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One of Our Best Cruises

Rio de Janeiro

The food in Cafe Blu was horrible. I am a plant eater mostly. My choices were limited and tasteless. My husband found the meats in the Ocean View Cafe to be over cooked. I have noticed on our last 3 cruises with Celebrity that the quality of food has gone down. The entertainment has always been slow, but enjoyable. However, during this cruise the entertainment was unimaginative. I felt like the cruise director was creating activities more for a nursing home. There were activities like paper airplane contests. I enjoy music from all eras, but most of the music was from the 50’s. Also, the movie selections were terrible. I understand that children were also on the ship. However, I believe that children movies should have been available in the teen or children’s lounge.  I did not enjoy the animated movie selections offered in the Solstice theater for adults to watch. It was a very long cruise and I think that the Cruise director (Eddie) could have done a better job setting up activities and entertainment.

Terrible Food and Lame Entertainment 

The main draw for booking this cruise was the itinerary which cruised one way from Honolulu to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia over our 20th anniversary. Having sailed twice on Celebrity since cruising restarted it is the cruise line my husband and I are most familiar with at this time. Everything went as planned with no problems or disruptions and the weather was fantastic. Overall it was an enjoyable vacation. 

The food was a big disappointment for me with the Main Dining Room menus obviously scaled back lacking any true appetizers or side dishes. The proteins were mostly ok but lacked flavor and flourish. Eating was just to get it done and not an experience. The specialty restaurants (Murano, Tuscan Grill, Sushi on 5) were a step up and a welcome break from the included food. 

Entertainment especially at night was thin and nearly an afterthought. Only one comedy show in 17 nights and very minimal local cultural type shows except for the Polynesian dancers who boarded one night to give a show at 5 p.m. by the pool and left prior to the ship departing. There were a lot of lecture talks and presentations in the daytime, however. 

As always the crew was friendly and attentive. It is always a pleasure to enjoy a ship on the open ocean. But there wasn’t anything special about this sailing other than the itinerary. The all included perks we once enjoyed and were justified by a higher Celebrity price point are now gone and with the decline in food offering the value for money just isn’t there anymore. I’d sail Celebrity again if they had a good deal but not on the Solstice.

Good cruise but nothing special

Brisbane

We booked Aqua class, as had done several times before. Not worth it, and for much less, you get almost the same in other categories, like Veranda or Concierge.

Blu restaurant was always full, had to wait 15-20 minutes every evening, no matter what time we arrived. Breakfast is available between 7.30 and 9. Good but very slow. Seems they are short on personnel. Menu not as good as it used to be, fewer options. Much better options in the main dining room.

Ocean View restaurant is good, with many different options, opened most of the day.

Impossible to use the Persian Garden, always full (only 8 beds). 

Air conditioning was not working in our cabin, has to call twice to have it repaired.

The pools were OK, both the outside and the indoor.

Café al Bacio is always good, good selection of coffee and tea with very good pastries and extremely nice personnel.

The ship looks old, needs upgrading.

Disappointing 

Split

This was our 2nd time on this exact ship and itinerary.  We took it a 2nd time because we had a cruise credit which had to be used, and it was convenient for us.  We really enjoyed the Dawes Glacier experience (turning that big ship around in the middle of a Fjord; no easy trick) as well as Zip-Lining Grizzly Falls and the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour!   

The OnBoard experience was a very mixed bag this trip. FIRST, the bad:   The Canyon Ranch Spa services were a complete WASTE of money.  As a spa oficionado of 25 years (& 12 cruises), I was incredibly disappointed in the skill level of the massage therapists, and found the Front Desk coordinator absolutely unfriendly & curt to even speak to. I had several issues that were poorly handled by her.   When you spend $240 for a treatment with automatic gratuity, and its "Canyon Ranch", you expect it to be superb.  I phoned the Spa Manager to discuss my complaint and was merely thanked.  The service was so bad, the Massage Therapist checked me out in room knowing how unhappy I was, instead of taking me to the front as is always done!!  Getting a decent service is a toss-up here and they'll do nothing about it if its unacceptable.   Money down the drain...

SECONDLY, the good:  The regular Staff on this ship was wonderful!   From the Cabin Steward & Senior Staff, to the Regular Dining and Specialty Dining; we never had an issue.  The Staff at Cafe al Bacio and our regular Dinner Staff (Raul, Howard & Robert), made us feel like we were royalty.

