Celebrity Silhouette, Norwegian Fjords Sept. 1 2019

[Bimmer09]

 

we tiptoe past the Pacific Princess

 

and Europa 2. When did she get here??

 

 

we now have Sognefjord to ourselves

 

 

the cold empties out the Sunset Bar and I retreat to our balcony

 

 

I can dip inside the room and get toasty when needed but there's little wind on our aft balcony even when the stern is raked like the Silhouette 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2019 by Bimmer09
spacing

[Bimmer09]

 

 

 

 

another hardy soul

 

Norway you have been scenically blessed!

 

 

 

I try deck 15 again but it's barren as the wind whips through it

 

I go down to deck 5 and grab a coffee in Cafe Al Bacio and score an eclair or 2. The pastries are free with a coffee purchase. My Premium Beverage Package covers specialty coffees like double espressos

 

gelato counter

 

sheltered deck 5 smoking section, all to myself

 

 

time to get back into the warmth....

 

 

[Bimmer09]

12 hours ago, Joy_K said:

Thank you.  We will have 2 nights in London and 1 in Southampton.  Visiting the War Rooms, already planned but more excited now after your review, and going to the newly opened Mamma Mia The Party at the O2 -dinner show.

 

Would also like to thank you for always including the smoking areas in your reviews too!

 

Two nights in London and so much to see! Where are you staying?

You will love the War Rooms if you can get ahead of the crowd inside. 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

12 hours ago, CruiserRob said:

Norris, gorgeous pictures from the Flamsbana.  Our cruise didn't go to Flam last year and that is one spot that was on my Norwegian bucket list.  It was a cruise that I didn't intend to take at that time, but the offer was just to good to refuse.  We had an inside cabin which I never do, but we went to North Cape and the sun didn't set for about 5 days in the middle of the cruise so I went for the inside to have a dark cabin.

 

Robert

 Rob which ship were you on to the North Cape?

The inside sounds like a good idea in permanent daylight and of course easy on the pocket.

Someday we'll get that far North. We were just watching Jeff Corwin (Ocean Treks) on Crown Princess in Iceland and that's on our bucket list.

Cheers !

Norris

[perfect match]

On 10/10/2019 at 6:49 AM, Bimmer09 said:

 

 

 

 

Norris, any idea what caused the rainbow 🌈 river?  

 

The waterfalls are spectacular! We certainly aren’t going to see anything like those Norwegian waterfalls here in Florida! 

[jdacombe]

Spotted this half way along the Flam Railway, interesting way to park your bike!!

[jdacombe]

And a musical farewell to Flam:

 

[Joy_K]

5 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

 

Two nights in London and so much to see! Where are you staying?

You will love the War Rooms if you can get ahead of the crowd inside. 

Norris

Points stay....Hilton Bankside.  Looked at the Horseguards and great location!  Park Plaza Westminster Bridge has rooms with balconies but price never dropped enough.  We sure hope to get ahead of the crowds at the War Rooms.  First timed prepurchased tickets were 10 am, opens at 9:30 so planning on going early and buying that day.  Hope it works out and not 300 other people with same thoughts.

[Highpeaklad]

10 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

I go down to deck 5 and grab a coffee in Cafe Al Bacio and score an eclair or 2. The pastries are free with a coffee purchase. My Premium Beverage Package covers specialty coffees like double espressos

 

Just a quick note that the pastries are free regardless. You don’t have to buy a coffee. 😀

 

Loving the report, thanks for taking the time to post it. 

[Bimmer09]

Wandering indoors

There's no wind indoors so I stroll around with the camera

 

an empty  room which is an art installation with nature sounds playing

 

 

 

Ensemble Lounge up ahead

 

Murano and Michael's Club are accessed on the right. The club is for Suite passengers 

 

the show band plays some loud jazz while you relax and form an escape plan. Acoustic piano would be much more appropriate for the space

 

tonight's Murano menu

 

I had tried to get us a dinner booking in Murano but all slots were taken for the week when I asked. So I booked a lunch for the last sea day. Dinner is $50 per version and the food and service are top notch. Some dishes are prepared tableside which I love.*

 

 

 

 

 

* interior pics from 2016

[Bimmer09]

2 hours ago, Highpeaklad said:

 

Just a quick note that the pastries are free regardless. You don’t have to buy a coffee. 😀

 

Loving the report, thanks for taking the time to post it. 

