Rtowncruiser

What age are your grandkids? We took our 5 and 7 yr old on Royal Caribbean (out of Los Angeles) and they had a blast. We are taking them on the Halloween cruise on Disney in October. I would not consider a Celebrity cruise (our favorite) as it is geared for adults. 

Busses can take you to the Malecon for 10 pesos. (50 cents) if you are more adventurous 🙂

8 hours ago, Kelownadon said:

Do you know the reason why not?

The Solstice was never planned to be on the West Coast. It's original itinerary was to be in Japan and Asia. But with Covid, that was canceled. They repositioned the Sosltice to Los Angeles until the pandemic passed. They will be doing the Asia routes after summer in Alaska. 

You will never know it's there. 

11 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

  At the same time, the cruise industry 's continuously building mega ships I think is ruining the ports for everyone.  

I agree with this. I avoid the Megaships. I prefer the Millenium Class ships but am sailing on the Solstice since it's the only Celebrity ship on the West Coast. I can't imagine the logistics of moving 5k people with tenders. And trying to go back on the ship all at once. Monterey is a small city and if you have visited the Aquarium and shops, there's not much locally without and excursion. Last time we visited Carmel by the Sea where we were married. (1974!)

Many of the Coastal Cruises are port intensive. We are going in March and are visiting Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada, Mexico. 5 ports in 7 days only $219.15 pp. 

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Did you book in 2023?

I booked in November. I got a slew of them and just picked a couple close to home.

13 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Reason is the ship  is not selling well . One cruise in March about 60 % booked ,so Blue Chip is active  .These free cabin deals are very rare when sales are brisk 

I agree. We were on one in late October and it was maybe 50% at best. And a good proportion was a gay group. Not sure how many others were comped. We enjoyed Dia de los Muertos in Puerto Vallarta. 

I probably didn't get the latest offer as we are on the Solstice 3 times in the next 8 weeks! I bumped to Concierge ($99 pp) so we will become Elite on the following cruise. 

I'm like a Pavlov dog waiting for another BCC offer. We took advantage of 4, so maybe we reached our quota. We are on the West Coast so took advantage of the sailings out of San Pedro. I just upgraded to Concierge for $99 pp That will boost us to Elite for the other two. Can't complain if we never get another!

You need to confirm not only embarkation pier but also disembarkation pier. We were also on the confusing late October sail. If you are driving, and have a car, the best thing to do is park at the main terminal parking lot, and find the shuttle bus that takes you to the outer pier. That way when you disembark, your car is where it needs to be. Originally we drove to the outer pier dropped off our luggage at the tent, then took the car back to the main terminal. Then we took the shuttle back to the ship. It was hectic, and confusing but we know what we need to do now if it happens again. 

I would take the M class ships in a heartbeat over S class because I love the T-pool and the Sunset Bar, and like someone said above, the smaller ship vibe. The mega ships do not appeal to me. 

I watched a movie on the Solstice outside. Maintenance decided to wash that part of the ship during the movie and there was not really any seating other than the artificial grass or hard benches from the glass blowing area or the clamshell seating you have to pay for.

Living in SoCal we jumped on these BCC offers, Celebrity is our favorite cruise line though we are perfectly fine with Princess, HAL, RC.  No flying was a huge factor although we have been on this itinerary multiple times. Like previously mentioned, the Solstice is here through default of it's Asian route cancelled. So it's not an established line here like Princess, HAL and Carnival. We were on it in early November and it sailed may 50% and it's looking like that for our March 4th cruise. 

46 minutes ago, Chase101 said:

 

Sorry, read not to post questions.  

I recently inquired about upgraded rooms on a 7 day comped cruise. They replied via email with;

"to C2 Concierge Class, $99 additional
to A2 Aqua Class, $1680"

Unclear if it was per person or total, and if A2 was AI.

I am considering Concierge only in that the increased points will boost us to Elite on the following cruise. 

It is my understanding if we do Move Up they will not include the additional points. 

If you do a Move Up from a Deluxe Balcony to Concierge, do you get the extra Captains club points also? 

We took advantage of a few of the comped sailings out of Los Angeles since we didn't need to fly. The first completed one (November) was only about 50% occupancy and were able to upgrade to Aqua at the $10 pp rate. Our next one is March 4 and even though it also appears to be only 50%  full so far, it was way more expensive to book the Aqua class rooms. In looking at the availability of Aqua it is only about 30% full so I may inquire again as it nears that date. Solstice was supposed to be in Japan at this time of year I believe so their Los Angeles sailings are not filling up.

Loved the train in Skagway and the beautiful scenery coming into Sitka. 

I have an upcoming BBC cruise in March. I inquired about upgrading to Aqua class as we were able to do on a previous cruise. We were able to get it for the $10 pp early on. I know they had raised the price to $20 pp/day and was prepared to do it but now they quoted me around $400 which was higher than I wanted to pay. Does anyone know what the upcharge is for Concierge? Normally I wouldn't bother but with the extra points it will put me into Elite for my next cruise. 

Hi all, While we are not new to cruising, we will be experiencing our first Disney cruise out of San Diego for the Halloween on the High Seas in October. 

We will be travelling with our son, DIL, and 2 grandkids. Are there any tips, hacks, or events that are not to be missed? Is there a Pirate night? We will be sure to bring costumes and looking forward to a great time! 

4 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

 

 

The Persian Gardens is OK, not great.  The steam room was nice and hot!  And empty -- only the heated loungers were being used by other guests.  (On Solstice, there is a free sauna for all, so you don't need Aqua for that.)

 

Where is this free sauna on the Solstice you speak of? 😁

 

We booked 3 offered cruises. Paid port fees. Will pay gratuity charges like everyone else. Everything else is at our discretion. Lowly Pearl status. (Really low!) Don't need to fly. That's a win in our book!

14 minutes ago, sdnich said:

Yes we are going on the solstice out of LA (also live in SD)in March then home for a couple days and we fly to Florida to jump on the Edge  cruise for 10 days. We were not going to do a Florida cruise but thought what if the free cruises never come around again ! Of course we had to buy flights but did use points for hotels ! 

We are doing the March 4 one..

5 hours ago, sdnich said:

No I’ve just received the Mexican Riviera and Caribbean offers. would love to see some others offers. But it looks like that is where most of the ships are empty.I have time at the end of next year if they send more 🤣

Are you going on any of the Solstice ones offered in LA? We are since we are in San Diego area! Harder to commit to anything going out of FL.