Live Blog – Silhouette Nov 3 – Beaches to Broadway – Pull up a seat and Join

[abbydancer2003]

16 minutes ago, UKPete71 said:

Some desks had two stations so there was room for seven. We saw four briefly, but it was mostly three for the hour we waited.

Getting a rental car is one of the most frustrating travel things there is.  We're renting through Budget on Monday and I got a loyalty number, but since it's the first time I'll use it, I might have to wait in line.  

[UKPete71]

27 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Getting a rental car is one of the most frustrating travel things there is.  We're renting through Budget on Monday and I got a loyalty number, but since it's the first time I'll use it, I might have to wait in line.  

It was the longest we’ve ever had to wait for a car anywhere. I may check how many ships are in next time before selecting the pick-up location, even if it means a pick-up from the airport.

Edited November 22, 2018 by UKPete71

[bengaltiger1]

8 hours ago, UKPete71 said:

You were a little ahead of us as we left the ship shortly after 9. 

 

We arrived at the Alamo around 9.55 to a long queue with only 3 desks of a possible 7 manned. It took an hour to get to the agent. It then took another 45 minutes to actually receive the keys to our car.

 

We were told the A/C in the office had broken overnight. My DW was cooler waiting with our bags outside. Thankfully we had a couple of bottles of water with us from the ship, as Alamo offered nothing.

 

I guess the drop-off process would be smoother. We won’t find out as we drop our car off at Orlando International.

There were four agents working when we got there.  You must have been unlucky. We had paid for SatNav.  The agent asked my husband if he wanted it.  Well yes, we have paid fir it.  Thank you.  

 

We are returning our car to Orlando airport tomorrow evening.  We have done it before and if memory serves me right.  It was pretty painless. 

 

We will I’ll be checking our hold luggage in with VA at Disney to avoid the nightmare of the airport chevk in. 

[chamima]

13 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

I've really enjoyed blogging.   It is incredible how much I learn from others here.    I also love reading live blogs to help me get through the period until our next cruise.   The rains began today and the air quality has improved to safe levels.  I'm sure the rains will also help our Fire Fighting Hero's bring these fires under control quickly.   It is incredible the sacrifices they make on a daily basis.  

 

I hope your cruise is as wonderful as you expect.    I have to admit ours wasn't the most ideal crossing but each cruise is an adventure and we really enjoyed ourselves and made so many new friends.   I will cherish these moment forever.  

 

 

We are thinking of doing a TA in the next couple of years.

Our travel friends recommended that we only do one sailing out of the southern part of Europe (Spain, Greece , etc) and, having read your blog, I had to agree.

Just yesterday I remarked to them that despite the weather you seem to have had a wonderful time. You seem to be the kind of person that makes lemonade out of lemons!

[TeaBag]

I am interested in the trouble people had with Alamo.  We rented through Hotwire and the company turned out to be Thrifty.  The shuttle arrived later than most of the rental companies, but the trip was quick and we were in our car in about 10 minutes.

[signman]

UK Pete....wow, that really was a horrendous experience with Alamo.    Thankfully I will be dropping off.  Can't imagine it could be as bad;  assume they do the returns in the drop off lot with a handheld printer.

[Jim_Iain]

15 hours ago, abbydancer said:

I enjoyed your blog a lot, and am glad to hear about the rain for a lot of reasons.  (we're in Cancun, so different weather).  I'll email you when we're back from our preview cruise on the Edge next week.

 

Looking  forward to talking with you.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, chamima said:

 

 

We are thinking of doing a TA in the next couple of years.

Our travel friends recommended that we only do one sailing out of the southern part of Europe (Spain, Greece , etc) and, having read your blog, I had to agree.

Just yesterday I remarked to them that despite the weather you seem to have had a wonderful time. You seem to be the kind of person that makes lemonade out of lemons!

The dynamics of a cold weather cruise whether Alaska or Northern Crossing.   Because of the cold weather the outdoor decks are usually not used, forcing everyone to stay inside that makes things crowded.     We have done about 10 southern crossings and have always had excellent weather.   Each cruise is different and it is always possible to be affected by a storm coming through.     On the Southern Crossing it is usually a little chilly until you get down to the Canary Islands but the remainder of the cruise is Hawaii type temperatures and most of the time the seas as calm a lake.  

