Photo Review: Celebrity Silhouette 2/7/16 Western Caribbean

[HeatherC430]

Just off the Silhouette a little over a week ago. I’ll start off by saying we had another great cruise with Celebrity. When cruising in the Caribbean to escape the brutal cold and snow in the dead of winter, there really isn’t much to complain about. And while not every cruise may go exactly as you have planned (as much as I try to pre-plan and over-analyze), we always find a way to enjoy ourselves regardless of any issues we encounter. Because after all, isn’t any day at sea better than a day at work? I assume many others feel the same as I, otherwise we wouldn’t spend countless hours on the Cruise Critic message boards researching upcoming cruises and relishing in reading other photo reviews passing the time until our next cruise.

 

As I have in previous photo reviews, I’ll do my best to divulge as many details & photos as possible. I tend to write using the same style and photo posting technique that I enjoy most when reading other photo reviews. I’ll typically post in chronological order of the days and activities as they occur and commenting on specifics of pictures as I post them. I took over 2,000 pictures throughout the course of this cruise, so all pictures that I’ll be posting will be in the order in which they were taken. If you find there to be too many details or pictures, feel free to just skip ahead to the parts you’re most interested in. For the CC members like myself who enjoy fixating on every detail (as I do) pre-cruise, enjoy.

 

If you haven’t already read my previous photo reviews onboard the Summit, the links are shown below.

 

Photo Review: Celebrity Summit 2/7/15 Southern Caribbean (with 2 days in San Juan)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2169016

 

Photo Review: Celebrity Summit 4/26/14 REPO Cruise – Caribbean & Bermuda

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=42676213#post42676213

 

Photo Review: Celebrity Summit 2/1/14 Southern Caribbean

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1987902

 

We booked this cruise last year onboard our Summit cruise in February, therefore we had the 123go promo again with the Classic Beverage Package as well as $125 in onboard credit for booking an ocean-view room. I also had another $100 onboard credit as part of the debacle of Celebrity chartering my cruise booked for 2018 on the Summit (for one of the jazz charters). After a series of emails with them only giving me less than 24 hours notification to rebook another cruise for the $100 onboard credit, they were able to add the credit to my current sailing which was better than nothing.

 

Below is the itinerary of our cruise and timeframe for my review:

Friday, February 5th- Pre-cruise stay in Ft. Lauderdale

Saturday, February 6th – Pre-cruise stay in Ft. Lauderdale

Sunday, February 7th – Board Celebrity Silhouette (Superbowl at Sea)

Monday, February 8th – at Sea

Tuesday, February 9th – Cozumel, Mexico

Wednesday, February 10th – George Town, Grand Cayman

Thursday, February 11th – Falmouth, Jamaica

Friday, February 12th – Labadee, Haiti

Saturday, February 13th – at Sea

Sunday, February 14th – Debark Celebrity Silhouette & Fly home to Pittsburgh (Valentine’s Day)

Background:

I’m Heather (34), traveling with my husband William (42). Here I am (your story teller) with Ft. Lauderdale in the backdrop. This was my 16th cruise overall (4th cruise on Celebrity, 11 previous cruises on Carnival, and one NCL sailing). Since our first Celebrity cruise, Celebrity has been our line of choice for various reasons with the major pro being overall relaxed vibe of the ship and demographics of fellow cruisers. Sure, food and service matter, but 95% of the time those have always been pretty good on all my previous cruises, regardless of the line. At the end of this review I’ll summarize all the various areas that we experienced during the week, both pros and cons. I’ll report in which categories Celebrity fell a bit short on this cruise, and report on a few issues we encountered with literally the worst service I’ve ever experienced at sea. I’d still sail with Celebrity again as I feel they offer the best product for myself and DH and what we appreciate in a cruise. I can’t even believe I’m writing this, but my DH even suggested us doing a Carnival cruise for our next cruise at the end of the week (more on that later).

