Our trip began with one night in Rome to explore and prepare for Solstice.... but arriving early afternoon at the port, we were simply staggered by the size and beauty of the Ship! We experienced a very easy embarkation.... no lines, very pleasant welcome staff, and guided straight to our Aquaspa cabin.......just perfect! Our cabin steward introduced himself, and then we went off to explore!!!! The Spa with the wonderful facilities was a real eye-opener, and we certainly took advantage of them! Because of our grade of cabin, we dined at 'Blu', a small intimate dining room, just for our cabins. Truly excellent. We also tried all the other speciality restaurants during our cruise, every one of them was faultless, with superb food, service and ambiance. We did try the main restaurant on two evenings, and were amazed once again by the choices and quality of food and service. We took several ships excursions, true, they are more expensive, but all were excellent, and you have the added safety of knowing that you will be back on board when the Ship sails! We also took advantage of several seminars onboard on the two sea days, and were introduced to the benefits of acupuncture. The entertainment was simply superb. Worth a mention were the acapella group, who always popped up when you were on your way to or from somewhere else, the Jazz combo, who were really excellent, and the production team, all so hard working, really professional shows. The guest entertainers were top quality, varied and fun. A very clever move was to offer all the various musical combos and entertainers at different venues throughout the ship at different times....you never knew quite who you were going to listen to in any lounge or in any of the atriums. Excellent. Cruise Director Drew held it all together with professional pride. As two more mature females traveling together,we initially thought that we might find that there were too many children on such a big ship, but the kids clubs were so well organised that we hardly saw or heard them. In addition, we found that there was always somewhere quiet to sit if thats what we wanted, but there was also plenty to keep us entertained, in fact so much so that we spent very little time in our lovely cabin! But the best thing of all was the lawn club!!!!! How amazing to be sitting in the sunshine, sipping a gin and tonic, listening to live jazz, on soft, real grass, yet at sea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Only one word describes this ship.... AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We plan another trip next year to the Caribbean.