Solstice 7/4/10 Western caribbean - Wow!

[taliho621]

(After I typed this I realized how long it is, so I am posting it in three parts. Here is part 1)

 

Okay, just off this morning, and my title says it all. Best vacation ever. I will try to keep this short, but I make no promises. But before I make you all read through the whole thing, I just want to tell you that if you do only one thing your entire cruise on the Solstice, do the hot glass show. Do not walk, run!!!! The best entertainment on water. Okay, that’s enough of a plug, I will talk about it later.

 

Background - we were a group of 10 celebrating my in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary - 8 adults and my two children, 9 y.o. son and 14 y.o. daughter. We are from South Florida, as are my in-laws, and the rest were from NY and CT. As the travel planner, I had done all the research and arranged the cruise, cabin selection and shore excursions (more about those later). I spent a lot of time on these boards, and the advice of other posters turned out to be not only extremely helpful, but also pretty much dead-on accurate. So I am writing this rather long missive as my way of saying thank you and paying it forward.

 

First of all, we are not highly experienced cruisers like some here, nor were we newbies, having been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and (many years ago) Fantasy Cruises (remember them? They used to be Celebrity's sister line when owned by Chandris). So we did not have a lot to compare this to. But here goes . . .

 

First - every post I have read to date is absolutely correct as to embarkation. At the port at 12:30, on the ship by 12:50 (and we were told this was a full cruise). Our rooms were available, so we dropped our carry-ons in the rooms and headed to the Oceanview Café for lunch.

 

I am so overflowing with information, I will try and organize my thoughts by categories.

 

The rooms. We had two connecting verandah rooms on the 8th floor. 8th floor was perfect because if we didn’t feel like waiting for an elevator we could walk up to the pool (12) or down to dinner (4) without any real exertion. The rooms were connecting, which meant that we had two regular staterooms that had a common foyer. Basically, all rooms on the ship have a small foyer off of the hallway that opens into your doorway. Our rooms had a large (and extremely heavy, I must say) double door across this foyer, which double door was locked. Then our regular stateroom doors were locked into an open position. A great set-up; although we could not close the doors between our staterooms, because they opened into a common foyer and not into each other, we had no concerns about keeping our lights on after bedtime. We had the beds pushed together in our cabin, and twin beds in the kids’ room (this was already set up, we did not need to request this). We immediately asked our cabin attendant, Bernardo (excellent) to take down the separating wall on our balconies, so we had one extra large balcony. The room was beautiful, plenty of room, and (as has been previously noted) plenty of storage for everything for all of us (including quite a bit of storage room in the bathroom).

 

One final thought on our cabin. We were midship on the port side, which, at least for our itinerary was the better side. This was the side that we docked on in each port (other than Grand Cayman which was by tender), so we could watch docking from our cabin each morning.

 

Oceanview Café. Also loved this. We ate breakfast and lunch here everyday. The buffet had a number of different stations, so no need to fight through long lines for anything (except ice cream some days, but I doubt there would be any way to avoid that). Yes, there is not a huge amount of variety from day to day, but in my opinion there is enough variety that you do not need to eat the same thing everyday unless you want to (which some days I did). I had a salad for lunch almost every day – always fresh ingredients. Best part? The breads and baked goods. Both here and in the main dining room, the baked goods were to die for.

 

The one downside of the Oceanview is dinner. We wanted to hit the early show one night, so we ate dinner here. It is a very limited menu, other than if you want pizza or pasta.

 

(Part 2 coming up)

[taliho621]

(Here is Part 2)

 

Main dining room. We ate dinner there every night (except the one I mentioned, although the rest of our group was there). We started with an 8:30 seating, but found that this was not optimal for both the youngest and oldest of our group. So we switched to 6:00. This was absolutely no problem, even for our group of 10 on a full cruise (more excellent guest service). When we were switched, we ended up with Juan as a waiter, and Eduardo as assistant. Excellent. And we are not an easy group – 8 of the 10 of us do not eat meat, but eat fish. There were many occasions where we were able to either order off-menu or improvise among the offerings. In fact, after my mother-in-law expressed how much she liked the fish one night, the maitre d’ would come over every night for the rest of the cruise to let her know that they had some available for her if she wished to order it again. And by the third night, Juan had my two kids’ orders memorized. And, again, the breads (sigh).

