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    Short Review of May 7th 10 night Solstice Hawaii to Vancouver

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    It started with ourneighbor picking us up at 10:55 AM on May 6th down our long driveway, They live uptop, we are in the middle and watch their cat while they are in France for 3-4weeks around Christmas. It works for us, I rarely get holidays off since my counterpartat work gets most of the holidays off; It is what it is. Neighbor drove us tothe local airport to catch the airport shuttle bus to Oakland airport. We chose to stayovernight before our flight OAK to HNL. I’m glad we did, was a long flight andwe were much better rested before.

     

    Let's stop here and introduce ourselves. Pat and Paul,longtime cruisers. First in 2002, Mercury 7 day to Alaska. That was an awesomefirst cruise! But 7 days wasn't enough. So, our second cruise was to Alaskaaswell, but 12 days! Out of San Francisco and awesome, Celebrity Infinity 4years later. Then in 2009 we heard our loved Mercury was being sent to anotherline so we HAD to cruise her once more on a 9 might Alaska adventure. A longbreak from cruising Celebrity ended in 2015 in September with the beautifulInfinity again on a 9 night Pacific Coastal. But wait, we felt obligated tocruise this lovely M class ship again in May of 2016 for yet again anotherPacific coastal. But that did it! We are now Elite! Finally.

     

    Now to this awesome cruise. I booked this Solstice cruise on theInfinity in May 2016. We had to do a S class cruise to see the difference. Wehad only cruised Horizon (Mercury) and M class ships on Celebrity thus far. We'dbe cheating ourselves until we hopped on a S class.

     

    We flew (First Class) from OAK to HNL Sunday May 7 and boy wasthe service really nice. We only did First since it was a good deal at $400 apiece one way. Arrived about noon and got our luggage. Cab was about $32 with tip.We were warned that there would be a Coast Guard inspection that would delayboarding. Couldn't check in until 1:00 PM. this concerned us since we had bookedConcierge Class and wanted to have the lunch which closed at 1:00 PM. (This isimportant, pay attention later). We thought we would drop bags and then hangout in Waikiki. To our surprise, we entered the terminal at 12:45. Lines whereopen and not bad. We were offered the 'Elite Suites' line since we are eliteand promptly took it. About 50 people in front of us, not bad. It was thesecurity line, about 20 minutes. We left security and proceeded to the emptyConcierge line (Elite line had several peeps in it), Concierge looked better.Up to the check in guy and 5 minutes later on to the escalator up to the ship.

     

    We entered the ship though Cellar Masters strangely. Sparklingwine in hand and proceeded to the Aqua Spa Café for lunch. Nearly the same asInfinity / M class ship, so relaxing! Paull had some of the best grilled Salmonever! Highly recommended. We ate at Aqua Spa almost daily, breakfast and lunch.Healthy and fresh. Just an FYI, ship announcements don’t happen in the Aqua Spacafé’ / Solarium pool. You have to go to the elevators in the foyer, forwarddeck 12.

     

    On to our cabin, 9243, Concierge class. It was very nice. Biggerbalcony, bed next to balcony / window. Bathroom nice. Cabin attendant, Malcolm,was really good, always asking what else we needed. (We even passed on thesparkling wine since it is not the best quality in our humble opinion.) Bed wasvery comfortable. The shower in the bathroom is a little small for us largerguys, so we just showered up in the Men’s changing room most evenings. Theshowers are much larger / huge up there.

     

    MDR dining was Excellent to Very Good. Paul loved every meal.I’m a picky diner so I likely dine on the everyday menu often. French Onionsoup is AMAZING by the way. I hate mushrooms so I find Celebrity menu’s lackinga little. We only dined one night in Buffet which was actually very good. (Notbusy / quiet time, take note). If you like Lamb, Paul said it’s some of thebest he’s ever had, and he had it the times over ten nights!

     

    Back to our boarding fiasco missing Concierge lunch. We hadto board late because of the Celebrity multiple email notices. So we missed thespecial luncheon. We told Bianca, the Concierge Hostess, and she wasimmediately sorry. She said would look into it and maybe book us for a lunch ina specialty restaurant to compensate. We received a call a day later that shebooked us in Tuscan Grill for a lunch a few days later, if this didn’t work,let her know. We saw here when in line for a tender the next day and thankedher, thinking that we would be responsible for the cover charge. Guess what?There was NO bill at the end of our lunch at Tuscany! Bianca covered it 100%.We were pleasantly surprised.

