Live from Silhouette - Feb. 25, 2018

[Host Anne]

I read a lot of reviews here on Cruise Critic and see the good and the bad. I'd like to remind everyone that if you have something that you don't enjoy, let your waiter or head waiter know and they will do their best to correct the situation. Too many people complain on places like message boards instead of talking to someone while they are onboard. Everyone's tastes are different. Something I like, you may not and vice versa.

 

I believe that they really want us to be happy. I've had a few items that were less than stellar this week (the burger at the Mast Grill for example), but most of what we've had to eat has been very good to excellent. We were even discussing that we think the food quality is better than our past few Celebrity cruises. But remember, it's just my opinion.

 

We have one more night to go. I'll keep you posted.

[cltnccruisers]

I read a lot of reviews here on Cruise Critic and see the good and the bad. I'd like to remind everyone that if you have something that you don't enjoy, let your waiter or head waiter know and they will do their best to correct the situation. Too many people complain on places like message boards instead of talking to someone while they are onboard. Everyone's tastes are different. Something I like, you may not and vice versa.

 

I believe that they really want us to be happy. I've had a few items that were less than stellar this week (the burger at the Mast Grill for example), but most of what we've had to eat has been very good to excellent. We were even discussing that we think the food quality is better than our past few Celebrity cruises. But remember, it's just my opinion.

 

We have one more night to go. I'll keep you posted.

 

Thank you very much, Anne. We're on March 11 an looking forward to it. Our plan for 2019 is an Iberian on Reflection. DW feels the European cruise dress up a bit more on chic nights. Any thoughts? Duck ala`orange - my favorite since I was 10 years old. :)

[ronews]

DAY 4 - ST. THOMAS/ST. JOHN

Since Royal Caribbean/Celebrity began docking at Crown Bay(west of Charlotte Amalie), we’ve struggled to make the 9:00 AM ferry to St.John when we dock in St. Thomas. St.John is an annual land vacation destination for our family so we jump at any chance to visit the island and our friends there. Because of the devastation from hurricanes Irma and Maria, we were anxious to get back. Therefore, I arranged for the private taxi driver that normally picks us up at the airport to take us to the Red Hook ferry. I felt pretty confident if we were docked by 8:00 AM, we’d make it.

 

Well, I brought along a 24 x 36 (nicely boxed) canvas sunrise that I took on St. John a few years ago to give to our friends who lost their home, car, and everything else to Irma. We even brought along an extra roll of tape in case security needed to open the box. Boarding with it back in Ft. Lauderdale was no problem. However,when we went to get off the ship at 7:58 on Wednesday morning, we were stopped by security and asked what was in the box. I explained it was a canvas photo I had taken and was bringing for friends. “But we never left the USA,” I say. We were told to just wait. She said she’d have to call an officer who dealt with customs and boarder patrol. After about 10 minutes, another crew member arrives (no idea what she really did) and was told if we wanted to bring anything off the ship, she’d have to call Celebrity’s port agent who would have to escort us to the Customs office on St.Thomas to be cleared. As you can imagine, by now, I’m not a happy camper. We never left the USA; I wasn’t taking anything off the ship that I personally didn’t own so there would be no customs duty to pay; and now we probably were going to miss the 9:00 AM ferry. I looked at my husband and told him to just take the box back to the room. I’ll have to ship the photo to them, I suppose. And write my congressman about this totally insane customs rule (had it been smaller and fit it in a beach bag, no one would have said a word. Just plain insane.

 

About 8:20, we were finally off the ship and headed to the parking lot where our driver was waiting for us. There’s no going fast on the islands and I just resigned myself that we’d be catching the 10:00 AM ferry. However, as we got to the ferry dock at 9:02,the ferry was still there, and they hadn’t pulled the gangway. We ran in and the ticket seller had gone to the restroom. Really?!? I looked at the gentleman taking the tickets and he said “we’ll wait for you!” Definitely a new St. John. In the past, they didn’t wait for anyone.

 

Once on St. John, we met with our friend for breakfast at High Tide (so good to be back) and then walked to Mongoose Junction where my favorite shop on the island is located. Mongoose is a stone shopping fortress that didn’t sustain too much damage because it is so well built. We went into my favorite shop (Caravan Gallery www.caravangallery.com)because I always find wonderful things here for gifts. Since the hurricane, I had been communicated with the owner to keep on top of how the island was doing. Today, she showed me her beautiful garden (it was in great shape consider the hurricane damage) and then took us on a ride along the North Shore (where all the wonderful beaches are located).

