Just off the Silhouette..May 24-June 6 Scandinavia

[daydreamer16]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful, uplifting family journey! Here's to many more family trips for your group.🍾 

The Silhouette is my favorite ship!

[Nancycat]

Other Venues..

I think we visited every venue on the ship.

 

Bars…

I never found the bars to be crowded, we spent a lot of time either at the sunset bar or the martini bar.

I love the location of the martini bar on the Solstice class, we were able to easily find a quite spot every time.

I really enjoy being able to hear the music from the atrium but still able to have conversation.

 

Sky Lounge..

We spent a lot of time in the sky lounge,again one of my favorite spots on the ship.

We did Karaoke, listened to the band and Roro loved dancing up there , 

We also just relaxed and watched the ocean.

 

Pool area..

This was not an area we used much, as the weather,although very nice was not pool conditions for us. There were some hardy people out on the pool deck ,I never saw anyone in the outdoor pools, but the spas got some good use.

The shops ..

Of course we spent time in the shops, mostly my sister who was a regular in the jewelry store. She went back every day they were open and ended up purchasing some earrings, and a necklace.

I myself am not a jewelry person, but she thought the prices were good.

The Lawn..

This was a place we also loved, Roro was able to play and run and kick a ball around. The cabanas were mostly empty, I did see one couple there one day .

 

The kids club..

Roro was not old enough to go to the kids club, but they did have a special playroom for kids that they could use if a parent or other adult was with them

They were open many hours during the day.

There were a lot of toys and games for Roro to play with.

We took him up there a least once a day to play, there was another little girl on board, the same age , so they ended up there at the same times and had fun together.

 

The Solarium..

Another area we used a lot and loved, again not over crowded, and we always found loungers together.

Steve, the steak guy loved this spot and spent hours here relaxing, reading,sleeping and swimming.

We also hung out there and practiced our skills in black jack..more on that later😁

Unlike the Caribbean, the solarium was not hot, it was warm enough but not so hot that it felt uncomfortable 

most of us went in the water, including Roro, kids are allowed to use the solarium daily from 5-7. It was fairly empty at that time so he loved it, he also swam with his friend from the kids club.

 

Spa..

none of us used the spa, although we did take advantage of the complimentary 5 minute back and neck rubs, those girls seemed very bored as I don’t think the spa was well used ..

 

Al Baccio..

Another fan favorite, again it was crowded at time but most of the time you could find a spot to sit.

The service was unbelievably great, I have no idea how they kept track of all the orders.

 

 

 

 

 

[cinnam0n]

Enjoying the journey through your family's eyes!  We'll be on Silhouette for the first time in August.  My daughter just celebrated the 5 year anniversary of her heart transplant, so I share your grateful mother's heart. 

[hcat]

Love the family pics...making great memories. thanks for sharing. .

 

The info about the ship is very encouraging for our Dec cruise.  We were on Silho when it first came on line but not in the yrs since. We are looking forward to a break from E Class!

[Nancycat]

The Casino…

We are not big gamblers, but my son in law does enjoy black jack.

So when we saw that there was a black jack tournament we decided that would be fun.

We went to guest relations and picked up a few packs of cards and started to practice, it was also fun for Roro who would call out numbers and we did teach him to say “hit”.

When the big day came, it was nap time for Roro, so I stayed back with him so the kids could all go.

Becky and Mike both entered the tournament, which cost $35 each to participate 

They had a ball and did come in 8th and 9th not in the money but respectable nonetheless.

This of course prompted us to think about a comeback…..

 

I made the executive decision that I would contribute $200 to the group and we would play until we were broke or had enough for another cruise. I told the kids they could keep what they won if they had the discipline to all away when they were up🤣

Off we went to the $10 table and tried to pretend we were card sharks…lol 

The dealer was on to us 

We had so much fun and the dealer was actually very sweet and seemed to enjoy our goofy group .

So how did we do, well I lost everything, Kristin walked away when she was up by $80, Conor walked away up $40, Becky lost, Mike walked away with $175.

So all in all we came out ahead and had so much fun, and I did show up the kids with my basic math skills,,,those flash cards came in handy…
We have no photos of this event, I’m sure Celebrity didn’t want the world to see our skills…🤪

The casino was not very busy and it was a fun welcome place for us to enjoy.

