Live from Silhouette - Dec 11 - Western Caribbean

[drychi]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. As you can see from my signature we are going to be on this lovely ship for New Year's Eve! We are really looking forward to getting out of the Missouri cold and into the Caribbean warmth to start our first year of retirement. Happy Cruising! Bob and Linda

[tweetylori]

Thanks Lori! You inspired me! My thread will not be as robust as yours though. After all, I have a vacation to enjoy here! I was afraid I would not do it if I waited till I was back. So, this will be somewhat "short and sweet." Thanks again for all your time and work in your thread. :)

 

You are sweet, thank you. Am thoroughly enjoying what you are taking the time to share ON your vacation! :eek: This is so cool, thank you!

[lizakramer]

DAY 3 - AT SEA

 

Nice day at sea with great weather. We got up on deck at about 9:30am and there were still plenty of open lounge chairs on deck 14 and deck 16 (Solstice deck). We didn't even try the pool area, because we wanted a quieter spot. I also swung by the lawn club to check the alcoves, and it appeared that 7 of the 8 were occupied at that point. We headed up to deck 16 and it was quiet.

 

It was VERY crowded at the Oceanview Cafe at lunchtime (around 1pm). Hard to find a seat, and no one came to our table for drink orders. I think the sea days just really push the limits of the staff and capacity. Honestly, this was the first big turn off for me.....I just don't want to have to stress or strategize about finding a seat at lunch. One thing that was very memorable was the fresh blueberries and blackberries. They were excellent. People had heaps of them on plates. And I will also say there seems to be a very good variety of food there too.

 

We ate in the MDR for dinner. We are "Select" dining, so we showed up at 7pm, and were given a pager. Headed next door to Martini Bar for a cocktail. We were called back for dinner at 7:15pm, and went to the dining room. I got a glass of Atalon Cabernet 2012, and it was very good. The dinner was fine. Definitely not as good as the prior 2 evenings in the specialty restaurants, but it was fine. I got the gnocchi and husband got the turkey. In case you are wondering, the turkey was real carved turkey. Servers were kind and efficient.

 

Here are the menus for today....

 

MDR Lunch:

 

MDR Dinner:

 

BLU Dinner:

[akowilm]

Thank you so much for posting menus! We are on the Silhouette in January as a group of 10, and it will be much easier to make dining plans when we know ahead of time what to expect each night. We know we want at least one dinner in Murano and one at the Lawn Club, but for the rest, we are planning to dine in the MDR. We also have one 13 year old, and menu previews will help decide if he gets dressed for dinner or hits the buffet for pizza. Thanks again!!!:D

[lizakramer]

DAY 4 - 12/14 - Cozumel

 

The daily newsletters for Day 4 (Cozumel) and Day 5 (Grand Cayman) are now uploaded to the above-referenced dropbox link.

 

We did not get off the ship in Cozumel. Went to the spa and relaxed on board instead. The ship felt pretty empty, which was kind of nice. Much less crowded at the lunch buffet!

 

I want to address an issue that I read a lot about before our cruise - soot problems on sunset veranda balconies. We are now halfway through our cruise and soot has not been a problem at all. I have swiped my fingers across the table, chairs, and railing of the balcony everyday and....NADA. Spotless. And no weird diesel fumes either. We are absolutely loving the views from the balcony, and we enjoy sitting out there and reading for hours at a time:

 

 

Tonight we ate in Tuscan Grill. It was very good. We both had the filet mignon for our entree, and it was tender and cooked perfectly. If you like Mortons or Palm, you would probably like this place. It's maybe a small step beneath them, but still very good (especially considering we are out at sea!). Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. Service was nice - not rushed, and our server was eager to make recommendations. I'd go back.

 

And here are the menus for today (both MDR and Blu closed for lunch).

 

MDR Dinner:

 

BLU Dinner:

[lizakramer]

Day 5 - Grand Cayman

 

We arrived in Grand Cayman at 10am (30 minutes earlier than the official scheduled arrival time). Tender tickets for non-shore excursion guests were available starting at 9am in Cellar Masters. I got there at 9:05, there was no line, and I was given 2 tickets for group 8. The girl said they were giving out about 30 tickets per group. She said the tender can hold up to 200ppl, so we should expect to be on the 2nd tender.

 

At 10:15am, the ship was cleared by the local officials, and they called tender groups 1-5. At 10:30, they called for groups 6-10, so we were off and on shore before 11am.

