Silhouette: New Year's Eve Cruise

[fisherman0916]

Just returned form the Silhouette NYE cruise. We had a blast. There were 6 of us from our party.

 

We flew in on Dec. 26th and stayed at Riptide Hotel in Hollywood. Very nice place. Clean and right on the beach. It is in a great location as you can in either direction on the boardwalk and find something to do. This place was much cheaper than just about every place. It was our first time staying there and would stay there in a heartbeat again.

 

We got to the terminal at 10:30 on Dec. 27th. We were on the ship by 10:50. It was amazing and never had it so easy and quick. We had the classic beverage package through 123GO promo and upgraded to the premium. We thought it was worth our money as we drank quite a few drinks. Also, we were able to try new drinks that we would have not tried if we would have had to pay for them individually.

 

The ship is outstanding. Very nice and classy. Easy to get around. We really thought the Oceanview Cafe (Buffet) was the best we have had on a cruise. The buffet had great variety and enjoyable food. They had cotton candy on the last sea day.

 

We ate in the MDR 6 of the 7 nights. The service as excellent. We ate at table 357 with Richie (waiter), Lucie (asst. waiter) and Natalia (sommelier). Food was very good. We had lobster on NYE and it was excellent. We ate at the Lawn Grill one night and found it to be awesome. I had 2 steaks that night (Filet and NY Strip). The flatbread is awesome. We had the cookie for desert and it was the best.

 

At Cozumel, part of our party did the mini speed boat tour and was very fun. Snorkeling was outstanding. The other part did the Salsa, Salsa, margarita. They had quite the fun. A lot of tequila.

 

At Jamaica, we used Liberty Tours to do the Blue Hole Tour. $70 per person. This was an outstanding tour. We booked through Ricardo through email. Our driver was Carrlton Smith. He was very good. The drive to the BHT was about 1.5 hours but we made several stops along the way to sight see and stretch the legs. The BHT is outstanding. Our guide there was Ricardo... He was awesome. We have been on several cruises and tours and found this tour one of the best. It is quite intensive but a lot of fun. On the way back to the ship you stop for more sight seeing and stopped at Scotches for lunch. Very good jerk chicken. Lunch was included. Again, one of the best excursions we have been on.

 

We had a little snafu at Cayman with our shore excursion. We booked the Stingray city, reef snorkel and 7 mile beach. There was some confusion and after tendering to island, we were not able to get on the excursion. We are not sure who's fault it was as when we got back on board celebrity already reimbursed us and sent us a bottle of wine. We ended up doing a taxi to the Turtle Farm, Hell and 7 mile beach at Royal Palms. We really enjoyed the turtle farm and wished we stayed longer. Hell was not much, but at least we can say we went to Hell now. 7 mile beach was busy but with 5 ships in port, it would be expected.

 

Haiti, we just laid on the beach as we have been there before and already did the zip line.

 

The shows on the ship were outstanding. EH440, acapella group, were awesome. Very talented. The broadway shows were very well done and had some good singers and dancers.

 

Disembarkation was simple and fairly quick. Part of our group got off around 7:15 and were at their gate at FLL by 8:00. We got off around 9:15 and the line took us about 30 minutes.

 

We live in Chicagoland area and it was cheaper for us to rent a car and drive to Orlando and fly out on Jan. 4th. We stayed at the Hyatt at airport. It was the best decision. Got up, took the elevator down and were right at the terminal. We paid $140 for the night, which I did not think was too bad as it was a very nice hotel.

 

We didnt keep any dailies, sorry. Really enjoyed the cruise. We have cruised on four different cruise lines and find Celebrity the best due to services, nice ships, and great food.

 

NYE was celebrated on pool deck and had a lot of fun. Rich (CD) was good. He was all over and participated in a lot of things such as pool volleyball (jumped in with his suit on), sang a song with the band, .... Rachel & Sarah, activities, were very good. They had dancing with the captains challenge and Rachel and her partner were quite into it.

 

Any questions, feel free to ask.

[Chazteach1]

We were on the same cruise. I too am from Chicago and organized the cabin crawl for the roll call. It was a great cruise! Great staff, food, activities and fun.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.