 

 

 

 

[Carol28]

On 6/9/2024 at 10:41 AM, Nancycat said:

my daughter Emily wanted to do a cooking class, After doing a lot of research I found a tour on Get Your Guide, called Learn to make Dutch pancakes in a beautiful Amsterdam canal home.

I'm trying to find this excursion.  Could you possibly help me out?  I only see one that costs about $26 per person, but I don't think it's in someone's home.  It's 45 minutes long.

[Nancycat]

3 hours ago, Carol28 said:

I'm trying to find this excursion.  Could you possibly help me out?  I only see one that costs about $26 per person, but I don't think it's in someone's home.  It's 45 minutes long.

I found it on Get Your Guide

Amsterdam: Craft Dutch Pancakes in Charming Canal House 

$85.58 /pp

[maggieq]

@Nancycat  thanks so much for sharing not only your cruise but your family story 😊 

 

we are on the silhouette in September so it’s good to hear your positive feedback 

we love the martini bar and sky lounge on s ships.  We miss them on edge, however, love their track and Eden. 

[cruisegirlppp]

On 6/11/2024 at 1:41 AM, Karen450 said:

I too was on this sailing and it was marvelous! Service was first rate, MDR was a treat - so much so that we never had the desire to upgrade to specialty dining. My DH and I never felt Celebrity was trying to cut corners.  One of our best cruises.  (Disembarkation out of Rotterdam needs help, though!  But with only one escalator and one elevator I’m not sure what miracle can be performed.) Looking forward to reliving the trip through your lens.  

Also on this sailing and we loved it...I would do this itinerary again (on this size ship) in a heartbeat!

[Erekosse]

Thanks for sharing!

 

We are on the Silhouette in just over the week and really looking forward to our trip!

[Nancycat]

Entertainment..

Having been on many celebrity cruises, I have seen many of the shows, which I find very good.

I find the theater on the Silhouette to be very enjoyable,I have been on other Un-named lines for which I certainly can not say this.

Between all of us we saw the comedian, the magic show, and some singers, It is not as if we were not interested in the shows,but our dinner times sort of conflicted with the show times.

I did really enjoy the pop up,shows in the atrium, 

 

In summery, we loved the ships, the food, the venues, the service, were there some things that were not perfect, I suppose but for us we nothing significant enough to affect our experience..

We operate on an attitude of gratitude..

 

Next up ..The Ports..

[Nancycat]

Ports of Call

 

 We were both excited and anxious about the ports, as they are not the usual cast of characters..Rome, Barcelona,etc..

 

I had done a lot of,research on these ports,but honestly there was not a ton of information, I was able to glean which ports were DYI and which needed an excursion.

 

Since we were a fairly large group with a toddler and reviewing the costs it made more sense for us to do private or small group tours.

 

I have used Tours by Locals and Viator on past European cruises so I decided to stick with them.

 

Again, as we had a toddler we decided that walking tours would be our best bet to avoid dragging a car seat along. I also had a request from my gang to not start to early 😜 in the day..

They requested a combination of adventure and history, I think we hit the sweet spot.I offered to stay with Roro for any excursions that were not child friendly, what’s a good grandma to do !!!

 

One thing we really loved about this itinerary were the number of sea days, if you have not toured in Europe before it can be exhausting as you are busy all,day, unlike the Caribbean.

We ,as I’m sure most of the other passengers were thankful that we had a sea day after Warnemunde ( Berlin).

Stavanger Norway…

A place we had never heard of, but that’s part of the adventure, from my research on Cruise Critic, I saw that the RIB Lysefjord Sightseeing to Pulpit Rock was very popular. I immediately booked this tour via Viator, it was about $130/pp.

Per the request I booked it at 10AM that’s what I consider “not early”

We were very excited to arrive at our first port, I was staying behind with Roro, my 3 daughters and son in laws were going.

 

We arrived on a beautiful Sunday morning to a rainbow 

[Nancycat]

We tied up right in town which is always the best, you can walk right off the ship, and into the adventure.

The kids were off to their boat trip, Steve, Roro and myself decided to walk around, my sister stayed on board, she was tired.

 

The weather was perfect, not cold not hot, Steve and I started off and were lucky enough to see the kids head off. We continued on and found that we had arrived in the midst of a very big bike race Tour of Norway, there was a grandstand, and music and bicyclists all over. It was a festive atmosphere.

