First X Cruise:SILHOUETTE JAN 17 2016

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

I went to college with Robbie Printz!!

 

We hung out together for the first 6 months of school. Too funny!

 

I wondered what happened to him.

[Lialovestotravel]

Wonderful review so far!! We are trying to pick a cruise for our 25th anniversary in 8/17 , so I think I will go read your Alaskan cruise reviews. If you could manage to go on a celebrity Alaskan cruise soon for comparison that would be so appreciated! Otherwise, we are considering a Baltic or Norwegian coast cruise, if you have any suggestions. I will burn to a crisp if we go anywhere south of Bermuda in August. Thanks again, enjoying the lovely pictures (especially that incredible crab salsa!) and your cheeky commentary!

[Bimmer09]

Monday January 18th was a sea day as we sped at 21 knots towards Puerto Rico, an island that is having trouble paying it's bills and has used up all the money under the mattress already.

 

I usually wake up by alarm call at 5 a.m but I needed rest so just woke naturally at 7.

 

My plan (ha!) for the day was (1) attend a CC meet and greet organized by the tireless JeepLadyLtd someplace at whatever time.

 

I had signed up (or tried to) via Celebrity Connections on their (can I say) website? There I got caught up in a Groundhog Day deja-vue loop of filling out the form, hitting submit, filling out the form again, submit, here's that blank form again...so I had a beer and gave up.

 

Helpful folks on CC (one was called Summit....)suggested there might be a letter waiting for me in the cabin. I didn't find one and should have marched down to Guest Relations then and there demanding to see the Captain. I never got around to it on the first day. More of that later...

 

(2) Was to hear a BEATLES tribute band in the Theater at 7 pm

 

(3) Was to finally eat in Murano at 9 p.m.

 

The day started in earnest with our first breakfast in Luminae.

 

Double cappuccinos and a glass of orange juice woke us up and prepared us both for one of these....

Yogurt and Granola Parfait

 

 

Carol likes eggs

 

 

I try to recreate an English Breakfast

 

 

English back bacon is not something I ever see on a menu so I had to try it. Alas it was grilled and therefore dried out and tough to cut. The Baked Beans were an epic fail-it's the sauce that matters most and this had no flavor at all. I endorse Bush's Baked Beans after years of market research and flatulence. LOL. (the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles comes to mind...)

 

The mushrooms were chopped and therefore soak up more oil. A button mushroom halved or kept whole is a much better breakfast shroom. No I am not a Foodie but I cook and I have been eating since I was...well I guess since day 1 but back then I think most of it went down my bib. Some still does.

 

This would be our first and last breakfast in Luminae although we didn't know it.

 

Norris

Edited January 29, 2016 by Bimmer09

[Bimmer09]

Wonderful review so far!! We are trying to pick a cruise for our 25th anniversary in 8/17 , so I think I will go read your Alaskan cruise reviews. If you could manage to go on a celebrity Alaskan cruise soon for comparison that would be so appreciated! Otherwise, we are considering a Baltic or Norwegian coast cruise, if you have any suggestions. I will burn to a crisp if we go anywhere south of Bermuda in August. Thanks again, enjoying the lovely pictures (especially that incredible crab salsa!) and your cheeky commentary!

 

No immediate plans to go back to Alaska but that could always change on Jan 31 when we'll know whether or not we'll be going to Germany in August.

Carol just looked at a brochure we got today that had Baltic cruises in it. We had one booked for last August but switched it to the Rome/Barcelona one.

 

The ports and glaciers are the most important thing re Alaska. I don't think the ship matters so much as it's unlikely to be THE destination.

Princess and HAL really own Alaska and have access to Glacier Bay and their own wilderness resorts and chartered trains. If you are to look at Princess then I have opinions on their ships-the Coral is usually the first choice on the PCL board and rightly so. My favorite Princess-the Diamond was moved to Japan a couple of years ago (boo!! hiss!)

 

If thinking Baltic-and maybe starting in Southampton then read this review by one of my favorite reviewers/photographers Scubacruiserx2. He's on a Carnival ship

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1923693

 

I may have another one for you once I remember the writer's name-she had two Asian daughters....anyone know who I am talking about?

