Review of Silhouette Nov 2016 Transatlantic

[tweetylori]

tweetylori.....Thanks for the review and the pics. We are usually on Eclipse but it is nice to see pics of a sister ship. I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me.

 

Did you have any rough water coming over? We have been on cruises ranging from gliding on glass to things falling off shelves so I am just wondering what to expect as we have never done a transatlantic. I know there are no guarantees but I was wondering what you experienced. I have heard heading south is better than heading north. Our roughest water was on an East Coast/Canada cruise.

 

I see lots of slacks and jackets in the pictures. When did the weather warm get to where people would be out at the pool? Say 70's?

 

I believe you said this was your first Celebrity cruise so it may be hard for you to answer but were there extra activities on board once you were in constant sea days? Were there multiple enrichment speakers?

 

If nothing else your pictures are getting me ready for our February cruise :) Glad you had a nice experience and thanks again for taking the time to share it with us.

 

Hi Lexie! I will say that out of all the cruises I have taken (which is only 7 including this one) this was the most calm waters I've ever experienced. Towards the end of the cruise we had maybe a day and a half of extra motion. There was one night in the middle of the night where it actually woke us up, but it really wasn't bad at all. Honestly I was hoping for a little more rocking. :D

 

The weather kept warming up as we got closer to the US. There were a couple gorgeous sunny days. But honestly (and to answer your next question) the enrichment speakers were so good that I didn't want to miss so many of their talks! I will be talking about those as the review goes on (and have more pics as well).

 

Hope that answers your questions...I'm excited for you that you have one to look forward to! Where are you sailing?

[tweetylori]

Let's see, where I last left off it was our 7th day on the Silhouette, which was our 2nd sea day. We had just STUFFED ourselves silly (made sure we got our specialty dining money's worth) and needed a little walk. So we headed up and out, which was one of our favorite things to do at night. Very rarely did we encounter many other folks out doing the same thing. Sometimes we felt like we had this beautiful ship to ourselves. How wonderful is that?!

 

 

 

Note the steam in this pic...there was one night on the ship (it might have been this one) where there was a LOT of steam. Later in the cruise there was a session with senior officers where someone asked about that night. The officer explained that they are testing a new way to clean emissions. And that was indeed clean steam and not smoke. Maybe someone else remembers a more specific explanation. Never did it look any more excessive than anything I've seen on other ships before.

 

 

We took a peek in Sky Bar Observation Lounge to check out all the action :rolleyes:

 

 

[tweetylori]

Could this possibly be more inviting?

 

 

More great stairway art:

 

 

Sorry this is blurry, but at least it has info about this art in case you are interested:

 

[tweetylori]

Now I am sad to report that Husband crashed early this night. But I'm happy to report that the joy of a cruise is that one can crash and the other can go to the first major production show of the voyage. Hello front row happiness and a terrific show! I really enjoyed Life very much! In case you are wondering about photography, they actually encouraged both photos and video as long as it wasn't flash photography. They also mentioned sharing it on social media, so by all means, let's share!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tweetylori]

I'm pretty sure I turned in fairly early after the show myself to get some rest before our last port and last land before starting the Atlantic crossing.

 

OMG we woke up in the Canary Islands! May I present our first view from our balcony...hello Santa Cruz, Tenerife!

 

 

One of the things I got a kick out of in our Daily's on port days was the All Aboard section. The Tenerife one was my favorite, and I quote:

 

"All Aboard at 4:30 pm: Important Note: If you do not return before departure time it is your responsibility to make arrangements to rejoin the ship. Travel distance to the port of Fort Lauderdale, Florida is 3413 nautical miles". :o

 

Now if that doesn't put a little fear of time into a person, I don't know what will. :eek: It worked every time for us (especially this one), so we were always super careful to return early! Now had we done ship excursions we would have not had to worry about it. The reason we didn't do them, by the way, is because all of the ports were new to us, so ANYthing we did in them was an experience.

 

We didn't want to get in the way of folks leaving the ship for planned excursions, so we chose to leisurely get off. This morning was a perfect morning for a stop at Cafe al Bacio!

 

It's important to look here before taking a seat:

 

[tweetylori]

This cafe was almost always packed. We got lucky and got a table where I ordered some wonderful Oolong Tea. They have a great tea selection (for a fee, but not if you have the premium package! :D)

 

 

 

 

Husband was just as happy with his Espresso. They always serve it with a nice biscotti. Chocolate in the morning. Later in the day it would often be an anise one.

 

[tweetylori]

And then these happened:

 

 

Husband had the cheese danish and my croissant was supposed to have had a filling...can't remember if it was almond or nutella or what, but I do remember it didn't matter because the filling got missed on mine. Flaky and delicious, but empty. :( Ahhhh such problems! :rolleyes:

[tweetylori]

The shuttle information for the day was that we were docking at Muelle Sur 3. In order to get to Tenerife, the Port Authority provided complimentary shuttle bus service which ran continuously every 20 minutes or so. You could also walk to the city by following a blue line and taxis were supposed to be very limited. We opted to take advantage of the complimentary shuttle bus (the first and only bus of our whole adventure), and it was a very nice bus. There was a sign for tips and we were happy to oblige. It didn't take long before we were standing in front of this beautiful old church:

 

 

 

This must still be an active church as there was a door to the right that was open. When they realized tourists were around, the door quickly shut. :cool:

 

[tweetylori]

 

Check out the organ!