We strolled around taking it all in, we planned to stay in town until the kids got back, the boat trip,was 90 minutes.

 

Soon after I needed to find a restroom, lo and behold there was a Burger King, being familiar with European restaurants I knew we probably had to purchase something. I told Steve to get Roro some fries, while I used the very clean bathroom.

 

Much to my surprise or maybe not, Steve bought French fries for Roro and 2 burgers for himself, it had been 30 minutes since breakfast 🤣

 

We walked all over the very hilly but beautiful town unfortunately as it was a Sunday most of the stores were closed.
We did find a few shops to browse which was fun it was beautiful, we made our way back into the port area just as the kids were finished and met up with them.

 

They were ecstatic about the excursion, they did tell me I would have loved it, they talked about the beauty and the fun. I was so happy to hear that it was so important to me that they could enjoy this adventure together.

 

In the meantime, the start of the race was minutes away, we found our way over to the starting line to watch and cheer on all the participants. It was very exciting to watch all these locals gathered to cheer for their countries team. 
We then made our way back to get some lunch, on the way back there were games and families and kids enjoying the day. 
After lunch my sister felt better so she and I went back out to walk around, soon it was time to get back on board and bid this lovely town goodbye..

 

next stop Skagen ..

 

[Scottishclover]

I am really enjoying your review and having read your personal story, it’s heartwarming to see the memories you made on this trip.

 

We will be in Stavanger in a few weeks and have the RIB tour booked for us and our daughters. Great to get the review on it. Looking forward to reading about the other ports. 
 

By the way … your little grandson is just too cute.

[Nancycat]

Skagen..

Next stop was Skagen..it was fun to think how far north we were,one thing we did notice was how long it stayed light. 

We arrived and it was raining, which made us sad, yet undetermined, Skagen was a DYI port for us. Our plan was to walk into the town and have lunch and then walk to the Skagen Odde Peninsula, where the Baltic and the North Sea meet.

 

As one of our favorite things to do is eat locally I found a restaurant that what some great reviews. Per the recommendation, I made us a reservation for lunch.

I made an online reservation Skagen Fiskerestuarent, now the funny part is I could not find the reservation site in English,so I just went ahead and made what I hoped was a reservation for the correct day/time and number of guests 🤔

 

I was able to see what appeared to be a shuttle, and a long line for passengers waiting to board,but also at some small booth. We would figure it out, so off we went,luckily it had stopped raining and clearing up.

 

Once we were off we found out to utilize the shuttle, we needed to pay $10/ pp for a round trip ticket, and the line was long.

Nope, we decided that $80 could go towards lunch and we could walk, so our little band of explorers with Roro in his stroller headed into town.

The walk for us was easy, not the most scenic but fairly flat it was 1.4 km from the port to the restaurant.

There was a blue line on the sidewalk leading the way and a sign( picture to follow)

We arrived at the lovely restaurant right on the water, we had a beautiful seat outdoors. The menu was not in English but my very smart son in law has some app on his phone to translate.

We ordered a variety of items lobster bisque, caviar, lobsters, and fish and chips.

It was all absolutely delicious,but the lobster was certainly not any lobsters we were used to.

After lunch we walked into the town square and spend all our time there shopping, and just generally enjoying ourselves.It was a fun day 

 

Sadly, we never got to the beach, so we were unable to step in 2 seas.

We had a leisurely stroll back and were happy to get back on the ship in time for a nice drink at the Martini Bar.

Oh as an FYI ..the bathrooms were spotless and free !!

I am including a photo of my reservation confirmation for fun ! 

 

 

 

 

 

[kiwichick62]

I was on this cruise too. Saw your sweet grandson and family a few times in the buffet at breakfast time.  🙂

 

We found the whole cruise experience very good too. Yes, the food in the MDR was mostly very tasty with large servings.  We did two speciality dinings.  Lawn Club Grill was just average, Murano the food and service were top rate.

 

I would sail on the Silhouette again.

 

[Cruiscs]

9 hours ago, kiwichick62 said:

I was on this cruise too. Saw your sweet grandson and family a few times in the buffet at breakfast time.  🙂

 

We found the whole cruise experience very good too. Yes, the food in the MDR was mostly very tasty with large servings.  We did two speciality dinings.  Lawn Club Grill was just average, Murano the food and service were top rate.

 

I would sail on the Silhouette again.

