Celebrity Solstice Review
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The captain of the Solstice made this journey very memorable. He was very personable, and approachable. He genuinely wanted to do what he could to ensure the passengers had a good time. He did a 360 as we passed the lava flows on Kona so everyone got a good chance to see it as it hit the ocean.
I'd like to see this cruise hit another island -- maybe Kaui. Maui, Hawaii, and Oahu are getting fairly commercialized. However, the big Island never fails to give a good show and we enjoyed both our days there. We had a private jeep tour in Maui that was an excellent introduction to Maui and it's history.
The only ding/con for this cruise (and it's minor) was the breakfast. The scrambled eggs out on the buffet were so soupy that if you wanted eggs, you generally lined up for omelettes or eggs benedict to order. It's always nice to have your eggs made to order, but sometimes you'd like to just grab and go. I could never seem to get cheese on my omelette that I ordered -- I ordered cheese each time, but when I got it, there was never cheese on the omelette. As I said, it's a very minor ding.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Veranda 1A
This cabin is located "on the hump" in the middle of the ship. The veranda is just a bit bigger than regular because it's on the slant of the hump. In addition, it's on the rear side of the hump, so as the ship is sailing, you don't get a lot of wind out there.
We had the beds pushed together to make a large bed. The bed is situated next to the sliding glass door to the veranda. This left a sitting area between the bed and the bathroom. Since the closet is parallel to the bed (on the other side of the sofa), this makes it easier to get in and out of the closet.
The closet is a bit smaller than we're used to on cruises. However, the bathroom has much more additional space than we're used to! In addition there are shelves with doors above the bed that provided good space for clothing. We were disappointed to find a 3-shelf stand on each side of the bed instead of the usual 2 drawer nightstand.
The hair dryer provided in the room required one to hold the button to keep it running. I was glad I brought my own!
We brought a ship-approved power strip that gave us 3 usb charging ports and 2 3-prong US outlets. That gave us plenty of charging accessibility.
We also brought 4 strong and 4 medium magnetic hooks that were essential to keeping order in the cabin. We strongly recommend bringing magnetic hooks. In addition the ship had two hooks on the wall opposite the bathroom door as well as two on the bathroom door and two in the shower. (We used two of our magnetic hooks to hold all the paperwork on the wall so it didn't overwhelm the limited counter space in the cabin.)
There was plenty of room under the bed for our two hard sided suitcases (and we put our carry on inside one of the suitcases), keeping the cabin free of the extra suitcases.