Quick review of our Feb.22nd Silhouette Cruise

[Decpl]

First off let me start by saying, I am not a whitty great writer. I will give you our insights on our recent cruise.

 

We booked  cruise fairly late ,in late December, luckily they still had aft balcony available .

So we booked aft stateroom on deck 8. Wife always want to try one. Let me start by saying we our a mid -sixties couple

and this is our 18th cruise. ths was one of the quietest rooms we ever had, But warning to people with walking issues

, its a very long walk to theater. Only had a soot problem one day, was next to last sea day and it was like it was snowing ,

soot flakes as big as 1/4 inch. we had to leave balcony. it was around 4 in the afternoon.But that was it .

 

    We arrived Friday at Fll got on an  early flight as this was all that was available at a reasonable cost.We arrived

at cruise terminal at 10;45 and was aboard in 15 minutes. Nice quick service. Our room was available at 1 PM.

and met our attendant Reynaldo, Great attendant. Was like a ghost,but room always clean and ice bucket loaded.

  Did the evacuation  demo, that was the dumbest demo with cartoons I ever saw, was truly ridiculous .

We had late seating as it was the only one left when we booked. Had a nice table for 4 , but the other couple never

showed. Waiter and assistant waiters were great ( Angel and Ipong) This cruise had the best beef/steaks that

we ever had on a cruise. Room service for a few balcony breakfasts was alway perfect and exactly on time. Was nice

sitting and eating on the aft balcony . It has a little more depth than the side ones. Nice and relaxing watching

the wake. Ocean view cafe nice most of the time, but keep running out of plates on sea days.

   On to  Entertainment, comedian first night Miguel ? was pretty good. 2nd night was their show with different acts

and trapeze acts, was ok. 3rd night was a rock band Billy Mcguigan, let me say, we seen a lot of shows over the years

and this was one of the best!!! Next night was another musician , he was very good also. and the next was a female singer

Lorraine Crosby  , her show was good also.Fridays show was there own show which I thought was pretty lame,

wife said it was just ok, wardrobe looks like it was picked up at Walmarts. Last night comedian was pretty good,

can't recall his name though.. Theater was never full to capacity. Other entertain mostly singers ands house acts. 

  Late night entertainment was mostly Karaoke and lounge acts. One late night show the Marriage game and that  was it .

No late night adult comedy at all, Ship was pretty dead after 10:30.  The at sea speakers were ok, not very well

attended, Think it was due the the subjects. Have seen much better. Casino was fairly busy was nice with no smoking.

Actually got a couple of free drinks while playing. 

  On to the pool, as always chair hogs galore, I usually walk first thing in the morning and the people where out in

force reserving chairs around pool area by 7:30., One day I watched a woman show up with eight flip flops and eight books

and put them on chairs in front of pool, in front of a officer talking to deck attendants and they did nothing. She left

and when back down the elevator.

  Ports were nice, we have been to all many times and did our own thing, mostly beaches but did do a sunset catamaran

in Aruba.

 We thought the ship was in great shape, mostly older crowd and very few children..,

Disembarking was fast, we did walk off , though customs and in a Shuttle van, cost $11 PP  at 8 and at airport at 8:15. Checked in and

though TSA by 8:30

 

All in all very nice trip

 

Any questions, will try to answer.

Kand J

 

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[TeaBag]

Thank you for posting.  The Silhouette is our favorite ship so it's nice to read of other enjoying her also. 

[bikerunner]

Actually the review is well written and very succinct/straight to the point.  Appreciate those types of reviews.  Enjoyed reading it.  The Silhouette always has been one of my favorites, was on the maiden voyage on them when they came over to the states.    

[Cruisenouvelle]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! We'll be on Silhouette in a couple of weeks.

[sasset]

Main shows still before dinner for late seating and after dinner for early seating? Also was there a piano player or mellow music combo?

Edited March 5, 2019 by sasset
clarification

[cementhands]

2 hours ago, Decpl said:

First off let me start by saying, I am not a whitty great writer. I will give you our insights on our recent cruise.

 

We booked  cruise fairly late ,in late December, luckily they still had aft balcony available .

So we booked aft stateroom on deck 8. Wife always want to try one. Let me start by saying we our a mid -sixties couple

and this is our 18th cruise. ths was one of the quietest rooms we ever had, But warning to people with walking issues

, its a very long walk to theater. Only had a soot problem one day, was next to last sea day and it was like it was snowing ,

soot flakes as big as 1/4 inch. we had to leave balcony. it was around 4 in the afternoon.But that was it .

 

    We arrived Friday at Fll got on an  early flight as this was all that was available at a reasonable cost.We arrived

at cruise terminal at 10;45 and was aboard in 15 minutes. Nice quick service. Our room was available at 1 PM.

and met our attendant Reynaldo, Great attendant. Was like a ghost,but room always clean and ice bucket loaded.

