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review & trip report: Solstice Australia/New Zealand January/February 2015

AntjeG

By AntjeG,
in Celebrity Cruises

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AntjeG

AntjeG

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This was my first Celebrity cruise. Please excuse any mistakes in my English as I am not a native speaker.

 

As I know that some cruisecritic members would like to have a plain review and others love trip reports with pictures I´ll try to give you both. First the ship review and then the trip Report (in a new post). Those who don´t like trip reports simply stop reading after the ship review.

 

Embarkation:

Sydney Overseas Passenger Terminal

Great location for a cruise terminal. You are right in the middle of everything and there are stunning views from the Sunset Bar upon sail away.

No staggered boarding but it was very quick. Due to heavy rain it was no fun but that is not Celebrity´s fault.

 

Ship in general:

I loved the interior design. Spent much time at the Sky Lounge and the Solarium. There are 2800 passengers but it didn´t feel crowded.

Muster drill was a mess and gave me a feeling of not being really safe on board. This never happened to me on any other cruise. Top of desaster was the fact that I found a letter at my stateroom door after the drill stating that I had not attended the drill and would I please follow the safety instructions from now on. If even for a scheduled drill they don´t know who was there: how will they manage this in a real emergency? I met several other people in line at guest relations who had the same experience so this is no single incident.

 

Stateroom:

Inside on Deck 3 midship. I loved the size and design of the stateroom. Plenty of storage facilities. Both American and European power outlets.

I missed a clothes line in the bathroom and Celebrity does not provide shower gel (only bar soap and shampoo).

The steward, Muhajir, and his assistant did a great job. The room was always clean and tidy, they knew my name (which is difficult to pronounce for English speaking people) from the first day and they would pay attention to those small things that make a cruise special.

 

Food and beverages:

The food in the MDR is great and the service outstanding. The waiters, Anwar and his assistant Leovito, were the best I ever met on any ship. The Maitre, Rafael, would come to our table every evening to ask how we felt about the food and service.

I had the late seating and found myself at a table with other solo cruisers from 4 countries. Our evenings were both fun and full of interesting, serious discussions. Loved those dinner times! We always were among the last to leave.

I had room service breakfast one morning which was great, too. Delivered on time, hot & fresh.

I didn´t go to the speciality restaurants but had lunch at Bistro on 5 once. It is really worth the $ 7 cover charge.

I really enjoyed the alternative breakfast at the Aqua spa café. Breakfast buffet at the Ocean View Café is nice, too.

Loved my pre-dinner Sushi at the Ocean View Café in the evening.

For beverages, there are free coffee, tea, water, lemonade at the Ocean View Café 24/7 and water is included with dinner, too. I didn´t buy a beverage package and am glad about that. Wouldn´t have been worth it for me. I didn´t find the alcohol-free cocktails to my taste so I mostly stuck with the free lemonade. As I am not a big coffee drinker I didn´t spend much money on the specialty coffees at Café al Bacio, too. If you love your specialty coffee or a nice glass of wine a beverage package might be worth to consider.

 

Entertainment:

I loved all the live music performances. They do have a real live playing orchestra and several bands and duos who perform in different venues during the day and until late in the evening. Many guest artists with a wide variety of program. Most guest artists were from Australia which I liked, too. If you are cruising in that part of the world why not invite their artists on the ship?

I also enjoyed the guest speaker program and went to the theatre to hear them every time they were there.

JC, the cruise director, is quite a character. I really enjoyed the way he made his announcements.

There was lots of comedy and trivia which I didn´t go to because of the language barrier.

Hot Glass Show is a unique event on a cruise ship and was very interesting, too.

I was really impressed when we missed a port (due to wind) how quickly the Celebrity Today was re-arranged and a new copy delivered to the stateroom.

 

Different Venues:

The shops really stressed me sometimes. I would even make my way to the other end of the ship on a different deck to avoid passing by the shops. The crew would stand in the door of the shops quite often and really hard try to talk you into buying something. Lots of „activities“ in the Celebrity Today consisted of special sales announcements for the shops.

Spa prices are ridiculous even with special prices for port days etc. Had a massage which was good but overpriced.

I loved the Solarium with the heated indoor pool. This is an adult only area.

The casino is lost space for me but lots of other people were gambling a lot.

Sky Lounge on Deck 14 forward with ist huge windows is a great venue to spend a stormy, rainy sea day.

The Atrium with the glass elevators is impressive.

