Celebrity Solstice Review

Great Cruise; Mostly Good, Some Issues

Review for Australia & New Zealand Cruise on Celebrity Solstice
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joyce_6333
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Jan 2016
Cabin: Deluxe Veranda 2A

We are nearly 70, and cruise a few times a year. We flew to Sydney, and stayed at the York. Very good value, not fancy, and close to the terminal. Ate at La Cantina which is a great little place. We embarked on a foggy, rainy day. We had been to Australia before, so not a big issue. Embarkation seemed a bit confusing compared to other cruises we've been on. As soon as we got out of the taxi, there were people grabbing our luggage. They didn't have any identifying badges or clothing, so not sure who they worked for. My guess was they were looking for tips. Then someone came up and told us to put out bags with all the others near the curb. Then it got a bit more confusing as to where we were to go next, no signs, etc. But eventually we made it upstairs in the terminal and checked in with security. Seemed like a temporary area. Waited in line quite a while to check in with Celebrity, and eventually made in on to the ship. My first impression of the ship was it was not as grand as I expected, but still very nice. Immaculate, too. Made our way to the Oceanview Cafe and had a bit of lunch. Never heard an announcement that rooms were ready, so eventually, we just made our way to our room, no one around, so we went in. Bags delivered soon after.

The majority of the cruisers were retired people, but there were some families, too. The few children on board were all exceptionally well behaved, on the rare occasion when we did see them. We did hear them above us, but didn't bother us at all. the ports were great, and despite rain and fog in Sydney and the Sounds, we had nice weather. We only took 3 excursions as we like hop-on-hop-off. The excursions were good, especially the trips to Middle Earth and Hobbiton. Oh, my gosh, we loved these two tours. If you're fans of Lord of the Rings, don't miss these tours. You also get a lot of history of the areas. Tour guides were fantastic, especially the Middle Earth. It was such a great day. Hobbiton is just like the movies. I expected Bilbo Baggins to come out of his house!! :-)

The train ride out of Dunedin was ok, a bit uncomfortable, and any pictures had to be taken from a moving train through dirty windows. But we saw some pretty scenery. There was no commentary at all. Rode for a couple hours, and then the train came back down the same way. They did serve us a nice snack and some wine. The elderly ladies serving us were all volunteers. Very nice and friendly. You're going to see beautiful scenery on most excursions in most ports, so I think I would pass on the train ride.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Veranda 2A

Cabin 2A

Nice room - typical of a balcony room. Bed comfortable, nice shower, a few drawers, lots of hanging space for clothes, nice chairs on the balcony. The couch was very uncomfortable to sit on. It was basically big square chunks of hard foam pieces covered in vinyl. It was more of a day bed. Bed linens were very good, as were the towels. Large screen TV with many movies to choose from. Room attendants were terrific. But view was somewhat obstructed to the front by the bump out cabins just to the left. Also the lifeboats did obstruct the view down. The lifeboats you see in the pictures on the web page are NOT the lifeboats actually on the Solstice now. They are all orange, and some are HUGE (the ones used as tenders). To be fair, they didn't impact views straight out, but it was difficult to take pictures without those big orange behemoths at the bottom of most of the pictures. The 3 lifeboats right by our balcony were much bigger than others and were used as tenders. The nights before we arrived in a tendering port, crew would be loading these tenders with "stuff" to be taken off ship in the morning. They were very noisy until all hours. This room was NOT supposed to be an "obstructed view". We were assured by Celebrity that it wasn't, and that the life boats wouldn't be an issue. WRONG.

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