Common Areas. An absolutely beautiful ship. Clean lines, lots of glass. And everything was immaculate. Is it brand new? No, but a little wear here and there just adds character. Nothing was worn so as to look bad, in my opinion. The pool area? Yes, it was crowded on the sea days, and yes, people do hog chairs, but if you were willing to hop up to the next deck, there were always chairs to be found. I will complain, however, that the two main pools are both tiny. I’m guessing that this is due to the solarium and the adults-only pool taking up room on the pool deck, but it was just way too small to have even 8-10 kids in at the same time, let alone the 20+ that were in there the one afternoon we used the pool. So I guess I have found the one thing I truly disliked about the ship. And oh yeah, the lawn club? A nice feature, but we never really took advantage.

Entertainment. No, it ain’t Broadway. But it’s not a junior high spring musical either. We hit the main show almost every night. I know everyone here raves about Solstice the Show, and thinks it’s just like Cirque, but this was my least favorite show. I think it was a copy of the real Cirque – my thought being don’t try to copy the real thing if you can’t do it as well. The other production shows were fine. I know that not everyone is into magic/illusion, but my family really enjoyed the illusionist (his name escapes me at the moment), although my 9 y.o. son was disappointed to find out that the assistant was already married (to her boss). And we did not make it to David Meyer, but the rest of our group raved about his show. As to the other entertainers, Sipra (the ship’s band) was lots of fun – kind of similar to a top wedding band, Lloyd Baskin (the pianist) was excellent, with a beautiful voice. And do not miss the I-Tones, the a capella group that performs randomly during the cruise. Great voices, and lots of fun. (And such nice guys – if you were on our cruise and caught their final set on Saturday night, they wrote two new verses for the nonsensical “rooster” song at the request of my son, and even recognized him during their set.)

Hot Glass. Where do I begin? First of all, if you had told me before the cruise that this would be the favorite part of the ship for both my 9 y.o. son and 14 y.o. daughter, I would have laughed. But it was (and to be honest, it was also my wife’s and my favorite as well). We missed only 2 shows during the week – one where it was raining in sheets, and one where the show was cancelled due to bees (yep, that’s right, they had found a hive and were taking care of it). These three guys (our week it was Chris, Matt and Dane, although next week is Chris’ last) work together to create beautiful works of art while educating and entertaining us in the audience. But a description does not do it justice – it didn’t for me until I saw it, so I won’t bother describing the show – just to insist that you get there. A couple of points about the show – ask lots of questions; they answer them all (just ask my son, I believe he set a record for most questions in a week at their show. In fact, if you were there, you probably knew him – always in the front row, always asking numerous questions, and quite possibly the most enthusiastic winner of a glass raffle ever. At the end of the week, he was referred to as the “poster child” for the hot glass show). Second – they do not sell anything, so stop asking (at least three questions per show from the audience). They only give the pieces away, and they do this by raffle. They do not announce ahead of time when the raffle will be, so you have to hit every show. They had three raffles during our cruise, Thursday night (3 pieces), Friday night (3 pieces) and Saturday evening (8 pieces). My 9 y.o. son actually won on Thursday night (it was truly the highlight of his week – you could hear his scream of joy back in Fort Lauderdale, I’m sure). And then – my 14 y.o. daughter actually won the next night!!!! We now have two beautiful and unique pieces of art in our home. Again – go, go GO!

