Just back from the Silhouette TA – a brief review after 4 years away from Celebrity

[SleepingUgly]

Thank you for taking the time to post such great, insightful details about your recent cruise!  And, yes, the photos are amazing as well.  We board the Silhouette in late December and are really looking forward to our cruise.  Thanks so much for helping to get me in the mood, haha! 🙂

 

Linda

 

[gfkcruiser]

Great review.  We will be on the silhouette in February.  Last time was October 2016 in the Mediterranean. 

Photos of new York are great.   Will have to compare with the Eclipse sailings we did this year.  Will be on the eastbound

TA in April.  First time on Reflection. 

 

I am a big Abba fan and loved the sing along. People really got moving. 

 

[Turtles06]

6 hours ago, SleepingUgly said:

Thank you for taking the time to post such great, insightful details about your recent cruise!  And, yes, the photos are amazing as well.  We board the Silhouette in late December and are really looking forward to our cruise.  Thanks so much for helping to get me in the mood, haha! 🙂

 

Linda

 

 

6 hours ago, gfkcruiser said:

Great review.  We will be on the silhouette in February.  Last time was October 2016 in the Mediterranean. 

Photos of new York are great.   Will have to compare with the Eclipse sailings we did this year.  Will be on the eastbound

TA in April.  First time on Reflection. 

 

I am a big Abba fan and loved the sing along. People really got moving. 

 

Thank you both, I hope you enjoy your upcoming cruises!

 

Just the mention of that ABBA sing along/dance party has put a smile on my face.  A totally fun evening!  I hope they do it on your cruises!

[Turtles06]

A couple of small odd ball things that I just recalled  . . .   

 

My wife and I each like to put our sea pass cards on a lanyard, so we need holes punched in them.  Shortly before this TA on the Silhouette, we took our very first cruise with Holland America.  We were very pleasantly surprised when we checked in to embark on the HAL ship to be handed sea pass cards at the terminal that already had a hole punched in them!  Imagine that, what a nice little touch!

 

Our sea pass cards for the Silhouette, however, were the same solid piece of plastic they've always been. So one of the first things I did on embarkation day was go down to Guest Services so they could hole punch our cards.  I was waiting in line behind another passenger who was there for exactly the same thing.  The rep took her cards and walked to the other end of the desk where the hole punch was.  After she took care of this guest, I handed our cards to the rep for our hole punching, and she then had to walk once again to the other end of the desk to get to the hole punch.  When she was finished, I mentioned to her that we'd just returned from a cruise on Holland America, and that our sea pass cards on HAL were given to us with a hole already punched in them.   I said I thought it would be nice if Celebrity could do the same thing. The rep looked at me as though I had just landed from Mars.

 

One thing that had changed since our last cruise on Celebrity -- our sea pass cards now had the last three digits of our cabin number printed on them.  This is what RCI has been doing, and I wasn't particularly happy to see Celebrity following suit.  There are only a handful of cabins on the ship that have the same last three digits, and I think putting them on a key card is a security risk; there's a reason hotels don't put your room number on the key card.  I did not make a separate trip to Guest Services to ask about this, but when I found myself there for some other reason, I asked why these numbers were on our sea pass card.  The rep said she really had no idea, except for the fact that some people forget where their cabins are. 

 

Please folks, if you can't remember where your cabin is, put something memorable on the door!  😜

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Denny01]

Thank you so for a great review and responses! We are doing this same cruise in Oct 2019 and thought the itinerary of Boston, overnight in NYC and overnight in Bermuda looked fantastic. Nassau....Naah. We’ve been on 3 prior TA’s and one later in Nov, but these were the more southern route. So will be ready to handle more inside time just in case. Going to wander around South England for a 5 or 6 days prior to boarding so this will be a great expereince for us. 

 

We also booked ‘C’ for the SR location and very glad of it. Our TA was able to get us a good deal also. And going Concierge is even a better deal with the Boston Harbor on the hello deck offer....wow! Did that leaving Stockholm and what an experience. 

 

Very happy to hear about the excellent Beyond the Podium lectures, we’ve had some great ones on our TA’s and glad it continues.  For workouts, I do hope they add a 2nd rower; I use one also and would love it be more available. 

 

It sounds as we enjoy many of the things the OP enjoys and really enjoyed the review. And love how the OP broke up the review into sections. Some of the page-after-page review with few breaks even into paragraphs looses us and the Turtle broke this up into areas each of us may be more interested in: overall-SR-food-exercise-entertnamet-etc. Great idea. 

