Silver Moon Catamaran - Great !!!!!

[Benita]

We went on the Silver Moon I last week and the hype is well deserved. There were four of us from the Cystal Symphony, a family of four from Celebrity Constellation, and two British couples who winter on Barbados. The ship was spotless, with two easy to use toilets - they have four, but two are open for our use. The three young men who were the crew were adorable and very sweet. My friend does not like to wear a snorkle mask and on the the crew had her hold on to a life preserver and towed her around.

The food was delicious and we were blessed with excellent weather. I would do it again with pleasure.

[mwpyle]

I just booked the SM for WED MAY 11th--wife and I are on our 25th anniversary cruise. Bit of a 'splurge' for us--but I'm hoping it will be WELL-WORTH if from everything I've seen.

[billandtina315]

Good Luck on your 25th> You will not regret this trip. We did the excursion on our first cruise Feb11- Celebrity. Pls send oour regards to Bill and his crew from Tina,Bill. AnnMarie and Brad. :cool:

[rosejazz]

We did this tour last week. Sailed the Seranade of the Seas (RCCL). We brought our 14y and 11y old with us. It was fabulous! The boys even had a blast. We told them it was a relaxing day and they brought books, lounged around, talked with the crew and had a great time. They were the only kids on the Silver Moon, but we saw several families with kids younger than ours on the SM II.

 

The crew was awesome, kind, courteous and very professional. The lunch was served on "regular" plates (read: not paper plates) and was very good. Chicken, fish (great!), salad, pasta salad, coleslaw, rice, and a great mac and cheese. More than enough food. Rum cake for dessert. We enjoyed rum punch and beer. I also had white wine with lunch.

 

The turtles were a site to behold and we spent about 1/2 hour snorkeling with the turtles. We spent an additional 1/2 hour snorkeling over the shipwreck and reef. This was plenty for us as we had snorkeled alot during the week.

 

The differences I saw b/w Silver Moon and SM II were this: SM has an enclosed cabin that opened to the top deck. There is room to sit and a full service kitchen. SM II had an open air canopy, so I assume all there facilites were below deck. I can tell you SM has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. 2 bathrooms were available for our use. The other difference we saw was that on the cruise back to the dock after the last snorkel we were served the rum cake AND served freshly made pina coladas in beautiful, large fluted glasses. It was a nice touch and a fun way to cruise back. The SM II was cruising next to us and they ddin't have the pina coladas and didn't look espeically happy that we did :(

 

All in all, a wonderful experience. I wouldn't hesitate to spend the money and do it all over again.

[skiiergirl]

Is it normal for the SM II to not have the pina coladas????

[rosejazz]

Skiiergirl:

I don't know that answer. I just know that we were hanging out drinking pina coladas in lovely glasses and they weren't. That doesn't mean they weren't having other drinks (rum punch etc).

 

I think either catamarran will be lovely. They both are beautiful boats and it appeared everyone had a good time. Barbados was our last island to stop at and this was the perfect way to end the cruise. It definitely isn't a party boat...we all talked, laughed and got to know each other, but no one got wildly drunk or anything. It's luxury.

 

enjoy!

[rjack22]

We were on the Silver Moon last week also, on April 6. It was everything everyone said it would be and more! Absolutely worth the money! The catamaran is beautiful and well kept. The crew was great! We had 12 people (the max). Four each from three ships. Four of us from Summit, four from Destiny, and four from Constellation.

 

We passed one of those large catamarans that the ship's tours use, talk about a cattle barge! Jason told us there were 110 people on that boat and weren't we glad we were on the Silver Moon! Definately worth the money to be on the Silver Moon.

 

The lunch as stated before was fabulous! Plenty of it and presented in ceramic bowls and not throw away foil. You were served by the crew on ceramic plates. You just told them what you wanted and they dished it up and handed it to you.

 

I am not a Pina Colada drinker (hate coconut) so I had a Stawberry Dakari that was very good.

 

It was a great day and the highlight excursion of our trip. If you have the chance to do the Silver Moon by all means do it. Book early as they fill up fast.

[gourmetgal]

Just returned from our cruise. I must say that the SilverMoonII was the best catamaran trip ever Many thanks to Ben,Terry and Adrien our crew. The boat was immaculate and the crew first class .I can't wait to return to Barbados and do it again. I cannot reccommend this enough!!! The Highlight of our trip!

[drdaddy]

This sounds like a great excursion. For those of you who went late October or early November, what was the water temp like? We live in Sout Florida so if the water is cool, I am not happy.

 

We won't cruise again in Aug/Sep because we were really stuck Aug/Sep 2004 with all the hurricanes we ended up with so we want to go a little later in the season.

 

Thanks

[mpat]

Because it came highly recommended by so many people on this board, I booked the Silver Moon for our cruise in June. However, I'm not sure if we got it or not. I faxed the confirmation about a week and half ago, but have not heard back from them. Does it usually take this long to hear from them?

I called last weekend and Emma said she was not in the office and doesn't about the confirmation yet. I hate to keep calling. Should I just be patient?

We are really excited about doing the catamaran in Barbados and sure hope that we got it for our date.

[KenMo]

I emailed my confirmation and waited to hear back....and waited. Finally, I called them and they did say they received it and I was booked as requested. I got the impression they don't confirm they received confirmations. Maybe someone else had a different experience. Bottom line: I'd call and make sure.

[KJHorton]

I faxed my confirmation. At the same time, I sent an e-mail requesting confirmation. I received a return e-mail the same day.

 

We will be on the Silver Moon II on June 24.

