I was on the 15 January cruise out of Sydney, bound for New Caledonia (Noumea and Isle of Pines), Vanuatu (Mystery Island) and Loyalty Islands (Lifou). It was my second cruise on Celebrity, first in Aqua Class, first on Solstice. I got a really great deal a month prior to the cruise, where they waived the solo supplement and reduced the price of Aqua cabins to less than the price of ordinary verandah cabins - as a result, about a dozen CC women jumped onboard and we had a really great time on this cruise.

Solstice is not my ideal ship - she looks like a floating building rather than an elegant swan on the water (my previous cruise was on the Millie, and she formed my view of what a beautiful ship looks like it seems), but on the inside, she is really very sleek and sophisticated. I was really impressed by how clean the crew kept her - she was always shipshape and polished. I loved all the quiet nooks and crannies - the seating areas down from the midship elevators, the library and card rooms, the wonderful relaxation room in front of the spa on deck 11; even though the ship was packed, as long as you stayed away from the crowds up on deck 12 and 14, it never really felt that crowded. I loved the glass elevators, the tree of life and the grass lawn - it was all really well thought out. Although it took me a a few days, now that I have the deck plan engraved into my head, it's actually easy to get around the ship. The only place I really tried to stay away from was Celebrity Central - the casino really creeped me out, and I hated having to walk through it.

Embarkation: prior to the cruise I spent a few days at the Four Seasons, so on embarkation day, I checked out at 10.50am, and at 11am was at the baggage collection point, at the entrance to the OPT. I then walked along to the terminal, and as I was Aqua Class I literally walked through all the checkpoints with no waiting, and was on the ship by 11.16am. No drama at all. A lot of people were in the cafe area on deck five upgrading their free beverage package to the premium package. I head up to deck 14 to have a look at the ship from the top down but it was so hot and humid in Sydney that it was not a lot of fun up there. I headed back down and settled in for lunch in the Bistro (which turned out to be my go-to place for lunch: there was never more than a couple of occupied tables when I was there - so peaceful and delicious). After lunch I went to the future cruise desk and booked myself another cruise (more on this later). Read more