Celebrity Solstice Review

4.5 / 5.0
2,223 reviews

Second leg back to back cruise Fremantle to Sydney

Review for Australia & New Zealand Cruise on Celebrity Solstice
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demandpub
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

Rating by category

Cabin
Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
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Entertainment
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Additional details

Sail Date: Mar 2018
Cabin: AquaClass 2
Room 1649 Aqua Class
Ensuite in Room 1649 Aqua Class
Toiletries in ensuite of Room 1649 Aqua Class
Complimentary tea and water
Power outlets
Blu Restaurant's sommalier, Ben
Blu restaurant dining
Blu dining
Shore excursion sticker on coach
Blu Restaurant's Jimmy and Arland
Limited leg room on this particular bus on a shore excursion
Blu dining
Blu restaurant's Sabar
Cocktail by Dimitri, World Class Bar
Cocktail by Dimitri, World Class Bar
Cocktails by Dimitri, World Class Bar
Dining in Murano
Dining in Murano
Murano's Ljupcho
Dining in Murano
Captain Taramas presenting awards to Celebrity staff
Fremantle art display on buildings
Champagne whilst enjoying cabana
World class bar cocktail menu
Leaving the port of Adelaide
World Class Bar's Dimitri
Cocktails at World Class Bar
Sunrise at Melbourne Port
Melbourne port with Spirit of Tasmania approaching
View of balloons rising over Melbourne Port
Good quality standard of bus with good leg room on shore excursion in Melbo
View of Celebrity Solstice at dock in Melbourne
Murano dining
Murano dining with Makmur flaming lobster
Murano dining lobster
Murano dining souffle
Dunedin Botanic Gardens signage
Akaroa jetty with queue waiting to board tender boat
View from top of gondola ride of Canterbury Province (Christchurch)
Orana Wildlife Park inhabitant
St Patricks Day display in Ocean View Cafe
View from ship approaching Picton
Dimitri World Class Bar
Dimitri World Class Bar

Here we are on the second leg of our back to back Celebrity Solstice Cruse, returning to the ship for the second leg at the Port of Fremantle. We found embarkation excellent with no hassles whatsoever. Here again, we give the five star rating mainly because of the excellent service by the staff, including our room attendant for the second leg, again this was Raymundo who looked after our every need and his service was quite outstanding. As we were in Aqua Class, we dined in the restaurant for Aqua Class guests, which is called Blu. This time in our serving section of Blu, we received outstanding service from "Uncle Jimmy", ably assisted by Sabar, with our wine sommalier, Ben, plus all other staff members in Blu who also attended us from time, ten out of ten to these assistants too. We must also mention Dimitri in the World Class Bar, who gave us superb service during our second leg. After leaving Perth, our first port of call was Adelaide again. Here we found the disembarkation a lot smoother than the previous forward visit to this port, as Celebrity used two gangways which made ease of offloading of guests much smoother. Our next stop was Melbourne. Here the ship docks at Port Melbourne which is in close proximity to the shopping district of Port Melbourne and trams into the Melbourne city precinct. Our next stop was supposed to be the Sounds, including Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound, but due to a medical emergency by one of the guests, the ship returned to the dock of Melbourne after an announcement over the PA system at about midnight. Here we lost approximately twelve hours of sailing time and it was the decision of the Captain and the Company to miss visiting the Sounds. A large number of guests were very unhappy about this decision as the Sounds are the major highlight of this particular voyage. A more practical solution would have been to miss either Dunedin, Akaroa or Wellington. As we ourselves had seen the Sounds before, we were not quite as upset as many other guests on board. The next port of call was Dunedin followed by Akaroa, Wellington, Picton and then the final leg to Sydney Australia. As we had seen many of the shows on the previous back to back cruise, we omitted to view these on the second leg, but they did have a few new single artists who were entertaining. We noticed during both cruises that some of the entertainers we had seen previously on Celebrity Solstice cruises and these entertainers need to have "fresh" material for guests, as you are hearing the same jokes and material. The public areas throughout the ship were always kept spotlessly clean by a highly efficient maintenance team. Hand sanitisers are provided at the openings to all restaurants, but we noticed on this second leg of the cruise there were a lot more people sneezing and coughing, which even after our own stringent hand washing with our own personal hand sanitiser, we still managed to still pick up head colds and flu. As is the case, it is not the ship that causes the colds and flu, it is the guests with no consideration whatsoever for the health of fellow passengers with their sanitising procedures. Arriving home sick with colds and flu is no fun.

Cabin Review

AquaClass 2

Cabin A2

Cabin 1649 was the same cabin as we had previously on the first leg of our trip and as previously commented we were most happy with all aspects and design of the cabin. It is located at the rear of the ship on the port side on Level 11 in the Aqua Class section, which is a quiet area of the ship.

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