Silhouette Review with Pictures - Dec 23 - 30, 2012 E Caribbean

[travelingirl70]

In fact, one night we were walking through and my goofy husband and kids just went and posed with the rock and the background. I laughed so hard I could barely take this picture. I'm thinking next year's Christmas card????

 

[travelingirl70]

We called Guest Relations and managed to schedule a bridge tour shortly after docking in St Thomas. This was a great experience! It only took about a half an hour. We met someone from guest relations at the deck 10 forward elevators, then had to show ID to security, be wanded by metal detectors and we were on our way. The 1st Officer gave us our tour and he was fantastic. He was a Boston native and we had fun with our Red Sox/Yankees banter.

 

Pictures were allowed, just no video. Here are a few that I got.

 

Our invitation

 

 

Where all the work takes place when docking.

 

 

 

And the view from the bridge.

 

[travelingirl70]

Here are a few of the ship while in port. She is so beautiful. A real standout compared to the others, if you ask me.

 

Docked in St Thomas

 

 

 

 

Anchored at Coco Cay

 

 

[travelingirl70]

Room Service

 

Room service, when we got it, was prompt and the food was hot. Twice I tried to order chocolate covered strawberries (this is technically through the "Gifts" section on the interactive TV) as a surprise for my husband and the order went through, but alas, no strawberries. After the 2nd failed attempt, I went to Guest Services who handled it quite well. They made a call and had an order sent up to our cabin within an hour, complimentary. Quite unexpected but quite a nice touch as I was beginning to feel a little frustrated.

 

I also found it ironic when, on day 2 of the cruise, I went to order room service on the TV and I saw this:

 

 

 

For Christmas morning, we did manage to order room service the night before and it was delivered promptly and it was quite good.

[BugsyCruiser]

Great review so far and excellent pictures! I'll be on Silhouette in 3 months so this is much appreciated :)

[travelingirl70]

Glad everyone likes the review so far. Next up, food! I will do a review of all of our dining experiences on Silhouette and I took tons of food pictures. This may be a multi-day installment. :)

[vickykay]

Enjoying your review and pictures. Did you take photos of the MDR menus by ant chance?

 

Thanks. Vicky

[HopefulCruiser123]

I am really enjoying your review and got a big kick from the picture of your family posing on the rock. Priceless! I had a question about the bridge tour. That is something my husband would really enjoy, but he is in a manual wheelchair. From your vantage point, would you say whether or not it might be accessible? Also, you said that you just called guest services and requested a tour. Did you initiate that request on your own or did you request it in response to the invitation?

[paulscruisin]

We are sailing on 2/17/2013. Can't wait to see her in person.

[cpgrneyes]

Thanks for taking the time to post the review and pictures.

 

We were on the same cruise and echo almost all of your comments, but I LOVED the artwork entering the Ensemble Lounge! Both walls, ceiling and floor were painted, and as you progressed to the specialty restaurants, there was another mural with the artist shown covering herself with the fruit in the previous room. So cool!

 

Our last three cruises were on Azamara which suits us to a tee, and I wasn't sure how I would feel about the large ship, but, other than the chaos by the pool on sea days, the ship didn't feel crowded or full, which it was.

 

Looking forward to seeing more memories on this thread!

[jjl64]

Great review and pictures! We leave on January 20th and can't wait!

[travelingirl70]

I am really enjoying your review and got a big kick from the picture of your family posing on the rock. Priceless! I had a question about the bridge tour. That is something my husband would really enjoy, but he is in a manual wheelchair. From your vantage point, would you say whether or not it might be accessible? Also, you said that you just called guest services and requested a tour. Did you initiate that request on your own or did you request it in response to the invitation?

 

We saw the bridge tour on Celebrity Today so I called and signed up! They told me someone would call with details and then we would get an invitation. We received a call from guest relations later that day and the invitations were waiting for us the night before the tour. We only had 8 people but they can take up to 15 at a time and have several throughout the cruise (only when in port, obviously). I saw nothing that would preclude a wheelchair from entering the bridge. The entrance is just down the hall from deck 10 elevators and had wide doorways and open spaces. No stairs. It was very informative. I highly recommend it!