 

 

 

 

[tweetylori]

 

 

We sure saw some cool trees on this trip!

 

[tweetylori]

We knew we had landed in a special place when we went from the history of that beautiful church to, well, this really cool shop:

 

 

Please do not judge us. It was right THERE. All we were doing was walking around. And it was FULL of very cool presents, the majority of which were made in Korea! (some of which had easily removable tags, just sayin' ;))

 

Now lest you think we are total heathens, we found this lovely area:

 

 

 

It was starting to sprinkle, but our Daily had said it was only going to be partly cloudy with a CHANCE of rain (and a high of 66), so we hadn't brought umbrellas. Doing the anti-rain dance we kept going!

 

[tweetylori]

To get out of the sprinkles we were tempted to land here, but having had just those small pastries already for breakfast and not feeling the sandwich thing, we managed to bypass these beauties:

 

 

 

Shocking I know for us! :eek: But I promise we won't let you down with food in the Canary Islands. ;)

[tweetylori]

So we kept walking the streets noticing how, like in Mallorca, the Holiday decorations were going up:

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2016 by tweetylori

[tweetylori]

Shortly after the rain really started coming down. We ducked into doorways where we could, but it was starting to get miserable and we didn't want to be miserable on our one day in Santa Cruz, so what's a couple to do? Yep, you guessed it! Find the nearest restaurant/bar/anything with something to drink or eat. :p We are shameless, but mind you we had only had one teeny pastry each on board, and we also felt it was our duty to soak up some Canary Islands food culture. :D

 

So we found these nifty umbrellas:

 

 

Please note if you are saying I see sunshine, doesn't look rainy to me, this pic was actually taken way later. As was this pic showing the name of the restaurant. When we sat outside originally we didn't even see that there WAS an inside. It was only when I (shockingly) needed to find a restroom, that I discovered there was not only a restroom, but a really nice restaurant inside as well!

 

 

We had the most excellent Waitress here. She not only found us fumbling in the rain, but helped us to a dry table, led us to some nice wine, and patiently explained almost every item on the menu, as we had many questions. :o

[tweetylori]

Here are just a few of the large number of items we had to choose from:

 

 

 

She started us off with some terrific bread:

 

 

And if we hadn't had enough cheese already in other ports, Husband really wanted to try the Roasted Cheese with "typical Canary Islands red and green mojo sauces". There was also a sweet balsamic type sauce as well. Not only was this pretty as heck, but super delicious as well!

 

[tweetylori]

So when I inquired about the rabbit, our Server really perked up and recommended it highly. However, it was not quite ready. Said it would be another thirty minutes, but reassured it would be worth it. Who was I to not try it? So with apologies to Peter Cottontail, I have to say this was indeed super delicious:

 

 

Husband surprised the heck out of me by ordering FISH. Wreckfish was what they called it. He called it very good. And the mojo sauces were served on the side.

 

 

There was no way we could even consider dessert, so one espresso each and we were on our way:

 

[tweetylori]

Time to go shopping! It was our last opportunity to buy gifts, so we hit a few shops. Before we knew it, it was time to start heading back to the ship. On the way we took in the beautiful scenery. We know there is so much more to this island (and every other port, for that matter), but all we can say is, we'll have to come back!

 

 

 

 

[okieyankee]

Time to go shopping! It was our last opportunity to buy gifts, so we hit a few shops. Before we knew it, it was time to start heading back to the ship. On the way we took in the beautiful scenery. We know there is so much more to this island (and every other port, for that matter), but all we can say is, we'll have to come back!

 

 

 

 

Thank you for this wonderful review. I really enjoyed reliving it through your review. We were also on this cruise and had all positive experiences. Can't wait for our Transpacific from Sydney in April.

Thank you so much and I can see why it is your favorite ship!

 

 

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[tweetylori]

 

 

 

 

 

[tweetylori]

If one has to leave such a beautiful place, at least it's to go back to a beautiful ship! (seriously pinch me, I can't stop dreaming)

 

I even thought these bumpers were cool:

 

 

Safely back on board with time to spare (no swimming over 3,000 nautical miles for us!), we decided to enjoy the sights of Tenerife from the decks of the ship. Oh so beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tweetylori]

Thank you for this wonderful review. I really enjoyed reliving it through your review. We were also on this cruise and had all positive experiences. Can't wait for our Transpacific from Sydney in April.

 

 

 

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Thank you! And how wonderful that you have something that exciting to look forward to!

[mayhemmommy10]

It looks like such an amazing time!!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

 

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[tweetylori]

It looks like such an amazing time!!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

 

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Truly was, thank you! Coming up next, 7 glorious days at sea!

[sippican]

I am loving your review - so interesting to see the same ports through different eyes (and to know what we missed - for next time).

 

Tenerife was such a pleasant surprise for us, we loved it.

[drychi]

My wife and I are sailing on Silhouette on December 30, 2106 for 9 glorious days in the sunshine. Your pictures are making it harder for us to wait!! Hope you have a Merry Christmas season and thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and lovely photographs. Happy Cruising! Bob and Linda