Celebrity Solstice Review

Celebrity Solstice Spring Break Cruise

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Celebrity Solstice
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Snorkel Dawg
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Mar 2009
Traveled with children

Celebrity Solstice Spring Break Cruise 3/22/09-3/29/09 About us-we are in our mid 40's traveling with two daughters 14 & 10 years old who are experienced cruisers. This is our third sailing on Celebrity & We have sailed on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines four times. This is the largest ship we have ever sailed on. flight& Hotel- Southwest 1171 from Midway Chicago to Ft. Lauderdale, FL a pleasant flight that arrived on time.We took the free hotel shuttle to Holiday Inn Express 1500 SE Causeway. Clean hotel but showing it's age. (ROOM 307) This was basically a inexpensive no frills pre cruise hotel for us. The Room has no view, & no pool, but at $180.00/night which included a free shuttle from airport to hotel saving us $15.00-$20.00 & saving another $30.00) on free shuttle to cruise port & all taxes included. Throw in free continental breakfast it's a great family value. Within Walking distance of shops and restaurants. We ate at the nearby bimini boatyard where we had some good casual but (expensive) food & cocktails. Walking out across the 17st bridge offers great views of the port & cruise ships. Ship-Celebrity SOLSTICE is our new favorite ship! From the moment we stepped aboard and were handed complimentary champagne we were treated like royalty. We found the solstice to be elegant and classy, all The public areas were filled with beautiful modern art pieces. Beautiful furnitures in leathers & canvases. We enjoyed all the little private areas, cabanas, covered hammocks, comfy overstuffed couches & chairs everywhere which makes This ship a readers paradise. We Loved the pool area & cabanas. The lawn club was surreal and beautiful. The sunset bar was an amazing spot morning or night to gaze aimlessly into Solstice's wake. Cabin-we had cabin 7344 which we loved. Decorated flawlessly. The beds were very comfortable, our 14 year old slept on the leather couch which turned into a comfortable bed and had a lower drawer/pull out bed where our 10 year old slept. Our first balcony in seven cruises and we used it more than I thought we would. Relaxing out there Having breakfast, coffee, ice cream, or cocktails. Enjoyed the Great views and minimal wind. Very Nice loungers & table on each balcony. A little bit of sunshine in the later afternoon.The larger bathroom, shower & storage were more nice. The in cabin flat screen tv is excellent. For tv, music or tracking all things aboard Solstice. The cabin has Plenty of storage for myself and three girls . having the bed higher creates a lot more storage, we had five large suitcases under bed. The overhead is a huge plus too. Restaurants & food- we enjoyed each meal in the Grand epernay restaurant. served masterfully by our waiter aurtur0 from the Philippines & assisted by anna from bulgaria. We opted for some offering of Fresh seafood each evening & were not disappointed! The shrimp, the oysters, lobster, & escargot were wonderful. No problem ordering several appetizers , entrees, or the grand desserts. The prime rib & ribeye steaks were tender & cooked perfectly. We also enjoyed all the chilled soup selections. Our children had chocolate milk ready for them the moment we sat down. Arturo & anna took special care to see that our children were happy with & enjoyed their meal choices. Our awesome Cruise Critic table mates made the week's dining experience much more memorable & fun. Ocean view cafe- we liked the layout and quickly figured out where our favorites were, the clean lines and casual elegance shined. We Never had any trouble finding seating inside or out. They had Excellent offerings & many choices. I personally liked the burrito/fajita sElections. The fresh omelette & waffle stations were a family am fav. Afternoons had us coming in for soft serve & hand dip't ice creams & toppings like m&m's, the girls favorite. We had no trouble w/out trays. Also Found the coffee to be quite good.Mast grill- family favorites included the grilled chicken breasts, guacamole and freshly made tortilla chips.Cafe albacio-the chocolate frapacinos were very good but not as good as starbucks. Room service-very quick & efficient service but we don't give their pizzas very high marks.Bars- the martini bar was our favorite and such great fun. The bartenders rosa & peter were amazing showman & are our new favorites! They also made a couple of beautiful non-alcoholic drinks for our young daughters. They too were made to feel like they belonged. That was something we noticed throughout the ship. We new celebrity isn't exactly designed for kids. but several instances we noted the