Liveish trip report - Celebrity Silhouette - 11.10.23

[cricketlover]

We were on the ship in September, will enjoy reading your reports. Have a wonderful time.

[Beachlover1989]

Looking forward to following along!  Thank you for doing the Live Report!

[Jim_Iain]

I also pulled up a chair for a front row seat and looking forward to your Live Post.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Looking forward to your report.  I'm on board in November.

[DaKahuna]

Following along with interest.  Bon Voyage.

 

[maggieq]

On 10/1/2023 at 1:36 PM, rwright261 said:

Evening,

 

My husband and I are due to sail on Celebrity Silhouette on Wednesday 11th October from Southampton for an 11 night Canary Island cruise. 
 

This will be my 13th cruise, and my 3rd with Celebrity, previously sailing on the Eclipse and Beyond. 
 

We celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary on the day we board, which was the reason for taking the cruise.

 

We have a busy week coming up, with a big family party on Saturday, so are looking forward to some R&R with the cruise. 
 

We will be travelling to Southampton on Tuesday 10th, staying overnight at the Leonardo Hotel, boarding the Silhouette where we have a balcony cabin on deck 8, as well as Classic drinks package and wifi. 
 

We have booked two speciality restaurants, The Lawn Club on the day we board for our anniversary and Tuscan Grill. 
 

We have also booked three trips, a ‘Destination Highlight’ in Porto, a ‘Small Group 4X4’ in Tenerife and ‘Small Group Lisbon by Tim Rum’ in Lisbon. 
 

I’ll hopefully post food and drink photos as well as some highlights from our days in port and sea days. 
 

If anyone would like to see anything specific, please leave a comment below and I will endeavour to do my best to cover it for you. 
 

Thanks for reading! 

Thanks for posting this live.   We will be on the silhouette next September for a med cruise.  We have been on the summit x2, equinox, summit and the edge. 

[Texed]

Thanks for posting.  😊

[Barwick Cruiser]

Looking forward to more of your posts. Silhouette is my favourite S class ship, booked in May ‘24 for the Baltics.
Hope you and DH enjoy a wonderful holiday and congrats on your 15th! What a great way to celebrate 🥂 

[rwright261]

Hi from the Sunset bar! 
 

I think the free wifi may be hit and miss so thought I’d upload part 1 from today whilst I still have 4G. 
 

We had a good nights sleep at the Leonardo. We were in room 307 and it was quiet, the bed was comfortable and not too hot/cold. The shower wasn’t much to speak of, more of a drizzle than a shower but that was our only complaint. 
 

We headed down to breakfast which was included in our Wowcher booking. This should have been £14 each. 
 

Here are some photos of the menu and the choices available- 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After breakfast we had another little walk into town, as we didn’t need to check out until 11am and check into the ship until 1pm so we had some time to kill. 
 

I picked up another strawberry açai refresher and we enjoyed a walk around the park. 
 

 

We checked out of the hotel around 10.30am. I took a photo of the cute Halloween decorations in the lobby. 
 

 

We picked our car up from the Grosvenor Square car park, these were the charges-

 

 

We decided to try our luck and head to the port to see if we could board early. Sure enough we walked onto the ship at 11.30am! A whole 90 minutes before our embarkation time! 
 

We headed to the buffet where I took a lot of photos of the choices available for you. Hopefully you can zoom in to see more detail:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both had the beef curry. I will say a couple of pieces of the beef seemed like they had a lot of fat / grissle in them, but overall the taste was nice, and it was a little spicy. The rice seemed like it had been sitting out a while as was quite dry. However, it was a pleasant lunch I had not cooked myself! 

 

We enjoyed a strawberry daiquiri and a red wine (Merlot) with our meal which was very pleasant. 

 

 

For dessert we had some ice cream (peanut butter and chocolate for DH) and sorbet (passion fruit for me) which had been under the freezer for far too long and was rock solid! Whilst it melted I had some Black Forest cake and red velvet cake, both lovely. 
 

