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CHICAGOPAUL LIVE BLOG!!!!!! December 13th, 2019 - SILHOUETTE SOUTHERN CARIBBEAN


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It is time for another live cruise blog! Please join us as we escape bitter cold Chicago and make our way down to Miami to join the Celebrity Silhouette for 9 nights cruising the Southern Caribbean. We booked this cruise in the summer time as we figured we needed something in between our recent transpacific cruise and our cruise next April. We had originally planned to take this cruise with a friend but unfortunately she could not make it. We originally started by booing this cruise in a concierge class cabin and then jumped on a Sky Suite GTY at the end of October.

 

Instagram: Feel free to follow me on Instagram to keep up with daily picture posts and my video stories. You can follow me at PaulKBlackburn  If you see a photo of me in a suit and a bunch of pictures of either cruises or liquor then you’ve found the right profile!

 

In case you have not followed us before, I’ll introduce ourselves. My name is Paul and my partner is Edward. We are 32 and 37. We’ve been together for 9 years and our first trip together was a cruise on Celebrity. This cruise will mark our 20th cruise with Celebrity.

 

As always I am here to answer ANY questions you may have. I will also be fully transparent in all pricing, how we booked, and even what credit cards we used to book with what and how many points we earn on each card. Each day I will post all the daily papers for you, in addition to 10 daily photos on here of everything from the ship to food, etc. Daily short videos will be posted on Instagram story since it is so easy to upload. I'll walk you through everything we do each day whether it is a sea day or a port day. I'll let you know who the staff is, who our favorites are, and our favorite places around the ship.

 

Let us start off by looking at our cruise itinerary!

 

Celebrity Silhouette 9 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise

 

Day 1 - Port of Miami
Day 2 - At Sea
Day 3 - At Sea
Day 4 - Aruba
Day 5 - Curacao
Day 6 - Bonaire
Day 7 - At Sea
Day 8 - Grand Cayman
Day 9 - At Sea
Day 10 - Fort Lauderdale

 

Silhouette_December_2019.thumb.png.ad16a6d29800785808f3b8301bf2b566.png


Cabin Class: Suite Guarantee and we were given a Sky Suite.

$2,507/pp Including ALL Perks (Premium Drink Package, Internet Package, Pre-Paid Gratuities and OBC). $775 OBC which is a combination of perk offer, booking on board offer, and from out TA.

 

Airfare

 

American Airlines booked through Flights by Celebrity
Class: Main Cabin Economy, upgraded to Main Cabin Extra
Baggage Fees: None due to Gold status with American
Departure: Non-Stop ORD to MIA (Silhouette is departing from Port of Miami)
Return: Non-Stop FLL to ORD (Silhouette is returning to Port Everglades)

Cost: $447/pp Round Trip


Hotel Stay

 

Loews South Beach
Cost: $327.54 including taxes & resort fee. This was booked directly through Loews and we are getting a $75 Food & Beverage credit to spend at the hotel.

 

Travel Insurance

 

We have travel insurance through our credit card (see info below) but we STILL ALWAYS buy travel medical insurance which includes evacuation. Even though some of this may be included by our card, the limits and policies of what is included can be tricky. So here is what we purchased.

We used InsureMyTrip to buy a GeoBlu travel policy. The cost was $21 per person which includes $500,000 of medical evacuation PLUS $500,000 of medical coverage. Deductible is $250.

 

Credit Card:

 

We booked everything above, including the hotel with our Chase Sapphire Reserve, earning us a total of 3x points on travel. This means from this trip we will earn a total of 18,706 points  ($6,235.54 x 3). We value Chase points at roughly 2 cents each meaning we’re looking at around $374 value in points. In addition to getting points this card provides some wonderful travel protection, including trip cancellation protection up to $10,000, lost baggage, fly delay protection, etc.

 

Different Embarkation / Debarkation

 

So if you looked closely at the itinerary you may notice something strange. The Silhouette is debarking from Miami! Well there was a port scheduling mix up that has forced the Silhouette to port out of Miami for the past couple of weeks. This cruise the ship is leaving Miami but is returning to Fort Lauderdale. When we booked this cruise it was suppose to leave from FLL so our flights were into and out of FLL. HOWEVER, we had booked refundable through Choice Air (Flights By Celebrity) and had chosen the option of paying for our flights with final payment which means we were still able to change the flights. We ended up moving the flight down to Miami on the way there without a problem.

 

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you’d like, regardless of what they are. The more involve you all are the more enjoyable this blog is for me. This blog helps me take a step back each day during the cruise and appreciate where I am and all of you are very much a part of that experience.

 

So that’s my boring introduction! I promise to keep everything else much more lively, answer your questions, give you my critiques of everything (but usually with a positive vibe), and offer you all a brief respite from work or perhaps the impetus to book another cruise!

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Oh yay!  Another Paul & Edward Grand Adventure!  We don’t cruise till February (Reflection MardiGras & b2b with Cartagena), this’ll keep me going! Looking forward to your blog/review. Melody

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I just returned from Edge three days ago and already have cruise withdrawal.  Reading about your adventures will get me through the dreary Chicago days ahead.....  I've booked a similar itinerary on Equinox for September.  I'll be very interested to see what you have planned for Bonaire.

Thanks for taking us along.

Susan

Edited by lola2013
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Hi Paul & Edward,

Looking forward to this blog with great anticipation. I read (retrospectively) your last blog on the Millennium Transpacific and found it extremely informative and fun.

Your openness about costs etc is refreshing and your attention to detail, but also your genuine appreciation for where you are and for other people.

 

I’m grabbing some chocolate and a good *ahem* gin martini to settle down in my PJs (I’m bougie like that) and live vicariously through you for a few days, not at all jealous because my hubby only wanted to take one vacation this year, and we had it in May!! (a wonderful cruise through the Norwegian Fjords with HAL).

 

I’m looking forward to my first Celebrity cruise on the post-revolution Silhouette next May and this blog will help me dream of sea days and martinis...

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We will be on the Silhouette with you and are excited for everything about this itinerary! You got a great deal on the sky suite.

 

The martini bar is our favourite place on the ship so I am sure we will run into you! 

 

Cheers! 

 

Janess & Michael 

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