Just joined this board...

[Ebvette]

Hello all,

 

Been lurking for several months, most of my cruising has been done on white boats with guns, as a former US Coast Guardsman, with many years on Cutters, I love the sea and since leaving the Guard many years ago missed the sea.

 

But now, its all for fun, and we (my wife Meg and I) went on our first cruise during Christmas 2010, for 11 days, onboard the Equinox, West Indies. We went Aqua Class.

 

Our next cruise is seven days the Solstice early February cruising the Western Caribbean, port of calls Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Mx, Roatan, Honduras, and Puerto Costa Maya, Mx. Booked on Aqua Class

 

My hope is the Virus is a long gone memory on the Solstice, and the services and events have returned back to normal.

 

Would appreciate ANY and ALL updates from people who have cruised after the December 11th Cruise on the Solstice. Would like to get the updates on how the cruise went and any problems encounted.

 

We have chose Celebrity because of the excellent service, cuisine, extrodinary ships, and we both like QUIET, out grew the party booze cruises MANY years ago and appreciate the sound of the ocean.

 

Both my wife and I very much are looking forward to this cruise, as I work as a US Customs Officer and the work the past year has been VERY HEAVY, and need this vacation to recharge....Greetings to all...

[Lazz]

Welcome to the boards and a big THANK YOU for your service to our country (Coast Guard and as a Customs Officer). I too spend a great deal of time lurking, hoping that the cruise lines return to US ports in the summer. Loved the Solstice when we sailed her two years ago. My wife and I have been cruising since 1982.

[Gonzo70]

Welcome to Cruise Critic and thank you for your service with the Coast Guard.

 

I would not worry at all about Solstice; just been a string of bad luck - but for a cruise in February you are no more or less likely to have a noro outbreak on Solstice than on any other similar sized cruise ship. It is flu season and anytime you have thousands of people in an enclosed space, some people are going to become ill. Recently people are scrutinizing Solstice so vehemently that any sickness seems to receive lots of attention. It is just not possible to have roughly 4,000 people (passengers and crew) together for a week during flu season and nobody gets sick. Each year millions of people become afflicted with noro virus and only a few thousand do so on cruise ships.

 

If you have not yet checked out the Roll Call for your cruise, I suggest you do so. Cruise Critic has threads set up for each individual cruise where you can chat with others going on your same exact cruise. Great forum to exchange ideas, help one another and plan/organize some group activities/excursions. Here is a link to Solstice's Roll Call board: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=479 (just find the date for your sailing).

[dkjretired]

Welcome to the Celebrity board, might I suggest you go to the roll call for your particular cruise also. YOu will meet lots of people who will be on your cruise with advice on excursions, etc.

 

Here is a link to the Solstice roll calls, just pick your date.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=479

 

You have picked a great ship and the better news is Solstice will be coming out of drydock the first week in Feb. They are doing mechanical work but will also work on refreshing the ship.

 

The Celebrity board is great for general questions, so ask away...

 

Enjoy your cruise...

[PartyAllDaTyme]

Welcome aboard, so to speak!

 

A word of caution-- you may want to take your name out of your signature. 99% of the people on these boards are harmless, but we're always cautioned about giving out too much personal information. For example, if a lurker could determine your address and when you'll be out of town on a cruise, that's an invitation for a burglary.

 

If you modify your signature, it will disappear from your first post.

[TLCOhio]

Welcome to these CC Boards and appreciate your military service. We were on the Solstice in June and loved both the ship and our experience. Below are some of my visuals for a few of my favorite places on the Solstice. You can see more details on food, entertainment, etc., from the live/blog noted below that I did during our cruise.

 

Don't be shy!! Feel free to ask any follow-up questions.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 53,713 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

 

The Solarium was one of our favorite areas. Food and drinks were nearby and it was very relaxed and sophisticated. Quieter, too, as it is an adults-only area. Two hot tubs here. Not crowded, especially in the evenings. Nice art and design with this facility. Wonderful setting for relaxing and watching the outside water/shore views, enjoying subtle inside action, etc.:

 

 

 

I liked to ride one of the eight glass elevators in the mid-ship courtyard with nice views out to the different floors, enjoying the ship architecture, people being active, etc.:

 

 

 

In the top, back area near the Sunset Bar with live grass, some enjoy this area by reading, playing on the lawn or sun-bathing there. Usually, it’s not too crowded!:

 

 

 

For entertainment in the Solstice Theatre, it was called “Solstice -- The Show” featuring a European-style dance, air acts, music, etc. Very dramatic and interesting as they swing, twirl and soar over the audience and stage. Here is one example of the “air show” put on by the show performers.:

 

[Denny01]

Welcome aboard! I served 20+ in the USN, making 6 deployments on 'gray' ships. Thought I'd never 'volunteer' to go back to sea, but my wife talked me into one in '95 and now we cruise all the time.

 

I tell my fellow Sailors, it's just a bit different - sweet young things come up and stick funny drinks in your hand with umbrellas in them; the ship doesn't turn into the wind every few hrs and shoot you off the pointy end; they don't mix jet fuel with the shower water; there isn't a surly cook smacking SOS onto your plate and snearing at you if you question the 'meat's' origin.....stuff like that.

 

Always get a kick out of what fellow cruisers complain about. My favorite was when so many complained about the size of the closets in the S-Class ships....heck, my last USN SR was about the size of those closets, and my sailors had 3-tiered racks!

 

Love going back to sea...nothing quite like seeing that sharp horizon at sea.

 

Den

[tispwisp]

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I, too, thank you for your service!

 

DH and I will be on the Solstice in March. Our first time on this class of ship and are very much looking forward to it!

[Ebvette]

Welcome aboard, so to speak!

 

A word of caution-- you may want to take your name out of your signature. 99% of the people on these boards are harmless, but we're always cautioned about giving out too much personal information. For example, if a lurker could determine your address and when you'll be out of town on a cruise, that's an invitation for a burglary.

 

If you modify your signature, it will disappear from your first post.

 

 

Thanks for advice...DONE...

[madelinerose]

A word of caution-- you may want to take your name out of your signature.

 

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I see people posting waaay too much information all the time!

 

Ebvette...welcome. ;)

[Ebvette]

I tell my fellow Sailors, it's just a bit different - sweet young things come up and stick funny drinks in your hand with umbrellas in them; the ship doesn't turn into the wind every few hrs and shoot you off the pointy end; they don't mix jet fuel with the shower water; there isn't a surly cook smacking SOS onto your plate and snearing at you if you question the 'meat's' origin.....stuff like that.

 

Den

 

Hey Den,

 

Being in the CG we had young sweet things giving us drinks with umbellas in them, and great hot showers, and great food, no mystery meat, heck in port we had Lobster Fridays.... I guess thats the difference between a little white one and a big grey one...

I know what you mean about storage, heck we had these half size lockers and everything was rolled, what didn't fit went forward to the seabag locker.

 

My Dad was Navy, but I grew up on the New England coastline next to several Coast Guard Stations and my family was lobstermen, I grew up on the Pines River near Lynn running lobster boats during high school, I just love the ocean. So the CG was the service for me, spent my first year in Viet Nam, River Rat, then rest of my years on Cutters out of 1st District, MANY times out on the North Atlantic, doing stations or Ice Patrol.

 

Hope to meet you onboard..