 

 

 

 

We checked into our cabin at 1pm with two cases already waiting for us (the third came around 90 mins later). 
 

 

 

I will say there is a distinct lack of storage in the cabin, and the top drawer of the sink unit is absolutely filthy. We haven’t met our cabin steward yet. 
 

A quick stop at Cafe Al Bacio for a hot drink, and we’re now in the Sunset bar enjoying the sail away. 
 

 

That’s all for now as we sail away, hopefully I’ll be able to pick up some wifi later to update our meal at the lawn club grill. 
 

Thanks for reading! 
 

 

 

[rwright261]

Sorry for the random photos at the bottom of the post… I don’t know how that happened! 

[gold1953]

Thank you for sharing!  I stared at every photo while trying to choose my lunch for the crossing

[Stem to Stern]

Bon voyage!

[Baggy178]

2 hours ago, rwright261 said:

Hi from the Sunset bar! 
 

I think the free wifi may be hit and miss so thought I’d upload part 1 from today whilst I still have 4G. 
 

We had a good nights sleep at the Leonardo. We were in room 307 and it was quiet, the bed was comfortable and not too hot/cold. The shower wasn’t much to speak of, more of a drizzle than a shower but that was our only complaint. 
 

We headed down to breakfast which was included in our Wowcher booking. This should have been £14 each. 
 

Here are some photos of the menu and the choices available- 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After breakfast we had another little walk into town, as we didn’t need to check out until 11am and check into the ship until 1pm so we had some time to kill. 
 

I picked up another strawberry açai refresher and we enjoyed a walk around the park. 
 

 

We checked out of the hotel around 10.30am. I took a photo of the cute Halloween decorations in the lobby. 
 

 

We picked our car up from the Grosvenor Square car park, these were the charges-

 

 

We decided to try our luck and head to the port to see if we could board early. Sure enough we walked onto the ship at 11.30am! A whole 90 minutes before our embarkation time! 
 

We headed to the buffet where I took a lot of photos of the choices available for you. Hopefully you can zoom in to see more detail:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We both had the beef curry. I will say a couple of pieces of the beef seemed like they had a lot of fat / grissle in them, but overall the taste was nice, and it was a little spicy. The rice seemed like it had been sitting out a while as was quite dry. However, it was a pleasant lunch I had not cooked myself! 

 

We enjoyed a strawberry daiquiri and a red wine (Merlot) with our meal which was very pleasant. 

 

 

For dessert we had some ice cream (peanut butter and chocolate for DH) and sorbet (passion fruit for me) which had been under the freezer for far too long and was rock solid! Whilst it melted I had some Black Forest cake and red velvet cake, both lovely. 
 

 

 

 

 

We checked into our cabin at 1pm with two cases already waiting for us (the third came around 90 mins later). 
 

 

 

I will say there is a distinct lack of storage in the cabin, and the top drawer of the sink unit is absolutely filthy. We haven’t met our cabin steward yet. 
 

A quick stop at Cafe Al Bacio for a hot drink, and we’re now in the Sunset bar enjoying the sail away. 
 

 

That’s all for now as we sail away, hopefully I’ll be able to pick up some wifi later to update our meal at the lawn club grill. 
 

Thanks for reading! 
 

 

 

 

Gotta love a good buffet.

Garlic hummus and a healthy salad for me.

[BettyCruiser]

I loved that peanut butter ice cream! Yummy😋

[bluwes]

We got off the ship this morning after our brilliant 11 days sailing the same itinerary that you will be enjoying.

There are some awesome staff on board who can’t do enough for you. We were select dining on deck 4. Usually went to the dining room around 7.45.walked straight in most nights but 2 nights we had a beeper because we asked if we could go into Bobbys section where he was waiter and Firmin as the Sommelier. Both of them were great and a credit to Celebrity.

Food was excellent although with less choice. We did Murano and Tuscan and both were at there usual high standard.

