“LIVE” to the Azores on Silhouette - 13th Oct 2019

[groryjm]

 

For many years I’ve been cruising vicariously with fellow CC's around the world and it has given me so much pleasure 😎 so it is now time for pay back…... again!! 😲

 

We cruised in August to Iceland a mere 47 days ago and in a little more than 24 hours we will be walking up the gangplank......

 

Last time we travelled with my DW and DD (20) in a Royal suite on the hump of deck 10, the same suite in fact that we had for 8 days to the Fjords the previous year. We were joined by my wonderful MiL who had an aft corner Sky suite on deck 9. I blogged ( “LIVE” Iceland & Ireland on Silhouette - The Suite Life - 11th August 2019  )In August as it was a family holiday we tended to meet up at Michaels at around 7pm have a pre-dinner drink then eat at around 8pm and finish off with a night cap back at Michaels. Don’t get me wrong it was great and we all enjoyed it but DW and I missed most of the shows, failed to get to the World Class bar, missed most of our opportunities to jive and only managed the Martini bar a couple of times.

 

This cruise will be different 😎. We booked it just 6 weeks before we sailed in August and managed to get a really good price. Just a tad over one quarter of the price we paid for our Iceland cruise. We are two rather than three this time so we don’t need the xtra space of an RS so we are in a CS and it is only 11 days rather than 14. The plan is to to see most of the shows enjoy the the other bars dance and …… relax.

 

Bags are packed, luggage tags attached, Express Passes and Parking Permit printed, Spookys gone to the Pussy hotel and the kindle is loaded. ...........

 

 

So one last proper cocktail 🍸 then in the morning we set off. A “last word” seems appropriate….

 

40ml, or about an ounce and a third for those not used to metric,  each of Tanquery Ten, Green Chartreuse, Marachino and fresh lime. 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸 😎

 

 I will try to post our experiences and insights as they happen and answer any questions about the cruise I can... (and of course lay back and enjoy the cruise 🍸 )

 

[groryjm]

Indian take away ordered drink poured

 

 

.....well I couldn't leave the limes to go off in the fruit bowl 😉 could I.

 

Talking of Indian meals on our last cruise there was and Indian Special at Sushi on Five and we are very much hoping for a repeat this cruise.

 

fourteen and a half hours to boarding...Yea

[groryjm]

DW has read this post and wishes all to know that Spooky is our cat not our DD and it is in fact the cat we have sent to the pussy hotel. DD is at uni 😎

[Clipper Chick]

3 hours ago, groryjm said:

DW has read this post and wishes all to know that Spooky is our cat not our DD and it is in fact the cat we have sent to the pussy hotel. DD is at uni 😎

I love it😂😂😂 am joining Silhouette on 24th first Celebrity cruise looking forward to reading about your adventure.

[zeberdee]

We'll be following, we are on the Silhouette 14th Feb post refurb. 

Have fun.

[upwarduk]

We recently  did an Azores & Canaries Cruise on  Explorer of the Seas 31.08.19.

I hope the Bay of Biscay is as calm for you as it was for us.

[NCHPcruiser]

Enjoyed your last review and looking forward to this one!  

[Georgia_Peaches]

I remember thinking when your last review concluded that I was looking forward to the next one.  Boy the weeks sure did fly!  Time never marches that quickly when I'm waiting for my own embarkation, which is 40 days away on Silhouette.  Looking forward to your impressions of this ship and your experience.

[h20cruzer]

looking forward to your review.

Norma

[chemmo]

Hope you have a great cruise!

 

We did this itinerary  on Eclipse when I had a mobility problem and couldn’t even get off the ship but still had a great cruise!

 

We  are very recently off Equinox, Caribbean and looking forward to enjoying your adventures....

Edited October 13, 2019 by chemmo

[Jim_Iain]

Looking forward to you live report.    I pulled up a seat and look forward to following along with you.

 

Jim

[groryjm]

... Well I set my alarm for 8am and neither of us managed and were both up by 7, obviously far to eager to get to the ship. Aiming for 10.30 at the port we set off at 9 and caught our first view of our ne holiday home at 10.25.

 

Boarding was a breeze as usual and I can't recomend parking up with ABP highly enough. after a very quick check in we were escorted aboard and guilty as I felt I was gratefull as we passed the long lines up the gang plank.

