Just Returned from Solstice, Feb 28...trip report

[TandTinHou]

Ship: Celebrity Solstice

Date: February 21-Februray 28, 2010

 

Hi everyone! We just returned from a cruise on the Celebrity Solstice, February 21-Februray 28, 2010 and wanted to provide our thoughts via a trip report.

 

First, who are we? T is 46 and an accountant. Mrs. T is an esthetician and is 33. We’ve been married for 6 years and live in Columbus, Ohio. This is our second cruise, having sailed on the Disney Wonder in December, 2008. However, we do feel we are pretty knowledgeable travelers. We vacation several times a year, including Mexico, Las Vegas, California and our annual trip to Disney World, where we are Disney Vacation Club members and stay in the various Vacation Club Villas onsite (Saratoga Springs Resort, Animal Kingdom Lodge, etc.) We also typically eat out several times a week, ranging from Olive Garden and Red Lobster, to upscale local bistros to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. We aren’t pretentious, but do expect to receive good value for the money we spend on entertainment.

 

Rather than give you a “day by day” activity log, we’re going to break up our trip report into sections.

 

EMBARKATION

 

We flew from Columbus into Fort Lauderdale on Sunday morning. We were a bit reluctant about flying in the day of our cruise based on comments we read on CC, but the flight went off without a hitch! We left Columbus at 7 AM, had a brief layover in Atlanta, and landed in Fort Lauderdale about 10 minutes early at 11:30 AM.

 

The airport at Fort Lauderdale seemed a bit hectic and unorganized. I’ll even go so far to say the airport looks a bit dumpy. However, we were fortunate enough to have our bags come off first, and were heading to the taxi line in record time. A quick 5 minute taxi ride later, and we were entering Port Everglades.

 

The embarkation process was extremely easy and efficient. They had many agents available to assist with check-in and the process only took a few minutes. There seemed to be very few people in the terminal at this time…we’re not sure if we beat the crowd, or missed the crowd…we suspect we missed the crowd, and that it was probably a lot busier an hour earlier. Needless to say, from touchdown at the airport to stepping on the ship took less than an hour!!! UNBELIEVABLE!

 

The only problem we had with flying in the day of the cruise is having to deal with how tired we were in the beginning. Waking up at 3 AM to catch a 7 AM flight takes a lot out of you! In retrospect, we would probably plan on flying in the day before next time, simply to give us a chance to get situated!

 

THE SHIP

 

The ship, in one word…BEAUTIFUL! The ship is so spread out, it never seems that crowded…OK, maybe the sun decks get a bit crowded sometimes! The ship must be well designed because while the ship felt spacious, it never felt too large, or overbearing. It seemed quite easy to get from one area to another.

 

The main public areas, decks 4 and 5, are absolutely beautiful. These decks include restaurants, shops, bars, theater and the casino. Everything seemed to flow very well. The upper decks include pools, the “cafeteria”, various sundecks, several bars, the lawn club, and an indoor observation lounge. While this area was also well laid out, it did get crowded!!!

 

Our room was on Deck 10 (sky deck, I think). We were in a Concierge Class room. The room seemed well thought out and made it easy to organize your belongings. Our room was configured with the bathroom on the left as you entered the room. Beyond the entrance, was the closet, and a sofa along the left hand side of the room, and a dressing table, mini fridge (mini bar), counter and flat screen television along the right hand side of the room. The bed (configured as a queen) was against the left hand side of the room, and the sliding glass door to the balcony was just past the bed. The dressing table had a chair in front of it and there was a small cocktail table in front of the sofa (we moved the table into a corner to give us more room). There were just a few drawers below the counter, and they were relatively small (as most of the free space was taken up with the mini bar). The closet was quite large with a lot of hangers and a shelf above the hanging rod. There was also overhead storage above the bed. The bed was also high enough off the ground to accommodate your empty suitcases. The room was decorated nicely, and the flat screen television had an extensive entertainment menu (on demand movies, PPV movies and a lot of music options to choose from. The bathroom was laid out in a very efficient manner and seemed larger than it obviously was. The shower was in a corner, and curved with sliding glass doors.

 

The theater is very nice, and can be accessed from two different levels (decks 4 and 5). Likewise, the main dining room can also be accessed from two different levels (decks 3 and 4).

 

There seems to be more public spaces than you can discover in a week! There are MANY bars, shops and alcoves, both indoors and outdoors.