     

    We are new Elites and made the horrible mistake of notattending Elite breakfast until day 9. It was wonderful and Amazing! If you arenewly Elite go to the breakfast day one and every day after. Other Elite perksnot to be missed are the laundry. USE them!!! Come home with mostly cleanclothes. Awesome perk!

     

    I only have one negative to mention. The World Class Bar was notclassy at all. The bartender was a total jerk. I’m going to put it in my survey.I’m pretty laid back, but when someone tells my spouse they can’t get tonic andlime at a bar because they are a “Specialty Cocktail ONLY”! bar, I get reallyupset. REALLY?!

     

    BRING THE MOLECULAR BAR BACK!

     

    I have nothing but greatthings to say about the other lounges / bars. Especially the martini bar, ourfavorite hangout. If you upgrade to premium, this bar is not to be missed.

     

     

    The shows were prettygood, but we only went to a few of them because of select dining. Our faultsince we chose our 7:30 dining time. Should have done 6 PM instead.

     

    In the end, in retrospect, it was a great cruise. I look forwardto a Solstice cruise in the future. I’ll be posting some photos of bar menus aswell as pics of the MDR, BLU, and Luminae. It will take me a little time, I’mnew at this review thing 😊

     

     

    Pat

    Complimentary laundry - Elite

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    It's not how much you can cram into one bag -- it's 30 items. If they won't fit into one bag, use two bags. No need to roll items tightly and stuff into one bag.

     

    For our first laundry we put 25 items into two bags and used one slip with Paul's name on it. No problem, they counted it as one Elite bag of laundry, up to 30 items. Our second time we only used one bag with about 12 items, used my name. We also sent out for our free two dry cleaning and one pressed item, all in one bag with three different tags. I really don't know how you could EVER get 30 items into one skimpy paper bag, especially if both travelers are 6+ feet tall, our clothes are a little larger than some folks. Attaching the 'Elite Perks' sheet from our recent Solstice 10 night cruise.

     

    Pat

    Captains Club Elite Benefits.PDF

    Solstice Airport Transfer today in Vancouver....

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Paul and I also booked the $30 USD a person 'Direct Transfer' that sent our luggage ahead and we picked it up at YVR (Vancouver Airport). IOHO it was planned very well, yet execution was poor. They sent three different luggage tags to participants, tags one, two, and three. Since we had to provide a copy of our flight itinerary, I would image they planned for earlier flights get tag 1, early afternoon got tag 2, and late day flights received tag 3. Our flight was around noon so we received tag 1. The first error in execution was that all three tags reported to the art gallery deck 5 forward AT THE SAME TIME 7:45 AM. How about a little staggering Celebrity? Tag 1's should have been at 7:45, Tag 2's should be 8:15 or 8:30 and tag 3's should have been about 9:00. But Celebrity had everyone report at the same time, 7:45. We got there about 7:30 and queued up and took our seats in the theater and waited until 8:30. The biggest issue was that they called all three groups at THE SAME TIME. Not good! We waited in lines which seemed like an hour. When we finally got on the bus and heading through town, we hit traffic and construction. We kept checking our watches as we usually arrive at the airport three hours early. Luckily we arrived in time and checked our luggage and arrived at the gate about an hour and a half early. In hindsight, Celebrity should have had passengers report to the waiting area staggered. They should not have called everyone at once for bus boarding. Let the passengers with flights later in the day enjoy the ship for another 30 minutes to an hour.

     

    Pat

    I miss Mercury and Infinity, but Solstice class is my new home!

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    It started with our neighbor picking us up at 10:55 on May6th down our long driveway, They live up top, we are in the middle and watchtheir cat while they are are in France for 3-4 weeks around Christmas. It worksfor us, I rarely get holidays off since my counterpart at work gets all theholidays off. It is what it is. Neighbor drove us to the local airport to catchthe bus to Oakland airport. We chose to stay overnight before our flight OAK toHNl. Glad we did, was a long flight and we were much better rested before.