THE SHIP - THE SPA - THE STAFF

Beware,

  came on healthy, left with covid! Food was awful! They broke my luggage as well. Value of 250. Gave me a cheap bottle of champagne to compensate me.  The food was so salty. Every time I ate it my feet and hands were swollen. Also went down to get medicine and I asked the nurse if there were people on board with covid and she said yes. I asked her to give me the symptoms of covid and she gave me the list. I told her I had all of these symtems and she didn't even ask me to take a test for covid.  She told me if I wasn't feeling better then to come back the next day. Also the server for our table, was a man was miserable and he didn't even conversate with us at all. My overall experience on the ship was terrible.  I will never take a trip on this ship.

Covid

Our cruise to Alaska was very special and Celebrity did everything they could to make sure guests were well cared for.  While other cruiselines are taking things away from the cruise experience, Celebrity seems to be finding ways to constantly improve and add to the guest experience.  The food and service in the main diningroom as well as in the buffet was excellent.  Also, the specialty restaurant, Murano, was excellent.  We enjoyed Sushi on Five as well as Tuscan Grille. All of the entertainment was pretty good.  The comedian, Lamont Ferguson, was one of the best I've seen on a cruise ship.  Our balcony cabin as well as the rest of the ship were clean and well-maintained.  Embarkation and debarkation were very quick and smooth.  The dance classes and bocce games were a lot of fun. Until they provide better pickleball paddles, bring your own paddles.  The lectures given by Milos Radakovich about Alaska wildlife etc..were informative and humorous.  Overall, I would highly recommend this cruise.

Excellent experience overall. Good food and entertainment. Great customer service. 

Review: July 28th Sailing of the Celebrity Solstice. 

To begin: I have sailed in riverboats on the Rhine, as well as on the Fair Princess, the HAL Ryndam, the Constellation, Eclipse and Infinity.  This was my first cruise since 2014. It had been cancelled several times due to health problems in the family and the Covid issues. My personal rating of this cruise is six out of ten. It would have been a perfect ten had the Cruise date remained scheduled for August 4th.  However, I was notified in January that the ship had been chartered and I had to cancel or reschedule.  I have a slight sour grapes attitude because I missed the Wings Airline Five Glacier Taku Lodge excursion out of Juneau. This was due to very low cloud cover and (Primarily) the rescheduling! Based on the corporation that chartered the ship, I thought the date change was very “Seedy”.   I’m 77. So, I hope I can make the rescheduled cruise on the Edge next year and that the weather cooperates.  

Let’s do the review:

EMBARKATION:  The new process is wonderful!  I checked in online. The process was very straight forward. I had transfers from SEA-TAC to the Pier 91 Cruise Port. That worked flawlessly.  At Sea-Tac, they finished the final Check-in process at a Celebrity desk in the parking garage. My photo was taken, and they verified my travel doc. I was given a wrist band. Once I arrived at the port, the wrist band allowed me to bypass other check in lines. I needed to show my express boarding pass, on my iPhone, when I made it on board the ship.  The baggage was left with a porter and was in my room shortly after it was announced we could go to our cabins. 

I did the safety training while I was waiting on the bus to go to pier 91.  Once onboard, I walked to my lifeboat Muster Station (D3) and showed the Celebrity team member that I completed the drill. They gave a short talk about life jacket usage and marked me as done. 

My next stop was the Mast Grill for a quick lunch and drink. It was a beautiful day to sit in the sun and enjoy the views.

HINT1: Once you are booked, download the Celebrity application to your phone and populate any needed contact or account information. 

HINT2: Book your Celebrity port tours online several months before the cruise. Typically, they will be cheaper. Many will be sold out before you board the cruise ship. 

ONCE ONBOARD: My wife and I had spent two weeks on the Eclipse. This ship was the first in that series.  I knew where everything on the ship was located.  The elevators were quite busy.  There are still concerns about Covid as well as reports of Covid symptoms among other guests (after they departed the ship).  

I went to my cabin (a Sunset Verandah) to enjoy the sail away.  The verandah was about thirty percent larger than other verandahs we’ve had because of a machine room between 6310 and 6312. I noticed odd noises at night because of the machine room. You could not ask for a better room to take photos and video from. Sunset Verandah’s are perfect for shooting sail-aways and dockings. 

The room was dated. The coffee table and bedside furniture showed ten years of wear. However, everything was clean, and the bed was very comfortable. The storage space was barely filled since I was traveling alone. The bathroom has plenty of storage space and a hair dryer. 

Chris was the Cabin attendant. He cleaned the room impeccably and was a joy to deal with.  I noticed that small chocolates are still being provided at bed turndown time. I provided extra recognition in thanks for Chris’s work and help. 

I used the ships laundry service. The forty-eight-hour turn-around fit my schedule.  

