Photo Review: Celebrity Silhouette 2/7/16 Western Caribbean

HeatherC430 · February 25, 2016

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HeatherC430 · February 25, 2016

Next up was the Nature Walk segment. There was a boardwalk that went through the Cypress forest. We didn't see very much wildlife here, but it showed the variance in the ecosystem of the Everglades.

Nature Walk (description from their website)

Our nature walk is a leisurely stroll into the cypress swamp forest of the Everglades. These fresh water areas are home to an abundance of wildlife including the rare and endangered Florida panther, bear, otter, mink, deer and feral pigs. Ancient cypress trees, ferns and bromeliads abound.

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HeatherC430 · February 25, 2016

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And..I spotted two more turtles our tour guide walked right past. In fact, I'm pretty sure this was the only wildlife we saw on the nature walk portion.

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HeatherC430 · February 25, 2016

Our next brief stop was another National Park viewing area where there was a viewing area of manatees in their natural habitat. We very briefly saw the top of one as we arrived (and he was going underwater). He didn't surface again for the 15 minutes our group was there as you can see from the series of photos. Of course when we get back in the shuttle to head to our next location, you could see others very briefly out the window of the shuttle as we whizzed by! It was too quick and unexpected to get any photos though!

That's a manatee beneath the surface of the water (I swear)...

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Next up was our lunch stop. As I mentioned earlier, everything was very good. I didn't think to take any pictures. Below were the menu offerings at the lunch stop.

“Southern Lunch” - This midday meal is served at the famous Oyster House Restaurant. Guests will enjoy the relaxing ambiance as well as a delicious lunch with the following choices:

Fresh Fried Oysters

Fresh Fried Shrimp

Chicken Strips

Charbroiled Hamburger or Cheeseburger

Grouper Sandwich (Blackened, Broiled or Fried)

Chicken Sandwich (Charbroiled or Fried)

Veggie Burger

Or Mixed Green Salad topped with choice of Grilled Chicken, Grilled Shrimp or Pan Seared Grouper with tropical salsa.

All meals come with Fresh Florida Gator Appetizer and a soft drink, iced tea or coffee.”

HeatherC430 · February 25, 2016

The boat cruise was the last portion of the trip prior to the long drive back to Ft. Lauderdale. Upon arrival, our group was divided into two boats. My DH & myself with the single girl were on one boat (with the boat cruise guide), and the other two couples went onto another boat. I think we got the lucky boat, because upon returning to our shuttle after the cruise, they were all soaking wet and claimed they didn't see anything. We all just smiled at each other knowing that we really got lucky on our boat. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Boat Cruise As described by their website:

The 90-minute scenic boat cruise departs from Everglades National Park and navigates through the mangrove estuary known as the 10,000 Islands. On this fully narrated cruise, dolphin, manatee and many shore birds are often spotted on the way towards the Gulf of Mexico.

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At the time, this was the first sighting of dolphin fins and I thought just getting these shots was pretty lucky...

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HeatherC430 · February 25, 2016

Next thing we know our boat guide is calling them with some sort of whistle, and we had a dolphin jumping up out of the wake off the back of our boat. By the time we realized what was happening, I was lucky to have gotten any picture at all. Both myself and the single girl on our trip both were lucky enough to have gotten pictures of the dolphin jumping. The first picture I had to crop the girl and her camera out of my shot, as I was so stunned by what was happening I was just trying to get any picture whatsoever.

P.S. This REALLY made my day! :D

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Yeah, so imagine the three of us back on the shuttle trying to keep a straight face after the other half of our group said they didn't see any wildlife on their boat tour. And we had a dolphin jumping 4-5 times up through the wake at the back of our boat!

HeatherC430 · February 25, 2016

Everything else pretty much paled in comparison, but I'll some some other photos from the rest of the boat cruise.

Going through the mangroves...

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This was the boat our cruise was on:

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HeatherC430 · February 25, 2016

Here was the shuttle that was used for our day trip.

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And one last picture as we waiting for the other boat from our group to return. As I stated earlier, the Everglades Day Safari is a great tour if you have a full day to spend in the Ft. Lauderdale area. Over the course of the day and the various stops, we felt we had an accurate picture of what the Everglades has to offer, and really enjoyed all the wildlife viewing we encountered throughout the day.

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Keith1010 · February 25, 2016

Excellent start.