 

The Trunk Bay overlook is still beautiful and the beach looked lovely. When we got to Cinnamon(the next bay after Trunk), the devastation hits you like a lead balloon. We parked and walked to the beach. The renovations that had been completed here in the last two years were no in shambles. The campsites were destroyed and trees were uprooted and on top of buildings. The building on the beach that had housed the Cinnamon Bay Museum was gone with the exception of one wall and three windows with wooden shutters. It’s difficult not to get emotional when you see this type of destruction. The beach looked pretty good and as long as you looked north, the devastation wasn’t as visible.

 

This was as far as we journeyed on our drive. After seeing Cinnamon, I knew I didn’t want to go further to my favorite beach in the world, Maho. I’ve seen photos and it’s heartbreaking. Wasn’t ready to see it destroyed.

 

Back at Mongoose Junction, we enjoyed a quick lunch at North Shore Deli (www.northshoredelistjohn.com). The sandwiches here are delicious, making it a great, quick stop to pick up a lunch to take to the beach. From there we hopped on the 2:00 PM ferry (we could have probably taken the 3:00 PM ferry but we didn’t want to miss the ship). We grabbed a regular taxi back to Crown Bay and were on board just after 3:00 PM. I was saddened to learn (but happy for those on the island) that Kenny Chesney showed up that evening for an Open Mic concert (these happy frequently on the island) and sang with our favorite island singer, Lauren Jones Magnie! They sang together in the exact same area at Mongoose Junction where we were a few hours earlier. It’s great that someone like Kenny Chesney cares enough about our Virgin Islands to truly make a difference in their recovery! Here's their performance outside Sun Dog Cafe

 

CHEF’S TABLE

Back on board the ship, we did something very special for dinner. We decided to try the Chef’s Table. Because we chose to go with Celebrity’s GO BEST promotion, we weren’t incurring any on board charges so this special treat seemed like a good idea. No question– it’s expensive at $279 per couple! But it was one of those evenings that we’ll remember for a very long time.

 

Limited to ten guests (there were only five with our group),we started in Cellar Masters where we were joined by the Maître ‘d from Murano along with the ship’s pastry chef (everyone loves the pastry chef!). After enjoying a glass of champagne while getting an overview of the evening, we were escorted through the main dining room and into the kitchen for the main dining room. Sure, we’ve been in the galley before, but this was different. It was the middle of first seating so we actually watched as chef’s prepared the evening meals and wait staff came and went with trays filled with food. It’s a totally different perspective to witness the galley in full operation. As we walked through, the pastry chef explained what was being prepared at each station. I was impressed to see that there was a completely separate prep area where they prepared special meals for people with food allergies (our daughter and son-in-law both battle them).

 

I was intrigued watching the chefs make the croissants from scratch and roll each of them by hand. We saw breads and desserts come out of ovens. Everything here is made from scratch (no wonder the break on Celebrity has always been great!).

 

From here we went up to the galley for Murano where our evening dinner would be prepared. A much smaller galley, of course, we saw the beautiful plates for our appetizers being created. We were then escorted into the wine room inside Murano where we were joined by two officers – the environmental officer for the ship and the health & safety officer. They made for interesting and delightful conversation throughout the evening, while Murano’s chef prepared masterful dishes (works of art, actually) for us, describing each course. A selection of fine wines was matched with each course and our sommelier, Zoran, did an outstanding job describing each wine. The meal consisted of a bacon wrapped scallop appetizer; a quail and goat cheese salad; a venison filet and lobster duo and a jalapeno chocolate mousse with a candied strawberry. I will post a link to photos once I have a chance to review and post them.

 

Needless to say, we were stuffed by the time we left. But what a lovely experience! Next up, St. Maarten!

 

Anne how and when did you book Chefs Table. We do not plan to do a lot off the ship this time so this sounds like an incredible experience at a reasonable price. Sounds so good.

 

Bill

[grampasgrumpy]

DAY 4 - ST. THOMAS/ST. JOHN...

Well, I brought along a 24 x 36 (nicely boxed) canvas sunrise that I took on St. John a few years ago to give to our friends who lost their home, car, and everything else to Irma. We even brought along an extra roll of tape in case security needed to open the box. Boarding with it back in Ft. Lauderdale was no problem. However,when we went to get off the ship at 7:58 on Wednesday morning, we were stopped by security and asked what was in the box. I explained it was a canvas photo I had taken and was bringing for friends. “But we never left the USA,” I say. We were told to just wait. She said she’d have to call an officer who dealt with customs and boarder patrol. After about 10 minutes, another crew member arrives (no idea what she really did) and was told if we wanted to bring anything off the ship, she’d have to call Celebrity’s port agent who would have to escort us to the Customs office on St.Thomas to be cleared. As you can imagine, by now, I’m not a happy camper. We never left the USA; I wasn’t taking anything off the ship that I personally didn’t own so there would be no customs duty to pay; and now we probably were going to miss the 9:00 AM ferry. I looked at my husband and told him to just take the box back to the room. I’ll have to ship the photo to them, I suppose. And write my congressman about this totally insane customs rule (had it been smaller and fit it in a beach bag, no one would have said a word. Just plain insane.....

