Live Blog – Silhouette Nov 3 – Beaches to Broadway – Pull up a seat and Join

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, SEA DOGY said:

Jim_Iain

Welcome back  to our  beautiful SanFran. Bay Area  ( kinda smoky ) so be prepare 

You did an excellent job in this blog thank you for all the information 

When and where will be you next adventure?

Thanks.   It will be awhile until we get home.   Our flight was cancelled and we are on a hop scotch journey across the country.  FLL to Houston then to Denver and finally get home to San Jose around 9:00 pm.  

 

At at least they got us adjacent emergency rows on all segments.  Great leg room. 

 

 

 

 

Currently in Houston Red Carpet Club. “Enjoying” our 3 hour layover. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Jim_Iain

[Jim_Iain]

58 minutes ago, bluwes said:

Loved the live posts. Our friends are now boarding, and looking forward to their first ever cruise

Hope they have a wonderful trip.  The weather was beautiful this morning. 

 

 

[KikisDad]

Thanks for two great blogs over the last couple of months. When is you next adventure?

[UKPete71]

We sat in Cafe al Bacio from around 8.15 until just after 9. The queue to get off at 8.15 stretched in to the Ensemble Lounge in one direction and out past the World Class Bar in the other.

 

I don’t know what the delay was as our number was called about 15 minutes after the published time. Our luggage had been moved to another number by the time we got there, but our cases stand out from any other case I’ve seen so we couldn’t miss them.

 

We went through customs quickly too. The guy asked if I had anything to declare, and I replied, ‘only the love for my wife’. He seemed in a good mood and laughed. Phew! 😂

 

We hired a car from Alamo at the port. Not a great experience when there are seven ships in port. 😢

[belcherwm]

Thanks all for sharing so much of the trip with us!

[Jim_Iain]

23 hours ago, Palms2Pines2Sea said:

Without a doubt, one of the best live blogs ever! Thank you very much for taking us along.

I know that you are a shipboard walker, and I fear that you might have had a few days on this passage that weren't the best for safe walking. I retreat to the corridors and stairs when it's not good up top...did you do the same?

Welcome to Florida, and continued safe travels to you both!

😎

 

Thanks much for your warm greeting.

 

I do much the same and ended up mostly walking the decks.   We really had very few days on this cruise that you could walk on the main decks.   Usually it was the winds that made it impossible to walk but also had Ice in Boston that made the decks impossible to walk on

 

I find the S-Class much more conducive to walking on the room decks.   The rooms have in inset door way that allows the housekeepers to pull their carts out of the hallway.   Also on at least 1/2 the deck you can make complete loops both forward and aft. 

[Jim_Iain]

11 hours ago, UKPete71 said:

We sat in Cafe al Bacio from around 8.15 until just after 9. The queue to get off at 8.15 stretched in to the Ensemble Lounge in one direction and out past the World Class Bar in the other.

 

I don’t know what the delay was as our number was called about 15 minutes after the published time. Our luggage had been moved to another number by the time we got there, but our cases stand out from any other case I’ve seen so we couldn’t miss them.

 

We went through customs quickly too. The guy asked if I had anything to declare, and I replied, ‘only the love for my wife’. He seemed in a good mood and laughed. Phew! 😂

 

We hired a car from Alamo at the port. Not a great experience when there are seven ships in port. 😢

 

Sorry to hear of your delays.   We just hung out in Michael's Club until 9:00 as we were not in a hurry to get to the airport.    They had a hidden exit from Michael's Club direct to the gangway and the MC Concierge escorted us to the gangway.   

 

By the time we exited the ship there was only a short line and we were in the taxi line in less than 10 minutes.   

[MikeMary4449]

Thanks, Jim, for your great day-by-day review.  Although we have been on many cruises, we definitely learned a lot from your experiences.  Thanks for taking such good care of the Silhouette - we board her on November 30 for 21 days!  We will be sure to say hello to the Michael's Club and Luminae staff for you!  Look forward to meeting you on a future cruise.