Guest Service. Never a problem. Every request was met with enthusiasm. Need peanut butter with lunch? Ask anybody at the buffet, and wait 2 minutes while they get it. Help bringing your food over from the buffet? Again, instant assistance. All requests made of Bernardo were instantly addressed. One example of service above and beyond: We were in the Oceanview Café for an afternoon snack, and my son wanted a chocolate chip cookie (they were quite good, I must say), but the tray was empty. So he asked the first person he saw (who happened by pure chance to be the executive baker/pastry chef or something like that). First he checked out back. No luck. Then he told us to wait while he checked behind the other stations; no luck again. Then he explained that there were probably none around because they were starting to bake for dinner. As I started to explain this to my son, he told me that he did not want any disappointed children, so we should wait while he checks with the 5th floor. Well, we waited. About 5-10 minutes later, he came back with a covered tray. He took off the cover to reveal 5 fresh baked cookies. He apologized that they were so soft because he had just taken them off the cooling racks right out of the oven. All that work for one 9-year old kid. What more needs to be said?

 

(Part 3 next)

[taliho621]

(Part 3 as promised)

 

Ports. Wow, have I already written so much and now just getting to this point? I will discuss these only briefly.

Grand Cayman: We booked Moby Dick Tours for Stingray City and snorkel (did online, not through the ship). Mark and his group were great. We really enjoyed Stingray City. Snorkeling was fun, until 5-6 people in our group got stung by jellyfish. Mark called everyone in almost immediately, so that this part was cut short. But I cannot fault him for that – jellyfish are not all that common, but we just got unlucky. But I appreciated that he put safety first, and he and his guys worked quickly in handing out salve and, in a couple of instances, Benadryl. Cannot recommend them highly enough.

Cozumel. We had not booked anything ahead of time, as we were just going to hit the beach. But my daughter expressed interest in swimming with the dolphins, so we booked this onboard (it was actually cheaper than booking directly with Dolphin Encounter). They did the Push, Pull and Swim, which included being pulled by the dolphin’s fins and being pushed while on a boogie board. They really enjoyed this. And after the dolphin part was done, they (i) got to interact with manatees, and (ii) got to kiss and hug a seal! And the fee includes entrance to Chankanaab, so we hung out for a while in their salt water pool, and I did some beach snorkeling. Being a novice, I found that there was quite a lot to look at, including tons of fish, just a few yards off shore.

Cost Maya. We booked the Chacchoben Ruins Tour through Native Choice (booked online ahead of time). Beyond any of our expectations. It was a 45-minute bus ride, about 1.5 hours roaming the ruins site and a bus ride back. But the best part was our tour guide. We had David, whose grandfather built the oldest house in the village and is so knowledgeable about not only the site, but about Mayan culture and history, as well as the political history of the entire Yucatan Peninsula. We spent the entire bus ride there listening to the history of the area, and not just the ruins. It is apparent that this is not just a job, but a labor of love. Again, cannot recommend highly enough. After the tour, there is a small little tourist area right off the port with shops, restaurants and a salt water pool. So we went back onboard, grabbed lunch and headed back out to spend a couple of hours at their pool. No charge – not even for the chairs. After hanging out and swimming for a while, we did some shopping and bought a few small things – the least we could do for the free pool time (yes, I understand that is why they have the pool there – marketing 101 – but I only applaud the person who came up with the idea).

Roatan Island – What a beautiful island. We had booked a private tour through Victor Bodden (one of the nicest guys around). So we were picked up at the pier by our driver, Lionel, who drove us around the island giving insight and history. Couple of stops for photo ops and souvenir shopping. Then we went to Victor’s zipline, where 9 out of 10 of us went ziplining, including my 75-y.o. father-in-law (my mother-in-law had a fractured foot so couldn’t join us). Now this is not 200-feet in the air jungle canopy ziplining, but for this group of intrepid novices, from ages 9 to75, it was perfect. The guides were great, and enforced all safety rules throughout (in case you are wondering, Victor’s lines are all double lines for added safety). Then we took a tour of the monkey cages, where those of us willing to do so could hold the monkeys. Very cute. Lionel then took us to West End so we could walk the shops, have lunch and hit the beach, but we were all starting to tire out, so we walked for a little while then headed back to the ship. Another hearty recommendation. (Just as an FYI – please note that you will be expected to tip the driver, the zipline guides and the monkey guide. We gladly did so.)

