LONG Solstice Review - E. Carib 2/26 (Lots of Photos)

[WINEMANVISALIA]

no doubt we will book solstice in alaska...your photos seal the deal....can't wait for itineraries to be released!!!!

 

X MARKS MY SPOT!!!!:)

[Golfgal]

Wonderful review - I had to tear myself away to go to work the other morning.

Loved your photos, looks as if you made some great memories :) We're heading to Solstice in August for our first Celebrity cruise. Can't wait now. Thanks for sharing.

[CactusGirly]

Thanks WINEMANVISALIA - with so many indoor cozy spaces, Solstice will be a great Alaska voyage ship, although we are sad she will no longer be in the Caribbean.

 

Golfgal, tispwisp & sheffer - Thanks and Enjoy your cruises!

[lambcom]

A page or so back someone asked how "non-free" baggage is handled if you opt for the valet baggage handling service. On our Alaska cruise out of Seattle on the Infinity in September, we were flying United, which charges, as I recall, for all checked baggage. Guest relations knew each airline's policy and added the baggage charges to the valet service charges on our bill. No mark up!

 

George +

[dodger1964]

A page or so back someone asked how "non-free" baggage is handled if you opt for the valet baggage handling service. On our Alaska cruise out of Seattle on the Infinity in September, we were flying United, which charges, as I recall, for all checked baggage. Guest relations knew each airline's policy and added the baggage charges to the valet service charges on our bill. No mark up!

 

George +

 

I learned recently that you can change your settings and change "page length" (which I did to MAX)...so when you say "a page or so back" that isn't applicable to everyone(for instance this thread is all on one page for me)...just FYI...(you can also change settings to not display all the personal info like past cruises for each post...a great way to make it easier to see just the postings)

 

I still don't know how it would work for baggage charges. For example on Delta, since I am elite, each person in my reservation gets 1 free checked bag...if you are not elite you pay $25 for each bag...in this case I wouldn't think the ship could get it right.

 

It sounds good in theory, just not sure if it works that well?

 

I have read rave reviews about the policy...maybe YMMV?

[TeaBag]

I enjoyed your review and decided the next time we are in St Thomas we must take the ferry to St John. Your pictures are great. TFP.

[CactusGirly]

I enjoyed your review and decided the next time we are in St Thomas we must take the ferry to St John. Your pictures are great. TFP.

 

Thank you. I was a little nervous about it - but it was the best decision we could have made, truly a beautiful island. I am so glad we made the trip!

[bcwaves]

:( I can't see the pictures! :(

[dodger1964]

:( I can't see the pictures! :(

looks like "photobucket" must limit pics and storage space unless you pay extra

[CactusGirly]

It should be fixed now... :o

[bcwaves]

CactusGirly, thanks for your great review. The pictures are beautiful! So glad that you had a great time and took the time to share it with us!!

[dmwnc1959]

THANK YOU for a wonderful review and all the great pictures. It took me a couple of days (I'm a bit slow as of late) getting through everything but it was definitely worth it. I would love to try Silk Harvest. The offerings there look amazing!

[CactusGirly]

THANK YOU for a wonderful review and all the great pictures. It took me a couple of days (I'm a bit slow as of late) getting through everything but it was definitely worth it. I would love to try Silk Harvest. The offerings there look amazing!

 

Thank you!

 

We were surprised how much we liked Silk Harvest - the casual elegance of the atmosphere and amazing hospitality of the servers really were the icing on the cake.

[dmwnc1959]

Thank you!

 

We were surprised how much we liked Silk Harvest - the casual elegance of the atmosphere and amazing hospitality of the servers really were the icing on the cake.

 

There aren't too many specialty restaurants I'd pay extra to eat in, but Silk Harvest would have to reserve me a nightly table. ;)

[flashdog_1]

Thank you, thank you for your review with photos! We haven't been on X for a couple of years, but when we did sail in a sky suite, at that time, one of the perks was free espresso or capuccino thru your butler. Was that not the case on your sailing, or did you get specialty coffees with your balcony breakfasts? Thanks

[kymbakitty]

Loved your review/pictures!

 

Regular exerciser.....would love to see any pictures of the exercise facility....also, any of the spa area? I'm hoping to really splurge on a few treatments.

 

Thanks!

[PathfinderEss]

Great review and wonderful picture.

[packyourpixiedust]

Thank you, thank you for your review with photos! We haven't been on X for a couple of years, but when we did sail in a sky suite, at that time, one of the perks was free espresso or capuccino thru your butler. Was that not the case on your sailing, or did you get specialty coffees with your balcony breakfasts? Thanks

 

They are still allowed. :)

[Chicagocrooza]

Wow, great reports, thorough and relaxing, I can feel the mood you were experiencing while reading it.

lovely pictures, thanks for taking the time to do that.

Your suite is great, and your butler must have done a fantastic job setting up that lovely breakfast table on your balcony.

 

All the drinks pictures are excellent. :D

[CactusGirly]

Thank you, thank you for your review with photos! We haven't been on X for a couple of years, but when we did sail in a sky suite, at that time, one of the perks was free espresso or capuccino thru your butler. Was that not the case on your sailing, or did you get specialty coffees with your balcony breakfasts? Thanks

 

Thanks for the kind words! On the specialty coffee - we didn't know we could ask for it (bummer!) ... so we just suffered through the room service coffee and then went to Cafe al Bacio for the good stuff after. :o Guess we know now for next time!

