Silhouette - (hopefully) a live review - 9th September Med Cruise

[ladylemondrop]

Hello! We are embarking Silhouette this Saturday, in Southampton, to the Med for 13 nights. I will have premium wifi so hopefully I will be able to update this while away.  Hoping to report in about pressing issues such as - MDR food!! Food is very important to us, we do have a speciality dining package, 6 nights, but we still hope to enjoy the MDR as we have done in the past. Lets see..... I will try to take lots of photos.  If there is anything anyone would especially like to know, please ask! I am going to be very busy though, enjoying my drink package, finding ducks, (seems to be a new 'thing') and eating cookies. 😁 

 

 

I actually wouldn't mind the mash if it looks like this......

Edited September 4, 2023 by ladylemondrop

[chemmo]

Looking forward to following your posts! Hope you have a fantastic cruise!

 

We had a fantastic cruise on Silhouette, hope you enjoy too.

 

[ladylemondrop]

3 hours ago, chemmo said:

Looking forward to following your posts! Hope you have a fantastic cruise!

 

We had a fantastic cruise on Silhouette, hope you enjoy too.

 

Thank you, will be thinking of you. My husband has just finished five weeks of chemo/radiotherapy, and we are so lucky that he is well enough to travel! 

[Winemaker_1]

I'll be watching this also.  Thanks.  Would love to know about the MDR, Luminae, and Blu menus/quality service.  Also, the quality of wines on the drinks packages and, of course, "Butlergate".

[ladylemondrop]

6 hours ago, Winemaker_1 said:

I'll be watching this also.  Thanks.  Would love to know about the MDR, Luminae, and Blu menus/quality service.  Also, the quality of wines on the drinks packages and, of course, "Butlergate".

Hi, we are in a Concierge cabin, chosen primarily for location (mid ship hump aft) so we could be next to our son and his girlfriend, so unfortunately no access to luminae or blu or butlers, but if I meet anyone in suites will ask! 

We have always been really happy with service in the past - we are already anticipating this will be a much busier cruise than last year, when it was kind of half capacity (ours is full this time). 

[Baggy178]

Please report on the availability of free cookies and whole tomatoes with a side order of  mashed potatoes.😅

[swjumbo]

Awww. Most envious!

 

You’ll be with a charming Greek Captain and Dutch Hotel Director who is equally charming. They are probably models on their days off and the crew love sailing with them. It’s noticeable throughout the ship.

 

We’ll be interested about the tomato situation on board and if you go to Tuscan will you get much mashed potatoes?

 

Looking forward to seeing your pics and hope you have calm seas.

 

[ladylemondrop]

1 hour ago, swjumbo said:

Awww. Most envious!

 

You’ll be with a charming Greek Captain and Dutch Hotel Director who is equally charming. They are probably models on their days off and the crew love sailing with them. It’s noticeable throughout the ship.

 

We’ll be interested about the tomato situation on board and if you go to Tuscan will you get much mashed potatoes?

 

Looking forward to seeing your pics and hope you have calm seas.

 

Oooo! That sounds exciting! I believe it is Captain George, who we have met before. Love him. 

I am hoping there might be alternatives to the mash.... lets see. 

I too am praying that the Bay of 'sickbay' as we call it, is calm....please! I am not a good sailor. We deliberately avoided Move Up just in case I got assigned anywhere other than mid ship. We have sailed Silhouette, Reflection, Constellation, all a few times, so we have a good idea of what we would like to expect, and open minds to what the reality will be based on a lot of recent posts here.   I am generally a glass half full person, but food is everything on my holiday so am hoping its good.  

[swjumbo]

Yes it’s him. Wasn’t sure if I could mention names of crew on here but he’s a lovely chap and fits the role perfectly. None of this self adulation some of the other people crave but the sort of chap you know you’d want in charge in any eventuality.

 

Don’t be put off by negative press on here. Although we didn’t eat in the main dining room we found the OVC excellent (no whole tomatoes to be seen) and the specialty dining (Tuscan and Murano) were up to their usual standard.

 

I’m sure you know but whenever you board get your restaurants booked. Learn from our mistake a few years ago when we simply couldn’t get in anywhere!

 

The weather looks great for your crossing and a few of us ‘regulars’ on here will enjoy your voyage too! Thank you. X

[cricketlover]

We are also on this cruise. The menus look very difficult to what we had on the ship in June.

[chemmo]

Friends of ours are just off Silhouette and loved it. They were new to Celebrity usually being Cunard cruisers. I had been nagging them for years to try Celebrity then was worried  to find they had booked a short cruise that had been described as ‘rowdy’ last year and then I read about the MDR menu changes….As two of them had had health issues recently I really didn’t want them to be disappointed 
 

Following posts on here I was especially concerned that they would be disappointed with the food. However, they really enjoyed. I had warned them that veggie selection had received a bad press and they simply ordered two of the starter salads to be delivered as side salads for their mains to share between the four of them. They soon got into the habit of double ordering the prawn cocktail!

 

It was the staff and the ambiance they really enjoyed, they would look at cruising Celebrity again. What didn’t go down so well was the cost of drinks. They had decided, not being big drinkers and with planned excursions to simply buy drinks as they went along. They found (as many of us do) that once you add coffee, water etc to bar bill it does make a package more viable.

Edited September 5, 2023 by chemmo

[chemmo]

36 minutes ago, ladylemondrop said:

Oooo! That sounds exciting! I believe it is Captain George, who we have met before. Love him. 

I am hoping there might be alternatives to the mash.... lets see. 