Disembarkation. Smooth. We had an early ride, so we were in Group 1. Went to the Theatre at 7:45, turned around immediately, walked up to Deck 5 and off the ship. Found our luggage almost instantly (very well organized), through customs and waiting for our ride by 8. Cannot get any easier. And we did not do the express.

Conclusion. Beautiful ship. Helpful and friendly staff. Great ports. And did I mention the glass show?

Thank you for having the patience to read through all this. I know I had promised to try and keep it short, but I failed miserably. And yet I know there is still so much I am leaving out. Please post any questions, and I will try to answer.

Thanks. :D:D:D

[mjm325]

great review! Thanks for posting :) Makes me VERY excited for our cruise on Solstice in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[nps001]

Great review. Thanks for writing.

[BWaterCruiser]

Nice job, can not wait for our cruise on Aug 15, same ship and itinerary. One question, did any of you purchase a drink package and if so how did it work out for you. Thanks

[Lois R]

Great review:)Thanks for sharing your experience with us and glad you

and your family had such a good time:D

Oh, I got a nice laugh out of your son's disappointment that the

Illusionist's Assistant was married;). Sounds like he is going to be a

ladies man:D (or maybe he already is?;))

 

Oh...I hope you realize I really didn't mean I was glad he was disappointed though!

I just had to smile when you posted that for us.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Nice review! Enjoyed reading it, and glad you had such a nice vacation.

[justsunnydays]

Thanks for the review! You have eased my worries about sailing with our two kids with connecting cabins! :D

[Muushka]

OP, thank you for the review. It was a fun read. Can't wait to cruise on her one of these days.

[Fighterone]

Thank you for posting your review. I agree with paying back this great site with our thoughts. We will be on a different itinerary but you have convinced us to attend some of the on board events.

[diego]

Thank you so much for the great review!

We have private tours booked at each port and are very nervous about ship time vs. port time, especially in Roatan. Do you remember what time (island time) you had to be back to the ship?

[taliho621]

Thank you for all of the positive feedback. I am still on such a high.

 

Lois R - I was not offended. I got a laugh out of it as well.

 

BWater - none of us purchased the drink packages. My brother-in-law purchase two botles of wine - he would have a glass at dinner every night, then they would recork it and bring back the bottle next night. I think the bottles were only about $30 each. I heavily considered the soda package for myself, but in the end decided against it at $40, and I am glad I did. As the oceanview has free fruit punch and lemonade all day, I was able to get my sugar fix for free (although if you want caffeine, this won't help). Then I would have a soda with my dinner. Seven dinners times $2.30 per soda (with tip) came out considerably less than the soda package would have, so the package would have been a loser in my case. As for my kids, I am lucky that neither one likes soda - they are water drinkers (cheap dates!).

 

diego - Roatan was one hour behind ship time - so you need to be back at 3:45 local time. However, if you book through Victor Bodden they boast that they have never missed a ship yet. And since we were on a private tour, we could go back whenever we wanted. (If you have 4 or more going, check the price of their private tour - you may be surprised at the affordability. We paid $25 per person for a 10-person van, plus the cost of any specific item we wanted to do, such as $5 per person for the zipline.) We had no problems with Moby Dick in Grand Cayman or The Native Choice in Costa Maya, both of which we booked directly. In my opinion, despite what the cruise ship folks tell you (if you don't book with a cruise excursion you could be left at the dock), these companies live off of our positive feedback. It does them no good to be late. Ever.

 

Keep them coming. I've got lots to say!

[John73]

Thanks for the post. I'll be sailing on the same itinerary next Sunday for my first cruise. This makes me look forward to it all that much more!

