Solstice - April 3 - 10 Review

[custom300]

Hello fellow cruisers. My wife (Carla) and I (Jamie) are just off the Solstice from a wonderful cruise April 3-10. I will try to give you my impressions in one or more posts. First as a general comment, we were very impressed with the overall Celebrity experience and would highly recommend both the cruise line and the Solstice.

EMBARKATION:

We are newbies to the cruise experience having gone on only one other cruise about 15 years ago. We arrived at the port around 12:30 and checked our bags with the on shore porters. Then on to the check in process. We both commented on how friendly everyone was and how quickly the process went. Both Carla and I noted how attentive the staff was to keeping the areas clean. After each person signed the necessary paperwork, a person would come up and wipe down the area, taking no chances that any viruses pass from one person to the other. I think from the time we arrived on the port to the time we were strolling around the ship was approximately 30 minutes. Again, I don't have a frame of reference, but we felt like the process moved on well.

 

Once on board we strolled around and listened to the party band (more on them later) playing at the pool. Then we were able to go to our rooms by 2:15 or 2:30. Again, I thought it was quick. I was a little nervous at this point, because we received all of our luggage except one bag. I think it made me more nervous that some was there and not all, but it eventually showed up.

 

ROOM:

We were in room 1036 (I added a post in the room section on the forum). The room was very conveniently located we thought. It was the fourth room on the starboard side as you move forward from the forward elevators and stair case. The room was comfortable and our stateroom steward was friendly and helpful. We were really surprised as the size of the bed and how really easily you can move around. If I had one complaint, there could be more room for the luggage and we were a little shy on drawer space...but then again, we probably over packed. We had fresh flowers in the room on a daily basis, and the room was always clean when we returned. We didn't use the in room 'bar' at all. And, best intentions...we intended every night for the first 2 or 3 nights to have our bottle of champaign...but onboard activities just got in the way...the point is the poor steward kept putting it on ice for us every evening, only to have to do it again the next night. I think we finally drank the champaign on Thursday.

 

LIVE MUSIC:

There were two categories of musicians on the ship...the "around" the ship music groups, and the "show" musicians and entertainers. We particularly enjoyed "Cheek to Cheek" (hey that's the name of the group) the jazz quartet, and the Adagio (I think that's the right name) Strings. The A capella group Metro Park were very good too, but that really wasn't our cup of tea. The Party Band was okay, but I really felt like they weren't as talented as what I would have expected. The vocalists and the guitar player were really good, but the rhythm section was very loose. On one fairly standard Bon Jovi tune, they clearly didn't know the song. Anyway, it was still fun. We particularly enjoyed Cheek to Cheek in the Ensemble Lounge, and the Strings up on the Lawn.

 

MAIN SHOW:

We really enjoyed the shows in the Solstice Theater. The first night was kind of an introduction to all of the acts that were going to be around the ship. David Meyer and Tony Pace were very entertaining. David Meyer's implementation of the Xyclophone was not as unique as was presented, especially if you are an musician who's had any exposure to MIDI, however not to be snobbish about it, he is an unbelievable musician. Tony Pace was just down right funny and entertaining as well. The other main show that was very entertaining was called Pulse. It was a cirque type show...probably not our favorite, but there was no question as to the talent and skill of these individuals and it was very enjoyable.

 

DINING:

We chose to just eat in the main dining room and forgo the specialty restaurants. Everyone said the specialty restaurants were great, but we enjoyed our table friends and were very happy with the waiter, asst. waiter and the sommelier. Ronald was our waiter, Dadan was our sommelier, and Miake (sp) was the assistant waiter. They took very good care of us and made a really enjoyable experience. We dined early and were at table 222. I think we would not do the early dining again, because on this cruise we were dining everytime we left port. So we didn't get the opportunity to watch us pulling away from shore. Probably a little thing. Also, table 222 is located in a bit of an awkward location. Next cruise we will definitely take advantage of the specialty restaurants.

 

We thought the food was phenominal. The highlights for me were a couple of things. 1)the chilled soups. I particularly loved the Pea Soup. 2) Also, one night had the Steak TarTar appetizer. It was very good. The three main courses I enjoyed the most were the Lamb Shank, the Ribeye, and the Filet. Everything was presented well, portions were perfect (went away full but not overstuffed), and tasted great.

 

ACTIVITIES:

We really enjoyed the glass blowing show/demonstration. I thought it was unique and just very interesting. We took in two wine tasting demonstrations. Both were enjoyable. The second one however, was Wine Around the World. They were good values, however, there were twelve wines to drink in one hour. That event should have been two hours. Even though your only tasting that was a lot of wine for that short of a period (for us anyway). There were so many fun things to do and see, it would be impossible to mention them all. Needless to say, if you want, the Ship can be the destination even aside from the Ports of Call.

 

EXCURSIONS:

The Ports of Call were probably our biggest source of frustration. We're still kind of analyzing that and trying to figure what we would do differently. In San Juan, we walked around on our own and did the Old San Juan area. It was okay, but probably should have booked something to get us out to other areas. My wife bought a Coach bag, which was kind of cool. The thing you have to be aware of is the difference between Outlet merchandise and Retail merchandise sold in an outlet store. Its really a buyer beware situation.

