LisaSp

This cracked me up because it's something I'd do. "Take that Heather, I didn't order your dish!"

Thanks, this was very helpful!

I know I am a goofball but somehow it felt like revenge at her for being awful!!

Just an update...Brent Nixon was great though my 15 yr old only attended his first talk. 13 yr old went to the first one, and then the ones on bears and orcas too. The suggestion of staying in PJs and getting room service for Tracy Arm was terrific--we did that and my kids loved watching from their beds and then the balcony!!

We are back from our cruise and I am only posting here in case anyone is searching for info about teens and Alaska cruises...my kids went to the orientation thing at 8pm on the first nite and then met us at dinner at 8:30...then they went back to the teen club after dinner and definitely made friends that first nite. Although there were structured activities each nite, the kids seemed to just do a lot of hanging out in the X club and other spots...though occasionally they did the scavenger hunts and other activities. They loved having their freedom and making new friends. It was a fabulous cruise!

- Brent Nixon's talks were very informative & entertaining. However, my husband thought he was over the top. I'm a teacher, so I thought he was fabulous!/quote]

 

Hi there! I was on this sailing as well, and we also had an amazing cruise! We went to several of Brent's talks and he was *so* not what I expected, but I also thought he was fantastic. Everyone here raved about him, but no one really described what he was like...so when he started his first "ALAXSXAQ" talk I was like WOAH!

Just off the Aug 1-8 Solstice to Alaska and I don't recall which night was the Top Chef menu (maybe Tuesday?), but all of the items on that night's menu, in each category, were recipes from different Top Chef contestants (and of course the standard selections were available as well). None of the chefs were on board. I intended to snap a pic of the menu, but I forgot--oops! Some of the other chef's names I remember seeing included Marcel, Carla, Hosea, and Stefan. There were only a few names I didn't recognize (I started watching in season 3).

I remember I had the tuna tartare appetizer (Hung's recipe) and it was one of the best things I ate all week. And I actually had the bbq chicken, collard greens, and mac and cheese because I was in the mood for comfort food that night, and I really enjoyed it (cannot remember which chef's recipe it was). Chicken was moist and flavorful, greens were zingy and the mac and cheese was good too. I was not overly impressed with any of my MDR meals, but I did like the food that night.

I don't recall what I had for dessert that night, I just know it was not tres leches cake because that was Heather's recipe and I really disliked Heather as a contestant lol.

Hope that helps!

SHIP: Solstice

CABIN #: 9237

DECK #: 9

CLASS: 1A

AREA: mid-ship port

BED NEAR: bathroom

QUIET?: yes; occasionally could hear music from central atrium but it wasn't bothersome

BALCONY VIEW: great

BALCONY SIZE: extra big bc of hump

WIND A PROBLEM?: nope

SOOT A PROBLEM?: nope

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: We were a family of 4 in this cabin and though space was tight, it was great. We loved the location and the fact that our balcony was larger. Would absolutely choose this cabin again.

We sat outside at Anthony's Bell Street Diner at Pier 66 last week. Had great food and drinks, great view, and prices were reasonable. The menu upstairs is more expensive.

Thanks to all, we settled on Itinerary A and it was perfect! We got to see everything that we wanted to see. Seattle is fabulous and our Alaska cruise was even more amazing!

It's SEAFAIR time! Seattle will be VERY busy.

http://www.seafair.com/calendar.aspx?SecID=923

 

The Market gets unbearably crowed after 11am, so I'd go with option A. Get to the market at 8/9am otherwise it's hard to move around and it's not enjoyable.

 

On Friday watch for the Blue Angels around noon when they practice. They fly out of Boeing Field and over Lake Washington ... you can't miss the noise. And it's fleet week so the navy will have ships along the waterfront.

 

The Chihuly exhibit is incredible! Enjoy!!!

 

p.s. Pier 91 is only 10-15 minutes away

Awesome info--thank you!

 

My favorite thing was going to Victoria and the Butchart Gardens. That would be a whole day, but I would do it again in a heart beat.

 

We will be in Victoria (and Butchart Gardens tour) the last nite of our cruise! Thanks for the input on Seattle too! :)

We don't have a lot of time in Seattle. We arrive around 12:30pm (from east coast) this Thursday (cruising Solstice to Alaska on Friday). Staying at Spring Hill Suites downtown. Once we drop luggage (likely to be ~2pm), I know we will be starving...but I also made us dinner reservations...

