the car. Lessons learned are that if I have a drink package, why did I carry on two bottles of champagne? It is really heavy! And from reading the boards here I knew I was over packing before we left home, but I just couldn’t stop myself. We were there around 11-11:30 and while the lines to be screened were long, they moved quickly. We were on the ship in a reasonable amount of time.

 

We had lunch at the buffet, and they announced that rooms were ready around 1:15. After dumping the carryon bags in the room, we explored the ship and set up our reservations for the specialty restaurants. Before long we were on one of the top decks enjoying a drink as the ship was leaving the port.

 

Cabin—The cabin we booked was a veranda on the hump that had the bed next to the balcony. It was wonderful. It was clean, well designed, and there was enough closet space even for an over-packer like me. I especially enjoyed sitting on our veranda early in the morning. Our attendant, Jude, was very reserved, but did a good job of taking care of our requests. The only bad thing about this cabin is that I wouldn’t be able to book a cabin without a veranda on any future cruise.

 

Dining--We had dinner in Murano, Tuscan Grill, Qsine and the Lawn Club grill. We had dinner in the MDR twice and in the buffet once. We loved, loved, loved Murano, Tuscan Grill and Qsine and will definitely return to those restaurants. The food and service were truly exceptional. I think part of the experience in the Lawn Club Grill is that you help prepare your meal. But my husband wasn’t interested in helping so I think we missed some of the fun of this venue. The quality of the food there was excellent, but it was missing the wow factor of the other three restaurants. The experience probably would have different had we participated in the cooking. And I have to say that the service at the Lawn Club Grill was also truly exceptional. Overall, the food was much better than I expected, and I was expecting a lot. The only meal that wasn’t really good was our dinner in the buffet. We enjoyed the buffet for breakfast and lunch, but dinner that particular night was lackluster. I guess it was just an off night.

 

Bars—We particularly enjoyed the creative drinks in the Molecular Bar, and I worked my way through most of the menu. We also enjoyed the Martini bar on a couple of occasions. It seemed to me that there was a wide variety of bars and lounges with something for just about everyone. And we both enjoyed our Lattes from the café.

 

Cozumel—I was 4 months post knee replacement surgery so when I booked the excursions, I was conservative. We did a “Highlights and Shopping” ship based excursion in Cozumel. While our tour guide was entertaining and informative, I felt we were hearded from one site to the next. I suppose that is just the nature of the tour I selected. Overall I guess it was OK, we saw a lot but I wouldn’t do it again.

 

Grand Cayman—We did the “Deluxe Stingray Swim” booked through Celebrity, and I have to say it was the highlight of our trip. The night prior to Grand Cayman, our waiter in the MDR said something to us about the tender ticket process. I didn’t catch everything he said and so stopped by the Guest Relations desk to inquire about the process. The guy in Guest relations just inquired how many folks were in our party and when I told him two, he gave us priority tender passes. So I guess we were able to bypass the lines waiting for the tender tickets and then for our number to be called, which was nice.

 

Jamaica—Many of the cruise tours included a trip to Dunns River Falls. I knew I wasn’t up to a climb at this point in my recovery, so we opted to just do a little shopping in the pier area. We didn’t venture beyond the pier area.

 

Labadee—As much research as I had done prior to this cruise I blew it in Labadee. I didn’t really do any checking as I was just expecting a quiet day at the beach lolling about in the water. When we got off the ship in Labadee, we followed the crowd ahead of us and ended up on the rocky side. Even with water shoes is was not really possible to enjoy the water. I will say if your idea of a day at the beach is relaxing in a lounger on a sandy beach, you would be happy there. After returning to the ship, we discovered that the sandy area designated for swimming was in the opposite direction from where we had gone. Wish I had seen the Labadee map before getting off the ship; I think it would have made a big difference. I am sure if we had not followed the crowd ahead of us and had ventured toward the cove area, I would have a very different impression of Labadee.

 

Overall we had a fabulous time on a beautiful ship with friendly, attentive crew and amazing food and drink. And even my husband, who was a little ambivalent about cruising, has asked me if I have booked our next cruise—which I have--on the Equinox next January!

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Choozin Croozin]

Thank you for posting your review. I leave in just a little over a week, so it adds to my excitement.

 

We were not getting of the ship in Jamaica, but wonder how the shopping area was? What types of items and was it worth it?

[micmacmissy]

Thank you for posting your review. I leave in just a little over a week' date=' so it adds to my excitement.

 

We were not getting of the ship in Jamaica, but wonder how the shopping area was? What types of items and was it worth it?[/quote']

 

The shopping area has a bunch of stores with the usual stuff...jewelry, tshirts, Blue Mountain Coffee, all kinds of souvenir stuff.

 

There is also a craft market with lots of wood carving, tropical dresses/shirts, beaded jewelry, etc.

 

Be sure to look around before you buy...different prices in different places, and yes, you can bargain them down!

[cruisetimeforme]

Welcome to the joy of cruising! So glad your husband enjoyed it and many more to follow in your retirement years. I like your style of thinking, 1A, specialty rests, and bev pkg, sign me up

[Happy2cruise]

Thanks for your review and glad you had a great cruise...we board her this coming Sunday:D:D

[drarill]

Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise experience with us!:):)

[LynMcGad]

Yes, the same jewelry shops, t-shirts and ball caps, coffee, rum cakes, etc. And as noted above there was a lot of wood carving. All I bought were some T-shirts for my daughters, a red stripe ball cap for my son and some coffee. We had met a couple the prior day that we happened to run into in the shopping area. They had wandered past the bounds of the pier area, and they strongly warned us against it. They reported lots of police presence, and aggressive folks wanting to braid hair, etc. They said they didn't feel safe. We had lunch at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville which was right in the pier area. This was the first time for us to eat at one of his establishments, and unfortunately also the last time. We were disappointed. We were back on the ship in just a few hours.