Review of Celebrity Solstice 08 February to 15 February 2009 Fort Lauderdale, San Juan, St. Kitts, St Maarten, Fort Lauderdale

This started out as a different cruise experience for us, flying to Florida for a seven night cruise. The economics just did not make sense to us. Since we are both retired, time was not an issue. So, we decided maybe to add a bit of time at either end of the cruise. That "little bit of time" morphed into almost a week pre-cruise and almost two weeks post-cruise, as we followed a serpentine route around the flat state of Florida visiting friends and relatives. We won't bore you with the details of our visits (though we did not find them boring - but you had to be there), or the various ports, and will concentrate only on the cruise aspect.

Embarkation: We left Naples, FL at about 10:00 AM and drove to Fort Lauderdale Airport (FLL) to drop off the rental car. After turning in the car we were on the complimentary shuttle from the Rental Car center at FLL at 12:30 PM. We made a stop at Princess' terminal and then on to Celebrity's. After making sure the porter had all our luggage, we entered the terminal, did a quick walk-through the security screening and on to the Check-In Area. Absolutely no lines; by the time we walked around a few of the 'barriers' we were sent directly to a check-in agent. We were on board in our cabin by 1:15 PM, including our stop for the Welcome Aboard glass of Champagne (also the choice of OJ, or Mimosas). One of the crew asked our stateroom number and directed us to the correct bank of elevators. Unfortunately, he directed us to the wrong side of the ship - We assumed many of the crew were still on the learning curve. We gave the cabin a quick once-over, and decided to grab some lunch. On our way out, we met our charming Cabin Attendant, Aida. She provided us with a warm welcome and gave us a quick run-through of the different aspects of the cabin. Read more