As mentioned above, the pool area does get crowded, and the pools themselves do seem to be a bit on the “smaller” side. We haven’t been on many cruise ships, but it seems as if the size of the pools has been compromised a bit due to the “lawn club” that is present on Solstice-class ships. The lawn club seems to take up almost half of one of the upper decks, and while a “neat” feature, it seems to us to not be the most efficient use of space on a cruise ship. I’m not complaining, but the quality of the grass isn’t what you see in the brochures or the Celebrity website…there are some brown spots. Granted, I completely understand what a difficult process it must be to maintain a lawn on a ship, I’m just saying…

 

In addition to the outdoor pools and sundecks, there is also an indoor pool area (for adults only), called the Solarium. This area is very nice, and relatively quiet, but I wish it was outdoors so you could enjoy the sunshine. Speaking of sunshine, the ship’s sundecks seem to have a LOT of obstructions blocking the sun. It seems as if you would find a nice lounge chair and just get comfortable, only to be in shade a half hour later. There were a LOT of porticos and canopies blocking the sun.

 

SERVICE

 

The service onboard the Solstice is UNBELIEVABLE. Everyone was extremely pleasant and willing to help in any way possible. The staff seemed to be enjoying their jobs, and you saw a lot of interaction between staff and management. Likewise, members of management were always willing to assist in any way needed. Service was better than any resort or restaurant we’ve ever encountered! The only exception we encountered was in the Main Dining Room on a few occasions (which we’ll explain in more detail later in the report).

 

While I’m not positive, we seemed to have both a stateroom attendant and a stateroom maid. I thought they would be one in the same, but I saw someone other than our stateroom attendant vacuuming the room one day. Needless to say, our room was always spotless, and appeared to be cared for twice a day. We would usually leave the room by 10 in the morning for a late breakfast, and the room was always cleaned when we returned in the afternoon. Likewise, turndown service was always done once we left our cabin in the evening around 8. Anytime we had a specific request, a simple note on the bed was all it took (extra ice, extra soap, etc.).

　

ENTERTAINMENT

 

Keep in mind that prior to this cruise, our only other cruise was on the Disney Wonder. That being said, we think Disney may have “spoiled” us regarding entertainment. The Solstice has three major production shows; a musical revue, a Broadway retrospective and a Cirque de Soleil-type show. Let me just say that it’s NOT Cirque de Soleil or an actual Broadway show…But, you also are not paying in excess of $150 per ticket! The production show entertainers, also known as “The Solstice Singers and Dancers” are indeed talented and do try extremely hard. After the first show, I thought to myself, “This is nowhere near the quality of entertainment that I saw on the Disney ships.” However, the more shows I saw, the more impressed I became. Some of their acrobats were actually past Olympic gymnasts! By the end of the cruise, I was actually a convert, and decided that the entertainment was actually quite good, and definitely a great value, all things considered. In addition to these production shows, there was also a singer who had previously performed on London’s West End (great voice, but unknown to me), and a magician (definitely not Lance Burton or Criss Angel but a very enjoyable show, overall.)

 

There were also several bands onboard, and they provided entertainment in various locations and lounges throughout the ship throughout the day. For the most part, the musicians were very high quality, and included everything from classical string quartets, to jazz combos to calypso groups.

 

Another entertainment topic I want to address is the subject of the Cruise Director. It seems as if Celebrity may be doing something unique in the cruise industry, in that they are not hiring typical “cruise directors” which I always thought are glorified cheerleaders. Our cruise director on the Solstice was previously an actor and a stuntman, and had a much more mature and subdued approach to managing the overall cruise experience. It as a very pleasant experience!

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

 

A lot has been written on “the boards” about just who makes up a typical Celebrity cruise. On our cruise, I estimate the breakdown as follows: 5% families traveling with small children; 10% honeymoon couples in their twenties and thirties; 25% couples in their forties; 30% couples in their fifties; and 30% couples in their sixties and above. I would also estimate that of this makeup, perhaps 20% of these travelers were in groups greater than a couple (family reunions, etc.).

 

Pool bars were always crowded, and other lounges seemed to be most active during the hour or two before dinner. Formal nights did seem to be more active, with more people mingling and wandering the ship after dinner.

 

Formal night requested dress codes seemed to be well adhered to. Overall, people looked great for formal nights, and I would guess that maybe 15% of men wore tuxes or white dinner jackets, and there were a LOT of men in dark suits.