 

However, don’t misconstrue what I’m saying. We had a great week of vacation, as you’ll see by my photos and review. There are some areas that Celebrity can improve upon that quite frankly we didn’t experience on the Summit. With that being said, we LOVED the ship itself, one our favorites. All of the finishes and design elements were spot on. As always, this is only one person’s perception of what I’ve encountered onboard. Since we’ve returned, I’ve seen many people on our roll call and Celebrity Facebook group from the same sailing commenting that their cruises were outstanding and I haven’t seen a single complaint from anyone else on my sailing (so far). Ok, enough forewarning…onto the fun part!

 

Also worth mentioning: During the course of this review, I’m going to wait until the end after posting all days and final comments before addressing any comments or questions that may arise as I post. This should help those who want to focus on the review itself without reading any additional back-and-forth in between each day’s posts. I’m hoping to have this written over the course of the next week or so. Enjoy…and thanks for reading!:)

 

[janetz]

Great start. :D

We are doing the same sailing next year. Cant wait to read.:)

If you want to try something close to Celebrity, Princess may be a good choice.

Edited February 25, 2016 by janetz

[Bimmer09]

Heather, great to see another review from you-especially as I just experienced the Silhouette for the first time January 17th.

 

Thanks for taking the time.

 

Looking forward to following along.

 

Norris

[Clarea]

Looking forward to more.:)

[Bo1953]

I think I remember seeing you around a few times onboard! I look forward to your thoughts to meld with ours!

 

Thanks..

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your review.

[HeatherC430]

I always try to make the most of my vacation days, as my DH doesn’t like flying (although he has to do it a reasonable amount for his job) and agrees to one cruise per year. Each year we do one week long cruise towards the end of winter, in hopes that upon returning home from vacation the worst of the winter weather is behind us. This cruise ran Sunday through Sunday. On most of our previous cruises that have departed from Florida, we normally just fly in that morning, and board the ship the same day. Since this cruise didn’t leave until Sunday, I figured we could spend a few days in Ft. Lauderdale in advance and really make the most of our vacation days.

 

We had a direct flight Friday morning on Jetblue from Pittsburgh to Ft. Lauderdale. Our flight arrived at 9:45am. I had booked our pre-cruise stay using Hotwire’s hidden rate deal months in advance (ok, 8 months in advance to be exact). I had selected a 5-star hotel in the Ft. Lauderdale beach area. By doing so, you have to pre-pay the hotel before receiving the name of hotel for the rate you agreed to pay. I paid a total of $600 for the 2 nights (this included tax & fees of $106 plus $247/night of the Hotwire rate). I was given the Atlantic Hotel & Spa (601 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd). After pulling the details of the hotel on the site and checking out the location I was pleased with the accommodations and the rate paid. Anywhere else for that level (even 4-star hotels) were at least that per night with beachfront location.

 

The Atlantic Hotel & Spa: http://www.atlantichotelfl.com/

 

Check-in wasn’t technically until 4pm that day, but what are you supposed to do when it’s only 10:30 after you pickup your luggage from baggage claim and grab a taxi to your hotel? I knew the room wouldn’t be ready that early – or let me rephrase, I knew the odds were slim that a room would be ready. I proceed to the front desk and let them know that I’m there to check-in even though I’m aware how early it is. They can see that we have all our luggage with us, and I at least wanted to have them hold our bags until the rooms were ready later, so that we could explore Ft. Lauderdale. As I gave the front desk my name, I knew there was going to be an issue when I got the “Could the reservation be under any other name?”

 

No, it 100% was under my name. I show the girl at the front desk my confirmation email that clearly states it was booked through Hotwire, and that it’s already been pre-paid (which I also brought to her attention a second time). She disappears to the backroom and surfaces 5 minutes later, letting me know that they do not have the reservation. She asks if she can take my paperwork and give to their reservationist who would have to contact Hotwire. She says it should all be straightened out, and that she’ll call my phone when the room is available to check-in. All of which seemed reasonable. We arrange to have the bell-hop hold our luggage in a locked room, and they give us the claim tickets to retrieve later.

