Trip Report: 12-night Holiday Cruise in the Caribbean on the SILHOUETTE (2018)

[Sheal]

11 minutes ago, SleepingUgly said:

 

Haha, I'm sure it's fine to have whatever you want for breakfast.  I mean, I have scrambled eggs and toast for dinner some nights, and who didn't eat cold pizza for breakfast in their 20s?  I just wanted used to seeing stir-fry set out at breakfast time, but I'm sure it was tasty!

 

Ugh, I would hate to see what a cat would spit up - before, during or after hunting.  And a company cat?!? 

 

Linda

 

OMG!  I had toast and scrambled eggs for dinner tonight.  I was just too tired to do anything else other than steam some broccoli to accompany the steak my husband was making for himself. 

 

Cold pizza for breakfast is only something you do in your 20's.  I have progressed to warming it up in the microwave these days and waiting until 11AM.

 

Can't wait to hear what you do tomorrow!

 

Company cat (my MIL's) was exiled from his home due to some bad behavior.  He actually liked being there to torture the working dog (mine) who punched in Monday through Thursday each week. 

Edited January 10, 2019 by Sheal

[SleepingUgly]

I forgot to upload the Celebrity Daily for our first day at sea (December 22) so here it is ...

 

The daily included this letter from the captain regarding our change of port for the first day

 

 

[SleepingUgly]

Day 3 – Sea Day

 

Here is the Celebrity daily for today, along with an insert about the deals you can receive if you book your next cruise onboard

 

We woke up a bit later today, around 8.30 am or so.  Really feels great to be catching up on our sleep, as back at home, we’re usually in bed anywhere between 11-11.30 pm but have to wake between 5.30-6 am.  I probably could have actually slept a bit longer but the sun peeking in through the curtains woke me up (our bed is right next to the balcony and I slept on the side right next to it).  I had planned on bringing clothes pins or large binder clips to hold the curtain in place to block out the light shining through, but as you know, my planning wasn’t exactly on par those last few days.  Oh, well.  Am I going to complain that I was woken up by bright sunlight at 8.30 am on a cruise ship in December, welcoming me to another day of 80 degree temps?  I think we know the answer by now. 

 

Dh and I went to breakfast around 9 am.  All the girls chose to sleep in that day, even the little one.  Oceanview Café was much more crowded today than it was yesterday, most likely because we got there about one hour later, but still manageable.  There were also only two of us so it was easier for us to find a place to sit. 

 

Once again, dh made a beeline to the ready-to-made omelet / eggs station, while I headed for the congee, to be followed by scrambled eggs and grilled tomatoes.  By the way, what is UP with the scrambled eggs anyway on this ship?  Why were they served in a pot and why were they also so friggin’ soupy?  Didn’t know that scrambled eggs came in its own juice.  It’s a good thing I love eggs and was usually too lazy to stand in line to order freshly-made scrambled eggs, so I just made do with watery eggs.  Actually, I always felt like I was letting down the folks at the omelet station when I placed my order, which would be mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes, mixed with some scrambled eggs.  No cheese and no fancy omelet please.  The guy taking my order would be all aghast, gasping “No omelet?!?  Just scrambled?!?”  I think he really wanted to press his hand to his heart and, if there had been a fainting couch behind that counter, he would have made good use of it.  So, rather than disappoint and/or offend the egg gods, I just stuck with pre-made, watery scrambled eggs most days.

 

Anyway, after breakfast, dh decided to go to the casino to check out what this advertised poker tournament was all about.  I went back to the cabins and woke up the girls.  It was around 10 am by now so, as an old fart, I thought it was well past time to get up.  For teenagers however, they had at least 4-5 hours more of sleep left in them, but I dragged all of them out of bed by opening up their curtain in a very dramatic fashion and letting in all that glorious Caribbean sunshine.  You’d think I was waking vampires from their crypt, from the noises they made and the angry glares sent my way.

 

Anyway, once they finally were up and (somewhat) presentable to polite society, we went back up to the Oceanview Café so they could grab a bite to eat.  It was almost 10.30 am by now but there was still a lot of food set out, so I’m not sure what they mean by breakfast going from 7-10 am, and then “late breakfast” from 10-11 am.  It looked like the same thing to me.