 

That being said, the nightlife may be deemed “subdued” by many people. We’re not partiers and haven’t been to a club since the last time we went to Las Vegas, so we may not be the best source of reference regarding this. There were always plenty of options for late night entertainment, but we opted to pass on most of it.

 

DINING

 

This is probably the most difficult section of the report to write. We had read so many GREAT THINGS about dining onboard the Solstice, we had very high expectations. In retrospect, perhaps those expectations were a bit too high.

 

We opted for Select Dining, so we could choose our own time to dine each evening, and also to ensure that we would be able to dine alone at a table for two. Before our cruise, we also planned to dine one evening at the Tuscan Grill (based on the rave reviews on the boards) and also considered possibly dining at Murano’s and Silk Harvest.

 

Here’s our ranking of all of the dining establishments from BEST to WORST, and we’ll provide details below:

 

Murano's The best meal we have ever had!

Silk Harvest A hidden gem…easy to get into and wonderful food and service.

Bistro on Five Casual with great crepes. Service seemed unorganized at times.

Café al Bacio A nice coffee shop with pastries. Great, attentive service

Oceanview Café A decent and well-organized cafeteria

Main Dining Room Just So-So. Service inconsistent and food usually overcooked.

Tuscan Grill Great atmosphere, but that’s it. This is a specialty restaurant???

Room Service Nevermind

 

Well, by now I’m sure we have opened up Pandora’s Box. What have we done…we’re “knocking” not only the Main Dining Room but also the highly revered Tuscan Grill? Oh dear!

 

First, the good news. After lackluster meals at the Main Dining Room and the Tuscan Grill, we decided to try Silk Harvest. Well, I was able to make reservations for 8:30 one evening at about 5 in the afternoon, and are we ever glad I made the ressies! Silk Harvest is a great experience. Service is top notch, and the chefs seem to be well trained in Asian cooking. While we didn’t try the sushi, the table next to us ordered a LOT of it, and they seemed to rave about it. We did try the following: Wonton Soup; Spring Rolls; Lettuce Cups; Mixed Green Salad; Kung Pao Chicken; Pepper Steak; Vegetable Fried Rice; Coconut Milk Custard, Caramelized Bananas with Coconut Ice Cream; and Japanese Ice Cream in 4 flavors! I know, I realize there was just two of us for dinner…but the servers kept recommending dishes and wanted to bring out more food for us to try, and who are we to disappoint them? Silk Harvest reminds me of an upscale, modern Asian restaurant vaguely similar to PF Chang’s. So, take PF Chang’s, multiply it by 10...and that’s how good Silk Harvest is.

 

Next is Murano’s. We read reviews of Murano’s and scanned the menu before our cruise and we weren’t convinced this was the type of restaurant we would enjoy. It seemed a bit pretentious, in all honesty based on our research. Boy, were we glad we tried it! Is it fancy…yes it is. Is it pretentious…not in our opinion. The service on the Solstice is so good and appears so genuine, that it is hard to view anything onboard as pretentious. After a great meal at Silk Harvest, we decided to try and get reservations at Murano’s. We succeeded in securing a late dinner on the last formal night, and it is the highlight of our vacation, and the best meal that either of us have ever had! We both tried things we couldn’t pronounce, and loved every minute of it!!!

 

More good news…we had several lunches at Bistro on Five and Oceanview Café, and thought they both exceeded our expectations. Our first meal ever on the Solstice was at Bistro on Five about 10 minutes after we boarded when the restaurant was completely empty, and it was a GREAT and relaxing experience. What a way to start our cruise!

 

The Oceanview Café was a pleasant surprise for breakfast and lunch. We’re not fond of buffets, but this place is bright, airy, and well organized. The food was always fresh and hot and there were a ton of choices. I will say, however, that it does get a bit chaotic during “peak” times, so plan accordingly.

 

Now for the bad news. Tuscan Grill was quite possibly the biggest disappointment of the cruise for us. The service was just average, and the food did NOT meet our expectations. We did, however, have probably the best table for two in the restaurant…against the windows overlooking the aft wake…WHAT A VIEW!!! Now, about the food. To start with we both had the Lump Crab appetizer combined with melted cheeses. That’s how the menu described it anyways. What we got looked exactly like cat food covered with mozzarella cheese. The crab mixture had been processed so finely that you couldn’t identify any crab, and the fish smell was overpowering. UGH! Next up was Tuscan Onion Soup, which is described as a “creamy onion soup”. What we got was French Onion Soup with an Italian Cheese blend on top. When we asked the waiter about it, he said that they use a blend of four different cheeses on top, and that’s what makes it so creamy….OK….next. Our main courses were OK, but NOT the caliber that we expected. I hate to say this, but I didn’t think the quality of the food was much better than the Olive Garden. The atmosphere was great, but the quality of the food fell short. OK, maybe better than the Olive Garden, but not any better than the Macaroni Grill…sorry.

