Silhouette - Feb. 5th - 12th, 2017 - Western Caribbean Itin

[jb008]

Silhouette - Feb. 5th - 12th, 2017

FLL - Cococay - Sea - Cozumel - Grand Cayman - Falmouth Jamaica - Sea - FLL

 

TL;DR - Another great X cruise, would much prefer to sail from San Juan vs FLL, Aqua Class access to Blu was a huge perk; made deposits on future cruises.

 

Background:

DW and I are you professionals, both in our early 30s, and have spent some time living in NYC. We've cruised both Southern and Western Caribbean before, and last time we sailed out of FLL (2012) we decided we were going to sail out of SJU for a while to get warmer weather - but with Summit chartered for most of winter 2017 we decided to try W. Caribbean again to stay with X instead of sailing with Royal Caribbean (SJU). We're not super sporty, but are comfortable with light hiking, snorkeling, and I showed some skill at catching big air while ejecting from a jet ski sideways. We're also not gourmet foodies, but do eat out regularly, have dined at famous restaurants (but also visit casual chain restaurants without hesitations), and seen a few Broadway shows in our time.

 

Notes: Booked an Aqua Class guarantee, and were assigned 1505 which was far forward on the port side. It was a hike to everywhere except the relaxation room (great spot to read and sightsee behind glass). We also did a paid upgrade to the Go Best promo a few weeks before sailing and had the premium beverage package and unlimited internet. We used the premium package to buy coconuts on the pool deck one day and some of the wines I was enjoying were premium only? beyond that that premium didn't do a whole lot over a classic package on this trip (no fancy smoothie drinks on the pool deck like Equinox has, yet). We also saw Luggage Valet advertised in the daily and used it - it was great to have that back. Well worth the fee IMHO.

 

Pre-Cruise Travel (Day 0):

Flew into FLL and stayed at Hampton Inn Ft. Lauderdale/Plantation because they offer shuttle service for airport AND cruise port and free breakfast (and I'm a hilton rewards member). Landed about 7:15p, called on way to baggage and they instructed me to call back after we had our luggage. I called them back after that, and they said a shuttle was on the way and would take 20-30 mins? It definitely took about 25-30 mins. When I got to the hotel I inquired about signing up for the cruise port shuttle and they explained that shuttles only run on the hour, and that the 10 and 11a shuttles were already full - so DW and I ended up on a 9a shuttle.

 

FLL - Embarkation Day (Day 1):

9a shuttle dropped us off to the pier about 9:25a. We were right near the front of the line to enter the terminal for security check and check-in, and doors opened about 9:50ish. Three different seating areas were set aside for suties/elites, aqua, and concierge class - and they started boarding those 3 groups together (not sure any suite/elite guests were waiting) ahead of the other passengers about 10:35a. Timestamps on my phone indicate we were in the waiting lounge at 10:28a and were seated in loungers on the ship near the sunset bar with champagne by 10:43a :) As long as you don't mind the risk of waiting in lines for a bit, getting there ~9:30-9:45 seemed to have worked for us this time - and Port Everglades has decent (but albeit somewhat limited) seating so early would had better odds of scoring chairs.

 

To save the (shaded) loungers we took turns going down to Oceanview Cafe to grab lunch plates, and then ate al fresco on deck 15. Rooms opened somewhere around 1:15 or 1:30ish but we didn't exactly rush to leave deck 15.

 

CocoCay (Day 2):

DW decided to have a lazy day and stayed on the ship reading, napping, and doing some computer stuff. I took a tender late morning and there was basically no line - did a jet ski tour (which I loved and cost wise comes out a little cheaper than booking on a beach, with better sights and getting to jet ski through a little rougher open water), had a few drinks (skipping lunch in the process) and then grabbed the 2nd or 3rd to last tender back to the ship. It gets pretty quiet the last hour or so there? as in nearly ghost town like.

 

Sea (Day 3):

Cruise Critic meet and greet was something like 10:15 or 10:30 AM. This conflicted with one of the inside ship tour "excursion" options (10 AM on both sea days). The 2nd sea day had more stuff going on in the AM, so the ship tour caused us to miss some exciting (free) stuff on Sea Day #2. I did the wine tasting at 2p that afternoon, but was underwhelmed by the wines selected (compared to on Summit 12/14 and 1/16, where I loved the reds).