 

Thank you Highpeaklad! Free pastries is good news although I would always be buying coffee to wash them down. This was the cruise where I really made use of the cafe as I spent more time on the sheltered smoking deck nearby on deck 5. I never actually sat in it but took a to go cup on deck. It was a very popular room indeed and rightly so.

Glad to see you following along!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Specialty restaurants are clustered at the stern. Blu is for Aqua and Suite passengers while Murano, QSine and Tuscan are open to anyone 

 

 

art for art's sake

 

 

 

menu

 

impressive entrance

 

 

[Bimmer09]

Cafe al Bacio

 

stairwell art 

 

ready for the band

 

now I am in the shopping arcade to buy cigarettes at a great price per carton

 

more art!

 

booze

 

is your tipple (odd word) here?

 

one of the events is a Johnny Walker tasting which you sign up and pay for

 

Johnny says "keep walking" and I take his advice

 

opposite the shops is the non-smoking casino

 

Luck be a lady, tonight

 

beautiful art at the entrance to Grand Cuvee dining room

 

 

[silkismom]

"luck be a lady tonight"    Guys and Dolls

[Bimmer09]

Ever the optimist I try deck 15 again

It's sheltered in here but cold and when I step out of it and walk to the path to the Sunset Bar I can see that it is empty. I go there to relax when the weather is fine but it's too windy now

 

I can snap a quick photo as there is no one at the bar. The bartender is sitting behind a door to their stockroom

 

pool deck (deck 12) is empty too

 

 

I retreat back to the warmth and am looking forward to a nice hot dinner once Carol is done with her nap. I could use one too...

[BettyCruiser]

12 hours ago, perfect match said:

 

Norris, any idea what caused the rainbow 🌈 river?  

 

The waterfalls are spectacular! We certainly aren’t going to see anything like those Norwegian waterfalls here in Florida! 

 

I think that's from the bus window.

[Bimmer09]

12 minutes ago, BettyCruiser said:

 

I think that's from the bus window.

 

Betty you are correct.

I think it was just one corner of the window there was some kind of prism effect.

One of the perils of taking window photos but it didn't happen on the bus.

Thanks for the comment!

Happy to see you reading along.

Norris

 

[Buffetfan47]

I have been loving this post. We are on Silhouette to the Norwegian fjords next June. We will have the same itinerary except for Alesund. We go to Geiranger instead. Hoping for a little warmer and drier weather than you have experienced in September. We took advantage of the "sale" on excursions that Celebrity posted a few weeks back and booked the Lysefjord boat trip in Stavanger. It was about $30 less per person that their previously posted price and $30 less than booking directly. Looking forward to that. Still debating the Flam train ride. Possible will book the shorter trip like you mentioned. Your pics have convinced me to take my digital camera and extra memory cards. Don't have all the equipment that you have but I can shoot better pics with it than with a phone camera.

[Werangels]

Art for arts sake - 10CC.  Music of my childhood.

 

 

[Clipper Chick]

I love your review and am kinda sorry I have now caught up.  I visited Norway on Marella Discovery and loved it.  We did the Flam excursion you did but Train out coach back.  The mountain tunnels are amazing we went through one in Eidfjord with a roundabout inside.  Also love the pictures of Silhouette as I am joining her on 24 th October from Southampton to Fort Lauderdale.