Look out for Atish one of the deck waiters up on 14.

It was a full ship and I’m told yours will be the same, which meant  the Ocean View was mad busy when a lot of people arrived back on board after being in port.

The Martini bar staff seemed a bit quite early on but as the days went by they became more confident and had the usual laughs with them. Maybe they were new.

oh and our best friends Gary and Lynne got on as well today, they’re a Good laugh.

enjoy the  cruise

 

[Reel Love]

Following!  Have to wait until April 2024 before boarding the Silhouette so very much looking forward to your posts to cruise vicariously through you at this time 😉   Thank you so much for taking us along!!  Happy Anniversary!

 

[wineoclock]

Enjoy. Happy anniversary.
 

Was onSilhoutte in June and loved her. Sad we’ve got Apex in exchange! 

[rwright261]

Good morning from our first sea day! 
 

We slept with the balcony door open all evening and this is my view this morning - 

 

 

We didn’t stay very long in the sunset bar after I had uploaded part 1 yesterday as despite DH picking up our jumpers and not finding it too cold, they were playing the most awful music and the atmosphere was very flat. 
 

Searching for something inside we headed towards the craft bar via the shore excursions desk to check if our 4x4 trip in Tenerife was still running (answer yes but just not going ti Mt Teide), and to stop at Guest Relations to upgrade the wifi. The basic package is good for nothing, so we both purchased the upgrade to premium for $70.50 each.

 

We sat at the bar at the Craft Bar and chose a Samuel Adams and a sea breeze cocktail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both very enjoyable as we sat talking to the barman for half an hour. 
 

We had a table booked at the Lawn Club Grill at 8pm, so we decided to get ready and go to the sky lounge for a drink before our meal. 
 

No issues getting ready for the evening, the shower was much more powerful than the one in the Leonardo, and plenty of towels. 
 

We spent a pleasant hour in the Sky Lounge, which was quite quiet, although still a nice atmosphere with some good music playing and nice lighting. You could occasionally feel the ship rocking in there. 
 

Here’s the menu - 

 

 

 

 

 

We chose a red wine (Malbec) and strawberry daiquiri. I have to say that the daiquiri’s have all been well laced with alcohol, no skimping of that. 
 

 

It was time for our reservation for dinner so a quick hop out the door and we found ourselves at the Lawn Club Grill. 
 

There were three other couples in when we arrived, two of whom were sat on tables next to one another and seemed to be enjoying chatting together. We wanted a more private experience, and the waiter put us on a table for 4 right underneath two heaters. Despite this, I still grabbed one of the blankets which kept me warm throughout the night. 
 

Here was the menu - 

 

 

 

We have watched YouTube videos of people eating here, and knew from our research it wound be unlikely we would be able to eat flatbread, salad, mains and dessert, so we decided to skip the flatbread in the hope we would do the rest justice. 
 

We were told when ordering it was no problem to order two main meal items if we wanted, so I ordered the filet migion and tandoori chicken kebab, and DH ordered the salmon and prawn and scallop kebab. We both went for a baked potato, and ordered dirty rice and creamed corn to share.
 

First up though we went to the salad bar, which all looked very fresh -

 

 

This was DH’s bowl - 

 

 

And mine - 

 

 

The salad was as fresh as it looked and was a lovely start to our meal. 
 

It was lovely to watch the food being cooked in the open kitchen, and whilst we were waiting the three other couples left and three more came into the restaurant. 
 

We were brought some butter and sour cream for our baked potatoes, and some sauces for my steak. 
 

 

 

The waiter brought us very hot plates, and then served our mains from a serving dish onto them. 

 

This was mine - 

 

 

And DH’s -

 

 

Here were the sides -

 

 

The food was exceptional. The steak was very good quality, and cooked medium well just how I’d asked. My knife sliced through it with no issues. The tandoori chicken wasn’t dry at all and had just enough spice to taste the tandoori without being overpowering. DH is currently still asleep so I can’t ask him for detailed info on his, but he enjoyed both at the time! 
 