Keith

Tommy3putts · February 25, 2016

Looking forward to reading about your thoughts of the Silhouette. We are looking at a Baltic cruise on her in the summer of 2017

Edited February 25, 2016 by Tommy3putts

FlorenceItaly · February 25, 2016

Enjoying your review! Btw, we often use Hotwire, no problems SO FAR.

Marie

deladane · February 26, 2016

Off to a great start! Can't wait to read more :D

alainamarie · February 27, 2016

Loving this review, Heather! I always enjoy going on the journey with you... Maybe one day we'll be on the same ship at the same time!

-Alaina

Edited February 27, 2016 by alainamarie

jules815 · February 27, 2016

Enjoying the review!

HappyCruiserWoody · February 28, 2016

Nice pictures. Looking forward to reading more.

kasowell2 · February 28, 2016

Great job

Bo1953 · February 29, 2016

Thank you... very good!

trixiegal · February 29, 2016

Great review so far. I want to take a Celebrity cruise for DS graduation present so I'm reading reviews on all the S-class ships. Leaning toward the Reflection for the Med next year. But I'm very interested in reading your thoughts on the Silhouette.

HeatherC430 · March 1, 2016

It was shortly after 5pm when we were dropped off back at our hotel after our Everglades day tour. As we entered the elevators, we noticed many people in the lobby and elevator banks dressed up. This should have been our first clue as to what the evening had in store for us. Pretty much all we wanted to do the rest of the night was relax in the room after our 10 hours of in transit for the tour. When looking out the balcony doors, we noticed that directly under our balcony there was a huge tent setup and what appeared to be a DJ booth off to the side. The entire area surrounding the outdoor pool was completely occupied by the event. I teased my DH I should go down and take a dip while the festivities were going on later.

And here was tonight's view...

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We ordered one of the $18 movies from the newly issued on demand options through the room’s TV, and had full intention on staying in the rest of the night relaxing in anticipation for boarding the Silhouette the next morning. I’m not 100% sure on the time-frame, but I want to say around 6-7pm the loud thumping of base and the DJ began to echo through the walls of the hotel from the outside. We turned up the volume on the hotel TV as loud as it would go, but there was no tuning out the noise. Around 9:30 or so, after our movie was over, we decided to venture out and grab a bite to eat since we hadn’t had dinner (and the music was still blaring outside). My best guess is the festivities was a wedding reception or reunion of some sort? Luckily, the ruckus was over by the time we got back to the room later that night (around midnight).

Not that the event really “ruined” our night, but if we were the complaining sort, we would have been down at the front desk immediately. It really was that loud. Bear in mind, that this hotel is sold as a 5-star. Even at my discounted $300/night rate you’d still think you would be able to enjoy a peaceful night’s rest at the hotel. At least if they would have thrown in breakfast the next morning or something, maybe it would have made it more palatable.

The next morning I got up early to go for a walk down the beach as my DH got moving. As I was getting ready to leave the room I noticed the printout of charges slipped under the room (as many hotels normally do on the morning of check out). This statement however had showed our two $18 movies, and two nights at the “wholesale” rate. I wouldn’t have thought much of the actual room rate charges being on the printout, but down at the very bottom it showed the total amount to be charged to my credit card (that I left for incidentals) was around $660. Mind you, that I had already paid the $600 directly to Hotwire when I booked the room, and after the loud evening we just had, I pretty much immediately went downstairs to the front desk.

As I arrived there, the woman who was rather unpleasant with us at check-in was there. When I showed her my printout and gave a run-down of the scenario, and reminded her that I spoke with her when I checked in, and she had given my paperwork already to the reservationist to get confirmation with Hotwire. She stated that the reservationist must have not taken care of it, and that she herself was off the prior day. She was clueless on how to resolve so she sought guidance from the other guy at the front desk area. They asked if I was checking out then, I said no, but that I’d rather not wait until I was checking out (with my DH and luggage in tow, etc). He assured me he’d have it taken care of, and I went on my way.

Here's a picture of the outside of our hotel from across the street.

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No one was down at the beach other than myself and the seagulls.

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I snapped a few pictures along the beach and brought coffee and breakfast back to the room for us. Luckily, upon returning to the hotel, the same guy was at the front desk and said everything was taken care of. He gave me a new printout showing the charges to my card upon check would only be the cost of the two movies.

Back at the room, we got our luggage all packed up and was out the door to checkout around 10:30am. The bell hop grabbed us a cab outside the hotel, and we were en route to the cruise port! It really doesn’t get much better than embarkation on your way to the ship!

HeatherC430 · March 1, 2016

Here are the last few pictures of Ft. Lauderdale before boarding the Silhouette...

