First X Cruise:SILHOUETTE JAN 17 2016

[Bimmer09]

The crowd is on it's feet watching the volleyball game

 

 



 



 



 

Large sums of Pillow Chocolates are changing hands as passengers bet on their favorites. The guests won by a narrow margin!

 

Here's a video clip- shame about the wind noise but it was windy up there!

 

[YOUTUBE]3R6zZoPAHZI[/YOUTUBE]

Norris

[az4ship]

.great review and pictures. I will on this ship in Jul

[deliver42]

Hi Norris. I don't know which RCCL ship, but it is a Vision Class and they are quite old. Vision of the Seas, Splendor of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas.The Enchantment is also a Vision Class, but has been stretched for the Bahamas run, so it's larger.

[Bimmer09]

Back at the Alcove it's still cool and breezy and we aren't loving it so much

 

 

We decide to get indoors when spits of rain land

 

Carol finds a cosy nook

 

 



 

[Bimmer09]

Hi Norris. I don't know which RCCL ship, but it is a Vision Class and they are quite old. Vision of the Seas, Splendor of the Seas, Grandeur of the Seas.The Enchantment is also a Vision Class, but has been stretched for the Bahamas run, so it's larger.

 

Thanks for identifying the class for me. She was too far away for me to get a hint at her name.

 

Norris

[jabrown40]

I've been reading your review since the beginning, and appreciate all the photos and observations. We are boarding in three weeks (yay!) and your review has heightened my anticipation greatly! It's our first time on Celebrity, so thank you again for such a detailed review.

[Land of Ice and Snow]

Norris: We have loved reading your reviews and following your week in pictures. We were on the Silhouette last year and had a great week and now looking forward to the Reflection on March 5. Thanks again for your fabulous updates.

[mit429]

 

 

 

I didn't know (until I read the daily newsletter Celebrity Today) that restaurants such as Murano served lunch on sea days for $25 or half price-NEXT TIME!!

 

I found that out Yesterday 3 weeks after leaving the ship. Note to self (and I hope I listen) Read the daily News Sheet! There's so much going on and some of it is "Can't Miss!"

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't realize they did a sea day lunch either, and I'm embarking today -- I will certainly be taking advantage of this, provided it doesn't interfere with my other hectic activities such as lounging by the pool and having pina coladas!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Bimmer09]

I didn't realize they did a sea day lunch either, and I'm embarking today -- I will certainly be taking advantage of this, provided it doesn't interfere with my other hectic activities such as lounging by the pool and having pina coladas!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

A man with his priorities in order!

 

Have an amazing cruise! Bon Voyage.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

I've been reading your review since the beginning, and appreciate all the photos and observations. We are boarding in three weeks (yay!) and your review has heightened my anticipation greatly! It's our first time on Celebrity, so thank you again for such a detailed review.

 

Thanks for following along on this epic!

 

I think you'll love the ship as much as we did.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris: We have loved reading your reviews and following your week in pictures. We were on the Silhouette last year and had a great week and now looking forward to the Reflection on March 5. Thanks again for your fabulous updates.

 

 

Thanks for taking the time to read it and for the compliments!

 

I'm glad you enjoyed.

 

Have a great time on the Reflection.

 

Norris

 

We come from the land of the Ice and Snow

From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.

The Hammer of the Gods,will drive our ships to new lands....

[helen haywood]

I can't believe it! Or did I miss it? Did you make your way to Deck 16, Solstice Deck? More areas to spread the passengers....

[Bimmer09]

On a 7 day Princess cruise leaving Saturday the disembarkation papers and luggage tags arrive Wednesday (!) and cast a shadow. I was wondering where they were and they showed up on our last day.

 

So as the weather wasn't beautiful at the moment we returned to our cabin to do some packing.

 

Our afternoon snacks had been delivered and we also had our Alcove cheese plate with it's ridiculous amount of cheese.

 

 

 

Call me weird, call me bizarre, call me a taxi, but I much prefer the first day on board a ship to the last. Packing things back into a suitcase....sigh.

