Random and Sporadic posts from 11 night ABC cruise on SILHOUETTE 11/22/21

[franco2]

Try  Cafe Bacio , they do drinks in there.

Have good day.

 

[Wichenford Wolf]

3 hours ago, hasentreelake said:

Much of the crew have been onboard for seven months and are going to be leaving in the next few weeks

When we were onboard at the beginning of this month a number of the staff told us they were completing their contracts November/December but hoped to back by the time we cruise again on Silhouette mid-February. 
 

They were an exceptional and enthusiastic crew on both cruises we took this year and hope we’ll see them again soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PTC DAWG]

23 hours ago, hasentreelake said:

I have to mention that we are in the cabin listening to J Geils Radio on Sirius XM and right now Bob Segar / Mary Lou is rocking us out....  Good tunes good times 😀

She took my watch and chain, she took everything….

 

great song..

[ronmar22]

We are enjoying following your postings.  We are on the Silhouette in January and look forward to reading about all your experiences.  Thanks so much for allowing us to follow you on the Silhouette.

[Turtles06]

6 hours ago, hasentreelake said:

On another thread i mentioned that holiday decorating would occur after we disembark.  The staff has already started decorating for christmas with trees, wreaths, and garlands going up around the ship.   

 

Thanks again for sharing your cruise with us.

 

And, since we are on the cruise following yours, I'm delighted to read that they've started the holiday decorating, as we've never sailed in December before and are excited to see a ship decorated for the holidays!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Newbury newbie]

Following this thread. We’ll be doing this itinerary 14 Feb 22! Need to pay our balance soon, so starting to think about Port activities. The golf carts sound interesting!

[daydreamer16]

We’ll be on the Silhouette in January too! Thanks for keeping us updated!

Can I ask where you stayed in FLL? We have a reservation at Marriott on the beach but we are rethinking that idea.

 

[Wichenford Wolf]

9 hours ago, Newbury newbie said:

Following this thread. We’ll be doing this itinerary 14 Feb 22! Need to pay our balance soon, so starting to think about Port activities. The golf carts sound interesting!

We’ll see you onboard then!

 

Still seems a long while away just because it’s next year but it will soon come round. We rarely do excursions, preferring to just get off the ship and wander round the local area. This of course assumes that we’ll be able to do that everywhere, so we might look at Celebrity excursions as backup.

[hasentreelake]

12 hours ago, daydreamer16 said:

We’ll be on the Silhouette in January too! Thanks for keeping us updated!

Can I ask where you stayed in FLL? We have a reservation at Marriott on the beach but we are rethinking that idea.

 

We stayed at a Hyatt Place which was just ok.   We used points and it was 'free' but don't recommend for except .....  Bistro Mezzaluna is right out the front door so if you are looking for a nice italian restaurant to kick things off I do recommend the this restaurant.   

[hasentreelake]

Following up my previous post about Italian food....  We dined at Tuscan last nite.   It was chic nite and my DW looked fabulous.   Many more guests were dressed for chic compared to our previous 2 cruises (1 pre and 1 post covid).  It was nice to see.   Matini bar was packed at 6 oclock and by 630 all were off to dinner.  The meal at Tuscan was fab as we shared the crab cake and calamari apps.   We each had a burrata and yellow heirloom salad - a single would have been more than enough for both but she brought each of us one.  Our entree was a filet and a lobster rigatoni alfredo.  We shared the one entree and it was more than we could eat.   

Dessert (lemon cheesecake and a tiramisu)  was sent to our cabin and we are eating it for breakfast - well at least I am.  DW doesnt eat early - and clocks were moved forward an hour last nite so it was a surprise when the butler brought our pot of coffee an hour earlier than we expected.  

 

We danced a bit in the grand foyer after dinner and moved to the sky lounge but the Britney Spears tunes didnt resonate with the crowd.   

 

Today is another sea day with silent disco by the pool and football at craft social.  Out TDay dinner is currently scheduled at sushi on 5.   We've always had a traditional Thanksgiving meal so we are rethinking sushi but it may be our new tradition.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Newbury newbie]

Hopefully a question not too far off topic. We’re doing this itinerary in Feb 22, and flying into MIA from the U.K. on the Friday afternoon at 3.30pm. We need to get to the Riverside Hotel in FLL, so would we be advised to book a private car transfer or just get a standard cab from the airport? How much would a cab be for that trip? $120 or so?

