Silhouette, 11-15-15, Western Caribbean Photo Review

Reviewer

DH and I have cruised twenty-something times on various cruise lines. We are Elite on Celebrity. We live NW of Baltimore. We're in our late 40's and early 50’s. We have two children that we left at home with my parents. We tend to cruise Carnival and Royal Caribbean when taking the kids and try other lines when it's just the two of us. We try to cruise twice per year.

Photos

The full cruise photo album is here: https://picasaweb.google.com/116889349930358549335/CelebritySilhouetteNovember2015WesternCaribbean?authkey=Gv1sRgCO309v7QzrHZbw

Pre-cruise

We flew in the morning of departure. We prefer to arrive the day before, but when my parents come to stay with the kids, we have to go with their schedule. We had a 7:35am non-stop flight from BWI to FLL. Our flight was on time and uneventful. We were in FLL at the taxi stand with our luggage by 10:15. We took a taxi to the port for $20 with tip.

Embarkation

This was the first Caribbean cruise for the Silhouette after her TA. We were concerned about delays and had texts and phone calls from Celebrity telling us not to arrive until 12:30. But since our flight arrived so early, we just headed to the port. It couldn’t have been easier. We dropped our luggage with a porter, went inside to no lines at all, through check-in and upstairs to the priority boarding area. All this in less than an hour since our plane landed. Boarding began around 11:30 and we were on the ship by 11:35.

When we were checking in, I guess the check-in clerk took note that my husband was born in Germany, even though we both had US passports and the entire check-in process was completed in English. Imagine our surprise and delight to get upstairs to look at the copy of Celebrity Today she handed us.

The Ship

Last year, we sailed on Reflection, our first S-class, so we knew what to expect. The ship was beautiful! My husband, our family photographer, loves to shoot the ship, so if you’re interested in lots and lots of ship photos, check the link to our photos above. I won’t be including all of them here.

The Cabin

We booked a balcony GTY for a great price back in February. Our assignment was a 2C, partially obstructed cabin 6267. The partial obstruction was the lifeboats, but it really wasn’t bad. Our preference when choosing cabins is up high and aft. This cabin was toward the aft, about half way between mid-ship and the stern. We thought we might be unhappy being so low, but it turned out we loved it.

I do have to mention that on embarkation day, we were relaxing in the cabin (I was actually napping) when our door opened and another couple walked in. They apologized and withdrew immediately. Our cabin steward saw this happen and asked to verify our key cards. I don’t know exactly what happened, but we very concerned that someone else on the ship could get into our cabin. We went to guest services and they had our lock code changed and issued new cards. As an apology, they sent a bottle of wine and a comp for Bistro on Five.

We hung out on our balcony for sail-away. There was a group somewhere above us that was really loud and obnoxious. They popped a bottle of champagne and showered us, especially my husband who was standing at the railing. We were very concerned about this group disrupting us all week, but though we heard them now and again, it was never again as bad as sail-away.

Main Dining Room

We had late dining, our standard choice. We asked for and received a shared table for 6. Our waiter and assistant were very good. The only service issue we had was with our sommelier and that was because he was working half the dining room! We would see him way over to the right, then to the left, before he finally arrived to our table, usually after we had ordered.

The menus haven’t changed for quite some time now and we’re starting to get a bit bored with them. I think this is why we ended up skipping the final three nights in the dining room, something we have never done before.

The Buffet

We ate breakfast here most mornings, a few lunches and one dinner. We always had good luck finding seating and something to enjoy. I enjoyed the 4:00 snacks and got my fix of scones nearly every day, and we also enjoyed sushi as an appetizer for dinner a few nights.

Pay Restaurants

We usually prefer the dining room and apart from one comped trip to Tuscan Grille last year, avoid the upcharge restaurants. But we had some extra OBC this time around and the new menu for The Porch intrigued me, so it was on my list to visit.

Initially, the plan was to go on embarkation day. The German Celebrity Today said it would be open at noon. When we showed up at noon, they told us it would open at 1:00pm. When we showed up at 1:00pm, they told us they wouldn’t be opening for lunch that day. So we ended up hitting the buffet at its most crowded. It definitely started the cruise off on the wrong foot.

We did end up going for dinner later in the cruise. We weren’t really impressed. The seafood tower was all marinated in the same way, so while there were abundant clams, mussels, scallops, shrimp and lobster, they all tasted the same.

There wasn’t much effort made for presentation either.