     

    Let's stop here and introduce ourselves. Pat and Paul, longtime cruisers. First in 2002, Mercury 7 day to Alaska. That was an awesomefirst cruise. But 7 days wasn't enough. So our second cruise was to Alaska aswell, but 12 days! Out of San Francisco and awesome, Celebrity Infinity 4 yearslater. Then in 2009 we heard our loved Mercury was being sent to another lineso we HAD to cruise her once more on a 9 might Alaska adventure. A long breakfrom cruising Celebrity ended in 2015 in September with the beautiful Infinityagain on a 9 night Pacific Coastal. But wait, we felt obligated to cruise thislively M class ship again in May of 2016 for yet again another Pacific coastal.But that did it! We are now Elite! Finally.

     

    Now to this awesome cruise. I booked this Solstice cruise onthe Infinity in May 2016. We had to do a S class cruise to see the difference.We had only cruised Horizon (Mercury) and M class ships on Celebrity thus far.We'd be cheating ourselves until we hopped on a S class.

     

    We flew (First Class) from OAK to HNL Sunday May 7 and boywas the service really nice. We only did First since it was a good deal at $400a piece one way.Arrived about noon and got our luggage. Cab was about $32 withtip. We were warned that there would be a Coast Guard inspection that woulddelay boarding. Couldn't check in until 1:00 PM. this concerned us since we hadbooked Concierge Class and wanted to have the lunch which closed at 1:00 Pm.(This is important, pay attention later). We thought we would drop bags and then hang out in Waikiki.To oursurprise, we entered the terminal at 12:45. Lines where open and not bad. Wewere offered the 'Elite Suites' line since were were elite and promptly tookit. About 50 people in front of us, not bad. it was the security line, about 20minutes. We left security and proceeded to the empty Concierge line (Elite hadseveral peeps in it), Concierge looked better. Up to the check in guy and 5 minlater on to the escalator up to the ship.

     

    Sparkling wine in hand on the ship and through the casino.We entered thought Cellar Matter's strangely. Through casino to finish mylovely (not sure) wine. Put the glass on a black jack table and proceeded tothe Aqua spa Cafe. Nearly the same as Infinity / M class ship, so relaxing! Paull had some of the best grilled Salmonever! Highly recommended. We ate at Aqua Spa daily, breakfast and lunch.Healthy and fresh. Just an FYI, ship announcements don’t happened in the Aquaspa café’ / Soliurm pool. You have to go to the elevators in the foyer.

     

    On to our cabin, 9243, Concierge class. It was very nice.Bigger balcony, bed next to balcony / window. Bathroom cice. Cabin attendantwas really good, always asking what else we needed. (We even passed on the sparklingwing since its pretty gross In our humble opinion.) Bed was very comphy. Just aword of advise for you large brutes/ Shower in the changing room in the spa.They have HUGE showerers. Thank me for the tip now. Just an FYI.

     

    MDR dining was Excellent to Very Good. Paul loved everymeal. I’m a picky diner so I likely dine on the everyday menu often. FrenchOnion soup is AMAZING by the way. I hate mushrooms so I find Celbrity menuslaking. I swer every menu had 50% plus starters and entrees with mushrooms or truffles! Good god give me abreak! But that’s just me. We only dined one night in Buffett which wasactually very good. (Not busy / quiet time, take note). If you like Lamb, Paul saidit’s some of the best hes had, and he had it thrice!

     

    Back to our boarding fiasco missing Concierge lunch. We had to board late because of the Celebrity notice.So we missed the special luncheon. We told Bianca the Concierge Hostess, andshe was immediately sorry. She said would look into it and maybe book us for alunch in a specialty restaurant to compensate. We received a call a day laterthat she booked us in Tuscan Grill for a lunch a few days later, if this didn’twork, let her know. We saw here o a tender the next day and thanked her, thinkingthat we would be responsible for the cover charge. Guess what? There was NO bilat Tuscany! Bianca covered it 100%. We were pleanslty surprised.

     

    We are new Elites and made the horrible mistake of not attendingbreakfast until day 9. It was wonderful! Amazing! If yu are newly Elite got the breakfast day one!!! OtherElite perks not to be missed are the laundry. USE them!!! Come home with mostlyclean close. Awesome

     

    I only have one negative to mention. The World Class Bar wasnot class at all. The bartender was a total jerk. I’m going to put it in my survery. I’m pretty laid back, but when someone tells my spouse they can’t gettonic and lime at a bar t=because they are a “Specialty Cocktail Bar ONLY”!bar, I get really upset. REALLY?! I wanted to tho the $12 drink I orderedinto his face. Totally pissed me off.

