CHICAGOPAUL LIVE BLOG!!!!!! December 13th, 2019 - SILHOUETTE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN

[Georgia_Peaches]

You asked your butler to shine your shoes?

[chicagopaul]

38 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

You asked your butler to shine your shoes?

Most definitely. We’ve used the shoe shine service before but it’s just so so. The butlers always do a phenomenal job. I was shocked with the quick turn around. It was just the one pair though. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

6 minutes ago, chicagopaul said:

Most definitely. We’ve used the shoe shine service before but it’s just so so. The butlers always do a phenomenal job. I was shocked with the quick turn around. It was just the one pair though. 

That is awesome!  I'm so going to pass this on to my DH.

[nps001]

Quick questions--

As many times as we have sailed in a suite, we've never thought about shoe shines or having the mini bar emptied.    Can anyone have it filled with say Diet Coke and Sparkling water?

 

Also--do you mind explaining the shoe shine process?    Did you call your butler to request it or did you just leave your shoes out to be shined while you went to dinner?    

 

Many thanks

[chicagopaul]

7 minutes ago, nps001 said:

Quick questions--

As many times as we have sailed in a suite, we've never thought about shoe shines or having the mini bar emptied.    Can anyone have it filled with say Diet Coke and Sparkling water?

 

Also--do you mind explaining the shoe shine process?    Did you call your butler to request it or did you just leave your shoes out to be shined while you went to dinner?    

 

Many thanks

We have the premium drink package so he was happy to do it. I know technically, by the book I don’t think they’re suppose to fill it for you but they always have for us in the Sky Suite. For non suite cabins no. But you can ask them to empty it for you and then slowly start stocking up on stuff haha. 
 

for the shoes this time around I just left them on the bed with a note asking for Alex to have them shined. In the past I’ve called them up and let me know i would leave the shoes I wanted shined in a specific location. But I’ve found a simple note works well. 

 

37 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

That is awesome!  I'm so going to pass this on to my DH.

 

Usually before we leave I’m either shining them myself or running to Nordstrom with a bag of shoes to get them done. It’s a great perk! 
 

[Lastdance]

Enjoying all the details, especially cruising vicariously with you, and enjoying all the meals too!

Edited December 14, 2019 by Lastdance

[Carnevale]

What a fabulous blog!  We really appreciate all the info you are posting, your openness about your arrangements, and your willingness to answer questions.  Thank you!

 

 I do have a question:  can you please share what you observe about ballroom dancing on the ship if you notice it or are chatting with someone who likes to dance?

I ask as while we have cruised a lot, the TA on Infinity this Fall was our first on X.  We love ballroom dancing and were very disappointed in what we found on Infinity.  The floor was always packed and the bands didn’t understand how to play for dancing.  In spite of this, we are booked on the Silhouette for the September Iceland and Ireland cruise.  We are hoping the dancing might be better on this ship... we are being positive and are looking forward to the cruise. 
 

Any observations about the dancing will be greatly appreciated!

 

 We hope you continue to have a great time and we will be following your blog with interest.

[cruzzzinma]

2 hours ago, nps001 said:

suite, we've never thought about ... having the mini bar emptied

We always ask them to empty it. I think the rules say they can’t fill it, but in every suite we’ve been in, the butler filled it with our preferred non alcoholic beverages. For us that is water and San Pellegrino and an occasional coke. I am sure they can get whatever you no alcoholic drinks you want. In our one Royal Suite experience, anything!!!

 

The last couple of times, we have also asked for sliced limes.

[Shadow9612]

Paul, who is the captain and cruise director currently?  Great blog!

[stinsowm]

HI Paul and Edward always enjoy reading about your cruises. Have an amazing time!!

 

Walter

[chicagopaul]

Good Evening Everyone!

 

After dinner I've crawled into bed and now have my laptop here so I would like to update you on a few things. As far as dinner photos go I'll follow up with all of you tomorrow, but for right now I'd like to cover a few things. Mainly, I'm writing this because of the couple we met at Luminae tonight who asked if I'd be posting again tonight...so this is for you! haha!

 

I know many of you who are reading this come from all different walks of life. We are beyond fortunate to be able to cruise multiple times a year or even more. I know there are some people who only cruise once a year. Others who cruise only once a few years and others who only enjoy this once in a lifetime. We are beyond grateful for the luxuries that we've been able to enjoy. As I sit here in bed and type this blog there are no words to describe how lucky I feel.

 

If you haven't followed me on Instagram, go ahead and do so. PaulKBlackburn  The photo I posted just recently perfectly sums up my thoughts on Celebrity and life in general. The photo pontificates the fact that for us, travel is not about the destination but it is about those who encompass the situations around travel. Those who make travel turn from a hassle to a joy. 

 

Tomorrow I'll go into detail about this cruise, but overall I have to say I've been very happy with the start of this cruise. The people we've met, all of you who have come up and said hello to me, and the staff. Thank you. Thank you for being a part of our trip and my life. It really means a lot.