 

Once the girls had their fill, we wandered up to the Sky Lounge, where Celebrity’s Family @ Sea program was hosting a Decorate Your Own Christmas Ornament event.  This turned out to sound like it would be more fun than it actually was. We got to the Sky Lounge and there were already a few people there.  A Fun Factory (I think) personnel was standing at a table with make-your-own ornaments from Oriental Trading.  These were the little foamy or wooden types.  For some reason, I had thought we’d get REAL, round / circular Christmas ornaments to decorate.  They also had some glitter pens and glue sticks and markers for us to use, but definitely not enough for everyone who showed up.  I mean, if you are providing 20-25 ornaments for folks to decorate, shouldn’t you have more than 4-5 markers to hand out?

 

Anyway, the girls and I found a spot right next to the expansive Sky Lounge windows and decorated our ornaments.  The girls did ornaments and I decorated one of those foamy picture frames.  There were directions for me to follow.  Ugh, more thinking.  What kind of vacation is this anyway? 

 

In the end, we had a good time.  I mean, where else can you decorate (lame) ornaments with the Caribbean Sea as your backdrop?  We also got some great, free (relatively speaking) souvenirs out of it.  Plus, it is always enjoyable to spend time with just my girls.  Not that we don’t love dh, but nothing beats girl time.  I took the three of them to Disney World a couple of years ago to celebrate the little one turning five - just the four of us - and it was probably one of our best vacations ever.  I’m pretty sure dh had a nice five days to himself at home as well, so no need to lose any sleep for him.

 

 

We were done with our ornaments in about 20 minutes, and just in time.  I really wanted to go see what the Destination Presentation was all about this morning so, once the girls had their fill, we went to the Celebrity Theater a little before 11.30 am.  This was apparently a continuation of the talk from yesterday, so today’s presentation covered just the three last islands we would visit: Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Kitts.  Even though I had been to all three places before, I figured this may be a good opportunity to learn a bit more about each place.  Little did I know but this was not a cultural or educational presentation, but a ruse to get me to purchase shore excursions from Celebrity.  Ugh.  I am more than just a wallet, Celebrity!  We got bored after a while – and the oldest was confused … “Island of Spies?  Does Grenada have, like, spy schools there or something?” – we decided to skedaddle out of there.

 

Edited January 10, 2019 by SleepingUgly

[SleepingUgly]

Day 3 – Sea Day (cont.)

 

So after we escaped the hell that was the Destination Presentation, we decided to head over to the Grand Foyer, where they would be setting up archery for the kids to try.  Earlier, they had an officers vs. guests archery competition, but now it was time for the amateurs to step aside and let the pros take over.  Our little one has been begging me for an archery set for months now, so when I saw this activity listed in the Daily, I figured this would be a good opportunity for her to try it out and see how she likes it.  Being the good, encouraging mother that I am, I was hoping that she fails spectacularly and ends up hating the sport so much that I never have to hear again about how she doesn’t have an archery set and how she doesn’t have anything and how she never gets anything she wants, waaaaah.  Grey Goose, take me away.

 

We got to the Grand Foyer as things were still being set up so we took some pictures of the Gingerbread Stairway.

 

First up was a kid who looked like Barron Trump, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t Barron because his dad wasn’t a 6’4” Oompa Loompa.  The dad, however, was griping about how they didn’t put the wrist guards and goggles on his son right away, and complained to a staff member that they needed to be more diligent.  To which the staff member replied, “Well, they’re on him now so we’re all good.”  Yikes, kind of a snarky response, if you ask me (although I was laughing about it too because there’s nothing I love more than a good, snarky comeback).

 

Anyway, this kid had some mad archery skills so staff members may take care to not talk too much smack to his dad.  Then again, the arrows had foam at the end of their tips, so maybe they don’t have that much to worry about. 

 

Next up, was our little Kitty Cat, who looked ready to take on the world, but in the end, took on only maybe a small corner of Delaware. She tried her hardest but didn’t have enough arm strength to pull the arrow back far enough to make it go any further than maybe 2-3 feet in front of her.  She gave up after a few tries and – do I hear angels singing from above??? – didn’t cry or whine about it.  Just shrugged her shoulders and was like, “OK, I did that.  Let’s go to lunch; I’m starving.” I was so proud and relieved.  It’s the little things, really.