[Turtles06]

6 hours ago, Newbury newbie said:

Hopefully a question not too far off topic. We’re doing this itinerary in Feb 22, and flying into MIA from the U.K. on the Friday afternoon at 3.30pm. We need to get to the Riverside Hotel in FLL, so would we be advised to book a private car transfer or just get a standard cab from the airport? How much would a cab be for that trip? $120 or so?

 

This is a good question for the Florida Departures forum:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

[swigso]

18 hours ago, hasentreelake said:

We stayed at a Hyatt Place which was just ok.   We used points and it was 'free' but don't recommend for except .....  Bistro Mezzaluna is right out the front door so if you are looking for a nice italian restaurant to kick things off I do recommend the this restaurant.   

We prefer to stay in Hollywood Beach, The Western Diplomat is a wonderful 

hotel in a great beachfront location. The trolly bus stops right outside. We have stayed at the Hilton Marina which is also in a good location and close to the 

water taxi stop.

[hasentreelake]

Thanksgiving day was chock full even though it was a sea day....

After the unexpected clock change, breakfast and morning pool time we chose to have a small thanksgiving meal from OVC.   Everything was fine and as you might expect - nothing was great.  Luminae had some kind of turky gyro on the menu and the MDR had turkey medallions, blah blah so we chose the OVC for assortment and quickness.    After lunch we watched the bears and lions game in craft social - perfect spot.   We knew we had a long night ahead so we napped after the game and headed to the martini bar at 6.   Sushi on 5 was really good - we always like eating there and will go back for lunch later in the cruise.  

We changed into 'dancing' clothes before heading to the pool for silent disco.  Silent disco was a blast as always and we were back in the room before midnite.  Much alcohol was consumed today...  Bloody Mary's, transfusions, margaritas, vodka martinis, wine , sake, and more wine.  Somehow i managed to set my phone into clock mode so we know what time it is when we wake up...

 

Today is golf cart rental in bonaire.  We will be here from 9am to 8pm so we will have all day to explore , snorkel, and generally look to enjoy our time on the island.  

[Turtles06]

@hasentreelake Have a great time in Bonaire!

 

Quick question about the evening entertainment.  Are there shows in the theatre at 7pm and 9pm as in pre-pandemic days?  If not, can you give us a sense of when? 
 

Thanks and keep enjoying your cruise! 

[Hickeyclan1]

On 11/25/2021 at 7:32 AM, hasentreelake said:

Following up my previous post about Italian food....  We dined at Tuscan last nite.   It was chic nite and my DW looked fabulous.   Many more guests were dressed for chic compared to our previous 2 cruises (1 pre and 1 post covid).  It was nice to see.   Matini bar was packed at 6 oclock and by 630 all were off to dinner.  The meal at Tuscan was fab as we shared the crab cake and calamari apps.   We each had a burrata and yellow heirloom salad - a single would have been more than enough for both but she brought each of us one.  Our entree was a filet and a lobster rigatoni alfredo.  We shared the one entree and it was more than we could eat.   

Dessert (lemon cheesecake and a tiramisu)  was sent to our cabin and we are eating it for breakfast - well at least I am.  DW doesnt eat early - and clocks were moved forward an hour last nite so it was a surprise when the butler brought our pot of coffee an hour earlier than we expected.  

 

We danced a bit in the grand foyer after dinner and moved to the sky lounge but the Britney Spears tunes didnt resonate with the crowd.   

 

Today is another sea day with silent disco by the pool and football at craft social.  Out TDay dinner is currently scheduled at sushi on 5.   We've always had a traditional Thanksgiving meal so we are rethinking sushi but it may be our new tradition.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Please post your thoughts on the Bonaire Golf Carts when you finish.  We are on same Itinerary in March so we are following this post.

