Solstice Aug 15 - Aug 27 Fantastico

[MWL58]

Itinerary Barcelona, Roma, Napoli, Kotor (Montenegro), Venezia, Dbrovnik, Malta:

 

Stayed Tues night Aug 14 at the Eurostar Cristal Palace

 

• great location easy walking distance to Passeig de Gracia and Las Ramblas
  
• definitely recommend this hotel, clean, and confortable.
  
• don't expect Las Vegas amenities but there is so much around
  

 

Taxi from Eurostar was $18Euros and appreciated that there are small hatch-back taxis that can carry four people with all the luggage for 12 days

 

• Arrived approx 10:45am luggage drop off easy but will appear chaotic just make sure you have tagged your bags with either self-printed or Celebrity provided tags....
  
• embarkation from there simple and short (less than 20 mins)
  
• after getting your cards you have a chance to purchase (cash only) bottle water, sodas, even wine in a few "duty=free" like stores that located just before getting on the ship
  
• we had no issue with 12 2 lkiter water bottles, a red and a wite wine plus 6 diet cokes ... Celebrity let us take it on and clearly understand it was for in room use
  
• $6 euros for for a 6pack of 2 liter water bottles..... that fit in the room fridges just take out Celebrities alcohol, $4 US Evian water etc...
  
• fridges are work better than on Princess or Royal C.
  

 

Wonderful clear weather but perhaps a bit on the hot side. about 90 degrees F

 

• first priority was bucket of beer 5 for price of 4 $20 USD
  
• skipped all the drink packages as they range from $10 - $70 USD per day and we cannot drink enough to make it worth it.
  
• considered the $40 per day that included all soda, fruit juices, premium coffees, espressos, premium bottled water etc.... same decision $480 that would need 100 espresso over 12 days at $4.5 USD to even come close ...that is way too much caffeine
  
• lemonade, orange, ice tea, orange/mango/guava juice from concentrate is always available for $0.00 at Oceanside Cafe, deck 15 Burger Grill and the Solarium cafeteria basically 24hr/day
  

Rome

 

• long hot day and we did benefit from being there at a high vacation period therefore less traffic and less locals. Still a lot of tourist
  
• you cannot see everything so pick you tours carefully
  
• WATCH OUT FOR THE TEAMS Of Pick-pocket specialist at Trevi Fountain etc. and high traffic area..... they blend in well but always focus at peoples mid section and waist lines... they also are weary of the foot patrol offices....you are vunerable when taking pictures, making your way through congestion .... know their diversion techniques which are discussed all over the internet
  
• PLease do not interpret that petty crime is a problem it is no different than any other major tourist or big city spot in the world just that we are "ripe for the picking" when your are going about your day being a tourist...
  
• Rome felt familiar since it is so well published
  

Napels( Napoli)

 

• Capri is a great spot and can be accessed without a tour by exiting the terminal going less than 200 yds to the ferry terminal and taking the 45 minute ferry to the island
  
• take the cable car to the top of the hill in Capri ...walk around and enjoy
  
• a lot of food options and photo opportunities. we could have spent the entire day there
  

Serento and Pompei

 

• the day was sunny and HOT...Pompei is neat but I guess out experience could have been better had it not felt like we were pizza ingredients being fast baked in a 500degree pizza oven all day
  
• recommend taking the umbrellas (in the room provided by Celebrity) if the day is forecast to be hot and sunny...we we told to and it helped tremendously
  
• could have been worse we could have been citizens that fateful day when Mt Vesuvius errupted so nothing really to complain about...
  
• best part buying the frozen lemon drinks after existing....it was 104 deg F that afternoon
  

Kotor Montenegro (5min tender to port)

 

 

• beautiful sail into the bay (1.5 hr ride) get up at dawn and enjoy the view
  
• go into the old city as early as possible and climb the stairs before the sun gets hot (only matters if you are at this stop in mid summer)
  
• great port to see
  

Venice docked

 

 

• found the 2 day Celebrity shuttle $34USD works that takes you from the cruise port to St Marks Square (20minute boat ride)
  
• tour was on our own walking the city
  
• cool place to see once in your life...found the streets east and slightly north of St Mark's square cool... a lot of familiar stores (high end too) many options for shopping eating and drinking and prices typical
  
• did NOT do the gondola since did not want to feel restricted viewing the back walls of all the buildings smelling water that is similar to decomposing road kill placed into a 50 gallon barrel in your living room while your house is locked up in summer for the past 76 days. It was nevertheless cool to see the gondolas....(appartently $85 Euros for 45 minutes)
  
• Our preference is to go where ever we wanted..
  
• Rialto Bridde and surrounding area is the most familiar sites of Venice
  
• great opportunities both sailing into and leaving Venice since the ship gives you a unique perspective
  

Dubrovnik

 

• again great spot with a lot of options
  
• used the Celebrity $12USD per person shuttle into the main old city area (aboutr 2.5 miles from docking port)
  
• walked just south about 1/2 mile to Banje beach
  
• nice water but do not expect sand all beaches on the Adriatic have smooth small stones
  

Malta

liked this spot and found the best self directed way to see the island was to pay $10 Euros each to use the hop on hop off sight seeing double deckers

it is a neat contrast between old historic and modern conveniences

shopping, food, drink are all readily available

 

 

 

 

With the exception of Rome all stops did not have any thing that would raise concerns over your safety. In fact friendly welcoming people

 

 

Summary

 

• Celebrity Solstice, crew and itinerary was amazing
  
• food wonderful, Tuscan Grill worth it and don't eat all day so you can inhale the offerings...
  
