FlyingAnchor

Greetings all! For Aqua Class can anyone expand on what the following benefits entail: Complimentary fitness classes What are the fitness classes and is there normally a charge for non-Aqua guests? Exclusive spa treatment package discounts What are the discounts and how do they compare to the Elite discount on spa services? Additionally, does the Aqua Class shower on Solstice class ships have additional spray shower heads or only the one shower head up above? Thanks!

We disembarked from Solstice yesterday. Of all of our cruises (across multiple lines and including many on Celebrity) this was our worst MDR experience hands down. The menus were underwhelming and the food was lackluster. It made us regret not booking Aqua Class and having access to Blu. We ate in Sushi on 5 and also Tuscan Grille. The food was excellent in both. We received the best service of the cruise in Tuscan. Excellent waiter who could not possibly do enough to ensure we were satisfied! We ended up eating in Tuscan out of desperation one night after viewing the MDR menu and not being in the mood to experience it after a few nights of disappointing MDR experiences. We walked up to the host stand and asked if they had any availability for us and they were able to seat us right away, thankfully!

To piggyback - is breakfast available every day in Blu? Is there ever lunch in Blu?

Due to the issues we had with MDR, we went to Tuscan one night and had the best food of the cruise! It was worth every dollar we paid for it!

We also disembarked this morning and had a great cruise. To your point about the ship being tired/worn out, our cabin had some obvious wear and tear including broken closet door handles and the closet doors were installed incorrectly where they had their handles both on the right side of the door - it was just awkward opening them with the handles installed as they were. (And the one handle was falling off the door). We also had a broken drawer in the bathroom. At various points throughout the cruise I also experienced urinals and sinks in various public bathrooms taped off and in disrepair. The ship is not dumpy at all, but there is obvious wear and tear and I'd love to see the ship after its been fully Revolutionized like Equinox! I like a cold ship/cabin, so I enjoyed dressing in layers every day! But yes, I wore a light jacket or cardigan almost every day over my t-shirt or dress shirt (depending on time of day). The weather was also cool so we barely used our balcony if the ship was moving. However, I was happy to have the balcony so we could run out and see the many whales/dolphins/sea lions/etc that could be spotted on this journey! We found the food and service in the main dining room to be underwhelming and some nights I simply didn't eat much of what I ordered because the quality was lacking. Of all of our cruises, this particular sailing had the worst main dining room food. I was especially disappointed in the MDR experience because my Equinox sailing this past September was phenomenal in the main dining room. Service and food were both outstanding. Not sure what has happened between then and now! I saw you post about the packed casino. In my opinion, Casino Bar service was the worst of all the bars on the ship, even when not busy. Additionally, on the first sea day, we were sent on a wild goose chase trying to find bottled water. After searching three full decks and five different bars we could not find a single one with bottled water. This was a major inconvenience and should be prevented. All we wanted to do was head to bed and instead we were being passed off from bar to bar and deck to deck to find the simplest of amenities...water. Cafe al Bacio was the best experience we've had in all of our Celebrity cruises. The crew working here were on point and provided excellent and attentive service. In contrast to your stateroom experience, our attendant was excellent. Our stateroom shower was stocked with shampoo and two bottles of conditioner. When I asked for body wash, not only did he replace one of the conditioner bottles with shower gel, he also brought us a bottle of body wash from Aqua class. It was a nice and unexpected touch that reminded us why we choose to sail Celebrity. We had a cabin mid-ship on deck 6. For some reason, this ship had many late night activities scheduled from 10:15-11:15pm in the Grand Foyer. We could hear the music in our cabin and it did keep us from falling asleep some nights. I sailed in this same cabin on Equinox in September and there were no late night DJ/dance parties in the Grand Foyer or noise issues in my cabin for that matter. Not sure why they chose this venue on this Solstice sailing for these events? In the past, its been our ritual and something we've looked forward to that we order room service and eat it on our balcony. With the new $9.95 charge for room service (beyond continental items) we ended up eating in the MDR for breakfast every morning. The service was great at breakfast and the food was good but not great. Overall we had an awesome vacation! But as far as our experiences on Celebrity go, this one was a miss for some reason. To your point, we agree the vibe on this cruise was different/unique/interesting compared to past experiences. There were many high points and and low points/misses certainly won't deter us from booking future cruises on Celebrity. However, it does have us contemplating upgrading our future sailings to Aqua class to get back to eating in Blu, since the main dining room was a major source of disappointment on this particular sailing.

Would anyone know the answer to this? I did the "Status match" last fall as Elite with Celebrity to the Deep Blue program membership and saw at the time what I might receive from that if I sailed this year. However, my first VV sailing isn't until 2024. Does it rollover? Would I have to apply again? Is it expiring since I won't have used it in 2023? Just curious :)

I love hearing that! We stopped sailing in Aqua around the time EDGE debuted because the pricing sky rocketed. We love Blu, but couldn't justify paying for Aqua Class anymore solely to eat in Blu.