The whole saran wrap over aluminum foil look wasn’t impressive. And the lobster roll entrée was in no way a lobster roll. It was more like tuna salad made with some lobster. A big disappointment. We had such high hopes for this venue, but did not enjoy it all all.

The following afternoon, we stopped by the stand outside the Ocean View and asked the Qsine guy what he could offer us that evening. He offered 20%, but it was 2:00pm and the buffet was getting ready to close, so we said we’d book after we ate. He said he was leaving at 2:15. We didn’t make it back to him in time, so we booked via phone that afternoon. When we arrived at Qsine, they of course knew nothing about the discount, but did offer it when we explained what had happened.

This was our first visit to Qsine. As we’ve heard, the service was top-notch, but the food was just ok. We didn’t feel it worth the reduced price we paid.

Other food

We ordered room service late the night we ate early at The Porch. There is a $4.95 charge for orders after 11:00pm. Our order arrived in about 30 minutes and was the pizza was hot and fresh, unlike what we had seen in the Ocean View before returning to the cabin. I remember the chocolate cake being better, but perhaps I was just tired.

Entertainment

We did not do a single trivia, game or other event on this cruise. In fact, I can’t remember even studying the Celebrity Today to see if there was anything I wanted to attend. I was content relaxing and reading.

Theater shows

We went to the Silhouette show and enjoyed it. The comedian was just ok. I am so over the “kids have it so easy nowadays” jokes. The magician the final night was not entertaining at all. There were technical difficulties with the camera in his first close-up trick and the rest of the show, while the tricks were well-performed, just didn’t impress me. But then again, I am not a fan of magic shows. My husband is, so he dragged me to this one, but even he left disappointed.

Ports

Cozumel

We don’t book ship excursions. The only exception is in St. Thomas when we take the St. John On Your Own because it is more convenient and not a lot more money.

In Cozumel, we booked the Cozumel Bar Hop. http://cozumelbarhop.com/

Silhouette docked at the International Pier. Our tour met outside the Señor Frog’s downtown. We took a taxi to meet the group at 10:30. From there, we were escorted to a van holding the 14 of us (most of us from the Silhouette, a few from other ships and one couple that were staying on the island).

We visited four different bars on the eastern side of the island. At each bar, we were served a free shot. We then spent about 50 minutes and ordered whatever other food and drinks we wanted. This was a lot of fun! We tried to sit with different people at each stop, but I don’t think we met everyone.

Stop #1: Punta Morena Restaurant Bar

This place had a saltwater pool and loungers and was the only place to really get in the water. We didn’t bring swimsuits, but did put our toes in. The swings at the bar were also fun. There were vendors in one area, but they didn’t really hassle you. I could definitely see spending a few hours at this place, the only one on the tour I felt that way about.

Stop #2: Coconuts Bar & Grill

This bar is definitely an adult environment. There are no children under 18 allowed on the tour, but this comment is included just in case you were thinking of doing this on your own with young kids. There are bras and panties hanging all over the place. There is a special photo album of topless women posing with bar staff. And the bar staff (all male) wear aprons covering huge um, fake endowments that they are very happy to display. Everything is all in fun, but I would have been uncomfortable with my kids along.

We ordered the shrimp and conch ceviche. It was very good!

Enjoying so far, thank you for taking the time.

Cozumel (cont.)

Stop #3: Playa Bonita Restaurant and Bar

Our tourmates who ordered this had to get it in a to go cup!

Another one of those aprons. Note the string. It can be tugged (ha!) remotely.

He was happy to see my husband. Note photo is linked instead of embedded. Click at your own risk!

What’s under the apron?

Stop #4: Rastas

Best drinks of the bar hop. Or, perhaps my taste buds were numb by then. Actually, this was the only drink, other than bottled water, that I ordered. I did not want to be the one using the yellow bucket that was carried in the van for emergencies. We ordered the coconut shrimp. It was very good!

Our hop bus:

Grand Cayman

We have visited previously and have been to Stingray City and done shore snorkeling. Our plan was to perhaps try parasailing or rent jet skis.

We left the port area and started walking left toward Seven Mile Beach. Within minutes, a public bus beeped at us and we waved him down. For $2.50 each, he took us to the far end to the public beach. We started walking along the beach back toward the ship. We ended up at Red Sail Sports at the Westin Casuarina where we booked a parasail for the two of us for $150. The bus boat picked us up about an hour later. We just lounged in the water while we waited. Neither of us had every parasailed before and we were both excited and a bit nervous.