The WiFi was the best that I’ve experienced on any cruise. I connected easily once onboard. It was stable and flawless. The server recognized my plan immediately. No Muss or Fuss. And speaking of the iPhone, once the ship left port side cellular range, I set the phone to airplane mode.  My contacts were advised to use E-Mail. I have T-Mobile and was able to use 4G/LTE cellular and messaging in Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria.   Again, after leaving port and between ports, I switched the phone to airplane mode. 

There were frequent shows in the elevator lobby atrium.  That included exercise sessions.

Finally, it is a good hike to the elevator lobby.  Count on making your daily step count.

FOODIE TALK:   This is going to be a very “Thin” review.  Since my wife wasn’t with me, I did not use the MDR or any of the specialty restaurants. I primarily had Continental breakfasts delivered by Room Service.  My other meals were from the buffet. Rabbit food, selected protein and an occasional stop at the gelato stand were hallmarks of my routine. And yes, I did miss the MDR’s delicious apple pie and ice cream dessert.

I think the pizza has changed though. It seemed as thin as parchment.  The amount of cheese and pepperoni was very limited. I hope it’s better on The Edge.

Overall food service by Celebrity was outstanding!  Everyone was upbeat and smiling. One of the ladies at the gelato stand was quite welcoming and friendly. One of the folks in the buffet thought I wasn’t eating enough.  

GRAPE JUICE:  I had wine service in the buffet and at Cellar Masters. There was also a “Wines of the World” wine tasting that was both educational and fun.  There were six stations. Each station had a red wine and white wine of a specific country to sample.  That means in one hour a person could sample six white wines and six red wines. I really liked a Spanish red wine that was aged about right. They had an Argentine Malbec that tasted pretty “new”.  Bread, breadsticks, meat and cheeses were provided to accompany the wine tasting.  I’ve now been on four Celebrity ships. Their sommeliers are the best! Celebrity typically also has a wine pairing event with food. I’ve done that activity on three other ships.before taking this cruise. 

GAMING:  I typically just play video poker.  I found the machines were tighter than on past cruises. But, I might not have found the “Right” machine. A machine on the Eclipse paid almost all of my cruise charges in 2013. 

Let’s look at our ports. But, first a quick note:  If you are physically disabled the docks at the Alaska cruise ports are below the level of the streets.  This means that there will be a walk from the gang plank to long inclined ramps at each port.  A wheel chair pusher is available to help less abled folks up to street level. 

KETCHIKAN:  Expect Rain during cruise season. There is a wealth of walking, bus, boat (whale watching) and dining tours available.  I took the amphibious duck tour.  The driver and young docent provided great information about the sights and the cultural details of Ketchikan. The duck is a difficult photo platform unless you bring a gimbal or selfie stick to hold the camera to the open area of the window. In the rare chance the weather is dry, they can move the Plexiglas windows out of the way. There are several large Alaska souvenir shops within easy walking distance of the pier. The Lumberjack show and Creek Street attractions are close to the pier. 

JUNEAU:  After watching the Juneau Harbor Cam for years, I knew the weather can be fickle.  The tour group for the Five Glacier Taku Lodge float plane tour met in the ships theater.  We all walked out to the tour meeting site. We were given the news that, because of overcast, the floatplane tour would be cancelled and refunded. A week later, I was livid because the tour operated on the day that I was originally booked. With reference to the charter, I thought it was “seedy” that I missed my long awaited photo-op. But, I made unsweetened lemonade out of lemons and took the circulator bus to the boardwalk. I walked the five block boardwalk past the Princess and HAL ships into town. Then I visited the wonderful Hanger restaurant and had a delightful citrus salmon entrée with appropriate side dishes and three relaxing glasses of Pinot Gris.  On the way back, the aerial Tramway and its shops were my last stop before catching the circulator bus back to the ship. 

The sail-out was beautiful!  I took some night shots of the HAL ships as we sailed away. 

SKAGWAY:  We had fog in the morning. I was able to shoot ghost ships in the fog.  The weather cleared in time for the round trip in the parlor car on the White Pass and Yukon train tour.  We were served food and various types of liquid refreshment (including Beer and wine) as we visited, took photographs, and listened to the history and sightseeing tips provided by the outstanding Railroad Docent. I only had time to buy souvenirs on the train.  Our tour group made it back just in time to meet the 16:30 “All Aboard” time.  It was raining torrentially in the morning. So, I never went into town. We docked back to back with the SV’s on the Royal Princess,  

VICTORIA:  Sorry, I lived in Seattle for years and visited Victoria many times.  I stayed on the ship and enjoyed harbor activities.  I’m sure there were “Tim Horton” doughnuts calling my name though.  