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HeatherC430 · March 1, 2016

Upon arrival at the port, our taxi driver dropped us off at the wrong terminal. We didn’t realize until we were attempting to give our bags to the porters and realized it was for a different ship. So, we pulled our luggage across the street and down the block to the terminal where they were boarding the Silhouette. We gave them our bags and were literally through all of the security checks and checked-in, in no time. I believe it was only about 11:15 when we were on-board and grabbing our first drink. I was glad to see that we had zero lines and zero issues thus far.

Now, typically it’s about 2 pm before you’re officially granted access to drop off your carry-on bags in the room. We always do pretty much whatever it takes to unload our bags after embarkation because we hate lugging around all the extra stuff on-board. I’m not advocating breaking the rules, but this is always one area where we try to bend them. The worst they can do is tell you no, right? And…you can always play dumb as if you didn’t know any better. It’s better to ask for forgiveness, than beg for permission. Plus, my DH and I could care less if the room is “ready” literally, we just want to set our bag down and be on our way. Others may have a different standard, but we’re also usually willing to grease the wheel right from the jump with our room steward.

As we make our way to our room, we see the doorway is closed off with a sign that said do not enter, we’re busy preparing your rooms (or something to that effect). We contemplated, and waiting until one of the staff members had exited the hallway, before making a bee-line to our room. We arrived and the door was still cracked open as they were still making preparations. We didn’t see any room stewards anywhere, so we put our carry-ons in the closet and wrote a nice note that we placed on top of our luggage that was stowed in the closet (in case he discovered it before they released the rooms to be open). We didn’t see anyone as we exited either. Mission accomplished. Completely unscathed.

Ocean-view Stateroom 8102 - Over the course of our cruising we've come to the conclusion that an ocean-view stateroom with any "extra" space appeals to us most. Our last two Summit cruises had been in 9001 that had this "extra" space as well. While some people go wild over balcony rooms (and we've had them plenty of times) we really never spend any time on them other than to go outside for a few minutes here or there. For us, we'd rather spend money elsewhere. I have to say that both my DH and I LOVED this room. I'd probably even go as far as to say this is our favorite room of all time. Not only did this room have plenty of "extra" space, but the space that it did have made efficient use of space. This may be something corresponding to the ship as a whole and not just this particular room. There were plenty of drawers and cabinets. So much so, that we didn't even use them all. My DH used all the extra space by the window to keep his suitcase open and have plenty of space for his "stuff" without even having to use the closet for anything. The storage space in the bathroom as well was substantially better than any other cruise or ship layout I've had this far. Keep in mind that an aft-balcony room prior to this has been one of the highest level rooms we've had. We've never cruised in a suite before, like many others on-board. Long story short, we really loved the room. Loved everything about it. In fact, there's not a thing I would have done differently. I'd book this room again in a heartbeat.

A few other noteworthy items in this room compared to rooms on the Summit, this had a flat screen TV on a hinge, so you could pull it out when watching in the evenings, and then when you were finished it would retract back against the wall. This was a nice feature, as if someone was sitting on the couch area, you could turn the TV to face them. Also, in this room the couch was substantially bigger than on the two rooms I've had on the summit. I'd say as long length-wise as a twin size bed. I would think another person could sleep on that as a third in the room. Those were the two things that stuck out as "different" to me compared to my experience on the Summit.

Also, this room as it's directly at the front of the ship had great views throughout the week. You look out onto the helipad, but as you pull into a different port each day, you can see out the front and off to both sides, which we really enjoyed. I'll be posting various pictures through the front window of our room each day in port on the corresponding days.

Now, before anyone asks, this room is at the VERY front of the ship. Therefore, you feel the motion more than you would towards the middle of the ship. Personally, my DH and I never really have any issues with seasickness, etc as we boat at home in the summer. But, there are definitely times (specifically at night) when you're inside the room and you can feel the motion. If you're even the least bit susceptible to getting seasick, I'd play it safe and not book this room.

Here are a few pictures of the room.

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View from our cabin window...

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P.S. I LOVE the Nautical flags they sail on embarkation days!

HeatherC430 · March 1, 2016

Here's the typical run down of our embarkation day (pretty much on every single cruise we've ever taken). We walk around and explore all parts of the ship (and I take pictures as we walk). And we drink...Pretty much non-stop until it comes time for the muster drill, and they force you to take a break. Now onto a barrage of Silhouette pictures, in no particular order other than order in which they were taken as we walked.

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