Just off Solstice, Hawaii/Vancouver - review plus Luminae

We just completed the Solstice Hawaii to Vancouver cruise. Here is a small recap of our trip and observations of the cruise, mostly concerning Luminae as this was something we were really looking forward to. I apologize if this is long winded. Also, my pics seem very big! I can't figure out how to make them a little smaller :(

We flew into Honolulu two days before our cruise and stayed at the Outrigger Reef. Here we are just approaching Hawaii.

Our first night we were going to go to Duke’s and then decided to go there for lunch instead the next day and go to House Without a Key instead. The meal there was very nice and the setting amazing, a great way to start off our trip having a barbeque outside, beautiful view of the water and sunset, with Hawaiian music and dancers performing.

Duke’s Barefoot Bar the next day for lunch, just to hang out, relax and take in the sights.

We booked this cruise only a few months ago and as a result were able to get a suite guarantee and were lucky enough to be assigned an S1. It was 2151 - right underneath the Oceanview Bar. I’d read some negative things about overhead noise. Yes, we did hear the occasional scraping of chairs but it was only mildly annoying and never kept us awake or woke us up. I would definitely book this cabin again just because of the privacy we had and also it was very useable and shaded from the harsh sun.

The only time we ordered room service. Breakfast in Hilo.

We came back to our suite on one formal night to find this little box of chocolates. And we also received chocolates on our pillow every night.

As far as amenities, we only received Bulgari soap - I know others have asked, so that's why I'm mentioning it. The towels were a bit on the frayed side at times and not the nice fluffy ones. When I mentioned it, we received nice towels the rest of the voyage. Our butler and attendants were both great. The little tea cart came around every afternoon and included canapes. It's probably the first cruise in some time where it seemed like the steward actually had time to interact with us. That was nice.

This trip for us was all about R&R so we didn't actually do that much on the islands. We only went on one excursion, in Hilo, to the Volcanoes National Park which was pretty amazing. This is a pic from a little beachside restaurant in Lanai, Maui.

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This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me - the Murano cooking class! It was so much fun and well worth the $139 per couple ($99 per singles). We had a quick tour of the galley and then into Murano's galley where we put on hats and aprons and actually cooked (after signing waivers ;) We made an appetizer, entree (sea bass) and then participated in making the dessert (they had already done the main prep). We went into the wine cellar after in Murano's and sat down to eat our own creations. The price included premium wine pairings and Celebrity's cookbook. Thank goodness we didn't have to fly home with that book ;)

This is our cooking station - we were squeezed in and with bubbling oil it was a bit intimidating - I have a new appreciation for what goes on in the ship galleys!

Our prep stations

Appetizer creation - I kind of messed up my blobs there ;)

I would 100% recommend this if you enjoy food or cooking!

Okay, a little bit of food porn and then I will get onto my thoughts regarding Luminae.

I think this was our first meal in Luminae. This was burrata with prosciutto and arugula pesto. It was very nice, but honestly, the cheese must have been about a four ounce portion. I am not exaggerating. I mean, it was good, but way too much.

My husband had pork belly. Again, an appetizer but practically an entree size. Very good, very rich.

Seared duck - very, very good.

Seared tuna - all the tuna dishes I had were absolutely amazing - there were I think three appetizers and a couple of mains. They were exceptional, every one of them.

Grilled octopus - I really was looking forward to this dish. It was very tasty, but unfortunately, as octopus can, it had the consistency of rubber bands. Oh, well.....

That's it for now. I will try to finish the rest of this tomorrow.

Loving your review. I will be on the Solstice to Alaska in July and again in Sept. Vancouver to Honolulu. Can you tell me the name of your Butler ?

Loving your review. I will be on the Solstice to Alaska in July and again in Sept. Vancouver to Honolulu. Can you tell me the name of your Butler ?

Thank you! His name was Arnel. We didn't really take advantage of him at all; just a couple small requests, morning cappucino and then the tea cart if we were around. My husband mentioned one time he liked a particular type of sandwich and after that Arnel made sure he had them every day.

We did this cruise last year. It was fabulous. We'd were also in a Honolulu with you this year. I pretty much took the same picture from Dukes :)

What was the up charge for including the pole in your room?

Really enjoying your photos and review! ;)

Okay, just a couple more food pics.