 

As we entered the ship we were greeted by a very welcolming Jamie Petts. He must have an amazing memory as he seemed to genuinely recognise us from previous cruises. Once established in Michaels and settled with a campari soda I felt the cruise had begun. We met the lovely Lara the MC concierge and amoungst other things mentioned that our certificates were waiting in the room.

 

Just a little thing but when we got back from our Iceland cruise I saw some one else on board had posted a picture of there arctic crossing certificate. Whilst it might not seem a big deal we were a little sad not to recieved ones our selves especially our 20 year old DD. I had to speak to captains club about another matter a few weeks ago as I had wanted to book an internet package and our points putting over to E+ had not yet been applied. A matter which was fixed very easily. I mentioned that we had been disapointed not to get a certificate and the lady sympathised and said she would look into it. A week or so latter we had an email from Captains club saying it would be waiting when we reboarded; and it was. A tiny detail but I am realy impressed by the way it has now been sorted.

 

 Any way, we made our way to Luminae for an early lunch.and met a few other crew we new from last time and I must say how nice it is to be greeted like an old friend. Luminae was nice and quite but as we left was filling up very quickly. 

 

We were only back in Michaels for a few minutes before the rooms were ready we did the healthy thing and climbed the seven flights of stairs to work off the Luminae Signature burgers. Our cases were waiting as we arrived. 

 

It has been a couple of years since we have had a CS and we have got a little too used to the space of an RS so unpacking was a bit of strugle finding draw space. Sailing out of Southampton has rather spoiled us and I suspect we bring a bit too much. Do I need to bring 8 waist coats 😮. What we will do if we ever have to fly to the ship I do not know.

 

Muster was in Murano for us and afterwards I nipped to MC to grab a drink. I bumped inot a couple of gents we met on a previous cruis, Paul and Tom, who this time were in an RS and had still not had all there cases despite "special Delivery".

 

Sailaway from the balcony was great with veiws of the sun setting over the Isle of Wight

 

 

to be cont.........

 

[groryjm]

Oh one slight surprise. The Azores on day 3 has been changed to Vigo on day 2 due to weather concerns . While it is a pain to loose a port we had really wanted to go back to Vigo so for us it is ok but as you can imagine there are a few anoyed pasangers at the moment.

[maggieq]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Looking forward to you live report.    I pulled up a seat and look forward to following along with you.

 

Jim

Jim,

 

if my memory serves me correct, you will be getting on a ship soon?

[groryjm]

......Once changed for dinner we wandered down to the world class bar. To our surprise the bartender was Umit who we had met on our one and only trip to the Martini bar in August. I make a deliberate point of mentioning crew members who have made our cruise more memorable  on the end of cruise survey and on attention do details cards. Umit had made my DW an off book cocktail at the Martini bar that was excelent and I photographed his badge so as to remeber his name  My phone failed to get all the detail and we never managed to return to the MB. I felt bad about not highlighting his name on the survey but last night he recognised us and the off menu cocktail from August 😎. We both experimented with something we hadn't tried before and were each pleasantly surprised ...

 

 

 

 

Umit promised to make something special for us latter in the week  and we headed to Luminae for dinner.

 

We had asked Aurora , the shoreside concierge for Silhouette, for the menus to be in the suite and all credit  to everyone Natalia our butler handed them to us when we arrived.

 

when we arrived at Luminae however....

 

 

 

the Zucchini spagehetti had been replaced with a baked Radichio, which was in fact a delicious surprise.

 

.....to be cont 

[groryjm]

... at dinner we were seated in Agugn's section, who we had had as a waiter before and were served our bread by Jazreel. Jazreel had fetched many of my cocktails on the last cruise so I was glad to see him again. 

 

For those who followed my "live from" in August may remember Carlos, our somelier. Now my DW is a wine drinker but I am afraid I choose to drink neither wine or beer but love 😍  my cocktails. For a somelier we must present a chalange. On other ships we have sailed on in the past: Eqinox, Reflection, Constelation and Eclipse, The Luminae and MDR wine menus have included a list of signature cocktails as have the speciality resturaunts. I have also seen wine menus form Edge and Revolutionised Luminaes with a similar list of cocktails. For Some reason Luminae on Silhouette DOES NOT. The reason for this ommision I don't fully understand. but intend to check Blu and the MDR menus to see if it ship wide or just Luminae were cocktails at dinner are frowned  upon. 