 

Finally, the Main Dining Room. Well, for the most part we didn’t have any problems with Select Dining, but we did always make reservations earlier in the day and usually ate around 8:30. That being said, one problem we noticed with Select Dining is the lack of establishing any rapport with your wait staff since you will not be sitting at the same table each evening. In the future, we may simply opt for the “late seating”…but we did enjoy having a table just for the two of us. At times, it did seem as if our meals were a bit rushed. Typically, meals lasted about 60 minutes. The two issues we had with the Main Dining Room were inconsistent service and overcooked food. Sometimes we got bread plates, sometimes we didn’t. Sometimes we got iced tea, sometimes we didn’t. Sometimes they brought salad dressing or cocktail sauce immediately after setting down the salads or shrimp cocktails and sometimes we waited a minute…or two…or three. Sometimes they asked us if we wanted a cocktail and sometimes we had to ask them. None of these are extremely significant, but when you add them all up, it just seemed out of place on the Solstice. Also, meals were almost always overcooked…chicken was a bit dry, Osso Bucco was braised too long, veal cordon bleu was tough. Once again, we realize you can send the food back, but that’s not the point, is it?

 

Oh, I almost forgot…room service. We started out by ordering breakfast in the morning, and we had also read great things about it on the boards…Well, it just didn’t seem like a big deal to us. We were really looking forward to the special concierge class room service breakfast menu. The execution left a bit to be desired. It always arrived ON TIME, so that’s a huge plus, BUT…the food just didn’t seem that good. The omelets were dry, the fresh-squeezed orange juice was room temperature, and the selection in the danish basket was not very imaginative. Eventually, I found it easier to simply run up to the Café and make a few trips for coffee, juice and pastries. To each, his own, we suppose.

 

PORTS OF CALL

 

Our ports were San Juan, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. We loved all of them, ESPECIALLY St. Kitts and St. Maarten. These two islands seemed to simply say “tropical island paradise”…they were great. We didn’t get much of a chance to explore San Juan as we used that day to visit family that lives on the island. However, we were curious as to why this itinerary doesn’t include another port? I mean…why leave your last port at 6 pm on Thursday, and then simply have sea days on Friday AND Saturday? Couldn’t they have planned another port stop on their private island??? Another island would have been fun, in our opinion.

 

During our port visits, we pre-arranged a beach trip in St. Kitts and a snorkel trip in St. Maarten. Both of the trips were GREAT. We arranged them directly through Celebrity. On future cruises, we may be brave enough to do our scheduling with independent operators in order to give us some more flexibility.

　

SUMMARY

 

We had a great trip! We loved the high level of service and the beautiful ship. It’s hard to compare this cruise with our only previous cruise (Disney Wonder) since the ships are SO DIFFERENT. All we will say is that we LOVE the Solstice!!!

 

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS

 

In no particular order….

• *If you do select dining, make your dinner reservations ahead of time each day. That way, you will have preference IF there is ever a line.
  *Concierge Class, is it worth it? Hmmm, we liked the robes…but can’t see much else other than room location. I guess it comes down to how much more is Concierge Class over a verandah cabin. A lot of the amenities seem contrived.
  *Starboard or Port? We were Starboard and it seemed like we kept getting the short end of the stick. We saw the terminal at Port Everglades instead of the rest of the port and at other ports, we kept looking at other docked ships instead of the city or the beach.
  *Drinks seem a bit expensive, but even saying that, I don’t think any of the drink packages are worth it for the majority of people. Your mileage may vary.
  *Pictures in the photo gallery are WAY overpriced.
  *The wi-fi packages are probably NOT worth it if you plan on using your own laptop. Their wireless routers are NOT very fast, nor very reliable. If you need internet, you are better to go to their internet café, which is open 24/7. It would take web pages about a minute to load using your own laptop.
  *Cellular at Sea, while a good concept, needs to improve its technology before it is viable. We had three cell phones with two different carriers and probably only had a signal on the ship about 35% of the time. Even when we did have a signal, most of the time it was VERY WEAK.
  *You MUST visit the Martini Bar and watch the flair bartenders. They are very talented!
  *Bistro on Five for your first meal upon embarkation. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone!
  *If you personally visit the specialty restaurants in the late afternoon, you have a good chance of scoring a late dinner reservation for later that evening.
  *While the fancy wine dispensing machine is quite the novelty at Cellar Masters, at an average cost of $7 per ounce, I’ll stick to the standard glass of Malbec or Cab, thank you very much! I NEVER saw anyone ever using the dispenser.
  *Naps are good, and never considered a waste of time!
  