This was the halibut served one night and it was very, very good. Not overcooked in the least which is easy to do. Although now that I look at the pic again, it might have been my husband's turbot from another night. Hmmm..... I should have taken notes.

Smoked salmon and caviar appetizer.

This was my husband's - it was ice cream in chocolate "eggs." Unfortunately, the ice cream had melted a bit when served - for which the server apologized profusely - so presentation suffered a bit. But still very pretty and apparently very good.

This is the dessert cart for formal night. The pic quality's not great. The idea was kind of borrowed from Qsine, I thought, kind of fun dessert, with "jello" squares, macaroons, chocolate "bread sticks," etc.

Other items of note that people ask about. The crossing itself was pretty good. The first day was very nice and then started to get a bit rougher by the end of the day. The second day was noticeably rougher with lots of swells. The public areas were pretty quiet on the ship. The rest of the journey was calmer and sunnier but I was surprised by how quickly the air cooled down.

Demographics - it was a really varied mix of people which surprised me. I had expected an older crowd. There were people of all ages, from many different countries. Formal night was dressier than I expected which was nice.

We, along with others of course, were invited on the helipad at 11:15 at night for the "drive-by" past the volcano. I'm not sure if it was because we were in a suite or Elite members. They were serving complimentary mudslides too which was a nice touch. Unfortunately, conditions weren't great that night so really didn't see much.

Activities - there was a lot of things to do during our five days at sea which was refreshing after the initial few days where everything was basically flogging one revenue producing thing after another, i.e. spa, salon, casino, drinks, etc. There were Polynesian dancers on board teaching hula, ukulele, language, a few speakers and presentations as well as many other things including a choir group and flash mob. It was a good introduction for us and we are now considering a transatlantic.

Zumba was free one day outside and then pay-for afterwards in Qasar.

Entertainment was pretty decent. There were 3 good musical acts throughout the ship, a jazz band, who we had seen before on the Solstice, a duo, and a male solo artist. Only went to one production show and then the Cirque show at the end.

Future Cruise - they had moved their location up to 15 deck by the lawn club. Seemed very knowledgeable about what they were selling. When I asked about Sweet 16's on one sailing she knew right away what I was referring to and even advised against the one they had left on one particular sailing.

Molecular Bar - We were told on this cruise it would be no more on the Solstice by the end of May and then later given the actual date of May 22 for when it would shut. Very sorry to see that go - we had many cocktails to make up for it.....

We got up early to catch us going under the Lions Gate Bridge. Home again, home again.

Disembarkation was a breeze, despite 3 large ships being in Canada Place all at once at start of season. And we found out that, yes, you can get coffee at Cafe Bacio on disembarkation morning. Yay!

Met lots of great people

Overall, it was a great cruise, although Luminae was a bit disappointing on some fronts and I will get into that next.

I forgot to mention Murano! We were entitled to two complimentary specialty restaurant meals and had them both in Murano. These two meals were definitely the best we had on the cruise, hands down. We shared the Chateaubriand one night which was cooked perfectly, and on the other night we both had the rack of lamb, again, amazing. We have eaten in Murano and similar ones on their other ships in the past and this experience was very good.

I agree. The meals we had in Specialty dining were better than Luminae.

Luminae - my comments are just regarding the Solstice. Based on others’ reports the rollout seems to be inconsistent throughout the fleet.

Here is Luminae on the Solstice - the pictures do not do it justice at all.

It really is a very pretty room with lots of open space versus Blu where tables are much closer together. During our cruise, it was never busy at all. In fact, I would say it was rarely half full, often less than. We were told lots of people were either dining in specialty restaurants or sailing with friends who were eating in the MDR.

The positives of Luminae were the crew and Linda, the maître ‘d. They were obviously trying to do everything they could to make sure you had a positive experience and were definitely looking for feedback, good or bad. Very, very good service. It was the first time in a long time that we’d really been able to chat with the servers and get to know them. That was really nice.

The food was very good as a whole, ranging from good to amazing. The tuna appetizers and tartars were some of the best I’ve ever had. The poached in butter lobster was great; the other main lobster I sent back as it was tough and dry. The chateaubriand was good, but not as good as Murano’s. The menu is somewhat limited, but we always found something to order and were also offered the MDR Classic Menu every night. I saw several people ordering off this one, not Luminae’s.

