Silhouette - British Isles - "The Open" - Mini Review

[pl281]

Well we are just back from our wonderful time on the Silhouette doing the British Isles and The Open

 

It was myself, my wife our 3 year old son and my parents - had some other family on board as well but they did their own things.

 

If you have any questions please let me know.

 

Food - This is very subjective. We were very pleased with everything

Main Dining Room, Sushi on 5, cafe al bacio, Tuscan Grill, Buffet

 

Entertainment - We usually don't go for the shows, but they had a nice verity of shows many of which were local to the port we were in. I never felt that anything was "in your face" "Must do this"

 

Internet - Um..... We had unlimited with Go Best - I build websites for a living so I wanted to make sure I had connection.

The best was when we were in Amsterdam - got about 1.5mbps downspeed

most of the rest of the trip we were getting 0.5mbps down.

 

For doing Facebook and basic website updates it actually worked very well.

 

I do think they need to be a bit more up front about speeds in various locations. Some of it is limited bandwidth with a large number of users, some of it is also location / weather.

 

Cell Phone

We have Verizon Wireless - they have a package called "Travel Pass" - $2/Day (Mexico & Canada) $10/day most other countries.

 

What this does is then gives you your regular plan / data at $10/day (24 hour period not calendar day)

 

We only took it on one phone and our other phone we did wifi calling (both iPhones) and the wifi calling worked fine even on the slow connection.

 

Excursions - We did all our tours through the ship - I know that there are many on here that will say that we could do better on our own / XYZ - I'm not here to debate that.

 

We were very pleased with all the tours we did, the only issue was in Dublin, last tender to ship "was" 5:30 - well all the tours got back at 5:30 and we had to wait about 30-45 minutes to get on the tender.

 

Granted it was also a 20-25 minute trip in the tender to the ship

 

What they did to make up for it was in the next tendered port we got in 2 hours early AND they got a local tender to help as well.

 

Kids Club

Our 3 year old enjoyed it. Due to some medical reasons, they gave us a "pager" which is really a wrist based phone on the ships phone system - can only get calls.

 

This was useful as they were able to reach us anywhere on the ship - also if one of us was in the cabin and the other was out we could call from the cabin.

 

Cabin

We were in a veranda on the hump on deck 8 - first cabin on forward slant of hump

The cabin was fine - although a little cosy for 3 - the veranda was much bigger than the rest and while we didn't spend a lot of time on the veranda it was very nice.

 

My folks were in a Celebrity Suite - they were very happy with it. Even though it didn't have the dinning room table as the M class do, it was the perfect size and worked well.

 

My other family had a sky suite on deck 12, which we checked out. It has the overhang but is a very nice sized room - I would put it on par with many standard hotel rooms in regards to size.

 

Shout out to Anca - as my folks (any other family) were in suite, they used Michael's Club and Anca was VERY helpful - both to them and us as a complete family - she went out of her way to make sure everything we needed was taken care of

 

==================

 

We've already booked next summer on Reflection - Greek Isles

My folks have the same suite

We are taking a sky suite - which is actually the same cabin my other family had this trip, just a different number do to the extra cabins on Reflection

[CCruiser1234]

Interesting about tendering in Dublin. We were assured it was to be in downtown, docked- not tendered from Dun Lag.....

 

Can you expand here please?

We are on Silhouette 6Aug.

 

Thanks,

Bob

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited July 26, 2016 by bob221b1

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[pl281]

Interesting about tendering in Dublin. We were assured it was to be in downtown, docked- not tendered from Dun Lag.....

 

Can you expand here please?

We are on Silhouette 6Aug.

 

Thanks,

Bob

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

Bob - we were scheduled as tendered from the time we booked the cruise. It could be based on other ships in on any given day.

 

So if your docs say you'll be docked more than likely you will be.

[CCruiser1234]

Bob - we were scheduled as tendered from the time we booked the cruise. It could be based on other ships in on any given day.

 

So if your docs say you'll be docked more than likely you will be.

 

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pl281]

I also forgot to mention - In Amsterdam we used the transfers from the ship which included bringing our luggage to the airport - we got off the ship onto the bus and the luggage was right at the bus drop off at the airport

[docmark]

Thanks for the review.

Glad you mentioned Anca....she is the best!! We were on your ship, cruise before you and she was absolutely fantastic.

[need2cruisesoon]

Interesting on Dublin, our cruise last year for the Open we docked in Dublin and made it very convenient for getting extra time in the city center.

Anyway, Dublin was our favorite stop for the whole cruise.

[globevest]

Nice review. Thank you.

[kenevenpar]

How was the Open Championship. How many days were you able to attend?

[Phamer55]

Doing this cruise next itinerary, even though the itinerary is a bit different. I hope we dock in Dublin.