• $3/ 2 scoop cone or bowl at Cafe Bacio is good. Option to take the free stuff at the Oceanside Cafe from 11am to 9:00PM
  
• loved the genuine charm and character of Europe in general. The Adriatic stops and Malta are great
  
• rank order as best stops
  

 

1. Kotor Montenegro
   
2. Capri, Italy
   
3. Malta
   

Liked the balance of 4 sea days mixed in with 7 port days

 

 

had only 2 formal nights

if using Open seating for dinner make reservations each evening for the next evening

 

 

Cheers

MWL

[dkjretired]

Thank you for taking the time to write a review...

[helpthejuggler]

Great information.

 

You say only 2 formals. We had 3 last year on a 12 nt Solstice cruise which I thought was normal.

 

Expecting 3 on our 13 nt Silhouette from Tuesday.

[Orator]

Thank you for your review. Was on the cruise before and it was also very hot. Only 2 formal nights as well since it was so port intensive. Did they have Captain's Tables on your cruise? No on mine. Many staff were changing and I hope there was better ineraction with Senior Staff on your cruise. They only did what was in the program for mine.

[MWL58]

We came prepared expecting 3 formal nights. Surprised but did really mind having only 2. Agree with "Orator" that the port schedule may have been the reason that 2 not 3 formals were offered. Interestingly Celebrity offered promotions for the specialty dining options that coincided with the port stops - Mon -Wed was Kotor, Venice x 2 so the promos offered 3 restaurants for $67 instead of $90 plus discounted wine approx $33% ... You were allowed the same specialty to maximize the offer.

 

For the Sr officer participation, outside of the last formal night (lobster dinner) where they did the full presentation of the Galley staff, Head Chef, there was limited interaction. It was still OK

 

Upon reflection the flexible dining choice we made ended up working well as we we always placed at nice tables. (window locations when early for example) I did feel bad for the waiters etc as on our other cruises you do notice they make every attempt to keep you with the same crew of waiters, assistants etc to promote extra tips

 

Cheers!

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[CruisinNole]

OP - thank you for your review. On Malta, which of the HO/HO bus routes did you take? I see that there are 3 -- North/blue, South/red and Gozo/green. And how did you get to the bus terminal? Is it fairly close to the port? Thanks.

 

Dotty

[tercar]

OP - thank you for your review. On Malta, which of the HO/HO bus routes did you take? I see that there are 3 -- North/blue, South/red and Gozo/green. And how did you get to the bus terminal? Is it fairly close to the port? Thanks.

 

Dotty

Hi cant remember which bus we took however, bought from the first seller 15 euro walk further along and it only 10 euro, free for small choildren and half price up to 14 years I think it was, one tip if you want to get off the bus make sure you get off the ship early.

I was on the same cruise and I found it to be very noisey compared to other cruises on the solstice I have been on. there were lots and lots of children onboard. I think an officer told me more than 600.

[MWL58]

Hi CRUISINNOLE,

 

For Malta we did the short 2 hr blue route. You may board right outside the port Gates and make sure you pay $10 Euros not the $15 per person. We found that they "floated" the $15Euros for those who did not look at the prices being offered. The view from the upper deck is great but it will be hot through Sept so consider a hat a must. The longer route that takes you to the blue grottos would be relatively easy but we just wanted to walk around after and back to the ship to enjoy when most passengers were off..We found most of the bus hopped off at Mdina which has most of the historic sites outside of Valletta...

 

There are also glass factory stops just past Mdina.... I would recommend jumping off at the main area of St Jullien if you are into shopping.....

 

Regards

MWL:)

[CruisinNole]

MWL58 - thanks so much for the good information.

 

Dotty

[mike-c52]

my wife and i happened to be on this same cruise. i have to agree with everything you said in your review. we had nothing short of a wonderful time. our room stewad and waitstaff were great. as i'm sure you realized there were a large number of children on this cruise. we were told by one of the staff that there were over 550 on a ship with 2800 total passengers. for the most part they were well behaved. i was impressed that on the first days onboard the pool butlers in th solarium were actually removing those under 18 from the area. this made for a great, quiet place to relax, read, and take a dip in the pool. if i had 1 complaint about the trip it was the tendering process in montenegro. we got our number at deck 3 as required. it took over 1 hour before we were called. i have never waited this long for a tender on any cruise i have ever been on. not sure what the answer is to fix this, i would assume they should use more tenders. my personal order for ports....

1-montenegro

2-dubrovnik

3-malta

4-capri

[TLCOhio]

Appreciate your posting and details. Did many of same great ports and areas last summer on the Solstice. Have Malta on the future "to-do" listing. Glad things went well.

 

As you noted: "you cannot see everything so pick you tours carefully", this is an important warning on the need for advance planning, research and thought. Can't do it "ALL" in some of these great ports.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, 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 101,173 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