Back from the Solstice 6/27-7/4

[debk68]

Hi Everyone,

 

Just back from Alaska! The weather was primarily rainy. Except Skagway and Victoria.

 

My DH is 50, myself 46 and my twin daughters who are 17. My DH and I had been to Alaska on Carnival 2 years ago.

 

 

We arrived in Seattle at 10:10. A side note (advice?) about Taxis in Seattle. I had asked the cab driver to stop for wine. He misunderstood and took me to a high end wine shop. I just wanted cheap wine to carry on board. If you want to do this make sure you know where you are going. I think we spent an extra $15 in taxi fees. Also, upon disembarkation they guy coordinating who gets into what taxi, put the 4 of us in a van. There is a $10 fee for riding in a van over a car. Had I known that I would have crammed us all in a prius!

 

 

We arrived at the port around 11:30. Just beating the crowds and walked onto the ship. We had to reserve 1 adult with each daughter in a stateroom. We walked right up to customer service and obtained extra keys for the rooms. My DH and I booked a concierge balcony and our daughters were in an inside stateroom.

 

 

Is concierge worth it? I have not sailed Celebrity before, but having been on RCI, NCL and Carnival, I don’t think it is worth any additional expense. Yes, we received afternoon canapés (usually a hummus, chips and olives) and use of an umbrella and binoculars (which we lost), and robes, our daughters had these same items available to them in their inside room, with the exception of the canapés.

 

 

 

On the day we did Tracy Arm, we all crowded on our balcony, ordered room service for breakfast and watched the fjord go by. This was great as we arrived in the Fjord at 6 am. We did not realize that the narration would not be broadcast to the outside decks the whole time. Thank goodness the ship had to turn around, or we would have missed the glacier!

 

The first sea day was incredibly rocky until about 7 pm. But after that it was smooth sailing!

 

We did not purchase any excursions, because we were unsure of the weather.

 

Ketchikan, we walked around to the Totem museum and the boardwalk into the shops. Juneau, we took the Blue bus to Mendenhal and watched the movie and walked to the waterfall AMAZING! We walked from where we docked to town. The signs said it was a mile. We also splurged and ate at Tracy’s Crab Shack. Really awesome crab legs and cold Alaskan Amber. Worth every penny. Skagway we toured the National Park Service Historic sites. Walked the town, had to visit the airport. Just past the airport over a bridge, there is a hiking trail. From here you can see the helicopters land 4 at a time from their visit on the glacier. This day and Victoria had amazing weather. Victoria- There is a shuttle, but we walked, they have a nicely marked path to town. We walked to the Craigdorrach castle, only to be told it wasn’t open. We walked around town. And the highlight was we saw a harbor seal in the port.

 

Cruise Director Patti is great. Very visible and talented. Brent Nixon’s shows are not only informative, but he is very entertaining. Even my daughters enjoyed him. Try to go to all of his shows. The Cirque type show was amazing. Mike Price (Juggler) and Jason (magician) were good.

 

 

Teen program- better than I had expected. On our cruise there were 250 kids on board, 20 of the senior teens. They had programs and activities that my daughters enjoyed. They made them climb the stairs during every scavenger hunt! They hung out with the same 2-3 kids for the duration of the cruise.

 

 

Food, we ate in the MDR or the buffet. The beef dishes in the MDR were excellent. As well as the French onion soup. Most of the appetizers were delicious. We tried fish and chicken different times and it was always dry and overcooked. The buffet was a good variety and the food was hot. They do offer juices during the day, not just ice tea and Lemonade. The Mast burgers were very good and the French fries were always hot! From my experience, the quality of most food on cruise ships is similar. It is good enough, provides interesting choices, but there is really no way to deliver 5 star quality when you are serving 15000 meals per day.

 

 

The vibe of the solstice. We had a very busy cruise, yet felt relaxed. There wasn’t loud music blaring every time you turned around. It was definitely a more mature crowd. From my observations it was mostly people between 35-60 and their families. I didn’t run into many people between 18-30. Very clean!

 

 

 

For formal night. My DH didn’t bring a suit jacket. He was never asked to get one, though he was definitely in the minority in a shirt and tie.

 

Our room was 9283 next to the staging station for the room stewards on our deck. Lots of door slamming.

 

 

I am sure I have missed something. This was one of the best cruises we have done. Let me know if you have any questions.

Edited July 6, 2014 by debk68

[JanineM]

Thank you for the review! We're on this cruise at the end of August. I appreciate your tips ... We were planning to just hang out on output balcony as we go past the glaciers, so now we'll make other plans.

 

What was the temperature range?

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[wpgcycler]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise - thanks!

[Andy]

Hi Debk68,

 

Thanks very much for your trip report. I'm glad that you and your family had a very nice time on Solstice. Welcome Home !

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise and I enjoyed reading your report.

 

Keith

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[SFO-F/A]

Thanks for your review of the Solstice. We will be on her in New Zealand.

 

We are in room 9283! How bad is the noise from the slamming of the staff door?:eek:

Is it bad enough to wake you in the morning?

Edited July 7, 2014 by SFO-F/A

[jacketwatch]

Glad you had a good time!!

[NLH Arizona]

Glad you had a great trip. I'm currently in your beautiful state on a road trip.

[floralscent]

Thanks for your review of the Solstice. We will be on her in New Zealand.

 

We are in room 9283! How bad is the noise from the slamming of the staff door?:eek:

Is it bad enough to wake you in the morning?

 

We had 9283 at the end of May on the Solstice and didn't hear the slamming of doors from the staff area at all. The only slamming we heard was from our very annoying neighbors :eek: that were constantly in and out of their cabin and slamming the door. :mad: I know you have to tug a bit on your door to get it to shut but come on...

 

9283 was a great cabin and the room stewards were exceptional! Enjoy your cruise!!!

Edited July 7, 2014 by floralscent

[debk68]

I agree our room steward was awesome! His name was Anaclet and he did everything we asked and folded my dh clothes when he left them on the couch.

As for the noise, at first we thought it was the neighbor,it started when they were distributing the luggage during embarkation. And it was very consistent every morning. And we hardly ever heard the neighbors. Yes it did wake us up. Usually around 7 am.

 

DLHArizona I don't know how you put up with this heat! 102 yesterday was toasty!

[TLCOhio]

The vibe of the solstice. We had a very busy cruise, yet felt relaxed. There wasn’t loud music blaring every time you turned around. It was definitely a more mature crowd. From my observations it was mostly people between 35-60 and their families. I didn’t run into many people between 18-30. Very clean!

 

Appreciate your excellent summary and details. As noted in the live/blog below, we got off of the Solstice in February. Glad that the "vibe" on "our" Solstice went well and continues. Alaska is on our future "to do" list. Now in Colorado, enjoying a "Rocky Mountain High", but without any of that Mary Jane stuff.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from doing a 14-day Celebrity Solstice, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure on this ship and getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for much more information and lots of wonderful pictures on these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 64,687 views for this fun posting.

[want2seealaska]

Thank you for your review. I so enjoy reading these as I look forward to our trip in late August. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip.

[billet]

Thank you for the informative review! I think you will find you cannot squeeze 4 in a taxi in Seattle, the maximum capacity for a passenger vehicle taxi is 3, after that you must be in a van.