[travelingirl70]

Enjoying your review and pictures. Did you take photos of the MDR menus by ant chance?

 

Thanks. Vicky

 

Sorry, I didn't take pictures of the menu. But stay tuned for the dining review. Lots of food pictures, mostly of the specialty restaurants. Tons from Qsine!!!

[travelingirl70]

We were on the same cruise and echo almost all of your comments, but I LOVED the artwork entering the Ensemble Lounge! Both walls, ceiling and floor were painted, and as you progressed to the specialty restaurants, there was another mural with the artist shown covering herself with the fruit in the previous room. So cool!

 

Artistically speaking I loved it too but it just seemed to be an odd use of space. It was as if something belonged there but was missing.

 

I have to admit I was jealous you Pre-booked an alcove. I inquired immediately after boarding and was put on a wait list. Never came through.

[Waihekean]

It was the same on The Equinox, a beautiful painted space. It felt like a sort of an entrance hall with toilets of the site.

[travelingirl70]

Main Dining Room

 

 

We had Select Seating which conceptually I liked better than fixed dining times. However, we were not thrilled with the MDR overall. A few observations: the hostess on the starboard side was far better than the hostess on the port side. That could vary from cruise to cruise, but there was a significant difference between the two sides - close to a 20 minute difference in how quickly you were seated for a comparable spot in line. The first night was chaos From reading the boards here, I knew there were 2 lines. One for reservations, one without. But when the line backed up into the martini bar, it was a mass of people and everyone mashed into one. We found over time that the "no reservations" line was typically shorter. We started on port side, then switched to starboard and were still seated before the people in front of us on the port side. The starboard side was full of guests not knowing where to go, but the hostess did an amazing job of crowd control.

 

 

On the first night, the gentleman who was to seat us couldn't find our table number. He walked us to the back of the dining room, looked confused and told us to wait there. We were right in the middle of waiters trying to serve food and clearly in the way. The gentleman had us follow him, weaving throughout the crowds, looking for our table. Finally, we returned to the front, where the maitre'd intervened and took us to 2 tables they pushed together for us. It was quite possibly the worst table in the MDR. Deck 4 port side, most forward table with walls on 2 sides. One wall was the station for the waitstaff so we had banging dishes all night. Our Pellegrino was served quickly, but my kids' sodas never came even though we asked twice. I finally sent my kids out to the martini bar to get it themselves.

 

 

The second night was a little smoother but we made the mistake of checking in port side (we hadn't yet figured out this was a recurring problem). We went at a totally different time than the first night yet were sat at the same undesirable table. This night, drinks were served and the service overall was better.

 

 

My daughter wasn't a fan of much on the menu either night and our requests for something off the menu were met with a polite but firm no. I only asked because so many people mentioned getting such great service and had special requests accommodated, but it seems that was not the case for us.

 

 

By the third night, which happened to be Christmas Day and formal night, we learned to go to the starboard side hostess stand. I politely asked for a different table, one without views of walls. There was no line when we arrived, but a 30 minute wait, so we had a drink in the martini bar. We returned 30 minutes later and were promptly seated in a much better location with a waiter and assistant waiter who were outstanding.

 

 

We had specialty restaurants booked for nights 3 through 6 and decided to book another one for night 7 as well. I later learned you could buy a specialty restaurant package which included unlimited meals in the speciality restaurants. Next time, that will be the way we go.

[travelingirl70]

Qsine

 

 

We loved it so much, we came back a second night! I was intrigued by the concept and from what I read here, figured we would have a decent meal, but nothing too special. We liked some dishes better than others, so I imagine it depends on what you order. Nathan, our waiter the first night, promised to take us on a "culinary journey" and did he ever! He suggested we each pick 2 dishes (8 in total) and he would size them appropriately and put them out in the right order. We probably ordered 2 too many as we were positively rolling out of there four hours later. Yes, 4 hours! Nathan said it often took 3 hours, but the service slowed down quite a bit for the last 2 hours and we were there for just over 4. The second night we made it out in 3 hours.

