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Silhouette Review - Jan. 7, 2018 sailing


SassyGirl
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I posted this review in the Reviews section, but thought it would be good to post here too.

 

I added the part about the fresh squeezed OJ here because I forgot when I wrote the review.

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We are a couple in our 50s and this was about our 12th or 13th cruise. We've sailed on Celebrity (this was our 4th), Royal Caribbean, NCL, Holland and Carnival.

 

We had a balcony cabin for this cruise and this was a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise.

 

Overall, we would score this cruise 85 out of 100.

 

WHAT WE LIKED

 

- The ship is soo beautiful and elegant and easy to navigate

 

- We loved our balcony cabin which felt spacious, was well-designed and generally comfortable (with the exception of the bed..more on that below).

 

- The specialty restaurants! We are not normally people who splurge on this kind of thing, but we had a good amount of shipboard credit to use, so we got a 5-dinner package. We dined at Qsine (we thought the food here was just okay and some of it tasted weird, although presentation was fun), Murano (excellent, sophisticated and gourmet), Tuscan Grill (the best of all of them...especially the lobster rigatoni alfredo!), The Porch (relaxed dining, lots of seafood options), and Lawn Club Grill (loved this one, especially the wood fired pizza and the warm chocolate chip cookie with ice cream).

 

- Dinner In the main dining room. The food was great and we thought the Grand Cuvee was a beautiful space.

 

- The service - our cabin steward did an awesome job, as did everyone on the ship. While there were a small percentage of staff that seemed serious or cranky (maybe 5%), the vast majority were warm, friendly and smiling. ALL staff are hard working.

 

- The second comedian of the cruise...Derek-somebody. He was freaking hilarious and I was laughing so hard throughout his show, I had tears streaming down my face.

 

- Our fellow passengers - this line obviously attracts a more classy crowd and we appreciated how mannerly, courteous and friendly everyone was. We observed very little borish behavior like pushing, cutting in line, running other passengers over with scooters, yelling (or talking loudly), and it was nice to see people dressing up nicely for dinner. While tuxes and gowns are now a rarity, most people did wear nice clothes to dinner and we saw very few passengers in jeans and tee-shirts. We also loved the fact that there were very few children on this cruise. It made the whole experience more enjoyable and relaxing.

 

- The Solarium. We always enjoy solarium on ships but this one was extra nice with the beautiful New Age music, comfy loungers and beautiful fountain.

 

- The premium drink package. We received the classic package as part of our booking but we upgraded hubby to the premium package. He loved the wide variety offered in wines, spirits, beer and cordials. He also liked the World Class bar and Cellar Masters wine room.I

 

- Lots of comfortable relaxing areas in the ship. I have been on other ships (for example NCL) where you cannot find a relaxing, quiet place to sit to save your life. On the Silhouette, these types of spaces abound, both inside and outside on the decks.

 

WHAT WE DIDN'T LIKE

 

- Music in the pool area (piped in music) was too juvenile for the demographic. Average passenger age on this ship is 55-65 but much of the music at the pool was teeny bopper music like Brittany Spears, Mariah Carey, etc. It would have been great to hear pop and rock music from the 60s - 80s. We actually avoided the main pool area most of the time because of the annoying "music".

 

- Live music on the ship - all of the musicians were good but there was far too much loungy music, not enough up-tempo music suitable for dancing around the ship. The music that WAS up-tempo was usually stuff that doesn't necessarily inspire you to want to get up and dance, like blues. The bars, Quasar and Sky Lounge would be great venues for a hopping party band, but every time we walked into those bars there was either nothing going on or some terrible piped-in music (polka!!???) Celebrity, please realize that just because your clientele is a little on the older side, doesn't mean we don't want to shake our booties! People in their 60s and 70s today are not like older people from decades ago. We spoke to a couple in their 70s and they too were lamenting the lack of really upbeat dance music on the ship. That tells you how sedate it was. This issue alone would prevent us from sailing on Celebrity again, despite all of the great things about the line. Oh, and this was the first cruise we have been on that didn't have a Latin or Caribbean band.

 

- The food in the buffet - The only excellent thing we tasted in the buffet was the pizza, which was shockingly good. The made-to-order omelets were pretty good too. Everything else we tasted was fair to inedible. A raisin muffin I tried was so bad, I actually spit it out. I have no idea how it is possible to make a simple muffin taste that bad.

 

 

- Each time hubby ordered the fresh-squeezed orange juice he looked perplexed and told me he didn't think it was fresh-squeezed. I tasted it and he was right. He even got a regular OJ and tasted it side-by-side with the fresh-squeezed and the only difference was that one was colder in temperature. We both love fresh-squeezed OJ and it normally tastes noticeably better than regular.

 

- Too much space on the ship wasted on ultra luxury shopping. From what I can tell, Celebrity passengers are mostly middle to upper middle class, not Rockefellars. We didn't see a single person shopping in the Cartier shop. One watch my hubby saw in a window (that came with an adorable model yacht) cost over $2,000. There were several luxury stores that had no customers in them, no matter what time of day we walked by.