 

St. Thomas/St Johns was awesome. We took the Champaign Catamaran Snorkeling Excursion. (The Adventuress) St John's was beautiful and it was just a fun excursion. We thought it was a good value too. We did some shopping...I guess I don't get the diamond shopping...I think you really have to know diamonds to buy them, and I just didn't think I would trust buying an expensive diamond there. Again, buyer beware. The other shopping was pretty much what you would expect for an island open market.

 

In St. Maarten we took the "Best of St. Maarten Tour". VERY DISAPPOINTING...at least as disappointing as it can get on an island paradise with white sands and blue water. We just thought the whole tour was misrepresented and expensive. We were in a van for about 3 hours going through all of the streets and roads of St. M. But, there weren't any real significant destinations etc. The description implied we would see several beaches such as Orient and others. Well we saw them from miles away from a road looking down over them. Then we ended up at a "resort" with beverages and lunch. It was beautiful, but we were not able to take advantage of the entire resort area. We had an area that we were to stay in, and they did not have umbrellas so it was very hot. Lunch was late (but tasty). Again, its hard to have a bad day in St Maarten, but I thought the excursion was over priced and misrepresented. We would have been time, money and experience ahead to take a taxi to the beach and buy our own drinks and food.

 

CREW:

Every member of the crew we came in contact was wonderful. The highlights for us were; Captain Gerry; Cruise Director Lisa; Exec Chef Mischa, Activity Director Zach; and our Main Dining crew. Captain Gerry is the right combination of steady, charming, witty, talented...(and my wife thinks handsome). He "surprised" us the last night by coming out and playing guitar and singing with Metro Park on his rendition of Brown Eyed Girl. Lisa was very entertaining and enjoyable. The last night she performed a song from Momma Mia and she was very pleasant and helpful. The others mentioned were equally entertaining and enjoyable.

 

OTHER MISCELLANEOUS:

Disembarkation was fine...we left the ship at around 9:45 and were on the street looking for our shuttle at 10:05. It was a little warmish in customs but it moved along pretty well. Buffet was good, we went there usually for breakfast. Everything was kept very clean...Purell...but we didn't hear of anyone getting sick.

 

By The WAY DO NOT USE KSA Tours for shuttle service. Supposedly they were going to be out there waiting for us...we had orange stickers to identify us as KSA customers. We were still waiting for them at 11:15. We were literally the last Solstice cruisers to be picked up. We called several times and it was always...we'll be there in 3 minutes or whatever. Very frustrating.

 

Well I hope this has been helpful to other potential cruisers. I would highly recommend Celebrity and in particular the Solstice. Food, Entertainment, and Crew were amazing. We're starting to plan our next cruise so if anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear of them.

[custom300]

I knew as soon as I posted the review I would think of a couple of other things.

 

The Breakfast Buffet was really great. Again, great food and great presentation.

 

The Internet access was terrible, not sure what I expected there. The in-room access on the TV was not a great interface...very difficult to navigate with the keyboard/mouse combination.

[portofrome]

Glad you enjoyed your Solstice cruise. Thanks for your review.

[gijoe76]

Can you tell me how this works and what the charges are. Is there wireless in the cabin? Is there a keyboard and mouse hooked up to the TV?

 

Thanks!

[4Grandcats]

Can you please tell us more about Strings On the Lawn? Which nights? What time?

Sounds like something new to me.

Thank you!

Glad you had a great time - looking forward to our cruise in 2 weeks!!!

[custom300]

Can you please tell us more about Strings On the Lawn? Which nights? What time?

Sounds like something new to me.

Thank you!

Glad you had a great time - looking forward to our cruise in 2 weeks!!!

 

I think it was Tuesday at 8:00pm - 9:00pm. I'm looking at my Celebrity Today publication that Celeb puts in your room every evening. It doesn't mention specifically Adagio Strings, but it says Concert Under the Stars. I was just telling my wife, I can't believe how much we did...and there was a lot we couldn't get to. Have fun!!!!

[custom300]

Can you tell me how this works and what the charges are. Is there wireless in the cabin? Is there a keyboard and mouse hooked up to the TV?

 

Thanks!

 

Yes there is wireless access if you have a IPOD/Blackberry/Droid/Laptop. It's .61 per minute and gets a little cheaper the more bulk you buy. Also there is an I-Lounge or something like that. They have a bunch apple laptops in a room on 6th floor. That's probably the most efficient use of your purchased minutes. Then they have this keyboard device that connects to the TV in your room (Also powered by Apple). Its a good idea, but it just didn't work real smooth and it ate up minutes. What I did, that again worked ok but not great...I would type emails on my blackberry which was disconnected, then when they got stacked up I would connect the BB to wifi and then they would send at once. Then if you want to talk to someone at home or whereever, i used Google Chat set up at a specific time. I'm a heavy user and I kept my usage to 30minutes. Good luck.