Here is a link to the parasail provider on Trip Advisor – Parasailing Professionals

This was so much fun! The guys on the boat were great, even rigging up a wrist strap so I could take up my phone when our waterproof camera died. I’ll try not to include too many photos, but it was just so incredible that I want to share.

Gratuitous ship pics. This is my favorite part of tendering.

Falmouth

We booked the Falmouth Food Tour from Jamaica Culinary Tours.

We met just outside the security building. We stopped at four different places, two of them being carts where we sampled fruit and sugarcane at one and fresh coconut at the other.

The other two were restaurants where we had Jamaican beef patty with coco bread at one and jerk chicken at the other. All of the food was very fresh and very good.

We also stopped at a market, a courthouse, a church and the town square.

Our final stop was a home where we sampled three sweet treats. Quite yummy.

Labadee

We were planning on enjoying our Elite coupon for the Persian Garden on the ship this day, so our plan was just a quick walk around to see anything that had changed since our visit last November.

Since then, they have moved the spa and closed access to Dragon’s Point. This was disappointing. They also added a “practice” zip line.

My favorite part of visiting Labadee is watching the sunset as we leave.

Debarkation

We had a late flight home at 8:00pm, so we booked a rental car and went to the Keys for the day. We had a low luggage tag number, 7, but didn’t rush off the ship. I think they were calling the 20’s when we left. The terminal was a mess! I don’t know if people were coming before their numbers were called or they were calling numbers before the luggage was ready. Either way, there was a huge backup of people standing around in the terminal and we could not get in to get our luggage. Once we finally got into the terminal and grabbed our luggage, there was no line at all for customs and the agent didn’t even look at our passports.

Overall

We booked this cruise, with the same itinerary we had last year on the Reflection, knowing it would be a week of relaxing and not doing too much. And it was just what we wanted. We were disappointed in the evening shows, especially because there were never any after late dining, only before. We were not impressed with any specialty dining and are starting to get bored with the dining room food. But, overall, it was still a very nice week. We did not book another cruise onboard and I am thinking next fall we may try Princess for the first time. But I know at some point, we’ll come back to Celebrity.

Thanks for reading along. Happy to answer any questions.

Thanks again!

We are in the same position as you with our return flight. Where did you rent your vehicle and how long was the drive to the Keys?

We are in the same position as you with our return flight. Where did you rent your vehicle and how long was the drive to the Keys?

We rented from Thrifty. We booked a pickup from the Port Everglades location and drop-off at the airport location. There was a shuttle from the pier.

It was about 2 hours to Marathon, where we turned around. It would have been another 1.5 hours to Key West.

Thanks for your review!

What type of camera did you use to take these Photos? Beautiful. I am in the market for a camera that will produce such stunning and colorful photos.

What type of camera did you use to take these Photos? Beautiful. I am in the market for a camera that will produce such stunning and colorful photos.

Thanks. My husband is a "serious amateur" photographer. We use a few cameras, but most of the ones in this review were shot with a Nikon Coolpix AW120. The Grand Cayman shots from the air are with an iPhone 6s. The ship shots in the photo album were with a Nikon D7100.

Great review! Thanks! We are leaving for Eastern Caribbean this Sunday and I'm doing my last minute research.

Great review. We are. Poked on same trip in 2016.

We are elite plus on X, but have never done a western Caribbean cruise!

Just starting to look for shore excursions. Up for. Out debate is doing Mayan ruins from Cozumel. Looks like LONG day to see best sites.

What did your tendering ticket procedure entail on this trip? There has been mixed reports about elite priority tickets recently.

Thanks again for great report.

What did your tendering ticket procedure entail on this trip? There has been mixed reports about elite priority tickets recently.

I think I posted in the latest thread. There were no tickets. The CC hostess left us voice mail telling us where to find her when we were ready to go. She escorted us to the tender which was waiting for us. It was the most pleasant tender experience ever.

Thanks for your review!

Man that photo of the seafood tower does look like it was drenched in the sauce you were talking about. Probably ruined it. Hope they can correct that!

Wow, that seafood tower looks terrible.

Can you tell me more about the tendering? We are Elite and I assumed we would get some kind of priority tickets. We want to be off as soon as we get in. So who do we contact to make sure that happens?

Thanks

We are on Silhouette same route on Dec 13th

All you do when you're ready is go to the Loyalty Desk & the representative will escort you to the head of the line. Very easy.

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Thanks for the review! We're headed on this same cruise in January! We were planning on checking out Dragon's Point in Labadee. Is access to Dragon's Point closed indefinitely (from what you could tell)?

Thanks!