 

Cozumel (Day 4):

We did a ship excursion to Tulum and Playa Del Carmen so we had a very early morning. Excursion was fine, but Tulum was a little underwhelming (though tour guide was great and it was nice to be able to "check the box" that we'd been there). Lunch was included at PDC, it was pretty simple fare but tasty. Ferry both ways was efficient, cost wise we probably paid a modest premium to use the ship excursion but we were late getting back and arrived to the pier after the all aboard deadline, so the extra protection that they'll hold the ship was some nice peace of mind.

 

Grand Cayman (Day 5):

We did the turtle experience tour through X, so we had time for a quick breakfast at Blu, followed by meeting at the lounge and then a group tender ride to port. I priced this one out as a separate excursion and the X option was only a marginal cost difference over just hopping a taxi and paying the entry fee. We had been to Grand Cayman a while back, so the island tour and snorkel options were a little unappealing to us. We enjoyed the extra time at the turtle farm, and we paid to have a (very tasty!) lunch while we were there. Food prices ran about 9-12 USD for sandwich/wrap/burrito with fries and my beer was another 4-5 USD.

 

Falmouth, Jamaica (Day 6):

We did the Red Stripe Beach excursion through X. I found the beach to be nice, but too loud for me. They blared music that was sort of reggae-ish, but didn't feel all that laid back & beachy. Beers were something like 4-5 bucks and up, so drinks weren't cheap. Also a cautionary note that the entry way looks terrifying? don't be scared. They're in the process of building a new hotel, so the large muddy pits are NOT the beach :)

 

We shopped around the port, but prices varied widely from shop to shop so price comparisons are worth doing. I also think I got hit for an extra "tax" fee because I used my credit card so buyer be warned. Of all the ports, this is the one that felt the most like the local shops were trying to pull a fast one on you. I'm sure not all of them are? but I heard inconsistent prices quoted by as much as 50% <shrug>.

 

Sea (Day 7):

Lots happening around the ship, some slightly depressing packing of luggage, and

 

FLL - Disembarkation (Day 8):

We appeared to be the last ship into port, docking about 6 or 6:30ish? Being in Aqua Class we were able to eat breakfast in Blu (we left large hand luggage outside the door and carried in my laptop bag and her backpack-purse thing. My only complaint on disembarkation was that Aqua class had no set lounge to wait in, while suites and concierge did. We used Luggage Valet - so we were able to disembark at leisure? so we just walked off after we finished breakfast.

 

Terminal was a little hectic, I think we were some of the first ones off the ship so lines were minimal but shoreside people were confused about use walking off with no real luggage and nothing to pick up. Customs was quick and painless, and taxi line to the airport took about 10 minutes.

 

 

Food/Dining:

Buffets were a little crowded on embarkation and sea days, with the 2nd sea day lunch being a "lunch extravaganza" which was super crowded. Food at lunches seemed a little repetitive, but was hot and tasty. Dinners were themed, and although we only ate there one night (Jamaica) they featured some local foods including jerked meat, breadfruit, and fresh fruits which was really fun to experience and free. They also were cracking coconuts for water that night for free - it was interesting to compare the jamaican coconut water to the pool side commercial coconuts (I think from thailand?) on the pool deck.

 

Food in Blu was great, with the everyday appetizers from MDR also available in Blu. We did 1 lunch in the MDR and it was good too. IMHO the service in Blu on this trip was a hair better than the service in Luminae on our past summer Equinox sailing (all was great service, but Blu service here was faster and felt like a better ratio of more staff to pax, strangely). I get now why some people will pay more for access to Blu and I would probably lean towards booking Aqua over Concierge from now on? and also makes justifying the step from Aqua to Sky suites a little harder.

 

On board experience:

-Staff customer service and friendliness were top notch throughout the cruise!

 

-Live musicians and guest performers were all entertaining, with the Celebrity dancers and singers all being above average. We noted that some of the dance routines were impressive and timing for dancers? choreography was excellent! Silhouette featured acrobatics and pilobolus-style dancing that was very cool, and the aerial wire routines were AWESOME! Of interest, the music selections both for shows and ambient music in hallways is starting to skew to newer music - it may be a love/hate thing, but as older millenials DW and I found it an improvement over the musical selections on some of our previous cruises.

 

-We also caught some of the lounge singers/performers, and they were very good.

 

In Closing:

We had another great Celebrity cruise. There?s nothing that stood out as having gone poorly or that we remarked they should have done differently, we felt we got a good value for what we spent. Perhaps most telling, we put our money where our mouth is and made another deposit on a future X cruise while on board. I still favor the S. Caribbean itinerary over W. Caribbean, and during winter there's no guarantee that FL (or Bahamas for that matter) will be warm. We got lucky with weather this trip, but flying further south to start definitely increases the probability of warm/tropical weather.