In reference to your painting and customs, while the ship did not enter another port outside the US before this stop, in theory you could have purchased a painting onboard and customs would have jurisdiction over that purchase. Even if it was duty free they would still likely want to see the paper trail. It shouldn't take them a long time to get the situation resolved though so some of your frustration is still valid.

[Host Anne]

DAY 7 – AT SEA

Last days at sea are always pretty laid back. We gained our hour back that we lost when we got to San Juan. The extra hour sleep was nice but it didn’t really affect anything. We headed up to Oceanview for breakfast around 8:30; then played trivia; came back to the veranda to read for awhile and catch up on the “Live From” writing I was behind on. Finally headed back to Oceanview for lunch around 1:30 and it was a zoo. Busiest I’ve seen it since the first day.

 

I enjoyed a nice slice of carved beef and some rice while my husband enjoyed a taco salad. The lines for things like pasta and pizza were very long. I’d give the majority of the food we had in Oceanview throughout the week a solid “A” or pretty darn good! We didn’t venture to the dining room for lunch this cruise at all and our trip to Sushi on Five was our only other lunch outside of Oceanview so you know the food here was pretty good.

 

Café Al Bacio was a regular stop throughout the cruise for coffee mid-morning. If I had a light breakfast,I’d have a chocolate croissant here as they were excellent! We did just that this morning. The staff here is always friendly and service if pretty quick, even on mornings where they are very busy.

 

This afternoon we played our final trivia – 80s music! For me it’s possibly the worst decade of music. Most of the stuff sounds familiar but song names and who sang them were pretty tough.

 

At 3:30, we ventured into Blu for the Captain’s Club High Tea. This is a very nice low-key event. The violin and cellist players were the entertainment and there was plenty of finger sandwiches, sweet desserts like cannolis and tiramisu. But the highlight was definitely the scones with clotted cream. I thought they were better than those we had in England last year.

 

After that, it was back to our cabin to pack. As usual, I over packed and I only had one suitcase. I didn’t wear at least 1/3rd of what I brought along.

 

The seas were a bit on the rough side today and we were feeling the effects of the storm moving along the east coast. It was still a sunny day but very windy and lots of ship movement (which I happen to like). Several doors to the outside deck were closed for a time and later re-opened.

 

We have a bit of an odd disembarkation tomorrow. Due to an issue at our arrival pier (Pier 26), our disembarkation begins at 6:30 AM with walk-offs. We are in the first group of regular disembarkation at 7:00 AM. They expect to have everyone off the ship by 9:00 AM as the ship must depart for Miami where they will pick up passengers for the next cruise. I don’t mind getting off early since we’ll be driving home. But I will be curious to see how the pack all the disembarkation into a tighter time period.

 

So, our last night consisted of drinks in the Captain’s Club happy hour in Sky Lounge. With the drink packages, this almost isn’t necessary any more (did I say that???) but it’s nice to get together with other long time Celebrity cruisers. From there we went to the final show of the cruise. It featured the a cappella group Filharmonic. These guys can sing! Fantastic voices and very entertaining. If I had one comment to make it would be that Celebrity informs them a little more about their audience. While I knew most of the songs they sang, I bet a lot of the audience didn’t. They mostly did current popular music (Walk the Moon, Bruno Mars, etc.) and one Stevie Wonder song. Given the audience, it might have been nice for them to sing a standard or two as well. I loved them and truly admire their talent. I remember when a cappella groups were a regular act on Celebrity ships. Happy to see them on center stage now.

 

We stopped in Ensemble for a drink on the way to dinner at Qsine but there wasn’t a seat to be found. The guitar player was doing a Beatles set and the place was packed. We grabbed a glass of wine and listened for a few minutes before heading back to Qsine. He was quite good as well.

 

Dinner at Qsine was as fun as it always is. This isn’t really the best place for two since there are so many options and so much food. But having dined here several times in the past, we knew how to order. We shared four items – the popcorn fish & chips; the meatball trio; the Asia martinis; and the sliders. With the exception of the meatballs,everything was outstanding. The meatballs were large and fried (my Italian grandmother never fried meatballs….they were cooked in sauce) and were on the crispy side (remember, I didn’t like my burgers crispy?). But the rest of the food was terrific. We opted for a “small”dessert of a chocolate dipped strawberry and mini crème brulee (no brulee on the crème, though). Both were a perfect last bite. I’d recommend Qsine to anyone but the bigger your group, the better to try more things.

