Alaska Solstice May 2016 Family/Children Review

[nolawyerjokes]

I wanted to share a review on our recent cruise to Alaska on the Celebrity Solstice. May 27th sailing out of Seattle. We are Mom (me), Dad and three girls ages 12, 15 and 17. First, let me say that we are Disney cruisers. This is our first "adult" family cruise and according to the girls, we will only be going on the Solstice for the rest of our lives. Doesn't even matter where the Solstice sails, we will be on it. 😂 This is totally MY/OUR experience!!

 

We sailed from Seattle and did the Tracy Arm Fjord. Honestly, I called our travel agent after we returned from a fall break Disney cruise in Oct and asked her to hook us up for Alaska. We are concierge travelers on Disney because the one bedroom suites work fantastic for us. Concierge on Disney is totally different than Concierge on Celebrity and it is totally fine. They are just different experiences. A one bedroom Concierge cruise to Alaska on the Disney Wonder was $20,000. I knew we would want to do lots of excursions, so hence the call to the travel agent for alternatives. Our agent came back with several choices, but gave the Solstice rave reviews for what I wanted (US Port, Tracy Arm, big ship...) and she did not disappoint. Definitely our best cruise ever! She hooked us up during a "best" promotion and we all had premium drink packages, Internet, prepaid gratuities, $800 onboard credit, select dining and two fabulous aft rooms (1202 and 1204). We did not have a choice of aft rooms as we took what was available and adjoining. We wanted aft since the view on an Alaskan cruise was such an amazing part! She nailed it!

 

These were the highlights:

1. X CLUB. Has to be first because we literally never saw our kids! Other than port days, they were in the X Club. They loved, loved, loved the counselors. They also said that the X Club was better than the Disney teen club. Still reeling from that one. Wow!

2. Shows were great. Everyone had their favorite. We never went as a family because the girls always went with the teen club peeps. Shocker, I know. I love The Three Tenors, my husband loved the comedian and my girls adored the show, Amade--beautiful performance!

3. Naturalist Brent Nixon. Passion, passion, passion. At least check out his first presentation which is an overview of Alaska, then go from there. He's awesome.

4. Dining. Main dining room was ok. Our first 3 experiences with the MDR, the food was mediocre at best. The last 3 were quite good. Go figure. We really do not like a 2 hour dinner unless there is a flow. Waiting, waiting, waiting...no flow. Just our personal experience. We did not do any specialty dining, not sure why, but we didn't. I believe it was for the off chance that one of our girls might join us! 😂 The coffee place was fab as were the desserts. Up charge for the coffees, but all desserts are complimentary. The girls enjoyed the gelato--up charge. Bistro on 5 was just ok. We ate there 3 times during sea days when everything else was packed. Seriously, only reason. Actually was the worst service we experienced. Some items stood out but nothing special.

5. Cabin set up was absolutely perfect for us! Beds are seriously comfortable!!

6. Bars were always packed. Molecular bar was the only one never packed, but you had to order from their menu which was fine for me but not the husband. But, sometimes it's all about me. If momma ain't happy... 😉

7. Ship is beautiful. Lots of shopping. Was surprised to see cosmetic brands like Chanel on board. You could seriously walk on the ship empty handed and get everything you need. At least I could. Spent a fair amount of time in the casino. Ralph is a great casino host!!! Ship was lovely and easy to navigate.

8. Hands down, best excursions were the Bering Sea Crab Excursion on the Alleutian Ballad crab boat featured on TV's Deadliest Catch. Awesome, awesome, awesome. So much to it!! My 17 year-old who did not want to go on "the stupid crab boat" is still raving about it it. The Capt has permission to go into protected water. The boat stopped and the crew started throwing herring into the water. 100's of Bald Eagles EVERYWHERE! Swooping and diving. Felt like inches from my head. Most amazing thing ever. And the sled dog excursion with Iditarod race, Matt Hayashida. Fantastic! The girls loved interacting with the sled dogs and holding the puppies. Those were the top two for our family.

 

Great trip!!!

[Texasopa]

Thanks for the great review, we went a year ago, and we aregiving hard thought to do it again next May.

[Bo1953]

Thank you for the great review and very very happy that the family had a great time....

 

Welcome home!

 

Until next time, bon voyage

[MustBCruzn]

Your review made me smile--it had so many parallels to my family's experience. DH and I took our children (then 17 and 18) on the Solstice to Alaska in 2013. DH and I had cruised with Celebrity many times, but our family cruises had always been on Carnival and Royal thinking they would appeal more to the children. Well from that very first Solstice cruise both my son and daughter insisted "never again anything but Celebrity!" Hooray--that works for me! In fact, my family and I were on the Solstice to Alaska again from May 20-27, so we were getting off as you were boarding. :D

Edited June 20, 2016 by MustBCruzn

[Charliedog1121]

What great timing for your review...We, as well, are Disney cruisers and have traveled concierge with them. We were shocked by the prices of the Wonder and couldn't wrap our heads around the price for the older ship. We will be traveling in a sky suite so we will be interested to see how Luminae works for us. We will have 2- 10 year olds, a 15 and a 16 yr. old in our party of 3 families. I am hopeful that they will enjoy the club. (Especially our girls). Thanks again for your insight. Sounds like a winner!

[duchesslt]

Thanks for posting that! I was a bit worried my 16 and 14 year old boys would find it to be a "boring" ship. Sounds like I made a perfect choice for our family. I am a year out and already so excited to bring my immediate and extended family to enjoy a once in a lifetime trip :)