Anyway, I have two potential itineraries, and can't decide which makes more sense...can you help? In a nutshell, I don't know whether to do Space Needle/Chihuly Thurs afternoon and Pike Place Friday morning, or vice versa. Thanks for any input!

Itinerary A:

Thursday

-arrive at hotel, drop off luggage

-grab quick bite somewhere close to hotel

-take hotel shuttle to Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens

-dinner at Anthony's Bell St Diner (we have 7:15 reservations)

-back to hotel to crash as we will be exhausted

Friday

-we are likely to wake up early due to time change; quick breakfast @ hotel

-shuttle to Pike Place market, see some sights there

-back to hotel, shuttle to port (want to be to port around noon)

OR

Itinerary B:

Thursday

-arrive at hotel, drop off luggage

-take hotel shuttle to Pike Place Market, grab a bite and wander around that area and waterfront all afternoon/early eve

-dinner at Anthony's Bell St Diner (we have 7:15 reservations)

-back to hotel to crash as we will be exhausted

Friday

-we are likely to wake up early due to time change; quick breakfast @ hotel

-shuttle to Space Needle/Chihuly Gardens

-back to hotel, shuttle to port (want to be to port around noon)

great review! We will be on the solstice this friday. Can't wait!

 

ditto!!!!

Hi there, Just a suggestion.... I'm a Hazelnut creamer addict, too.

If we're on a cruise without a drink package, we bring our own little International Delights in the box. I like to have them in the room and also bring a couple with me to breakfast.

We won't be bringing them on our upcoming cruise because we have the 123go, and those vanilla cappuccinos are available any time! woo hoo!:D

I thought about bringing my own...still a possibility. And the 4 of us are all a little messy (kids and hubby worse than me). Def going to bring the shoe thingy for bathroom door but I am not sure I will bother with any other bins or organizers...not sure yet...still have a few more days to strategize and shop!!! Thanks!!

I doubt you will need the additional winter jackets. We did Alaska last year, and generally found a t-shirt with a fleece was fine. I took have a regular fleece pullover, as well as a lightweight fleece vest that took up very little room. Sometimes a long sleeved tee and the light fleece vest was fine, other times I chose the slightly heavier fleece that had sleeves. I took a rain jacket as well, but only wore it one day if I recall correctly, and that was because it was actually raining, not because I needed another layer of warmth.

 

Weather can be unpredictable, but I still think you'll be fine with just a fleece and a windbreaker/rain jacket to layer over a t-shirt. Perhaps instead of the additional winter coat you mentioned, take a turtleneck or a long sleeved thermal weave shirt just in case? It would take up less room in your luggage than another jacket, but would add additional warmth on top of or in lieu of a t-shirt, and you could then add the fleece and light jacket.

 

I should also note that I tend to be a little chillier than others most of the time, so while I lived in long sleeved t-shirts and usually with a fleece, my boys ran around in just a t-shirt half the time, occasionally wearing just a regular hoodie over it.

Thanks! The winter jackets that DD and I have are those lightweight down ones that smush up and fit in a pouch the size of a small envelope. So I think I will pack those just because they weigh nothing and take up no space and then we will have them just in case. I keep hearing about rain rain rain so I am leaning toward long sleeve tees with rainjacket on top for most of the ports for me, DD and DH. My son will definitely be in a hoodie and shorts at all times--at home during the winter that is what he wears so I expect he will be fine. I really appreciate your input!!

I'm the one in our family (the husband and father) that happily gets banished to the Spa for showers. While S-class has nice showers in the cabins with glass doors rather then curtains, the spa showers are larger, have taller shower heads, and throw out more water.

 

To the OP, you'll miss the split bathroom on the Magic, but other than that, your S-class cabin is nicer. We've had 4 in the cabin with no problem.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Thanks so much! The spa showers seem like they might be a great option for my DD who likes to take REALLY LONG showers. And thx for the reassurance about the cabin! :)

 

Will your in laws be in an adjacent room? Would make for an even more spectacular balcony space. :)

Thanks for the scoop on the room! My parents are in 9251 with their own balcony.

Thanks so much to everyone who has commented so far! A few responses...

I absolutely intend to use the overbed storage. An opened suitcase under the bed is a great idea for dirty clothes. Also love idea of removing wooden hangers and using metal ones to save space.