 

Sorry to hear that your experience at Lawn Club was not good. What did you order? Have booked Lawn Club for our cruise in September

[Nancycat]

Warnemunde and Berlin..

This was a 2 part stop for us, I offered to stay on back and let the others go off to Berlin.

I booked them a semi-private tour through Viator, I know a lot of people were concerned about the distance and getting back on time, but I was not worried.

The tour was a combination of Berlin and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

I was not on this trip, but they told me they loved it, 

This excursion was part 2 of the recovery, for my brother in law Steve this visit was personal. 
I will let his own words tell the story ….

 

My mother, whose entire family was wiped out at Auschwitz, once said to me quite poignantly, “ I can never forgive the Germans, but you absolutely have to”.  That was three generations ago.  The tours, the bullet-scared buildings, the remnants of fascism & communism coexist with modern-day/old world beauty & a welcoming embrace of the world as a place where the past can be overcome by simultaneously moving on while allowing folks to both weep for & learn from it.  Of course, this requires faith in God and a willingness to share it.  Thank you to my tour guide, and to the city of Berlin…

[Nancycat]

The trip also included a trip to a Concentration Camp…

Steve continued his story …

 

This was taken about two weeks ago by my niece, Emily, at the Sachsenhausen concentration, camp in Berlin.  I had run into a group of young Israeli students and their teachers/mentors,  and was captivated by their prayers in Hebrew and Aramaic.  I was thrilled when they invited me to join them and moved to tears when we all sang the Hatikvah together, which they had to finish for me, since I was pretty much speechless (and don’t actually speak a word of Hebrew).  It’s not the camp where my relatives perished, but the effect on me was just the same. I guess when you live a sheltered life as I have, you never really know how these things will hit you. Many thanks and blessings to them, the city of Berlin for preserving this history, and my tour guide (and Emily)for pulling me out of a cathartic situation….

[Nancycat]

Now I can tell the entire story, my brother in law Steve is Jewish, his mother and her family lived in Vienna, Austria, during WW2 . As with most Jewish families at a certain point leaving was not an option. Luckily Steve’s mother Gigi was able to escape as part of the Kindertranport. Unfortunately, the remaining members of her family were murdered in Auschwitz.

As you can imagine,she never forgave the Germans but asked Steve to, it took him 66 years but was able to forgive and recover..

 

 

 

[Scottishclover]

I am sitting having my coffee before work and Steve’s story has moved me to tears. Please thank him for sharing his story so eloquently.

[hcat]

A compelling story esp at a time of turmoil in our world. Thank you and your brother in law for sharing his personal insights..

 

Perhaps one may forgive,  but must never forget... Glad your brother in law has found peace.

 

[Nancycat]

Warnemunde …

As I mentioned I stayed back on the ship with Roro while the kids went off to Berlin.

My initial plan was to just stay on the ship with him, as I was not sure what there was to do very close to the ship.

 

My plan changed when I was able to see a Ferris Wheel not to far away, this looked to large for me, I’m sure Roro would be fine 🤪

 

So off we went , it was an easy walk off and we headed to the cutest little area o perfect for a 2 year old.

There was a little playground, some wooden boats to climb on, and some absolutely beautiful sand sculptures.

 

We also found a stand with fresh strawberries, the largest, most juicy I have ever seen.We bought a container with at least 15 for a few euro.

I was able to enjoy 1, Roro ate the rest .

After a few hours it was time for lunch and a nap..so we headed back.It was an easy but fun time, 

 

next up the charming Visby …

 

 

[Ciaranaman]

Have to admit, the pics I took of the stunning sand sculptures aren't nearly as great as yours are because my pics were missing something - a cute grandson!

~Bernadette

[Scottishclover]

I see you discovered Karl’s strawberries. You find those strawberry stands all over northern Germany but they are very local to Warnemuende. Karl started a strawberry growing business many moons ago just outside Rostock and then expanded that outlet into what the locals call “ Mecklenburg- Vorpommern’s Disneyland. It’s basically a strawberry themed adventure park and shopping experience and actually a great day out for the young and young at heart.
 

There are quite a few “Karl’s” now but the one near Rostock is the original. It even has its own train stop so easy to get to on public transport. If your grandson had been a few years older it would have been the perfect way to spend the afternoon. I’ve been a couple of times with friends but alas never in strawberry season. My daughter, who did her year abroad in Rostock, reliably informs me they are delicious.😋