Solstice LIVE (3/18) Suite Review w/ Kid: Mexican Riviera w/ Mini Me

SleepyBunny · March 18, 2023

So excited to follow along. Bringing my Little Bunny (almost 9) to Alaska next month together with Grandparents (Princess Sapphire).

Got to sail on the Silhouette in January and it was my first trip. Really changed my mind about cruising and am hoping my upcoming trip is as special as that first one.

Have a great embarkation day!

GenerationX · March 18, 2023

Good morning and happy embarkation day!

My dear CC friends, this morning was a very special moment for me as a mom and cruise/travel addict.

This morning I gave Gen Z the surprise I ordered and had hidden in my closet ever since the day when, a couple of days after we got back from her first cruise, she looked at me and said “mama it just hurts my heart that we aren’t on the X ship anymore.”

Today I began preparations for the inevitable day when I shall pass the torch to the next generation of cruise loving women world explorers, by presenting Gen Z with her official embarkation day uniform!

In less thrilling news, last night we had plans to head out for a nice dinner, but when we got back to the room from the pool and Gen Z finally sat down on the couch in our room, her extremely long day and the 2 hour time difference caught up with her. Hard. She curled herself into a little ball under a blanket and begged not to have to move for “at least several hours”.

I knew better than to try and drag an exhausted child through a formal dinner (parenting pro tip: NO ONE will end up enjoying themselves if you do this, not the kid, not you and not your fellow diners and waitstaff) and it was important to me that she be well rested for our big first day onboard today, so I canceled our reservation and just ordered some doordash Chinese food. Poor thing was snoring and down for the night within minutes of finishing her fortune cookie.

Normally I don’t have a full breakfast on embarkation day, to save room for Luminae lunch but Gen Z is in a growth spurt and requires full sustenance every 2-3 hours right now (may Poseidon be with the culinary staff on Solstice as they take this burden from my shoulders this week). I was determined to get us at least a little glimpse of the area food scene so we we’ve just finished a very cool Mexican weekend brunch at Solita, a taco bar I found on Yelp that’s about 3 blocks from the hotel.

First of all, any restaurant that serves me fresh made tortilla chips and salsa at 9am is gonna win me over from the jump off. They also have a “rainbow mimosa bar” where you can combine your champagne with any of several fresh made juices (including some more exotic options like guava). I went with mango and if I wasn’t going to be spending the rest of the day surrounded by people offering me drinks, I would’ve had 3.

Gen Z had the berry bread pudding and I took our Mexico-native server’s recommendation to have the Machaca and eggs. Both of us were sad that we didn’t have the stomach capacity to clean our plates. Now I have to go on the hunt for a Mexican brunch in STL.

We’re off to the hotel to check out and meet our driver. Next report from onboard Solstice!

m

DUTRAVEL · March 18, 2023

Love the matching dresses!

mchell810 · March 18, 2023

Love Love Love the matching map dresses!

soozles · March 18, 2023

Loving this… we’re taking our kids on celebrity this summer. They have some sensory issues, and can’t tolerate the loud music, costumed characters, lots of people running around… we took them on carnival and they would hide under the table when the waiters would do their show.

weacat · March 18, 2023

Excited to read your adventures! We have taken our 9 yr old DD on many cruises and she will be on her third Celebrity cruise this summer. She would be overwhelmed on a Disney or a huge ship and much prefers the calmness of Celebrity. Enjoy your travels and time with your daughter.

hcat · March 18, 2023

The best ever Mommy and Me Outfits...

Keep making great memories!

zitsky · March 18, 2023

58 minutes ago, soozles said:

Loving this… we’re taking our kids on celebrity this summer. They have some sensory issues, and can’t tolerate the loud music, costumed characters, lots of people running around… we took them on carnival and they would hide under the table when the waiters would do their show.

What show is that?

GenerationX · March 18, 2023

Good afternoon from Solstice! I’m sipping a glass of bubbly on the veranda while Mini Me unpacks her carry on bag, a report on embarkation.

Our ride from the hotel to the port took about 20 minutes. We left the hotel at 10:30 and were having our bags unloaded at pier 93 a little before 11. By 11:15 we were well on our way exploring the ship!

A few notes for suite cruisers. There ARE Retreat priority entrances, security lines and a Retreat embarkation lounge, you just have to be a little vocal about it. Every single port employee we encountered was in automode and when I started veering Gen Z and I towards the Retreat signage would try to direct us to general boarding areas until I was very vocal that we were Retreat class. Don’t be afraid to be politely assertive.