 

Thanks for joining in and for the kind comments!

 

Norris

[Kauai Kid]

Hi Norris,

I'm back with you on the X board. I have read all your posts on the Princess board. Love your prose and photography.

Hope you have been able to heal from your terrible ordeal.

Mark

[Bimmer09]

MEET AND GREET

 

Well somehow I failed to act on the announcement on Sunday night that there would be a time zone change Monday- the clocks going forward an hour and when I went to Guest Relations to find out the venue and time the gentleman at the counter looked it up. He told the man at the counter- "Cellar Masters, but it started at 10.15." The man looked at his watch which said 10.30. Cool..."over an hour ago" said counter man. Oops! He confirmed the current time.

 

I went up to Cellar Masters after asking where it was and there were only 4 people there. Defeated I walked away.

 

There were Officers playing table tennis with passengers back down below so I took some snaps as it's not something I have seen on a ship before. Usually the Officers hide in a lifeboat or something all day and wear Groucho Marx disguises with mustaches on deck or dive overboard when they see you coming.

 

 



 

 

 

Earlier I had been up on deck 15 where there was a cooking demo going on at Lawn Club Grill. People are already in the seats waiting

 

 

Standing room only now

 

 

Quite the crowd- get there early!

 

 

Lots going on

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Hi Norris,

I'm back with you on the X board. I have read all your posts on the Princess board. Love your prose and photography.

Hope you have been able to heal from your terrible ordeal.

Mark

 

Mark! Great to see you here. Pull up a chair.

 

All is well at my end - thank you.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Now I have my watch in sync I realize it is time to visit the Sunset Bar where I get my go-to bartender Bojan from Serbia to upgrade me to the Premium Beverage Package. Why? Well I intend to drink mostly non-alcoholic beer during the day and it's not covered by the Classic Package. The Premium also allows me to order a refreshing Guinness!

 

While I am up here a young dynamo from the Cruise Staff, called Patrick, comes and rustles up people who want to play Bocce ball.

 

While I am relaxing I see a familiar ship approaching....

 

 

 

It's the Royal Princess returning to PE where she will pick up friends of ours on the 19th for a 10 day cruise.

...and it really didn't have to stop- it kept right on going

 

Who's song lyrics and which 1967 song are those from? Pillow mint for the first responder with the right answer....

 

 

Patrick rustled up over 30 players in teams of two. After this some officers would be along to play-but I couldn't stay for that.

 

 

Everyone was having fun and all the seats along the lawn were taken. At another time Carol had heard a passenger commenting on the "fake" grass on deck 15. I nearly fell off my lawnmower laughing at such idiocy.

 

Norris, off for a stroll on deck

[mit429]

Hey 5:00_Somewhere - are you on the 14feb sailing of the Silhouette?

 

Hey Norris, I'll take the liberty of answering this question, both because you and I have chatted before, and because SoxFanCruiser is my better half (or vice versa). ;) We are sailing on the Silhouette, doing the same itinerary.

 

I have been looking forward to your review.

 

And I have to say that my story of landing on the Silhouette is just a bit similar to yours. As I've mentioned (and as you can see below), we are long time Princess cruisers. Princess fits us very well, but I've wanted to at least try another line for some time. I'm also a bit of a ship nerd - though nowhere near as expert as you - and when I saw the first Solstice Class ship I immediately began to drool. But, I've had some difficulty convincing the DH to jump ship (pun intended) due in part to all the perks we get being Elite on Princess. When we discovered that we could essentially "buy" our way into the equivalent perks by sailing Aqua Class on Celebrity, he was finally convinced.

 

And so, here we are, waiting very impatiently for our sail away in just under 3 weeks. In the meantime, I will content myself enjoying another of your always entertaining reviews. Pray continue, good sir. :D

 

p.s. - and, while I do not want to be seen as a "basher", I do have to agree with you about the Celebrity website experience: it is absolutely excruciating, when it's functional at all. I feel like it's designed by a deranged video game creator who takes delight in forcing visitors to navigate a labyrinthian maze, simultaneously solving puzzles along the way in order to open secret levels that permit access to prized information such as boarding passes and luggage tags, what excursions you have already booked, what reservations you have made, and especially the meaning of the promotional packages you have taken advantage of. ;)

[Nashna]

Norris, Now that I am totally hooked on seeing your reviews...

