If Anyone Cares - My Solstice Holiday Review

[PS90]

I have to agree with you. For OP to state that AQ was not worth $50 per day, but then compliment Blu and note that he felt no need to eat at the specialty restaurants makes no sense.

 

 

Just to clarify, I said that I wouldn't pay MORE THAN $50 pp for AQ over a regular balcony. I did NOT say that AQ is not worth $50 per day. There's a big difference there.

[USVI-4-me]

Just to clarify, I said that I wouldn't pay MORE THAN $50 pp for AQ over a regular balcony. I did NOT say that AQ is not worth $50 per day. There's a big difference there.

 

Another perk @$50 pp per day for AquaClass on this HOLIDAY Time cruise was the mostly "adults only" experience in Blu, rather than the more family oriented dinners in the MDR. It seems that the added confusion with all the children would make dining in Blu or a Specialty restaurant more of a necessity. I may be wrong, as we don't cruise over holidays.

 

Also, we have never cruised in AQClass. I'm not sure if children dine in Blu.

 

Would you pay up to $50 pp pday for the usual AquaClass perks because more children were cruising?

 

Or is $50 pp based on a future cruise time when you could cruise with fewer children.

 

Maris

[PS90]

Another perk @$50 pp per day for AquaClass on this HOLIDAY Time cruise was the mostly "adults only" experience in Blu, rather than the more family oriented dinners in the MDR. It seems that the added confusion with all the children would make dining in Blu or a Specialty restaurant more of a necessity. I may be wrong, as we don't cruise over holidays.

 

Also, we have never cruised in AQClass. I'm not sure if children dine in Blu.

 

Would you pay up to $50 pp pday for the usual AquaClass perks because more children were cruising?

 

Or is $50 pp based on a future cruise time when you could cruise with fewer children.

 

Maris

 

Thanks for all the kind words, Maris.

 

Now that I think more about it, I still wouldn't pay hundreds of $$$ more for AQ over a 1A, for example. But if a 1A balcony was $999pp, say, and AQ was $1099 or even $1149, I would probably spring for AQ again, despite what I said in my review. I did like Blu alot, I just didn't feel that many of the other AQ perks were worth paying for. In other words, IMO only, a slightly-fancier-shower and "spa quality" toiletries just don't mean that much to me.

 

And, to answer you question, despite having A LOT of kids on-board, I only noticed a few in Blu. On two separate occasions, there was a group of about 8 girls in the 10-12 year-old range that ate at Blu, but they were very polite and did not make any kind of scene or draw attention to themselves. I'm not sure if they all had AQ rooms, or, since there was so many of them and they were only in Blu twice, maybe they had a suite(?). Both the ambiance and the food in Blu were excellent.

[PS90]

I would also like to note that we aren't "anti-kid" by any means. I mentioned a couple of instances where the massive number of kids was a problem, but for the most part, we didn't mind them at all. Granted, dining in Blu with almost no kids may have helped keep them from irritating us, though.:D

 

We have only sailed one time, our honeymoon to Alaska on Infinity, in which there were almost no kids. Due to having kids ourselves, we can't get away at any time other than school breaks and summers.

[USVI-4-me]

PS90, you and other posters are helping us decide what what our new bottom line is for future cruising.

 

We have cruised in suite, concierge, balcony, oceanview, inside and on the smokestack. If the price was right and the ports attractive, we used to book an inside cabin with no problem. On the smokestack was a HAL cabin guarantee made us X the booking of inside cabin guarantees forevermore. With newer ships, like S-Class, there are fewer views of the sea from inside public areas and short promenades. We continue weighing our options.

 

Again and again, we say "no more cruising"; then we go for a deal and try another.

 

There was another thread on Celebrity where a poster, maybe JackDiamond, said something like the whole experience of cruising with a balcony was different from the experience of cruising with an inside cabin. I can't remember the specifics of that post; but we've decided the poster was absolutely right on the mark for us.

 

From now on, we must have a balcony cabin or not cruise at all. Specifically, we want to have the AquaClass cabin so that we don't have to visit the MDR or buffet in the evening. A close second, IMO, is to pay extra for the suite for the services of a butler to deliver our meals most of the time.

 

We like the options of alternating in cabin dinner with Blu and/or Specialty dining. However, paying an extra $50 pp for AquaClass with the right to dine in Blu; plus, paying $40 pp for a Specialty restaurant dinner adds up to a very expensive alternate meal for a single dinner.

 

Thank you for sharing your insights as to how you evaluated your AquaClass experience.

 

As an aside, I love to see children enjoying the cruise experience.

I just prefer not to cruise during holiday periods.

 

Maris

[gelo7]

Excellent review.