Late Silhouette Review

[Terre]

First Time (Spoiled) Retreat Guests

 

 

 

Ship:  Silhouette

Sail Dates:  March 7, 2022—March 17, 2022

Original Itinerary:  Grand Cayman; Cartagena, Columbia; Oranjestad, Aruba (1.5 days); Kralendijk, Bonaire; Willemstad, Curacao.

What We Got:  Nassau, Columbia, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.  Four sea days

Cruising Experience:  47 cruises

Number of Cruises with Celebrity:  8

 

 

Our vacation began when we left home at 4:30 on the morning of March 7^th to catch an early flight to Fort Lauderdale.  After getting our tickets, going through security and finally at our gate, we had an hour or so to rest before our flight departed.  We landed right on time and were at at the terminal by 10:00.  Our check in appointment was 10:30 so we had to wait a while. 

 

 

As you can see from the title, this was our first time as Retreat guests.  We had initially booked a suite cabin for our 50^th anniversary for March 2020, and had to lift and shift it because of Covid.  We celebrated our 50^th anniversary on this cruise even though it was actually our 51^st anniversary.

 

 

Retreat guests were the first ones to board and we were excited to be in that line!  Retreat guests also were able to enjoy lunch in the Luminae, the restaurant reserved for suite guests.  It was nice to be served and enjoy a pleasant, quiet lunch instead of being in the noisy, crowded buffet.  The Luminae is a smaller restaurant and quiet.  You are served basically the same dishes that are served in the Main Dining Room, but they are more upscale and plated a little classier.  You will see what I mean with the pictures I post under the Food section.

 

 

Okay, let’s get this vacation started!

 

 

Embarkation:  This part was easy as we arrived at the terminal close to 10:00.  Since we were Retreat guests, we had a special line for boarding and were taken first.  Once on board we found our cabin and checked it out before heading to the Luminae for a nice lunch.  I had branzzino for lunch. For me it was just okay.

 

 

The Ship:  The ship was clean and all the crew and staff wore masks.  We were served at the buffet, which I really don’t mind.  The ship is beautiful and big and I’m sorry I didn’t take more pictures, but we sailed on the Silhouette in November so I had lots from that sailing.

 

 

Our Cabin:  We had a Sky Suite, Cabin 2148.  It was spacious and had a “wrap around” balcony.  We were greeted with a bottle of champagne and a bottle of wine, two champagne glasses and wine glasses.  The only problem with the room is that there were very few outlets.  There were two USB ports on the bedside lamp, a hidden regular outlet under the desk, and one outlet in the bathroom that wouldn’t hold the plug in well enough for it to work.  I figured out at night to charge my camera, I had to put 4 wash cloths and two tubes of toothpaste under the plug so it would stay in the outlet enough to charge whatever it was I needed to charge.  I couldn’t use the hairdryer in the bathroom for that reason so I had to share the hidden outlet (our cabin steward didn’t even know it was there) with the hair dryer and the fan.   The bed was comfortable and once we got the fan, the cabin was much cooler and we slept much better.

 

 

We had booked this cruise back in 2019 before Covid had a say in cruising.  It was booked for our 50^th anniversary and was originally booked for March of 2021.  It was our first time with a suite and I really enjoyed having all the suite perks!  On our anniversary, we came  back to two beautiful towel swans on the bed with rose petals spread around them, balloons all over the ceiling, and chocolate covered strawberries, an anniversary cake, and bottle of wine!  I have to admit that I got spoiled being Retreat guests from the afternoon chocolate strawberries in our room, to getting whatever we asked for from our Concierge Host, Nelson.  He was great at making sure we were happy as well as our steward, Bijay.  Our Concierge staff Daniel and Edrilyn were also very helpful at the times we needed assistance with an issue or two.  I wouldn’t mind booking a suite in the future…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entertainment:  Our cruise Director was Tim and he was very good and a lot of fun!  We watched all the shows, comedians, and went to a couple of games.  One game they did that we liked from other Celebrity Cruises is Liar’s Club, which is really funny.  If you have never seen this game, please get there early, you will like it.

 

Louis Ramey was the comedian and he was very funny.  We saw both his G and R rated shows. 

 

Amanda Cole gave a tribute to Whitney Houston.  She was okay, but Cheaza, the person we had in November who gave a Whitney tribute was much better. 

 

We also saw Domenick Allen.  He has been an actor and musician, and played with Foreigner.  We saw him in November and he gave us the same great performance as he did then.  He made us feel like we were at a rock concert.  He was also part of the panel at the Liar’s Club and did a great job with that.  I talked to him afterwards and told how much we loved his show and I told him that if I’d known he was going the be there I would have brought my Foreigner album for him to autograph.  He said he would have and told me to look him up on Face Book and he would send me his schedule with Celebrity.  If the dates didn’t work out for us, let him know which album I have and he would find it, autograph it, and mail it to me.  He was a great guy, very warm and super nice.  If you like rock concerts, don’t miss him if he is on your cruise.

