Celebrity Solstice Review

POSH & CLASSY..refined. Just not for kids!

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Celebrity Solstice

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Sail Date: Aug 2009

THE TRAVELLING TO THE BOAT.. It started with an apporxamite 4 hour flight to Italy-Rome. Now don't be fooled by your itinery. If your taking a fly cruise, whatever your first destination is, you probably wont get to see any of it. We didn't get to see any of rome. Besides the motorway of the coach transfer!.. (TIP* perhaps book flights seperately, go a day before, explore rome, then get a taxi transfer to port- perhaps?)

THE BOAT ITSELF.. So you arrive at the port. First reaction "WOW". It's beautiful! It's alot of hassle with paperwork, and they take your photo..and they take your photo again, whilst boarding the ship for security purposes. You get a complimentary glass of champagne as your board, and then the next time you see your luggage is in your room. Finding your room is really exciting. Walking in, seeing everything for the first time. It's beautiful. ofcourse the first day there are drills, and talks going through life boat procedures and what not. I found the ship quite 'snooty' at times. Alot of people seemed to enjoy asking the question 'What deck are you on?'- ofcourse in realisation that, evidently, the higher deck you were on, the more you'd payed for your room.. Besides this, there were some lovely people on board! The decor is flawless. Waiters all friendly. Food delicious. Not crowded. There are two pools. If your teenager is around the age of 15, he/she is too old to swim with the young kiddies in the main pool, and too young to swim in the adult pool. So this ship may not be ideal for teens, but my two daughters (13 and 15) enjoyed it and found it amazing despite this. We avoided the formal nights- a big regret! It seemed very 'ball gown' orientated, and we found that this wasn't really, our thing. What we regret, is not eating more in the grand epernay. Outstanding food. We only ate there towards the end, as we got highly bored of the ocean view cafe- you have the same personal waiter to your table everytime.

EXCURSIONS: i didn't rate the excursions very highly, they seemed very educational orientated, as opposed to fun. Mt Etna got a tad' boring, as was pompeii, as soon as we walked into the ruins, we came straight back out, and got a pizza. Istanbul in the grand bazaar- what an experience. My daughter got hassled alot though, old men wanting to buy her for 'x' amount of camels.. we even got locked in the shop,on the plus side, since my daughter had grey eyes, they said she was allowed anything in the shop for free. - unfortunatly we did not take advantage of that offer... I recommend just exploring the towns yourself! Shuttle buses are very organised and easy to use, tender boats are simple, and not along wait.

Cabin Review

'lovely cabin, our cabin was on deck 6, our view was nice, but we had this floor area which had a life boat attatched to it, so it wasn't perfect! Always had the sun on it though.. very quiet and peaceful.

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