First X Cruise:SILHOUETTE JAN 17 2016

[Bimmer09]

Hi Norris --

 

I did as you suggested and watched you and Carol sail out of Port Everglades. I saw you on your aft balcony -- Carol was waving a white towel and you were taking pictures and waving. I am going to make a fresh pot of coffee in the morning and then settle down to catch up on what is now page 53. I know it will be entertaining.

 

silverbird

 

Hi SilverBird- I haven't seen that video yet- when I press play I just see stills from the video. Are you watching Port Fever Archives?

 

Thanks for reading the review!

 

Norris

[silverbird]

Not watching Archives. I watched the original sailing on January 17. It was a neat experience.

 

SilverBird

[Bimmer09]

Not watching Archives. I watched the original sailing on January 17. It was a neat experience.

 

SilverBird

 

Ahhh, thank you for clarifying.

 

I usually watch the sail aways live too and never thought to watch on my phone as I was so busy taking pictures.

 

Cheers,

 

Norris

[jctcj]

Norris

Just finished your review....took several evenings. I found it thanks to a recommendation on our ships roll call.

Enjoyed the pictures and detailed information. We sail on the Silhouette March 6th and as first time Celebrity cruisers you and your followers provided a lot of helpful information that their website didn't provided.

We plan to try the Lawn Club Grill based on your experience.

Thanks for a wonderful trip.

[Bimmer09]

Norris

Just finished your review....took several evenings. I found it thanks to a recommendation on our ships roll call.

Enjoyed the pictures and detailed information. We sail on the Silhouette March 6th and as first time Celebrity cruisers you and your followers provided a lot of helpful information that their website didn't provided.

We plan to try the Lawn Club Grill based on your experience.

Thanks for a wonderful trip.

 

Thanks for reading it and for letting me know! I'm glad you found it useful.

 

You are in for a swell time come March 6th!

 

Bon Voyage!

 

Norris

[romancing_the_sea]

Just started your review - found you on the Princess board on your Celebrity/Princess comparison. We cruised Celebrity in '97 and had such a terrible experience, we haven't sailed her since. But we're definitely ready to give her another try. Back to your review after we watch more of your videos. And then we'll have to catch up with your other reviews. What a find!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[lor74]

It took 4 days, but I have finally made it to the last post in this thread....great job Norris, thanks for all the work you put in! I think you should get a Fitbit for your next novel, as the step count would be an interesting statistic. When it comes to your comparison thread, oddly enough, when I went on the Silhouette 3 years ago, it was directly followed by a week on the Ruby. On that vacation the Silhouette was a bit of a letdown while the Ruby was exactly what the doctor ordered. Prior to reading your review, I only remembered the negative parts of our Silhouette sailing. Now I am remembering the good aspects of it and have to admit that I am a lot more open today to doing another X cruise than I was a few days ago....you should be charging them fees for your fine advertising campaign!

[Bimmer09]

Just started your review - found you on the Princess board on your Celebrity/Princess comparison. We cruised Celebrity in '97 and had such a terrible experience, we haven't sailed her since. But we're definitely ready to give her another try. Back to your review after we watch more of your videos. And then we'll have to catch up with your other reviews. What a find!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Wow, sorry to hear you had a bad X cruise in 97 but I hope you'll at least consider the Silhouette after reading the review.

 

I'm glad you have found my reviews.

 

Pop in and say hi on the comparison board if you have time-I'll be writing for quite a while there.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Norris

[Kiwis Afloat]

Thank you so much for this review. It must take a huge amount of time and dedication to complete, but I have followed it all, and looked forward to each new installment! :0 :0

[Bimmer09]

Thank you so much for this review. It must take a huge amount of time and dedication to complete, but I have followed it all, and looked forward to each new installment! :0 :0

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

The photos and videos take a lot of time to prepare and install via Youtube I'll say that.

 

I wrote something everyday as I knew it would take weeks and I don't like to leave gaps of days between posts.

 

Thanks for the response!

 

Norris

[Finabear]

Thank you so much for your review. We were on the Silly in December and loved it but I now realize we missed so much! Oh well, next time.

Don't dismiss the Summit! We LOVED her - more than Silly! Maybe because she was our "first", or because it was 3 days in Bermuda, or Aqua/Blu, or Captain Leo, or the really friendly officers or the warm water therapy pool in the solarium (I still dream of that pool)... don't know, but that trip was amazing!