 

Other singers were Marty Thomas, who was very good.  He was on Star Search as a child.  Flight Scene was another group we watched and were not impressed.  They are an a capella group with two of the members doing all the instrumental sounds. They were a little better than the one we watched in November, however.

 

Oli Nez was another musical entertainer that we liked.

 

Our magician was Matt McGurk.  You will love his show if you like magicians.

 

Production shows were Life, which was okay, Cosmopolitan, and Euphoria, which was the best of the three.  The acrobats in Euphoria were phenomenal and so beautiful to watch.  This show also had the best props.

 

We were on board St. Patrick’ Day and of course we had a St. Paddy’s day party.  We had a huge balloon drop and DJ Top Dawg played the music.  That was a lot of fun!

 

One of the bands we listened to was The Cardinals.  They were on board in November as well and they are good.  I got bored with them in November because they sang the same songs over and over.  They learned some new songs for this sailing and I enjoyed them once again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food:   Our server in Luminae was Vikesh and he was excellent and very professional.  The service was more upscale than in the MDR, and you felt like you were in an expensive restaurant.  The food in Luminae was really more pretty than good in my opinion.  Most things were very flavorful, but the rib eye was not a rib eye, they were not able to cook our prime ribs the way we asked or the beef Wellington, despite trying twice to get it right.  Some things just couldn’t be corrected.  After the second try on the beef Wellington, we gave up and went to the buffet, which didn’t have anything good that night either!  We struck out…no dinner that night.

 

You can order off the Main Dining Room menu in the Luminae restaurant, and after around the fourth or fifth night, my husband mentioned that we missed the three different butters that we always got in the MDR.  Well, the next night and every night after, we had the three butters!  I have to say that all of the breads they served us in Luminae were scrumptious!  They were all very fresh and we couldn’t get enough of them.

 

 

We loved all the soups we got and most everything else.  The soups were brought out with just the croutons and garnishes, then the soup was poured over that.  All the soups were very flavorful and really spoke to my pallet. I had a Mache salad one evening for dinner, but there were no Mache leaves anywhere in the bowl.  I really wanted those Mache leaves!

 

 

We did eat a breakfast, a lunch and one dinner in Blu and all were very good.  We ate dinner two nights at the Lawn Club Grill.  The first night our steaks were perfect and so flavorful that your taste buds did a little dance in your mouth!  The second night’s service was slow and the steaks could not be cooked to order…they just couldn’t get it right.  I mentioned it to the Maitre ‘d and he removed the charge.

 

 

Soups we had were Corn soup, Wild Mushroom & Barley soup, Butternut Squash soup, Lentil soup, and Roasted Tomato soup and of course French Onion.

 

Corn Soup:

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Butternut Squash Soup:

 

 

 

  

 

Roasted Tomato Soup:

 

Lentil Soup:

 

 

Appetizers we ordered and liked were Crab Cake, Creamy Spinach & Artichoke Dip, and Shrimp Cocktail.

 

 

 

 

Crab Cake:                                                                                                                                   

 

 

Artichoke & Spinach Dip:

 

 

Main’s were Filet Mingnon and Rib Eye from Lawn Club Grill, Roasted Trout, Beef Bourginoine, Mahi Mahi filet, Slow Roasted Beef Brisket, Linguine Alle Vongode, Eel Sauce Glazed Trout, Moroccan Chicken Tangine.

 

 

 

 

Beef Bourginoine:

 

 

 

 

Moroccan Chicken Tangine:

 

 

Deserts were White Chocolate Mousse, Warm Chocolate Chip Cookie, Bittersweet Chocolate Tart, Strawberry Cheese Cake, Apple Crumb, White Chocolate Macadamia Cake, Hibiscus Parfait, Lava Cake, Carrot Cake in Lawn Club Grill, and a Chocolate Sphere that was my favorite.  This beautiful, large chocolate sphere comes out on a layer of crumbled chocolate and then our waiter lights it on fire and as the fire melts away, you have this wonderful chocolate dessert!  We also got a beautiful cake for our anniversary at dinner.

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Sphere:

 

 

I always got a muffin and three lemon tartlets from Baccio every night as well.  We also ordered macadamia cookies from room service one evening and they were delicious and still warm!

 

 

I had a crab cake sandwich one of the days we ate in Luminae for lunch and it was very good.  Pic of crab cake sandwich 

 

 

 

The Retreat:  We went up to the Retreat one day, but it was so windy we didn’t go back.  They come around and give you water or drinks and I got a slider burger before lunch.  They bring around  lunch for you around noon.

 

 

Ports:  We were supposed go to Grand Cayman, but got Nassau instead.  We’ve been to Nassau so many times and it’s not that great, so we stayed on the ship and enjoyed having the Serenity pool almost to ourselves. 