Well, that’s it folks…we hope this report was helpful, and feel free to ask questions! We’ll do our best to respond.

　

[Texed]

Tand T,

Thanks for posting. :)

[kgloverii]

Thanks so much! Great write-up!!

[stinsowm]

Great review of my favorite Celebrity Ship..thank you.

[eandj]

having done Solstice the first week in Feb., we can agree with your report on many issues. My dh and I loved the look of the ship. Thought the Lawn Club area, altho a novelty, might in time be replaced with more sun areas, as that indeed is a premium on sea days. We agree that the service was off in the MDR, even with our trditional seating. Too many little things like the waits for dressings, water fills or coffee. Just last Sept our service was much better on the Summit. We are thinking the select dining is messing up staffing....as well as chianing the quality of food. Could be sitting too long? YES, The wine dispensers in the cellar are totally surper over priced. I've used them in the past for half the cost. It's a great idea when you make it affordable. It's no wonder the cellar was dead every night. And I'm a wine lover! We too had a nice mix of ages. We agree on the entertainment. It has always a hit or miss on X's stege shows.

 

I'm sure we'll try her again, or a sister ship, in a few months to see if it is back up to our usual X standards. Hope you will too!

Thanks for the review.

[KKCruisers]

Thank you for your very informative review. We will be on the ship on 4/18 and are so happy that you were mostly pleased with your cruise. I'm glad you talked about your experience with Maurano's I did want to try it on my birthday which will be the day we are in San Juan. When do you suggest we make reservations for that night?

What time did you have to be back on the ship in San Juan?

Did you go to a connections party? Do you recommend eating in one of the specialty restaurants on formal nights or will we be ok with the dinning room. On other cruiselines we always were served lobster or steak on the formal nights. Did they do that on this cruise?

Was the water cold when you snorkled?

We will also be on deck 10 (just received upgrade from Sunrise deck) Where was your room located and did you feel much movement ?

I guess that's enough questions for now, but I'm sure I will have more later.

Just one more.

Did you have a special check in line for conseirge?

 

Thanks again for a great review. I can't wait for our turn!

[Born to Cruise]

Awesome review. Thank you for taking the time to write it. I was wondering what cabin

were you assigned? We just booked a starboard cabin on the resort deck. I may now change to the port side. Were you able to sun on your balcony? Again thank you for the great review.

 

JoAnne

[julia]

WOW!!!

Kudos to you for this wonderfully well written, unbiased, and informative review!

 

I especially liked that you took the time to tell us about yourselves, therefore giving us a perspective into YOUR opinions and viewpoints.

 

Many thanks, and happy sailings to you in the future! :):)

[Denny01]

Thanks for a well thought out review. You put enough info in so we can tell if what you found good/not so good would be important to us. Well done.

 

Agree with your assessment of Silk and Bistro on 5 - I think Bistro is an experience a lot overlook. We loved it. As for the Tuscan Grill, I guess I loved our seating location so much, I could have eaten the tablecloth and raved about it! One disagreement - I loved the Tuscan Onion Soup - chicken based made it lighter and I enjoyed that - I guess that is why we call it 'personal taste'.

 

Again, very helpful review. Question: how did you like the bed near the Balcony? We had that config also, but our friends had the bed next to the bathroom wall and it seemed like it had more flexibility with the couch near the Balcony. Your opinion?

 

Denny

[ellbon]

I have done AQ twice. .had some good meals in the MDR. but i am not a huge fan of TH.. service was good. but i had a cold when i went in and did not change my rez. in the end i felt like the waiter was forcing me to eat. i said i was done and he still got me my main course. i wanted to stop eating. also found the window table was making me seasick.

 

loved SH so much i have dinner there 5 times in 35 days on 2 ships. The bistro is good too.

