Celebrity Silhouette
4 Night Western Caribbean Cruise - January 11, 2024
We’re so excited for our first Celebrity cruise! We’ve heard so many good things about this cruise line, we just know we’re going to love it! We’ve been patiently waiting a year for this cruise after finding a good deal that included drinks, wifi, and tips.
Itinerary
Thursday - Jan 11 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
Friday - Jan 12 - Sea Day
Saturday - Jan 13 - Cozumel, Mexico
Sunday - Jan 14 - Sea Day
Monday - Jan 15 - Fort Lauderdale, FL
Embarkation Day
Embarkation was a breeze! It took less than 15 minutes to go through security and check in before we were on board the ship.
We’re staying in a Concierge Class balcony stateroom. We also upgraded to the premium drink package (includes all drinks up to $17 and then you just pay the difference) and premium wi-fi.
We enjoyed the concierge class lunch in the Grand Cuvée main dining room. Having lunch in the MDR on embarkation day is such a nice, relaxed way to start a cruise!
We watched sail away from our balcony. Then we went downstairs for our first (of many) martinis at the Martini Bar.
That evening we had dinner in the Lawn Club Grill, one of the specialty restaurants on board. This restaurant features an open-air grill and is only available on the Celebrity Silhouette and Celebrity Reflection.
This is usually $44.99 per person, but there was a first night offer of $32.99 per person available when we made reservations.
We started with the pepperoni flatbread, which turned out to be some of the best pizza we’ve ever had on a cruise! I ordered filet mignon with shrimp & scallops and vegetable kebabs. Jay had ribeye, lamb chops, and filet kebabs. Our meal was fantastic, but the stand outs were the filet mignon and lamb chops. We finished our meal with apple crumble and the warm chocolate chip cookie.
After dinner, we went back to the Martini Bar to meet up with friends. We ended our night up at the Sky Lounge for our first-ever silent disco and had a blast! We had a wonderful first day on board the Celebrity Silhouette!
First Sea Day
Today we’ve enjoyed a very leisurely day at sea. We spent some time on our balcony watching the waves go by. Then we had a quick lunch in the Oceanview Cafe (buffet) before exploring more of the top decks.
We met up with friends at the Sunset Bar and relaxed as the day went from overcast to finally sunny. Once we were sufficiently warm and relaxed, we went back down to the Martini Bar to cool off.
Soon it was time to get ready for the only Evening Chic (Celebrity’s formal) night of our cruise. We got dressed up then headed down to the Grand Cuvée main dining room for dinner. There was no wait and we were quickly seated at a table for two.
We both started our meals with the shrimp cocktail and French onion soup (this would turn out to be a favorite during the cruise). I ordered the Steak Dianne and Jay had the Grilled Lamb T-Bone (unfortunately it was no where near as good as the lamb chops from last night at the Lawn Club Grill). For dessert we had the crème brûlée and apple pie à la mode.
After dinner we went to the Theatre for tonight’s showtime of Cosmopolitan. On our way we stopped at World Class Bar for some pre-show cocktails. After the show, we made our way up to the Sky Lounge to watch karaoke.
We ended our night with a late night snack of pizza in the Oceanview Cafe. We had read a lot of reviews before our cruise saying Celebrity’s pizza wasn’t very good, but we ended up really liking it. It was thin and cheesy and had a variety of toppings to choose from.
Overall, today was another fun day at sea on the Celebrity Silhouette! Tomorrow, we’re in Cozumel, Mexico for the only port stop of this cruise.
Cozumel, Mexico
Today we’re in Cozumel, Mexico. We decided to do something we haven’t done before and go see the Tulum Mayan Ruins on the Mexican mainland.
Since this would require transportation by ferry and buses, we decided to book the excursion through Celebrity. We chose the “Tulum Mayan Ruins and Casa Tortuga Cenote Swimming” excursion. We’re very big on independent tours, but the peace of mind was worth the extra cost. (Tip: keep checking the price in Celebrity’s app, it’s really easy to cancel and rebook when you see a lower price)
We met in the Theatre then were directed to a ferry. The ferry took about 30 minutes to get us to Playa del Carmen. Thankfully the journey wasn’t too bad, there were many reports online of people getting seasick on the ferry, but we didn’t experience that this time.
We met our tour guides at the dock then took a bus about an hour south to the Tulum Archaeological Site. We spent about 1.5 hours walking around the ruins as our guide explained how the Mayans lived and what the buildings were used for.
We then stopped for tacos at one of the restaurants at the site. It’s a must do when in Mexico!
We got back on the buses and took a short 15 minute drive to the Casa Tortuga cenotes. We had the chance to swim in two cenotes, one open and one closed. Cenotes are natural sinkholes formed by the collapse of limestone bedrock, exposing groundwater. The Yucatán Peninsula has around 6,000 cenotes. The water was shockingly cold, but very refreshing after spending time in the sun at the ruins.
Soon it was time to head back to the buses to drive back to Playa del Carmen, to then ferry back to the island of Cozumel. Today was long and exhausting, but we’re so glad we did this tour and would highly recommend it. We have no regrets choosing to go through Celebrity Cruises and we made it back to port with plenty of time to spare.
After getting back on board the Celebrity Silhouette we quickly freshened up for the evening. We went down to the Grand Cuvée main dining room for dinner where we were quickly seated at a table for two by a window.
We started with French onion soup and Caesar salad. I had the roasted trout, while Jay ordered the pan seared aged sirloin steak. For dessert we had the chocolate lava cake (so good!) and cherries jubilee.
We spent the rest of the evening talking with friends in the Martini Bar, then called it a night and headed up to bed. We found the dreaded disembarkation tags on our bed when we arrived to our stateroom. Tomorrow is a sea day and the last day of our Celebrity Silhouette cruise.
Second Sea Day
For our fourth (and last) day on board the Celebrity Silhouette, we enjoyed a very relaxing day at sea.
We met up a friend for lunch at Sushi on Five, an a la carte sushi restaurant located on (you guessed it) deck 5.
We started with the kobe beef ramen slider and chicken ginger gyoza. Jay ordered the shrimp tempura udon and I had a spicy tuna roll. All of it was delicious!
After lunch, we all met up with another friend for some cocktails at the Sunset Bar. We eventually moved down to Craft Social.
Later, we joined our friends for dinner in the Grand Cuvée main dining room.
We started with the chilled shrimp cocktail, pasta fagioli soup, and baked French onion soup. I ordered the slow braised lamb wrapped in phyllo (best MDR entree I had all cruise!) and Jay had the steak and chips. For dessert I had the chocolate cake and Jay ordered a scoop of ice cream.
After dinner, we went up to our room to pack and set our luggage out. Then we met back up with friends at the Martini Bar. We ended our night in the Sky Lounge listening to karaoke.
Fort Lauderdale, FL
The next day, we woke up back home in Port Everglades. 4-night cruises are just not long enough!
Overall, we had a good (though we were hoping for great) first time on Celebrity Cruises and are open to cruising with them again, maybe on an Edge Class ship. The Celebrity Silhouette is beautiful and our stateroom was very comfortable and spacious. Unfortunately, we felt the ship was understaffed (especially in the MDR where service was glacially slow) and the food was just okay. The specialty restaurant meals we had on board were fantastic, but we found the main dining room food and service lacking. We heard other cruise guests saying the same.
Our next cruise is in a few months on the newest MSC ship sailing in the US, MSC Seascape! Until then, Happy Cruising!