I recently found a YouTube channel that had some GREAT videos on their first VV sailing, and it sounds/appears that the vlogger is also a loyal Celebrity cruiser like we are. Watching through the playlists put our minds at ease for sure as to what to expect and how it would relate to what we know on Celebrity. I don't know if I'm allowed to mention the Channel name? Regardless, we have our first VV sailing booked for 2024 and now we are REALLY looking forward to it!

It is! Mighty Trains and Mighty Cruise Ships both fuel my wanderlust! 🤣

I have so many train trips I'd love to do based off of this show! Do you set the guides/hotels/food up all by yourself or are there TAs that specialize in this type of vacation?

Oh no! I love the Beyond the Podium speakers and was *so* hoping we'd have one on our 7-night Norway sailing on Apex this year. These will be such interesting/wonderful ports and I'd love to learn more about them from BTP!

Greetings! This past September, I was able to purchase a digital and prints photo package for $50 pre-cruise. It was available online in my Cruise Planner. I have a sailing in February coming up and have been checking the photo packages available. All that have been listed are private sessions. Is the Digital+Prints package a normal package they offer or did I just get lucky last summer? It was a wonderful deal and we have so many photos to remember our cruise by. I'd love to do it again!

Greetings all, We will be arriving in Amsterdam this coming spring the day before our cruise departs from Amsterdam. We land around noon at Schipol, and have a hotel near Centraal Station where we can drop our bags until we check-in. We'd love to get to Rotterdam for the afternoon before returning to Amsterdam in the evening to check in to our hotel. Is this easy to do on one's own? Does it require booking a partial day tour? Has anyone done this on their own before, and if so, any tips for booking train/transfer to/from Rotterdam and also what to see while there for a few hours? Thank you in advance!

Very true! I've sent Meadway an e-mail asking a few questions I have about their service but assuming all seems well based off of their answers, we'll probably just do this! Appreciate the suggestion!

Thank you for that! Truthfully, its the quick travel time from central London to Heathrow that is attracting us to the Heathrow Express! Not sure how long it will take in a car at rush hour in the morning!

Hello! We are staying in central London following our cruise ending in Southampton. I am looking at booking the Heathrow Express train from London to Heathrow the morning we are leaving. Does anyone know if the prices available online today (we are still 6 months away from our cruise) will go up between now and then? Currently quoting business class fare on the train for 64 pounds. If I wait to book until closer, do these prices typically increase on Heathrow Express trains? Please and thank you!

It took me ten or fifteen minutes this morning to find a way to get onto the Cruise Planner for my trip! I had to go through the Shore Excursions link at the very bottom of the website (not within my reservation, where it was never available) and eventually that took me a to a page that advised me to go to my Cruise Planner. When I clicked on that link, I was suddenly in the Cruise Planner for my next sailing! We have 3 port days on my next sailing and we had only booked an excursion in one of them. It was booked during a previous sale, but even so, I saved a further $70 in total by canceling it and rebooking under today's sale prices! Putting that savings towards an excursion in one of the other ports. Glad to have finally figured out how to get to my Cruise Planner! 🤣

+1 For Cafe al Bacio! The iced tea dispensed from a mix in the buffet is also what I think they serve in the dining room/specialty restaurants and not to my liking. So, I stop by Cafe al Bacio a few times a day for fresh brewed iced tea. On my recent Equinox crew, when I would sit down and "dine in," the server would bring me three glasses of ice :) I always appreciated that, as I do like my iced tea "iced!" For reference, I don't drink coffee or soda, and iced tea is to me as coffee is to most other people. I have to have it every day! 🤣

I was wondering about this...I have a water bottle with a filter in it. I suppose we could fill up in the buffet area, at the fitness center, and of course from the sink in our room? (Most curious about the sink in our bathroom and how safe that is to drink from.)

Thank you. I'm not interested in the water package as it won't pay for itself most likely, especially with the new 18% service charge added! Just curious if they offer something where they pre-deliver cases of water to the room at a discounted rate like the other line. I could only find on their FAQs where we're allowed to bring 2 bottles of wine onboard, but nothing about water ourselves.

Greetings all, We're sailing on Equinox on October, our first Celebrity cruise in 3.5 years! We just got done sailing on another line, and they offered the ability to pre-order cases of bottled water prior to sailing. The price per bottle was much lower than what it would cost us to buy them as we needed them onboard. We were sailing without a drink package, so this saved us quite a bit of money over the cruise! Does Celebrity offer anything like this? This will be our first time in October sailing X without a drink package as well, so I've never even looked for it before!

Hi All! Just booked a landsailing excursion in Bonaire for our upcoming cruise. I've never done this particular activity before. Has anyone else here? I am curious about how likely it is I'll roll over in the cart, haha! Just a little nervous But overall, looking forward to the excitement of this excursion. Thanks!