Celebrity Silhouette 10 Night Eastern Caribbean Photo Review - March 13, 2023

[Stem to Stern]

Hi Maris, 

 

I just finished catching up on the start of your review.  I am looking forward to reading the rest of it as it unfolds.  When this one is complete, I plan on having a read of your other two previous reports in your signature.  Your writing style and photography are both wonderful.  Cheers!

[raudacruise]

At Bayside if you have Hard Rock on the right, The Knife (Argentinian steakhouse) on the left, turn to see Vitoria Italian Restaurant. It looks like a dead end at first glance but it’s the start of a whole row of waterfront restaurants, all with outdoor seating. My favorite is the last one, Kuba Cabana. Their cubano sandwiches are the best!

[Barwick Cruiser]

We also flew down to Ft. Lauderdale from Pearson but in Feb..Super Bowl Sunday lol. Our flight was scheduled for just after 6am and we arrived at the airport just after 3:30 and breezed thru baggage drop and security. We had Nexus so that helped with Customs but our travelling companions didn’t have Nexus and they weren’t too far behind. Guess it really depends on the day and time, no rhyme or reason it seems. We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale and just took a shuttle to Miami the next morning to board the ship. I’d do that again next time, so much cheaper than staying in Miami and the flights were hundreds cheaper than Toronto to Miami as well. 

[Marvy Mare]

13 hours ago, Stem to Stern said:

Hi Maris, 

 

I just finished catching up on the start of your review.  I am looking forward to reading the rest of it as it unfolds.  When this one is complete, I plan on having a read of your other two previous reports in your signature.  Your writing style and photography are both wonderful.  Cheers!

Thanks so much. I really enjoy writing these and taking & sharing my photos. I wish we could travel more often. Maybe in the future.

 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

13 hours ago, raudacruise said:

At Bayside if you have Hard Rock on the right, The Knife (Argentinian steakhouse) on the left, turn to see Vitoria Italian Restaurant. It looks like a dead end at first glance but it’s the start of a whole row of waterfront restaurants, all with outdoor seating. My favorite is the last one, Kuba Cabana. Their cubano sandwiches are the best!

Thanks. If we ever go back. We watched some videos of Bayside but didn't research enough. I was told that trying Cuban food in Miami was a must. Sadly the only 'Cuban' food we had was a soggy sandwich from a CVS we bought when picking up wine. I do think that both times we were there looking for somewhere to eat, it was very crowded. Saturday and Sunday afternoon in Miami in March. Of course it was crowded. 

 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

12 hours ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

We also flew down to Ft. Lauderdale from Pearson but in Feb..Super Bowl Sunday lol. Our flight was scheduled for just after 6am and we arrived at the airport just after 3:30 and breezed thru baggage drop and security. We had Nexus so that helped with Customs but our travelling companions didn’t have Nexus and they weren’t too far behind. Guess it really depends on the day and time, no rhyme or reason it seems. We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale and just took a shuttle to Miami the next morning to board the ship. I’d do that again next time, so much cheaper than staying in Miami and the flights were hundreds cheaper than Toronto to Miami as well. 

 

If we traveled more frequently, we'd be sure to get Nexus. I saw them breeze through everything. You are right about no rhyme or reason. I didn't compare the difference in the price of flights to Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We had been to Fort Lauderdale three times and never to Miami, so thought we'd check it out. Next time we sail out of Fort Lauderdale so we will get to fly into that nice small airport again. 

 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

DAY 3 - Sunday March 12

Miami (cont.)

 

It was sandwiches for dinner again. It was late by the time we finished our lunch and walked back to the hotel. We really weren't that hungry. The lobby wasn't quite so crowed. 

 

 

Looking up from where we were seated in the lobby. 

 

I started talking to a young woman next to me. She was there with her husband and his family from Israel. They were with the Israeli Ball team that was playing in Miami. She asked if we had any idea that the World Baseball Classic was happening when we chose our hotel. She was amused when I said that I had no idea. Her husband was a short stop but currently injured. I will enter a link if you are interested in learning more about the classic. If it works.

https://www.mlb.com/world-baseball-classic

Looks like it did. Though the hotel was crowded, once we figured out what was going on, it was interesting. Almost made me wish that I was a baseball fan. A number of the players and staff were with the MLB. Everyone we spoke to was so nice. When we asked the players from Puerto Rico what they recommended we do there, they said 'Try the food'. Even the police that were providing security for the event were friendly and talkative. Staff from Starbucks had attended a game. Other than not getting the room we hoped for, it was a positive experience. By the way Japan won the Challenge more than a week later in Miami. The first round of the tournament was played in four different cities. Two in the states, one in Japan and one in Chinese Taipei, but the semifinals and finals were in Miami.

