'Twas the Week Before Christmas – A seasonal review of the Silhouette

[cruisinskier]

Thanks for a very complete review. From appearances, your cruise was off the hook.

We were on the Nov. 30 Silhouette cruise and had a great time also.

 

Hi OuiOnboard,

Glad you are enjoying the review and that you enjoyed your time on the Silhouette! More of my review to come shortly....

Jerry

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

[cruisinskier]

As we were arriving in Falmouth, the ship started turning until the back of the ship was facing the port....we were going to back into the pier! Our aft cabin was the perfect spot to watch us arrive.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view sitting on our balcony

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

The Disney Magic had already arrived

 

 

This is where we would dock

 

 

We could start to see into this custom-made port area

 

[cruisinskier]

We were almost there....

 

 

Around the port area...

 

 

 

 

The port staff were waiting to tie us off...

 

[cruisinskier]

They started dropping ropes....

 

 

 

 

 

I think the ropes weigh more than we think....especially wet.

 

 

Success!

 

[cruisinskier]

A few more to tie up...

 

 

 

 

Complete! All secure!

 

[Sparky333]

How cool that you had a front row seat on your deck watching the ship back in!

 

I'm curious to see what you guys ended up doing at this port as I don't think we'd repeat what we did last time there.

[sha1955]

I have loved reading this and learnt so much. Thank you

We are on the ship in 2016

Brilliant review :)

[cruisinskier]

How cool that you had a front row seat on your deck watching the ship back in!

 

I'm curious to see what you guys ended up doing at this port as I don't think we'd repeat what we did last time there.

 

Hi again Sparky, thanks for sticking with me on this review! It was neat to watch us backing into the pier....there is definite skill involved in guiding the ship into port!

 

We actually didn't do too much here, but more on that shortly....

Jerry

[cruisinskier]

I have loved reading this and learnt so much. Thank you

We are on the ship in 2016

Brilliant review :)

 

Hi sha1955,

Thanks for your comments and glad you are enjoying the review. Happy planning for your future cruise!

Jerry

[cruisinskier]

Once the ship was docked, we headed up to the Oceanview Cafe for breakfast. We always prefer to sit outside at the back of the ship which we did again....

 

Nice views while enjoying our tea....

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Activity was picking up around the port as they prepared for the arriving guests.

 

Shore excursion vehicles were lining up at the port

 

 

The morning police briefing....

 

 

A market just outside the gates of the port

 

 

 

The contrast of a fancy port area when you look a few blocks inland...

 

Edited January 4, 2015 by cruisinskier

[cruisinskier]

We found that moving up one deck to the Sunset Bar area, there was lots of seating with very few people...a great place to just relax and watch the port area....

 

 

There were a couple of tables that looked at first like there could be fire pits in the centre....turns out they are just stone under glass....

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2015 by cruisinskier

[cruisinskier]

Looking down on the pool at Margaritaville.

 

 

The port area...

 

 

 

A horse & carriage ready to go...

 

[cruisinskier]

So now that we had arrived in Jamaica, what were our plans for the day? Well, to be honest, we had no plans. We had been to Jamaica twice before and we had a couple of negative experiences here where both times we had arranged tours (both private, not via the ship) and they had tried to charge us much more than originally provided in writing. It just left a bad image with us and frankly my wife was not overly happy when I mentioned we would be stopping back in Jamaica.

 

We had looked at doing a day at a resort however it was well over $500 for the 4 of us and we had just had a similar day in Grand Cayman the day before. We also thought about just staying on the ship and enjoying the calm day while others were off exploring. In the end, we did end up exploring the new port area for a couple of hours before returning and enjoying the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

Lots of shops here...

 

 

 

 

We found this store was very open to negotiation and after price checking around the port, we returned later to buy rum cakes and coffee here as gifts. They were much less than other spots in port and a substantial discount from the posted cost!

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

[cruisinskier]

For those looking for some North American food, the is a DQ, Quiznos and Nathan's.

 

 

 

 

Lots of rum cakes...but more expensive here.

 

 

The coffee shop had decent prices...but the Gift Palace beat their prices when we asked...

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Taxi rates for those wanting to tour the area...

 

 

 

Segway tour may be fun....

 

 

 

This was as Christmasy (is that a word??) as it got....

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

At this point, we headed back on-board and decided to have lunch at Bistro on Five.

 

 

 

There was a very interesting set of bird cages next to Bistro on Five. Inside each cage was a screen with video images of birds....