Jim_Iain – Silhouette Live Post April 8, 21, 30 - B3B - TransAtlantic, Portugal Spain, France and the Norwegian Fjords

[raudacruise]

Congrats on your upgrade! (And gratis no less.) You so deserve it! 

 

🥂🍾🍸😎

 

Loved my RS on Silhouette.

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

I though the same thing about interpreting the results from Emed.  I wasn't sure if the proctor was also looking at the results in addition to the QR code.  

 

I am interested in your process for forwarding the results.  When I go into my app I see my results but I'm not sure how I see to download the results to a pdf.  Did you get the PDF from an e-mail?

I got e-mails but as I said they are password protected.    

[raudacruise]

9 minutes ago, Schmoe38 said:

Jim

 

When you get to Luminae, see about getting Vikash as your server.

 

We had Marlon for most of the cruise and I could have spoken more about our experience with him, but he is currently in isolation as a contact trace and will not be back until Tuesday.

 

Vikash took over cold turkey and we were very impressed.

 

Just an option.

 

Randy

Vikash was my fabulous server on both legs of my recent Silhouette cruise. Always looked forward to dinner. As I said before, glad I didn't give him Covid.

 

Was also very impressed with Laurence. So thoughtful and caring.

[Jim_Iain]

Now have to figure out how to spend all that OBC.   On the first cruise I bought Iain 2 Premium Bar Setups.    I guess I may just learn to gamble.

[Jim_Iain]

10 hours ago, BEAV said:

 

Congrats!

 

And some lucky souls are no doubt going to get your CS, and the domino upgrades continues...

I'm sure your correct.   The Concierge asked if we were arriving at 10:30 and I said no - probably closer to 11:15.   She said ---ahhh.   I see that I was reading the next line of my calls.

[Jim_Iain]

23 minutes ago, alisonfe said:

We used Binax tests administered/proctored by Inspire Diagnostics - the ones linked to for U.S. citizens on Celebrity site. We used them for an RCL cruise March 5 and now for this upcoming April 8. We purchased and "registered" the tests while selecting a proctored (zoom meeting) test. The actual testing "stuff" then arrived quickly in the mail.

Thanks for sharing.    I had not heard of them and I'm sure they could be a good resource for others.     I have 4 more of our tests packed  in our suite case and I brought along 4 self tests if we should not feel well

[Jim_Iain]

26 minutes ago, Schmoe38 said:

Jim

 

When you get to Luminae, see about getting Vikash as your server.

 

We had Marlon for most of the cruise and I could have spoken more about our experience with him, but he is currently in isolation as a contact trace and will not be back until Tuesday.

 

Vikash took over cold turkey and we were very impressed.

 

Just an option.

 

Randy

Will try.    Is he in the front or back dining room.  We usually ask for the back room as it is a bit quieter.

[Jim_Iain]

Last night we walked down the street and had dinner at Carabba's, which is a really

nice Italian place.   We had a short 5 minute wait but the service was exceptional.   The food portion are huge and VERY good.

 

 

 

 

 

Iain had the Lobster Ravioli with and a bowl of Lentil Soup as a starter and I had an appetizer (Calamari, Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms and Fried Mozzarella.    Huge portions and I couldn't finish.  

 

Really would recommend the place.     By California standards the price was about 1/2 of what we would have paid for a dinner of the same caliber.

 

For desert we had Tiramisu.        

 

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[raudacruise]

5 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Will try.    Is he in the front or back dining room.  We usually ask for the back room as it is a bit quieter.

I was seated in the front right corner. Called it my “hidey hole.”

[Jim_Iain]

6 minutes ago, raudacruise said:

I was seated in the front right corner. Called it my “hidey hole.”

I am hoping they will find a place for us for some social distancing space.   My experience so fare her in FLL that it something that isn't followed much.

[Jim_Iain]

Got up at 8:00.  It’s cruise day!!!!!

 

Embassy Suite is not very full for this visit and Spirit Airways is having a conference here today. 
 

No lines at all for cooked to order omelettes. 
 

 

[raudacruise]

4 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I am hoping they will find a place for us for some social distancing space.   My experience so fare her in FLL that it something that isn't followed much.

My only spacing issue on the ship was on elevators. (Didn’t frequent bars.) I can’t manage walking more than three flights up.. Early in the cruise there would just be a few people on the elevator, all masked, eyeing each other with suspicion. That soon changed to packed elevators with hardly anyone masked.

 

I always wore a KN95 mask.

[Schmoe38]

Vikash was in the front, but he was re-assigned to the back, where we were, when a few servers were taken to isolation due to contact tracing. 