The ship left Victoria at Midnight. The use of the directional azipods (to move away from the pier) provided the only vibration that I felt in my cabin during the entire cruise. 

DISEMBARKATION: I had recent hip surgery. So, I took advantage of their wheel chair service. Those of us that wanted assistance met at the Sushi bar on deck five. The crew directing the disembarkation process was very effective. The process worked like clockwork. “A++”  I was handed off from Celebrity wheel chair pushers, to Pier staff, onto the bus, assisted with bag check at SEA and wheeled to my gate.  Customs was a thirty second cakewalk as I had both a Passport card and Passport. 

SUMMARY: I felt the Solstice, Celebrity crew members, Tour choices, and food and refreshments were ten out of ten. Everything worked!  My only complaint about the Celebrity experience was the parchment pizza and that’s trivial. I did not gain weight on this cruise. Again, my only point of contention was the impact of rescheduling of the cruise.

A Wonderful Cruise on a familiar ship.  However, one personal goal was not met. 

Three generations including ten grandkids, 2 to 13 years.  This was an ideal itinerary getting Texans out of the summer heat and seeing sights even many of the adult kids had never experienced.  Celebrity has a good kids program and that was a major benefit.

Ship size was a compromise--large enough to have multiple activities and not so huge that there are no intimate spaces.

Ship was full and many venues were at times too crowded to enjoy especially World Cafe at prime time for breakfast and at opening hour for lunch.  This reenforced the feeling that the ship is just too understaffed for excellent service.

Food quality was generally good to great.  Some nits to pick:  at lunch in dining room you have to order dessert when you place your original order, not so at dinner.  In the evening the dinner menu offered fewer choices than we recalled from previous Celebrity voyages.  Noticeable:  a prestige appetizer like shrimp or pate were minuscule while soup and salad offerings were quite substantial.  Ice cream at both lunch and dinner were more ice than cream.  Single dumbest thing:  afternoon cabin delivery of complementary "canapés"  which were inedible and strange choices to boot--total waste of money and stewards' time.

Grand Family fun for all 21 of us!

The 2023 President Cruise was abso-tively 'over-the-top'. 

This was my third time on SOLSTICE, my very FIRST cruise aboard Celebrity was on her in 2010 and she's as fresh appearing as I recall (and I have a great memory!).

It was another (my 25th aboard Celebrity ships) Xcellent sailing.

Service is unwaveringly Xceptional. As was the food. Ditto for entertainment. 

This frequent cruiser does so monthly on Celebrity and every single one is always perfect.

Celebrity wins my vote for the be$t value in cruising. 

I've done one on Princess, three on NCL and four on Royal but none compare.

If you are a frequent cruiser w/RCCL brands, invest in 100 shares of stock for generou$ onboard credits on EVERY sailing as long as you own 100 shares. (I bought at $32.25 about eight months ago and it has TRIPLED).

You'll be wise to book directly with Celebrity. You won't find a better rate anywhere.

Annual PRESIDENT CRUISE.

Where do I begin...First let me say that the weather was perfect, normally supposed to be raining this time of year but we got super lucky and it was sunny and 60's the whole time. Second, Alaska is AMAZING!!! This trip was the Dawes glacier cruise out of Seattle. Everywhere we went was amazing. Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway were incredible ports. Now for the cruise ship, deep breath...

The food was some of the worst I have ever had. The buffet was miserable, mismatched foods, everything was overcooked. The eggs were like rubber, any meat was inedible due to over cooking, the desserts were some kind of flavorless mousse??? It was just so bad but we had little choice as scheduling (see below for more on this) forced us to the buffet a lot. And then possibly the most annoying thing about the buffet, they never stayed open the correct time. They were constantly closing eating sessions early. Breakfast was supposed to be from 7-11 but everyday they closed the food down at 10:30, once they shut it down at 10:10!!! Lunch was supposed to be from 12-5:30, it was a miracle if food was still out at 4:45. Dinner was supposed to be 6 -10, again food was never still there by 9:30. A cruise is supposed to be about the never ending food, not on Celebrity evidently. Outside of the buffet the first night we ate at the Italian Specialty Tuscan Grille, blegh. The pasta was wildly overcooked mush, the sauces were flavorless, and the staff again couldn't answer any questions, like what was in the dish. So then we tried the main dining room. The food was better, still very unseasoned, but the staff was intrusive and pushing you to get done and get out. The waiter for the couple next to us one night literally picked up their plates and asked them to leave while they were finishing the desert because they needed the table. And the winner for worst cruise moment EVER...The somehow contaminated my grilled fish with shellfish. I am extremely allergic to shellfish and luckily though did not have a severe reaction. I was able to handle via my own medications without having to go to Sick Bay for an epipen. I have not had an allergic incident in over 20 years, they were informed of my allergy, the waiters re-confirmed my allergy every night and still somehow the kitchen got something shellfish in my food. Between this incident and every other interaction with the staff it made us feel like the staff were rejects who couldn't be used on Royal Caribbean cruises.