 

At this time, it’s shortly after 11am and we’re off to explore Ft. Lauderdale. We were getting pretty hungry and ventured to walk along our street with ran parallel to the beach. We came upon a small café and stopped for some brunch/lunch. As of a month before the cruise, I had kept this day pretty much wide open in terms of things to do. I figured we’d explored Ft. Lauderdale a bit (by foot) knowing that the beach and some of the other shopping, restaurants, bars, etc were within walking distance.

 

Then, when I was researching potential things to do that Friday, I came upon gondola boat cruises offered through the Ft. Lauderdale waterways. The month before, I found the exact company I was looking at was offering a Groupon deal (in the Ft. Lauderdale area) on their two hour gondola cruise for two for $55 total through the tour company of Gondolas West. I was initially looking at the sunset cruise, but decided daylight would probably be better as the picture taking opportunities would probably be better than dusk (which they were).

 

In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t go with the sunset cruise, because as our cruise was finishing up, it was starting to get chilly on the water. Anyways, I had booked the 3pm boat cruise. Booking through the site without the Groupon would have been $40 per person, so I saved myself $25.

 

After lunch, we walked…and walked until about 2:45 when we headed to the Bahia Mar Hotel Lobby where we were to meet our tour for departure. Lunch was pretty quick, so we literally walked all around pretty much non-stop for 3 hours. A two-hour leisurely float on the Ft. Lauderdale waterways was exactly what we needed. Keep in mind that I still hadn’t hear from the hotel to let me know I was able to check-in (although I did have a call that hung up after the first ring, when I called the number back, sure enough it was the front desk recording.

 

Gondolas West: http://www.gondolaswest.com/tours.html

 

2 HOUR CANAL TOUR

DAILY: 10:00am, 12:30pm, 3:00pm

DURATION: approx. 2 hours

DEPARTURE: Bahia Mar Hotel Lobby

PRICE: Adults: $39.95, Children: (Under 8) $36.95

 

Our tour guide met us in the lobby right on time as planned. We couldn’t have been more pleased that we were the only two on the tour! The boat probably would have only held 6 people (other than the gondola driver/guide) and even that could have been a little too close for comfort. We really enjoyed the trip through the Ft. Lauderdale waterways seeing all the homes, boats, and mega-yachts. We love boating at home in the summer months, and this trip was very “familiar” to us. One can’t help but wish that one day, retiring on a yacht straight to the Caribbean and cruising from one island to the next, isn’t a perfect retirement plan – at least for us it is!

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Our guide was great and able to give us insight into various things we saw and questioned along the water. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this tour company to others looking to see a different vantage of Ft. Lauderdale from the water. Even exploring on foot for 3 hours, the waterways gave you a totally different perspective of the area. Onto the pictures…

 

Because I can’t resist a touristy photo op…

(followed by a few shots while walking in Ft. Lauderale)

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

Probably my favorite yacht of the day...

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

You could see some of the cruise ships in the distance past the bridge.

 

 

Then the bridge opened for some of the taller sailboats that couldn't pass through when closed.

 

 

 

 

I recall seeing this paddle wheel boat as one of the attractions to do in Ft. Lauderdale, and I was glad at the time that we took the gondola tour rather than a larger boat tour, because we were able to get into alot of the smaller waterways that wouldn't have been possible in a larger boat.

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

I'm still kicking myself for not having the guide take a picture of us on the gondola during our tour (I think I was too tired from all the walking and let the photo op pass us by). Here are two pictures of the gondola our tour was in taken at the end of the tour.

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Our gondola tour finished right on schedule at about 5pm. We walked back to the hotel. At this point we were REALLY ready to check into our hotel and take a load off (after getting up at about 3am to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare for our 7am flight). At least when at the front desk this time, they acknowledged my name when given, and gave me the keys to our room and took care of the check-in information. At this time they really didn't say anything about not having the reservation, etc so one would have thought the "issue" was taken care of.

 

A few pictures from the walk back to the hotel.