 

Thanks for your time and interest! I saved copies of the Silhouette Today daily agendas and most of the paperwork handed out over the course of the cruise if anyone?s interested in more details on anything specific. I also saved a set of the Classic level coupons for reference as well. The most notable of the discounts was a 10% savings on internet packages (not the by the minute rate) and a coupon for free gelato. I also shot pictures of the dinner menu for Blu every night if questions on that come up.

[mafig]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

 

Can you explain more about the buffet extravaganza? First I've heard of it.

 

Did you have any half-off coupons for the specialties in your Aqua cabin the first day?

Did you have a bottle of sparkling wine in your cabin upon arrival?

 

Was there a lot of acrobatic entertainment. I know many people love that, but we are sick of people hanging from curtains.

[jb008]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

 

Can you explain more about the buffet extravaganza? First I've heard of it.

 

Did you have any half-off coupons for the specialties in your Aqua cabin the first day?

Did you have a bottle of sparkling wine in your cabin upon arrival?

 

How was the entertainment?

 

The buffet extravaganza didn't really stand out to me on the 2nd sea day... idk if it was mostly marketing since the sit down lunches in the other dining rooms wasn't available. I think the biggest thing was that they had a chocolate fountain at the lunch?

 

I didn't see any half-off coupons, we did get a card offering 30% off on first night's dinner reservations. We did have the bottle of sparking line, I gifted it to some new friends we made who didn't have a drink package and they were able to bring the bottle to the MDR and enjoy it without a corkage fee.

 

Entertainment was solid, production shows were better than average, other headline shows were good (though not our preferred type of music). Live entertainers were all good, they also did some various events in the main atrium that used the celebrity dancers (e.g., salsa lessons & show) which were also very good.

 

 

Another cool event they ran one evening was a "Silent Disco" at the Martini Bar - they handed out wireless headphones that could be switched between 3 different music channels (with a corresponding led light to show which station you had playing). People end up dancing and singing to different music, or as a really popular song comes on you can watch the bulk of the crowd start changing to the same music station (with corresponding light on the headphones).

[Perky1]

Silhouette - Feb. 5th - 12th, 2017

FLL - Cococay - Sea - Cozumel - Grand Cayman - Falmouth Jamaica - Sea - FLL

 

Cruise Critic meet and greet was something like 10:15 or 10:30 AM. This conflicted with one of the inside ship tour "excursion" options (10 AM on both sea days). The 2nd sea day had more stuff going on in the AM, so the ship tour caused us to miss some exciting (free) stuff on Sea Day #2. I did the wine tasting at 2p that afternoon, but was underwhelmed by the wines selected (compared to on Summit 12/14 and 1/16, where I loved the reds).

 

So did you do the inside ship tour? We have this booked and we are wondering if it is worth the money. I have read conflicting reports.

 

Great review.. can't wait until we do this cruise in April.

[jb008]

So did you do the inside ship tour? We have this booked and we are wondering if it is worth the money. I have read conflicting reports.

 

Great review.. can't wait until we do this cruise in April.

 

 

Thanks - glad my writeup was helpful :)

 

Inside Ship Tour is a little bit of a complicated question... we enjoyed the X tour and the people with us seemed to enjoy it too. The tour met in a bar near the atrium where we were issued souvenir lanyards with a paper "security pass" and ear pieces so we could hear the guide. The tour was 20 people, which at points was split into 2 groups of 10 for some of the smaller spaces. We toured the galley, laundry area, saw the recycle area, crew bar and mess, engine control, food storage (with explanation about ordering and on boarding of cargo), and the highlight was the bridge portion of the tour. It was also weird/cool to be traveling along the "I-95" crew only hallways and stairs that run throughout the ship.

 

There were several free info sessions and tours held throughout the cruise, including a galley tour (which I think often draws several hundred people and has a very brief walk through (first sea day on this trip); we did that tour on Summit ('16) and it was something like 30+ people per group and couldn't really hear what was being said and was nothing to compare with the IST). There also was a free info session given by one of the engineers (one of two 2nd engineers I believe) in one of the smaller theaters where they talked about the engine and power systems and showed a picture of the engine control room and the engine compartments. The free sessions were a neat taste, but I liked the smaller group and seeing things in person (ideally do the engineer presentation AND do the IST to get the full engineering story).