 

Although we have been tipping dinner waiters and my bar waiter all along we want to leave cash tips for our butler and our two room stewards. Gratuities are included in our booking but still...

 

The butler didn't add much value really. We had the concierge Anca and our LCG waiter Val help book tables/ Alcoves for us. He left my laundry laying around for 12 hours and totally forgot it. Tea making needs a lot of work. He popped in today to let us know that the company is trying to save paper and we will get therefore an e mail survey to fill out. 10 is the score he hopes to see....

 

Remember that when we are at dinner later...

 

Plans for the evening;

 

See the show at 7 pm- Stand up comedy

 

Dinner but we don't know where yet. Qsine? MDR? I am curious about the MDR as we eat in the Princess one 5 nights on a 7 night cruise and look forward to it.

 

After packing a nap is in order. The sound of the wake with the door open a couple of inches ensures sleep.

[nursedibdob]

Some more Led Zep. Great taste [emoji450]

[Bimmer09]

I can't believe it! Or did I miss it? Did you make your way to Deck 16, Solstice Deck? More areas to spread the passengers....

 

Helen, thanks for stopping in!

 

You missed it- I took photos on Solstice deck and Carol used it as a quiet place to relax in the sun early in the week.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Some more Led Zep. Great taste [emoji450]

 

Well spotted.

 

We are both big Led Zep lovers.

 

Norris

[Land of Ice and Snow]

A Led Zeppelin fan, I see...

[helen haywood]

Helen, thanks for stopping in!

 

You missed it- I took photos on Solstice deck and Carol used it as a quiet place to relax in the sun early in the week.

 

Norris

 

Sorry! Should have had more faith in you. Only downside to doing a review over several days (not intended as a criticism at all!) is we memory challenged readers sometimes forget what we read/saw....

 

Carry on!

[Bimmer09]

(Powering along as we are going to brunch then an afternoon at the Opera....)

 

Before our featured comedian we were treated to some people who had been taking dance classes this week and were now showing us their Zombie moves from Michael Jackson's thriller video.

 

 

Then a clip from today's Top Chef demo that Carol attended

 

 

Followed by the main event-Rondell Sheridan

 

 

Luckily his act was only 45 minutes or so as by the end of it my face was hurting and wet with tears of laughter. Great original material and delivery. His underwater jokes (complete with amazing "underwater voice") had the place in stitches. We were so glad we went to see him. Fantastic performer! He has some videos on youtube.

 

Now we were free to go eat after a quick visit to the deck 5 smoking section and the Photo gallery to pick up a copy of the DVD they had been shooting on the ship all week.

 

Dinner coming next....

[hrhdhd]

I've been reading your review since the beginning, and appreciate all the photos and observations. We are boarding in three weeks (yay!) and your review has heightened my anticipation greatly! It's our first time on Celebrity, so thank you again for such a detailed review.

 

Yay indeed--we will be first-time Celebrity cruisers on March 6th as well.

 

And I agree with your comments: this lengthy, detailed, clever review has been just what I needed to get a taste of what's available on the ship.

 

Thanks, Norris!

[Bimmer09]

Yay indeed--we will be first-time Celebrity cruisers on March 6th as well.

 

And I agree with your comments: this lengthy, detailed, clever review has been just what I needed to get a taste of what's available on the ship.

 

Thanks, Norris!

 

You're welcome! Glad you have enjoyed.

 

Thanks for letting me know you've been reading along.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Well, we decided to leave Qsine until Next Time and try the MDR out of curiosity.

 

When we entered the hallway on deck 4 there was a hostess not at her desk.

She said "good evening" and began to walk away..."Can we eat here?" said I loudly while she was still in range. "But of course" as she came back to the stand.

 

We were led to a table in one of those quieter alcoves I had spotted and presented with menus by our waiter.

 

 



 



 

The table next to us on my left didn't create a good first impression

 

 

I checked my watch so I could time how long it would take to get that table cleared.