 

I had booked an independent jet ski excursion to Stingray City through Fat Fish Adventures in advance of our cruise. They only take small groups (max is 10-12 i believe), so it seemed like the right choice for us. More about the tour below...

 

We had some time to kill before the scheduled meeting time, so we walked around the port shopping area and then decided to pop into this place Paradise Seaside Grill for a snack (it's located down past the Hard Rock Cafe):

 

It was right on the water and had awesome fresh seafood and the best conch fritters I have had in a long time (the Menu said they were "award winning"). Highly recommended if you are looking for a place to eat in Cayman. Simple, very casual and, best of all - fresh!

 

The rep from Fat Fish Adventures picked us up right on schedule at 1:30pm and drove us about 15 minutes to where the jet skis were docked. We waited there for the group before us to return. There were a total of 10 ppl on our tour (the others were a group of 8, also from the Silhouette). We rode with 2ppl per jetski. It was definitely a little rough out on the open water (this morning I could feel the muscles in my arms and legs that I never knew I had!). But it was a blast and it was great being in such a small group of people at Stingray City. There were a few other boats there, but it wasn't crazy. The guide brought squid to feed them, and we each got a chance to feed and hold one. He also gave us a lot of info about stingrays. After the stingrays, we were off to snorkel at Rum Point. We were the only ones there and we snorkeled for probably 20 minutes. Saw a 4 foot eel as soon as we jumped in and that was cool. He was just swimming around.

 

After snorkeling, the guide took us to a small beach to see several starfish that hang out there. This was a nice little unexpected bonus! And finally, on the way back to the dock, he took us slowly through the mangroves and that was beautiful too. All in all, it was a great tour. Took about 3.75 hours (longer than expected) and we were back at the ship by 5:15 (last tender was 5:45). The guide knew what time we had to be back and he did a good job of managing the time to ensure we got the most out of the experience while still making it back with time to spare.

 

Back on the ship, we went and checked out the dinner menus of course!

 

MDR Dinner Menu:

 

BLU Dinner Menu:

 

 

More on dinner in just a second...

[lizakramer]

Day 5 continued...

 

Once again, we weren't really feeling the MDR so we decided to try The Porch ($30pp). Had 2 great waiters (Valeriano and Joel) and we liked the food. Also, the surroundings were nice - it was quiet and calm, even though most tables were occupied). They have about 15 tables I would guess.

 

My only thing with this place is that the portions aren't huge, so keep it in mind if you go. You can order as much as you want, and I was glad we ordered 3 courses instead of just 2. Here's the menu and wine list and some pics of the entrees. I got the ceviche and lobster roll. My husband got the Romaine Avocado salad and the branzino. We also split the seafood tower (husband is allergic to scallops so they gave us extra shrimp). Both entrees were good, but again, not very big (my husband's fish basically had no sides). The lobster roll was not traditional New England style. The chef here uses onion and red pepper. Unlike New England, there was a little more roll than lobster. But, it tasted good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We're on this cruise also, 2nd part of a B2B. We've tried all the specialty restaurants except Qusine and enjoyed them all. We're in a suite so the cost is covered. Luminae has been great.

Our only disappointment is that the chefs market discovery in Jamaica was cancelled last night. We now have over $450 non refundable credit to spend by tomorrow. I see a great bottle of wine in our future.

[tweetylori]

Loving your updates, especially the food porn! We never got to The Porch, so cool to see what you had there, tx!

 

Also, we never had soot problems on our Sunset Veranda either. :D

[PaperSniper4]

To LizaKramer -

 

Do you know if the AC plug in the head (aka "bathroom") is on even if the light switch is turned off? We like to put a night light in there for visits in the middle of the night.:cool:

 

I have a motion-detecting DC light I bring on cruises and for general travel, but I'd rather use an AC powered light.

 

Thanks!

[lizakramer]

PaperSniper4,

I can confirm that the AC plug in the bathroom does work even if the light switch is off. But, you should also know that there is already a built-in night light over the sink area that is always on. It provides a nice amount of light, especially when you are entering the bathroom from the darkness of the cabin at night. So you may find you don't even need the extra light. Enjoy your cruise!

 

 

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[TeaBag]

Please don't miss the Lawn Club grill. We think it's the best of the lot although we haven't tried the Porch. Loving your review. Thank you for sharing all the photos and taking time to let those of us at home "cruise" too.

[lizakramer]

TeaBag,

We are heading to Lawn Club tonight! Glad you are enjoying the review. The internet is super slow today, so I am holding my comments and some photos from yesterday's stop in Falmouth until I can get the photos to upload.