 

Our final stop was at Ensemble for a nightcap with our favorite bartender, Dev. We always seem to get GREAT service in this bar and we just like hanging out here.

 

Luggage was requested to be out by 10:00. We were a little late and had ours out about 10:30.

 

I’ll have a few final comments tomorrow and then work on getting some photos posted.

[Host Anne]

Thank you very much, Anne. We're on March 11 an looking forward to it. Our plan for 2019 is an Iberian on Reflection. DW feels the European cruise dress up a bit more on chic nights. Any thoughts? Duck ala`orange - my favorite since I was 10 years old. :)

 

We haven't been on a European cruise in quite some time but I'm guessing your husband is right and they do dress up a bit more. But keep in mind, there will be plenty of Americans on your European cruise, too. I think people are fine in whatever they determine Chic to be (don't shoot the messenger). ;)

[Host Anne]

Anne how and when did you book Chefs Table. We do not plan to do a lot off the ship this time so this sounds like an incredible experience at a reasonable price. Sounds so good.

 

Bill

 

Bill ~ as part of our first night's package, we were assigned to Murano. The staff member who waited on us told us about the Chef's Table and asked us if we'd be interested (we didn't know Celebrity did them). I'd suggest stopping by Murano when you board and talk to the Maitre 'D. It was a special evening!

[Host Anne]

In reference to your painting and customs, while the ship did not enter another port outside the US before this stop, in theory you could have purchased a painting onboard and customs would have jurisdiction over that purchase. Even if it was duty free they would still likely want to see the paper trail. It shouldn't take them a long time to get the situation resolved though so some of your frustration is still valid.

 

Grandpa ~ it wasn't a painting. It was a canvas photograph that I took. It was in the original box from the photo service where I ordered it online. The mailing label (addressed to me) was still attached to the box. I had two smaller canvas photos in the box as well. Had I placed them in my beach bag, nothing would have ever been said.

 

They do not sell anything like this on the ship. The sell lots of things on the ship that someone could have walked off the ship with - watches, jewelry, etc. There was no logic here and that's what is so frustrating. And no customs folks anywhere near our ship, either. Had we done what they wanted to do (be escorted by Celebrity's port agent to the Customs office in St. Thomas), we would have never made it to St. John at all.

 

I'm all for doing things right. But this one made no sense!

[Cruise a holic]

Anne

Thank you for sharing! Only two weeks until we sail on the Silhouette again.

[Host Anne]

DISEMBARKATION

We were up early and heard the pilot joined the ship around 4:30 AM. Didn’t go back to sleep after that. We did not receive a bill on our door (second cruise in a row for this) so I went down to Guest Relations (there was no line surprisingly) and requested a print out. We like to have and review the printed copy before leaving the ship as it’s much easier to get any challenges taken care of before leaving. When I told the Guest Relations person we didn’t get a bill on our cabin door she acted surprised and said we should have. But we asked a few other passengers and didn’t find anyone who received a bill. Perhaps a new trend? So if you want a printed bill, you may want to stop on the last night or early morning on disembarkation and ask for one.

 

Café al Bacio was opened so I grabbed a bottle water and two croissants as our last meal. Croissants were still yummy!

 

Disembarkation was set up a bit differently (and better, I think) that past cruises. Typically,they have you wait in lounges & specialty restaurants and have you disembark at the doors between Ensemble and Café al Bacio. Now they have you disembark at the doors by the theater on deck 5 which allows them to run the line through the photo gallery and avoid the long, jumbled lines through Ensemble. Yes, you have to walk to the front of the ship and then back to the doors where we used to exit but this makes so much more sense. When I figured out what they were doing, we sat in the photo gallery area waiting to be called. Suite and Zenith guests were permitted to exit where we used to (I didn’t see anyone exiting here). Sushi on 5 was the staging area for wheelchairs and they, too, exited where the Suite/Zenith guests would exit. I think this was a smart move to avoid the congestion that used to exit disembarking.