 

What were the highlights from the ports? Anything that you thought that was a highlight or something that surprised you?

[pl281]

In answer to the question about the open

We could have gone either Saturday or Sunday - we opted for Saturday - we walked around and then hung out in the stands by 18 green.

 

The stands were mostly empty - I believe in part because they don't allow alcohol in the stands.

 

==========================

 

In answer to the ports - I thought they were all great - we ended up not doing any tour in channel island and just got off and walked around. The Guinness factory was the best tour I think

[Peteymil]

Doing this cruise next itinerary, even though the itinerary is a bit different. I hope we dock in Dublin.

 

What were the highlights from the ports? Anything that you thought that was a highlight or something that surprised you?

The tour we took to Normandy was incredible.

Belfast Giants Causeway trip is wonderful. Liverpool has several great Beatles tour. Did a Wicklow tour in Dublin, but have also done the city on our own.

If at all possible, do not do the ships tour to the Open. I know the ship charged over $300 per person. We did it on our own and paid £120 for 2 tickets to the Open and £10 for 2 train tickets.

The ship also charged thousands for their golf package. It can be done, depending on the courses for about a third of their cost.

It was a great cruise.

[pl281]

As Peteymil said - the open did cost about $300 pp

 

At least for our cruise while it was an "overnight" the ship was anchored the first day and docked the 2nd day

 

Our feeling was to do the ship tour so that we didn't need to worry about getting back late for the tender (as we went the first day). I know from our roll call there were a number of people doing the open on their own.

 

It all depends on personal preference - I know last year that with the strong winds they were having issues with tendering / couldn't tender and I believe the ship stayed an extra day, but you never know what the weather will be

[Saab4444]

Bob - we were scheduled as tendered from the time we booked the cruise. It could be based on other ships in on any given day.

 

So if your docs say you'll be docked more than likely you will be.

 

 

Silhouette is too big to dock in Dublin.

 

 

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[TMLAalum]

Silhouette is too big to dock in Dublin.

 

 

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We are going to dock in Dublin on August 10th! Originally we were to be tendering to Dun Laoghaire, but the Silhouette has been scheduled for the port on our cruise for quite awhile.

 

Hope there are no mishaps as happened with the Infinity in Alaska!

Edited July 28, 2016 by TMLAalum

[Peteymil]

Silhouette is too big to dock in Dublin.

 

 

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As was previously mentioned, last year it docked in Dublin.

[RickT]

Silhouette is too big to dock in Dublin.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

We are going to dock in Dublin on August 10th! Originally we were to be tendering to Dun Laoghaire, but the Silhouette has been scheduled for the port on our cruise for quite awhile.

 

Hope there are no mishaps as happened with the Infinity in Alaska!

 

From the Dublin Port Company Website

http://www.dublinport.ie/not-in-menu/cruise-ship-scheduled/

 

10/08/2016 05:30 CELEBRITY SILHOUETTE Cruise Liners Ocean Pier 33

 

Thanks to the OP for the mini review and apologies for this getting off topic.

[Iamthesea]

Silhouette is too big to dock in Dublin.

e app

 

We docked in Dublin last month on the Sil.

 

My husband and brother played golf 4 times while on our BI cruise. They made all the arrangements themselves. Though still very expensive for the golf and arranging transportation, they saved a ton by not booking through Celebrity. My DH said that he fulfilled a lifetime dream and that playing the courses was everything and more than he had imagined. :)

 

OP, so glad you had a good cruise!

[ALW2]

We are thinking of sailing on this cruise this summer. Do you recall seeing many young adults on the cruise? Ages 16-21? Do you happen to have a daily program you could post a picture of to see if they offer programing for 18-21 year olds? Thank you so much!

[Orator]

Anca back on Silhouette? She had left Celebrity, but must have returned. Great for Celebrity and passengers.

[mimbecky]

Silhouette is too big to dock in Dublin.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

 

We docked last year on Caribbean Princess and she is huge. Do not miss the Gaol (prison) in Dublin. One of best tours we have done. Guinness factory was good too. If you go to Guernsey I highly recommend Annette Henry.

 

 

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[tartana]

I have been looking at a British Isles cruise, but we've wondered how smooth the waters are? Is it comfortable cruising? Not too rough? Thanks!

[Peteymil]

I have been looking at a British Isles cruise, but we've wondered how smooth the waters are? Is it comfortable cruising? Not too rough? Thanks!

It was not rough at all last year, very comfortable. The year before however we missed the first day of the open, because the tenders could not get us in. Even so, when we were on the ship, it's still didn't feel rough. Fortunately they reworked the schedule and stayed an extra day, because the open did not finish until Monday that year due to the bad weather on Saturday.

[Clarea]

Good feedback, thanks for the report.