  Did the evacuation  demo, that was the dumbest demo with cartoons I ever saw, was truly ridiculous .

We had late seating as it was the only one left when we booked. Had a nice table for 4 , but the other couple never

showed. Waiter and assistant waiters were great ( Angel and Ipong) This cruise had the best beef/steaks that

we ever had on a cruise. Room service for a few balcony breakfasts was alway perfect and exactly on time. Was nice

sitting and eating on the aft balcony . It has a little more depth than the side ones. Nice and relaxing watching

the wake. Ocean view cafe nice most of the time, but keep running out of plates on sea days.

   On to  Entertainment, comedian first night Miguel ? was pretty good. 2nd night was their show with different acts

and trapeze acts, was ok. 3rd night was a rock band Billy Mcguigan, let me say, we seen a lot of shows over the years

and this was one of the best!!! Next night was another musician , he was very good also. and the next was a female singer

Lorraine Crosby  , her show was good also.Fridays show was there own show which I thought was pretty lame,

wife said it was just ok, wardrobe looks like it was picked up at Walmarts. Last night comedian was pretty good,

can't recall his name though.. Theater was never full to capacity. Other entertain mostly singers ands house acts. 

  Late night entertainment was mostly Karaoke and lounge acts. One late night show the Marriage game and that  was it .

No late night adult comedy at all, Ship was pretty dead after 10:30.  The at sea speakers were ok, not very well

attended, Think it was due the the subjects. Have seen much better. Casino was fairly busy was nice with no smoking.

Actually got a couple of free drinks while playing. 

  On to the pool, as always chair hogs galore, I usually walk first thing in the morning and the people where out in

force reserving chairs around pool area by 7:30., One day I watched a woman show up with eight flip flops and eight books

and put them on chairs in front of pool, in front of a officer talking to deck attendants and they did nothing. She left

and when back down the elevator.

  Ports were nice, we have been to all many times and did our own thing, mostly beaches but did do a sunset catamaran

in Aruba.

 We thought the ship was in great shape, mostly older crowd and very few children..,

Disembarking was fast, we did walk off , though customs and in a Shuttle van, cost $11 PP  at 8 and at airport at 8:15. Checked in and

though TSA by 8:30

 

All in all very nice trip

 

Any questions, will try to answer.

Kand J

 

Any Zumba?  Did Celebrity provide lots of dancing opportunities? Was it a fun activities staff? 

I used to love Celebrity but last year Eclipse 14 nights was very boring. So now we’re back to RCL mostly. We’re Elite on Celebrity and close to diamond plus on RCL so we have been back and forth. But recently Visions Grandeur and Anthem with excellent-activities. Prior Equionox was just alright. We’re still active and need activities.

Thanks for review.

[Mike981]

Thank you for the review, good job.

[micheleata]

Nice review, thanks.

[Silkroad]

Very helpful review. Thank you for taking the time to post.

[diesel1973]

Was wondering what the weather was in BonAirre and Curacao. We had to leave early because our Son in Law passed away on Tuesday. Many thanks to GS for making all the arrangements to get back to Chicago. They are the best!  

[Decpl]

Diesel , weather in Bonaire and Curacao was in high 80's and very windy in both countries.

[Decpl]

Cementhands, I don,t recall Zumba, but not saying there wasn't. Cruise director was Rich and was pretty good, his suporting staff not so much. Afternoon trivia one day had a Spanish speaking mc and was very hard to understand, a lot of people looking around and asking what he said, lots of people left after the first couple questions.

 

Sasset, shows were 7:00 and 9:00

 

Lot of dancing in main foyer with like band playing , mostly before dinner and after.

[diesel1973]

12 hours ago, Decpl said:

Diesel , weather in Bonaire and Curacao was in high 80's and very windy in both countries.

Thank You for your response. Was also very windy in Aruba when we left.

[blueboro]

We were on the same cruise...a party of 10.  Ship in great shape...great service in MDR.  Had Anytime dining but made reservations for each night and got the same servers who all were excellent (Vincent-waiter, Tri-asst, and Dino-wine steward).  Food was very good also.  I have never seen the Oceanview as crowded as it was on this ship...not sure why.  Very hard to find a table and they did run out of coffee mugs, plates and coffee on several occasions.  People also lined up for shows about 30 minutes prior...again never noticed that much on X.

 

Loved a couple of the guest entertainers...Billy McGuigan's band was terrific as was Hard Days Night Beatles tribute.  Both played late night shows the following evening.  Never went to production shows...been there...done that.  

 

Seemed the service at bars was slow at times...not staffed properly during busy hours...and some very badly mixed drinks. When a bartender has to consult a sheet of paper to know what goes in a fairly simple drink...RUN!  We could not drink several we were served as they were that bad.  If X wants to decrease cost maybe train bartenders to make drinks correctly to prevent waste.  