Breakfast would definitely not be worth the $25 mentioned for suite guests, although they had a very good fruit plate which included papaya and mango. At this point, I think $50 would be a stretch for dinner, too, if you’re comparing $50 at Murano. I can only imagine they’ve priced meals accordingly to keep invited guest numbers down.

The negatives of Luminae : Lunch - I won’t belabour the point - I’ve already discussed my feelings about it in another thread.

They still didn't have proper chairs, linen or crystal. No nice charger plates or anything like that. Linen was downright tatty at times - my husband had a couple of napkins with holes and/or frays. Normally it’s not something that would bother me but come on, they had months of planning to get this up and running properly. This is modern luxury?

And the wine, urgh… The wine glasses were the thick generic kind. Despite advertising the wonderful wine list Luminae would have, we had the MDR one with a very limited selection. Very, very disappointing. Needtobespoiled took a pic of Summit’s Luminae wine list - way more selection. It seemed like we were stuck ordering the same wine every night, despite having the premium package. I felt bad for the sommelier because all he could say was they were expecting more wine. Celebrity’s loss, because we would gladly have paid extra to upgrade our wine given the chance. Epic fail on this front, for us.

I booked this cruise excited by the prospect of Luminae. The service was great and the food was generally very good. Disappointed, though, by things that I don't think were the fault of anyone on the ship. The rollout just doesn't seem to have been planned so well.

We were on the same cruise and didn't enjoy the food at all. First of all we like a table for two, which was impossible as these tables are now 4 inches apart in the mdr. Absolutely no privacy. Is this due to the creation of a suite dining room. We were also advised that select dining was wait listed, yet on many evenings the second floor was nearly empty and we were able to eat there with friends who had this dining package.

The quality of food was terrible. On the first evening my husband ordered salmon which arrived raw. The last night I ordered veal, which I could not even cut with a steak knife. We ate in the Silk, which was acceptable, however the duck arrived cold. My husband enjoyed his Tuscan Grill meal, but both the braised beef ravioli and lasagna I ordered were not palatable. After that we cancelled our Murano reservation as we felt the cost was not worth it.

We also noticed that the food was recycled from venue to venue. Not much variety. Duck in mdr one night, and in the buffet the next.

We sailed on the Summit last year and the food on board was top rate. Do we have to pay for a suite to get decent food? If so, I will cancel the Silhouette cruise planned for next year in Europe and make my own land arrangement, or book a luxury cruise instead.

Thanks for your review. Love the pic of Hawaii from the plane!

Thanks for your review. Love the pic of Hawaii from the plane!

 

 

 

Me too!

Thanks again for the pictures and feedback about Luminae. Really hoping Celebrity can fix all these issues in the next couple of months.

The roll out seems very disorganized and inconsistent which for a company of their size and reputation should be embarrassing.

Great thread and pics, thanks for sharing. We're looking forward to Luminae on our next cruise!

Koolforkatz -

Many thanks for your thread creation, comments, and pictures. I didn't think the pictures were too big to view and it was great to see all the detail in the pictures based on your descriptive comments. In 2016, I have a reservation on Solstice for a suite for an 18-day New Zealand/Australia cruise that I am very much looking forward to. Thank you for sharing your experiences.

Thank you for the review and beautiful pictures. It is interesting that so far many feel their best meals were in Murano.

What a score to get an S1 on a guarantee! Congratulations. Most of our upcoming bookings are on Solstice.

Thanks for the review and pictures:) I was wondering which nights were formal, do you remember?

Thanks for the review and pictures:) I was wondering which nights were formal, do you remember?

Thank you :) The first formal night was our fourth night, the night we sailed from Maui. Second formal was second to last night.

Thank you :) The first formal night was our fourth night, the night we sailed from Maui. Second formal was second to last night.

Thanks for the info!

 

The positives of Luminae were the crew and Linda, the maître ‘d.

We were on the previous cruise from Sydney and I can vouch that the crew was very good. Linda always came around to the table to see how you were doing. Everybody just went out of their way to make sure you had an enjoyable dining expericence.

Thank you koolforkatz for the wonderful review and pictures. Myself and two friends will be doing this cruise April, 2016. Loved the pics of Hawaii...it's been many years since I visited the islands. We are also doing three days pre-cruise in Honolulu.

Susan