 

I am ok with breakfast in the cabin. food could be hotter but it was on time.

 

loved all the ports- been to all several times.

[Seapoint]

Thanks for a comprehensive review. We have spent three weeks so far on Solstice at different times, and agree that it is an amazing, well planned ship.

 

To each his own, but the I strongly disagree with you when you criticize the "LOTS of obstructions that block the sun". I personally think that the abundance of shade structures is one of the best features of Solstice! Too much sun can be dangerous, and the design of the upper decks gives one lots of choices of shade or sun.

 

A couple of years ago, we did a Holiday cruise in the Caribbean on QM2. There was absolutely no shade whatsoever at any of the pools! The only way to sit in the shade was to either get away from the pools and join the old folks on the Promenade deck, or to try to huddle under one of the stairways near the pool:eek:

 

The designers of the Solstice class are to be congratulated for their smart use of shade structures, which provides sun and shade options for all tastes.

[sailor2010]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a great review. Don’t worry about your review of the food in some areas; you are entitled to your opinion.

The MDR. seems to be a recurring thing. I read Solstice reviews on the main Cruise Critic site from Jan/Feb and many came away saying the food and service were not what they used to be there. I keep hearing a recurring thing about Bistro on Five being a treasure, so that is good!

I was interested in Cellar Masters, being a bit of a wine-o, so I am glad you noted what you thought...and the prices!

Regarding the shade on the ship, as more people become aware of the dangers of it I think less people want to sit directly in it. My DH is 46, when he was 42 got diagnosed with melanoma and went through nine surgeries and his back and stomach. When I have girlfriends who like to tan, I tell him to take off his shirt and show them what it looks like to have that much surgery done. That said it is a personal choice as is the food.

I too will be in a CC cabin. I was hoping for better news so I hope some of what you did, or didn’t, experience had to do with your steward.

Did they have pillow top mattresses in the room?

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Xport]

Our ports were San Juan, St. Kitts and St. Maarten. We loved all of them, ESPECIALLY St. Kitts and St. Maarten. These two islands seemed to simply say “tropical island paradise”…they were great. We didn’t get much of a chance to explore San Juan as we used that day to visit family that lives on the island. However, we were curious as to why this itinerary doesn’t include another port? I mean…why leave your last port at 6 pm on Thursday, and then simply have sea days on Friday AND Saturday? Couldn’t they have planned another port stop on their private island??? Another island would have been fun, in our opinion.

 

But another nice thing about Solstice is that she does two itineraries in the Caribbean that alternate from week to week... Stops in San Juan and Sint Maarten are common to both but the other routing substitutes Tortola for St. Kitt's [i like both but prefer Tortola] and adds a Friday stop at Labadee [an RCCL private island]...

 

Thanks for your review... I was aboard Solstice two weeks before you and am really sorry to hear that you had such a different experience than I at Tuscan Grill; while I agree that it's not Murano [nor does it pretend to be], I'm guessing your visit was on a very off night... Unfortunately, those sometimes happen...

[Cruisenouvelle]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts... Solstice is a GREAT ship, isn't she?

[TandTinHou]

Thank you for your very informative review. We will be on the ship on 4/18 and are so happy that you were mostly pleased with your cruise. I'm glad you talked about your experience with Maurano's I did want to try it on my birthday which will be the day we are in San Juan. When do you suggest we make reservations for that night?

What time did you have to be back on the ship in San Juan?

Did you go to a connections party? Do you recommend eating in one of the specialty restaurants on formal nights or will we be ok with the dinning room. On other cruiselines we always were served lobster or steak on the formal nights. Did they do that on this cruise?

Was the water cold when you snorkled?

We will also be on deck 10 (just received upgrade from Sunrise deck) Where was your room located and did you feel much movement ?

I guess that's enough questions for now, but I'm sure I will have more later.

Just one more.

Did you have a special check in line for conseirge?

 

Thanks again for a great review. I can't wait for our turn!

 

 

Hey KKCruisers...

 

For the Specialty Restaurants, I'd make ressies as soon as you can, and DEFINITELY before you leave for your cruse! We were actually "locked" out of making reservations the week before our cruise because they were already full. Speaking directly with the restaurant mgt onboard worked well for us, but it's no guarantee!!!

 

For us...we left San Juan at 10 PM, so everyone MUST be onboard by 9:45 PM.