 

Making sure those wrist guards and goggles are on, so we don't get yelled at

 

Her big sister is always ready and willing to help her out

 

Dh met up with us at this time; he was able to catch his little girl fail in her attempt to be the next Robin Hood (it’s OK; she doesn’t look good in green anyway).  I asked him how the tournament went and he said he didn’t sign up but just played at the tables instead.  He was up @ $850 after just a couple of hours of play, thanks to three Full Houses in a row, so he was happy.  We never gamble to win but more to just have some fun, but if now he can play on the ship’s dime for the rest of this trip and we end up only even at the end ,then we consider that a win in our books.

 

Like the little one said, it was time for lunch.  She wanted to try the MDR for lunch and the rest of us didn’t have any preference so the MDR is where we went.  It wasn’t too busy and we were seated right away at a table for just the five of us.  The woman working at the check-in stand already recognized us from two days ago when we showed up for boarding-day lunch in the MDR.  It really is kind of nuts how quickly they remember your faces.

 

Lunch was decent, but nothing to write home about.  So I’ll just write about it here.  I had the cream of mushroom soup to start, and then the spaghetti Bolognese.  Our youngest had the chicken satay as a starter, and then the smoked turkey pesto panini.  My oldest had some seafood with rice plate.  The little one had to order off the regular menu as there is no children’s menu at lunchtime in the MDR, but really, I’m not someone to encourage my child to chow down on only chicken tenders and grilled cheese for all their meals anyway, so this worked out fine for us.  I had the Strongbow Hard Apple Cider with my lunch as well.  Really refreshing, although I still prefer Stella Artois’ cider much better, but they didn’t offer that on the ship.

 

 

[chamima]

Reading your Patter i see that there are actually TWO activities at 10:00 pm!

(Unlike some of our cruises when there was virtually nothing past 9:30 or so )

80s party in the Sky Lounge and a late night comedian in the theater.

 

Plus even MORE at 11:00  - music in the Ensemble and dancing in the foyer!

 

I LOVE SUE DENNING!!!!! 😍

[SleepingUgly]

Day 3 – Sea Day (cont.)

 

So is anyone still reading this?  I feel like I am talking to myself most of the time, but since I'm probably the only person who finds me to be as entertaining as I like to think I am, I guess that is OK then!

 

After lunch, dh went back to the casino to see if his lucky streak will continue and the middle child went to the X Club. She ended up making many new friends on this cruise and hung out with them a lot, which was nice for her as she is quite social.  As for our oldest and youngest – they preferred to hang out with each other (as my oldest one told me, “I don’t need any more friends.  I already have three.”), which invariably meant they were hanging out with us.  Yet something else I can’t and shouldn’t complain about because what’s the point of going on a family vacation if you don’t spend time with your family?  This is what I was looking forward to the most.

 

Anyway, our oldest was intrigued by her father’s casino winnings that morning so she wanted to go try her hand at gambling as well.  On the ship, the minimum age to play in the casino is 18 so, at the age of 19, she is not old enough to lose her savings in Vegas but was old enough for Silhouette to take all her (parents’) hard-earned money.  So we decided to visit the casino for the afternoon.  However, we still had the little one with us, so what did we do?  After all that talk of spending quality family time together, we sent her off to the Fun Factory, of course, where someone else can deal with her for a couple of hours.  #ParentoftheYear

 

We stopped by the ATM (e.g., my husband) to get cash from him.  He gave us each $40 – whoo!  My monthly allowance all at once!  The casino was pretty empty so we had our pick of machines.  We sat down at two machines and she watched me for a bit … because, you know, it takes a while to learn how to push a button.  Guess they're not teaching that to her in college.  All those flashing lights and music can be distracting, you know.  Anyway, I was up for a bit and then down, then up again.  She finally got the concept (after asking a million and one questions along the way) and decided to try it out herself at the machine next to me.  I got a running commentary from her at her machine of each spin and any bonus she got and how she was THIS close to winning the jackpot.  Seriously, does that child ever stop talking?