When people would say to us “Oh no, ma’am, this way please!” I’d respond with “Is that where we go for Retreat suites?” and then would get the “Oh, no, go right ahead that way.”

When we were getting our xpress passes scanned at the Retreat area there was a couple next to us who were in a royal suite (who thus should have had the full VIP greeting and escort up from the front door) and the woman checking them in was so apologetic and confused saying “someone should have met you downstairs and you should be with the Retreat host already”. My guess is the people at the entrance directed them away from the Retreat entrance (where we met someone who was checking names from a list of upper suites for just that purpose) to the general boarding line and they didn’t push back.

When we got through security there was a Retreat lounge area (which again someone tried to direct us away from). We only stopped in briefly as general boarding had already begun and when we walked in we were greeted almost immediately by the Retreat manager Anastasiia who remembered us from Gen Z’s first cruise on Millennium and escorted us past the line and directly onto the ship.

I’d completely forgotten what non-revolutionized S-class ships look like. Compared to her E-class and rev’ed up sisters, Solstice is starting to look slightly dated (the OG Michael’s Club feels a little like being on vacay at my ex-inlaws’ country club). But she’s squeaky clean and impeccably well kept.

Gen Z was blown away by how much bigger she is than Millennium. I forgot to have her put bike shorts under her dress and had to rush to stop her from doing cartwheels and round offs on the lawn club. I also completely forgot how much nicer the old cabanas were than the revolutionized egg jails. Maybe I should’ve booked on for us for a sea day after all.

Thanks to spring break there are many more kids on this cruise than Gen Z’s last one (where I think there were 4 total), including in the Retreat.

In fact, the reason Gen Z has taken so long to unpack a carryon sized bag is that in the time it’s taken me to write this post I’ve had to get up and answer the stateroom phone twice. Both times it was 9-10 year old girls that Gen Z met in the Retreat lounge (and held court near the grand piano with over virgin strawberry daiquiris) calling to speak to her about her plans for sail away and kids club later and also their favorite Pokémon and LOL Surprise dolls. I told her from now on SHE can answer the phone when it rings. Now I know how my mom felt during my teen years. 🤦🏾‍♀️

I’ll likely go MIA to have some fun with mini me till later this evening after our first night dinner in Murano (when according to what I overheard from the veranda, the fruit of my womb plans to ditch me for a girls’ foosball meet up at Camp @ Sea).

When I’m back, a report on our Celebrity Suite and first few hours onboard.

Cheers from the very happy Gens on Solstice!

soozles · March 18, 2023

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

What show is that?

On carnival, the waiters would get up and sing and dance during dinner.

Cruising89143 · March 18, 2023

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

What show is that?

I haven’t stepped foot on a Carnival ship in 18 years but this is what it was like. Found this video on YouTube. Annoying when trying to enjoy dinner.

MarEll1 · March 19, 2023

Charla, I’m so excited for you. We were on the Solstice 3 weeks ago in a CS too. We had the same experience on embarkation with port employees directing us away from the retreat entrance and lounge. I’m very interested in your thoughts about an unrevolutionized ship. Your weather is so much better than ours was - I’m jealous. We had that beautiful balcony but really could not enjoy it which we really missed. I second your thoughts on Michael’s Club but we grew to enjoy the intimacy and met some great people there. Our cabin attendant, butler and waiter were fantastic. I hope yours are as well!

Reel Love · March 19, 2023

Oh my gosh....absolutely love that pic of Gen Z running on the lawn!!! So carefree 😊

Stem to Stern · March 19, 2023

So it seems to be shaping up early on that Mini Me won’t be relying on Mommy to keep her entertained every waking hour.
🎀😂😂😂🎀

LaCal · March 19, 2023

Read the ship was delayed a few hours from leaving

Did they ever give you a reason why?

GenerationX · March 19, 2023

7 hours ago, LaCal said:

Read the ship was delayed a few hours from leaving

Did they ever give you a reason why?

I never heard an official announcement but the rumor onboard is that there was some mechanical issue that required a diver to be brought in to do an inspection under the ship and confirm was resolved.

If that’s true, that diver has some serious huevos rancheros. You couldn’t pay me enough to convince me to dive around/under the hull of this massive ship. It sounds like a submechanaphobia fever dream.