 

As I said I'll review dinner, etc. tomorrow but I want to talk about late tonight. After World Class bar Edward and I headed to ensemble lounge. Michaels Club looked dead so I grabbed a seat at the ensemble bar,  Edward used the restroom. I ordered a drink of Remy and Edward then went into Michael's to order a Hennesy VSOP....Edward came out of Michaels and raved about our bartender Sergiu. He said he even though he was closing up, he made sure he was welcome and made a point to heat up a specific glass just for his drink. He could not be more accommodating. When he came out to Ensemble I had to laugh a bit because my bartender also left the bar, went in the back and grabbed a glass for my Remy. When it was served, my glass was quite warm. Again, it is reasons like this why we continue to come back and fall in love with Celebrity all over again.

 

Tomorrow I will critique dinner from tonight, etc .But overall, I have to say, I enjoyed another wonderful day in paradise.

[grandgeezer]

4 hours ago, cruzzzinma said:

We always ask them to empty it. I think the rules say they can’t fill it, but in every suite we’ve been in, the butler filled it with our preferred non alcoholic beverages. For us that is water and San Pellegrino and an occasional coke. I am sure they can get whatever you no alcoholic drinks you want. In our one Royal Suite experience, anything!!!

 

The last couple of times, we have also asked for sliced limes.

We were on the Equinox in September, in a Sky Suite and our butler stocked our minifridge with the soft drinks, beer, water, and alcohol we wanted and kept it full.

[chicagopaul]

Good Morning Everyone! Well we lost an hour last night so now it is 10:42 here. Before I review last night here is the daily for today. The internet is running quite slow this morning so bear with me! 
 

 

 

 

 

[awhfy]

On 12/13/2019 at 1:32 PM, Lastdance said:

 

It is made with gold tequila, Grand Mariner, lime....the bartender will be able to make it!

We will definitely order this on our Reflection MardiGras cruise. VTcruising was a special lady & will be missed on these boards. I’ll take a picture & post it on her page. Melody

Edited December 15, 2019 by awhfy

[chicagopaul]

Yesterday afternoon was spent relaxing in the room. Maintenance was working on something either in the hallway or above our room so we heard pounding / clanging for a couple hours but oh well. We napped through most of it. Then around 4pm we get a phone call from Lara, the michaels club concierge wanting you know how our room was and apologizing for the leak in our room. We didn’t know of any leak. But I heard the pounding outside and told her, ah they must be it! Sounds like they’re working on it. After I get off the phone with her I remember the night before we knocked over a bottle of water from the nightstand. I cleaned it up and thought it was as dry but perhaps is that the leak our cabin steward thought there was? Then I look up and see a hatch for the a/c is directly above where the water spilled. Ugh oh, I hope they didn’t think our water spill was an AC leak! So when we stopped in Michaels to finally meet Lara I brought this up but as it turns out she had the room number wrong. It was 2155 that had the leak not 2115 (our room). I guess the pounding outside the room was just a coincidence. Anyway, sorry to bore you with that story but I found it a bit amusing and coincidental. 
 

Before dinner we made it or course to the Martini Bar. We found a couple who always leaves for dinner precisely at 6:50 so we will simply start hovering right behind them each night! So after snagging their seats we ordered drinks and spoke to a young woman next to us and her mother. We chatted with Pavlo from Ukraine who was working the martini bar for the first time but he definitely was experienced in bartending. 
 

After martini bar we went to Michaels for a  glass of champagne. We met Lara as I mentioned and Sergiu the bartender who could not have been nicer. He asked us what we usually like to drink and said whatever it is he can get it and have it stocked waiting for us. He was very friendly and engaging. Usually we don’t spend much time in Michaels but I think we will make a nightly stop in there now to see him. 
 

We chatted with a couple passengers, two of whom we saw at lunch earlier in the day (Jeff and Evie) and then made our way to dinner at 8:30. 

[chicagopaul]

11 hours ago, Shadow9612 said:

Paul, who is the captain and cruise director currently?  Great blog!

Im not sure who the captain is. We didn’t get one of those sheets with everyone but we did see him out and about the other night. I’ll ask and find out. Cruise director is Sue! I think she came on a month ago so she should be here for a couple more months. She’s always a blast. Haven’t run into her yet but looking forward to seeing her out and about. 

