Review of Silhouette Nov 2016 Transatlantic

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So you know what had to come next, right? ;) Yes indeed, it was time to hit the dining room for yet another meal. :p Note it might seem like all we did was sit and eat and drink all day, but we really did a ton of walking, especially in Barcelona, especially when we got lost.

 

For the rest of the cruise, the two-top next to this four-top was "our" table! It took us awhile to realize they were seating us at the same table so the same Servers would get to know us. And they did indeed, by name and by preferences, very quickly!

 

 

Tonight's menu:

 

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Husband's Pasta Fagioli Soup:

 

 

My Butternut Squash Soup...the Caramelized Apples and Walnuts really made it!

 

 

Husband's Grilled Asparagus Salad:

 

 

My Duck Terrine was one of the few items on the cruise that I really did not care for. Honestly it reminded me of spam. I hate to waste food, but I couldn't do much of this:

 

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Husband was his usual steak-loving self with the night's Steak & Chips:

 

 

I absolutely loved this Wahoo dish! Totally made up for the duck terrine!

 

 

Tonight's Desserts:

 

 

Husband must have had a repeat of what he had had before, as I don't have a pic of it. A safe guess would be the cheesecake. :D

 

All I had room for was a "little" refreshing Kiwi Sorbet:

 

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Tonight's entertainment was Pianist Antiono Salci. We took a peek in, but did not attend the performance

 

 

After all the calories, we felt the need to move around! We peeked in the casino also, but weren't feeling that. Went through the shops. At one point Husband tried on a watch he really really liked. Of course he did, it was $1800! :eek:

 

 

The art all over the ship is so varied and so cool to stop and take a look. Was also a good excuse on the stairs to take a break from climbing or descending ;)

 

 

What another beautiful night aboard the beautiful Silhouette!

 

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I hope I never get over the awe of going to bed in your cabin and waking up somewhere new and exciting! This morning after traveling just 131 nautical miles, we found ourselves in the very beautiful Palma de Mallorca, Balearics!

 

 

We had no plans except to leisurely get off and wander, so we headed up for breakfast at the Oceanview Cafe. I managed to try something different this time!

 

 

We had also gotten a tip that we could order freshly squeezed orange juice with our Premium package, and of course we could order a Paris Screwdriver as well:

 

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Mallorca from up on deck

 

 

Exactly where in the world were we?

 

 

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I had read about a free walking tour of Mallorca that was at 11:00 but we didn't make it in time. The ship didn't dock until 10. That was okay with us though, as it was fun and relaxing to just walk around.

 

The ship docked at 1st Alignment Poniente Sur, approximately 4 km from downtown. A local shuttle bus service started at 10:30 and departed every 30 minutes. So far we had managed to avoid buses on this journey and we were happy to continue the tradition of doing it our way by walking off and finding a taxi.

 

Looking back as we walked off:

 

 

Some folks are getting some new cars:

 

 

The taxi let us off at the same place the bus would have, but at least we didn't have to wait for one. :D It was an inexpensive ride anyway. We just had to cross the road and get our first closer look at this beauty:

 

 

Beauty all around!

 

 

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You don't see this every day!

 

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After some considerable walking around, we came upon this place:

 

 

Somehow we found ourselves inside:

 

 

Somehow this happened:

 

 

 

Now we had more fuel in us to keep admiring things like this:

 

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Restoration underway:

 

 

Cool shops!

 

 

 

 

 

They were starting to put up Holiday decorations:

 

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We walked and walked through the charming narrow streets, trying not to get too lost.

 

 

 

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We even stumbled upon this beautiful church:

 

 

Now I know this is highly unusual for me, but I was in need of a restroom, so we had to find a place to land, and boy did we find a good one!

 

 

 

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Why not have a snack to go with those drinks while we're here? Note, Husband ate the majority of this, I swear. :p

 

 

 

And you know that restroom I was in need of? Well these were super nice! And oddly enough for our recent travels, they were UP stairs instead of down. Not to mention we were apparently supposed to check out some musical selections as well :D

 

Edited November 27, 2016 by tweetylori

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After our fantastic restful reprieve, we ventured forth through the narrow streets on our way back to where we started:

 

 

 

This was similar to running into McDonalds and Burger King every where we went!