 

Will your reviews all be posted on this thread? If not, will you be creating a new thread each time you update your review?

 

Since you are a Princess frequent cruiser, why did you switch to Celebrity? Is this question premature? Will you reveal all in due time?

[scubacruiserx2]

Now I have my watch in sync I realize it is time to visit the Sunset Bar where I get my go-to bartender Bojan from Serbia to upgrade me to the Premium Beverage Package. Why? Well I intend to drink mostly non-alcoholic beer during the day and it's not covered by the Classic Package. The Premium also allows me to order a refreshing Guinness!

 

While I am up here a young dynamo from the Cruise Staff, called Patrick, comes and rustles up people who want to play Bocce ball.

 

While I am relaxing I see a familiar ship approaching....

 

 

 

It's the Royal Princess returning to PE where she will pick up friends of ours on the 19th for a 10 day cruise.

...and it really didn't have to stop- it kept right on going

 

Who's song lyrics and which 1967 song are those from? Pillow mint for the first responder with the right answer....

 

 

Patrick rustled up over 30 players in teams of two. After this some officers would be along to play-but I couldn't stay for that.

 

 

Everyone was having fun and all the seats along the lawn were taken. At another time Carol had heard a passenger commenting on the "fake" grass on deck 15. I nearly fell off my lawnmower laughing at such idiocy.

 

Norris, off for a stroll on deck

 

 

 

Castles made of Sand - Jimi Hendrix , one of my favorites when in high school . Great review and photos as always Norris !! How did you get the still photo from PE ? And thanks for the shout out !! :) :D

[Bimmer09]

Norris, Now that I am totally hooked on seeing your reviews...

 

Will your reviews all be posted on this thread? If not, will you be creating a new thread each time you update your review?

 

Since you are a Princess frequent cruiser, why did you switch to Celebrity? Is this question premature? Will you reveal all in due time?

 

Hi Nashna, all 9 reviews are listed at the end of any of my posts-they all have different URLs/threads.

 

Glad you are enjoying this one!

 

We switched to X on this cruise as the deal was so good, the ship a favorite of mine and just out of curiosity. I am sure we will sail other lines in the future too.

I personally like the style of Azamara and Oceania.

 

Norris

[need2cruisesoon]

Norris would you be so kind as to list your cameras?

Thanks

PS: we were on her this past summer for a BI cruise...awesome

Edited January 29, 2016 by need2cruisesoon

[CruiserRob]

I asked the waiter to bring it to me "in a soft focus"

[Bimmer09]

Scubacruiserx2 wins the Pillow Mint for the correct answer to my song quiz!!

Castles made of Sand - Jimi Hendrix , one of my favorites when in high school . Great review and photos as always Norris !! How did you get the still photo from PE ? And thanks for the shout out !!

 

Great song from the great Album Axis Bold as Love. Well done.

 

The still I took from the Port Fever website where they have the sail away video archive. Then I asked to buy a video copy of the whole sail away.

 

They asked how I was going to use it.

 

I said in a review on CC.

 

They said-it's for home use only. I asked if ok to use the still I had grabbed?

 

They said sure as long as it has their watermark.

 

Thanks for stopping by and for the compliments Tom!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris would you be so kind as to list your cameras?

Thanks

PS: we were on her this past summer for a BI cruise...awesome

 

Hi and thank you for asking. Your screen name just about sums up how I feel right now.

 

It took me half an hour to find this photo as it's stored on Flickr, which at times is like dumping your photos into a shoe box, shaking it and then hiding it under the bed.