 

This particular cruise was chosen due to the Ports -  mostly Boston, New York and Bermuda.  We knew in advance that the weather would be chilly and potentially rough but chose it anyway.   I was reading another post where another passenger on the same cruise didn't enjoy it as much but may have been that they were not traveling in a suite and found it difficult to find places to sit and relax outside of their cabin.   I am sure that passengers in inside cabins and ocean view cabins might feel cramped if the only place they can escape their rooms to are the public lounges.  It is an important consideration when selecting your cabin. 

 

We enjoy each of our cruises for their uniqueness and enjoy relaxation, working out at the gym and long distance walking.   I have to admit that I was never bored and always found something to do.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Reading your blog and 2 other reviews I was wondering if you were all on the same ship at the same time. Granted having a suite gave you more options to avoid crowds but on the end it was your positive attitude that made a great cruise for you and Iain.

[Jim_Iain]

11 minutes ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Reading your blog and 2 other reviews I was wondering if you were all on the same ship at the same time. Granted having a suite gave you more options to avoid crowds but on the end it was your positive attitude that made a great cruise for you and Iain.

 

Thank you for your kind words.    Iain just said -  Maybe that after being hit with 2 Typhoons, being evacuated from the ship and having 5 ports cancelled on our Japan trip a couple weeks before this cruise, made us enjoy "the calm seas".   

 

One thing that I really recommend for anyone booking tours on their own (not through the ship) is to make sure the tour company has a "Force Majeure" provision in their contract.   This will allow for a full refund if the ship is unable to dock on the scheduled date.    I really felt sorry for those that had booked a Broadway Shows and had to remarket their tickets.  

[excitedofharpenden]

2 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

Reading your blog and 2 other reviews I was wondering if you were all on the same ship at the same time. Granted having a suite gave you more options to avoid crowds but on the end it was your positive attitude that made a great cruise for you and Iain.

In my view, on a cruise like this where one has to spend a lot of time inside, having access to Michael’s Club is a huge benefit.  Granted, attitude may have something  to do with it, but let’s not put down the reviews of others who had to deal with the ship in a different way.  

 

Phil

[Silkroad]

Jim, I’ve enjoyed following along with you two, as always. Thanks so much for your helpful comments and photos. Looking forward to your next adventure, although we’ll board Edge shortly after you board Infinity, so I’ll have to catch up once I return home🙂

[jamacka]

On 11/20/2018 at 10:39 AM, signman said:

 

Hi UK Pete.....Can you post a little more about the Alamo experience?   Was it just due to the number of people renting?   I plan to return my car to  Alamo at the port  "morning of" my cruise in a few weeks.     Then expecting the Alamo shuttle to take me to Silhouette at T29.     Did  you have a long wait to be shuttled over to their rental office.   Thanks.   

Welcome to US.   Hope you have a nice time before returning home.

We rented from Alamo too but at the airport.  We thought it was at the port until we checked our paperwork the night before and realized it was at the airport.  The line-up was quite long at the airport too but doesn't sound like it was as bad as at the port.  We got an airport shuttle at the dock and got to the Alamo place at the airport no problem.  

 

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Silkroad said:

Jim, I’ve enjoyed following along with you two, as always. Thanks so much for your helpful comments and photos. Looking forward to your next adventure, although we’ll board Edge shortly after you board Infinity, so I’ll have to catch up once I return home🙂

Hope you will take the opportunity to post lots of pictures of Edge.   I'm really getting excited about our trip on Edge and it is almost a year away.   I'm sure I'll enjoy all the information through yours and others reports, but sure until one really sails it will they get a feel for a new class of ship.   

[CHEZMARYLOU]

5 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

In my view, on a cruise like this where one has to spend a lot of time inside, having access to Michael’s Club is a huge benefit.  Granted, attitude may have something  to do with it, but let’s not put down the reviews of others who had to deal with the ship in a different way.  

 

Phil

I'm not discounting the views of others on this cruise who had a less than great cruise, in fact it made me realize I would think twice about a northern crossing even though we sail in suites.  I just think there are benefits to suites that are not made known and cruises are what you make of them.  

[goofysmom99]

I was a non-suite peon and thought it was a great cruise.  I must have lower expectations.

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

I was a non-suite peon and thought it was a great cruise.  I must have lower expectations.

 

I doubt that very much.   To be honest we often go the Ocean View Café for afternoon tea instead of the more formal one in Michael's Club.   We also eat about 50% of the time of the Main Dining Room Menu.   

