Some Useful Facts From Our January 14-24, 2022 Celebrity Silhouette Cruise

[mahdnc]

Excellent write up. Thank you for taking the time to post this. 

[Bill1314]

Many thanks Bob and Linda,

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise, and really happy to follow in your footsteps.

 

best wishes

[catbro]

We were on the ship with you and agree with everything in your review. One question though, I never heard the captain announce any passenger covid cases during his daily announcements (which I thought was a requirement by CDC). I did hear him announce something about Covid the second to last day on the ship (at Sea) but I couldn't make out the details. So I went to the customer relations desk and inquired. I was told there was 1 passenger with Covid symptoms but was not yet a confirmed case at the time of the announcement. 

 

The only downside of that cruise was I doubt we will ever get to experience that again,

more staff than guest, unbelievable access to loungers, bars, theater chairs, reservations, you name it.

It was a great cruise for us.

[JaneStarr]

@drychiThank you so much for taking the time to do this!
I have one quick question. Was the 2nd Chic/ “Formal” night menu on the 2nd to last night of your cruise, as is typical?  

I ask because the Celebrity app for our same 10 night itinerary on Feb 4 is showing that menu on the final night — night 10.  I’m hoping it’s a mistake.

[cruisestitch]

I am pretty sure that is a mistake. I have never known that “chic” menu to be on the Last night of a cruise.

[JaneStarr]

6 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

I am pretty sure that is a mistake. I have never known that “chic” menu to be on the Last night of a cruise.

Glad to hear that wasn’t your experience on the same Silhouette 10 night itinerary earlier this month! Thanks for chiming in.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.  We board the Silhouette February 25 for 10 days.  We plan on taking only Celebrity excursions, but, we would like to go to the beach near the port when on St. Maarten, is this possible at this time? 

[JaneStarr]

36 minutes ago, Cruiz'nBaers said:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.  We board the Silhouette February 25 for 10 days.  We plan on taking only Celebrity excursions, but, we would like to go to the beach near the port when on St. Maarten, is this possible at this time? 

It was possible when I checked very recently. We have the same plan for the 2/4 sailing.  We were on a Royal Caribbean ship on 10/31 and took the open-air water ferry (5 min walk from the ship) for $7pp (unlimited trips for the day).  Walked to the left from the water taxi dock and kept walking until we found some nicely spaced out, padded lounge chairs. We paid $20 for 1 umbrella and 2 chairs. That included wifi on the beach from 2 restaurants. We also got an icy bucket of 5 beers/waters/sodas for an extra $10.

 

The person renting the chairs was amazing and got us food and beverages all day from the 2 closest restaurants.

 

Just make sure to bring cash. They didn’t take Credit cards. I did notice an ATM on the boardwalk by the ferry dock.

We spent about $100 USD for 4 of us, including 2 souvenir towels because the adult kids forgot to bring some from the ship.

It was a very nice & relaxing beach day. The ship was always w/in view and was walking distance in the event of any problem with the water ferry.

 

Here’s where to check the current rules for each port:

https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/us-travel-requirements

Note the different rules if traveling with unvaccinated children.

Here’s what is currently shown for St Maarten:

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by JaneStarr
Add info

[drychi]

22 hours ago, Cruiz'nBaers said:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.  We board the Silhouette February 25 for 10 days.  We plan on taking only Celebrity excursions, but, we would like to go to the beach near the port when on St. Maarten, is this possible at this time? 

It was possible for our cruise on January 17, 2022. Good luck!

Edited February 1, 2022 by drychi

[jg51]

On 1/27/2022 at 4:42 PM, drychi said:

... Required Pre-Boarding Covid-19 Testing:  ... When we checked in on January 10, 2022 we asked if the hotel provided this type of testing.  They did not, but the hotel recommended that we contact Instant Medical Care: Telephone: 954-200-6001 Open Monday-Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Address: 1328 SE 17th Street Fort Lauderdale, Florida. No appointment was necessary and the urgent care clinic was an easy 7 minute walk from our Hilton Hotel.  They are in one of the small shopping strips between the Walgreens and Embassy Suites Hotel on 17th street for those familiar with the cruise port area of Ft. Lauderdale.  Their staff was very professional.  We filled out a one page form, paid our fee of approximately $80.00 each, and each received a rapid covid test.  We waited in their small waiting room for approximately 15 minutes, got our written negative result in a form acceptable to Celebrity and went on with our day.  Total time spent on this was approximately 30 minutes.  We went on Wednesday morning for a Friday morning cruise and the entire experience was easy and painless. ...            

.

Many thanks, "drychi," for your informative, factual account and interesting comments.  Of all the info you shared, the most helpful to us was the segment that we quoted above -- about the Wednesday test that you obtained.  Please notice the small part that we have highlighted (bold and tinted) before continuing to read here ...

 

Our question is this:  What was the "written negative result in a form acceptable to Celebrity"?  If it was something electronic (e.g., stored in your phone or in your e-mail InBox), we need to ask you if -- instead -- the clinic (Instant Medical Care) would have provided a hard-copy print-out of the report.  {We need to ask because we choose not to use portable telephones.}

 

Thanks, in advance, for your reply.

.

[drychi]

Good evening JG51.  We received a hard copy report of our Covid 19 rapid antigen test.  Took picture of it with our phones, after receipt, so we had it digitally as well as physically. The written report complied with all of the Celebrity requirements set out in their frequently asked questions for such reports.  Happy Cruising! Bob and Linda. 

Edited February 3, 2022 by drychi

[jg51]

9 hours ago, drychi said:

Good evening JG51.  We received a hard copy report of our Covid 19 rapid antigen test.  Took picture of it with our phones, after receipt, so we had it digitally as well as physically. The written report complied with all of the Celebrity requirements set out in their frequently asked questions for such reports.  Happy Cruising! Bob and Linda. 

.

Thanks again for the very welcome news, Bob and Linda, that "a hard copy report" would be made available.

We're glad that you had an enjoyable cruise (on one of our favorite ships)!

.

[steve1191]

We were also on this cruise and agree wholeheartedly with your review

[daydreamer16]

Thanks so much for the very informative review. We cancelled our Silhouette cruise for 1/25 and we are now going on the same cruise 3/7. Glad to hear the Silhouette is in tip top shape!