 

 

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[PaperSniper4]

"I can confirm that the AC plug in the bathroom does work even if the light switch is off. But, you should also know that there is already a built-in night light over the sink area that is always on. It provides a nice amount of light, especially when you are entering the bathroom from the darkness of the cabin at night....."

 

Thanks for that useful info, Liza.:cool:

 

Doug

[lizakramer]

DAY 6 - FALMOUTH, JAMAICA

 

We arrived Falmouth in the early morning to rain and wind. We decided to try the Spa Cafe for breakfast and we both got the frittata. It was tasty, but the chicken apple sausage had no flavor. It was very dry and needed more spices. Here's the menu and a pic of our breakfast:

 

 

 

 

We did not have any pre-arranged excursions, so we hopped off the ship long enough to buy some Blue Mountain coffee and hot sauce. We went to the spa and then relaxed on our balcony as the weather cleared. We had a pretty good lunch at the Oceanview Cafe - once again, they had fresh berries which were awesome and very popular by the looks of most people's plates.

 

I managed to get back to Sushi on Five and got a photo of the Kobe slider. And yes, it was just as good this time around!

 

 

 

Here are the menus for the day:

 

MDR Dinner:

 

BLU Dinner:

[lizakramer]

DAY 7 - AT SEA

 

Spent the day relaxing on our balcony. Had a good lunch in Oceanview Cafe (once again, there were fresh berries):

 

 

 

Overall, we found the buffet to be pretty good for a buffet. Breakfast was solid, and what we expected. It took us a couple of tries with lunch. The only constant negative was that we often found our hot food to be dry. An exception was my husbands flank steak which was juicy and tasty 2 days in a row. I really liked the sliced bread they put out (the sliced bread was softer than the rolls - it was REALLY soft actually and I loved it), and I also really enjoyed their tuna salad. Speaking of salad, the salad bar was nice too. I am a dessert person, but was only tempted by the cupcakes. The rest of the stuff looked "store bought" to me and I figured it would not be worth it.

 

And here are the menus for lunch and dinner on the last full day...

 

MDR Lunch:

 

 

MDR Dinner:

 

 

 

BLU Dinner:

 

[lizakramer]

DAY 7 - continued

 

We ended up going to Lawn Club Grill for dinner on our last evening. We enjoyed it, and would return. We had a great waiter, Kerby. He was very attentive and things moved at just the right pace (not rushed). Here is the menu and drinks/wine list:

 

 

 

 

We asked for a small flatbread, and we were glad we tried it. It was excellent in my opinion. Thin crust, and tasted very fresh.

 

 

We helped ourselves to the salad bar, and they had some interesting toppings.

 

Then came the entrees. I got the ribeye, husband got the veal chop. Mine was juicy and cooked to order. I would guess it was about 12oz. It was not a "prime" cut but it really tasted good...there is just something about a freshly grilled steak! It was exactly what I would grill at home. Husband's veal was a bit dry, but he still ate the whole thing, and then he finished my steak. They bring a variety of 3 homemade sauces with your steak. I didn't try them - I prefer my steak "un-adulterated". My husband tried them and thought the chimichurri was the best. We got 3 sides (creamed corn, baked beans, and lobster mac and cheese). These were fine, but not amazing. Not as much flavor in the beans or the mac as I was expecting. Finally, we finished up with the famous chocolate chip cookie dessert. I ate the whole thing in about 2 minutes. It was crazy hot - like molten lava hot. I moved the ice cream off of the top so it would not melt all over the cookie. There was nothing left! Yum.

 

 

The chef, Ezekiel, came over to us after we finished and asked how we liked it. We gave him compliments. I would certainly return, especially since the 4-Dinner package I bought came to $31.50pp per restaurant. It was worth it in my opinion.

[lizakramer]

DISEMBARKATION

 

Our flight was at 11:45am. We chose to do the "express walk off" (a.k.a. "self disembarkation" where you carry your own bags). We gave Guest Services notice of our intention 2 days beforehand. I am in the group travel business, so I'm sure it helps them to get advance notice of what to expect. If you did not do the express, then you were requested to have your bags in the hallway outside your room by 10pm the night before.