 

We did have problem with a bad smell in our cabin.  Immediately upon entering it had an odor and we asked the steward to spray.  Upon returning that evening it was worse...seemed to be an entity that grew.  Smelled like someone had gotten sick.  I will give X credit...they did come in at least twice to try and deep clean the cabin but odor was still there.  Reminded us of the Seinfeld car episode.  The assistant housekeeper got involved (Ivana) and after 2-3 nights they moved us to another cabin two doors down so as to be able to remain close to family.  They also gave us a $150 per person credit toward our next cruise.

 

Walk-off debarkation was not very well handled.  The line started almost at Cafe AlBacio and snaked thru the showroom, back out to the hallway and out on the promenade deck.  They started calling numbers when there was still a long line for walk-offs and apparently they were getting off from a different part of the ship and many got off before we did as lines were merging.  Should be handled much better.  

 

Overall a good cruise with some hiccups...but what in life is perfect?

[padgman1]

Also on this cruise with friends....stayed in Oceanview on Deck 3, surprisingly large room with space for a long 6 ft sofa and a bathroom with space for 2 at the same time AND NO SHOWER CURTAIN ( shower doors that work well). Very little noise heard from outside. No bad smell ( sorry, blueboro).

 

Thought the food in the MDR was good and about the same quality as other cruises we have taken with Celebrity in the past 5+ years, but quantity is definitely less ( missed Osso Bucco, but we did go to 2 specialty restaurants, Murano and Tuscan Grill, both were excellent).

 

Compared to previous cruises, I thought the overall entertainment on this cruise was superior. As mentioned above, both Billy McGuigan's rock band ( 50's/60's/70's rock) and A Hard Day's Night ( Beatles tribute band) were superb, DON"T MISS THEM !!

I thought the production shows featured superior singing talent to previous cruises and overall good dancing talent; I agree, the storylines for these shows are somewhat obscure. The other rotating entertainment talent included a house band, a couple of solo singers and a string duet.

 

We had fantastic private tours in all ports.....can go on Trip Advisor to find reputable companies.

 

Trivia harder than usual....when 11-12 out of 15-17 wins, it's hard.

 

Longer lines than usual for customs on disembarkation at 8:40 am, but moved along OK ( surprised there was a long line getting to the luggage area after getting off the ship).

 

Best part.....perfect weather the entire cruise so that we could enjoy our time with our friends.

 

 

[blueboro]

I did not notice the portions being smaller in the MDR, and even though the food was very good IMO and served hot, it seemed there were some menus with not a lot of exciting choices.  And it bugs me too that on the last chic night they load up the menu with all the favorites instead of spreading them out over the 9 days.   

[Jim_Iain]

Thank you for the review.

[perodise]

Also on the Silhouette 2/22 sailing .  just my wife and me.

 

1st time on the Solstice class ship, previously on the Summitt 4 times.  Never go back.  Silhouette was great ship, no major complaints.  Much more lively especially on Grand Foyer.  entertainment there every evening plus late show with Billy Mcguigan-  place was rocking especially the elevators where people were riding up and down watching band.

 

Flew in night before, arrived at port 10:45, on ship by 11;30 .  Right to Sunset Bar on 15th next to Lawn Club. Preferred the sunset bar on the Summitt.   They didn't have enough staff.  Bartenders were too busy upgrading beverage packages.  we were thirsty.  Nice lunch in ocean view/ , rooms ready by about 1/1:30. Edwin was a great steward . Rooms always clean, always around when we needed something   The Muster Drill was a bit lame as previously stated.

We were at Martini Bar for Sail away where we spent most 5-7 pm Happy Hours.  Met lots of nice people .  everyone always happy to chat about their day.  Bartenders were fantastic.  they work hard but seem to enjoy.  they do their best to try to serve people as fast as they can.  I think a little extra tipping goes a long way.

We went to every 7 pm show except for the 2nd production show.  1st was ok , 3rd was better(Life)

1st comedian ok, 2nd better.Dominic and Lorrain were OK.  McGuigan and Hard Days Night excellent.

We normally spent the pre dinner 8/830 1/2 hour at the Ensemble Lounge- (Angie Hernandez and Renaissance duet excellent).Went to MDR every night, table of 8. Food good, service great(Melchior Waiter- Michaela- assistant waiter, Alex- sommelier,Veronica- waitress), company even better.  its what we enjoy most.  meeting nice people and connecting over 9 dinners .  we went to shows together, martini bar together, Passport Bar, etc.