[librarylady19]

Thanks for the wonderfully descriptive review. Please do not apologize for writing at length. The more detail the better imo. Glad your family enjoyed Solstice so much and had a wonderful family vacation to remember.

[bighairtexan]

Thanks so much for your review. I have to wait 13 loooooong weeks. :(

By the way... do you think we should go to the Glass Show? LOL!! :D

[taliho621]

We paid $25 per person for a 10-person van, plus the cost of any specific item we wanted to do, such as $5 per person for the zipline.)

 

Oops - just noticed. the zipline was $45 per person, not $5. Still worth it though.

[Mrs_Tiki]

Don't ever apologize for such a thorough, descriptive review ~ posts like yours are what keeps most of us coming back to these boards! :)

 

Can't wait to see the Solstice for myself in a few weeks ~ August 1 can't get here quickly enough!

[The Big Booper]

Question for the OP - was the jazz trio+singer still on the ship? How about the late night comedian in the comedy club? Or the one man calypso band on the pool deck.

 

My feeling, the various musical groups and solo performers were the best we had ever seen on any ship.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks so much for posting the detailed review. Enjoyed reading it. DW is now pestering me to book an "S" class X cruise for 2012. I've been kinda getting ther bug myself. I've heard nothing good things about the S class ships.

 

Thanks Again For Your Review......:):):)

 

Bob

[DavyB]

Great Review!! I'm really looking forward to cruising on the Solstice in November!! :D

[khut]

Thank you for all of the positive feedback. I am still on such a high.

 

Lois R - I was not offended. I got a laugh out of it as well.

 

BWater - none of us purchased the drink packages. My brother-in-law purchase two botles of wine - he would have a glass at dinner every night, then they would recork it and bring back the bottle next night. I think the bottles were only about $30 each. I heavily considered the soda package for myself, but in the end decided against it at $40, and I am glad I did. As the oceanview has free fruit punch and lemonade all day, I was able to get my sugar fix for free (although if you want caffeine, this won't help). Then I would have a soda with my dinner. Seven dinners times $2.30 per soda (with tip) came out considerably less than the soda package would have, so the package would have been a loser in my case. As for my kids, I am lucky that neither one likes soda - they are water drinkers (cheap dates!).

 

diego - Roatan was one hour behind ship time - so you need to be back at 3:45 local time. However, if you book through Victor Bodden they boast that they have never missed a ship yet. And since we were on a private tour, we could go back whenever we wanted. (If you have 4 or more going, check the price of their private tour - you may be surprised at the affordability. We paid $25 per person for a 10-person van, plus the cost of any specific item we wanted to do, such as $5 per person for the zipline.) We had no problems with Moby Dick in Grand Cayman or The Native Choice in Costa Maya, both of which we booked directly. In my opinion, despite what the cruise ship folks tell you (if you don't book with a cruise excursion you could be left at the dock), these companies live off of our positive feedback. It does them no good to be late. Ever.

 

Keep them coming. I've got lots to say!

 

Does the Oceanview have iced tea all day as well as lemonade and fruit punch??

[StayC0216]

Thanks for the great review! We'll be sailing on Sunday! Can't wait!

[taliho621]

Question for the OP - was the jazz trio+singer still on the ship? How about the late night comedian in the comedy club? Or the one man calypso band on the pool deck.

 

My feeling, the various musical groups and solo performers were the best we had ever seen on any ship.

 

The jazz trio was in the ensemble lounge the one evening I was there, and the calypso band was on the pool deck the two sea day afternoons I was there.

 

I did not go the late night comdian, but there was one there at least a couple of nights.

 

And I agree that the music heard all around the ship was mostly top notch.

[taliho621]

Does the Oceanview have iced tea all day as well as lemonade and fruit punch??

 

Sorry, not an iced tea drinker, so I didn't look for it. I will leave this out there for other recent cruisers.

 

Anyone? Bueller?