Review of Silhouette Adriatic, Nov. 18 2013

Hi all! Here's my slightly delayed review of the Silhouette Adriatic Cruise, Nov. 18th 2013.

A little background on us; we're both in our late 40's (one of us will be in early 50's for next cruise, & we've been married for a little over 27 years. This is our 3rd Med. cruise with Celebrity, we've also been to Hawaii with them way back.

I booked this cruise the day it was available, back in April 2012, so I had plenty of time to obsess & plan, two of my favorite things to do.

Here's your cast of characters; Steve & Debbie

The cruise had an excellent itinerary, with quite a few new ports for us. When we booked there was to be an overnight in Florence as well as in Venice, but the overnight Florence was changed to one day florence, one day Corfu at some point, I was disappointed, but these things happen when you cruise.

We flew out of LAX via Air France Premium Economy 5 days ahead, it's a great product, dedicated cabin & service, & priority lines for check in & immigration, which can literally save you hours at CDG. We attempted to pack light, we each took one small checked suitcase, weighed in at 28 pounds each, & shared a carry on. we also took 2 small empty duffels to bring home souvenirs, ended up cramming DH's coat & my pillow in them for the flight.

Here's Steve in the lounge at LAX, setting up his mini office, he got about an hour & half of work done here:

Flight was comfortable, with decent food, unlimited wine/drinks & good entertainment system, here's breakfast:

Lounge at CDG was excellent as usual:

We had a delay of several hours here, so once again DH got a few hours of work in, we ended up in Rome exactly 24 hours after we'd left our house the day before, so we were a bit tired, took a cab to the hotel (Waldorf Astoria, this was our 4th stay in this lovely hotel.

Here's a view of the Alps on our way from CDG to FCO:

We've spent a bit of time in Rome before, so we decided to just relax & revisit some of our favorite places, we went to St. Peters first thing in the morning: (The first photo in the previous post is of us that morning)

Then we just walked for the next couple of days, visited Piazza Navonna:

popped into one of Romes magnificent churches:

next we headed to Campo Fiori to buy some oils, spices & have a snack:

We definitely should not have ordered two pizzas, but it was so cheap & good, it probably was enough to feed at least 8 people, most of mine was left behind, but somehow I managed to finish the beer :D

Headed towards the Forum & Coloseum area:

Great photos!! Super excited to read this - our first European cruise to the med is less Than 5 months away do I really have to get in planning mode now the holidays are over!

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the area near the Forum & Colosseum has been pedestrianized, what a difference no horns, no crazy vespas or buses to dodge, this made Steve quite a happy camper:

View from our hotel balcony:

headed toward the Pantheon:

Little market near Pantheon:

Will continue later, uploading taking me forever, sorry.

Great photos!! Super excited to read this - our first European cruise to the med is less Than 5 months away do I really have to get in planning mode now the holidays are over!

 

 

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Thanks so much! Be careful, it's addicting, I'm already planning the next one :D

Our favorite place to eat in Rome:

For some reason, this is one of my favorite buildings in Rome, you can see it from Miscellania, where we like to eat.

More random beauty, love how the ancient buildings & walls are incororated into the more modern:

To the ship!

Monday morning woke up bright & early & enjoyed the hotel's excellent breakfast! In the past we've always pre booked our train tickets in first class & travelled out of Temini Station, which is huge & a bit far from our hotel. This time I just looked at the times for the regional from St. Peters station & hopped a cab there. Cost was about 10E & took about 10 minutes or so, we tried using the auto dispense machine, but it was out of service, so we purchased our tickets at the window instead. Here's some photos:

There's a train every 30 minutes, the station is tiny, & easy to navigate, trains start much earlier than posted, we were on the 10:05 train

Here's what your ticket should look like:

with your back to the station, you'll be headed to the last set of tracks, down stairs, under the other tracks, & up to the last set, you need to be able to handle your own luggage to do this, no elevator or porters:

We each had a carry on sized bag (we checked these due to liquids) & a personal small duffel, these were mostly empty & intended for souvenirs:

To the ship!

