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

[GotMINI]

Here’s my review of the 6 ports we visited while on Celebrity Silhouette’s 10 day Eastern Caribbean sailing.  I like to do a lot of research before going to the various ports so my group knows what to expect.  Since COVID, I have found it difficult to find good information online, whether on Cruise Critic or various internet websites.  So much of it is outdated.  So, this is a record for me to remember our travels but also to hopefully help provide some helpful information to others who may be visiting these places.   We generally do not go on excursions and just search out a nice beach not too far from port.  We’d rather spend our time relaxing on a beach rather than traveling in a taxi around an island.  I’ll include some comments about Silhouette itself at the end.  

 

Island #1 - Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic:  Celebrity uses Taina Bay which is a relatively new port with pools, lazy river, restaurants, shops, etc.   It’s very nice.  When exiting the ship, there were free tuk tuks which could take you from the ship to the end of the pier.  It’s a short ride, but kind of fun.  It’s free, but we gave the guy a $2 tip for the 3 of us.  You then need to walk through the duty free shop to get you into the port area.  We casually walked all the way through to the end to get out and then continued to walk into town.  There are a lot of vendors and taxi guides trying to sell rides to wherever you may want to go.  There are also plenty of city guides to answer questions.  They will walk with you if you want.  It’s “free" with the expectation of receiving tips.  We went on our own into town but did have to continually ask for directions as we were trying to get to the Umbrella and Pink Streets without getting lost.   It wasn’t a far walk, maybe 10 minutes.  There are plenty of officers on the streets too to help direct traffic (pedestrians seem to have right of way crossing streets) and I’m sure for safety; although I never did feel unsafe, but that may have been because of the officers.  After seeing the 2 streets, there were a bunch of taxis lined up nearby along street by the town square.  I have a feeling these were cheaper than what we would have paid if we took a taxi right from the end of the port, but cannot say for sure.  The taxi cost us $5/pp each way - we gave him $20 with tip for the 3 of us.  Our driver didn’t really speak English, but he understood beach.  He took us to Playa Dorado, which was about 20 min away.   We had researched a number of beaches along this coast, but were unsure what kind of amenities they’d have or if would be populated, safe, etc.  So, Playa Dorado was a good choice for our 1st time here given its popularity.   We made plans with the taxi driver to pick us up at a specified time and he brought us back to the port for the same fare of $5/pp.  At the beach, there are workers to bring you to your chairs and they’ll make sure you are set up ok.  You can order food/drinks from them which are served from restaurants in that area on the beach.  It cost us $20 for 3 chairs and an umbrella.  We did not eat any food at the restaurant nearby, but it looked good.  All food was brought out to you covered/wrapped in plastic wrap.  If you are having meal, they’d even bring out a table and chairs for you for comfortable dining.   Beer brought out in a paper bag with a cover over the top of the bottle - maybe to absorb moisture? There were a lot of vendors on the beach selling jewelry, t-shirts, hair braiding, ice cream, nuts, etc.  You can look or just tell them no thank you and they will walk on.  On our ride back to port I wrote down few of the beaches we saw:  Long Beach, Cosita Rica (with Swanks restaurant), and Aculpuco.  I think next time here, we might check out Cosita Rica, but I would still recommend Play Dorado.  

 

Island #2 - San Juan, Puerto Rico:  today was my mom’s birthday and our plan was just to go to a favorite restaurant called Choco Bar.  We had read about it before a prior cruise and went to it the last time we were in PR.  If you like chocolate, and especially chocolate martinis - this place is for you!   It was a short walk from the pier in Old San Juan area.  On the way back to the pier, we walked by Umbrella Street, Pigeon Park and the fort area.   

 

Island #3 - St Croix:  Walked off the pier and to the right.  Along the water there is a concrete path which we took to the end and then kept walking.  The Fred resort is on the right side of the street, and just past The Fred is Louie & Nacho Beach Bar & Turtles Deli & BBQ.  The restaurants both looked nice, but it was early - they open at 11am and it was barely 10am when we were walking by.  We kept walking along the coast for a bit, then eventually turned around and went back to The Fred, and so glad we stopped in!   I would definitely recommend this place.  This is a hotel with a pool, hot tub, bar, etc.  But they also sell day passes - $40/couple or $30/pp, or you can just go into the bar area for free, which is what we ended up doing.  While the pool looked extremely inviting, the weather wasn’t great, so we grabbed a table by the bar with a beautiful view overlooking the water and to our right was our cruise ship.  It was so nice and relaxing to just stay there.  We had 3 beers, 1 cocktail and a ceviche with chips and cost was $47.  Not cheap, but hey, we were on vacation, and we didn’t pay to get in for beach chairs.   Noticed other cruisers stopped by here too.  On our return I noticed there was a free dock shuttle in big Sprinter vans between the ship and end of pier.  By the way, last year, we went to Rainbow Beach by Rhythms Beach Bar.  March 2022 it cost us $55/pp/each way for cab and $40 for 2 chairs and 1 umbrella on a very crowded beach.   Personally not a fan of Rainbow Beach, but realize it is popular amongst cruisers.  

