Silhouette Review 11-22 May 2013 from Venice

[wednesday]

No issues with service apart from the wine waiter in the restaurant were very busy but if you asked your normal waiter they would get someone to take your order. We had the same waine waiter a couple of nights and they had run out of the usual South African Chenin Blanc but he recommended another one. I asked if it was included in the package and he said "Of course, I know what package you are on" which was amazing that he remembered!

 

Getting speciality coffee (I assume you mean cappuccinos, etc.) was very easy to get on the package, not only in Cafe al Bacio but also in the Oceanview Cafe (they had a Secondo al Bacio in there) and the main dining room.

 

Regarding smoothies, I always forgot about these until it was too late as they only did it for breakfast. You could get non-fresh fruit smoothies in any other bar but it wasn't the same.

 

Thanks! Glad to know service isn't suffering too much with the 1,2,3 package and I don't drink wine so I am good there! :) With the coffees I should have clarified the ones like the Frappes and the Crocante that are the higher priced ones, it looks like they are covered and I think they are supposed to be but I have read that some people with the classic alcohol have trouble getting them.

[cshim]

Hi,

 

As for frappes & crocante I didn't have them so I am not sure I am afraid.

[TroubleT]

 

The hotel we stayed in was the Hotel Plaza in Mestre.

 

 

I recommend the Sabrina Restaurant in Venice as they have a good tourist menu which was a reasonable price and very good food and service. For a 2 course meal and wine it cost about 40 euros. Be aware it is very popular.

 

Hi Chris,

 

We are going to stay at the Hotel Plaza in a week before our June 15 cruise. Are there any grocery stores/ supermarkets near by where we could buy wine, water, toiletris, etc.?

Also, the question about the Sabrina Restaurant. Is it in the center of Venice (and where exactly?) or on main land?

 

Thanks a lot!

[realnice46]

Thanks for the info on the shuttle in Dubrovnik. how things have changed, we took Celebrity Med. Cruise 7 years ago and the shuttle was free from the port to Old Town.

 

The shuttle from the ship to San Marco was also free.

[librarylady19]

Enjoying your review - thanks for the link to your photos.

[cshim]

Hi Chris,

 

We are going to stay at the Hotel Plaza in a week before our June 15 cruise. Are there any grocery stores/ supermarkets near by where we could buy wine, water, toiletris, etc.?

Also, the question about the Sabrina Restaurant. Is it in the center of Venice (and where exactly?) or on main land?

 

Thanks a lot!

 

There are a couple of (expensive) shops in the train station across the road. The best bet is to go to the supermarket around the corner from the hotel. Come out of the main door, turn right and right again, go down the road at the side of the hotel and you will see a supermarket on the left hand side called "Ali" (opposite a green space)

 

Sabrina restaurant can be found in the centre of Venice. They have a website at http://www.ristorante-sabrina.it/

[TroubleT]

There are a couple of (expensive) shops in the train station across the road. The best bet is to go to the supermarket around the corner from the hotel. Come out of the main door, turn right and right again, go down the road at the side of the hotel and you will see a supermarket on the left hand side called "Ali" (opposite a green space)

 

Sabrina restaurant can be found in the centre of Venice. They have a website at http://www.ristorante-sabrina.it/

 

Thanks, Chris! :)

[dblane]

Enjoying your review. Venice one of the places on my bucket list.

[cshim]

There was always quite a bit to do onboard the ship and I will detail here as much as I can remember.

 

Silhouette Theatre

There were a number of good shows in the theatre and I will list as many as I can:

Songs from the Musicals - this was done by the Celebrity cast and was nice to listen to although some of the songs were from very bizarre musicals such as the Wiz. They were good singers though.

Juggler & Magician - I am not really into these so cannot comment as we did not go. We never heard anything negative about them. We decided not to go to the juggler after the awful show we were subjected to on RCCL.

Silhouette: The Show - this was a bit of a bizarre "Cirque du Soleil" type offering which was put on mainly to appeal to other nationalities I guess. The acrobatics were very good but the music choice was odd and I have seen this type of show done before much better.

There were port talks and other other lectures in the theatre including an excellent Q&A session with Capt Dimitrios Kafetzis. There was also a movie in here on the overnight in Venice in place of a show - this time it was "Skyfall"

Newlyweds and not-so-newlyweds show - this was an over 18s show which was after the main shows at 10:30pm. It was funny and a bit rude at times. They did mention this before it started a number of times but some people seemed to walk out in disgust when they heard something they didn't like.

 

Daytime activities

There were many daytime activities including bingo, masterclasses, trivia quizzes, etc. There was also an Officers vs Guests pool volleyball game which was very good entertainment. I spent most of the sea days on my lounger drinking cocktails to make the most of the sun (as we get so little of it in the UK!)

 

Celebrity Rox

This was an "interactive show" on deck. It was more like a party on deck with singing and dancing and was enjoyed by all as far as I could see.

 

Dancing with the Stripes

Again, another funny and entertaining activity where officers and passengers were involved in dancing a la "Dancing with the Stars/Strictly Come Dancing" depending on what area of the world you come from.

 

Sipra

These were a party band from the Philippines who sang a range of easy listening music. It was nice to listen to them in the various venues on board.

 

High C's

The ships a capella band from the USA. They were very entertaining.