 

We ordered our food: starters and entrees.

 

The waiters only had one other table-two ladies sitting to my right by the window.

They weren't eating and looked like they might be finished or waiting for something.

 

They got up from the table and started walking-"We've had enough! We've been sitting here with a pile of dirty dishes, no one has come to ask if we want dessert and our wine glasses have been empty for 15 minutes. We're done! They left.

 

Not a word of apology from the waiter or attempt to save the situation.

 

The Sommelier lady came to take my wine order and I said to her "can you do something to get that table cleared?" (pointing to the one to my left) She had the waiters clear it pronto. It had been ten minutes since we sat down.

 

To be continued....

[Bimmer09]

The table that the ladies left behind- still waiting to be cleared

 

 

Our food came-first my crab cake

 

 

This is the same crab cake as I was served in Luminae but with a different garnish. This bolsters my belief that the Luminae food is cooked in the MDR galley. They have photos in the main galley on how to plate dishes going to Luminae. So it's little wonder you can order off the MDR menu in Luminae.

The hoped-for Michelin star is out past the Andromeda Galaxy and light years beyond Lisa Lutoff-Perlo's grasp.

 

I search for the crab but if you watch Deadliest Catch you'll know that finding crab isn't that easy sometimes. The stuffing was ok though.

 

Carol's Caesar salad entree

 

 

My pork loin with red cabbage and polenta

 

 

This looked good and was quite tasty but it was tough.I didn't have a steak knife and sawed through it until I felt my triceps burn. They should have some of this in the gym with a dinner knife. I chewed my way through half of it.

 

Carol ordered an apple tart tatin

 

 

I can fix a lot of photos in Adobe Lightroom but there's no making this look appetizing.

 

The waiter came by when we had pushed our plates away and folded our napkins.

 

"The company is trying to avoid wasting paper and so you'll get an e mail survey. We hope you'll score 10 for excellent"

 

Me: I'll certainly fill in the survey and give you whatever score I think you warrant. The ladies who walked out because you didn't clear their table or ask if they wanted dessert and left their glasses empty for 15 minutes-what score do you think they will give you out of 10?"

 

He thought for a second or two- "That was the Sommelier's fault for not offering more wine".

 

Me: I see,(looking over at the still uncleared table) thank you, Ashley.

 

I know- they've been working since 7 a.m and only get a couple of hours rest and to eat lunch. However they had one chance to make a good first impression on a new X customer and they failed . They went into a nosedive, the cockpit caught on fire, the parachute wouldn't open...a massive fail on the food and the service.

 

I consulted Carol's notes..."food bland and indifferently prepared and served"

 

We will try the MDR again on our next cruise to get a more representative sampling.

[Bimmer09]

Booking our next X cruise

 

In the last day's Celebrity Today newsletter there was an insert that caught Carol's eye. The title was Our Best Offer Ever

 

As we had enjoyed our first X cruise we thought it wouldn't hurt to think about another one while still on board. If it did hurt we had Advil standing by.

 

I went down to the Future cruise sales office and the joint was jumping mid afternoon. All 5 associates had customers so I snagged some one page brochures to take back to the room. The office was open 9 am to 9 pm

 

After the show and before dinner we both went to the office and found perky Louise. We wound up booking a cruise on the Reflection doing the same route

in January 2017. Reflection passes our Lawn Club Grill/hammock test.

 

We booked the same suite 7309.

 

Included;

 

Premium Beverage package

Unlimited Internet

Gratuities paid

$550 OBC (Yikes!)

 

Deposit was $25 each and of course we can switch to a different ship/itinerary.

 

Something to look forward to next January!

 

Norris

[ClaudiaB]

Now.....call an online travel agent and get those perks and then probably the same amount of OBC. We use the one whose initials are the same as this web site. You'll have to pay final payment a few weeks earlier and go through them if you want to change your cruise, but you do your own check-in, etc.

You have to transfer the booking (they send an email to do it) within 60 days.