The Staff, it was as if they could not answer even the most basic questions like "what time does this happen?" "Where do we go for this?" A prime example is we were taking an excursion on a Zodiak boat to see Orcas, we asked the excursions desk manager what should we bring to wear? does the boat provide anything? They hmm'd and hawed then said we should bring any heavy clothing we have and have a rain jacket with us, but was obviously guessing. Since the excursion was scheduled as soon as we landed we knew we had to bring this stuff as we would not have time to return to the ship if we needed it later. Well sure enough we get to the excursion and they give us head to toe survival suits. With no time to change, and no where to put our extra clothing we had to don survival suits as is and roasted in them for the next 3 hours. The only thing that made it tolerable was that we got to see Orcas in the wild up close. We asked other questions about our other excursions and the staff at the desk could not reliably answer any of them. At one point we were told to meet in the theater to gather for an excursion, we get to the theater at the appointed time to find out they had already sent everyone to the dock. So we run to get out on the dock where we get questioned, by the Cruise Director none the less, why we were on the dock already!!! We then notice a bunch of people looking lost, so I spoke up and loudly asked who was there for that cruise excursion. A bunch of people raised their hands, I told them to come over to the Cruise Director WHO THEN WALKED AWAY TO ASK SOMEONE ON A WALKIE TALKIE WHAT WAS GOING ON!!! This was the Cruise Director, how can they not know what is going on?!?!? They never did come back and address us, instead the local excursion company person finally found us, we were not in the right place evidently. So through no effort of the Cruise Director we finally got going on our excursion. This leads to my next issue

The schedule of events/activities was a disaster. Many dissimilar activities were scheduled at the same time. I can understand scheduling similar events, like lectures on a specific topic, shows, and casino events being scheduled at the same time so that no one event gets overwhelmed. The issue here was that events that were total dissimilar were scheduled at the same time, many were one time only things. So I had to make choices on what not to be able to see, not what I have come to expect in my 15 years of cruising. I am used to being able to do everything either because events happen multiple times or are scheduled in such a way to make sure you have the opportunity to see everything. Another issue was on one day we scheduled 2 excursions, 1 in the morning and 1 in late afternoon. There was supposed to be 1.5 hours between them. Well the first one despite leaving early (mentioned above) came back an hour late. The second excursion, again, was being pushed so it was leaving 15 minutes early, so 15 min is all the time we had to change and grab food, which we had to sneak off the ship to be able to actually eat on the bus to the next excursion. Scheduling was nightmare especially when trying to squeez food in with a buffet that kept closing early. 

One last complaint...There is not a clean window anywhere on the ship. They are all covered in weeks worth of salt spray. I watched Princess and Carnival Cruise ships that shared ports with us outside in every port cleaning windows, but not on our ship. I looked, hard, to make sure I was not just missing them do it, they weren't. When we got back to the port in Seattle the Royal Caribbean ship next to us it was the first thing they started on in the morning. From the time we docked until an hour after we disembarked no where was there outside maintenance happening on the Solstice, and I was one of the last off the ship. Someone might read this and think I am being overly critical, but there was green algae down several windows in the Sky Observation lounge, that only happens after weeks or longer of not being cleaned. The whole point of a cruise is to be on and see the ocean. Well this could only be done from outside on the Solstice.

I WILL NEVER cruise with Celebrity again.

P.S. Not that this is Celebrity's fault but the cruise terminal at Seattle is a DISASTER. No signs telling you were to go, WAY TOO SMALL to handle 2 cruise ships worth of people at the same time (which we did coming and going), and a traffic nightmare trying to get into and out of. Luggage was everywhere, its a miracle ours was not lost. People screaming at each other, pushing and shoving going on as people were stacked on top of each other as embarkation for the next cruise starts before the ship is empty!!! It was a horrible experience going through that port. I am from Florida, I have cruised out of Tampa, Cape Canaveral, Miami, and Key West and NEVER have I seen such a mess as I saw in Seattle.

Worst cruise ever in 15 years of cruising

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