 

By the way Turtles06, in the aviation Navy, we each had a ‘callsign’; one of mine (the last one in a fighter squadron) was Turtle.....I won’t go into how I go that one. So we have even more in common!!

 

Den (The Turtle)

 

 

 

[digital_curator]

I just looked at my photos from our Reflection cruises; I thought the cookie was in a skillet but it was indeed a ramekin! Delicious nonetheless!

[Denny01]

Question for the OP/Turtle06:

In NYC, were there ‘tours’ set for any of the Broadway Plays? The current 2019 NYC inport schedule allows time to catch a play and would love to do that. We cruised out of Bayonne last year on the Summit to Bermuda and Celebrity offered us tickets to ‘Wicked’ the night prior to the cruise. We took and it and seating was excellent as was the price. 

 

Did this cruise have Broadway Plays? Or should I plan on setting it up on our own? I didn’t see it on the Excursions listings but it’s almost a year from now. 

 

Den

[Gracie115]

Wonderful review!!!  We will be on her for the TA going back to Southampton in April...hopefully our weather will be a bit more cooperative!!!!

[Turtles06]

4 hours ago, Denny01 said:

Question for the OP/Turtle06:

In NYC, were there ‘tours’ set for any of the Broadway Plays? The current 2019 NYC inport schedule allows time to catch a play and would love to do that. We cruised out of Bayonne last year on the Summit to Bermuda and Celebrity offered us tickets to ‘Wicked’ the night prior to the cruise. We took and it and seating was excellent as was the price. 

 

Did this cruise have Broadway Plays? Or should I plan on setting it up on our own? I didn’t see it on the Excursions listings but it’s almost a year from now. 

 

Den

Den, 

 

That's very interesting about getting the "Wicked" tickets through Celebrity when  you were on the Summit.  Here, we were not looking for any tours/excursions in NY, but I'm virtually certain there was nothing like that for a couple of reasons.  First, a number of folks on our Roll Call were very interested in getting tickets to a Broadway show, and no one mentioned anything being available through Celebrity.  Also, and this was rather unfortunate for a cruise that had "Broadway" in its name, but our original schedule had us docking in NY at 3pm on a Sunday, and many theatres are dark on Sunday nights.   (Some people did buy tickets to "Book of Mormon," one of the relatively few shows open on a Sunday night.) 

 

Of course, as things turned out, we were delayed a day getting into NY because of our diversion for the weather, arriving on a Monday night, the traditional night off on Broadway.   That was even worse than being in port on a Sunday night for those who wanted to go to the theatre.  Your itinerary is better for theatre purposes!   In terms of getting tickets to a show in advance, of course you'll want to factor in the possibility that your ship just might not be on schedule.  And perhaps, since your ship is scheduled to be in NY when the theatres are open, Celebrity might just have a ticket deal like the one you had on the Summit.  (By the way, you'll be able to walk to the theatres from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal.)

 

You mentioned spending a good part of a week in England before your cruise.  Will you be in London for any part of that time?   As I'm sure you know, you'd have wonderful theatre options in the West End.  In fact, we spent several terrific days in London before this TA,  capped off by seeing "Hamilton," which was as brilliant as everyone says.  It's much easier (and cheaper!) to see "Hamilton" in London than in the U.S., because the producers have eliminated scalping and the entire ticket re-sale market by eliminating tickets entirely; there's nothing to sell and re-sell.  You make your purchase on line, and you must then show up at the theatre with your email confirmation, photo ID, the credit card used for the purchase, and everyone else in your party.  It's a brilliant system, and it means you get to buy your "tickets" at the price set by the theatre, and it also means there are "tickets" available when they are pretty much non-existent in the U.S.  At any rate, we thought that London was a very special place in which to see "Hamilton."  🙂  

 

[TeaBag]

I agree that putting the 3 digits of the room number on the seapass card is a security risk.  It wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to figure out that the missing digit on ours(first digit) was a 1, since the card was aqua in color and all aqua cabins are located on deck 11, prefaced with a 1.  Stupid idea. 

[Turtles06]

12 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

I agree that putting the 3 digits of the room number on the seapass card is a security risk.  It wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist to figure out that the missing digit on ours(first digit) was a 1, since the card was aqua in color and all aqua cabins are located on deck 11, prefaced with a 1.  Stupid idea. 