LouChamp · March 19, 2023

2 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

I never heard an official announcement but the rumor onboard is that there was some mechanical issue that required a diver to be brought in to do an inspection under the ship and confirm was resolved.

If that’s true, that diver has some serious huevos rancheros. You couldn’t pay me enough to convince me to dive around/under the hull of this massive ship. It sounds like a submechanaphobia fever dream.

Aloha. I would not want to be around those propellers in case someone accidentally presses the start button!

Stem to Stern · March 19, 2023

13 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

some mechanical issue that required a diver to be brought in to do an inspection under the ship

Captain dropped the keys overboard?

🤣🤣🤣

tcmagnum · March 19, 2023

19 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Solstice!

This right here!!!!!
Very nice!!!
Have a great cruise!!!

Mrs_Tiki · March 19, 2023

27 minutes ago, tcmagnum said:

This right here!!!!!
Very nice!!!
Have a great cruise!!!

YES! Love the matching map dresses! Gen Z is a doll!

Amado and Judy · March 19, 2023

Hi. Love the photos. We are on the ship next Sat.(3/25). Do you know if the ship had a night where you go up to the pool deck and everyone dresses up in white to party with the DJ? Trying to decide if I should bring white clothes this trip.

dianedebuda · March 19, 2023

On 3/15/2023 at 8:22 PM, dianedebuda said:

So does she have a map dress yet?

Guess the question is fully answered now. 😁

chemmo · March 19, 2023

I am making my toast to you both now “Make every second count…”.

GenerationX · March 19, 2023

Good morning from Catalina Island!

Gen Z and I spent breakfast this morning watching some sea lions play in the wake of the tenders going back and forth from the ship. Only our server Budi placing a mountain of French toast with whipped cream in front of her could pull her nose out of the window.

Our excursion today isn’t till the afternoon so I was hoping we could start working our vacation puzzle after breakfast, but Gen Z only had eyes for the kids club. So alas here I sit in Al Bacio having some green tea and trying to finish my Agatha Christie novel that is now on its third cruise. Pretty soon they’re going to give this copy of Death on the Nile a captain’s club number.

Before I get too deep into Egypt though, a report on the rest of our day yesterday.

When we got onboard we headed to our stateroom to drop off our carry on bags and grab our seapass cards then went to check in at our muster station. Tip for the parents following: make sure that they have muster station wristbands for your little ones either in your stateroom or at the muster station when you check in. I had to go proactively ask for one for Gen Z. These wristbands are worn at all times and tell the crew where to take your child in the event your child isn’t with you when (heaven forbid) the abandon ship signal sounds or the captain orders passengers to muster stations. A little scary that it was missed given how many children and inexperienced cruisers we have onboard.

The guest count I’ve heard for our cruise is 2200-2300, a drastic jump according to the crew from sailings just a few weeks ago. Spring break’s doing I presume. The kids club staff said they think we have about 150 children onboard.

Speaking of kids club, sharing some info below on hours and after hours childcare rates. If you’re sailing with kids under 3, they can’t be dropped off, but the club does have an area with lots of toys for them where you can bring them to play during certain hours.

For my fellow special needs and allergy parents following, I spoke with the youth program manager and she assured me that in addition to thorough background checks and a requirement of prior nanny/childcare experience, all kids club staff receive extensive training in working with children on the autism spectrum and/or with sensory conditions. They also have training from the medical staff on how to administer Epipens.

One of the things I’ve become hyper aware of due to my solo travels is security cameras. When on a new class of ship or resort, I make a point of walking around to see where cameras are located so that I can plot my path around accordingly. One thing I like about Celebrity is that there are security cameras pretty much EVERYWHERE except the public bathrooms and inside the cabins. The kids club entrances and exits as well as the club interior are also well covered.

After a stop by the club open house to fill out registration paperwork we headed to our first lunch at Luminae. Gen Z tried the Luminae burger for the first time and now she’s nagging me to make our burgers from ground filet mignon at home (guess it’s time to educate her on beef prices and how grocery budgets work). I had the always yummy pea soup and Cobb salad. I was a little sad that the salad came with regular bacon and not the big thick lardons I’ve gotten in the past, but it was still very good.

We had an earlier dinner planned at Murano so we decided to skip dessert.

Speaking of Murano, I’m going to knock out a chapter with Monsieur Poirot then a report on dinner and our first evening onboard.