First Impressions

As cruise ships go, the Silhouette is a pretty ship. From the shore she shows clean lines sloping from the prow upward to the lounges above the bridge and downward into the sea. We boarded the ship near a pair of elevator banks bracketing an open solarium rising from deck three to fifteen. This glass atrium allows natural light to flood into the heart of the ship making her seem very bright. On decks three, four and five one finds most of the shops and many public rooms surrounding the atrium. The main theatre occupies the forward portion of decks three, four and five while the main dining room is located at the stern and can be accessed from both decks three and four. Decks six, seven, eight, nine, ten and eleven have public rooms just forward of the atrium one of which is a games room and another a library. 

We gradually moved upward to deck 12 which contains the pools, indoor and outdoor, and then to deck 14 where on the aft section is a large buffet serving and eating area. The serving are is laid out as a series of pods each offering different selections and the seating is organized to the sides and aft of the serving pods. Once again there is a great deal of glass with few walls so the area is bright and airy. 

Shortly after taking our lunch the staterooms were made available to us, actually before the promised time of 1:30 PM. We easily found our room on deck nine, port side just forward of midship. Upon entering for the first time it seemed identical to our friend's too on deck seven where we had deposited our luggage earlier. We entered passed the bathroom door and around the foot of the bed to a sitting area ending with the glass doors leading to the balcony. The sitting area consisted of couch that would seat three and could be made into an additional bed opposite which was a desk with mirror above, some drawers, a safe and refrigerator concealed as cupboards with work surface above which was a flat screen TV. A further look around disclosed a hanging closet on the interior bathroom wall and more storage above the bed. We eventually located life vests under the bed. 

© Edward Thorpe 2013