 

Monday morning woke up bright & early & enjoyed the hotel's excellent breakfast! In the past we've always pre booked our train tickets in first class & travelled out of Temini Station, which is huge & a bit far from our hotel. This time I just looked at the times for the regional from St. Peters station & hopped a cab there. Cost was about 10E & took about 10 minutes or so, we tried using the auto dispense machine, but it was out of service, so we purchased our tickets at the window instead. Here's some photos:

 

There's a train every 30 minutes, the station is tiny, & easy to navigate, trains start much earlier than posted, we were on the 10:05 train

 

 

Here's what your ticket should look like:

 

 

with your back to the station, you'll be headed to the last set of tracks, down stairs, under the other tracks, & up to the last set, you need to be able to handle your own luggage to do this, no elevator or porters:

 

 

We each had a carry on sized bag (we checked these due to liquids) & a personal small duffel, these were mostly empty & intended for souvenirs:

 

 

Wheres the train?

Train took about 40 minutes or so to Civ. very comfortable & clean:

It's an easy ten minute walk from the station to the area where the shuttle buses are, at the shuttles, you load your own luggage & then board. You can't open the windows for fresh air, but the drive has a window & a fan & hadn't bothered to turn on the air, after a while some passengers really started getting upset, finally, the man behind us walked up to the driver & asked for the air to be turned on, he wouldn't do it until almost everyone spoke up, but it's such a short ride, I think we would have all survived.

This was our third cruise out of Civ, & we've always arrived around 11 to 11:30, this was the most crowded I've ever seen it, & somehow, we missed the luggage drop off, so if you're wondering if you can carry on, yes you can, as long as it fits through the scanners (ours did). Check in easy & fast with no wait after security. Oddly, I had to re submit our credit card info, even though I'd checked in on line, info was gone. No biggie. Cabins weren't technically open, but they let us drop off our luggage.

We headed back down for our free champagne, then to the AQ spa cafe for a snack.

Next, DH booked a massage pkg, Over the cruise he ended up getting 4 massages & I got 2, excellent service, & we both politely declined any extra products... just say no :D

Some photos of the ship:

Muster drill w/video same as always, we spoke with our cabin attendant, had fridge emptied out, & requested no canapes, no candy, no tea, just extra ice, water bottles & lots of extra towels.

Unpacked, & also packed up all the extra cabin junk, brochures, magazines, bible, binoculars, it all was packed into a laundry bag & stored in an empty suitcase under the bed. I'm a neat freak & like things uncluttered & immaculate. Super strong magnets came in handy:

There was a roll call sail away party scheduled for after muster, but it was a bit cold so we headed to the sky lounge, we decided to just relax, & have an early dinner in Blu. We had a early morning planned, a wonderful woman on our roll call named Amy had planned a private excursion to Tuscany for the next day, & we would be up early for it!

Dinner in Blu was lovely as usual, first night was a bit hectic, but things settled down after that & all was good.

Wheres the train?

Hi, the train arrived about 5 or so minutes late. But that's the track it arrives on.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE GREAT INFO AND PICS! You are an adorable couple, by the way.

In Rome, did you feel the best transportation to the cruise port was the train?

I don't like the idea of dragging luggage down so many steps, etc.

It was a fantastic review and very helpful. THANK YOU!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE GREAT INFO AND PICS! You are an adorable couple, by the way.

 

In Rome, did you feel the best transportation to the cruise port was the train?

I don't like the idea of dragging luggage down so many steps, etc.

 

It was a fantastic review and very helpful. THANK YOU!

Hi! & thank you very much, Here's the thing with the train, it's definitely the cheapest transport if there's only two of you, if you're traveling with a group I'd get a private shuttle.

We don't take the train just because it's cheap, we take it because for us the trains & buses & trams are part of our trip, we also really like walking :) In most ports, we walk from the ship into town, even if it's a few miles.

That said, if it was mid summer, super hot, or really, really pouring rain, I'd take private transport from rome to the port.