Our first dinner in Blu on the Silly our waiter asked if we had been in Blu before. Wen we told him we had just been on the Summit he whipped out his phone and showed us pictures of all his friends from the Summit that he missed so much. He had been on the Summit for several years but was recently placed on Silly. He took special care of us. Captain Leo was great. I wish I had a video of him diving into the pool under the no diving sign to play volleyball. The staff won.

[5:00_Somewhere]

It's great to hear you guys are having fun and enjoying that superb ship!

 

I got a decent wi-fi signal up by the lawn at the Sunset bar.

 

Have you eaten at the Lawn Club Grill yet? See my man Val there-he's the best!

Sacha the manager is a hoot too.

 

Have a great time!

 

Norris

 

We did have lunch at the Lawn Club Grill on the last sea day, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And, yes, we spent some time with Val, though mostly when he was our "attendant" the day we had an Alcove (thank you, wait list). ;)

 

And, yes, we found a few spots that did have decent wifi, including the Sunset Bar area, but everyone was having significant problems everywhere. Someone said they thought it was weather related; we had high winds a lot of the trip. But, this was NOT a huge issue for us.

[Bimmer09]

Thank you so much for your review. We were on the Silly in December and loved it but I now realize we missed so much! Oh well, next time.

Don't dismiss the Summit! We LOVED her - more than Silly! Maybe because she was our "first", or because it was 3 days in Bermuda, or Aqua/Blu, or Captain Leo, or the really friendly officers or the warm water therapy pool in the solarium (I still dream of that pool)... don't know, but that trip was amazing!

Our first dinner in Blu on the Silly our waiter asked if we had been in Blu before. Wen we told him we had just been on the Summit he whipped out his phone and showed us pictures of all his friends from the Summit that he missed so much. He had been on the Summit for several years but was recently placed on Silly. He took special care of us. Captain Leo was great. I wish I had a video of him diving into the pool under the no diving sign to play volleyball. The staff won.

 

Hi and thanks for reading through the review. As you say-"next time" to anything you may have missed.

 

Captain Leo, I have heard is a lot of fun. I like the way the X officers are out and about mingling with the passengers.

 

Thanks for endorsing the Summit. I imagine we'll sail an M Class some day.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

We did have lunch at the Lawn Club Grill on the last sea day, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. And, yes, we spent some time with Val, though mostly when he was our "attendant" the day we had an Alcove (thank you, wait list). ;)

 

And, yes, we found a few spots that did have decent wifi, including the Sunset Bar area, but everyone was having significant problems everywhere. Someone said they thought it was weather related; we had high winds a lot of the trip. But, this was NOT a huge issue for us.

 

Welcome home! I'm glad you sailed on the Silly soon after I started this review as it all must have been fresh in your mind and hopefully helpful.

 

Will you write a review on CC?

 

Glad you got to try the LCG and met Val. Hope you liked his style.

 

Cheers,

 

Norris

[traveler44]

Norris, we sailed with you on the Silly in January. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful pictures and entertaining travel blog. We spent two wonderful weeks onboard , a great trip until debarkation day in Miami. Totally unacceptable. Looking forward to reading your other reviews and hope to sail with you in the future.

 

Ann, aka traveler 44

[Bimmer09]

Norris, we sailed with you on the Silly in January. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful pictures and entertaining travel blog. We spent two wonderful weeks onboard , a great trip until debarkation day in Miami. Totally unacceptable. Looking forward to reading your other reviews and hope to sail with you in the future.

 

Ann, aka traveler 44

 

Ann, thanks for reading along on what was an epic voyage of discovery for me!

I'm envious of your B2B with 2 different itineraries.

 

We very much enjoyed our week on the Silhouette.

 

If you ever see me aboard say hi!

 

Cheers,

 

Norris

[pretty princess]

Norris

Happy belated birthday. We share the same birthday! I have enjoyed reading your review and am so impressed with your writing style and pictures. I just returned Saturday from the Reflection western Caribbean cruise. I very much enjoyed it, as I am sure you will too next year! I booked on-board 10-day Ultimate Caribbean cruise for March 2017 on the Equinox. I want to let you know Celebrity is rolling out a faster/better internet on their ships. Reflection is the first in the fleet to have it. Xcellerate. Pricing is $199 unlimited per device. They were offering $109 and 1/2 price for second device last week. If you want to stream movies etc, you would need the higher one. For us the cheaper plan covered all our needs and had no problems with coverage all over the ship. Thanks again for all the time you have put into your reviews. Looking forward to your next one and your final comparison with Princess.

Cheers!

[lovevacadays]

Norris, thank you for such an amazing review and fabulous photos. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every post.

