We are a husband and wife in our late forties. It was our ninth and tenth cruise as we did a back to back sailing. Previously, we have sailed Holland America, Norwegian, Carnival and Princess Cruise Lines. Our Western and Eastern Caribbean cruises on the Celebrity Solstice 06/13/2010 and 06/20/2010 were "Excellent". We were fortunate to have sunshine and relatively calm seas the entire two weeks. Having RCCL (Royal Caribbean Cruise Line) shares, we were able to take advantage of two On Board Credits of $100 for each 7 day cruise with Celebrity. The OBC was easily obtained after final payment was made. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale the day before and stayed at the Hilton Marina. It is a good location, with included breakfast and welcome cocktail. The water taxi was just out front, which makes it easy to get anywhere you need to go. A few blocks from the hotel is a Publix grocery, that we also took advantage of for stocking up on supplies.
The embarkation process was as to be expected with a few thousand passengers waiting to board. Our room #1503 Aqua Class was wonderful. A balcony room, with chilled champagne, always fresh fruit daily, soft robes with slippers, a large interactive LCD monitor, fresh herbal tea daily. It was clean, adequate and very quiet. Our cabin steward was outstanding with his service, and always interested in polite conversation.
Being Aqua Class, the specialty restaurant Blu was our main dining room. It was a very quiet and intimate place away from the crowds. A great window table was always readily available for us. The food was fantastic and the service was always top notch. On two special evenings we dined at the Murano and the Silk Harvest Restaurants. The food and service were excellent. We usually don't enjoy buffets, with the crowds, so we try to stay away from them as much as possible. With that being said, the food choices were excellent and the overall lay out of the buffet was excellent.