 

After dinner, we took a walk outside again. On the other side of the hotel there was a canal. We had watched lots of boats heading up there and decided to explore. We didn't get too far. I miss the dogs when we are away (a little bit) but Ken really misses them. He likes to stop to talk with dog people. There were a number of people enjoying an after dinner walk with their dogs up by the canal. Ken admired two small dogs and we spoke to the owner. She was originally form Mexico and lived in one of the local condos by the water.  She said it was getting very crowded in the area with constant construction going on and pointed out a building that when completed she said, would be 75 stories. 'Imagine the crowds then.' When we told her that we were Canadians, she said 'I love Canadians, they are nice like Mexicans.' My quote for the day. 

 

Early to bed after our walk. The next day was the one that we had been waiting for. 

 

 

[Marvy Mare]

[Marvy Mare]

                                           DAY 1 CRUISE - MONDAY MARCH 13

 

The day that we had been waiting for. I was 'a little' excited and up at 3am. I did read for a little while trying not to disturb Ken. But he had been anticipating this cruise for 3 years (to the day) when we disembarked from our last cruise, and though turning pages on my iPad doesn't make much noise I was restless and Ken was soon awake too. We did have a view of Biscayne Bay, just not the cruise ships. I sat up on the seat by the window and watched small boats come in (maybe fishing boats) and tried to see if any cruise ships were arriving. I think from what I observed later, that the boats come in more from the north even though they are from the south?

 

We finally had a real meal, breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I chose the buffet. It wasn't as good as the buffet in the Silhouette but then where else can you find a buffet like that. Only at sea!

 

       

 

After breakfast, we headed outside for a short walk. It was calm, hot, hazy and humid. A beautiful day for a sail away. Poetic (lol). 

 

There she is. Just waiting for us. 

 

 

I think this ship followed us to a number of ports. I'll have to check that out. 

 

 

 

 

 

We headed back to the hotel to wait. There were always police cars parked outside.

 

 

Waiting! 

 

[Marvy Mare]

A question for frequent users of the Cruise critic boards. My formatting has changed and I can't centre titles on this report. Everything looks narrower too. 

This is what it looks like. 

[Marvy Mare]

While I am inserting screen grabs, here is our port schedule with the other boats in port. I found having that information sometimes made it easier to plan our port visits.  It was the Seven Seas Navigator that followed us to a number of ports. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Marvy Mare
added info

[Marvy Mare]

I logged out and back in again and the formatting is fixed. Not sure what happened there. Off to walk the dogs in the icy snow covered park. 

 

Maris

[Oceangoer2]

3 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

 

If we traveled more frequently, we'd be sure to get Nexus. I saw them breeze through everything. You are right about no rhyme or reason. I didn't compare the difference in the price of flights to Miami or Fort Lauderdale. We had been to Fort Lauderdale three times and never to Miami, so thought we'd check it out. Next time we sail out of Fort Lauderdale so we will get to fly into that nice small airport again. 

 

Maris

Nexus is worth it even if travelling once a year as we do generally.  Little expense/time output for the benefit at the airport.

[MikeMary4449]

4 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

While I am inserting screen grabs, here is our port schedule with the other boats in port. I found having that information sometimes made it easier to plan our port visits.  It was the Seven Seas Navigator that followed us to a number of ports. 

Hi Maris, We are following along and very much enjoying your review (and taking notes!).  Could you please share the website for the "port schedule" above.  Thanks, Mike and Mary

[Marvy Mare]

6 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

 

 

2 hours ago, MikeMary4449 said:

Hi Maris, We are following along and very much enjoying your review (and taking notes!).  Could you please share the website for the "port schedule" above.  Thanks, Mike and Mary

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports

Hi Mike and Mary - I hope that works. You just go to the site and look up your ports. When I put together our schedule, there was only one port listed for Dominican Republic but at least one of the 4 boats listed was at the other port. And at another port (I think Antigua) there were 2 other ships scheduled to be there but they never turned up. And I did recheck the schedule that day. 

[Marvy Mare]

 

DAY 1 CRUISE

MARCH 13, 2012 - Sail Away

 

Our embarkation was scheduled for from 10:30 to 11. The doorman at the hotel suggested that we be at the door at 10 and he would call a cab for us. Our friends turned up at about the same time as us. So a van was called for us to share. It was a quick ride and I think cost around $25. Angus kindly offered to pay. Ken of course tried to pay too, but Angus was insistent. So kind. My grandparents were from Scotland. I'm also a frugal Scot, if someone offers to pay, I say heck yes. 

Like our entire strip, embarkation was very smooth. We left our tagged bags, checked in and waited in a room for about 20-30 minutes. We met other very excited people. There was no welcome bubbly as we stepped on the ship, but I'm not keen on bubbly anyway. The cool thing was that we didn't have to wait to go to our room. We could head right up there, collect our Sea Passes, put a few items in our room and head off the explore the ship.