 

Island #4 - Antigua:  You’ll notice licensed people in yellow shirts when you arrive just outside the gate to get you a taxi or tour.  Cost us $5/pp each way to Dickerson and it was about a 10 min drive.  It may have been quicker, although a bridge was out and construction on main road, so we went more scenic driving.  The taxis will make you wait until they (try to) fill up the vehicle.  We got off ship a little after the crowd and they did make us wait for few minutes, but eventually I think they realized we wouldn’t get anyone else so let us go just the 3 of us.  They did tell us that on this day the Atlantic side (Dickenson) was more rough and there’d be seaweed vs the Caribbean side (Jolly) which would be calmer.  We had been to Jolly last time in Antigua, which was very nice; however it was a long drive and I’d rather spend 20 min in taxi vs 1hr30 min roundtrip, so this year we decided to try Dickenson.   A worker, Jason, met us at our taxi and kindly escorted us to the beach and to his section.  He had a good location, just next to the restaurant and almost in front of Sandals resort; we didn’t have to walk far to the restaurant to use the bathroom. We could sit anywhere we liked and he arranged the chairs/umbrellas for us.  The restaurant had wifi but you needed to get food/drink which we did not.  Or Jason said we could purchase wifi $3/each or $5 for the 3 of us.  We didn’t as we wanted time away from our devices….  It was $10/ea for chairs or umbrella, which we got 3 chairs and 2 umbrellas for $50.  Nice new lounge chairs.  There’s a floating beach bar out in the water off to the left of where we were, but we never did get to.  Jason said he could call a free water taxi over for us or we could walk closer down beach and wave one down.   Maybe during our next visit to Dickenson.  It was a windy day yes, and there was some seaweed in the water, but it was not much at all. I’m glad we didn’t listen to the original taxi person and go back to Jolly.  Dickenson was beautiful.   There were plenty of vendors walking around selling t-shirts, jewelry, fresh coconut, fresh aloe plant, etc.  You can look or just kindly say no thank you and they’ll walk on by.  Be sure to check out the red phone booths on the beach.  I didn’t check but fairly certain they are not functional, but make for a cool picture.  Would recommend Dickenson.    

 

Island #5 - St Kitts:  This was our 3rd time cruising to St Kitts and our 3rd time at Carombola Beach Club.  Has yet to disappoint.  It’s on the Caribbean side, so calmer than the Atlantic side.  You can show up and take your pick of chair locations, or you can make a reservation in advance, and you’ll be given priority location (closer to the water).  This place can get crowded so we’ve always made reservations (see their website) in advance; however our ship typically docks early so we get here early and getting a good spot has yet to be an issue for us.    Taxi to Carambola is $28/each way or if you can fill a vehicle it’s $7pp.  You make arrangements with the driver and they will come back for pickup.   This year we got Craig James (1-869-665-1140) and he was awesome!  Very nice.  Experienced.  Already planning to call him next time we cruise to St Kitts and highly recommend him to anyone looking for taxi driver.  I find the taxi drivers and tour operators at this port a little assertive so it’s nice to have someone there waiting on you and not having to deal with them.  Craig gave us paper wristbands when we arrived with his number on it in case we needed to reach him for any changes.  He showed up right on time so it wasn’t necessary in our case.  Typically the taxi drivers stop at Timothy Hill on the way to Carambola, but since we’ve been before, we typically ask to bypass it.   It does have a phenomenal view but then there are vendors with monkeys trying to sell you pictures or items, and we are not interested.  But if you haven’t been there and your taxi makes a stop, be sure to get out and take in the beautiful view.  At Carambola, it’s $10/each for chairs and umbrellas.  While there, we typically walk down the beach to Shipwreck Beach Bar.  It is a shack of a place with some very old beach chairs in front (free to use if you visit Shipwreck), but love the localness of it.   Good for a few beers/cocktails and maybe some food if you are so inclined.  Carib beers are only $3ea.  You can/should write on the wood all around the bar with Sharpies (they can provide) - and we’ve done that each of the 3 times there.   This location used to be a black sand beach, however I noticed this year it wasn’t so black anymore.  

 

Island #6 - St Maarten:  We took the water taxi to town of Great Bay Beach.  It costs $7 roundtrip or $5 one-way.  Cash only.  I had read online that it makes 3 stops, but when we were there it was only going in/out of 1.  Not sure if something changed or maybe I read about it wrong.  The water taxi seemed to run about every 15 minutes.  Once off the water taxi we walked to the right and to Holland House.  Cost was $25 for 2 chairs, 1 umbrella, wifi, showers, facilities, & 4 drinks.  Soft drinks, water & beer count as 1, and alcohol counts as 2.  The lounge chairs were very nice with thick cushions.  Facilities were just inside the hotel and nice and clean.  There were 2 bars, one inside hotel lobby and one on sidewalk for the beach, and a restaurant.   You pay for the day pass at the beach bar.   Day passes can sell out if they have a lot of guests using their beach area.   The shower is there too, but we didn’t use it.   There are many vendors walking around selling t-shirts, hats, massages, etc.  Polite no thank you works to keep them moving along.  There were plenty of other places along the beach to sit.  When we got off the water taxi, we were quickly approached and he was offering same deal but for worn out loungers next to pier.  I’m glad we kept walking.  Would recommend Holland House and use again in future.   

