rayison

For me the excitement begins even prior to actually booking a cruise. I am constantly looking for new and exciting places to visit. We have knocked off a large part of our bucket list, but there is so much more to see! Once we make the choice on a cruise, the real fun begins. I love finding the perfect pre-cruise hotel, the best flight possible and researching ports of call. It just makes the trip that much more exciting. We are 70 days away from our next cruise and 1 year away from another. My wife and I sat on the couch yesterday and enjoyed reading about our upcoming ports and shooting off emails to some private tour companies.

Also, I now help friends and family with their cruise planning. Things like offering tips on how to save money, the best cabin location based on their needs and making their trip as stress free as possible.

April cannot come soon enough!!!

Yes, you can book January & February 2019. It seems the latest Edge sailing available at the moment is 4/14/19. Hope this helps !

Perfect! Thanks again...

One more question. For those of you who called to book with Celebrity directly, how far out are they booking Edge cruises? In other words, can you book January or February yet?

Here you go ! :)

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/ships/celebrity-edge?tab=Staterooms%2Fships%2Fcelebrity-edge%2Fstaterooms#Deck_Plans/ships/celebrity-edge/deck-plans

Thanks Andy. I still get a "please be patient" message each time. I guess I will just "be patient". :loudcry:

Ship looks very modern. And from the way the brand is going, it seems to be alright... I do have a concern though, after looking at the deck plans there are only 3 hot tubs? How in the world is that going to work on a ship larger than the S class?

 

Also has there been a release of the exterior of the ship. All I can seem to find are interior renderings.

Hi there...I cannot find deck plans anywhere. They keep saying stay tuned on the Celebrity site. Can you tell me where you found them? Thanks.

Having sailed on Celebrity for years, I am blown away by how innovative this is. I can't wait to enjoy this class of ship. The regular room balcony concept is fantastic and the upper decks are beautiful. We spend 90 percent of our time outside now, It may be 100% now...

Just completed the Solstice New Zealand to Sydney Cruise (reverse of yours) Jan. 24 thru Feb. 5. We had good weather every day except in the sounds. However, with the 9 inches of rain while touring the sounds we saw 1000's of waterfalls. I'm not kidding with this count. It was truly amazing. The only "rough" seas were from New Zealand to Tasmania portion. It was rough, but never affected us. Weather can be fickle. The cruise before ours had significant weather issues during their cruise. We were lucky.

The ship, and more importantly the crew, are first class all the way. You will never be sorry booking the Solstice. This was our third cruise on her and all of them have been amazing.

Not sure what cruises you've been on that have embarkation at 4 or 5 PM. We've been on 70 cruises with departures as early as 4 and as late as midnight and never had anything like that.

 

Generally, unless there is an issue (e.g. noro or customs) embarkation will be at the normal time, somewhere around noon or 1, often earlier, even with an evening departure.

Sorry. I mis-typed. The 4 or 5 PM was sailing time, not embarkation. Thanks for letting me know it would most likely be a normal boarding time. Keep on cruising!

We are sailing on the Solstice in January. Departure from Auckland is scheduled for 8 PM. What time does boarding typically start for a later departure like this? Our other cruises have usually started around 4 or 5 PM. Thank you for your help.

Ray

Hello! We just completed the TA on the Royal Princess and purchased the 10 bottle wine package. It was perfect for our 15 day cruise. It was a nice savings and we even enjoyed a few bottles on our balcony by going to the MDR and picking up a bottle during dinner times. Have a great cruise! Ray

Yup. Let's hit the Frog and Onion Pub for some cold ones!!!

Count me in! If anyone is watching the webcam, the line to get back on is as long as the ship!!!

Funny...I forgot all about the "free" food! LOL. Hope the buffet is staffed up!!! Oh wait...lunch is probably over by now. Uh oh...

I think most of the people on the pier are passengers waiting to get back on board. If it was me, I would be enjoying a cool "special" beverage somewhere and not fight all that...Anyone want to join?

Sorry if I missed it, but is the Breakaway going to come into the pier now for the rest of her stay there?

Liberty of the Seas is moving away from Bermuda at 18 Knots. I doubt they would be sailing away if there was real danger with the other ship.

Thank you for this update! We sail next week and really looking forward to sailing on the Silhouette once again. Have an awesome first half of your cruise and bring her back with enough liquor and food for the rest of us...LOL.

Silhouette just pulling into harbor at 7:25 this morning (Sunday). Happy for everyone sailing today and for us in just one week!!! Happy Cruising!!!