 

 

View from deck 14. The really tall building that looks like it's leaning in the background is the 75 storey condo under construction that the nice (like Canadians) Mexican lady was complaining about. 

 

 

There's that building again to the right. It looks like it's leaning. Mmmmm.

 

It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

 

[Marvy Mare]

 

We won't see that many empty seats again. I do spy some saved seats too. (lol). I didn't see anyone getting too angry about seat hogs, but then maybe we weren't in the desirable real estate area. 

 

 

Our Peterborough pal, Angus! It's 5 o'clock over there too. 

 

 

We are on the road again. The low building in the centre of the photo is where the Miami heat play.

 

A quick trip down to our room to check out the view.

 

 

Just look at that sky!

[MikeMary4449]

2 hours ago, Marvy Mare said:

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports

Hi Mike and Mary - I hope that works. You just go to the site and look up your ports. When I put together our schedule, there was only one port listed for Dominican Republic but at least one of the 4 boats listed was at the other port. And at another port (I think Antigua) there were 2 other ships scheduled to be there but they never turned up. And I did recheck the schedule that day. 

Hi Maris, Thanks, but when we brought up this website, it did NOT show the chart that you posted.  It only showed a map of our itinerary.  Are we doing something wrong?  Thanks for your help.

Mike and Mary

[Marvy Mare]

22 minutes ago, MikeMary4449 said:

Hi Maris, Thanks, but when we brought up this website, it did NOT show the chart that you posted.  It only showed a map of our itinerary.  Are we doing something wrong?  Thanks for your help.

Mike and Mary

Hi Mike and Mary

 

I think the site is called Cruise Mapper. Or just search cruise port schedule. I made up the chart that I posted. I checked out each individual port on our cruise and cruise mapper lists ports by date. Then I made the chart. There is no really easy way to do it. I have seen charts in Roll Calls that people have produced. 
I hope this helps. 
 

Maris

[MikeMary4449]

4 minutes ago, Marvy Mare said:

Hi Mike and Mary

 

I think the site is called Cruise Mapper. Or just search cruise port schedule. I made up the chart that I posted. I checked out each individual port on our cruise and cruise mapper lists ports by date. Then I made the chart. There is no really easy way to do it. I have seen charts in Roll Calls that people have produced. 
I hope this helps. 
 

Maris

Thanks, Maris.  Now we understand.  We were trying to find something that looked like your chart.  We will make up our own.  So sorry to hijack your thread.

Mike and Mary

[Marvy Mare]

1 minute ago, MikeMary4449 said:

Thanks, Maris.  Now we understand.  We were trying to find something that looked like your chart.  We will make up our own.  So sorry to hijack your thread.

Mike and Mary

No problem! I got the idea from a Cruise Critic post and asked almost the same questions. I welcome questions and comments. It is encouraging to know that some people are reading my report. 
 

Maris

[Marvy Mare]

DAY 1 CRUISE

Miami, March 13, 2023

 

I almost forgot about the non muster Muster Drill. Most cruise lines including Celebrity have done away with the group Muster Drill. I was happy not to be in a crowded room. The airport and plane were scary enough. We still are cautious about Covid. Obviously not that cautious; we were on a cruise, but still.... For the new drill we waited in a short line at our Muster Station. While waiting we watched a very short video, checked in with a staff member and that was it. Ken, the really cautious worrier felt that we really didn't get enough information, though it was easy to ignore the group drill too. I was fine with it. I noticed on our airplane we didn't get the safety speech from the flight attendants either. I used to enjoy watching that for some weird reason. Oh well. Progress. 

Back to sail away. There were repeat call for people who hadn't completed the drill. We weren't leaving until everyone checked in at their stations. Maybe there are still people who don't have cell phones, though it is getting increasingly difficult to get by without one. 

 

I just love that hat in the middle. I want one. 

 

 

Is that Fort Lauderdale way in the distance?

 

 

Being followed out by the Norwegian Pearl . That Cruise Port Schedule does come in handy. 

 

Sunset Bar!

 

 

Freedom of the Seas, behind it Disney Dream.

 

 

 

[Marvy Mare]

Still not sure about the last ship. By the process of elimination, it's either Seven Seas Navigator or MSC Divinia?

 

 

South Beach? I was waving madly but no-one waved back. Much friendlier in Fort Lauderdale (lol). We didn't get there on this visit. I did hear that things got wild on Soth Beach. 

 

Goodbye Miami - See you on the 23rd. 

 

 

Sail away entertainment.

 

I wandered around the back of the ship during sail away talking to different people. One of the wonderful things about cruising is the people that you meet. I'm not particularly social but I do talk to people when on vacation. 