[Barwick Cruiser]

Sounds like you’re having a wonderful time! Do you remember if they were serving any food in Craft Social. On the app it shows a menu but earlier sailings posted that there was no food service at that point. Hopefully there will be by the time we sail in January 🤞

[gfkcruiser]

We are on this cruise 12/13.  Our time in Bonaire is 7 am to 3 pm.  I have reserved the cart and have been to Bonaire a few times.  Looking forward to reading your complete live review.  We are also on the 2/14/22 sailing but don’t get to Bonaire until 2 and the cart office closes at 5 or 6 so did not rent for that cruise.  

Gail

[hasentreelake]

6 hours ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

Sounds like you’re having a wonderful time! Do you remember if they were serving any food in Craft Social. On the app it shows a menu but earlier sailings posted that there was no food service at that point. Hopefully there will be by the time we sail in January 🤞

You may order food (for an additional cost) late.  Not sure what that means but they were not offering food after lunch on Thursday during the football games.  The bartender used the term late bites...

[hasentreelake]

10 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

@hasentreelake Have a great time in Bonaire!

 

Quick question about the evening entertainment.  Are there shows in the theatre at 7pm and 9pm as in pre-pandemic days?  If not, can you give us a sense of when? 
 

Thanks and keep enjoying your cruise! 

Shows are at 7 and at 9.  Just like precovid.  O cant say that is the case for all ships or itineraries but that is what we have for this cruise

[Turtles06]

18 minutes ago, hasentreelake said:

Shows are at 7 and at 9.  Just like precovid.  O cant say that is the case for all ships or itineraries but that is what we have for this cruise

 

Thank you!  We're on the cruise right after yours, so I suspect it will be the same.  

 

I hope you had a great time today in Bonaire!

[Sheltielover73]

Im so enjoying reading your updates! We board the cruise after you on Dec 3rd. 

I'm really interested in how many guests are on the ship... does it seem close to capacity? Would love to know how many are on board!

[hasentreelake]

21 hours ago, Sheltielover73 said:

Im so enjoying reading your updates! We board the cruise after you on Dec 3rd. 

I'm really interested in how many guests are on the ship... does it seem close to capacity? Would love to know how many are on board!

The are just shy of 1100 passengers.

Previous to this they had close to 1600 and I recall them saying they expect 1600ish on the next sailing.  I guess for Thanksgiving the numbers were down a bit.  

[s0479]

22 hours ago, Sheltielover73 said:

Im so enjoying reading your updates! We board the cruise after you on Dec 3rd. 

I'm really interested in how many guests are on the ship... does it seem close to capacity? Would love to know how many are on board!

We had a little over 1200 on the 11/12 cruise

[hasentreelake]

gSo, I've not posted much as we've had a busy 3 days and today is a sea day so here goes....

 

Bonaire.

Golf cart rental for the entire day.   This is not for the faint of heart as the roads are not great...narrow with more  potholes and rough spots than nice pavement.  Cars will pass you constantly going highway speeds while you may approach 20 mph at best.  With that disclaimer i will also mention if you have back problems this is not for you.

Moving on....  We navigated our way north thru traffic and roundabouts and arrived at our first snorkel site...  1000 steps.  Wear good waret shies or even tennis shoes to get down the steps to the beach.  The beach isnt sand but rather rough stone and coral and dive socks will come in handy getting to the water.  Good snorkeling here.

Leaving this area we made our way to Goto lake for the flamingos then into rincon to the distillery for some rum tasting.  The road we wanted to tale was under construction so we got turned around briefly before getting back in the right direction.  If you see the large Rincon sign on your left as you leave town you are headed in the right direction.

It's a bit of a trek from here and we stopped at Seru Largo for a mountaintop view of Kralendjik and the port area.  Back down the mountain it was time for lunch at an open air sea side restaurant before takin on the south end of the island.

There are good snorkel sites south of the airport and north of the salt pans.  

We made a brief stop at the salt pier and white slave huts and decided we had gone far enough.  Turned back north and stopped to snorkel at angel city and alice in wonderland snorkel and dive sites.  It was close to 430 by the time we returned the golf cart.   

I will post about Cuacao (car rental) and Aruba (ship excursion snorkel and bbq)....  But now i am off to get ready for dinner at Murano.

Happy to answer any questions ...