 

Also to note, the IST did not include anything for the theater - although that was something that was offered as a free tour for Select and higher Captain's Club members on Summit ('16, and we tagged along with my parents who had status and got us in). Idk if they offered a similar theater tour on Silhouette (and we'd seen the theater tour a few times between X and Princess) because we are lowly Classic CC members and also weren't looking for it if it was offered to the general pax.

 

If you're big into cruising the Inside Ship Tour is probably worth it. If you do it early in the cruise you also might get to run into the various officers and staff you meet again and will have something fun to talk about. [On an aside, the Cruise Critic Connection Party is also a great opportunity to meet senior staff in a small group setting, and for 3 of the 4 parties the Captain stopped in to introduce themselves]

[Clarea]

Very nice report, thank-you.

[easyboy]

Silhouette - Feb. 5th - 12th, 2017

FLL - Cococay - Sea - Cozumel - Grand Cayman - Falmouth Jamaica - Sea - FLL

 

TL;DR - Another great X cruise, would much prefer to sail from San Juan vs FLL, Aqua Class access to Blu was a huge perk; made deposits on future cruises.

 

In Closing:

We had another great Celebrity cruise. There?s nothing that stood out as having gone poorly or that we remarked they should have done differently, we felt we got a good value for what we spent. Perhaps most telling, we put our money where our mouth is and made another deposit on a future X cruise while on board. I still favor the S. Caribbean itinerary over W. Caribbean, and during winter there's no guarantee that FL (or Bahamas for that matter) will be warm. We got lucky with weather this trip, but flying further south to start definitely increases the probability of warm/tropical weather.

 

Thanks for your time and interest! I saved copies of the Silhouette Today daily agendas and most of the paperwork handed out over the course of the cruise if anyone?s interested in more details on anything specific. I also saved a set of the Classic level coupons for reference as well. The most notable of the discounts was a 10% savings on internet packages (not the by the minute rate) and a coupon for free gelato. I also shot pictures of the dinner menu for Blu every night if questions on that come up.

It appears that you have really prepared well for your review!

It was a great review! Thanks for sharing your experience.

[mafig]

Can you post the menu for the first night in Blu.?

 

I've read that people say that's one of the best, but also that's one where they often give coupons for specialty restaurants. :confused:

[jb008]

It appears that you have really prepared well for your review!

It was a great review! Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

 

Thanks - glad you liked it. I find the dailies and the various paperwork is a very cheap (and sometimes handy) souvenir. ;)

 

Here you go mafig - hopefully this works to post the picture. Here's the direct link as a backup.

 

[in2up2]

We were also on the 2/5 sailing. We were in standard veranda cabins but felt the food in the MDR had improved over last winter and this summer (3rd cruise in a row on the Silhouette). They have a new head chef and it showed. The buffet extravaganza jb008 mentioned is what has replaced the sea day brunch buffet they used to do in the MDR. Now they just up the offerings in the Oceanview, especially the desserts. We didn't even go, as my daughter was playing in the pool and just wanted a burger from the Mast Grill.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mafig]

Thanks for the link. Didn't see anything that would make me think I should bypass a specialty if we get a good deal (maybe the short ribs:confused:).

[jb008]

Thanks for the link. Didn't see anything that would make me think I should bypass a specialty if we get a good deal (maybe the short ribs:confused:).

 

 

Biggest thing for me is that I have a hard time paying for a spec restaurant (even with a % discount) if I think I'll like the free dinner choices - I think we only had 1 meal in Blu where we were not impressed (nothing bad, just 1 meal that was a little below the average of the rest of them).

 

The cabernet short ribs were great, and went really well with a nice bordeaux red that was on the wine list. DW had the orzo and was quite happy with her pick too. One note though, they did ask that we arrive during an abbreviated time period the first night... I think it was an hour window of something like 6:00-7:00 instead of the normal... (5-9p, I think). Idle speculation, but they might have been trying to staff shorter in the evening due to the extra work loads during the lunch hours to support embarkation?

[sandc4e]

Silhouette - Feb. 5th - 12th, 2017

FLL - Cococay - Sea - Cozumel - Grand Cayman - Falmouth Jamaica - Sea - FLL

.........

Thanks for your time and interest! I saved copies of the Silhouette Today daily agendas and most of the paperwork handed out over the course of the cruise if anyone?s interested in more details on anything specific. I also saved a set of the Classic level coupons for reference as well. The most notable of the discounts was a 10% savings on internet packages (not the by the minute rate) and a coupon for free gelato. I also shot pictures of the dinner menu for Blu every night if questions on that come up.

