The first day of a cruise is always the busiest for me. With a little planning and effort, you can get some things done straight away that will make for smooth sailing the rest of the trip. Despite perks with premium status in a cruise ship’s loyalty program, there are still nearly 2,900 passengers onboard large ships like the Celebrity Silhouette so there are capacity constraints to get ahead of and crowds to avoid. Here’s a look what we did to address that on day one.
Embarkation: The First Benefit of Elite Status
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| Celebrity Today Overview |
We arrived at Port Everglades via Uber around 11:20am. At drop off, porters are available to grab your luggage and have it sent to you stateroom, usually arriving between 2:30 - 6:30pm. We opted to carry on our bags because we like to unpack and settle in right away, but it’s not recommended if you’re not comfortable navigating the pretty steep inclines of the walkways connecting the terminal and the ship.
We proceeded to the Captain’s Club Elite security queue. We waited about 5 minutes to get to the front of the line, had our passports checked, and proceeded through metal detectors. Today the wait time between the Elite queue and the regular line was negligible. Next was the check-in process. This can feel a bit overwhelming if you’re new to cruising since there are 30-40 agents at kiosks and a maze of queues to get to one of them. Crew are able to direct you to the right spot. Again, there’s an Elite line, but it wasn’t necessary because there was essentially no wait to proceed to one of the many check-in desks. Here we received our Sea Pass (e.g. room key/ onboard credit card combo) and then headed onto the ship.
Pro Tip: Secure Specialty Dining Reservations ASAP
All guests are greeted by crew members offering sparkling wine the moment you step onboard. We bypass it, given we’ve got our hands full with luggage, and carry on with my first order of business: dinner reservations.
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| Day 1 Schedule of Events |
While the cruise always includes free meals throughout the day, including dinner in an elegant main dining room, we opt to enjoy dinner in the specialty restaurants. It’s an opportunity to escape the crowds and enjoy usually great food and service in a more intimate setting. Prior to the cruise, we booked a package online for 7 nights of specialty dinners. If you’re booking just a single dinner, you’re able to secure your reservation times when booking online. However, when buying a deeply discounted multi-night package, your reservations are made onboard. So, we arrived to the ship fairy early and immediately found the Speciality Dining team on deck 5 at the gelato shop. I had already written out my preferred times and restaurants on a sheet and the crew member was able to accommodate them all. Keep in mind, the restaurants are relatively small vs. the nearly 3,000 passengers, so don’t wait to book! You’ll read (and see) more about the specialty restaurants in this and subsequent posts.
Pro Tip: Avoid the Lunch Buffet Crowds on Embarkation Day
You’ll see a pattern here… We love the convenience and optionality of cruising, but don’t love lines and big crowds of people. So, for us the best approach is to break from the pack. That starts with lunch on embarkation day.
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| Aqua Spa Cafe for a Quiet Lunch |
The Oceanview Cafe serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks daily. Essentially, you can head there anytime you need some food. However, on embarkation day, passengers board as early as 10:45am-11:00am and guests are not able to access their staterooms until 1pm (keep in mind that housekeeping has to turn over rooms of 3,000 passengers who got off the ship only 2-4 hours earlier). So, once it’s time for lunch, most guests head to the buffet on deck 14. Save yourself the crowds and stress and opt for a healthier lunch option on deck 12 at the Aqua Spa Cafe, located inside the Solarium (indoor serenity pool).
The Aqua Spa Cafe offers a small assortment of healthier options for both breakfast and lunch. Examples include assortments of grains (quinoa, etc), greek goddess chicken or tuna salad, make your own salads, healthy desserts, and smoothies. The smoothies are an additional charge, but are complimentary with the premium drink package where you pay per day (or have it included at time of booking through promotions).
Stay Active: The Onboard Fitness Center Outdoes Most Hotels
Prior to dinner, I got in a workout on deck 12 at the Fitness Center. I quite look forward to working out on vacation since I have much more time than during the work week. The Celebrity Silhouette has free weights, cardio machines, weight machines, and an aerobics/ cycling studio. I’ve never found it overly crowded since they offer a large number of machines. Also included are chilled towels to cool down after a workout.
Dinner: Tuscan Grille
We enjoyed our first night of specialty restaurant dining in Tuscan Grille. As mentioned, we bought
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| Tuscan Grille: More Intimate Dining |
We enjoyed a meatball and crab cake for appetizers, goat cheese & arugula salad, branzino (italian sea bass) and a personal side of eggplant parm. For dessert, we had spumoni donuts with marinated cherries and vanilla bean gelato. Our server Daniel was great, and like most waitstaff, offered prudent menu recommendations. Water glasses are always promptly refilled and if you’re even slightly unhappy with a dish, the team is eager to offer you something else.
For more photos and menus, visit this vault of photos from this voyage.
Entertainment: Comedian Jim Colliton
Each night offers at least one headliner show in the theater or “Celebrity Central” (comedy lounge). All shows are free. Tonight we saw Jim Collation, a comedian, in the main theater. He did a 45 minute act including a lot of audience interaction. His material covered cruising, marriage, and kids mostly. He kept folks laughing, including a few passengers who were having uncontrollable laughing fits (i.e. probably making the most of their unlimited drink package).
Have questions or something you’d like me to cover in one of the subsequent reports this week? Let me know in the comments and sign up for the email updates in the top right. You can also follow some more timely updates throughout the day on Twitter (follow me: @travstrat). On Tuesday, I’ll include a post about how you can leverage cruise ship loyalty program status to secure lifetime elite status with hotels, so don’t miss that one. I'll also post photos but for now there are technical difficulties with uploading photos via the blogging site.
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