Cotton Candy...not just for fairs! Welcome to the Four Seasons! Here is a snippet of an article on the subject:

While more chefs are experimenting with the colorful confection, New York’s acclaimed Four Seasons Restaurant has been offering cotton candy since the late 1970s. Even though it’s not on their menu, it has become a signature dish that restaurant-goers make a point to request.

Hi All

I am just off the silhouette this AM. Overall it was a really good trip and a much nicer overall experience then my Norwegian cruises. If anyone has any questions I will try and answer them but I have no pictures of menus etc so I may not be as much help if you are looking for very specific information

Welcome back! We board in two weeks. A couple of questions for you.

Did you hear of anything besides the azipods being fixed during dry dock this week? Any other upgrades being added? So far everyone has said no, but thought I would ask a current traveler.

Were there any deck parties?

What was your favorite thing you did or attended on the cruise?

Thanks!!!

We have a soft spot for the Solstice. It was our first European cruise. However, we had an amazing cruise on the Silhouette last Spring. The crew was the best at sea IOHO. Everywhere we went, they smiled, called us by name and genuinely were having a good time with the passengers. Lucky us that we are sailing on her again in a few weeks (after the repair of the azipod issue). We also like the Lawn Club Grill on the silhouette better than the glass show. It never hurts when you are on shore and people say, I sure wish we were on THAT ship as opposed to theirs.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments. I knew I could never capture it all like you have. Don't you just want to go on a cruise right now!!! Luckily, I leave on one in 25 days, 15 hours, 1 minute...but who's counting.

Have a wonderful holiday season and a magical new year! Ray

Hello everyone. This thread is meant to be all the reasons most of us cruise. While complaints and negative posts can be helpful in avoiding issues, I want this thread to help new cruisers understand the pure joy of a cruise vacation. So many of my friends don't understand our passion for cruising. Yet, they have never taken one.

We have cruised many different lines, but come back to Celebrity for most of our cruising. This will always be a personal choice for each cruiser. Can there be improvements, yes, but it is still and will always be an amazing adventure. This is what keeps us coming back!

*The joy of embarkation day. You cannot duplicate the feeling of getting on the ship on day 1.

*Getting your first drink and walking the upper decks before sail away.

*Meeting with fellow Cruise Critic members for sail away. These are people we have communicated with for months and we finally get to meet!

*Watching the ropes fall into the water and the tug boat guide us on our way. We are at sea!!!

*Grabbing a drink and enjoying our first sip on our balcony. Yes, OUR balcony!!!

*Meeting new friends at dinner or a show. Funny how you run into the same people all cruise long. We still have friendships from cruises we have taken years ago.

*We like to get up and watch us arrive in port. New places to explore are just ahead!

*Whenever we are done with our explorations, we can count on Celebrity to greet us with a nice cool towel, a smile and a welcome back.

*As we leave each port, it is another "sail away". We toast each port and file the memories into a wonderful place.

*Find your favorite space and visit it often. For us, the Martini Bar and Molecular Bar! Chances are you will meet like minded people and laugh for hours

Cruising has taken us to places I only dreamed about growing up. I have learned that experiences mean far more than material things. I have learned how much it means to truly relax and not take things so seriously. My motto: Cruise and Cruise often!

Please contribute your reasons for cruising and lets Celebrate our "Love Story".

I am trying to decide between Cabin 7364 and Cabin 8351 on the Silhouette. I like a bigger verandah and the bed near the window. I understand SV can vary in size. Can anyone shed some light which of the two cabins above would best serve my needs.

You will love the Silhouette!!! We had aft cabin 7366 and it was really oversized, not quite double, but at least 1/3 larger. 7364 was next door and normal size. We loved the aft so much we rebooked an aft cabin for January. No matter what, enjoy!!! Ray

Personally, I would do an aft balcony. We were on the Silhouette a few months ago and the sail away from the ports is breathtaking from your aft balcony. We toasted many of our ports as we sailed away with our new fellow aft balcony friends. Great way to end the day.

And now a brief word from your friendly copy editor: the correct term is frou-frou, from the French term for frilly.

 

I know I lost this battle in the past decade, but I get a twitch in my left eye when I see foo foo in print. Can't help myself.

 

And now back to our regularly scheduled forum.

True....but did you know there was a term Foo Foo Band in the 19th century? Used to describe an impromptu band on 19th Century sailing ships made up of the ships crew. There has to be a connection to Foo Foo drinks from that. Lol... call it what you will, but I'll take one now please.

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