amylovestocruise

Visited Maho Beach two times / ways during our 2/11/18 Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Silhouette. We took an early morning double decker tour of the island, including a stop at Maho Beach, in the morning. The driver said that a good chunk of Maho Beach was "reclaimed" by the ocean during the hurricanes - so it's not the same as it used to be. We did the catamaran excursion in the afternoon to visit Maho Beach and see the island. There are a number of small planes coming and going, but we only saw 1 Jet Blue plane taking off in the afternoon. From the catamaran, it wasn't that impressive, as it's taking off away from you. There is a significant amount of damage to the Maho Beach area, very little to no tourists staying - as from what I hear there are only a handful of hotels open.... so no plane traffic as such. You may be disappointed if you're expecting the plane traffic from the past.

We were on the 2/11/18 Eastern Caribbean sailing on the Silhouette. We did 2 Celebrity excursions the day we were in port for St. Maarten - the second being a catamaran cruise. We were only in port until 5pm (all aboard at 4:30) so I'm fairly certain it wasn't the sunset catamaran; the departure time for the catamaran was 1pm. I found it to be one of the highlights. The crew was great, very friendly - while it gave a very eye-opening, sobering look at the hurricane destruction they're still dealing with. Maho Beach is not very active at all with airplane take-offs, landings. I think the catamaran crew said that there are virtually no major resorts open, so the tourist air traffic is next to nothing.

This was the same experience we had with the Silhouette on the 2/11/18 sailing out of FLL. Definitely a bummer to miss the pomp and "celebration" of the sail away while being stuck in a disorganized muster drill. When we felt the ship start to move in our muster drill, we all thought that there is no way that they'd sail away early while we were all still in the theater! I'd be curious to see the "why" on this as well. That's the best way to start a vacation with a big sail away!

MUSTER DRILL

Before I go on, let me say that I like to write balanced, honest reviews. I’m going to give you the good, the bad, etc. As a long time cruiser, I probably look at things with more of a critical eye. But I’m always great for the chance to cruise and I appreciate the on board crew that work so hard to provide a great vacation for us.

 

Ut Oh….I knew the great things that happened thus far might come to an end…and I was right! Muster drill was set for 3:15. We headed down to our station in Tuscan Grille about 3:05. By the time they sounded the alarm at 3:15 nearly everyone had arrived. That was the good news. The not so good news is that the typically quick Celebrity muster drill drug on and on for some reason. First, they went through the emergency alarm (a good thing); then they showed the “Wash Your Hands” video (makes us laugh); then they show what I think is the worst emergency video ever, set to a spy theme. That’s my personal opinion and I won’t go into that now (although I think going over the important safety issues is FAR more important than trying to create some gimmicky spy video where most can tell you what the important safety facts were from this video); then there was a lull and the crew had to tell people they couldn’t leave.

 

After a few minutes, someone came on and gave the life jacket overview. All of a sudden, while this was happening (about 3:30ish), I noticed that the ship had pulled away from the dock. Then another lull and this one was long…7 – 10 minutes. Now people were getting antsy and got up to leave. The crew did the right thing and told “most” (not all) people that they had to wait for further instructions. Then they came on the loud speaker again and sounded the abandon ship signal. Then another lull (a few minutes). The crew kept saying….”just a few more minutes.”

 

I’ve been on 31 other Celebrity cruises. I’ve never experienced a muster drill like this. Finally, a minute or two later,they came on and said the drill had ended. The captain, who typically releases us from the drill, made no announcement. By the time we got up on deck, we were nearly out of the port and sailing by the Ft. Lauderdale beaches.

 

It wasn’t the end of the world by any means, but it didn’t give one a comfort level that this drill was organized and they knew what they were doing. Celebrity’s muster drills are typically organized and relatively quick without the long lulls we had today.

 

Leaving the dock early (we were scheduled to depart at 4:00 PM)? Can’t explain that one. Sailing away is one of our favorite things. It was definitely strange.

 

Let’s end this post on a positive note. I asked our cabin attendant for a feather pillow for our room. He delivered it promptly and with a smile! Can’t ask for better than that.

 

Time to take some sunset photos! It’s a beautiful one this evening.

If you are just making a port stop in San Juan, you'll dock at the old san juan pier. Very convenient walking distance from there to various spots. You pretty much dock in old san juan. However.... If your cruise ends/ starts in San Juan, you'll be using the pier near the airport, which would require an uber to old san juan.