 

 

Our favorites were the crab ball and the lobster escargot. And the Qsine sangria was quite good. $26 for a pitcher that was perfect for 2 of us. Those were the only ones we repeated both nights. Nathan made it fun, appointing DD13 to be captain of the table - and he was playing with her all night. Make sure you save room for dessert. There are some delicious surprises that await you. If you are a chocolate lover, get the Chocolate Tombstone. It was big enough for 4 or 5 to share but I swear I ate half of it myself! I'm already trying to figure out a recipe to recreate it at home.

 

Here are some pics of the wonderful dishes at Qsine:

 

They start you off with a delicious bread, but don't eat too much of it or you won't have any room for the rest!

 

 

A delicious crab dish --- YUM! This was crab rolled in fried angel hair - I can't remember the rest, but it was so good we had it BOTH nights! Sinfully delicious.

 

 

Sushi Lollipops - WARNING - the wasabi encrusted sushi was, as should be expected, five alarm fire hot!!!!! They were good, but if you're a serious sushi lover, you may want to skip this one.

 

 

The 3 meatballs - one was turkey, one was veal and one had a mozzarella filling. Good. But not as good as Mom's.

 

[travelingirl70]

The Slider Party was fun - I liked the presentation of the food.

 

 

 

The chicken kabobs were tasty.

 

 

Lobster Escargot - NOT TO BE MISSED! I've never actually had escargot before, but my husband tried one and said I had to taste it. Delicious!

 

 

And they give you these little breads to soak up the garlic. They are wrapped in paper and the waiter makes a point of telling you to unwrap it before eating. Makes me wonder how many people bit in not realizing it had a wrapper!

 

Edited January 5, 2013 by travelingirl70
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[travelingirl70]

Chi-tini's were an interesting presentation of Chinese food favorites.

 

 

Painters Mignon was delicious filet mignon (each guests gets theirs cooked to their desired temperature) with a variety of sauces and toppings. Cooked to perfection and served on a cute painters palette.

 

[travelingirl70]

Yummy spring rolls - in 2 varieties served in a "spring". Clever.

 

 

Popcorn Fish and Chips - cute presentation, but this was one of the few "misses" at Qsine. Skip it.

 

 

[travelingirl70]

Disco shrimp served in a flashing bowl.

 

 

This is the only picture I took of the Taj Mahal. We were so full by then, I was losing steam with the camera. There were a variety of tasty indian dishes. I wish I had room to have tried more.

 

Edited January 5, 2013 by travelingirl70

[MaryContrary]

We're sailing Silhouette March 3, and I really LOVED seeing all your info. Thanks for taking the time to share!

[wednesday]

Oh man, I LOVE those BBQ spring rolls! Still thinking about them from my last cruise and wishing the Equinox (our next cruise) had Qsine:(

[cpgrneyes]

I have to admit I was jealous you Pre-booked an alcove. I inquired immediately after boarding and was put on a wait list. Never came through.

 

When we first boarded, there was somebody selling alcoves in Oceanview. I wish we would have booked one for every day.

 

Your pictures of Qsine are fabulous. I can actually feel how stuffed I was when we walked (well, waddled actually) out!

[travelingirl70]

When we first boarded, there was somebody selling alcoves in Oceanview. I wish we would have booked one for every day.

 

That makes me so mad!!!! I went to Guest Relations to inquire where I could book the Alcoves and she said she could help me. She called someone and put me on the phone and they told me they were all booked but they would put me on a wait list. This was probably around noon. We didn't go to the Ocean View Cafe upon boarding - we went to The Porch instead. Oh well. I know for next time. (Actually, next time I will just book it online in advance.) We did enjoy our time on the Solstice Deck, except for the chair hogs.

 

This is what we found one Sea Day morning:

 

 

 

 

I've seen my fair share of chair hogs before, but this was ridiculous. Yes, someone honestly picked up one of those wicker chairs and put it on top of the lounger, fastened it down with rope and claimed 8 or so seats. I had to take a picture because I figured I couldn't do it justice with words alone -- or no one would believe me!!!