I too am praying that the Bay of 'sickbay' as we call it, is calm....please! I am not a good sailor. We deliberately avoided Move Up just in case I got assigned anywhere other than mid ship. We have sailed Silhouette, Reflection, Constellation, all a few times, so we have a good idea of what we would like to expect, and open minds to what the reality will be based on a lot of recent posts here.   I am generally a glass half full person, but food is everything on my holiday so am hoping its good.  

I am also an iffy sailor, I take sea sickness tablets from the day before I cruise until day three when I will take or not take depending on the forecast. I don’t know how much is psychological that I feel if I have taken the tablets I will be OK but since I got into this routine I have been fine…even when cruising from Southampton!

 

We really made the most of the speciality restaurants on Silhouette. We did enjoy lunch in the Porch on sea days. Much as every cruise is different we were aware that a ‘free’ Porch lunch was one of the offers when booking a speciality package on board. It may be worth chatting after boarding…

 

Looking forward to following along!

 

 

[ladylemondrop]

Some great advice about ordering an extra side salad, that's a great idea! I will be running to the first point of call I see to book the restaurants too, thank you. 

[hcat]

agree on salads.

 we will be dining in BLU on Ascent,  but if the veggies are like the ones described and shown in pics  for mdr, we will start with soup/appetizer, and order a salad to accompany the entree.

 

soups on X have usually been good..hope that is still the case.

 

I usually forego the carbs incl. pasta, rice, potatoes and bread.( may nibble on a breadstick)  Seems X is big on cheap carbs lately!

 

looking forward to this review

[ladylemondrop]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

agree on salads.

 we will be dining in BLU on Ascent,  but if the veggies are like the ones described and shown in pics  for mdr, we will start with soup/appetizer, and order a salad to accompany the entree.

 

soups on X have usually been good..hope that is still the case.

 

I usually forego the carbs incl. pasta, rice, potatoes and bread.( may nibble on a breadstick)  Seems X is big on cheap carbs lately!

 

looking forward to this review

Thanks Hcat, its been a while since we sailed together! 😊

[Silkroad]

We return to lovely Silhouette in December, so I'm very much looking forward to your review. I'm so happy that your husband is well enough to travel, and I hope you have a splendid holiday.

 

Though I love being on the water, I too must plan for the possibility of sea sickness (which limits Move Up options for me). I pack enough chewable Bonine (meclizine, which the ships carry in non-chewable form) for five people😂 I take Bonine before leaving port the first time, and each sea day thereafter (unless the sea is calm). This has served me well on most cruises, including one from Southampton. 

 

Wishing you calm seas and an excellent cruise experience.

[Silkroad]

2 hours ago, hcat said:

soups on X have usually been good..hope that is still the case.

 

I can report that the soups were still very good to excellent on our recent b2b in Norway/Iceland & Ireland. I chose soup for lunch or dinner on most of our 21 days. On the night there wasn't a main that appealed to me, I had no issues when I ordered three starters instead (shrimp cocktail, soup and salad).

[Jim_Iain]

7 hours ago, chemmo said:

I am also an iffy sailor, I take sea sickness tablets from the day before I cruise until day three when I will take or not take depending on the forecast. I don’t know how much is psychological that I feel if I have taken the tablets I will be OK but since I got into this routine I have been fine…even when cruising from Southampton!

 

We really made the most of the speciality restaurants on Silhouette. We did enjoy lunch in the Porch on sea days. Much as every cruise is different we were aware that a ‘free’ Porch lunch was one of the offers when booking a speciality package on board. It may be worth chatting after boarding…

 

Looking forward to following along!

 

 

 

I use to do the same thing when I first started cruising.   For me, I was ok if I took one the night before the cruise and the first day of the cruise.   I am no longer affected by Sea Sickness -- maybe due to all the cruising we do.    I do however carry some with me. 

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Looking forward to your report as I will be sailing on Silhouette over Thanksgiving.

[ladylemondrop]

We are onboard! Horrendous journey but embarkation was fast and smooth, our cabins were spotless and we headed straight to the Martini bar for a much needed refreshment! 
After that we have just stopped by the Mast Grill for a burger, they were good, not as juicy as they used to be but nevertheless very tasty. 
All crew have been welcoming, and offering to help us with dining or drink packages. We had no issues booking our speciality dining. So far, so good! 

[hcat]

On 9/5/2023 at 9:33 AM, ladylemondrop said:

Thanks Hcat, its been a while since we sailed together! 😊

I will be following closely. Lately, reviews have been a good way to get first hand info about the good or not so good!

 

  Before we started sailing E class, Silhouette and Equinox were or favorites ships, esp Silho.

 

ENJOY!

Edited September 9, 2023 by hcat

[theopup]

Have a wonderful cruise. I will be following along too

[Valentina69]

Have a lovely cruise, I'm looking forward to seeing your posts.   

 

[bjahil47]

Have a wonderful cruise!  Following along!

[chemmo]

2 hours ago, ladylemondrop said:

We are onboard! Horrendous journey but embarkation was fast and smooth, our cabins were spotless and we headed straight to the Martini bar for a much needed refreshment! 
After that we have just stopped by the Mast Grill for a burger, they were good, not as juicy as they used to be but nevertheless very tasty. 
All crew have been welcoming, and offering to help us with dining or drink packages. We had no issues booking our speciality dining. So far, so good! 

Every time we read about people saying we are flying in at x hours, the journey takes y hours and expect to be boarding at z hours I put a post on to say travel in the UK is not predictable!
 

We live about 3 and 1/2 hours from Southampton but have never been brave enough to drive down on the day. Between football matches, boat shows and other miscellaneous events to say nothing for strikes and the weather journeys to Southampton are rarely simple…

 

So pleased you are now on board, have a wonderful cruise!