Celebrity Solstice Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was our first cruise to Alaska after a number of Caribbean, Bahamas, Med, etc . This has been on our bucket list for quite some time so we finally went for it! We booked this about a year ago, and maybe 60 days prior to the sailing upgraded from a standard balcony room to Aqua class.
We landed in Seattle the day before the cruise and took the Link Light Rail to the Westlake station. We stayed the night before at the Mayflower Inn. The location was outstanding and the hotel was quite nice. We were upgraded for free to a corner suite. We did some sightseeing the day before and the morning of. We decided to try Uber to the port. Mistake number 1. Uber and other private drivers are taken to a staging area, while taxis are sent right up to the port. So much for Seattle being an Uber friendly city. We had our driver leave us and we walked about 2/3 mile by my guess to the terminal.
The embarkation process was the worst. San Juan, Barcelona, Bayonne - all smooth and easy compared to Seattle. The lines were horrendous and slow moving. It took us the better part of an hour to get on the ship, and as noted we were in Aqua (and are Elite). This was probably the biggest complaint but by the time we got on the ship, to our room and up to lunch it was all a memory.
Cabin Review
AquaClass 1
This was a great cabin - location near the mid ship elevators. The couch is by the sliding door, not the bed.
Port Reviews
Seattle
Seattle has a lot of cool stuff to offer. We toured on our own both before and after the cruise. We visited the Aquarium (excellent), science center, space needle, MoPop (don't waste your time), Pikes Place and did a harbor cruise. We took the Light Rail in and out of town from the airport. It was all great, except that in the Pioneer Square terminal we felt quite uncomfortable. The urine stench was overwhelming.