If you have a lot of heavy luggage the stairs could be a problem, I would say if you love walking/hiking in your normal life, take the train, otherwise a shared transport might be best.

Amazing pictures and excellent review. Thanks for sharing your cruise with us!! Looking forward to the rest!!:)

Looking forward to following along this great review! We will be on Silhouette in June, AQ. Wish we could do the Adriatic itinerary but kids' summer jobs make that impossible. But still interested in seeing your itinerary and pictures.

What cabin were you in?

Great review and pictures - Keep it coming:)

Looks like the weather was comfortable in mid/late November.

Thank you for posting your review of the Silhouette and the places you visited. The pictures so far are fantastic. Can't wait to see/read the rest.

Amazing pictures and excellent review. Thanks for sharing your cruise with us!! Looking forward to the rest!!:)

Thank you, & you're welcome

Looking forward to following along this great review! We will be on Silhouette in June, AQ. Wish we could do the Adriatic itinerary but kids' summer jobs make that impossible. But still interested in seeing your itinerary and pictures.

 

What cabin were you in?

Hi, we were in AQ 1525, we ended up giving up our hump aq for a guarantee, saved us so much, we couldn't pass it up

Great review and pictures - Keep it coming:)

 

Looks like the weather was comfortable in mid/late November.

Thanks! regarding the weather, more coming on that, we actually hit some mildly stormy weather later on

Thank you for posting your review of the Silhouette and the places you visited. The pictures so far are fantastic. Can't wait to see/read the rest.

Thank you, I'll post more tomorrow, we hiked with daughter & her husband today & are wiped out right now!

Day 2 of the cruise, Livorno Port

We had booked a private excursion arranged by a terrific woman named Amy on our roll call, it was so great to just show up at the prearranged time & place & have everything taken care of for us. Thanks again Amy!

I was up by 5:00, showered & shampooed & eating breakfast on the balcony by 6:30. Room service was prompt & delicious! We picked up latte's to go from cafe bacio, & water bottles to take with us (thanks premium drink pkg!)

There were 8 of us total, & we were picked up by Tuscan Sunshine tours bright & early & headed to Tuscany!

Side note: Livorno port is huge, ugly (in my opinion) & industrial, definitely not a place to hang around.

We would be heading to San Gimignano, make a 10 minute stop at Monteriggioni, & finish up in Sienna. Our driver did a terrific job of narrating as we drove, we were very lucky, as it poured rain when we drove but didn't rain in any of the towns except for the last hour in Sienna.

Tuscany was just breathtaking, my pictures don't do it justice, but here's a sampling:

more photos:

amazing views from the top of these slightly dangerous stairs:

more of lovely Tuscany:

Sienna was my least favorite of the three, but it was still amazing, it had a very gothic feel to it, I'd really like to go back to San Gimignano someday

Sienna's town square, they hold a horse race tournament here every summer, each district in Sienna has it's own entry & winning is a huge honor:

Sienna's Duomo:

The library in the Duomo (my favorite part, bright & airy)

Me, getting rained on, we left the umbrella's in the van, I have to laugh at the stressed look on my face, hey lady, it's only water! I was on my way to getting pretty well soaked here!

Tuscan Sunshine had us back on time, & we enjoyed a wonderful dinner in Blu, our San Pellagrino was waiting for us, & by now they already knew that we don't eat bread.

Entertainment on board featured Vocalist Leanne Mitchell, Sin City Comedy, a singer/guitar player in the passport bar & the Le Mandragole trio in the ensemble lounge (our choice)

We don't go to shows, so I can't tell you anything about them, but I really enjoyed the group in the ensemble lounge.

Since the next day was a sea day, we did a bit of bar hopping, & socializing, we came up with our nightly pattern, a little time in the Ensemble lounge, then head to the Martini Bar, the guys there were great about coming up with drinks without sugar for me!

Sienna's Duomo:

 

 

The library in the Duomo (my favorite part, bright & airy)

 

Gorgeous library, I agree!

Wow - wonderful photos and review!