The delay in to San Juan was due to the rough seas Monday and Tuesday morning. At one point they were having to consider closing the outside upper decks all together because of the wind.

Yes, given we had two full days to sail from Port Everglades to PR, I was disappointed that we couldn't have made more progress early on in the transit, had there been concerns of any wind delays the half day coming into PR. I definitely don't claim to be an expert just was surprised at the delay, given that I know we were able to sunbathe on deck 16 that day and pools were full. It was windy but didn't seem extreme...

Yes... we were in a concierge class balcony for this week's eastern Caribbean silhouette sailing. The door hanger breakfast menu for Silhouette was dramatically different than the one from the solstice alaska sailing at end of August. I loved pancakes/ French toast, yogurt parfaits that were part of the regular menu back in August. This sailing, the door hanger menu had continental breakfast basics for no charge on the left, anything else more involved (hot dishes...pancakes, or things like yogurt parfaits) on the right was additional fee. I did not ask if we got the wrong door hanger breakfast menu, assumed what was in our room was correct as the room attendant was the best I've had in any of my dozen plus sailings, celebrity or otherwise.

Just disembarked Silhouette this morning. Room service menu was changed in a big way in the last six months when I sailed Solstice to Alaska. New CC menu for breakfast is very limited with most prior offerings for an extra cost. Even the coffee no longer cane in a carafe but paper to go cups. Definitely a bummer since breakfast on the balcony is a main reason for cabin choice. If you are just looking for fruit, cereal, pastries, you'll be fine. No pancakes, hot items for "free" other than scrambled eggs that arrived cold. Other than that, enjoyed the cruise but was surprised at the big change recently to the breakfast room service.

Just disembarked the Silhouette today. Crew was amazing on all fronts! Disembarkation was messy but more due to lack of customs agents for the ## of people than Celebrity. I wasn't thrilled with the captain, though. He had us sail away from FLL while we were all still stuck in the muster drill... ?!... and arrived 2+ hours late to San Juan Puerto Rico which canceled many excursions... and after the forts closed for the day. :(

We're going next week and will let you know. The forts close at 6pm during our visit. Now just hoping the US government doesn't shut down again - fairly certain the forts will be closed if so, as they are a US National park, which don't operate during government shut downs.

Thanks so much! Did you walk on your own or do a private excursion?

Also interested to hear!

Can't wait to follow along and read more about your adventures!

Same experience here. No CC upgrade with a GTY booking. I booked a GTY Concierge Class for my sailing next month and only got a C3 class... which is fine considering my GTY fare was still $100 pp cheaper than a C3, but it's always fun to hope!

We're sailing on the Silhouette in a few weeks - excited to visit San Juan, Puerto Rico, but a bit bummed it's just for a few hours in the evening (3pm-8pm).

I was in San Juan years ago, but didn't really have a chance to explore. Hoping to make up for lost time this visit.

Question for those who've been there recently: Is it possible to visit both forts on your own while in San Juan (del Morro, San Cristobal) before they close at 6pm, assuming the ship's docking time of 3pm is accurate? The ship doesn't have an excursion that visits both at this time.

Any tips? Thank you in advance!

Was curious to see what the status of Tracy Arm has been recently for cruise ships? Heading up next week on the 8/18 Celebrity Solstice sailing.... booked the morning excursion on the small boat via Celebrity excursion to increase our chance of seeing a glacier if the cruise ship can't navigate it due to ice flow. Really hoping to get to see either Tracy Arm or Endicott? Any scoop? Thanks!

Thanks everyone! Really appreciate it!

Hello! Excited to head to Alaska in August on the Solstice for my honeymoon.... was curious to hear opinions as to whether the $200 unlimited digital photos (advance purchase) is worth it? Were there ample photo opps considering the number of port visits?

Thank you! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...

to get a refund you have to cancel 24 hours before the excursion. If you pre book via credit card and cancel on board you will get a refundable on board credit. The time to cancel without penalty will be on your ticket.

thank you!

Hello, all - Wanted to prebook some shore excursions for my upcoming August cruise, but can't find the Celebrity Cruises shore cancellation policy with the horrendous new website design. Typically, other cruise lines let you cancel without penalty up until a few days prior to the excursion... Any scoop for me on how Celebrity handles shore excursion cancellations? Thanks in advance!