My parents booked this trip and are avid cruisers who are paying for everything so I didn't really get much say in the cabin choices. I am sure we will be cozy but fine. As Flipper133 said there is a pull down bed from ceiling. The balcony will be awesome (we have never had one before; this is our 3rd cruise as a family-other 2x on Disney Magic).

As far as the creamers go, I really was hoping they were available at the breakfast buffet. I vaguely recall on a RCL cruise a couple of years ago that they had them there. But if not, no worries, I can always get my fix with a vanilla latte every day at Il Bacio. And I don't HAVE to have coffee in MDR at nite so that is no biggie.

For packing, I plan to repeat pants and def lots of layers. We all have lightweight windbreakers/rainjackets that I intend to make the top layer on rainy days. Just not sure how many other layers to plan on underneath--tshirt, fleece, then rainjacket on top? DD and I also have really lightweight winterish jackets that smush down and pack into nothing...I guess will bring those too. Argh we are going to have so much stuff.

Here's some picts of the inside of the room.

Thank you so much for the pics!! :)

My family is laughing at me but I created a table for each of us to use to make a packing list because we are all overpackers (but I don't want us to be for this trip)! Hoping for decent weather but preparing for all possibilities which makes it slightly difficult.

We were JUST in that room for the July 11th sailing. Definite yes on the robes (there were three of us in the room and we had three robes). I don't recall any flavored creamers, just tall containers at the coffee station with milk, half and half, and regular creamer. I wasn't looking for them specifically though, so may have missed them.

 

FYI - If you have more than two in the room, the storage is a little tight, there are 5 drawers, two cubbys in the closet (below safe) and overhead storage above the bed. It was a bit challenging... on the plus side, there were a ton of hangers and the bathroom storage is plentiful! :)

 

Enjoy the room and your cruise!

Thank you! There are going to be 4 of us (!!!) in the room...me, hubby, and our 15 yr old daughter and 13 yr old son. My parents are staying down the hall and may have to be storing some of our stuff! I am pretty worried about the space but we will figure out how to make it work somehow. Thx again!

We sail 8/1 on Solstice to Alaska. We are in cabin 9237...not Aqua Class as far as I know--will there be bathrobes in the cabin? Also, I am obsessed with using vanilla creamer in my coffee...does anyone know if they have the little individual International Delight creamer thingys on board? Thanks in advance for your help as I am confident someone out there knows these answers!! :)

Hi, We were just on the Solstice. My kids (17) had a great time. They split the teens up in Junior and Senior Teen. i think the difference is 15 and up are seniors. They loved the scavenger hunts, free arcade time, xbox. There were about 20 senior teens.

 

If you want to eat dinner with them, plan for early seating or around 6:45 every night you are on the ship. Most activities started at 8-9 PM.

 

Make sure you go to Brent Nixons first Alaska show my kids were hooked on all of his shows after that.

 

Also, if you have a balcony, for Tracy Arm, order room service and watch the Fjord go by for a while. They can stay in their pajamas:p

Thank you so much! I mentioned the Brent Nixon thing to my 15 yr old daughter recently and she was like "yeah right" so I am gonna have to twist her arm to go to the first one lol. We have late seating for dinner and it is what it is. If something fab is happening with the teens they can skip MDR meal I guess. We do have a balcony so we may just do that! :)

We sail Aug 1 to Alaska on Solstice. I presume there are separate listings of children/teen activities each day as I haven't seen them listed in the dailies people have posted. Does anyone have such listings for teens handy (or even better, scanned in anywhere)? If so, would love to know some typical evening activities for the teen crowd lol. My kids (13 yr old son, 15 yr old daughter) are just wondering. We already know they need to go to the first nite "orientation" in the teen club. I realize that they are very likely to make their own plans once they are on board, but still curious. Thanks!! :)

Thanks very much, everyone! Great point about the pier, maybe they will see some other teens there before we even board. My parents are very seasoned cruisers and while they know doors won't open till 8:30, they are bound to be at MDR maybe not at 8:15, but by 8:25 or so. They can't help themselves lol.

I will have kids go to club promptly at 8 (or whenever it is) and if they come to dinner late, so be it--my parents will understand. We are getting into Seattle the day before, so hopefully our exhaustion won't be too terrible.

Thanks again! :)