 

I did however tease a "Fresh from Tokyo" out of Carlos which Jazreel brought. Both my DWs wine choices were unavailable, a Malbec a rose from the premium package, but Carlos promised they would be there the next day when the stocks had been unpacked.

 

Service seemed a little preasured and soon after Tom and Paul had been seated at the next door table there appeared to be a long line at the door. It was about 7.50 and let out time from the first show so that may explain it but our neighbours were on the verge of leaving after a 45 minute wait between first course plates being removed and thier entrees ariving. No blame to the wait staff, but it seemed that a lack of staff was the cause. There was also a member of the Sushi on 5 team drafted in. Hopefully things will improve tommorrow, tonight infact.

 

to be cont.....

[parrothead33]

Enjoyed your last review and looking forward to following this adventure.  Have a great cruise.

Cheers.

[Gordoncruickshank]

39 minutes ago, groryjm said:

 I have also seen wine menus form Edge and Revolutionised Luminaes with a similar list of cocktails. For Some reason Luminae on Silhouette DOES NOT. The reason for this ommision I don't fully understand. but intend to check Blu and the MDR menus to see if it ship wide or just Luminae were cocktails at dinner are frowned  upon. 

 

The did have the signature cocktails when we were on the ship. My wife made a point of sampling the Ultraviolet almost daily.

[Gordoncruickshank]

Someone posted the Luminae wine list on another thread which is attached. Page 2 has/had (if they are not on current menu) the cocktail list. 

355611158_LuminaeWine.pdf

[groryjm]

2 hours ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

The did have the signature cocktails when we were on the ship. My wife made a point of sampling the Ultraviolet almost daily.

They don't seem to have a list of signature cocktails in Luminae at the moment or not that they have shown us but will get cocktails if asked. Ive just been round the ship and checked the other resturaunts and found lists of signature cocktails in Mdr, Blu, Tuscan and Sushi on 5

 

 

 

 

 

They allways used to have a list and I have seen it in postings about edge and revolutionised ships. I also noted in my travels today that the MDR and Luminae wine lists are the same and think Muranos is also but failed to find any one to ask this afternoon

 

 

I will ask tonight and see

 

Edited October 14, 2019 by groryjm

[groryjm]

20 minutes ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

Someone posted the Luminae wine list on another thread which is attached. Page 2 has/had (if they are not on current menu) the cocktail list. 

355611158_LuminaeWine.pdf 679.96 kB · 0 downloads

Sorry Gordon I was typing whilst you typed so missed your post. This is not infact , as I had hoped the wine menu available on Silhouette in Luminae at the moment. Prehaps after it is revolutionised it will be?

[upwarduk]

So sorry you are missing the Azores. We were there 03.09.19. 

Ponta Delgada reminded me of Funchal, but my lasting impression was of cows, greenery and hydrangea hedges.

.

Edited October 14, 2019 by upwarduk

[Gordoncruickshank]

1 minute ago, groryjm said:

Sorry Gordon I was typing whilst you typed so missed your post. This is not infact , as I had hoped the wine menu available on Silhouette in Luminae at the moment. Prehaps after it is revolutionised it will be?

It was what we had on our 2 cruises in February this year. We are back on board on the second cruise after the revolution. Trying to get ready for our first MSC cruise which starts on Friday.

[Gordoncruickshank]

14 hours ago, groryjm said:

Oh one slight surprise. The Azores on day 3 has been changed to Vigo on day 2 due to weather concerns . While it is a pain to loose a port we had really wanted to go back to Vigo so for us it is ok but as you can imagine there are a few annoyed passengers at the moment.

That happened to us on our first try at the Azores. The second time we made it although the whole way there the ship was doing a bucking broco act. Third time seemed almost boring.

Edited October 14, 2019 by Gordoncruickshank

[groryjm]

3 minutes ago, Gordoncruickshank said:

It was what we had on our 2 cruises in February this year. We are back on board on the second cruise after the revolution. ....

The mystery deepens