 

Mike and Mary

[Jim_Iain]

What a long day yesterday was.    All was running fine until we pulled back from the gate at Denver.    We sat there for about 15 minutes then the Captain came on and advise they were experiencing a mechanical problem and they were working on it.   They hoped they would not have to return to the terminal.    They kept us updated about every 15  minutes and explained one of the Navigation Radars was not booting up.    They finally contacted Fleet Control in Chicago and were able to get it up and running.    Only about an hour delay but topped off a long day.   

 

I was luck and was the only one on my exit seat row so I was able to stretch out across all 3 seats and sleep for an hour.   

 

The arrival into San Jose was really mucky with all the smoke from the fires.   The weather is calling for our first rain of the season on Wednesday - Friday so hopefully help is on the way from Mother Nature for those areas so badly affected by terrible fires. 

[Jim_Iain]

6 minutes ago, MikeMary4449 said:

Thanks, Jim, for your great day-by-day review.  Although we have been on many cruises, we definitely learned a lot from your experiences.  Thanks for taking such good care of the Silhouette - we board her on November 30 for 21 days!  We will be sure to say hello to the Michael's Club and Luminae staff for you!  Look forward to meeting you on a future cruise.

 

Mike and Mary

 

Mike and Mary -

I hope you enjoy your cruise.   Silhouette is in beautiful condition and the staff is one of the best we have sailed with.   

[jamacka]

On 11/17/2018 at 9:53 AM, abcdeflilly said:

Can I ask your opinion?  We are on this cruise in 2019 and arrival in Fort Lauderdale is at 5am. Do you think we will leave the ship earlier than you are?

Have followed your cruise every day and enjoyed your posts.  Thank you.

 

We were on this cruise and were given Group #14 for disembarking which was around 8:30am.   We had to be at the airport at 8:30 to pick up a car rental so we went down to Guest Relations and had our number changed to Group #2 which appeared to be the earliest, leaving at 7:30am, or something like that.  They had no problem changing our group number.  I talked to a few people who were in earlier group numbers but weren't getting picked up until closer to 10:00 and they were able to switch to a later group number.  

In the end we decided to just drag our luggage off ourselves so we were able to leave as soon as the ship was cleared.  If you need to get off really early, carrying your own luggage is the way to go, if you are able.  If not,  just have guest relations change your number to an earlier number.

 

[signman]

On 11/18/2018 at 11:41 PM, UKPete71 said:

We sat in Cafe al Bacio from around 8.15 until just after 9. The queue to get off at 8.15 stretched in to the Ensemble Lounge in one direction and out past the World Class Bar in the other.

 

I don’t know what the delay was as our number was called about 15 minutes after the published time. Our luggage had been moved to another number by the time we got there, but our cases stand out from any other case I’ve seen so we couldn’t miss them.

 

We went through customs quickly too. The guy asked if I had anything to declare, and I replied, ‘only the love for my wife’. He seemed in a good mood and laughed. Phew! 😂

 

We hired a car from Alamo at the port. Not a great experience when there are seven ships in port. 😢

 

Hi UK Pete.....Can you post a little more about the Alamo experience?   Was it just due to the number of people renting?   I plan to return my car to  Alamo at the port  "morning of" my cruise in a few weeks.     Then expecting the Alamo shuttle to take me to Silhouette at T29.     Did  you have a long wait to be shuttled over to their rental office.   Thanks.   

Welcome to US.   Hope you have a nice time before returning home.

[bengaltiger1]

2 hours ago, signman said:

 

Hi UK Pete.....Can you post a little more about the Alamo experience?   Was it just due to the number of people renting?   I plan to return my car to  Alamo at the port  "morning of" my cruise in a few weeks.     Then expecting the Alamo shuttle to take me to Silhouette at T29.     Did  you have a long wait to be shuttled over to their rental office.   Thanks.   