[sarleo]

Thank you for all the pictures & other information on my upcoming vacation in April on the Solstice! We have been on Summit twice (once a sky suite) to Bermuda and once on Millennium in a sky suite to Alaska. I just found out that on my upcoming trip my suite will be aft and will be unbelievable! I am so excited. We are married 30 years for this trip and it sounds like heaven. Thanks for all your hard work!:)

[CactusGirly]

sarleo - Enjoy your cruise! It was a great suite and we would pick it again for sure. Happy Anniversary!

[champmason]

Our ferry ride was quite the event. It was a long 45 minutes. The first 5 were calm… then we were in open sea and “the tiny ship was tossed”! Sitting up top in the front was a good thing, because we could keep an eye on the horizon and get a nice breeze in our face (and the occasional spray from the bow). I felt so bad for one of our CC mates down below who was pretty green for the trip, and some actually did get sick. For me it was more like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Our captain narrated the whole way over and peppered us with fun trivia about St. Thomas and St. John, showing us various points of interest along the way.

When we arrived in St. John, they asked who would like to go directly to a beach, apparently they are used to folks just wanting to use the ferry service for this, and about 20 of us raised our hands. They directed us to some open air taxis (they seat 8-10 passengers). We hopped in one with our CC mates and a group of others and away we went. As we drove through the lush landscape I kept thinking “this is what a tropical island looks like.” And then we rounded a corner and saw our first St. John beach… Caneel Bay. All we could say was “WOW!” We dropped some of the group off there and then headed for the next beach. As we rounded the corner and saw that one, Trunk Bay, “Double WOW!”

We did notice that there were quite a few people on that beach, and that is where we dropped the rest of the group off at. DH and I were thinking “I sure hope our beach is as nice as this!” We would not be disappointed.

Cinnamon Beach: Our CC friends had recommended Cinnamon Beach, and just a few more minutes up the road our taxi pulled into a small lot surrounded by trees and announced we were there. We paid $7 ea for the ride and walked down the tree-lined pathway towards the beach. There was a small restaurant on the way and restroom/shower facilities. When we got to the beach, it was like someone had plucked paradise out of a postcard and plopped it down right in front of us. There was a small shack renting chairs and selling snacks & drinks, we went inside to get some chairs and this was the view…

Once we had our chairs we walked a short way down the un-crowded beach to find a shady spot to park ourselves. There were trees hanging over the sand where we could hang our beach bags, and then we settled in for a few hours of reading and enjoying the perfect day.

Paradise!

 

More to come...

 

 

 

 

I like the idea of using the ship's excursion to get to St. John's. Do you know if the taxi dropped people off at Trunk Bay? Also, was the same taxi service available when you were ready to go back to the ferry or did you need to find your own service? I'm assuming that taxi's are readily available but just making sure!!:)

[Miss SeaBee]

We only had carry-on luggage so wouldn't have used this service...BUT...I don't remember ever seeing anything about this on ship. There is soooooo much information given our during the cruise that maybe I just glossed over it. We checked "carry off luggage" on the disembarkation form...so maybe they only give the paperwork to those who return those forms with flight information??

 

I wonder how it works for "payment"...if you have to pay the airline for checked luggage how would they know?

 

We used the service on Solstice a couple of years ago, and it was great! I only heard of it through Cruise Critic. If I had not known about it ahead of time, I would never have found out. I think I saw it hidden somewhere tiny in one of the newsletters on board, but they really do not promote it at all. I don't understand why. It absolutely MADE our debarkation experience. I don't know how it all works with the airlines. All I know is that we paid at guest services early in the cruise. And on debarkation day, we left with our carry-on, and never saw our had to lay a hand on our luggage until we landed in our home airport.

 

When we cruised the next year on Millenium, we asked about it, but not enough people signed up by the cruise day 4 deadline, so it was not offered. Again, it was not advertised or promoted at all, so small wonder there weren't enough people interested. No one even knew about it. I guarantee if you try it once, you will ask about it on every cruise thereafter.

[Miss SeaBee]

Beautiful pictures, and great review! I booked my daughters in an aft sky suite just like yours on Reflection for April, so I am posting your sky suite pics on their facebooks so they can see what they really look like. Your photos are the best I've seen of Solstice, and of the Sky Suites in particular.

 

I am sorry to hear about Tuscan Grille. We have done Murano twice on previous cruises, so were ready to try something different, and have booked Tuscan for April on Reflection. I hope our experience is better than yours was. Also, thanks for the Blu info. We are suite passengers, and it is nice to know that we can potentially "drop in" for dinner in Blu if uncrowded. I've been wanting to try it. Generally, we love the MDR menus, so we only do specialty restaurants once or twice a cruise, but I definitely plan to give Blu a try this year, if for no other reason than to see what all the hype is about. :)

 

We also plan to visit St. John on our St. Thomas stop, so your info and pictures of Cinnamon Bay were so helpful and wonderful! I can't wait to see it in person. I think we are going to opt for independence, and taxi ourselves to the Redhook Ferry and go on our own time schedule. I definitely plan to go for the less crowded beaches, and Cinnamon is now at the top of my list.

 

Again, thank you for a beautiful pictorial review! I have fond memories of Solstice and am sooooooo looking forward to getting back on an S class ship after a lovely, but not quite as outstanding, M class experience. Your review just served to remind me of everything I love about the gorgeous S class ships, and to get me all excited about Reflection! Yay!