 

 

Our next port was Cartagena and we’ve been here twice before so we just rode the bus down to the Juan Valdez Coffee store where all the birds are.  It must have been mating season because the peacocks were in full bloom and strutting quite a bit!  If you have not been here before, a great day tour we did was with Dora, which took us to the Monastery, the Walled City, and the fort.  That was an independent tour we booked and you can read reviews on TripAdvisor.  The ship also has some good tours here as well.

 

 

Our next port was Aruba.  We were here almost two days.  We, again, were not able to dock in the downtown area, so we didn’t take the shuttle to wherever it takes you.  In November it only went to the gate and then you had to walk the rest of the long way, so we didn’t even try it this time.  We have been to Aruba many times anyway, so we just stayed on the ship.  It is a beautiful port, and we have taken a tour, done a catamaran for the day, done the Jolly Roger boat, rented a Jeep and driven around on our own; there are so many things you can do here.  When we parked downtown we would walk to the mall and enjoyed walking around it and just sitting and relaxing while catching up with emails and Facebook.

 

 

Next on our list was Bonaire.  We did get off and walk around in the town.  Before we have rented a golf cart through Bonaire Cruisers and driven around the entire island which is a fun thing to do. You can pull over when you want to take pictures or just sight see.  It has some beautiful water and is known for its snorkeling and diving.  There are also large salt pans there and lots of flamingos!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Curacao was next on our port of calls and again, we just walked around the downtown area since we have been there many times.  It is one of my favorite islands because it is so colorful!  The floating bridge is a neat thing to walk across.  There are plenty of excursions to do here so I know you can find something to do.

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spa:  I booked a massage one day and when I showed up for my appointment, the therapist I booked with couldn’t be found.  After 30 minutes, I asked to reschedule and they said they were trying to find her and asked if I would wait a few more minutes.  Someone else took me and the guy at the desk said they would give me an extra 30 minutes and threw in a facial for the wait.  Heck yeah!  The massage was very good – a little too hard at times – but very relaxing.  I loved the facial and could tell my complexion looked a little better, more refreshed, than usual.

 

 

I also used the Persian Garden one day, but only the heated chairs.  I’m just not a sauna or steam room person, but I do love those chairs!  The heat feels so good on tired, sore muscles after a day of walking in port, and always puts me to sleep. Some Celebrity ships have the cold room and I do like that, but the Silhouette does not have a cold room.  

 

 

Miscellaneous:  One thing that did irritate me, is that I had a pretty necklace on the bed one night with a note saying to come to the Effy store at whatever time the next night and collect your first charm to go inside the locket.  There were pictures of several different charms you can collect to go in the locket.  I went to get my free charm and I was given a ticket for a drawing for a free piece of jewelry.  Well, I think I was there for around an hour while we listened to a very long sales pitch by the “designer” of Effy jewelry and I finally had to leave because it was time for the show.  Another salesman said to come back tomorrow night and he would give me the charm and that night’s charm as well.  I went back the next night and another lady was there doing the same thing as me.  They gave us the charm, but said we had to wait through the drawing for that night’s charm.  I wasn’t about to wait another hour plus for a drawing.  It was this way every night, so I ended up with only one charm for the locket.  I think if they say “collect the charms” they should give them to you.  If you have to wait through hours of a sales pitch and then a drawing, they should tell you that as well.  Very misleading.

 

 

Terre’s Final Thoughts:  I was happy with this cruise and loved celebrating our anniversary on board.  I loved having a suite and all that comes with it; I am spoiled, however, and maybe a suite is in our future somewhere down the road…

[Terre]

Here are a few pics of our anniversary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chemmo]

Sincere thanks for a thorough review!

 

We are back on Silhouette in October and can’t wait!

[Cruise a holic]

Thanks for sharing.  We love the Silhouette and Reflection.  The food previously in the Lawn Club grill is excellent- one reason we love those ships.  Sorry you had a disappointing dinner.  The retreat deck on both ships needs vast improvement- we didn't stay their at all- not like the edge class ships which are wonderful. Really hope that the buffet  waiter service remains .  

 

We have a b/2/b apex cruise in Dec/Jan.  A couple of RC oasis class ship sailing  before!  Glad you had a wonderful time.

Edited May 14, 2022 by Cruise a holic

[aml3679]

What a nice review. Mostly positive which is exciting since there are so many people complaining on these boards lately. We are on the silhouette in 540 days going to the ultimate southern Caribbean. We are celebrating our retirement.

[Loucat]

Great review! I like how your information is organized. It appears you had a good cruise overall.

A belated Happy Anniversary!

[Pickels]

thanks for a great review! 

[Terre]

On 5/15/2022 at 2:16 PM, aml3679 said:

What a nice review. Mostly positive which is exciting since there are so many people complaining on these boards lately. We are on the silhouette in 540 days going to the ultimate southern Caribbean. We are celebrating our retirement.

Happy Retirement!  You will love it.  We've been retired for six years now and have loved being able to take longer cruises.