Welcome to US.   Hope you have a nice time before returning home.

Not Pete, but we were on the same cruise. Left the ship at 9 am and followed the sign to car rental shuttle.  (Not 100% on the phrasing).  We waited about ten minutes and the Alamo shuttle bus turned up. The driver then picked up a group from another cruise line and took us to the Alamo office.   The shuttle bus isn’t a large coach, so it does fill fairly quickly.  On the way to the office we saw another one heading back to the port. 

 

Our comments are:

please turn your air con on Alamo.  It was so hot in the building I am surprised no one fainted. 

People don’t need to queue with their families and luggage. There is seating. 

Process was quick and we did not experience any upsell at the desk.  

 

We would use them again. 

 

 

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, signman said:

 

Hi UK Pete.....Can you post a little more about the Alamo experience?   Was it just due to the number of people renting?   I plan to return my car to  Alamo at the port  "morning of" my cruise in a few weeks.     Then expecting the Alamo shuttle to take me to Silhouette at T29.     Did  you have a long wait to be shuttled over to their rental office.   Thanks.   

Welcome to US.   Hope you have a nice time before returning home.

I'm not Pete either, but my wife and I were also on this cruise and also rented a car from Alamo at the Port Everglades location.  (We had made a reservation in advance.)  We were off the ship around 8am, got our luggage, and cleared immigration quickly (yay Global Entry).  We were at T26, and were told we had to walk around the "fingers" of the Terminal to get to the car rental shuttles.  We only had to walk around one curve, and an Alamo shuttle was pulling up.   Once at the rental office (a brief ride away), we found ourselves on a very short line, and so had a good experience getting our car.  (The main holdup in front of us was from people renting who had not reserved a car in advance, and so had to do everything from scratch.)  But the line built quickly as more shuttles came in, and it was clear that with only two agents working (at least while we were there), it would take time to get to the front of the line.   (There were stations for two more agents; I'm hoping more came on duty after we left.)   

 

I would assume that returning a car should be faster.  My wife overheard one of the agents telling someone who was picking up a car and returning it later that day to be sure to bring the car back by 2:30pm, when they would start to get very busy because so many ships were departing.

 

It's hard to believe you would have a huge problem returning a car there on the morning of a cruise.

 

If you are looking for info directly from folks who have returned cars to that location, the best place to ask would be over on the Florida Departures Board:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

 

Enjoy your cruise!  This was our second time on the Silhouette, and she remains our favorite ship!

[Ontario Cruiser]

Hi Jim_Iain

I followed your posts every day. Also the Japan adventure after we left the Connie on Sept 30th.

We are on the Silhouette April 24th. What are your plans I think you are doing the Edge.

We leave on Dec 6th for the crossing on the Rhapsody.. Hope we meet again

Happy Thanksgiving Sherrill OntarioCruiser

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, Ontario Cruiser said:

Hi Jim_Iain

I followed your posts every day. Also the Japan adventure after we left the Connie on Sept 30th.

We are on the Silhouette April 24th. What are your plans I think you are doing the Edge.

We leave on Dec 6th for the crossing on the Rhapsody.. Hope we meet again

Happy Thanksgiving Sherrill OntarioCruiser

 

Hi Sherrill -

We will just be departing before you.   We booked on Infinity on April 22 that goes to the Azores and Iberia Peninsula and arriving in Barcelona.    

 

For the Edge we booked the Amalfi Coast an  Greek Isle on October 21 and will be doing a B2B with the Westbound Transatlantic on November 1.    I'm really excited to hear of the first reports once she begins sailing.   

 

Would love to meet again.   I have met so many nice folks from CruiseCritic.

 

Jim 

[Covepointcruiser]

We saw the Edge pulling into Fort Lauderdale just after 9 AM on Monday.