 

Anyway, after about 20 minutes, she turned her $40 into this …

 

Way to pay us back for all the tuition, kid!  Meanwhile, I was still playing on my first $20 and was up to around $200.  She ran off to show her father her cash-out receipt and came back with an extra $20 from him.  Oooh, Mr. Generous has shown up today.  She decided to venture more than two machines away from me and went to play on her own. 

 

Twenty minutes or so later, she came running over to me and showed her latest cash-out receipt …

 

 

Woo-hoo!  Now that’s what I call beginner’s luck.  Meanwhile, I was at around $180 so I decided to cash out too.  Not too bad of an hour’s work for us.

 

Around 3.30 pm, we went to pick up the little one from the Fun Factory.  She had made friends, of course, but when she saw us, she could not get out of there fast enough.  Were they cooking children in there or what?  Not sure why she didn’t care for the place – and I’m sure the counselors were fantastic with all the kids – but she went back only once more during the cruise and that was more than enough for her.

 

Well, it was now time for bingo, which is the real reason we were doing this cruise, of course.  To yell out “AND AFTER” when they call out B4.  Which they never did so that was a fail on our part.

 

 

We got three cards for $49, rather than pay more for more cards.  If fate wanted us to win, we would win.  There were quite a few people getting their bingo cards (or “boards,” really) and we all stood outside Celebrity Central, waiting to enter around 4 pm.  Once we were let in, the little one wanted to sit in the front row, of course.  So that’s where we sat.

 

The first game was regular bingo, and two people won (not us) and each got around $90.  The second game was four corners, and the winner (again, not us) got $275.  The third and final game was blackout, and the winner (do I really need to tell you if we won or not?) received $380.  All in all, bingo took about 45 minutes.  When it was finished, the little one looked at me accusingly with a look that said, “Is that ALL?!?”  Yeah, like it was my fault we didn’t win. #blamethemom #wealwaysdo

 

After that, we went to the buffet to grab a quick snack to take back to the room with us to eat.  We sat on the balcony and enjoyed the wake view and sounds, and also rested a bit before that night’s show and dinner.

[chamima]

I'm still reading (and loving) your trip report.

I haven't finished the latest post but wanted to let you know you have an audience!

 

Finished!

Waiting with baited breath to see the fortune your family ends up winning on this cruise.

Edited January 11, 2019 by chamima

[RealBatman]

I agree with 'chamima'! Not only am I reading your review, I'm reading a second time, aloud, to my DW who is enjoying it as much as myself. Keep going! The chapters are flying by! 🙂

[parrothead33]

Still following along.  I love the way you write and the pictures are great!

[bluewhite]

Absolutely love your sense of humor. Also your story telling. If I  may call your terrific posts that.

Happy to see the casino is paying out a bit.

Please keep the stories coming.

 

Linda

[Blockschip]

Great writing style!

[SleepingUgly]

Day 3 – Sea Day (cont.)

 

So that evening’s show was put on by the Silhouette’s own production company.  It was called Cosmopolitan, and the intro talked about how the show would revolve around the many different cities around the world.  Except, the show really was more about different regions of the world because, last time I checked, Japan is not a city.  Then again, I’ve been on a ship and disconnected from the world for two days so perhaps things have changed in the past 48 hours?

 

We took some pictures of the show, all on my husband’s new iPhone XS, which takes amazing pictures.  Honestly, the pictures may indicate the show to actually be better than it really was.  While it was entertaining overall, the singing was really off from some of the performers, and the dancing was pretty bad from a few of them.  What the heck was going on with that belly dancer girl?  Was she actually trying to dance or having an epileptic attack?  And who came up with that idea of the dance routine with jump rope that took place in New Orleans?  What the heck was that all about?

 

Once again, our eight-year-old really enjoyed the show, while the two older ones would have been fine if we had stayed in the room and watched Food Network for another hour.  Our oldest has done classical ballet / modern dance for the past 14-15 years, so she watched with a more critical eye; while she did enjoy the performance, she also thought a few of the performers could do themselves (and us) a favor if they found other career paths.  We all enjoyed the songs, though, as they ranged from classic hits to more recent songs.  And the singing for the most part was OK, with the exception of a couple of the female singers.  All of the male performers were quite good though, in my opinion.

