My wife Debbie and I have been loyal Royal Caribbean cruisers for years. We are Diamond members and enjoy the many perks that status brings with it. Normally we sail with a group of friends, anywhere from group size 10-40 and age range 25-80. This is the first time in 20 years we actually decided to go on our own. Really needed the R and R. Our Diamond status automatically gave us Elite status on Celebrity and along with that came many privileges. We enjoyed all of them. Thank you Celebrity for the wonderful treatment.
We have always wanted to try Celebrity so we booked a 7 day Eastern Caribbean on the Solstice. What a ship, what a cruise! The ship is beautiful as we expected. Understated elegance throughout, don't let that trow you if you are like me and worried about pretentious passengers. As nice as the ship was, so to were the passengers and crew.
Embarkation was smooth. We were in the Oceanview Cafe for lunch while waiting for our rooms to be prepared. Lunch was delicious in the Oceanview, as were breakfasts. The cafe has a delightful outdoor seating area where you can enjoy the morning breeze and some tasty bacon. All the dining venues on the ship are first class. Food is of fine quality and assortment and is served by a very friendly and professional staff. We ate most dinners in the main dining room but did enjoy the Tuscan grill. The food was tremendous as was the attention paid to detail by the waiters and the sommelier. The wine selection is broad and wines are of good quality. They have a brunch at 10am on one of the days at sea. Reminded us of the old midnight buffets. Nice because we were still sober to enjoy the taste of the food rather than the midnight buffets where we usually were to blasted to enjoy the delicacies.
Cabib7281 is a bit forward of midship. There is not an obstructed view but you do look down at lifeboats which is fine and dandy. Plenty of room for you and all your stuff.