Fireboats were escorting her.   We flew over her after leaving the airport for our flight on UA to Houston.   Luckily everything was on time for United so we made it to BWI just ahead of the Thanksgiving rush.   Because our points are with United we had to fly either through Houston or Chicago to get to BWI.   We chose Houston to avoid potential weather problems.   We left the ship at 10 AM, no lines or problems.

[Jim_Iain]

7 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

We saw the Edge pulling into Fort Lauderdale just after 9 AM on Monday.

Fireboats were escorting her.   We flew over her after leaving the airport for our flight on UA to Houston.   Luckily everything was on time for United so we made it to BWI just ahead of the Thanksgiving rush.   Because our points are with United we had to fly either through Houston or Chicago to get to BWI.   We chose Houston to avoid potential weather problems.   We left the ship at 10 AM, no lines or problems.

 

LOL -   We must have just missed each other.    We were on the same flight to Houston on Sunday.   

Edited November 21, 2018 by Jim_Iain

[signman]

Thanks to Turtles and Bengaltiger for info on Alamo.   Just wanted a little extra piece of mind.

[signman]

Jim,  thanks for all the time you spent allowing us to sail along with you, and responding to our questions.   Can't wait for my turn onboard, now less than 3 weeks away.    Hope this weeks predicted rain will clear your air a bit.

[Jim_Iain]

20 hours ago, signman said:

Jim,  thanks for all the time you spent allowing us to sail along with you, and responding to our questions.   Can't wait for my turn onboard, now less than 3 weeks away.    Hope this weeks predicted rain will clear your air a bit.

I've really enjoyed blogging.   It is incredible how much I learn from others here.    I also love reading live blogs to help me get through the period until our next cruise.   The rains began today and the air quality has improved to safe levels.  I'm sure the rains will also help our Fire Fighting Hero's bring these fires under control quickly.   It is incredible the sacrifices they make on a daily basis.  

 

I hope your cruise is as wonderful as you expect.    I have to admit ours wasn't the most ideal crossing but each cruise is an adventure and we really enjoyed ourselves and made so many new friends.   I will cherish these moment forever.  

[abbydancer2003]

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I've really enjoyed blogging.   It is incredible how much I learn from others here.    I also love reading live blogs to help me get through the period until our next cruise.   The rains began today and the air quality has improved to safe levels.  I'm sure the rains will also help our Fire Fighting Hero's bring these fires under control quickly.   It is incredible the sacrifices they make on a daily basis.  

 

I hope your cruise is as wonderful as you expect.    I have to admit ours wasn't the most ideal crossing but each cruise is an adventure and we really enjoyed ourselves and made so many new friends.   I will cherish these moment forever.  

I enjoyed your blog a lot, and am glad to hear about the rain for a lot of reasons.  (we're in Cancun, so different weather).  I'll email you when we're back from our preview cruise on the Edge next week.

 

[mj]

Enjoyed this blog a lot.  Will be on the Silhouette in less than 10 days and looking forward to my first Celebrity cruise.

 

 

[UKPete71]

On 11/20/2018 at 1:09 PM, bengaltiger1 said:

Our comments are:

please turn your air con on Alamo.  It was so hot in the building I am surprised no one fainted. 

You were a little ahead of us as we left the ship shortly after 9. 

 

We arrived at the Alamo around 9.55 to a long queue with only 3 desks of a possible 7 manned. It took an hour to get to the agent. It then took another 45 minutes to actually receive the keys to our car.

 

We were told the A/C in the office had broken overnight. My DW was cooler waiting with our bags outside. Thankfully we had a couple of bottles of water with us from the ship, as Alamo offered nothing.

 

I guess the drop-off process would be smoother. We won’t find out as we drop our car off at Orlando International.

[UKPete71]

On 11/20/2018 at 1:33 PM, Turtles06 said:

and it was clear that with only two agents working (at least while we were there), it would take time to get to the front of the line.   (There were stations for two more agents; I'm hoping more came on duty after we left.)

Some desks had two stations so there was room for seven. We saw four briefly, but it was mostly three for the hour we waited.