 

Laurence handled the staffing very efficiently and we were very pleased. I’m sure she will be relieved when the 3 servers return early next week.

 

Randy

[Jim_Iain]

Just now, raudacruise said:

My only spacing issue on the ship was on elevators. (Didn’t frequent bars.) I can’t manage walking more than three flights up.. Early in the cruise there would just be a few people on the elevator, all masked, eyeing each other with suspicion. That soon changed to packed elevators with hardly anyone masked.

 

I always wore a KN95 mask.

 

I was thinking the same thing here at the hotel.   The sign said 2 pax only and 10 people piled onto the elevator.

 

I splurged on some 3M N95's masks and really like them.    They really seal well and have a foam strip on the top that prevent glasses from fogging up.   The ones I got are called aura 9205+ and are the Fish design.  

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, Schmoe38 said:

Vikash was in the front, but he was re-assigned to the back, where we were, when a few servers were taken to isolation due to contact tracing. 

 

Laurence handled the staffing very efficiently and we were very pleased. I’m sure she will be relieved when the 3 servers return early next week.

 

Randy

Thanks Randy.    The anticipation of board the ship is increasing by the minute. 

 

J

[raudacruise]

7 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I was thinking the same thing here at the hotel.   The sign said 2 pax only and 10 people piled onto the elevator.

 

I splurged on some 3M N95's masks and really like them.    They really seal well and have a foam strip on the top that prevent glasses from fogging up.   The ones I got are called aura 9205+ and are the Fish design.  

I’ll look for those masks, they must have a better seal than mine. No foam strip so I get fogging. 

[Blighty770]

Iain, will you post some sail away photos from your suite (as per usual...), please? 🙏

So very thrilled for you both on the three B2Bs! Contemplating driving to Southampton to wave you all off en route to Spain.😁

[alisonfe]

17 minutes ago, raudacruise said:

My only spacing issue on the ship was on elevators. (Didn’t frequent bars.) I can’t manage walking more than three flights up.. Early in the cruise there would just be a few people on the elevator, all masked, eyeing each other with suspicion. That soon changed to packed elevators with hardly anyone masked.

 

I always wore a KN95 mask.

Same here - it's frustrating to be in the elevator and then have more and more people pile in blithely (those of us shoved to the back giving each other looks of annoyance at the others). Kills the mood. In any case, we're all vaxxed on this thing, so hopefully any dangers will be mitigated.

 

As I mentioned (perhaps in another thread) Joseph was pretty vigilant about masking - and ended up testing positive once in the weeks prior to this cruise (but no symptoms) and then testing negative a week later.  On the other hand, I was much more lax about the masking and distancing and have tested negative throughout. 

[GeorgiaPeach51]

That wonderful anticipation on the day you board the ship is the grown up version of Christmas Eve when you were a kid.  Love it.  Lots of fun ahead for you!

[FlorenceItaly]

This particular Carrabbas has a wonderful HAPPY HOUR, drinks and small plates.  At least they did pre-covid.  For future cruisers it is definitely worth checking out.  

[raudacruise]

New & improved masks on order. Thanks Jim!

[mac_tlc]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Now have to figure out how to spend all that OBC.   On the first cruise I bought Iain 2 Premium Bar Setups.    I guess I may just learn to gamble.

Can always cash it out through the casino .......

[venicecruiser]

Congrats on the upgrade!  Enjoy your RS!

 

Claudia

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Will try.    Is he in the front or back dining room.  We usually ask for the back room as it is a bit quieter.

He was also our waiter after the loss of Marlon and Martin.  We had all of our evening meals except for one night in Luminae.  They really could use a second Sommelier but Martin did a wonderful job at trying to keep up with the high demand for his services.  

 

8 minutes ago, mac_tlc said:

Can always cash it out through the casino .......

 

 This worked out quite well for us.  Unlike on Reflection where winnings and OBC were shown separately and you could only cash out your winnings, any remaining OBC remained on your account.  On Silhouette when we charged $$ to our room, we could cash out at any point beyond that.   Sometimes we won, most often we did loose but if I had to guess we recoupled over 50% of our OBC, that we did not use for extra gratuties.  

 

Speaking of extra gratuties, I was told that i could not assign gratuties to individuals, beyond our stateroom attendant and Personal Retreat Host.  I was told that I could not name individuals like bartenders, waiters/waitresses, etc. on the form.  I know you have had success doing this in the past and hope you can again but just relaying my experience. 

 

[upwarduk]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks Randy.    The anticipation of board the ship is increasing by the minute. 

 

J

The anticipation of Silhouette being back in Southampton is also increasing, because that means Celebrity might at last issue their European protocols.

At least we had our Spring Booster on Wednesday.😱