 

Our scheduled departure time was 7:00 AM. With the ship having to travel to Miami,their goal was to get us off the ship quickly. It worked for us. We were called about 7:05 and quickly made our way to the terminal. We were just about the first people off in our group. By the time we got into the terminal they were finishing placing all the luggage out (they were up to number 34, I believe). Impressive! We grabbed a porter and my husband quickly found my piece of luggage but his hang up bad was missing. He started walking around and found it near a roll up door that leads out to the dock area. The luggage tag number had been ripped off the suitcase and it had been set aside. This has never happened before in all our years of cruising. So,from now on, we’ll two disembarkation tags on each bag in case one gets ripped off! put

 

We have Global Entry so that moved us to the front of the Customs line. He checked our passports and we were on our way. Our porter walked us to the parking lot (it was a long walk from the baggage part of the terminal to the parking lot) where we loaded the car and were on the road by 7:30 AM. By far the quickest and earliest we’ve ever been on the road home.

 

I'm working on some final thoughts and will share them today. If you are sailing Silhouette soon, have a wonderful time!!!!

 

Thanks for reading along on our journey!

 

Happy Sailing!

[RickT]

Thanks for your review!

[MamaChach]

Thank you for taking the time to post a great detailed daily report! Looking forward to your final thoughts;)

[RedBlu]

Thank you for your excellent review Anne, it’s been a great read everyday this past week. We are sailing on the 11 & 18 March cruises, our first time on the Silhouette after 7 previous X cruises. After a dreadful winter here in the U.K. we are so looking forward to this trip & even more so after enjoying your review!

[katysuerx]

Fantastic review, thank you for your excellent comments. I appreciate the positivity, yet valid critiques where appropriate.

 

Great job and glad you had a wonderful cruise!

 

 

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[WNCtourist]

Thank you for your review. Safe travels home!

 

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[Lois R]

Fantastic review, thank you for your excellent comments. I appreciate the positivity, yet valid critiques where appropriate.

 

Great job and glad you had a wonderful cruise!

 

 

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Hi, over the years Anne has always been very honest with all her reviews.......her integrity is without question, awesome:)

[Lois R]

Hi Anne, as usual, a fantastic review:) enjoyed following along. Are you and Andy still going on EDGE in January?

[Trish Traveler]

DAY 6 – AT SEA

 

We have been “pool sitters” for quite some time. But it does seem that chair hogs are out in full force on this cruise. We typically, sit on our balcony and read; grab a coffee in Al Bacio (a very well-run part of the ship); play trivia now and then; and partake in Captain’s Club activities when we can. But I’ll never understand the need to place a towel on a chair with a book and leave it there for hours when you have no intention of using the chair. We stood by the pool around 10:30 today and nearly every chair had towels and something on them (except people). There were only 2 people in the pool. So where was everyone else? If everyone actually vacated the chairs when they really weren’t planning on sitting in them (I’m not talking about running to the Mast Grill for lunch or taking a swim), this problem wouldn’t exist. It would be nice if people were a bit more considerate of their fellow passengers sometimes.

 

TRIVIA

We typically play trivia several times while on a cruise. This cruise had them consistently at 10:15 AM (general trivia); 3:00 PM (music trivia) and 3:30 PM(general trivia). This afternoon was TV themes for music trivia. I was disappointed that I missed the last answer to ruin our perfect score. But it was a lot of fun.

 

 

Host Anne, can you tell me where the Trivia was held? Last year on the Silhouette, it was held in the Ensemble Bar and twice we could not find seats, so could not participate. It really is too small for a very popular activity.

Also, were they not enforcing the 30 minute rule on chair saving at the pool? Last March on the Silhouette, the pool attendants, would put a card on the chair and then remove the belongings after 30 minutes. It didn't always work like clockwork, but at least they were making an attempt.

[Land of Ice and Snow]

Thank you, Anne, for your updates. Safe travels as your journey home. We sail on April 8th and can't wait.

[Flafun888]

Thank you for your review - looked forward to the updates each day. Really brightened up a long week.

[supered1]

Thank you very much. Have enjoyed reading your review, especially as we are on Silhoutte on the 7th July to St Petersburg and the Baltic.

[cltnccruisers]

Very informative, Anne. Thank you.

[afz123]

Thank you for your review. We really enjoyed reading it this past week. We are headed out on 3/18 and looking forward to it. We are new to cruising and made some notes from your review to refer back to. I hope you had a wonderful trip and safe travels home.

 

 

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[ronews]

Bill ~ as part of our first night's package, we were assigned to Murano. The staff member who waited on us told us about the Chef's Table and asked us if we'd be interested (we didn't know Celebrity did them). I'd suggest stopping by Murano when you board and talk to the Maitre 'D. It was a special evening!

Thanks for the info, Anne. Our first time in a suite so maybe I will also check with the concierge in Michael's Club

Bill

[Lastdance]

Many thanks to you, Host Anne, for sharing a great critique of your cruise to the islands. I hope you choose to write yet another while on Edge.