 

DJ Duo

This was a combo of a DJ and a Bongo drum player. Sounds good but worked very well in an Ibiza Sunset type of way. They did play some bizarre songs though.

 

There was a country/blues type singer who was good when there was a cheese and wine event on the lawn but a bit much when you were trying to sunbathe on deck.

 

There was also a jazz singer who was a bit mediocre.

 

The classical guitarist played mainly in the Ensemble Lounge and was very relaxing to listen to. It added to the mood.

 

I think I have covered everything but I have forgotten (or my other half thinks I have forgotten) anything I will add it.

[Thechats]

Thanks for posting such a comprehensive review. We were on the same cruise and agree with most everything you said except for your description of the jazz singer as "mediocre." The group's name was South Central and as jazz fans we found their lead singer to be very talented. And judging by the overflow crowds in the Ensemble Lounge (which we found to be a lousy place for such entertainment due to poor sight lines) whenever the group played, it's clear many others felt the same as us. I'd advise anyone who's a jazz fan to discover them early on in the cruise and get their early for a good seat. Again, kudos for taking time to write your review.

[Isis2]

Thanks for your review, we are on this cruise on 31st July but we are not in 6210, but 6204.

[hopeless holiday booker]

The essex crew are very near each other then!

[hopeless holiday booker]

Chris - thank you so much for your review. Have you finished it now or are you going to talk about the ports - really enjoying your comments.

[cshim]

I will get to writing about the ports as soon as I can but have had a busy week at work (serves me right for going on holiday!)

 

Regarding south central, I think I just took an instant dislike to her for some reason but that was obviously just me :)

[dog]

I am sure I saw your port list/info on cc-here and the Italy forum, now I can't find it. can you direct me to it by a link? very helpful.

 

thanks

 

dog:)

[cshim]

Firstly, apologies for the delay in writing this part of the review but I am been really busy at work.

So, on to the ports of call:

Venice
I have already spoken a bit about this. Sabrina Restaurant was really good and if you want to go to the Doges Palace, go to the Museum at the corner of St Marks Square and buy a "Venice museums" ticket there. This means that you can skip the queue to buy tickets and go to the prepaid tickets queue.

Dubrovnik
Bear in mind the currency is the Kuna and not Euros! Change your currency before you get to Dubrovnik as the queues were massive at the exchange offices in the city.
This was a gorgeous city but we did not have a huge amount of time there as the heavens opened after a glorious morning (and I mean I hadn't seen rain like it!). We walked around the old walled city. To get there we got a local bus from just outside the port which took about 10 minutes. I think it is a very long way to walk even though Celebrity say you can do it.
I recommend you go up in the cable car if it is a clear day as you get fantastic views and the amazing thing is the cafe is no more expensive than in the city.
We also went to the 4D show by the main gate which was reasonably priced. It was a 3D show with added "wind" basically and took you through Dubrovnik through the ages. This was a good history lesson but I don;t know whether I would do it again.
We got a taxi back as when we got to the bus stop the heavens opened and we ended up diving in a taxi to get us back to the port (I think it cost about 8 euros)

Rome
We did an organised excursion here for 2 reasons - we had never been there before and the journey time to Rome from Civitavecchia is about 1.5 hrs each way and we were worried about missing the ship if we were delayed coming back and I believe a few people who were on the train were. Be aware the coaches do not have toilets on them but do have air conditioning and they stop half way for a comfort break.
The tour started of as a coach tour taking you around the sights of Rome and we stopped of at for a walking tour at St Peter in chain, the Colosseum (outside visit) and the Vatican which is where the tour ended. The shop that we were dropped off at had toilets if you are struggling to find any.
We did not go around the Vatican as we were told that it would take a day just to go around there so you have to make a choice. The same with the Colosseum, as it would take at least 2 hours to queue to get in.
We then had 3 hours to ourselves. After going for lunch at a local restaurant we visited the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon (all amazing!) They were all in walking distance of each other but make sure you allow time to get back to the meeting point as it is further than you think. We did get a map as part of our tour and a free bottle of water. Bear in mind it is a very long and tiring day!

Naples
As we had already done Sorrento and Pompeii we decided to stay around Naples. There are some very nice sights once you get away from the port area and it is quite a good place for shopping. You can walk from the ship into the city in about 10 minutes. Very easy.

Catania
Again the ship docked in port. This was our least favourite port stop, Catania is very run down and poor. There is a hop on, hop off tour but there is not much to see. If I went here again I would take a tour to Taormina.

Valletta
Again we docked and stayed around the city as we had already done a tour of Malta on a previous cruise. It is a gorgeous little city with some quaint and historic streets. The people are very friendly there. You have to go up the hill to get to the main city and we decided that we didn't want to queue for the lift (1 euro each cost) and go up the steps. This was a mistake as it was hot, exhausting and I lost count of the amount of steps I went up. When we came back down to the ship we realised that if you turned left out of the port there was a fairly gentle slope that took you up to the city.

Kotor
Kotor was a very strange place and not one that I would probably go to again. The sail in and sail out is not to be missed however and you can get some excellent photos of the ship as it was tendered at this port. The scenery is fantastic. There was a power cut whilst we were there which I think probably happens quite a lot.

In the interests of not making my post too long, I will do Split and the arrival in Venice later.

[cruiseclues]

We appreciate your review...thanks. :):):):)