 

 

 

We happily gathered our luggage without issue and made our way to the room. The room was as promised. One king size bed. Bathroom was rather large with a soaking jetted tub, shower stall, separate toilet room. There was a small kitchenette that had a mini-fridge, microwave, sink, small cook-top, etc. There were even some dishes, pans, etc if you wanted to cook some small meals in the room. The best part was that we had a balcony room that was overlooking the pool and facing the ocean.

 

See exhibit A: This was when we first checked into our room that night.

 

 

 

The view was equally as impressive the next morning from the balcony. It was at this point that I was thinking to myself that I really hit the ball out of the park in terms of the hotel room, view, and location. I should have really soaked this up, because the next evening the views weren't exactly the same (more to come on that).

 

 

Again, it's very unlike me not to take pictures of almost everything I do or encounter on vacation. I normally have one of my two cameras with me at most times. It's only when I'm literally exhausted that I either 1. Don't think to take the camera out and take pictures or, 2. Know that I should probably take pictures of something, but just aren't in the mood. It must have been one of these two, because I didn't take not one picture of the actual hotel room from Friday night through Sunday morning (only the view from the balcony). I don't even think I realized at the time, not until coming home and reviewing my pictures did I realize I dropped the ball. Long story short...the room was real nice.

[HeatherC430]

As soon as I started researching things to do in Ft. Lauderdale (literally a year ago), I stumbled upon the Everglades Day Safari. It’s what made me decide that we needed 2 days pre-cruise in Ft. Lauderdale rather than one. It was a combination day trip that included various aspects of the Everglades for a comprehensive experience. It included a nature walk, boat cruise, lunch, wildlife drive, and airboat ride. I’m a sucker for a good combo tour (getting to see multiple things all while being transported by one company).

 

Below are the details provided through their website. I confirmed in advance that our hotel was one of the places that they would pick you up for the day trip. This tour company operates out of both Ft. Lauderdale, and Davie Florida to the Everglades. The price of $159 per person did seem high to me, but all the reviews I had read raved about their trip. And they did give a promo code for $10 off per person for all cruise passengers booking the tour pre or post cruise (Brownie Points for that). When booking, you only had to pay a small deposit and provide a credit card number for them to charge the day before the departure date of the tour.

 

I’ll comment on specific aspects of the tour as I post the fragments of the day trip, but my DH & I both agreed this tour was well worth the money paid for it. It was one of highlights of the cruise with all the amazing wildlife we saw throughout the day. I can’t say enough good things about the two boat rides and wildlife viewing.

 

If I had to list any cons for this trip, it is a long day (so you must be prepared for it). When they picked us up at our hotel there were 2 other couples on the shuttle, then we picked up a single girl about 30 minutes later. You cover a great distance from where you’re picked up at your hotel and getting to the various stops during the day. The time spent in the shuttle is pretty lengthy and we saw some (but very little wildlife) from the “scenic driving” as you would expect.

 

Also, while our tour guide was very nice and knowledgeable, her delivery of the information provided left a little to be desired. For example, each sentence she would say over the speakers as she was driving was drawn out with long pauses in between what she was saying where it was hard to follow her train of thought at times. I’m not sure if it was just because she hadn’t been doing the tours long or what? This really didn’t effect our overall impression of the tour, but it’s worth mentioning.

 

All aspects and timing of the day was very well planned out. Earlier in the shuttle ride, everyone had to write down their order for lunch based on the options provided. When we arrived at the restaurant for lunch, the tables were already ready for us. Each of our meals were served almost immediately. We really enjoyed our lunch. I had the fried shrimp, and DH had the grouper sandwich. Overall, an excellent day in the Everglades if you have a full day to spare! :D

 

Everglades Day Safari: http://www.ecosafari.com/

 

The Everglades Day Safari offers an in-depth, naturalist-guided day trip into the majestic Everglades!

Includes Roundtrip transportation from the greater Fort Myers and greater Fort Lauderdale areas.

 

• A well-educated, highly-trained, naturalist guide.

