Celebrity Solstice Review
Rating by category
Additional details
I should preface this review by saying that this was our first time cruising with Celebrity and we chose the cruise for the itinerary and length as well as the convenient dates which worked in well with our other family commitments. We have cruised before most recently on RCL Radiance of The Seas out of Sydney on its NYE cruise in Dec 2012 so we do have some comparisons to draw from our experience.
We booked our 14 day NZ/Aus cruise when Celebrity had deals including flights from Sydney to Auckland to meet the ship so that seemed attractive to us and it worked out well.
Day of departure and it was a really early start to catch an 08:30am flight out of Sydney to Auckland. The flight was on time and we arrived a little early into Auckland and were met by Celebrity Staff who helped us label our bags (we had printed the bag tags already just had to remove the airline tags and attach the ships ones instead) and took them for transport to the ship. We then waited around 45mins for other passengers to arrive and we were on our coach for transport to the pier for embarkation. As this was post Xmas there was little traffic and we were at the ship in around 30 mins.
Cabin Review
Great cabin on Deck 10 near mid-ships, starboard side. Quiet with a good view with little impact from the giant overhang from Deck 12. Afternoon Canapes were usually OK and our Cabin Steward, Nevis, was a real gem. One cautionary note. We had one neighbour with kids in the cabin. Most nights for some reason they were intent on yelling, crying and banging on the wall. I was surprised at how little soundproofing there really is between cabins.