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Just off silhouette eastern,some tips and observations

ricruzer

By ricruzer,
in Celebrity Cruises

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ricruzer

ricruzer

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Embarkation - arrived at port around 10:30am and started checking in, very small lines at this time, finished check-in in about 20 minutes and boarded ship at 11am when it opened. Rooms are unavailable till all are ready, this occurred at 1pm. luggage was delivered to room about 3:30pm.Oceanview café is open and food available from 11am.

 

Oceanview café is good place to eat. It is set up in stations so very little wait time getting food. Tables were a little hard to find during peak breakfast and lunch times. HINT go to back of café and out on the deck, eat outside, tables were always available. Many different types of stations, hot and cold.

 

Pizza/pasta available from 11:30am till 1:00am..

Ice cream available from 11:30am till 10:00pm

 

Hamburgs and hotdogs on deck 14 at mast grill very good open 11:30 till 6pm. also available here is soft serve ice cream from 11:30 to3:00pm. Soft serve also available at the aqua spa café from 12 noon to 2pm

 

If you have balcony cabin rooms next to someone you are traveling with, you can have the balcony door opened between them. You just ask the room steward and he will open it for the week.

 

for those of you with select dining, it is a good move to make reservations on line before you go. We made ours for for 6:15 or 6:45 every night, then you just go up to the hostess and give your cabin number and you get seated right away. though it looks like no one was waiting more than 15 minutes for a table. we actually asked for the same area each night and got the same waiters. It worked out very well, Food is very good in the main dining room.

 

As for the ports

Puerto Rico - a good place to get off the ship and take a quick walk and get back for dinner!!

 

St Thomas - Plenty of taxi's available right outside where the ship docks. It is $4 per person to get to downtown. Good place to shop. you must negotiate anything you buy. I was buying a watch and found out you can get a better price using visa or mastercharge than American express due to the percentage charged to the business owners. Just say to the salesman is that the best you can do after he gives you his first price? HINT, get your best price and then offer a little less and

say you will pay cash, it worked for me!!

 

St. Martin - best way to get to Philpsburg is using the water taxi available where the ship docks. It is $7 round trip per person and they run every 10 minutes. It goes right from the ship and lets you off at the dock, where there is a beach right there. It is not the fanciest but works, they have beach chairs and umbrellas right there to rent. The water looked great!! When you are done at the beach, the main street of shops in one block behind it.

 

Captain Kafetzis is the funniest captain we have ever had especially during his announcements, Be sure no to miss the Liar's Club show starring the captain, it is the funniest show that needs to be seen. It is a 10:15pm show

 

The ship is very nice, clean and well maintained. Be sure to use the midship glass elevators as they go from deck 2 to deck 15 the view is great. For you coffee drinkers stop on deck 7 and check out the "hideaway" room as they have coffee and tea available all thru the day at no charge. It is easier than going up to the café on 14 to get some.

 

As for the shows, the 2 comedians, Robbie Printz and Ralph Harris, and 2 music groups they brought on board, they were the "Tenors of Rock" and 'The Fly Boys", were excellent.

 

Concerning the dress code, on smart casual night for the men regular jeans or dockers with a polo shirt was fine. On evening chic nights, NO tie or jacket was needed, just dress pants and a dress shirt is fine and much more comfortable!!

 

Getting chairs near the pool was challenging on sea days , but if you use decks 14 or 15, you could usually find some. There is a lot of covered shade lounges available on board depending where the sun is in the am or afternoon. No problem getting lounges on port days.

 

Disembarkation - you must be out of your room by 8am. Your luggage must be out by 10pm the night before. Hint, do not forget to bring a small overnight bag to put in your toiletries and clothing from the night before. Everyone was off the ship by 9:45am

 

Finally, brush up on your trivia as there are contests all the time with tickets given out to the winners and those who answer questions. At the end of the cruise, they set up a table with all the prizes you can cash in your tickets for. Of course they all have a celebrity logo!!

 

That is all I can think of for now, if there are any questions post them here and I will try to respond

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mandream

mandream

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Puerto Rico - a good place to get off the ship and take a quick walk and get back for dinner!!

 

This is the one point where I disagree.

 

Puerto Rico has a lot of great places for dinner. In particular I recommend Barrachina - the birthplace of the Pina Colada (yes, there is some controversy here, but I am in the Barrachina camp).

 

We've done this cruise a couple of times and are looking forward to doing it again in April.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Mike

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akowilm

akowilm

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This is the one point where I disagree.

 

Puerto Rico has a lot of great places for dinner. In particular I recommend Barrachina - the birthplace of the Pina Colada (yes, there is some controversy here, but I am in the Barrachina camp).

 

We've done this cruise a couple of times and are looking forward to doing it again in April.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

 

Mike

Can you just stop in for a pina colada? We always have dinner at the Lawn Club on PR nights, and we can't break tradition.....but I would love to have a drink there!

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ricruzer

ricruzer

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we really thought Ralph was really funny. He was especially funny as he was a panelist in the Liars show with the captain!! The casino is nice but it looks like the slots are pretty tight from the ones we played. They do have a good selection of older and newer machines. The 3 card poker table seemed very popular. Remember if you have any on board credits, you can use them in the casino. You have to go to the casino cashier first to convert them Once you convert them,

you cannot switch them back.

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mandream

mandream

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Can you just stop in for a pina colada? We always have dinner at the Lawn Club on PR nights, and we can't break tradition.....but I would love to have a drink there!

 

Sure can. Grab a seat at the bar and have a drink (or two)! Don't forget to check out the plaque on the wall commemorating their important contribution to modern society.

 

Mike

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vvnh16a

vvnh16a

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Thanks for the review. Will be on this route March. Did you like Ralph Harris? I thought he was hilarious. Also, did you visit the casino and how was it? I am hoping to stay out of the casino but it doesn't ever seem to work.

 

The casino is now $10 mininum for the majority of table games including craps. The casino had people in it but I never found it to be crowded most likely due to the higher minimums..... Plus they never offered lower table games like during certain hours or encouraged people to play. THIs was disappointing. You can play a BlackJack Tourney for $25 (2 separate tourneys during the week) and they also offer Texas Holdem Tourneys at $60 entry 3 times a day and then at 9pm a $2, $5 cash game. Eve the Texas HOldem Tourneys were not always sold out and in fact some were cancelled.

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vvnh16a

vvnh16a

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Thanks for the review, am new to Celebrity and will be going on the Silhouette.

 

I have Select dining. Do they give you pagers if you have to wait for a table?

 

Select dining worked OK and YES when we had to wait longer than 10 minutes (first or second night) we received a pager but had the table within 20 minutes or so.

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The Fun Researcher

The Fun Researcher

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For you coffee drinkers stop on deck 7 and check out the "hideaway" room as they have coffee and tea available all thru the day at no charge. It is easier than going up to the café on 14 to get some.

 

Nice tip! Does anyone know if this "hideaway" coffee area is also on the Equinox? We are in a Deck 7 forward veranda on our cruise in August and would love this convenient area if it is also on this sister ship to the Silhouette.

 

Thanks,

Dan

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keesar Great Review Rare

keesar

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Nice tip! Does anyone know if this "hideaway" coffee area is also on the Equinox? We are in a Deck 7 forward veranda on our cruise in August and would love this convenient area if it is also on this sister ship to the Silhouette.

 

Thanks,

Dan

 

The Hideaway is on the Silhouette and Reflection.

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