 

We arrived in the main foyer on level 3 at about 6:15am. There were already about 20ppl there. We just sat down and waited. At some point, a member of the crew directed the group to go stand on the other side of the ship. So people moved, and some were grumbling about moving. Whatever. I just put my bag in line, and then sat down again. Your bag can hold your place in line - the crew tried to explain this to people. The line snaked all around the foyer. There wasn't much "organization" but people sort of followed the herd and lined up politely. Some people showed up kind of late and found themselves in the middle of the line by default (no where else to go). Nobody complained - it is what it is.

 

Ship arrived right about 7am, and we were cleared at 7:40am. The line started to move immediately. We had to walk down the stairs to level 2 to disembark. There were crew there offering to carry bags down the stairs but many people carried their own. We were off the ship by 7:45, and then walked all the way down the pier to customs/immigration. We got in the "Global Entry" line, which was no shorter than the other lines (only about 3 couples ahead of us). There are NO global entry kiosks at pier 25, so you still have to fill out the blue customs form. I guess the only benefit to global entry is that the line is probably shorter once the place gets crowded. For us, it made no difference. We were through it all and in a taxi by 7:58am. There were taxis lined up as you exited. We considered an Uber, but I thought it might be hard to actually find the driver amongst all the cabs/shuttles/buses. There was also some guy there trying to get people in a shuttle for $11 per person. We paid $20 for the taxi including a nice tip.

[lizakramer]

FINAL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS

 

SHIP - very nice ship, nice decor, terrific crew, does not feel crowded, showing some age in places - but still nice. Lots of higher-end boutiques too, if that's your thing.

 

CABIN - we love love love the aft cabin! I took this picture of the Silhouette Aft Cabins while docked in Jamaica:

 

 

Who wouldn't love this view?

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT - We only went to one of the shows. We ended up walking out. But I heard other people who liked the same show, so I think this is a matter of personal opinion. Give it a try! We also played Bingo twice and had fun with that. We did not go to the casino. I did not see any special lectures listed in the daily schedules - maybe I missed it. Would have liked to have tried one of those if there had been a guest speaker.

 

FOOD - we only ate once at the MDR, and that visit was "average". If food is important to you, you should consider the Specialty Restaurants. We really found them to be quite good. They really exceeded our expectations. We've been to a couple all-inclusive land resorts (Dreams and Seacrets) and we both agreed that the ship restaurants were much better than those places. We also noted that in each of them, the wait staff seemed very happy. If I take another cruise I will once again pre-book the dinner package. The package cost of approximately $30pp per dinner was worth it in my opinion. If food is not your thing, then it may not be worth it to you. But I feel strongly enough about food that I would actually book a cheaper cabin if I had to, in order to eat better food. I would not pay up for Concierge or Aqua - I would direct those dollars to food. That's me. But I think that's also the great thing about Celebrity...you have choices and can cruise "your" way.

 

As stated in an earlier post, the buffet was pretty good. You just have to find the right stuff, and what you like. And, we thought the Lavazza coffee tasted just fine (seems to be a topic of discussion on these boards!).

 

We also appreciated having the Premium Drink package as part of our cruise fare. It just made it easier and we weren't ever thinking about the bill. We enjoyed coffee drinks at Cafe al Bacio at least twice a day, and had cocktails and wines throughout the cruise without a second thought. I would not pay $65pp for it - I don't drink enough alcohol to make it worth it. But again, this was part of the Go Best promotion, so it ended up being worth it because you got all the other perks too.

 

INTERNET - it's not very high speed, but it wasn't dreadful either. If I was paying by the minute, I would have been annoyed because half of your minutes get used up waiting for the page to load. Just beware.

 

SPA - this was a disappointment (and a costly one!). Let me start off by saying that our therapists were good and the treatments themselves were good. The problem is not the therapists. It's that the spa is not like a "normal" spa in terms of the overall experience. When you show up to a spa, you expect to be shown to the locker room, given a robe and slippers, and then shown the facilities that you can take advantage of (like sauna, steam room, etc...). Well, that did not happen here. We went to the spa twice each (so, 4 times). We were not given robes or access to any facilities. We were just escorted to a relaxation room (in our regular clothes) and we sat there and waited for the therapist. You got undressed in the treatment room. I expected more from a Canyon Ranch spa. If you can't provide your guests with a robe and access to a steam room, then you shouldn't be charging over $200 for a treatment.

 

DAILY NEWSLETTERS - I've posted the remaining daily newsletters and disembarkation procedures notice for this cruise in the dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kworv76szu6v1z4/AAATFQjFkVZlzlEFqmUuF5kTa?dl=0

 

Thanks for reading, and happy cruising! Happy to try and answer any specific questions.