 

I would love to see the copies of the daily agendas, if possible.

[jb008]

I would love to see the copies of the daily agendas, if possible.

 

 

Anything specific you're looking for? I'll try to get them scanned and uploaded tonight.

[sandc4e]

Anything specific you're looking for? I'll try to get them scanned and uploaded tonight.

 

We are on this cruise April 16th and wanted to see the daily activities. Much appreciated.

 

Thank you!

 

Sheila

[Texed]

008,

We get on as you get off on the 12th. So, thanks for posting. :)

[jb008]

We are on this cruise April 16th and wanted to see the daily activities. Much appreciated.

 

Thank you!

 

Sheila

 

I made PDFs of the Celebrity (Silhouette) Today handouts, the Luggage Valet Form, Captains Club Coupons (Classic Level) and Staff List/Bio handout. The only major document I'm missing was the disembarkation group # form (which I didn't get since we used luggage valet and were instructed to disembark at our leisure).

 

Unfortunately the files sizes are too big for a direct upload here. I made them into a single zip file (~27 mb) and hosted them to FileDropper.com cloud hosting site. The shortened personal link is http: //bit. ly/XTodayDocs (disclosure: I'm running the link through my bit. ly account so I can see how many clicks it gets; NOTE that there's 2 extra spaces in the address that needs to be removed to actually navigate to the file). The file will be automatically deleted 30 days after the last download occurs so I can only promise the file will be available until early April '17, after that demand will keep the file hosting link alive so to speak. :)

[jb008]

We get on as you get off on the 12th. So, thanks for posting. :)

 

I wish I'd stayed on for a B2B :) Hope you had a great cruise.

 

Random question but out of curiosity, did Cruise Director Sara sound like she was getting a cold by the end of your week?

[sandc4e]

I made PDFs of the Celebrity (Silhouette) Today handouts, the Luggage Valet Form, Captains Club Coupons (Classic Level) and Staff List/Bio handout. The only major document I'm missing was the disembarkation group # form (which I didn't get since we used luggage valet and were instructed to disembark at our leisure).

 

Unfortunately the files sizes are too big for a direct upload here. I made them into a single zip file (~27 mb) and hosted them to FileDropper.com cloud hosting site. The shortened personal link is http: //bit. ly/XTodayDocs (disclosure: I'm running the link through my bit. ly account so I can see how many clicks it gets; NOTE that there's 2 extra spaces in the address that needs to be removed to actually navigate to the file). The file will be automatically deleted 30 days after the last download occurs so I can only promise the file will be available until early April '17, after that demand will keep the file hosting link alive so to speak. :)

 

Thank you so much!!!!!!

 

Sheila

[jb008]

Thank you so much!!!!!!

 

Sheila

 

You're very welcome! Since you're looking at them, a few things I'd point out/remind you of:

1) Bring a copy ashore with you - they have the emergency info for the point agent in the unlikely event you need assistance.

2) Luggage Valet is great - but requires you to book in advance.

3) Keep an eye out for various tours, demos, and info sessions - there were a couple different events scattered throughout the cruise that helped to highlight different features and capabilities of the ship and they were neat to attend.

 

Enjoy your vacation!

[sandc4e]

Thanks again!

 

Tips:

1. Great idea - we will definitely take the daily ashore.

2. We can't take advantage, as we are flying Southwest and staying and extra day in FLL.

3. Will keep our eyes open for sure.

 

Have a great day!

 

Sheila

[jb008]

Thanks again!

 

Tips:

2. We can't take advantage, as we are flying Southwest and staying and extra day in FLL.

 

 

Sheila

 

Good plan to stay over the extra night! We've done that before and I think we were almost the last people off the ship (again lines have thinned and finding your luggage is easier). If you're big into the outdoors the Bass Pro Shop down there is massive and a bit of a destination store.

[sandc4e]

We enjoy our time in FLL for sure.

 

We have relatives in Boca, so will usually spend the afternoon up there, come back to FLL for a nice dinner. We will head to Lespada's Hogies for sandwiches to take on the plane and somewhere in there we'll spend time at the beach or the hotel pool.

 

Can't wait, down to almost 5 weeks.

[JaniceB]

Thank you for the report on your cruise.

[Perky1]

JB008...... can you tell me when the Cruise Critic get together was? I have been all through your dailies and I can't find it.

 

thanks,