Pool was very crowded .  Unless you were up by 7am, you could not get 2 chairs together at pool. Very warm and sunny on deck.  Any chairs near pool go from shade to sun so.  Solairium very nice .  Good place to relax out of the sun.  went to Gym 2x.  machines were good but very warm.  At 1st, my complaint was service at pool bar.  Everyone converging and wait time was long, especially because we were waiting in sun,  But on 2nd sea day, started taking advantage of the servers walking around the pool and then never a problem  They always found you(again, extra tipping helps) for drinks,  and the beer cart was always there with beer and water  on ice.  Thank you Premium beverage package.

 

Islands-  ABC islands (Curacao my favorite ) were superb.  best snorkeling and beaches. Very warm.  Grand Cayman also nice.  7 mile beach. 

4 sea days was nice. 

 

Embarkation a breeze.  much to my wife's dismay(only argument all week), self assist(we were on 6th floor mid ship, carried bags down stairs to 5th floor,off the ship in 10 minutes around 745.

 

Customs was a little disorganized , Terminal 29.  hard to find naughty room to get back my wifes steamer

 

Sister picked us up at 830 for our 12:45 flight to JFK and the snowstorm.

 

we cant wait until our next cruise. Europe 2020

 

 

 

 

[amitje]

We were on the same cruise together with another couple. First time Celebrity (2 RC and 2 Princess cruises before, Princess being our favourite - will not return to RC)

 

As said above, overall nice cruise with Pros and Cons.

We were unbelievably lucky with the weather, that's for sure!

 

But as mentioned, chair hoggs were the worst ever seen, we have our breakfast at 7AM (because of the jetlag, not because we are looking for chairs) and by that time, most chairs were "taken" by flipflops and books. I'm sure they got a nice sun tan, definitely not their owners as they would only show up by 11AM .. 

 

Different nationalities, different tastes I guess as we find that we had both the worst (and close to) one of the best steaks experienced ever on a cruise. And although tastes differ,  I expect any chef to cook a steak right.

The first night they convinced us to go to Tuscan Grill (because of their excellent steaks we were told).. DH ordered the Porterhouse, I ordered the Ribeye, both asked for Medium.. they both came out as hard as shoe sole. We are hesitant to complain, even when they come and ask whether everything is good, but this time we had to return the food. They told us that we wouldn't be charged - and we were not asked to sign the check. But you can guess what happened, they charged us. Went over to Guest Services (if they wouldn't have told us that they were not charging us, I would have paid as I always do - I don't mind, but it's the principle), they would investigate - still in our account until the last day. The Maitre D of the Tuscan Grille was doing a round in the Oceanview Cafe on the last day and asked me whether I would complete the survey, said yes, told him about the charge and then he went out of his way to have it removed as he was fishing for a 10..

 

But Ok, no biggie, first night,  plenty of other restaurants onboard, right?

 

MDR: DH orders the NY steak (yes, he loves steak, every day..) - same issue: ordered medium - came out well done. My salmon was tasty but DH didn't want to try the MDR anymore because of this issu, they rushed us through the dinner and the menu never really appealed to him  One evening we were asked why we didn't go to the MRD by one of the waiters in Le Petit Chef that was very nice. Told him the issue, he raised it (although not his job), Maitre D of the MDR came to see us, asking whether we could give them a second chance to make up for it. Decided to go on the last evening - Steak Diane was delicious for both of us. Our friend ordered the NY steak, he asked well done (I know, who likes that???), guess what - came out medium. We didn't bother anymore to tell anyone.. Maitre D came over, we told her it was good, she was happy.. 

 

Oceanview: disappointed with the variety - but that is most likely personal taste. Some items were however cold, that is not personal taste.

 

Le Petit Chef: excellent food! (I leave the entertainment in the middle, although I liked it) Went twice - first time it was perfect, second time - guess what, ordered the filet mignon medium, waiter showed up: medium rare for who? uh..ok, we'll take it.

 

Murano: went twice, delicious (second best steak on a cruise, best was on Princess) - but oh boy (and I'm really not making this up nor am I exaggerating at all - I wish I was), ordered medium (as usual), came out well done. But, luckily,  the chateaubriand was still tasty and tender so we still had a delicious meal. Service is excellent in this place!

 

So were we unlucky? Maybe, maybe not :-)

But we did have a wonderful time, we loved the ports, crew was nice (funny, we also had a bartender looking up the ingredients for a simple cocktail but he was soo nice that you had to forgive him), stateroom was spotless but it left a really bad taste in our mouth that we had 5 crew members asking us to rate them a 10 because otherwise they would get hit in their wallet.

How can we provide Celebrity with accurate feedback if you feel that you are literally taking away money from someone when you rate something a 7? I don't want to do that, they work really hard..

We tipped extra, but all of them asked us to make sure to rate them a 10, that seemed more important than the extra tips.

I feel so sorry for them, they almost beg you.. (well not almost, one of them really begged).