 

- The bed in our cabin - was so firm, it gave me serious back pain. Thankfully, our cabin steward was able to add an extra mattress pad which fixed the problem.

 

- Pools are too chilly. I am not a person who tends to be cold but both the pools in the main pool area and solarium were chilly and uncomfortable to get in. They need to be heated a little more this time of year (winter). Additionally, the Solarium area is often chilly when it would be more appropriate for it to be a little warmer. The A.C. was blasting in there.

 

Overall we had a really nice time and are happy with our experience on this cruise. I would say this cruise is perfect for older, sophisticated people who prefer a more sedate experience. If you like slow dancing or polka (ha ha) you probably will be very happy on this ship. If you prefer a more lively experience and you are energetic and youthful in your approach to life, you might be happier on Royal Caribbean, although there are many more children on RC cruises.

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We were on the same cruise and the cruise before. We had main dining on the first and Aqua on the second. The service in both were outstanding. The food in the main dining was great. Aqua was not a good as other ships but very good. The atmosphere and service was what made it good. I am not sure it is worth the difference of $600 to dine in Aqua.

As for the nightly entertainment, I think the review had it right. The different venues before and after dinner were really boring. Usually X has some variety but this cruise was very boring. We had fun at the parties. We like the younger music so that is one thing we differed with the reviewer.

We did the Tuscan one night and was very disappointed not worth the extra. Main dining was better in terms of food and service.

In total though it was a very good cruise.

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If I remember correctly, the show times were 7:00 and 9:00.

 

I neglected to mention how good the show "Uptown" was. It was a group of 3 singers doing a musical review of soul and Motown music. They were awesome!

 

The other show, The Pearl, was pretty to look at (cool Cirque du Soleil elements in the beginning) but the show made no sense at all and after the initial Cirque part, the rest was the usual corny singing and dancing. Hubby wanted out of there but we were in the middle of the row and I yanked him back into his seat.

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- Each time hubby ordered the fresh-squeezed orange juice he looked perplexed and told me he didn't think it was fresh-squeezed. I tasted it and he was right. He even got a regular OJ and tasted it side-by-side with the fresh-squeezed and the only difference was that one was colder in temperature. We both love fresh-squeezed OJ and it normally tastes noticeably better than regular.

 

Most likely they use a machine to squeeze the oranges that also squeezes out part of the shell or use a chemical to keep it from spoiling.

 

 

Thanks for your review we will be on board the Silhouette in March 2019

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We actually thought the OJ from the machine was better than the "fresh"OJ on Silhoutte in Dec. Interesting that you thought the balcony cabin was well laid out. That was the only thing we did NOT like about our first Celebrity cruise. The balcony cabins are not nearly as well designed nor have nearly as much storage as those on RCI. Loved the cruise tho' and have booked 4 more on X.

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Interesting about the OJ. Well, they aren't doing it any favors by freezing it, as that seems to completely obliterate the fresh-squeezed taste.

 

I also wanted to add another comment about specialty dining.

 

The food in the main dining room is pretty darned good - I would argue almost as good as the specialty restaurants. However, I think the dining EXPERIENCE is more enjoyable in the specialty restaurants as those venues tend to be much smaller and intimate and there is less noise and chaos. The main dining room is pretty loud and it seems very frenetic, with numerous staff people racing around like headless chickens, dishes clattering, etc. The specialty restaurants are much calmer and have a more relaxed, sophisticated feeling which I think really adds a lot to the dining experience.

 

I am not sure the food alone warrants the huge extra charge, though, as good as it is.

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another comment about the 'fresh squeezed' orange juice.....

I ordered it the first morning in the OVC and was told by the server that it was fresh squeezed but then frozen 'because they don't have the ability to keep that many oranges fresh to squeeze on board'.....seriously? I did, however, enjoy cappuccino there every morning and it was excellent.

 

It should not be called fresh squeezed. I was also disappointed with the 'fresh pressed' juice I had to pay for in the Aqua Spa. It was poured from a large container instead of being freshly made. For $5 +, which wasn't included in the beverage plan, it should have been freshly done. .

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Excellent, detailed review! Thank you for sharing your observations.

 

….As far as the OJ mystery, I remember reading (probably on CC) that some cruise line mixed orange juice with Tang and that's what it tasted like to me…

 

If it isn't "real" fresh squeezed, I'm not interested...

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Hi -

 

The $2,000 watch wasn't a Cartier. Sorry if my review was confusing. It was some other brand, but there was also a Cartier store where NOBODY was shopping.

 

As for the juice, it is not right that they are calling frozen juice "fresh squeezed". Fresh squeezed juice is juice that is squeezed right before you drink it and it has a delightful and very distinct flavor and texture. The stuff they are passing off might as well be from concentrate.

 

One of the ships I was on (not Celebrity) had a big machine in view of the passengers that squeezed the juice and you could watch your juice being fresh squeezed.

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