I didn't mention this in my earlier comment, but the Guest Services rep to whom I was speaking about this was totally dismissive of those security concerns.  She actually said to me, "People are on holiday. Why would you be worried about them?"  As though in a group of several thousand humans, every single person is honest.  She said that she could "print over" the three digits on my card, so I gave her my card.  What she wound up doing was printing several big zeroes over the three digits, which were still readily visible under them.  The whole conversation was one of the few discordant moments of the cruise.  

[Jim_Iain]

I've been reading along and wanted to let me know how much I'm enjoying your cruise review.  Your review and beautiful photos are bringing back so many fond memories. 

[Denny01]

‘Hamilton’ in London - What an idea!! Kind of like watching a good WWII movie in Berlin or ‘60-sec over Tokyo’ in Japan. I got to do this!!

 

Reminds me of when I was flying with an Israeli pilot and we had a German engineer on our team. Good guys. I picked a movie for all of us and our wives to go see. Idiot-boy picked a WWII movie with bad Nazi’s killing Jews and all that - I think i sweated a ton throughout the movie feeling like an complete dunce. When we walked out, the German engineer and Israeli pilot were laughing and joking about  how ‘Americans’ made everything good/bad - black/white and just missed the point of so much. I learned more than a bit from them after that! So maybe I’ll go to that play and anytime they mention ‘George III’ I’ll stand up and BOOOOOO! Just love being the Ugly American! 

 

Seriously though, that sounds like a great idea -  Thanks!!!! The Broadway ‘Hamilton’ is still very expensive for any decent seats. I’ve learned if I’m going to an actual Broadway play to Not get the cheap tickets in the back - learned that the hard way. 

 

Den

Edited November 28, 2018 by Denny01

[Turtles06]

11 hours ago, Denny01 said:

Seriously though, that sounds like a great idea -  Thanks!!!! The Broadway ‘Hamilton’ is still very expensive for any decent seats. I’ve learned if I’m going to an actual Broadway play to Not get the cheap tickets in the back - learned that the hard way. 

 

Den

Another excellent show (one of the best I've ever seen, in fact) that has just opened in London is "Come From Away."  We saw it in the U.S. and would have seen it again in London had it opened when we were there; we just missed it. 

[Turtles06]

A small tip for those who may not have sailed on an S-class ship, especially if, like me, you are a bit too short to reach the storage spaces over the bed without climbing on the bed.  There's a large metal basket under the bed in which your life jackets are stowed. Put the life jackets in your closet (or in the spaces over the bed), and use that basket for storing things that you don't have room for in drawers, and to which you'd like easy access.  On this trip, it was our spot for large electronics (see next paragraph) and various other non-clothing items that we knew we'd be using along the way.  The basket can be pulled out from under the bed very easily.  

 

Using the basket was particularly necessary because the safe in our cabin was in a space directly over the little mini-fridge, and thus got hot from the motor in the fridge.  So did the clothing in the top drawer next to the safe.  Toasty socks are okay, but the heat in the safe made us comfortable about putting electronics in it.  Frankly, I don't worry about my cameras, iPads, etc. on a ship, they just stay in the cabin, in a drawer, or in the basket under the bed when not in use -- but I do like to lock up my phone if I'm not using it, as well as any SD cards that I have already used during the trip.  I did not feel comfortable doing that here.  The location of the safe, imho, is one of the few poor design features of this cabin.   (But certainly not a deal-breaker, obviously!  We had the same problem on the Eclipse, our first S-class ship.)

 

One other thing that we find bothersome on this ship is the amount of light coming into the cabin at night from under the bathroom door, due to the night light in the bathroom that cannot be turned off.  The last time we were on the Silhouette, our bed was by the bath, and the light under the door, so close to the bed, was so disturbing that this time we brought along black construction paper to tape over the threshold.  Fortunately, with our bed by the balcony this time around, the light was not as big of an issue.  But I still find the amount of light in the bathroom itself at night to be a problem.  I totally understand the safety issues, but I think it would still be safe with less light than is needed in an operating room, which is nearly the situation now.  

[sealover155]

Thanks so much for your review, thoughts, and ideas.  We, too, we're on this cruise and while we had an unusual (for us) event that impacted and restricted our activities  the last few days, we agree with most all of your experiences.

 

This was our first non-Aqua Class in 4 cruises and we were absolutely delighted with the MDR, from the food to the wait staff and especially our table mates from Germany and Australia.  Lots of laughter and wonderful shared histories. We also dined twice in Murano and once in Tuscan- all were very good.  I do agree with your comment about the heavy rich food in Murano.  This time I passed on the starter and just had entree and cheese.  I've finally learned that just because it's included doesn't mean that I should have it!  Our evening in Tuscan was wonderful once we convinced the server we really did want to order a bottle of Barolo even if his recommendation of "decent" red was included in our Premium Alcohol Package.  Our steaks were divine.  We never made it to Lawn Club (see below).

