Celebrity Solstice Review

Solstice Celebration

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Celebrity Solstice
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kk99
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Nov 2008
Cabin: AquaClass 1

Hi everyone, My friends and some of the family were able to sail on the Solstice on the November 30, 2008 sailing. My Mom was originally scheduled to go on the inaugural with myself and some of my siblings, but then had a serious accident that prevented her from sailing. I personally want to thank Host Joe for being one of the kindest individuals, for taking time out of his holiday inaugural sailing to make a dvd of the ship for my mother, and purchasing a shirt and some miscellaneous items for her when I requested help on this board. Celebrity management should give him a penthouse suite for being such a wonderful enthusiastic cruiser who promotes Celebrity and takes the time to post on these boards with helpful information. Some of the family was able to book last minute cabins on this sailing, and decided to go. They returned late last night, and I have scanned the shopping guides for the ports, Aquaspa information, casino information, the ship dailies, the shore excursion insert, the ship's smoking policy, wine ad information and in room bar charges, Captain's Club elite invitation to ship events, and general miscellaneous information. I've set up a google page with the attachments at https://sites.google.com/site/celebritysolsticesite/ Please note that it will take a long time to load some of the attachments as they are quite large, so please be patient. This review is a composite of my family and friends who were on the sailing. Overall, it was an extremely positive experience, and they all hope to sail Solstice again, especially after the kinks are worked out. I've added pictures to the webpage showing the ship decorated for the holidays. Review Saturday November 29, 2008- Everyone flew Saturday afternoon to Fort Lauderdale, and took a 10 minute(at max) 12.90 cab ride(for 2) before tip to the Embassy Suites. They all obtained the rooms on a discount hotel site for 85.00 for the one night.

Sunday November 30, 2008 After eating the full breakfast the next morning(included with the room), the group all caught cabs at 11:30 a.m. to go to the pier which for two people was 14.00 with the luggage per cab. All of them were required to flash their passports at the security control prior to the cab entering the pier area. They didn't take a close look, but I guess it is just an extra needed security measure. The cab ride was again less than 10 minutes from the hotel to the drop off to the terminal entrance. Everyone goes inside, and it takes about 15 minutes to go through getting the room cards and boarding the ship. Everyone gets the arrival boarding pictures made, and for the first time on Celebrity that anyone of the group remembers, they scan your seapass, so you will be able to review your photos from your cabin TV screen and purchase them from the interactive television. We are told repeatedly that the rooms will not be ready until 1 or 1:30 p.m., but after boarding the ship, all of us were allowed to drop the bags in the room, and proceed to Deck 14 where the Oceanview Cafe is located for lunch. They now have several stations like RCL does where you serve yourself from the hot entrees, hamburgers, salad bars, pizza and pasta bar, cheese and bread station dessert area, ice cream area, and drink stations. Water, coffee, tea, lemonade, orange juice, guava-passion fruit juice are free. Sodas, bar drinks are extra costs. At night there is also sushi, and late night pizza. There always seemed to be a long line at lunch for the ice cream station. In future tweaking, they should put a second station in, especially when the ship is at full capacity, or if there are more children on board in the summers. They also only have three waffle machines, and there was always a line for waffles in the mornings. They could easily add another three waffle irons so that cruisers like Texed would not have to wait so long! Some of the group stayed in Aquaclass cabins, others in concierge class, and regular balcony cabins. The main differences were in the small amenities offered. CC class rooms had the thicker bathrobes, thicker towels, afternoon canapes, binoculars to use and the bottle of champagne. Aqua class cabins had in addition the Frette thicker bathrobes, Jadro multispray shower panel, lemongrass bath gels, soaps and aromatherapy products, a diffuser, and only two people in the room, and dining in Blu. There was a separate desk for AQ class to book spa appointments. AQ class and the suites could use the Persian Gardens , steam room and relaxation room included in the price. The majority of the group said that these facilities were vastly underused, and to allow other passengers who want to use them perhaps, it would be a good idea for time reservations to be made for a 45 minute or 1 hour slot, so that other passengers could enjoy them as well. No one in the group had any difficulties in getting reservations for treatments. Most waited for the spa special of the day, and then booked one of those, as they were usually about 60 or 70 dollars less expensive than the regular treatments offered. Steiner has the contract on the services. None of the guys or girls reported any hard sales tactics for the products following a treatment. The pool area and solarium indoor pool were very nice with lots of loungers with thick cushions, and double day beds. The water in the solarium was brisk, but the hot tubs worked nicely. The group was very impressed to see (and about time for it to be on all ships) a handicap access chair that can be lowered into one of the hot tubs. The Aquaspa cafe is located at the end of the solarium, and would have juices, coffee, teas, cereals, yogurt, oatmeal, and pastries for breakfast if you wanted a fast and light breakfast. On deck 15 at the front of the ship(below the spinning sonar) are really nice double chaise loungers to relax on.

So after gorging at the oceanview cafe, and making spa appointments, everyone wandered around the ship checking out all of the public spaces. The ship's drill was done in the restaurants, where everyone sat at the tables, watch a short film on safety on tv screens, and then back to the cabins. No outside standing on the decks, and this was much faster and easier. They had a nice sailaway party from Fort Lauderdale and then on to dinner. Since the group was dining in both Grand Epernay and Blu, they tried to move everyone to Grand Epernay, but the maitre'd could not accommodate the group. So for the first night everyone ate at their respective places. The comments from the people in Blu was that service was good, it is a nice intimate space with lots of tables for two, the bread basket was good, but the food was underseasoned and somewhat bland. The service in Grand Epernay was inconsistent, some tables were great, others had a long wait between courses, and the food was fine, although the portions(for meat and fish) seemed smaller than the last cruise two months ago on another Celebrity ship. The chairs were extremely comfortable in both restaurants. After dinner, several bought the internet packages, and with the 20% more minutes for elite members and the additional discount by booking it on the first day, the price dropped from 65 cents a minute to 40 cents a minute for the package. Whether on your own laptop or in the internet room on deck 6, service is relatively slow compared to land based internet. Cellphone signals worked the majority of the time except when not close to a shoreline. Everyone finished the night in the casino on deck 4 and then Quasar, the nightclub also on deck 4. To my brothers' credit, they did ask everyone who wanted to dance to dance,(and this was every night on this ship) as they had more energy than their wives or girlfriends.

Cabin Review

AquaClass 1

Cabin A1

Extremely quiet cabin, largest angled balcony for Aqua Class, loved the Pharo shower system, and bathroom storage

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