Anyone visiting Liverpool recently may be wondering why the Mersey Ferries are painted the way they are. The ferries have been made to resemble “Dazzle Ships”, a method of camouflaging ships during the First World War. Whilst the paint system may have worked on older ships I doubt it would be possible to use it to hide Celebrity Cruises Silhouette which was in Liverpool this week. We had the privilege of a ships tour and she certainly dazzled!
We were given a guided tour of the main public areas before lunch including “Murano” one of the premium restaurants, where you can dine at the Chef’s Table. This is next door the Michael’s Club, which is a bar and restaurant for suite guests. It looked rather plush, but was, unfortunately, off limits to us as visitors.
The next speciality restaurant we visited was Blu, which is dedicated for the Spa class customers with a menu designed for the more health conscious of us. Whilst the decor was lovely, for those of us in the habit of still being at the midnight buffet at breakfast, it is not exactly on our bucket list!
Our official tour concluded at the Tuscan Grill where we had a delicious 4 course lunch, complimented with some excellent wine. The menu of Crispy Calamari or Beef Carpaccio followed by Minestrone Soup or Goat Cheese & Arugula then a choice of Grilled Sea Bass or Filet Mignon. This was followed for dessert by Lemoncello Cheesecake or Zabaglione Strawberry Shortcake
All delicious and with tables for 12 this was a great opportunity for us to compare notes with fellow cruisers. Unfortunately, as the ship was mid-cruise there was no opportunity to view the various cabin categories. Previously when we have been on ships tours, lunch is the final part of the visit and you are ashore by 2.00pm or shortly afterwards. However, as this was a port of call and the ship was in port till later in the evening we had nearly two hours to enjoy the rest of the ship on our own.
We took full advantage of this and visited the lawn club, which was much more extensive than I had imagined. We made our way back through the ship stopping at the library, which is by far the plushest of all the ones at sea we have seen so far. We then made our way down to the “Hideaway”, which although it is in the middle of the ship is a hidden gem, which I suspect most passengers don’t visit it, but with it’s coffee machine, just the place for someone to chill.
Before heading back to the Martini Bar, where we were to assemble for disembarking we stopped off at the Ensemble Lounge, where I set the timer for a “ Group Selfie”! We timed our arrival at the Martini Bar to enjoy a sample from the bar courtesy of a complimentary $15 drinks voucher. We sank into the seats and remarked how comfortable they were and that we could quite easily not get up from them. On tasting our Martini’s I suspect that more than a couple would render you powerless to get up!
We concluded that the facilities that we had seen and the food and drink enjoyed certainly confirmed our impression the Celebrity are fully justified in claiming that they offer a premium cruising experience.