ships staff as well as our new critic friends made an extra effort to include them. pool and bar-the fresh water pools were warm and uncrowded until the last sea day. The pool bar staff was very attentive, "my guy"vin-roy from jamaica always made sure we had a cold red stripe or fruity concoction in hand. He was also great about getting our kids cokes and juice (we bought the pop card) When buying buckets of red stripe we received one free beer each time we bought four. Lawn club- a very unique spot to play some bocce ball, putt on the greens, or simply relax in the wonderful comfy furniture everywhere around the top deck area. I do think that the grass area is a bit large & that more lounge chair seating might be better used for part of that area. Walking barefoot on grass on a cruise ship is pretty cool. (Especially early am)hot glass show-one of the most amazing things we have ever seen aboard a cruise ship. Don, carl, & brenna from the corning museum were not only talented artists but explained the process wonderfully. My children (one a budding artist) were so into this previously unseen craft! We saw five different shows between the four of us, each one a little bit different. Congrats to celebrity on this out of the box idea. It works & works well! Fun factory-our ten year old went to it a few times. She had fun playing bingo, played arcade games, & got to actually draw a design to be created at their own private hot glass show. As always We found the kids club staff most kind & caring.Cru con cruise outlet-we spoke with johna and changed our original independent internet booking to her agency and received additional onboard credit $. This after we had paid in full! This credit due to the helpful and observant cruise critic members sharing information on our board. Johna is professional, quick and reliable, we will not hesitate to use here again in the future. Cruise critic-through the efforts of many fun members we had a website/photo blog, as to help us become acquainted . Only our 3rd experience with cruise critic and this one was by far the biggest and best group yet. The different and unique individuals were each so interesting to meet & see throughout the ship and on the islands. We had an informal get together at sail away where we all brought mardi gras beads to wear. And a cruise critic member brought some special genuine louisiana mardi gras beads to share with the group. The cabin crawl set up by one cc member was also a personal highlight. the generosity of a couple welcoming us all to a party in their presidential suite needs to be mentioned. Many of these people we hope are our new lifelong friends.Casino-we did nothing but donate to the ship all week so not really fond memories were made here. We did enjoy the personality of our favorite blackjack dealer alex even though he wasn't overly kind to us!Solstice theatre-we enjoyed the singing and dancing shows but we especially enjoyed "the show". Thanks to a cc friends recommendation that we sit in the first rowof the balcony where the performers are at eye level during the cirque de sol e performance.Service-our room steward arnel-from the Philippines was one of our favorite in all of seven sailings. Always cheerful and smiling as most all of the solstice staff. In my opinion celebrity's service sets the industry standard.Ports- san juan-we have visited several times yet still found some different things to do this time in port. We had visited Del Morro Fort in the past so this time we hiked up to & around Castillo Sa Cristobal castle. It's striking architecture & atlantic ocean vistas are not to be missed! We took a brief tour of don q rum, tried several samples & of course & bought some rum! St.Kitts-we spent the day with royston stevens. Toured Brimstone fortress for breath taking views, got to hold a tame baby green monkey, & spent most of the day snorkeling at South Friars beach. Highlights include seeing an octopus, a spiny lobster, & holding a sea spider. Eek! St.Maarten-took capt. Alan's snorkel and mudbath tour. Even though the seas were quite choppy we had a wonderful day with them. Highlights include an up close & personal moment with a small hawksbill sea turtle, seeing many numerous reef fishes, & swimming with a school of squid. Disembarkation-was smooth until we got through the cruise ship terminal and tried getting a taxi ride back to the ft. lauderdale airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4:30Pm so we had quite a long stay in a most uncomfortable, over crowded airport. this cruise was one of my favorites partially because of the great people we met & grew to know through our on line board & experiences on Solstice together. Sincerely, Snorkel Dawg, Mrs. Snorkeldawg & the Snorkel Pups

Cabin Review

Comfortable enough for a family of 4 seasoned cruisers!

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