 

We ate in specialty restaurants on both Formal nights, and we're glad we did simply because we felt those restaurants were a bit more intimate and romantic than the main dining room. FYI, Murano's has an EXCELLENT surf and turf!!!

 

The water wasn't very cold at all...on St Maarten, and we had to enter the water about 100 yds offshore at a depth of about 25 feet.

 

Our room was in the front third of the ship, I believe....probably about 30%. We didn't notice any more rolling in our room than on other parts of the ship...but there was quite a bit of rolling sometimes. Seas at times were in the 7-9 foot range.

 

There were special check in lines for Concierge Class, but we dind't need them since there were no lines anywhere when we checked in around noon...

[TandTinHou]

Awesome review. Thank you for taking the time to write it. I was wondering what cabin

were you assigned? We just booked a starboard cabin on the resort deck. I may now change to the port side. Were you able to sun on your balcony? Again thank you for the great review.

 

JoAnne

 

Hi JoAnne!

 

We were in Cabin 1064. I'm not sure how "important" port or starboard is, all things considered. It seems we always "pulled into" each pier and then backed out in the evening...where the other ships that were docked seemed to back into the pier in the morning. I'm not sure if that stays the same each cruise or not...or if it was just the luck of the draw...

 

We never had much sun on our balcony. That being said, most sea days were a bit "cloudy", and it seemed a bit "cool" at sea so sunning on the balcony wasn't much of a priority for us...

[Dharma517]

LOVED this review! Thanks so much for taking the time.

 

Jenn

[TandTinHou]

Thanks for a well thought out review. You put enough info in so we can tell if what you found good/not so good would be important to us. Well done.

 

Agree with your assessment of Silk and Bistro on 5 - I think Bistro is an experience a lot overlook. We loved it. As for the Tuscan Grill, I guess I loved our seating location so much, I could have eaten the tablecloth and raved about it! One disagreement - I loved the Tuscan Onion Soup - chicken based made it lighter and I enjoyed that - I guess that is why we call it 'personal taste'.

 

Again, very helpful review. Question: how did you like the bed near the Balcony? We had that config also, but our friends had the bed next to the bathroom wall and it seemed like it had more flexibility with the couch near the Balcony. Your opinion?

 

Denny

 

Hi Denny...

 

Chicken based??? Wow, I never even realized that. I think I need to go back and try it one more time...LOL!

 

Personally, I think we enjoyed the bed by the balcony...but not sure if it is a "deal breaker" one way or the other. I mean...the rooms are small enough so that you can watch the sea from your bed no matter where it is located. When you opened the door to the cabin, the room seemed pretty spacious, because you had the open space in front of the couch (because we tucked the cocktail table into a corner)...

 

We did enjoy reading in bed and napping in the afternoon while staring at the deep blue water...so mesmerizing!

[eandj]

? Do you recommend eating in one of the specialty restaurants on formal nights or will we be ok with the dinning room. On other cruiselines we always were served lobster or steak on the formal nights. Did they do that on this cruise?

.

Did you have a special check in line for conseirge?

 

!

 

X in my opinion is disappointing on formal nights. The lobster tail dinner is now a very small tail along with a couple shrimp and scallops sitting on top of not very well made risotto. Steak isn't that great a change fromj other nights either. We plan on scheduling our specialties on formal nights from now on. At least as things are now.

 

There are separate lines for different categories on embarkation. if you are Captains Club you will be led to another set of desks. If you are a suite or cc or aqua class holder that is a different line. HOWEVER.... if those "special lines" are empty, the staff will lead anyone to those desks to register. Which makes sense. Why let staff stand around while staring at lines of passengers in another area. We were in the Captains Club line and were pulled to register in the suite line.

 

there are many check in desks and it goes very quickly, even at peak embarkment times.

[TandTinHou]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a great review. Don’t worry about your review of the food in some areas; you are entitled to your opinion.

 

The MDR. seems to be a recurring thing. I read Solstice reviews on the main Cruise Critic site from Jan/Feb and many came away saying the food and service were not what they used to be there. I keep hearing a recurring thing about Bistro on Five being a treasure, so that is good!

 

I was interested in Cellar Masters, being a bit of a wine-o, so I am glad you noted what you thought...and the prices!

 

Regarding the shade on the ship, as more people become aware of the dangers of it I think less people want to sit directly in it. My DH is 46, when he was 42 got diagnosed with melanoma and went through nine surgeries and his back and stomach. When I have girlfriends who like to tan, I tell him to take off his shirt and show them what it looks like to have that much surgery done. That said it is a personal choice as is the food.