The sides were just enough with the baked potato being very soft inside, and the corn and rice hot and tasty. 
 

The maitre D came over to check we were enjoying our meal and told us not to rush and we could spend as long there as we wanted to. 
 

We made the right decision not to have the flatbread, as we still had some room for dessert. DH chose the carrot cake and I had the warm chocolate chip cookie. 
 

 

 

We just started to eat our desserts when this was brought over accompanied with a lot of whooping from the chef and banging of his pans! 
 

 

The desserts were delicious, DH’s carrot cake was very moist and tasty (I’d say the proportion of cake to cream was a bit off for me, but he enjoyed it), and the warm cookie and ice cream were fabulous, the ice cream was bubbling from the heat of the cookie when it was first brought out. 
 

The anniversary cake was very rice! It was a chocolate mousse with a sponge bottom, it was a lovely gesture, but we couldn’t eat too much of it favouring our chosen desserts instead. 
 

Overall a very delicious dinner, and a lovely way to spend our first night and our anniversary. We would highly recommend it. 
 

When we came out it was raining so we farted for the inside getting a bit wet as we left. 
 

We headed towards signing we could hear and ended up sitting at a bar on deck 3 (I don’t know the name of it). Here we chose our usual red wine and strawberry daiquiri. 
 

This was the menu (sorry for the glare from the flash) - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not sure if it was the first night, or the age demographic of the passengers but the atmosphere seemed very flat, especially after the singers took a break. 
 

We took our drinks up to the martini bar, but that wasn’t much better, although at least they were playing some music. 
 

We swung past the silent disco, but it was dead so decided to call it a night. 
 

When we got back to the cabin, we were greeted with swan towels and an anniversary sign, and chocolates on our pillow. 
 

 

 

Overall a really lovely first day. Boarding the ship was nice and easy, the food and drink have all been good, service also great so far. Atmosphere a little flat, so we’ll see if that improves as the cruise continues. 
 

Thanks for reading, and thank you if you also take the time to comment.

 

If anyone has any questions or would like me to find something out for them, please let me know. 
 

The plan today is to go with the flow, no alarms have been set (although obviously I’m already awake), we will most likely hit the buffet for breakfast and lunch, and MDR tonight. 

 

 

 

[rwright261]

I’m so sorry I don’t know why I keep getting random pictures at the be end of my posts! If anyone can shed any light, please let me know! 

[Cruise a holic]

Following.  Love the Silly.  Sailing on her in January!  The lawn club grill is our favorite restaurant.  Enjoy the Martini bar also.  Counting the days!    Enjoy your cruise and thank you for sharing.

[groryjm]

Following along though we are also onboard. I just love reading a live..

 

Bit foggy today though.... 

 

 

Have a great cruise😎

[chemmo]

40 minutes ago, groryjm said:

Following along though we are also onboard. I just love reading a live..

 

Bit foggy today though.... 

 

 

Have a great cruise😎

Enjoy your cruise…I hope we get some cocktail suggestions from you!

[Schmoe38]

If you get a chance, try a beer in Craft Social through the Bottoms Up method.

 

I believe Heineken is the only beer option, but the glass is filled from the bottom, not the top as with traditional draught taps. 
 

I have to admit that Heineken in a bottle is not my favourite. It tastes so much better with the Bottoms Up option.

 

Randy

[chemmo]

9 minutes ago, Schmoe38 said:

If you get a chance, try a beer in Craft Social through the Bottoms Up method.

 

I believe Heineken is the only beer option, but the glass is filled from the bottom, not the top as with traditional draught taps. 
 

I have to admit that Heineken in a bottle is not my favourite. It tastes so much better with the Bottoms Up option.

 

Randy

My son had to push up the bottom a bit just to check…he got wet feet!

[aml3679]

Following 

 

We board November 6th