• A nature walk under the canopy of towering bald cypress.

• A scenic boat cruise into the Ten Thousand Islands mangrove forest in Everglades National Park.

• A delicious lunch with alligator appetizers.

• A wildlife drive through the pine savannahs and cypress forests of Big Cypress National Preserve.

• And a spectacular airboat ride through sawgrass prairies and pond apple forests.

 

Pickups start at 7:15 am - drop off around 5:30 pm.

 

Adults .....................................$159

Child (under 12) ......................$139

 

Cruisers Before or After Special

Take some time before your cruise or after your return to explore the Everglades with the Everglades Day Safari eco-tour. Cruisers can enjoy a $10 discount per person. We pick up at nearly every hotel in Port Everglades. Not valid with any other discount. Guest must book the tour directly. Must use coupon when making reservation and provide cruise boarding information.

 

The first stop of the day was the airboat ride! I had just taken my first airboat ride with my sister in December during our New Orleans pre-cruise stay in the Bayou. During that airboat ride we only saw a few alligators, although the best part of this trip was that the tour guide had a baby alligator with him that we were able to hold. The picture is really too cute not to share...:D

 

[HeatherC430]

While I didn't get to hold any baby gators on this trip, it was amazing the sheer volume of alligators and other wildlife we saw in such a short time period. It was almost as if the guide didn't even have to look for them. There was no straining to see, they were right out in front of you! I don't like to toot my own horn...but I was getting pretty good at spotting wildlife even before the guide would slow down the boat and point out to the group! lol

 

Airboat Ride As described through their website

 

Our tours that depart from the Fort Lauderdale area experience an airboat ride that navigates across the sawgrass prairies and pond apples sloughs of the "River of Grass" in search of alligators and a variety of birds including the rare and endangered Snail Kite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

The previous pictures were all before the tour even started. We arrived a bit early and were the first tour of the day. It's probably best to take an earlier tour if you're just doing the airboat segment as it was getting busier as our tour was finishing up (and I would think more wildlife would be out earlier in the day when we were there). Maybe that's why we got so lucky?

 

 

 

Who doesn't love an action shot on the water? Did I mention my DH hates having his picture taken? Well, he does. I like to snap pictures when he isn't looking. :D

 

[HeatherC430]

Our tour guide on the airboat - very informative!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Our first alligator spotting...

 

 

My DH's attempt to get me & the alligator in the same frame...:D

 

 

 

Then we stumbled upon these two...

 

 

[HeatherC430]

One last picture as we float by them on the airboat...

 

 

Then we saw one sinking down beneath the water level as we went by...

 

 

 

Then we stumbled upon a hind end of another one!

 

 

And another one swimming away in the distance.

 

 

There were literally so many, you couldn't even keep track of how many you were seeing. These were just the alligators that I was seeing off the back left side of the airboat. There were plenty that were on the right side or off the front of the boat that I didn't have a good vantage point and didn't even attempt to get photos of.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

I love your photos. Hubby and I took this exact same cruise on Silhouette last year. We really enjoyed it. We very much liked the ship. The captain was super cool. The shows were good. We ate at the fun restaurant up by the lawn twice. It was a really relaxing cruise, one I'd gladly do again. In fact, I am considering doing a back-to-back on Silhouette.

 

Keep your photos coming and comments coming.

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

I want to go on record that I was the one who point out this turtle to the group

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

We saw countless birds throughout the day on the various segments of the trip.

 

 

That about wrapped up the airboat portion of the trip. The time went really quickly as we were seeing wildlife around almost every bend. Back at the docks, there was an alligator hanging out - guessing maybe the rangers feed them?

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

Next up was a 15 minute or so stop to a National Park viewing area. There was a long boardwalk along a canal where the alligators were in the wild. Little stops like this during the trip broke up portions of the longer drives.

 

Here's what the boardwalk looked like from a distance:

 

 

 

I couldn't have planned the reflection of the bird on the branch over the water any better.

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]

 

 

 

 

 

[HeatherC430]