We were on the Celebrity Solstice New Year's sailing 12/28/08 and had a wonderful time! We spent two nights in Ft. Lauderdale pre-cruise at the Marriott Courtyard on the beach. We loved this hotel because of its location, on the beach and just a couple of miles from the port. If you stay here, be sure to go a few blocks north to the H2O restaurant - it had great food!

Check-in Sunday was pretty easy. We got to the port too early, though, at about 10:00 and they turned us away and said to come back at 11:00 a.m. Once we did, it was easy to drop our luggage and park at the lot right next to the ship. We had a concierge level room and were placed in a separate waiting area for a few minutes. They began check-in and boarding about 11:30 a.m.

The ship is very beautiful! We had so much free champagne on our cruise, from boarding, to the bottle in our room, to glasses on New Years Eve! It is a very classy ship; you will not be disappointed if you are looking for elegance. Our teenage daughter missed all of the activities of a RCCI ship, but we loved the classic elegance. Read more