 

Anyway, here are some pictures of that night’s show.

 

These aerialists and another pair were really amazing to watch!

 

 

 

These three gentlemen probably had the most talent of all the performers, especially the one in the middle

 

The grand finale

[rages100]

Really enjoying this, thank you for taking the time to do it. 

[SleepingUgly]

1 hour ago, chamima said:

I'm still reading (and loving) your trip report.

I haven't finished the latest post but wanted to let you know you have an audience!

 

Finished!

Waiting with baited breath to see the fortune your family ends up winning on this cruise.

 

Thanks for sticking it out with me.  We've got a long ways to go still, I'm afraid.  And no more big winnings for us on this trip, unfortunately, but we had fun playing on Celebrity's dime and breaking even in the end.  That's good enough for us!

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

1 hour ago, RealBatman said:

I agree with 'chamima'! Not only am I reading your review, I'm reading a second time, aloud, to my DW who is enjoying it as much as myself. Keep going! The chapters are flying by! 🙂

 

Thanks, Batman!  I will try to include some tongue twisters and alliterations in my posts to make it more interesting for you to read out loud. 😉 

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

56 minutes ago, parrothead33 said:

Still following along.  I love the way you write and the pictures are great!

 

Thank you for hanging in there with me!

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

43 minutes ago, bluewhite said:

Absolutely love your sense of humor. Also your story telling. If I  may call your terrific posts that.

Happy to see the casino is paying out a bit.

Please keep the stories coming.

 

Linda

 

Thanks, Linda!  It's been fun reliving the cruise so glad I can share.  This is a nice way for me to record my memories so I can re-read later on myself!

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

26 minutes ago, Blockschip said:

Great writing style!

 

Thank you, and I owe it all to my AP English teacher from senior year of high school, Mrs. Walker.  🙂

 

Linda

 

[SleepingUgly]

5 minutes ago, rages100 said:

Really enjoying this, thank you for taking the time to do it. 

 

Thanks, and it really has been fun!  Appreciate your taking the time to read!

 

Linda

 

[SandyKnits]

I’m thoroughly enjoying your trip narrative!  So much fun to read while we anticipate our Silhouette cruise in 4 weeks.  Thanks so much for providing us with such a detailed trip report.  By the way, you have a beautiful family!

Edited January 11, 2019 by SandyKnits

[Still Dreaming]

Enjoying your review!  We leave Feb 1st.   Love to read recent cruise reviews and ones, like yours, that are informative and funny!

[tompeter]

Just in case you are keeping track...Loving every word of your review! Thanks for sharing.

[SleepingUgly]

Day 3 – Sea Day (cont.)

 

After the show finished, we walked to the other side of the ship for dinner, stopping in a few of the shops.  When we passed the Martini Bar, it was hopping but we thought we’d stop and grab a couple of drinks to take to dinner with us.  We found a recently-vacated seat and I sat while the kids played with the ice surrounding the bar (I’m sure the Martini Bar enthusiasts sitting near us really enjoyed that).  We sat and waited … and waited … and waited … before noticing that – hey! – why was no one working behind the counter?  Come to think of it, why was there no one behind the counter, period.  And why was there water all over the floor behind the bar?  Why were there buckets filled with water behind the bar?  Hmm … I’m not sure about you, but in my opinion, any signs that there may be a leak or any sort anywhere on a ship usually is not something one wants to see.  But who am I to say?  I just want a chocolate martini, dammit!

 

Anyway, we figured something was up, which is why no one was being served.  But since no one also looked terribly concerned and the ship was not tipping sideways and we didn’t see Leonardo DiCaprio rushing about like a mad man trying to save Kate Winslet, we figured this wasn’t anything to worry our pretty little heads about. Besides, by then, it was 8.30 pm, so we made our way into the MDR.

 

I remembered to take pictures of the menu that night!

 

 

I had the braised beef to start, and then the flank steak.  I was feeling caveman-y so decided to go with my all meat diet tonight.  The flank steak was cooked incredibly well – the perfect medium rare – and it melted in my mouth.  It was almost – not quite, but very close – as good as the Kobe steak I would have at this amazing Japanese restaurant in Hong Kong when I used to travel there all the time for work – it literally melted in your mouth, it was so tender.  This steak was pretty close to that.