[easyboy]

Thank you for your review.

[hndapwr]

I really appreciate your detailed review. We are doing the same cruise on the same ship in February.

 

You mentioned that you don't normally cruise. If you did cruise before, was it on celebrity or a different line and how did this experience compare? Would you do celebrity again?

 

Thanks again for taking the time to do your review.

 

 

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[lizakramer]

I really appreciate your detailed review. We are doing the same cruise on the same ship in February.

 

You mentioned that you don't normally cruise. If you did cruise before, was it on celebrity or a different line and how did this experience compare? Would you do celebrity again?

 

Thanks again for taking the time to do your review.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

The only cruise in recent history (about 7-8 years ago) was on Celebrity Summit. The ship was in good condition, food was OK but not memorable (we ate in MDR the whole time on that one). I liked the ports on that one (Southern Caribbean). I would say this most recent experience was better overall though. The ship felt more contemporary and I guess I liked that there were more choices on Silhouette. Another thing I liked better was the location of our cabin. We really loved the aft-facing cabin. If I cruise again, I would definitely consider Celebrity for a big ship, or I would look at one of the smaller lines (like Sea Dream or Seabourn). Have a great trip!

[celebritydave]

Day 5 - Grand Cayman

 

We arrived in Grand Cayman at 10am (30 minutes earlier than the official scheduled arrival time). Tender tickets for non-shore excursion guests were available starting at 9am in Cellar Masters. I got there at 9:05, there was no line, and I was given 2 tickets for group 8. The girl said they were giving out about 30 tickets per group. She said the tender can hold up to 200ppl, so we should expect to be on the 2nd tender.

 

At 10:15am, the ship was cleared by the local officials, and they called tender groups 1-5. At 10:30, they called for groups 6-10, so we were off and on shore before 11am.

 

I had booked an independent jet ski excursion to Stingray City through Fat Fish Adventures in advance of our cruise. They only take small groups (max is 10-12 i believe), so it seemed like the right choice for us. More about the tour below...

 

We had some time to kill before the scheduled meeting time, so we walked around the port shopping area and then decided to pop into this place Paradise Seaside Grill for a snack (it's located down past the Hard Rock Cafe):

 

It was right on the water and had awesome fresh seafood and the best conch fritters I have had in a long time (the Menu said they were "award winning"). Highly recommended if you are looking for a place to eat in Cayman. Simple, very casual and, best of all - fresh!

 

The rep from Fat Fish Adventures picked us up right on schedule at 1:30pm and drove us about 15 minutes to where the jet skis were docked. We waited there for the group before us to return. There were a total of 10 ppl on our tour (the others were a group of 8, also from the Silhouette). We rode with 2ppl per jetski. It was definitely a little rough out on the open water (this morning I could feel the muscles in my arms and legs that I never knew I had!). But it was a blast and it was great being in such a small group of people at Stingray City. There were a few other boats there, but it wasn't crazy. The guide brought squid to feed them, and we each got a chance to feed and hold one. He also gave us a lot of info about stingrays. After the stingrays, we were off to snorkel at Rum Point. We were the only ones there and we snorkeled for probably 20 minutes. Saw a 4 foot eel as soon as we jumped in and that was cool. He was just swimming around.

 

After snorkeling, the guide took us to a small beach to see several starfish that hang out there. This was a nice little unexpected bonus! And finally, on the way back to the dock, he took us slowly through the mangroves and that was beautiful too. All in all, it was a great tour. Took about 3.75 hours (longer than expected) and we were back at the ship by 5:15 (last tender was 5:45). The guide knew what time we had to be back and he did a good job of managing the time to ensure we got the most out of the experience while still making it back with time to spare.

 

Back on the ship, we went and checked out the dinner menus of course!

 

MDR Dinner Menu:

 

BLU Dinner Menu:

 

 

More on dinner in just a second...

 

We got off the ship too and ended up having lunch at this restaurant. We both had the wahoo and it was excellent. We didn't have the wahoo for dinner on the ship.

[ecslady]

Thanks so much for your review, and especially for posting all the dailies. :) I'll be back on the Silhouette Dec. 30.

[Baileys boy]

My wife and I are sailing on the silhouette on April 8 2018 and have room 9305 aft. I was wondering if you had any issues with soot on your balcony? Also was there enough overhang from the balcony above you to give any shade while sitting on your balcony? I saw in earlier posts people complaining about both issues. Thank you for your time!!