 

 

Past the streets and back to the water area

 

 

A last goodbye to this beauty:

 

 

 

In the taxi on the way back to the ship we saw a whole another part of Mallorca that we didn't see because we ventured the way we did. We concluded that we would just have to go back one day!

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If we had to say goodbye to this place we had grown so fond of in such a short time, at least we had this to come home to!

 

 

 

Back at the World Bar, George made Husband super happy by going the extra mile and having a bottle of Basil Hayden waiting for him. This is the kind of service we encountered on this ship that made us feel very special!

 

 

I decided to try this refreshing drink:

 

 

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Now I would like to point out that in between all the eating and drinking we did hang out some in our cabin, gazed a lot out on our balcony and even watched some Top Chef on tv. We would also check out the daily news, but would quickly put that behind us. :rolleyes:

 

So, while it might seem that we were partaking a lot, that's just what I would almost always take pics of. Which is how this next set of pics happened to be. Dinner time!

 

 

I was excited to finally get to try the signature crab cakes. Husband went for it also, but I have to confess these were far less than spectacular. As in, I would never order them again. :( Not only were they dry, but the mixed frozen veggies with anything called crab cake was just wrong, imho.

 

 

The Broccoli Soup was a bit better:

 

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We became very fond of our table and especially our Head Waiter Iskandar! Also loved my Sommelier Joel, he learned my wine likes quickly and made sure I was always happy. As for Assistant Waiter, we had a couple different ones, as they were short-handed. As you can see, every evening we would have a different trio of butters (sometimes hummus) with a bread basket variety. SPOILED, I tell you...that was us...spoiled rotten by these incredible people!

 

 

So entree time:

 

 

Husband chose beef (big surprise!...this time in the form of Barolo Braised Beef Short Ribs with Polenta...he especially liked the Polenta:

 

 

Personally, I think I chose better with the Oven Roasted Chicken Saltimbocca...I really liked this dish!

 

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Dessert? How could we refuse, especially since every time Iskandar brought us the dessert menu he would preface it with "no calories!" Who were we to question him? :p

 

 

No Calories Cherries Jubilee for Husband:

 

 

And Negative Calories Apple Tart Tatin for me:

 

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It was beautiful setting sail from Mallorca. We were also very much ready for a couple days at sea! What a beautiful beautiful night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tonight's entertainment was the Simon & Garfunkel Story. It was a nice easy-going show.

 

 

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I know the night didn't end there. Husband was having fun at karaoke. We stayed up quite late and happily slept IN on our first day at sea. So much so we missed breakfast entirely. :eek:

 

Didn't matter though, because we had this:

 

 

Even had time to finish this book that I had ordered and started right before the cruise when I heard the author Melinda Bates would be on board. Fascinating book!

 

 

Then we went up to the buffet for a light lunch...I loved that there was always pizza & pasta available!

 

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Then it was off to Deck 12 and the Spa for my manicure appointment. It was quite relaxing waiting for my turn.

 

 

 

I was actually surprised the spa wasn't busier for a first sea day! But others did come in. It didn't take long for my Gal to convince me (honestly she wasn't going to take no for an answer) to upgrade my basic manicure to shellac. Seriously, I don't know why they even have it on the menu as I don't believe they have any intention of doing a basic manicure. So my $40 one turned into a $90 one, but she was right, it did last a lot longer than manicures usually do with me (which is why I normally don't even bother with them), and I'm hoping she's also right in that it's actually therapy for my nails. Goodness knows they needed something. ;)

 

As the cruise went on I was glad I had it done early enough to enjoy having decent-looking nails for a change!

 

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Surely one needs a snack after getting one's nails done, right? Note the wonderful anchovy on the little piece! We were both impressed with the pizzas on this cruise:

 

 

Followed up by a little coffee eclair and a cup of tea...my version of high tea on the high seas!

 

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Then back to the cabin to show Husband my new nails and confess to the upgrade (not that he cared, but we can pretend, right gals? ;)) I certainly was applauding him for working out at the fitness center while I was busy :D

 

Enjoyed more tea on our balcony.