 

Sorry, was halfway through my entree before I remembered to take a picture ... #amateur

 

That night, we noticed the table behind us – a couple who reminded me of Statler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show; you know, the two grumpy old men who were always ragging on the other muppets from their perch in the upper balcony, except the couple sitting behind us were a man and a woman, but they had that same sour, fed-up-with-the-world, everyone-just-go-away expression on their faces pretty much all the time – had a giant plate of olives.  Now my husband and kids are lifelong members of the ILove Olives Club, so he inquired about that with Joseph, our waiter.  Joseph said you have to ask for that in advance, so my husband asked if our table could also have a plate of olives for the next night.  Joseph was happy to accommodate and he felt so bad about not being able to provide us with a plate of different olives that very night, he brought out a GIANT plate of black olives for all of us.  The little one was delighted, and she must have eaten at least a dozen olives on her own, if not more.  However, a humungous plate of olives, to me, was the equivalent of a nightmare on a dish, but if Joseph could produce pretty much anything from the kitchen, I thought I’d try my luck and ask if he may be able to procure me a pair of Christian Louboutins – Size 7, please – by maybe tomorrow evening?  Alas, Joseph was not able to assist with my request.  Oh well, his loss.  There goes his “10” rating on our post-cruise survey for him.

 

Some more pictures of the little one at dinner that night ... Drinking her VIRGIN pina colada

 

Joseph serving her soup as her starter (that's Dexter in the background) 

 

Doing her Bob Ross imitation ... yeah, I'm confused too

 

We do not advocate that our children dine like this ... well, at least not while in public and clothed

 

For dessert that night, I got the chocolate lava cake.  Or, was it the chocolate lava nibble?  I’m not really sure … you tell me …

 

After dinner, which finished around 10.20 pm, the middle child went to the X Club to meet up with her friends.  We went to the photo gallery to check out pictures of us that had been taken the night before – and to check out other people’s pictures and, yes, make fun of them … c’mon, you know we all do it – and somehow got talked into purchasing the package that includes digital and print copies of all pictures taken by the ship’s photographers.  The “special” was $300 for the package, which ended up being a good deal for us because we got @ 90 prints in the end – along with the digital copies – so that came out to be around $3 per picture.  And, with kids, this was a good deal as now I can make a fun scrapbook with all the pictures taken of them, posing by the ship in each island.  You know, similar to that scrapbook that I did for our first Disney World trip back in 2005 … which has yet to be started. 

 

After that, we went up to the Sky Lounge for the 80s Dance Party that night.  The Sky Lounge allows everyone in before midnight; after that, only those 18 and older were allowed.  So our little one was allowed in at 11 pm, although I’m sure we got some disapproving looks for having her out so late, in such an inappropriate setting.  But, oh well, it was dark in that lounge so I didn’t really see any nasty looks thrown my way.  Then again, I was busy staring at the bottom of my Martini glass most of the time. #keepemcoming

 

We found a spot near some chairs next to the windows so the girls could dance without getting in anyone’s way.  The little one was in her element – free rein to dance however much she wanted??  She’s so there.  We let them shake their groove thang for a short while – all G-rated moves, no worries – and then left the Sky Lounge around 11.30 pm and headed back to our cabins.  Tomorrow would be our first port day and we were all excited to be on land again, but it would prove to be a busy (but always fun) seven days in a row.

[helen haywood]

I"m still here!  I loved the show Cosmopolitan and especially the three guys that sang the song when the Rome/Italy segment was done.  Do you by any chance know the name of the song?  I'd love to get it....

[SleepingUgly]

8 minutes ago, helen haywood said:

I"m still here!  I loved the show Cosmopolitan and especially the three guys that sang the song when the Rome/Italy segment was done.  Do you by any chance know the name of the song?  I'd love to get it....

 

I loved that performance!  The original song is Wicked Game, by Chris Isaak:

 

I found this Italian version by Il Divo, which is what was performed on the ship, I believe.  HTH!