 

I'm really happy that you also had a great cruise.   Even though I grew up in and around Massachusetts and New York I had a wonderful day in both Boston and New York.   

[Silkroad]

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Hope you will take the opportunity to post lots of pictures of Edge.   I'm really getting excited about our trip on Edge and it is almost a year away.   I'm sure I'll enjoy all the information through yours and others reports, but sure until one really sails it will they get a feel for a new class of ship.   

 

Will do, Jim, though I’m not certain I’ll do a live review. This will be our first cruise as Elite, so I haven’t decided whether to purchase an Internet package or not. I somehow doubt the 90 minutes apiece will be adequate during slowdowns, especially for a couple of impatient IT professionals😂  Regardless, I will do a review, with photos. We’re quite excited about our Edge TA, and we’ll have the added pleasure of sharing the experience with friends we met on a previous cruise. Thanks again for your lovely review.

 

Cheers,

Michelle

Edited November 23, 2018 by Silkroad

[Jim_Iain]

11 hours ago, Silkroad said:

 

Will do, Jim, though I’m not certain I’ll do a live review. This will be our first cruise as Elite, so I haven’t decided whether to purchase an Internet package or not. I somehow doubt the 90 minutes apiece will be adequate during slowdowns, especially for a couple of impatient IT professionals😂  Regardless, I will do a review, with photos. We’re quite excited about our Edge TA, and we’ll have the added pleasure of sharing the experience with friends we met on a previous cruise. Thanks again for your lovely review.

 

Cheers,

Michelle

 

The 90 minutes will likely be insufficient unless you choose to only logon and grab your e-mail.   It might also work if you are on a port intensive cruise where you can use free-wifi in ports or phone data.    I have t-mobile and they have unlimited international data roaming.   

 

You could easily live with just one internet package between you.    

[Kevinb1176]

We’re on Silhouette next Friday. We did the sky suite a la carte with no perks because the go best was $1200 pp. Our TA was picking up the gratuities and we rarely drink so it doesn’t come close to the $2400 when doing the math. 

 

I bought an an internet package for one of us. If you buy in advance it is discounted. I think I paid around $157. It might be 30% off for elite and another 10% pre cruise. Customer service was very confused when I called to buy. 

 

Enjoy!

[excitedofharpenden]

14 hours ago, CHEZMARYLOU said:

I'm not discounting the views of others on this cruise who had a less than great cruise, in fact it made me realize I would think twice about a northern crossing even though we sail in suites.  I just think there are benefits to suites that are not made known and cruises are what you make of them.  

Read your original post again.  My main point I was trying to make is that you seemed to be putting a worse experience down to attitude.  Perhaps you didn’t mean it that way, but since you specifically mentioned other reviews, that is how I read it.  I get the suite thing which is why I made mention of it too.

 

Phil

Edited November 23, 2018 by excitedofharpenden

[excitedofharpenden]

14 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

I was a non-suite peon and thought it was a great cruise.  I must have lower expectations.

Ruth, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself!  Lower expectations?  Never!  Hope you are well😎

 

Phil

[Silkroad]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

The 90 minutes will likely be insufficient unless you choose to only logon and grab your e-mail.   It might also work if you are on a port intensive cruise where you can use free-wifi in ports or phone data.    I have t-mobile and they have unlimited international data roaming.   

 

You could easily live with just one internet package between you.    

 

Thanks for your advice. Yes, I’ve only purchased only one for us to share in the past, using my Select discount, and the Elite discount is 5% more. We have Verizon, and we find it most cost effective to pay their daily rate on the rare occasions we need to use our phones ashore in Europe. For daily live blogging with photos, I’d probably not want to waste precious time ashore, which is argument for a discounted unlimited package🙂

[Provence55always]

Love reading everyone's blog when they are cruising but when I am cruising....I am so delighted to have no internet. My family know if they need me urgently contact Celebrity!!

 

[Silkroad]

31 minutes ago, Provence55always said:

Love reading everyone's blog when they are cruising but when I am cruising....I am so delighted to have no internet. My family know if they need me urgently contact Celebrity!!

 

There are many reasons one can require, or desire internet connectivity. Business issues, and travel confirmations are only two that come to mind. Our families know we’d be unable to respond to any emergencies in a timely manner (especially from the middle of the Atlantic). 

Edited November 23, 2018 by Silkroad