Silhouette - (hopefully) a live review - 9th September Med Cruise

[tigervixxxen]

On 9/13/2023 at 8:05 AM, like2cruise said:

I love, love, love the Spicy Mangotini.  Thanks for all the food and drink pictures except for the MDR ones. They made me sad that some of the food options have dropped to that level.  I get cutbacks, but the MDR appears to have been slashed!!

Even sadder that the Fish n Chips is an extra option only on the Silhouette 

[ladylemondrop]

10 hours ago, hcat said:

wow , LCG looks great..seafood skewer and beef are calling to me.

 

Love all your drinks..Being type 2 diabetic I can only do a few.. a small martini and my go to IGLU ( non alc ).  I may substitute the frosted toasted almond..What' s the best bar for that?

Pool bar is the best place for the milkshake style cocktails. They also offer a mudslide, a French Caribbean and a Miami Vice (half pina colada, half strawberry daiquiri) They are mostly ice, some milk, and the alcohol, don’t forget to ask them for the chocolate swirl. 

[ladylemondrop]

This mornings sweet treat in the Oceanview buffet - Sticky Buns. This is the one cake I can’t resist, it was warm, gooey and worth every calorie! 
 

[chemmo]

Nice to see breakfast specials in the Oceanview….Those buns look yummy!

[ladylemondrop]

1 hour ago, chemmo said:

Nice to see breakfast specials in the Oceanview….Those buns look yummy!

We love to sit at the High Tops near the entrance, just goes back to when the kids were younger so they could find us easily after sleeping in! 

[ladylemondrop]

Today we just headed into Civitavecchia on our own. Our son and his girlfriend have gone on a private cookery class here in town but we just wanted a quiet wander.  It was very hot today, 29 degrees Celsius. 
 

We saw the market, lots of nice fish there, then the cathedral, before heading to the seafront. We saw the kissing couple statue, and everyone taking selfies etc. The beach is a bit scruffy but the water looked ok. We used the free shuttle bus to get from the port and back. 
 

The ship have a stand to welcome you back with cold drinks etc, very nice touch. As always we had a nice time but feel happy to be ‘home’ on the ship! 
 

 

[Erekosse]

Thanks for sharing!

 

We are on the Silhouette in June, so it's great to get a preview.

[Summer1961]

22 hours ago, ladylemondrop said:

I started the day by randomly finding a duck! She’s very cute 🐣 
 

An apology - I did not get any photos from last nights dinner, we shared a table in the MDR with two other couples and I didn’t want to be that rude person with their phone out during dinner. Our table was situated a bit better, that’s the good news. The bad news- food was pretty average. I had Steak Dianne with Hasselback potatoes. The steak was tough and over cooked, the potato was not hasselback just one tiny piece of roasted potato. Disappointing. The snails seem to be a hit though, the chap next to us says he has two portions every evening! 

I opted for liquid dessert again at the Martini bar… These cocktails are too good…

 

Today we went to Cagliari Sardinia. Our tour was Panoramic sightseeing (from the bus) and a stop at a Tuscan farmhouse for cheese and wine tasting. It was busy, five coach loads of us all descended on the farmhouse, and I was a little overwhelmed by it, we usually do small group tours but I didn’t organise any this time. This was the moment I wished I had! The food was excellent of course, locally sourced salami, cheese and prosciutto, served with white or red wine and very gracious Italian hospitality. 

 

Afterwards we drove past the salt lakes and saw Flamingoes! Now that was exciting. They apparently arrived in Sardinia in 1993 and haven’t left. We couldn’t get a good photo as they were not close enough. They look so elegant. 

 

Tonight’s dinner is at the Lawn Club. I’m already dreaming of carrot cake! 
 

 

Looks amazing!  Thanks for sharing.

[Summer1961]

We’ve never actually visited Civitavechia so happy to see some photos.  We will be leaving from there again in June 2024 and have been wondering if we should stay there overnight instead of Rome.

Would love to hear about the cookery class if you have time.

 

Thank you again.

[ladylemondrop]

The cookery class was great fun according to my son and his girlfriend, they made and ate their own Italian lunch. It was 80 euros pp. 