 

I too will be in a CC cabin. I was hoping for better news so I hope some of what you did, or didn’t, experience had to do with your steward.

 

Did they have pillow top mattresses in the room?

 

Hey Sailor2010,

 

I thought Cellar Masters was GREAT, and a treaure on the ship! Overall, I was VERY PLEASED with the wine selections on the ship (both Cellar Masters and the various restaurants). Granted, I thought the wine dispensing machines were a waste of money but Cellar Masters had a great list of wines by the glass, and VERY REASONABLE regional wine flights! Each wine list had about 20 selections by the glass, ranging from $6 to $20 per glass. I usually spent between $6 and $9 for a glass of wine and was NEVER disappointed. Cellar Masters and the Main Dining Room typically had VERY HEAVY POURS (always a good thing!) :-)

 

As a point of reference, I'm a red wine drinker and prefer wines from CA, OR or South America. I'm pretty cheap, so will rarely spend more than $10 for a bottle of wine for home consumption. Mrs T doesn't drink, so we never buy a bottle when at a restaurant...only a glass, or two for me.

 

We LOVED being in Concierge Class, and thought the robes were INCREDIBLE...just not sure it's worth the added cost (Not really sure how much more it was for us, but they were having a CC sale when we booked, so that helped us). The sparkling wine, plate of fruit that went uneaten, a few roses, and a "rainfall showerhead" just didn't seem to be that big of a deal....FOR US.

 

Oh, we loved the tote bag they gave us...very nice!!!!

 

It seemed as if the CC room service breakfast menu has changed recently...not as much selection...

 

The Matress did NOT seem like a pillow top to us...but we didn't check. It was OK, but not the BEST (better than Mexico matresses, though, LOL). The pillows were GREAT, and we never had a need to ask for other pillow options...

 

All in all, our attendant did a GREAT JOB and was always there for us!!!

[eandj]

Thanks for a comprehensive review. We have spent three weeks so far on Solstice at different times, and agree that it is an amazing, well planned ship.

 

To each his own, but the I strongly disagree with you when you criticize the "LOTS of obstructions that block the sun". I personally think that the abundance of shade structures is one of the best features of Solstice! Too much sun can be dangerous, and the design of the upper decks gives one lots of choices of shade or sun.

 

A couple of years ago, we did a Holiday cruise in the Caribbean on QM2. There was absolutely no shade whatsoever at any of the pools! The only way to sit in the shade was to either get away from the pools and join the old folks on the Promenade deck, or to try to huddle under one of the stairways near the pool:eek:

 

The designers of the Solstice class are to be congratulated for their smart use of shade structures, which provides sun and shade options for all tastes.

 

 

Because the new ships are drawing new "younger" people to the line, there are naturally more passengers that want to sit in the sun on sea days. Whether i'ts healthy or not is not in question.

 

What is happening is that the greater number of sun people are having more trouble finding seats in all day sun. The shades are great and very attractive. However, like my dh suggested... is that some of the canopies could very easily be made moveable and if the need for sun chairs is greater than the number, they could "open" another area for sun. Very easy solution for crowded areas and yet keeping lots of shade for those interested in that area. There definitely, like you said are an abundance of them.

[cruisemuse13]

thank you for your review on your recent cruise. it is so helpful to give a description of yourself and to give reasons for your comments so that we have a context for your opinions. you have been very informative.

[eandj]

Again, very helpful review. Question: how did you like the bed near the Balcony? We had that config also, but our friends had the bed next to the bathroom wall and it seemed like it had more flexibility with the couch near the Balcony. Your opinion?

 

Denny

 

Our bed was at the bathroom and I would prefer that. I like getting ready at the desk at the patio door where there is natural light and a nice view while I dry my hair, put on makeup etc. Plus if it's too windy or cool on the verandah, you can sit on the sofa and have your drink or coffee with a great view within a couple feet. DOES make a differnce to me and I'd work for that config. when booking.

[kitty9]

Thank you for the review. We were on the Feb 14 sailing and experienced much of what you did, with the exception of Tuscan Grill. We thought it was the best of our specialty dining experiences, and we loved the crab appetizer and the onion soup. Like everyone says, it's a matter of personal taste and preferences. We also loved the three "classes" on wine tasting we did with Cellar Masters. Well worth the cost.