 

Good luck.

[Benita]

We never got a confirmation, but our credit card was charged the deposit. They did send an email a few weeks before the trip saying our site for pickup was moved. We got there and the representative was waiting with a list with our name on it.

[rjack22]

I received a confirmation from Oceans Aventures for the Silver Moon via email. I didn't even request it.

[marys350]

We just returned from our cruise on the Serenade of the Seas. Our day on the Silver Moon was the highlight of our trip and well worth every penny. Jason and Tony, our crew, did a fabulous job. They were very polite and professional and gave lots of personal attention to everybody. They helped novice snorkelers learn how to use the equipment and provided 1 on 1 attention to a non-swimmer in our group so that he was able to enjoy the experience in the water. The catamaran was top notch. We felt like we spent a day in "lifestyles of the rich and famous". There were only 10 passengers on board that day and we sailed past other catamarans that were loaded with people. As other posters have mentioned the food and drinks were delicious and plentiful. We were transported to the catamaran and back to the cruise terminal in a comfortable bus in plenty of time to board the ship before sailing. We hope to return to Barbados and spend another day on the Silver Moon someday.

[mwpyle]

Based upon everyone's reports of this excursion, I booked this as the "splurge" for our 25th wedding anniversary. I was a bit concerned that it could live up to the expectations that were created by what I'd read on the boards. I was wrong-- the SILVER MOON far exceeded what we had heard and was truly a HIGHLIGHT. I've got some photos posted on my WEBSHOTS page. Check them out at ....

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/348226989iXWCcf/0

[sherry7]

I had no idea of what to do in Barbados, but after reading this thread, I think I do now. :) This sounds like an awesome excursion.

 

Question - will they make my 16 year old son virgin foo-foo drinks? (He loves them.) Or will he be stuck drinking soda?

[jlane]

When on was on the cat back in February there were two twin 16-year old on board. The staff was awesome about making whatever drinks you want. So foo-foo away and enjoy, but book soon!

[happysinglemom]

Question - will they make my 16 year old son virgin foo-foo drinks? (He loves them.) Or will he be stuck drinking soda?

 

Absolutely they will. My son just loved his virgin pina colada!!! Enjoy!!!

[skiiergirl]

I faxed my confirmation. At the same time, I sent an e-mail requesting confirmation. I received a return e-mail the same day.

 

We will be on the Silver Moon II on June 24.

 

Good luck.

 

Jackie.....Looks like you'll be there in just a couple of days. Have a great time and give us a review when you get back.

[cthoops]

My husband and I are going on our first cruise in January, so I've been lurking the boards to get information for excursions. After all, it's never too soon to start planning, right?? :) This one sounded wonderful, so we've decided to go for it!

 

Thanks to everyone for posting your comments, and I'm looking forward to reading more!

[KenMo]

My husband and I are going on our first cruise in January, so I've been lurking the boards to get information for excursions. After all, it's never too soon to start planning, right?? :) This one sounded wonderful, so we've decided to go for it!

 

Thanks to everyone for posting your comments, and I'm looking forward to reading more!

 

You've made an excellent choice!!! If you haven't already, I would suggest booking asap as Silver Moon fills up quickly. Have a great cruise!!!

[cthoops]

Thanks for the suggestion, KenMo. They have e-mailed me a confirmation form, and I'll be sending it back early this week. Too bad there are still 7 months to go!

[skiiergirl]

Jackie....Hope you had a great week. Give us the scoop on this excursion!

 

Ski

[KJHorton]

Hi, Ski! Funny, I was going to e-mail you about aft balconies. #8390 was great. Do they use any of that empty space in front of 7th floor balconies or is there any purpose for it? Just wondering, they could have made those balconies really huge!

 

Anyway, Silver Moon II was awesome. It was a little hard finding them at gate 2 because their sign says in large letters "5 hour catamaran lunch cruise" and in smaller letters/logo at the top Silver Moon. So you just need to know what to look for. I and II sailed at the same time so we shared a 5 minute bus ride and the boats pretty much shadowed each other all day.

 

The catamaran was comfortable and the service was great. They offered drinks as soon as we boarded and quickly collected/refilled empty cups. They offered sodas, beer and rum punch.

 

First we went swimming with the turtles, which was awesome. They had some food so they came very close. They make everyone wear life jackets and seem to be very safety conscious.

 

Next we went to the beach for some swimming and lunch. The kids had fun jumping off of the boat and the sand was very white and fine. The food was plentiful and delicious. If I can remember it all there was chicken, mac and cheese, salad, rice, pasta salad, and something else I can't remember. No rum cake as I have read above.

 

When we departed for snorkeling, we asked our captain if he could get us wet on the front nets of the boat and did he do a great job of that! The kids had such a blast and we were all soaked. The 8 year old in our group said, "This is awesome, I will never forget this the rest of my life!" It was so cute.

 

We snorkeled a site with two ship wrecks. One was from the early 1900s and the other was less than 10 years old. They were pretty cool, especially the newer boat. You could actually still see some of the gear and ropes. You can look inside the doors to see a table, etc. inside the boat cabin. We saw plenty of fish and a turtle here. My son said it was some of his favorite snorkeling of all times.

 

Then we sadly headed back for the ship. This is when they offered the frozen drinks. I thought they would be offered throughout and I am wondering if this was the experience of others (maybe this was my misunderstanding). When I asked earlier in our trip, I was told only beer and rum punch. We each only got one frozen drink and this would be my only disappointment, but it really isn't something worth complaining about. In any event, it was a fantastic day and we would definitely do it again.