'Twas the Week Before Christmas – A seasonal review of the Silhouette

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

After the galley tour, they take you up to the specialty restaurants to try to sell them....given we had already been in Tuscan Grill for our muster drill (and would be eating there later in the week) and that we had eaten in Qsine last night, we passed on both of those. But we did take a look inside Blu.

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

And we also checked out Murano

 

 

 

 

 

[GabbyKeira]

This is wonderful! We leave for our honeymoon cruise on the Silhouette 1/18 - thank you for getting us even more excited!

 

 

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[Stem to Stern]

Great photos! Thanks for sharing!

 

Paul

[cruisinskier]

This is wonderful! We leave for our honeymoon cruise on the Silhouette 1/18 - thank you for getting us even more excited!

 

 

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Keira, congrats on your wedding and have a great honeymoon!

Jerry

[cruisinskier]

Great photos! Thanks for sharing!

 

Paul

 

Paul, glad you are enjoying the review. Have a great trip!

Jerry

[cruisinskier]

After grabbing lunch in the Oceanview Cafe, we stopped in at Cafe al Bacio. FYI, all the pastries, etc here are free and the drinks were covered in our plan.

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

The Gelateria was across from the Cafe.....we never did end up having gelato but we had intended to....

 

 

[cruisinskier]

We spent the balance of the afternoon enjoying the Solarium, and had no trouble finding chairs even though we were getting a late start.

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

We spent most of the afternoon in the Solarium, reading and relaxing. It was a quiet, comfortable place to hang out.

 

After a few hours we decided to head back to the cabins, stopping for a tea at the cafe along the way.

 

 

[cruisinskier]

Back at the cabin, we enjoyed the view of the wake. They had now opened up our joint balconies for us....

 

 

 

 

 

I spent time this cruise reading Bobby Orr's book and enjoyed a few Bacardi Oakheart & Coke's!

 

[cruisinskier]

After some time back in the cabin, we headed to the Mast bar for a refill, and went up top to watch tonight's sunset....

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

 

 

And then the show was over for another day....

 

[cruisinskier]

There is a basketball court at the front of the ship

 

 

I really like the reflection of the clouds in the windows in this shot

 

 

 

The lights were coming on in the Solarium

 

 

[cruisinskier]

The main pool area

 

 

The Pool Bar in the background

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

Our long walk to the aft cabins....but not really complaining!

 

[cruisinskier]

We had chosen Select Dining for this cruise as we wanted the flexibility to decide each night when we wanted to eat. This was the first time we had tried this (other than freestyle on NCL) and, well, we didn't enjoy it. Ultimately they still wanted you to make a reservation each morning (or for the full week) as to when you wanted to eat which took away the flexibility we were seeking. We found if we waited until later in the day to make the reservation, there were no times left other than very early or very late. And yes they did say you could just arrive and they would fit you in however the two times during the week we did that, we ended up at the back corner of the dining room where they appeared to be training new staff.

 

There was nothing wrong with the experience, but nothing special either. Overall service was ok, food was ok, but we have had better dining service on past cruises. The exception was the two nights in the specialty restaurants where the food and service was fantastic.

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

 

 

Warm Apple Crumble

 

[cruisinskier]

After dinner, my daughter and I stopped in at the Martini bar to give it a try....

 

 

 

 

[cruisinskier]

This is a sampling of the martini menu. All were $12 per drink

 

 

 

 

 

 

The "entertainment" at the martini bar was "Sax-N-Beat DJ Duo". Not sure who came up with this idea but it did not seem to be a good fit for a martini bar and certainly was not something that kept us wanting to come back to that area...

 

Edited December 28, 2014 by cruisinskier

[cruisinskier]

Next we decided to go check out the show which was already in progress. We saw maybe half of the Broadway based show,a typical cruise production show. Compared to some of the entertainment on either Oasis or NCL Epic, this just did not compare. And although we knew going in that there was not one, we did miss having a piano bar on-board.

 

After watching the end of the show, we wandered the ship some before calling it a night. Tomorrow would be our first port day in Cozumel....a fun place we had visited numerous times previously.

 

 

 

 

 

And for those interested, here is a listing of the liquors included in the premium package. But remember, it is based on the cost of the drink not exceeding $13. For the Premium package, you pay the difference in price if over $13. For the classic package, you pay the full price of anything exceeding the max price.

 

[cruisinskier]

Before we move on, there is one event I neglected to include. At 3:00 pm on our sea day, the CC roll call group met in the casino for the slot pull. Thanks to Ed & Mary for organizing!! There were roughly 15 or so of us who showed up and each contributed $15 pp. We were on a $1 Wheel of Fortune machine, playing max bet ($3 per spin). All funds were put in to start and then each person took 5 spins / pulls. At the end of round one, with each person having taken a turn, we were down to roughly a payout of $6 pp.

 

At this point, we had a difference of opinion in the group. Some wanted to let it ride, some wanted a payout. There were about 4 people who chose to take the $6 cash...the rest, including us, let it ride. We went through everyone spinning a few more times, we had the odd small win to keep us going. And then one of the folks hit a decent win....in the end we each left with roughly $23. :D

 

Overall it was a fun time and a neat way to meet a few folks. We were then kind enough to contribute those funds back to the casino in other machines.... :(:confused:

 

Thanks again Ed and Mary for organizing this event!!!

Jerry

[cruisinskier]