The website is - https://cookingclassincivitavecchia.com/

 

They highly recommend this! Great alternative to trekking into Rome. 

[ladylemondrop]

This was my ‘Italian’ lunch by the pool this afternoon……not quite as healthy!!!😂

 

Thats a frozen strawberry daiquiri with chocolate swirl. Another one off my list…..

[JDPCruisers]

51 minutes ago, ladylemondrop said:

This was my ‘Italian’ lunch by the pool this afternoon……not quite as healthy!!!😂

 

Thats a frozen strawberry daiquiri with chocolate swirl. Another one off my list…..

Been following along and, like others, many thanks for your live review with great photos. We are on Connie in December and looking more and more forward to it based on your current overall experience and all of our positive previous X cruise experiences. Continue to enjoy your journey! 

[ladylemondrop]

58 minutes ago, JDPCruisers said:

Been following along and, like others, many thanks for your live review with great photos. We are on Connie in December and looking more and more forward to it based on your current overall experience and all of our positive previous X cruise experiences. Continue to enjoy your journey! 

I heard from another passenger today that they loved Constellation, they said the staff were really fun, and it was a lovely ship still.  

[JDPCruisers]

14 minutes ago, ladylemondrop said:

I heard from another passenger today that they loved Constellation, they said the staff were really fun, and it was a lovely ship still.  

We have heard the same and I plan to provide our experience on CC. We are on Beyond (having been on Apex and Edge) in April and Eclipse in September. Looking forward to them all and waiting for 2025 to open up. Now, I just wish international airfares would somehow magically go down (truly wishful thinking)!

[hcat]

3 hours ago, Summer1961 said:

We’ve never actually visited Civitavechia so happy to see some photos.  We will be leaving from there again in June 2024 and have been wondering if we should stay there overnight instead of Rome.

Would love to hear about the cookery class if you have time.

 

Thank you again.

we stayed in Cv pre-cruise for a few days..Loved it..very authentic. Had a nice hotel...good food there.  Organized a  large Roll Call dinner at a retaurant a few blocks away from the hotel..They treated us like family!

 

.Good places to eat esp lunch but everything closed for a long  midday break. At the time, there was a pharmacy on the main  street that was nicey stocked with last minute stuff..

 

Same trip we stay in the town of Fuminico overnight pre flight home. Marriot was very convenient. Good food in town too..

 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, ladylemondrop said:

The cookery class was great fun according to my son and his girlfriend, they made and ate their own Italian lunch. It was 80 euros pp. 

The website is - https://cookingclassincivitavecchia.com/

 

They highly recommend this! Great alternative to trekking into Rome. 

Fabulous!  

[FRMPEI]

On 9/9/2023 at 1:51 PM, ladylemondrop said:

Just a quick photo of our cabin, 9239 mid ship concierge. We missed the concierge embarkation lunch but it was offered until 1pm. 
our cabin is directly next to our sons, and the steward very kindly opened the balconies up so we have one big shared area between us. 
 

 

Is your son's room 9241 or 9237?  If 9241 tell them to take good care of it because we have booked for March 2024. If not then knock on the door and tell them the same. 😀

 

Thanks for taking the time out of your vacation to share here.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

[hcat]

16 minutes ago, FRMPEI said:

 

Is your son's room 9241 or 9237?  If 9241 tell them to take good care of it because we have booked for March 2024. If not then knock on the door and tell them the same. 😀

 

Thanks for taking the time out of your vacation to share here.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

hope it was 9237..thats what we booked..bed by bath, lg balc..

[ladylemondrop]

14 hours ago, FRMPEI said:

 

Is your son's room 9241 or 9237?  If 9241 tell them to take good care of it because we have booked for March 2024. If not then knock on the door and tell them the same. 😀

 

Thanks for taking the time out of your vacation to share here.

 

Regards,

Kevin Reid

9237 - really great cabin! Am sure 9241 is too…

[ladylemondrop]

Last nights dinner, great table at the back of the MDR - the wait staff here are just excellent, we had Lloyd, Tony, and Tapas the sommelier, all went so over and above for everyone around us, we were told if we want anything extra, or see something on someone else’s table we like - ask! They will bring! 
They also offered us chefs special appetisers (not had this experience before, maybe they have had a lot of feedback about menus) they were clam chowder, and seafood crepe, both excellent. We also asked for fries instead of mash and they brought so many we laughed (sorry I didn’t get a photo of them but you know what fries look like) they were good fries! 
 

