Our Solstice experience was perhaps a bit different than indicated in the reviews of "homesweethome" and "SeattleKroozer", as follows:

We are seniors from California, USA, who sailed the Solstice 10/9/09 on the Eastern Mediterranean itinerary, spending 4 days in Rome pre-cruise thus fully relaxed. This was my first trip to Europe, not so for my lady. We opted for transfer from our hotel directly to the port with two (new) friends we discovered on Cruise Critic via the Roll Call. With Rome Cabs (highly recommended) the cost was one half the total of 150 Euro and provided relaxing door-to-door service, luggage handling and zero walking, viewed by us as a great value. (Philosophically, in this case, I define "great value" as not having to schlep luggage to the Rome Termini, on to the train, off the train at Civitavecchia, up and down the stairs there and then to the port entrance to hopefully find a bus to the ship all to save about 40 Euro total... and a potential heart attack!)

Arriving at the ship at 12:30 our luggage was accommodated and we proceeded to check-in where there was zero queue. We boarded the ship, received a glass of bubbly, were ushered to a waiting elevator and then selected lunch before 12:45. Given 2,850 people booked on this cruise we found that remarkable and a stellar start to our Solstice experience. Read more