[chicagopaul]

When we saw Evie and Jeff in Michaels club, Evie told us to try the lobster salad starter in Luminae. So we saw it on the menu and had it. It was excellent. We told our waiter Dev we could eat 10 more of those. So of course when the next course (pun intended here) came out he brought two more orders! So very good! For the second course I had the escargot and Edward had the steak tartare which he said was very good. Of course I liked my escargot from the MDR. Now for the entree one of my favorite dishes was on the menu which was the halibut with sticky rice. I could eat they every day. Our sommelier Valimir (not Vladimir I mis spelled his name last time) recommended a great white wine. We grabbed the bottle instead of paying the up charge by the glass. It was an up charge of $6 per glass so an extra $30. It was a great wine. We didn’t finish the bottle so we will probably finish it today at lunch. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cache77]

Thanks for doing another great trip report.  We also live in downtown Chicago so your perspective carries a lot of weight for me regarding food quality. I followed your May Alaska trip report on the Eclipse to help build excitement for our August Eclipse Alaska cruise.  It turned out to be a wonderful cruise and we had Dev as our waiter in Luminae!  My 3 year old daughter and Dev were best buddies by the end of the cruise.  We're going to be on the Silhouette in July 2020 for a N Europe and are doing a Sky Suite again for that cruise.  I imagine Dev will have moved on by then, but now I have my hopes up we will see him again.   We only cruise once every year or so, so we don't have great odds of running into the same people again.

 

 

[chicagopaul]

2 minutes ago, cache77 said:

Thanks for doing another great trip report.  We also live in downtown Chicago so your perspective carries a lot of weight for me regarding food quality. I followed your May Alaska trip report on the Eclipse to help build excitement for our August Eclipse Alaska cruise.  It turned out to be a wonderful cruise and we had Dev as our waiter in Luminae!  My 3 year old daughter and Dev were best buddies by the end of the cruise.  We're going to be on the Silhouette in July 2020 for a N Europe and are doing a Sky Suite again for that cruise.  I imagine Dev will have moved on by then, but now I have my hopes up we will see him again.   We only cruise once every year or so, so we don't have great odds of running into the same people again.

 

 

Thanks so much for commenting! Hopefully the weather back home isn’t too cold. I’ll let you know where Dev says he thinks he will go next. I can definitely see Dev being great with children. I know his daughters are 2 and 8 years old. 
 

today for lunch in Luminae we had the filet cob which was actually excellent. Filet was very well seasoned, great cook point and it was the perfect portion for lunch. So far so good! 

[maggie.1008]

Paul, I now remember why I love following your blogs so much. You have the most positive attitude. You always see the best in people and different situations. Your positive energy follows you everywhere you go. 

On our April Hawaii cruise we are in AQ and will be dining in Blu. Are you in a suite on that cruise ? 

Several years ago we were in a suite GTY and were assigned 2121. I am a bit of a light sleeper and we did hear the carts rolling above us from the OVC. Have you had any trouble with noise in the middle of the night ? I have been afraid to book a suite GTY since then. 

 

Cheers, Heather

[chicagopaul]

1 hour ago, maggie.1008 said:

Paul, I now remember why I love following your blogs so much. You have the most positive attitude. You always see the best in people and different situations. Your positive energy follows you everywhere you go. 

On our April Hawaii cruise we are in AQ and will be dining in Blu. Are you in a suite on that cruise ? 

Several years ago we were in a suite GTY and were assigned 2121. I am a bit of a light sleeper and we did hear the carts rolling above us from the OVC. Have you had any trouble with noise in the middle of the night ? I have been afraid to book a suite GTY since then. 

 

Cheers, Heather

Thanks so much Heather! Right now we are just in concierge for Hawaii. Waiting for pricing to drop to jump up to aqua or to a suite. 
 

So far this cruise, being on deck 12, we haven’t had any noise issues outside of the work that was going on yesterday afternoon. I’ll keep you posted if we hear anything. 
 

On other sailings I don’t think we had any issues in Sky Suites with the exception of some creaking sounds in one cabin. But we are usually able to sleep through most things. 

[CruiserMickey]

@chicagopaul Your positivity makes reading your cruise blogs so enjoyable! Thank you for writing the way I imagine your in person personality is.

[jcpc]

Hi Paul,

Enjoying reading your blog (as usual!!)  I saw your Instagram post about Domnic the waiter in Luminae stopping by your table at dinner.  The last I knew my absolute favorite of all Luminae waiters, Domnic Barreto, was working on Silhouette.  If you happen to get a chance and it is "my Domnic" (very slender man from Goa India) who you wrote about please give him a big hug from Janice.  Domnic has a heart of gold and is a very caring individual. I miss seeing him on Summit.

Thanks,

Janice

[Azulann]

Your blog is always a delight. Thank you for taking the time each day  to write . 

Being in the frozen North, I need your  pictures and prespective to remind my why I cruise.

Hope to book two  cruise in 2020 , Celebrity and  Viking Ocean.

I love the Blue martini on Celebrity.

 

[chicagopaul]

1 hour ago, jcpc said:

Hi Paul,

Enjoying reading your blog (as usual!!)  I saw your Instagram post about Domnic the waiter in Luminae stopping by your table at dinner.  The last I knew my absolute favorite of all Luminae waiters, Domnic Barreto, was working on Silhouette.  If you happen to get a chance and it is "my Domnic" (very slender man from Goa India) who you wrote about please give him a big hug from Janice.  Domnic has a heart of gold and is a very caring individual. I miss seeing him on Summit.

Thanks,

Janice

I believe this is him! He is from India and is very slender. I will tell him you said hello!!