 

Mandy

[Bimmer09]

4 hours ago, Buffetfan47 said:

I have been loving this post. We are on Silhouette to the Norwegian fjords next June. We will have the same itinerary except for Alesund. We go to Geiranger instead. Hoping for a little warmer and drier weather than you have experienced in September. We took advantage of the "sale" on excursions that Celebrity posted a few weeks back and booked the Lysefjord boat trip in Stavanger. It was about $30 less per person that their previously posted price and $30 less than booking directly. Looking forward to that. Still debating the Flam train ride. Possible will book the shorter trip like you mentioned. Your pics have convinced me to take my digital camera and extra memory cards. Don't have all the equipment that you have but I can shoot better pics with it than with a phone camera.

 

The Lysefjord boat trip will appear in my Stavanger section in photos and maybe video? 

I had spare 64Gigabyte cards (Sandisk Extreme Pro) but got the whole trip on just 1-over 1500 shots and I shoot in RAW which uses about 30 MB per photo. A JPG will use about 7 MB.

 

I would certainly have enjoyed the ship more if the sailing weather had been warmer and less windy/rainy. The week before we sailed the cruise had lovely weather. So far we have had 3 ports where the weather was fine and only in Alesund did it rain before we sailed and it was drizzle but even that killed the Sunset bar for me and everyone else.

 

Thanks for your kind comments!

Norris

[Bimmer09]

4 hours ago, Werangels said:

Art for arts sake - 10CC.  Music of my childhood.

 

 

 

It was so obscure I am amazed you got it!

I had a liking for 10cc back in 1974.

Well done!

Norris

[Werangels]

8 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

 

It was so obscure I am amazed you got it!

I had a liking for 10cc back in 1974.

Well done!

Norris

Haha!  Singing it as soon as I read the words.  Misspelt youth!

[Bimmer09]

We seldom miss a show when we sail Princess or Celebrity in the Caribbean but there are times when we are happy just to have a nice relaxed dinner, a walk on deck and then an early bedtime.

We didn't go to any ship shows on Azamara in Cuba and so far we have only been to one on this Norway trip. Tonight was another dinner then bed evening. We value our sleep.

 

Murano is sold out. Lawn Club Grill-no, it's too windy and cold in this 127 mile long fjord. There is always a table to be had in the MDR though so we go there

 

 

As usual I had to wait for the sommelier to get my glass of Malbec. We had the same team as our first night and they were happy to see us and banter

 

spinach and ricotta ravioli

 

off to a good light start. Beef carpaccio caught my eye...

 

under seasoned and we notice that on X no one comes with a gigantic pepper grinder (as on the other lines we sail) to perk the food up. 

 

for our entrees I chose a New York Sirloin steak, medium

 

I saw Yorkshire Pudding listed as a side and being British had to order it. It had the consistency of a giant fortune cookie-a dry thing that may have been parchment from the Dead Sea scrolls warmed in an oven. Or imagine a warm asbestos ceiling tile. Carol, who cooks our authentic Yorkshires immediately said-oil wasn't hot enough. The pillowy texture expected inside the crisp

outer shell was not to be found. The steak was cooked medium but was a tough chew.

 

Carol's Cajun Spiced Cod

 

This dish lacked the okra listed on the menu and had spinach instead. She also had a Caesar salad and a Grand Marnier souffle to end the meal. I had a double espresso and Sambuca as I often do.

 

Can't win them all and I have to say there were plenty of interesting choices on the menu and I can't fault the service and the room is a stunner. Our hunger pangs have been satisfied.

 

On deck 5 for my smoke. Lots of Brits there and I hear some Northern Ireland accents. A young Italian girl and her momma were regulars too but no one can savor their smoke as it's cold and I just satisfy my craving with one desultory cigarette and the thought of a nice warm bed and a pillow leads my feet inside again.

 

Head hits the pillow, lights out literally and figuratively and I am in a deep chasm of sleep.

 

Another wonderful day comes to an end...

[deladane]

Whew!  I'm finally all caught up and OMG! Your photos from that excursion in Flam are AMAZING!!  Norway hasn't really been on my radar, but I've just added it to my bucket list.  As always, thank you for taking the time to write up such a wonderful review.  I can't wait to read the rest!