Our family had only taken 1 cruise trip before, so we were looking forward to an upscale trip on the Celebrity Solstice. The ship is absolutely spectacular. The common spaces were gorgeous! The martini bar had shaved ice on the top. The wine area was very comfortable. The library had plenty of books to chose from provided you were an adult (no kids books here). The service was spotty! Dinner service was not what we had expected from this cruise. Our server was very nice, but had no culinary knowledge and could not provide us with good advise on what to pick for dinner nor could he describe correctly what we were ordering. The bar service people rarely came by, so if you are having dinner at the main dining hall, bring your drink with you from one of the bars. The service at the pool was also not great. The servers rarely stopped to ask if you needed a drink, they just walked around the deck with prepared drinks not inquiring who needed something to drink. Cruise staff: we never saw the cruise director anywhere! Nor the Maitre D'. If you wanted to see the cruise director you either had to go to the theater where he presented information or watch him on tv. I found most of the crew to be rather off standish. The port shopping person was fine, but his office hours were only 5- 7 pm during the day. Cabin: Very comfortable, although there was not enough closet space to store our stuff. We had a balcony and it was perfect size for the 2 adults + 1 kid we had. The cabin staff was very friendly and helpful. Ports; We loved Santorini, Kudasai(Ephesus) and Naples. Istanbul was also fun, but we really did not have much time to see it all. There is not much to see in Delos - I would advise seeing Ephesus + AThens sites instead. Dinner/Food: The food at the dinning hall was not as good as I had expected. They only load food at Rome, so by the time you get to the 8th day the fruits are not as good anymore. Every fish entree we ordered we had to return. The chinese pork dinner was inedible - hard and tough to eat. The food at the informal dining area was ok. Pleanty of choices - not all of them good! To me there was too much to chose from yet not enough quality on any of it. Desserts were not good - except for Chocolate Ice cream and some chocolate desserts and pistachio dessert. Creme brulee was aweful! Tender Ports: When they tell you to line up for tender tickets at 9 am beware people are lining up starting at 7:30 am. We ended up waiting 1.5 hours to get off the ship in Santorini after following the advise of the cruise staff to be at the line at 9 am. Laundry - there is no self service laundry on this ship. Wait till the 9th day for a special $24.50 for a bag of laundry. Otherwise you'll end up paying $40+ to wash your undergarments. Embarcation/Disembarcation: They open the embarcation at 11 am and let you on the ship by 12. Your luggage gets delivered to your cabin by 2 pm. Disembarcation they tell you to plan flights after 11 am. You honestly can get off the boat by 7 am and make an earlier flight. We actually docked in Civitavechhia at 3 am. Other dining areas: WE HEARD THE REST OF THE RESTAURANTS IN THE BOAT WERE GREAT, BUT WE DID NOT GO TO THEM. Kids program: Had to pay for them to have dinner and lunch! I found this to be ridiculuous. We had already paid for this when we bought our tickets. Theater shows: did not see any except for the first two. We all fell asleep - not very entertaining at all. Kids teen club - my son who is 16 years old had a fabulous time hanging out with the rest of the teens.