 

 

LEFT TO RIGHT

 

1 BOWL OF FRUIT (takes useless photos so I stopped using it)

 

2 SONY 810 HD CAMCORDER using Sandisk cards

 

3 CANON 55 TO 250 mm ZOOM LENS

 

4 CANON EOS REBEL T3i camera body with CANON 10 -22 mm Ultra wide Angle lens which is what I use mostly including the food shots/ship/scenery

 

5 CANON 22 TO 55 mm LENS

 

NOT SEEN- iPHONE 5 which is taking this shot and is used in airports and planes

 

NOT SEEN-GoPro HERO 3+ which I operate manually or using the iPhone app.

 

The Go Pro shots you'll see were;

 

On a flexible tripod wrapped around the balcony railing for the PE video I haven't put up yet. Also for the sail into San Juan-any balcony stuff really.

 

OR on my wrist for the San Juan Segway ride we took

 

OR on my head for the St Kitt's Catamaran Ride

 

I left another Camera at Home-a pocket CANON S 880 I use on bus tours where is little room between my face and the window for the T3i to be comfortable.

 

I use iMOVIE for the camcorders via Youtube and for the photos use ADOBE LIGHTROOM 5

 

That's my short answer (LOL)

 

Norris

[tmoe]

Hi Norris.

 

Your trip report inspired me to check on available Sky Suites on Silouette for 2017. We already have an aqua class cabin booked on Eclipse for 2016. There are several available on the port side including 2153 which is the highest one being on the pool deck. Do you happen to know if that cabin includes the porthole as well as the larger balcony? Any pros or cons for that deck and/or cabin?

 

Too bad I can't get Celebrity to give you commission for my booking.

 

Thanks!

Edited January 29, 2016 by tmoe

[Bimmer09]

I asked the waiter to bring it to me "in a soft focus"

 

Rob- I am always embarrassed by a poor photo but it was needed for the story.

Glad you caught the joke.

 

Welcome aboard and feel free to chuckle where appropriate.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Hi Norris.

 

Your trip report inspired me to check on available Sky Suites on Silouette for 2017. We already have an aqua class cabin booked on Eclipse for 2016. There are several available on the port side including 2153 which is the highest one being on the pool deck. Do you happen to know if that cabin includes the porthole as well as the larger balcony? Any pros or cons for that deck and/or cabin?

 

Too bad I can't get Celebrity to give you commission for my booking.

 

Thanks!

 

Hi-are you sure about that cabin number? Seems too high as the ship doesn't have that many decks. Do you mean 1253?

 

There are portholes on the AFT decks, corner cabins only. Top deck there is 12, under the outdoor buffet seating. That could be noisy with chairs scraping across your ceiling.

 

Tell X you were swayed by my review- there might be double rations of Pillow chocolates in it for me on the Reflection...

 

Norris

[DebbieMacG]

Hi-are you sure about that cabin number? Seems too high as the ship doesn't have that many decks. Do you mean 1253?

 

There are portholes on the AFT decks, corner cabins only. Top deck there is 12, under the outdoor buffet seating. That could be noisy with chairs scraping across your ceiling.

 

Tell X you were swayed by my review- there might be double rations of Pillow chocolates in it for me on the Reflection...

 

Norris

 

Deck 12 cabin numbers start with 2 :) 2153 is an S2 cabin aft without the porthole window.

[Bimmer09]

 

Some morning shots

 

People are out walking on deck 14

 

 

 

Too early for the sun worshippers

 

 

I find a quiet deck Carol would like

 

 

Prisoners er, I mean Passengers in the exercise yard

 

[Bimmer09]

Deck 12 cabin numbers start with 2 :) 2153 is an S2 cabin aft without the porthole window.

 

Thanks Debbie for helping tmoe- no porthole wouldn't work for me!

 

Norris

[Lialovestotravel]

Thank you for the suggestions! Enjoying your journey!

[tmoe]

Thanks to both of you. I will pick a corner aft on a lower deck.

[5:00_Somewhere]

....

 

While I am relaxing I see a familiar ship approaching....

 

 

 

It's the Royal Princess returning to PE where she will pick up friends of ours on the 19th for a 10 day cruise.

 

Our most recent home away from home. :)

 

Hey 5:00_Somewhere - are you on the 14feb sailing of the Silhouette?

 

We are, indeed. You?