We had clam chowder, seafood crepe, then Pork Schnitzel, and BBQ ribs, all delicious I have to say. No complaints at all. 
 

Before dinner we went to the Ensemble bar (near Murano) for drinks, it’s really lovely quiet place with soothing jazz style music. 
 

After dinner was a bit quiet around the martini bar, we hope they will bring some more music fun back again soon. We did ask them to do some juggling etc, as they haven’t done any of that classic martini high jinx at all yet. We have noticed however that the Cruise Director, Pete, seems very multi talented - he has hosted a hypnosis show, a late night comedy show as well as doing his other regular entertainment work.  
 

Tomorrow we are in La Spezia (Pisa). 
 

[ladylemondrop]

Pisa! We took a train, all by ourselves (we had a bus tour originally but it got cancelled last minute by Viator) Katie really really wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so we braved the train. We got the shuttle bus from the port, to the terminal then a taxi from right outside to La Spezia Centrale Station, 15 euros. 
 

Tickets cost 33euros total for 4 people. Bargain! The train took an hour and a quarter. It arrives at Pisa San Rossare, and is a five minute walk to the left when you exit the station (you can see the tower clearly) easy! 
 

We spent a while at the Tower taking those obligatory photos that everyone does. 
Then we walked down Corsa Italia for some shopping therapy. There are a lot of fabulous shops and it was shaded too which helped. 
 

George wanted an authentic pizza lunch experience so we had to go to a specific restaurant that had been extensively researched. It worked out to be a great call, it was very tasty and we needed the rest after a lot of walking. 
 

Our train back was on time, the trains are nice with double decks, toilets and clear instructions of which stop you are at. I would definitely travel that way again. It was a tiring day so as you can see (much to my sons amusement) we had a nap on the way back.
 

Tonight we are back in Tuscan Grill for dinner. More food…… 

[Baggy178]

43 minutes ago, ladylemondrop said:

Pisa! We took a train, all by ourselves (we had a bus tour originally but it got cancelled last minute by Viator) Katie really really wanted to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so we braved the train. We got the shuttle bus from the port, to the terminal then a taxi from right outside to La Spezia Centrale Station, 15 euros. 
 

Tickets cost 33euros total for 4 people. Bargain! The train took an hour and a quarter. It arrives at Pisa San Rossare, and is a five minute walk to the left when you exit the station (you can see the tower clearly) easy! 
 

We spent a while at the Tower taking those obligatory photos that everyone does. 
Then we walked down Corsa Italia for some shopping therapy. There are a lot of fabulous shops and it was shaded too which helped. 
 

George wanted an authentic pizza lunch experience so we had to go to a specific restaurant that had been extensively researched. It worked out to be a great call, it was very tasty and we needed the rest after a lot of walking. 
 

Our train back was on time, the trains are nice with double decks, toilets and clear instructions of which stop you are at. I would definitely travel that way again. It was a tiring day so as you can see (much to my sons amusement) we had a nap on the way back.
 

Tonight we are back in Tuscan Grill for dinner. More food…… 

 

 

Our kids also like to catch us having a quick 40 winks too the little sods 😅

Enjoying your reports from the Silhouette - we're on the Oct 22nd TA with her.

[gold1953]

1 hour ago, Baggy178 said:

 

 

Our kids also like to catch us having a quick 40 winks too the little sods 😅

Enjoying your reports from the Silhouette - we're on the Oct 22nd TA with her.

We are as well!

[ladylemondrop]

Tuscan - it was wonderful. We had a lovely view of the aft whilst sailing away. 
The food is so plentiful, it’s like a good challenge, be ready!! Get those stretchy trousers/pants out! 
 

After dinner we had a walk around the ship for digestive purposes, the pool always looks so nice at night. 
 

We finished with cocktails at the world class bar, just amazing, they are superb… Shuby is a very bad influence and gave us shots as well. Fred, you have a lot to answer for!!! 
 

 

[ladylemondrop]

The house band are really good , they are called higher love  -