     

    BRING THE MOLECULAR BAR BACK!

     

    In the end, in retrospect, it was a great cruise. I lookforward to a Solstice cruise in the future. Let me know if you want to seepictures or anything. I’m new at thisreview thing 😊

     

     

    Pat

    Beverages and Beverage Packages FAQ

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I noticed that not everyone in a stateroom has to upgrade from the basic to the premium beverage package. Has anyone tried having only one person upgrade? How does that work for (specialty and main room) dining? Do they allocate drinks to the person who ordered them or do they put all drinks on one card? First time cruising with Celebrity. Norwegian did the latter, but they also require everyone in a stateroom to have the same package.

     

    Seems like this would be great for the occasional drink that is over $9, even if most of the drinks and wine we order is covered by the regular package. And presumably one person can order all the premium bottled water...

     

    Oh, and the person ordering the beverage pay's the bill. I can't get a nicer wine for Paul, he would have to pay the difference. Luckily, he doesn't drink much, it's a moot point.

    Beverages and Beverage Packages FAQ

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I noticed that not everyone in a stateroom has to upgrade from the basic to the premium beverage package. Has anyone tried having only one person upgrade? How does that work for (specialty and main room) dining? Do they allocate drinks to the person who ordered them or do they put all drinks on one card? First time cruising with Celebrity. Norwegian did the latter, but they also require everyone in a stateroom to have the same package.

     

    Seems like this would be great for the occasional drink that is over $9, even if most of the drinks and wine we order is covered by the regular package. And presumably one person can order all the premium bottled water...

     

    We board the Solstice tomorrow. I was able to upgrade my Classic to Premium, yet Paul didn't need the upgrade, so yes, one can upgrade. It's $11.80 per day including gratuity. You may use your onboard credit prior to cruise, or pay on the website.

    Beverages and Beverage Packages FAQ

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Can anyone say what the current typical or average cost of a beer or cocktail is on Celebrity? We have the Classic Beverage Package for our upcoming cruise on the Equinox and are trying to determine whether we should upgrade to the Premium. Also, if a drink is over the $8 limit (which seems low for most cocktails on ships), will we just have to pay the difference in price or the whole price of that drink? Thanks.

     

    Point your favorite browser here. This was as of a year ago I think, but gives you an idea...

     

    http://www.cruisewithgambee.com/celebrity-drink-lists/

    Beverages and Beverage Packages FAQ

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    Can anyone say what the current typical or average cost of a beer or cocktail is on Celebrity? We have the Classic Beverage Package for our upcoming cruise on the Equinox and are trying to determine whether we should upgrade to the Premium. Also, if a drink is over the $8 limit (which seems low for most cocktails on ships), will we just have to pay the difference in price or the whole price of that drink? Thanks.

     

    I'll try and scrounge some recent menus up, but not tonight sadly.

     

    Now you pay the difference in the cost over $9, see below:

     

    Care for a beverage not included in your package? Classic & Premium Package holders are welcome to enjoy any single-servingbeverage not included in their package by paying the price difference.

    Just back 4/22 Summit

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

    I haven't sailed on Celebrity yet but my TA told me my Royal Caribbean status did not carry over to Celebrity. Although originally she said it did. Has something changed? I sure hope so.

     

    We are so excited about our upcoming Summit cruise.

     

    Your TA is mistaken. Simply call the Captain's Club at 800-760-0654BsAt4ube4GblQIAAAAASUVORK5CYII= with your Crown and Anchor number handy and they will enroll you with a Captain's Club number at the equivalent level, (Diamond = Elite).

     

    Happy Sailings!

     

    Pat

    Drink package - Expensive.....buy now or on board?

    in Celebrity Cruises

    Posted

     

    You do if you only want to upgrade since you can't do this online, but ya that is a nice change to be able to use it for some things before sail date.

     

    I think you may be wrong. I log into my cruise planner just now for my cruise embarking May 7 and see I can upgrade pre-cruise classic to premium for $11.80 a day.

     

    Good News! You are eligible for Beverage Packages Upgr

     

    Good News! You are eligible for Beverage Packages Upgrades.

     

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