We just finished a 12 night cruise to the south pacific, visiting 5 ports - Lifou, Noumea, Isle of Pines, Suva and Lautoka.

Embarkation was hassle free and we were on board in less than 45 mins. The ship itself is very impressive - clean, modern, classy, elegant yet casual at the same time (not stuffy) and, you would never think that there is 3000 passengers onboard - it's very spacious. The crew & staff onboard were all very friendly, helpful and the service was fantastic. We travelled with our 4 year old daughter, who thoroughly enjoyed all the time she spent in the kids club - the counsellors were fantastic and do an exceptional job looking after all the kids and keeping them entertained. We chose select dining in the Grand Epernay dining room, which has its benefit of dining anytime between 6 - 9:30. Whilst this has it's advantages, we thought the service was sometimes lacking. Choosing fixed dining would give you the benefit of having the same waiters and sommeliers, which hopefully should provide better & consistent service, however it provided us with an ability to meet a number of other people at other tables. The food was still of high quality in the main dining room. We also experienced Tuscan Grille, Silk Harvest and Blu, where the food and service was exceptional! Don't forget to try Bistro on 5 - nice and relaxed dining, serving crepes, soup and dessert. The Oceanview Cafe buffet was very nice for lunch and snacks, along with the burgers and hot dogs at the Mast Grill. The entertainment at night was pretty good - the 60's and 70's night went off in the Grand Foyer. The Ensemble Lounge, Cellar Masters, Sky Lounge and Martini Bar all great places to have a few drinks and listen to some tunes.

We thought the Isle of Pines was the pick of the ports, pristine white beaches, great snorkelling and swimming, we didn't get off the ship in Lifou or Suva. We did a tour on the choo choo train in Noumea which was good, (don't purchase on the ship, get it when you arrive there, it'll only cost you half the price). In Lautoka, we took a taxi from the city centre and toured the city and countryside, went to a village and then spent the afternoon in a resort for lunch and swimming in the pool. The weather was kind to us most of the way.....until the last night just as we were approaching Sydney - all decks were closed and the ship was rocking & rolling and shaking most of the night.....the Captain had the stabilizers working overtime and managed to get us back to Sydney safe & sound, however, not much sleep was had! Overall, we had a ball - Celebrity Solstice is a beautiful ship and we will definitely be back with Celebrity......!!!!!