During sail away, we met a young couple that had never cruised before. I wondered later whether they were the couple on deck 12 that had a Just Married sign on their door. There were two couple from the UK that were sooooo excited. Their trip over had been a bit of a disaster - terrible flight and lost luggage. One of the men in the group had lost his luggage and they had to shop in Miami for replacement items. That would be a pain. We found Miami very expensive. I also spoke with a very nice couple from Holland. Everyone was in a celebratory mood. 

For lunch, Ken lined up at the Mast Grill and got us burgers with carmelized onions. I'm really not a burger fan, but the Oceanview Cafe was very crowded and we wanted to stay outside for as long as possible. It was (and still is) cold and dull back in Ontario. The burger tasted great!! As Concierge Class, we had a luncheon in the Main Dining Room. On our first cruise (2017), we did attend that luncheon. It was OK. We sat at a table of 10. As we introduced ourselves around the table, another couple said that they were also from Peterborough, Ontario (the small city near us). We responded that we were actually lived on Chemong Lake north of Peterborough. Well, it so happened that they were also on Chemong Lake north of Peterborough. Their property was about 1/2 km from our place. Small world. 

 

Back to our cabin for one last look at Miami and to unpack. 

 

 

 

Our room was fairly mid-ship, port side just on the hump. We had a huge balcony. Could have entertained a small group. We enjoyed a glass on wine on our balcony, unpacked and then wandered around the ship before our 7:15 dinner in the MDR.

 

I had scheduled our dinners for 7:15.  In the past we had gone to the 9pm show after our dinner. On this cruise we didn't plan to go to the shows. I enjoyed them,  but didn't miss them. 7:15 seemed a little late. May have had something to do with being up at 3am. 

 

The dogs are getting restless again. 6:30am. Awake for hours and time to head to the park. It's -6 with a wind chill this morning. Toques, mitts, boots with ice grippers and warm coats are in order.

Later

Maris

 

 

[Marvy Mare]

DAY 1 CRUISE

Monday, March 13 

I promised myself that before this cruise, I would practice using my iPhone (the camera that is always with you) for taking some pictures. To  quote a friend 'using your iPhone for photography is no fun.' I just find I put more thought into photos when I can't just snap a picture. I have taken some OK photos with my phone and it does beat lugging around a big camera. Phones are especially good for food photography. And I really tried to keep my promise to myself. I wanted to capture every beautifully presented meal on the ship. I started out with a bit of promise. Not a great photo, but I did it. Lol

 

 

And that's all there is. I also meant to photo the menus. The best laid plans... And then I thought that I could find the menus again on my Celebrity App. And I could, for our 2025 cruise on an E class ship.

 

We were seated in the MDR fairly near the entrance at a table for two by the window. With it being Daylight Saving Time, it was still light when we sat down. We spoke to a very nice couple (currently in Nashville and originally from Oklahoma or vice versa, but I think I got it right)at the table beside us. We told them about our Nashville connection. Carrie Underwood's husband (Mike Fisher, who played for Nashville Predators) came from our small town. Our daughter, a competitive synchronized swimmer, was on a team with Mike's sister and at swim meets I shared a room with Mike's mom. Mike turned up at one swim meet, when he was playing in the OHL. The girls were so distracted, they could hardly swim (lol). 

Our neighbours at dinner changed almost every evening but, we managed to get the same table. Dinner was great. I enjoyed the salad above beet salad with beef and I think Ken had the same meal.  Our servers were wonderful. Another reason to set at the same table. Cristobel, Vanessa and Oliver. They were all from the Philippines and very hard working and pleasant. Especially Vanessa (the Assistant Server). One other diner called Vanessa, genuine. That was so true. 

 

After dinner we wandered up to the sunset bar. It was very quiet there. I hoped to see some stars, but the bright lights on a cruise ship make stargazing difficult. Then it was off to bed by about 9:30. It had been a long day and I would be up early. Every day is so exciting when you are on a cruise ship.

 

 

[calicakes]

On 3/26/2023 at 7:25 AM, Marvy Mare said:

We had tried to book a recommended dog sitter for our 2020 cruise but she was booked well in advance. This time I think I lined her up almost a year ahead. I'm not too sure of the time line. At my age the days blend together. Kelly was great (also happens to be a Vet Tech). She stayed at our place. Stella needs to be at home and Maggie needs to be with Stella. 

Taking our boys( 2 standard poodles and a dachshund) to the sitter is one of the most stressful parts of vacation.  We're also pet sitters so this was interesting to hear about.  We specialize in Poodles/Doodles and we're very, very busy!!   Do you mind if I ask how much she charged?  I'm curious about prices in different parts of the world.  

 

I lived in Exeter, ON for 8yrs.  I was having flashbacks to many winter drives to Pearson.  Glad you made it safely.