 

For me one of the highlights was the lecture series by Jim Kennedy from NASA.  I lived through those early and thrilling years of the space program from my home in Orlando.  Watching the lift offs on TV at school and then running out to the field with my classmates to see the vapor trails are indelible memories.  Such fun re-living those times but also learning about the Space Shuttle, etc. along with the future of space travel and exploration.  And, for many years we've lived in Pasadena, CA,  home to JPL so for us it was very special.  

 

The event mentioned above, was our first ever visit to the Medical Clinic.  After the breathtaking sail into New York my husband announced that he was not feeling well.  We went back to our cabin where he slept for the next 18 hours.  The following morning on our way to Bermuda we finally made our way to the clinic.  In retrospect I should have insisted on having the medical team visit him in our cabin.  On admittance he had a skyrocketing fever and dangerously low blood pressure, combined with profound fatigue- a scary situation even for an otherwise strong and healthy guy with absolutely no pre-existing conditions.

 

The care he received and the kindness and compasssion shown to me over the following 4 days were simply exemplary.  We were blown away by the skill of Dr. Fabian Dutan and his team.  As our business was in medical equipment we are very familiar with clinics, hospital ERs, etc. - we've been in hundreds of them so we were very skeptical!!!  No need as it was all top notch.  He is still recovering (turned out to be Pneumonia) but will be fine.  And luckily we, narrowly, avoided being disembarked in Bermuda.

 

Overall,  we are still in love with the Silhouette and she remains our favorite ship.  She's just a good fit for us.  We were not surprised to have a bit of rocking and rolling the first few days but we would have enjoyed more deck time.  This was our 6th T/A, and our second northern one but the sail-in to New York this time was exhilarating, complete with Frank singing "New York, New York".  Hopefully there will be more glorious crossings in our future.

 

Thanks to all who've shared their experience on this sailing but especially to the OP- very insightful comments and fabulous photos.

 

P.S. So glad you enjoyed Hamilton - it's really extraordinarily.

Edited November 28, 2018 by sealover155

[Turtles06]

8 hours ago, sealover155 said:

Thanks so much for your review, thoughts, and ideas.  We, too, we're on this cruise and while we had an unusual (for us) event that impacted and restricted our activities  the last few days, we agree with most all of your experiences. . . 

I am so sorry your husband got so sick on board, and very happy to know that he will be okay.  Also good to know of your positive experience with the ship's medical staff.  And I'm sure you were very happy not to have to get off the ship in Bermuda!

 

Jim Kennedy really was fantastic.  We also came of age with the space program, so Jim's talks really resonated for us too.  And perhaps since you now live in Pasadena, you were glued to NASA TV on Monday for the InSight landing and this great accomplishment by JPL.  It was quite an exciting development in our space program.  

 

Thanks very much for reading the review, for your own feedback on the cruise, and for your very kind words.    

 

 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Turtles06

[crazyman3]

On 11/24/2018 at 4:05 PM, Straughn said:

This has been a great read. I board Silhouette next Friday for nine nights.

 

Looking forward to cruising with Sue Denning. Thanks for the info on John Bressler. I have seen two of the three production shows on various ships. We saw Life and thought it was a total waste of good talent. Pearl isn’t much better. As much as I enjoy the production shows (theatre major in me), these are two I won’t waste my time on again. I will give Cosmopolitan a chance. We had a broadway review, done by the singers and dancers, one day. I thought it was the best showdown that cruise. It was billed as them performing  songs which had significance to them. Whether that was true or not, it was very entertaining.

 

Interestingly, a lot of your comments about the specialty restaurants mirrored my experience last March. Mirano was excellent,  but it is important to know that the service is measured. For some folks, that can be an issue. The only thing consistent about Tuscan is the its inconsistency. I am perplexed how it can be so good one evening and so bad another night on the exact same cruise. I had my first Lawn Club experience last March and will definitely be dining there again. 

 

Oh, and my chocolate chip cookie in the Lawn Club was definitely served in a skillet.

 

Now I'm puzzled! I always think of a skillet being used to cook things ... Is this a different sort of skillet? Other Brits and any people of the world, do you have things served in skillets? Is it just an American thing? 

[Turtles06]

7 hours ago, crazyman3 said:

 

Now I'm puzzled! I always think of a skillet being used to cook things ... Is this a different sort of skillet? Other Brits and any people of the world, do you have things served in skillets? Is it just an American thing? 