 

Regarding the Silhouette ship itself: it was wonderful!   There were about 1300 crew onboard and I believe we were close to capacity so maybe 2800 guests.  We meant to ask but forgot to.    We had Captain George and Cruise Director Dave - both great.   Actually all the staff on this ship were amazing, from those you’d have direct contact with to those behind the scenes.  No complaints, at least not from my party or anyone we interacted with.  This ship had gone through a recent refurbishment and it was in top shape.   We had previously been on the Reflection and Equinox, also Solstice ships.  It was nice being familiar with the ship layout once onboard.  You could tell this ship was “refreshed” with new paint, carpet, artwork, etc.  There were some other changes we noted such as new seating in the Sky Lounge.  There were a lot of rocking chairs all along the front windows, which I guess was nice; however they were so packed together that it was difficult to get in/out.  And actually, I preferred the loungers they had there before (great place to watch the water and sneak in little nap).   I did like the addition of sun lounge chairs on the deck in front of the fitness center.  Felt like not too many people knew of this space and it was generally quiet.   I liked the additional seating area by the Sunset Bar (that used to be part of the Lawn).  On past Solstice sailings, there were double rows of chairs along the sides of the pools.  On this ship, they only had a single row facing the pool.  Before it was difficult to get in/out of the chairs unless you were willing to climb in from the base where the feet would be.  It did make the deck seem less crowded.  Unfortunately, the chair hogs snag them up pretty early, especially on Sea Days.  We’d often see a beverage cart circulating around the pool deck offering beer & soft drinks, which was nice so you wouldn’t always have to get up and go to the bar if that’s what you might want to drink.  I’ve seen many inquire about showtimes - and on our sailing they are 7pm & 9pm nightly.  There was aways a gameshow 8pm nightly too.   Due to someone in my party being Elite status, we had access to a free 45 min Behind the Scenes tour of the theater with the performers.  It was very interesting and recommend attending if you have the opportunity.   We booked our sailing while onboard for February 2024 on the Beyond.  Going to try a new class and we are excited to explore some new ports.   

[hcat]

Nice detailed summary.. thanks for posting!

Some of our fav ports..

[cruiserone]

Great review! Totally agree with everything you said. It was a great cruise and we also booked the Beyond for February 2024 and the Apex for May 2024.

 

thank you for the detailed review!

[GotMINI]

@cruiserone We are on Beyond Feb 19th.  You?

[Silkroad]

Very helpful summary. Thanks so much for sharing your research and experiences with us! Silhouette is one of my favorite ships. I’m happy to hear she’s still in great shape.

[LIMPIT]

Thanks very much for posting, excellent information, we are sailing on B2B on Silhouette departing 6th April, and visiting these ports, so we will definitely check out some of the venues you visited.

[cruiserone]

10 hours ago, GotMINI said:

@cruiserone We are on Beyond Feb 19th.  You?

Same!

[cruiserone]

[GotMINI]

16 minutes ago, cruiserone said:

I took that same photo of the sister ships in port together.   See you 2/19/24!   If you haven’t already signed up, there’s a FB group for our sailing.   😊

[H2OH!]

Thank you for the great review.

[TMLAalum]

We were on her for the 2/27-3/9 sailing. Yes, there were a few things different from our previous cruises on the Silhouette. No complaints!  We had a great time and enjoyed the ship and the ports. Thanks for your review. 

[Marvy Mare]

Thanks for the review summary. Made me wish that we had left the port area in Puerto Plata. I also didn’t realize that there was a spot in front of the gym that was quiet and where I could have taken some photos. 
 

Maris

[GotMINI]

1 hour ago, Marvy Mare said:

Thanks for the review summary. Made me wish that we had left the port area in Puerto Plata. I also didn’t realize that there was a spot in front of the gym that was quiet and where I could have taken some photos. 
 

Maris

Great view of water (and ports) from front of ship in front of fitness area!   No obstructions.   Similar to view from Sky Lounge without the glass.   Great place to work on your tan too.  😎

[Marvy Mare]

34 minutes ago, GotMINI said:

Great view of water (and ports) from front of ship in front of fitness area!   No obstructions.   Similar to view from Sky Lounge without the glass.   Great place to work on your tan too.  😎

I’ll be there next time. 😂 

[raudacruise]

Thanks for your review. I took notes.

[cruiserone]

On 3/30/2023 at 9:00 PM, GotMINI said:

@cruiserone We are on Beyond Feb 19th.  You?

Yes!