 

Itinerary:

Really worth the long flight even though we had bad weather.

Sydney – at sea – Hobart/Tasmania – 3 days at sea (3rd day cruising the Sounds in New Zealand) – Dunedin – Akaroa – Wellington – at sea – Tauranga (spent at sea as we were not able to dock) – Bay of Islands – Auckland

As you can see in the following trip report I spent some weeks pre-cruise in Australia.

 

New Zealand Immigration:

Celebrity did a great job organizing this. New Zealand immigration officers were brought to Hobart and went with us to Dunedin. Immigration process was done during the 3 days at sea. Everybody had a scheduled time. Some line up in spite of that, but not too bad.

 

Tender:

If you need to get an early tender you should be at the ticket desk for a tender ticket at least 1 hour prior to the scheduled time. In Akaroa, tender tickets were announced for 8 am. I was there at 6.45 am (and was not the first to be there!). Had to wait until 8 am but got the first tender. People who showed up at 8 am as scheduled got tender No. 15.

 

Disembarkation:

Fast and easy. My luggage tag number was called 20 minutes prior to the scheduled time so I found myself and my baggage outside the Auckland pier by 7 am.

Auckland cruise terminal is centrally located only a few steps from the Airport shuttle bus stop and the city sightseeing bus stop. The tourist information is a few steps around the corner.

 

This is the end of the review. I rated it 5 overall in the review section on CC. Trip report with pics will follow.

Edited by AntjeG
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AntjeG

AntjeG

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Getting started with the trip report soon. I did a blog while travelling which also has pics. Unfortunately for you the blog is in German. But it has a "translate" button so you may want to switch it to English. I know Google Translator´s English is even worse than mine but you might get an idea. For your convenience I will highlight some activities here on CC in "my" English and give you a link to that part of the blog.

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AntjeG

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I interrupted my flight and stayed in Singapore for one night. Attended the light Show at the Marina Bay and did a City Sightseeing tour.

 

blog: light Show at Marina Bay

http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/lichtshow-der-marina-bay.html

 

blog: City Sightseeing Singapore

http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/ein-ereignisreicher-tag-in-singapur.html

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AntjeG

AntjeG

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next stop: Cairns

Here I went to Green Island to see the Great Barrier Reef.

blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/green-island.html

and I had a full day tour to the rainforest. I went to Kuranda with SkyRail and back to Cairns on Kuranda Scenic Railway.

blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/kuranda.html

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sawyer_boy

sawyer_boy

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Getting started with the trip report soon. I did a blog while travelling which also has pics. Unfortunately for you the blog is in German. But it has a "translate" button so you may want to switch it to English. I know Google Translator´s English is even worse than mine but you might get an idea. For your convenience I will highlight some activities here on CC in "my" English and give you a link to that part of the blog.

 

 

Whete is the link to your blog?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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AntjeG

AntjeG

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I stayed in Adelaide for a few nights. Did a City Sightseeing tour, went to the beach in Glenelg and on a full day tour to Kangaroo Island.

 

blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/adelaide-und-glenelg.html (City and Glenelg)

and http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/kangaroo-island.html (Kangaroo Island)

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AntjeG

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Last pre-cruise stop: Sydney

 

Here I went to see Harbour Bridge, Opera House and the Rocks

blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/sydney-rocks-und-rund-um-die-oper-und.html

did a City Sightseeing tour

blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/sydney.html

went on a full day tour to the Blue Mountains

blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/blue-mountains.html

attended Australia Day

blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/01/australia-day-in-sydney.html

 

This post comes with a big THANK YOU to the CC members who organized the Fireworks Dinner Cruise on Australia Day and to those CC members who shared their table with me that evening!

 

Before embarkation I went on a guided tour at the opera house.

blog: http://www.antjeinaustralienundneuseeland.blogspot.de/2015/02/abschied-von-sydney.html

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AntjeG

AntjeG

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Thanks all for your comments. Yes, it has been a great cruise (would have been even better with better weather, of course) and I have seen a lot of Australia. You guys in Australia and NZ live in unique countries (but I guess you know that :D).

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MicCanberra Holiday Sharing Rare

MicCanberra

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Thanks all for your comments. Yes, it has been a great cruise (would have been even better with better weather, of course) and I have seen a lot of Australia. You guys in Australia and NZ live in unique countries (but I guess you know that :D).

 

Yes, I love it and we also get good weather most of the time, just a shame, you didn't see as much of it as you would have wanted to.:D

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