I don't know if it's just an American thing, but here's a little bit about chocolate chip cookies skillets.  (I can't find any photos of the cookie served in a skillet at the Lawn Club, though, but I am pretty certain that's how it was served last time we were on the Silhouette four years ago, and I am relieved that some folks say that's how it's been served to them as well.  It just wasn't as much of a "cookie" in the ramekin.)

 

https://onmilwaukee.com/myOMC/authors/carolynnbuser/chocolatechipcookieskilletmilwaukee.html

 

[crazyman3]

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

I don't know if it's just an American thing, but here's a little bit about chocolate chip cookies skillets.  (I can't find any photos of the cookie served in a skillet at the Lawn Club, though, but I am pretty certain that's how it was served last time we were on the Silhouette four years ago, and I am relieved that some folks say that's how it's been served to them as well.  It just wasn't as much of a "cookie" in the ramekin.)

 

https://onmilwaukee.com/myOMC/authors/carolynnbuser/chocolatechipcookieskilletmilwaukee.html

 

 

Wow! That's amazing! A cookie and an ice cream in a little pan ----the skillet! Never seen them in the UK.

Come on, Rest of the World! Is this how you have them served?

Thanks Turtle 06. By the way, is your surname Turtle? I have cousins who have that name.

[Turtles06]

51 minutes ago, crazyman3 said:

 

Wow! That's amazing! A cookie and an ice cream in a little pan ----the skillet! Never seen them in the UK.

Come on, Rest of the World! Is this how you have them served?

Thanks Turtle 06. By the way, is your surname Turtle? I have cousins who have that name.

It's not, but it sounds like you'd be a fun person to be related to. 

[sealover155]

Yes!  We watched the Mars landing along with most of Pasadena!  What a thrill and such encouragement for all involved with the space programs worldwide.

 

I neglected, to give a shout out to the non-medical crew who were so thoughtful and  kind during our ordeal:  The Asst. Maitre'd of Ocean View who graciously found a beautiful plate of fruit for me after most of the stations were being set for lunch- I'd missed breakfast and he sensed my dismay.  And our waiter in MDR who offered to deliver to our stateroom anything I wanted.  Those random acts of kindness meant so much.

[Covepointcruiser]

I know there was a lot of coughing and sneezing on this cruise and those involved did not feel they should cover their mouths.   Fortunately,  we avoided the respiratory disease.   Glad your husband has recovered, did he have the pneumonia vaccine?   We always hope the vaccine will protect us but it may only work for certain pneumonia’s.   

[TeaBag]

3 minutes ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I know there was a lot of coughing and sneezing on this cruise and those involved did not feel they should cover their mouths.   Fortunately,  we avoided the respiratory disease.   Glad your husband has recovered, did he have the pneumonia vaccine?   We always hope the vaccine will protect us but it may only work for certain pneumonia’s.   

Sorry about your husband's illness, sealover.  It's horrible being sick anytime, but it seems worse on a cruise.  I was going to mention the pneumonia vaccine too.  Did he get the Nebulizer treatment?  I had this on Millennium and it helped a great deal.

 

Now i'm going to comment on something gross.  I was behind a guy in the hallway to our cabin one day and he let go with a colossal sneeze into his hand.  Then he proceeded to run that hand along the rail on the wall until he had to let go of another sneeze.  Same procedure.  With this rocking and rolling cruise, I wonder how many people used the hand rail after he had coated it.  Why are people so ignorant?  Also, why don't they mention the covering of mouths when coughing or sneezing as part of the hand washing video?  It seems some people were never taught how to cover their mouths when coughing etc.  The rest of us pay the price for this.

[sealover155]

Yes, we both had the Pneumonia vaccine, which like most vaccines is not 100% effective preventing disease.  Supposedly it lessens the effects.  Whatever we are still convinced vaccines are essential.  Curiously the first question asked was not whether he'd had this vaccine but whether he'd had the flu shot, which was yes.  

 

He thinks that he might have picked it up in the fitness center as he was suspicious of a machine he used a few days before.  Of course we both agree that the healthier and fitter you are, the better to fend off one of these bugs.

 

The examples of people coughing and sneezing irresponsibly never ceases to amaze me.  I fear for those who are immo- compromised or otherwise more vulnerable.

 

I detailed our story mostly to compliment the Medical Staff but also to let you know that if our experience is how all guests are treated, you can rest easy.  My husband kept saying, "What if this happened when we were in a hotel in Borneo?!?"