 

I'm going to book a Celebrity cruise for 2017 as your review has made me want to try Celebrity. I just wish I could navigate the Celebrity website. I have to admit I got frustrated and stopped trying to find a cruise. Tomorrow might be my day. :):):)

 

Thanks again. So wonderful.

[kpkcruiser]

Awesome review! Thank you so much!!! We are die-hard Princess cruisers but switched to Celebrity last year and had an awesome 11 day on the Equinox. Off on your trip this Sunday - same ship. Still love Princess, doing the British Isles June 1 and can't wait - so great to have 2 lines to decide between. Thanks again for taking your time to share with all of us!!!:):):)

[Bimmer09]

Norris

Happy belated birthday. We share the same birthday! I have enjoyed reading your review and am so impressed with your writing style and pictures. I just returned Saturday from the Reflection western Caribbean cruise. I very much enjoyed it, as I am sure you will too next year! I booked on-board 10-day Ultimate Caribbean cruise for March 2017 on the Equinox. I want to let you know Celebrity is rolling out a faster/better internet on their ships. Reflection is the first in the fleet to have it. Xcellerate. Pricing is $199 unlimited per device. They were offering $109 and 1/2 price for second device last week. If you want to stream movies etc, you would need the higher one. For us the cheaper plan covered all our needs and had no problems with coverage all over the ship. Thanks again for all the time you have put into your reviews. Looking forward to your next one and your final comparison with Princess.

Cheers!

 

Hi and thanks for the Birthday wishes!

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the Silly review and yes, I am looking forward to sailing on the Reflection from Miami-we've always sailed from FLL so will have to find a new hotel. Carol has already found a Segway tour featuring those Art Deco hotels.

 

Faster Internet never hurts!

 

Thanks for following along.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris, thank you for such an amazing review and fabulous photos. I thoroughly enjoyed reading every post.

 

I'm going to book a Celebrity cruise for 2017 as your review has made me want to try Celebrity. I just wish I could navigate the Celebrity website. I have to admit I got frustrated and stopped trying to find a cruise. Tomorrow might be my day. :):):)

 

Thanks again. So wonderful.

 

Hi Michelle, thanks for the compliments on the review!

 

I am impressed that you are going to give X a try in 2017 and hope that the X website makes it easy for you. The Princess site has spoiled me- I expected them all to be like that.

 

We are avid Princess cruisers but are happy now that we can add X to our choices. I hope you can too.

 

Best wishes,

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Awesome review! Thank you so much!!! We are die-hard Princess cruisers but switched to Celebrity last year and had an awesome 11 day on the Equinox. Off on your trip this Sunday - same ship. Still love Princess, doing the British Isles June 1 and can't wait - so great to have 2 lines to decide between. Thanks again for taking your time to share with all of us!!!:):):)

 

Hi, I'm glad you enjoyed the review.

 

Agreed having a second line to enjoy is a great boon.

 

Bon Voyage!

 

Norris

[Yuk0n Jack]

Glad I didn't miss yet another awesome cruise post by you! I stalk, I mean follow, your blogspot and always enjoy your trips! Shows me how many places I need to visit. Excellent job on this post - your pictures are always outstanding.

[Bimmer09]

Glad I didn't miss yet another awesome cruise post by you! I stalk, I mean follow, your blogspot and always enjoy your trips! Shows me how many places I need to visit. Excellent job on this post - your pictures are always outstanding.

 

Many thanks for the compliments Jack!

 

The blogspot is a different beast for me- I have to tone down the one liners as I have people from all over the world reading it for whom English is probably not their first language. It's a place to show our land vacations in the USA and Europe as I can't show them on CC where the photos show up bigger and with more clarity. Most of the land trips happened before I got this really good camera and became a shutterbug.

 

It's good to have a record of the trips online where even if I get another computer stolen I'll be able to see them.

 

Cheers!

 

Norris

[Finabear]

Awesome review! Thank you so much!!! We are die-hard Princess cruisers but switched to Celebrity last year and had an awesome 11 day on the Equinox. Off on your trip this Sunday - same ship. Still love Princess, doing the British Isles June 1 and can't wait - so great to have 2 lines to decide between. Thanks again for taking your time to share with all of us!!!:):):)

 

The British Isles cruise is first on my bucket list but I can't take 2 weeks straight off from work yet. please do a review! Celebrity is our new favorite cruise line but I would take Princess over Celebrity for that one just for the self-serve laundry option. Being able to do a load or two of laundry makes packing SO much easier.