To celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary, I booked the Silhouette for the 8/10 Holy Land cruise. What I didn't tell my wife was that I had booked a Royal Suite. The jig was up when we embarked in Civitavecchia and were escorted on board by the Assistant Purser to meet our butler. Here's my report on the ship and the cruise. These are my opinions and reflect our experience on board from the perspective of long time cruisers.

EMBARCATION - A little disconnected. We arrived at the embarkation tent around 10:45 AM and were handed a group number card. When our number was called at least 15 people with numbers after ours rushed the line and got to the head of the queue. Not a good start, X. Once we were at the counter, everything went smoothly . The Assistant Purser , Nicholas, escorted us to Michael's Club where our butler escorted us to our cabin. Based on comments on this forum we opted for Bistro On 5 for lunch and were not disappointed. A very nice, tasty lunch without the crowds in the buffet. Our suite was FANTASTIC! It was like a small apartment and I will have a hard time going back to a standard cabin after this.

THE SHIP - A real beauty. Great open spaces. You never felt crowded (except at lunch in the OceanView Cafe where playing bumper cars seemed to be the rule) despite a sold out ship with 2800 passengers and 1300 crew. Beautiful dEcor and venues. Read more