Every Day was "A Beautiful Day" onboard the Solstice 12/7 - 12/14

[BACON227]

My wife and I just returned from this sailing of the Solstice. We are in our mid thirties and as you can see from my signature we have sailed with several different cruise lines. We have always wanted to sail with Celebrity and decided this was the perfect oppurtunity. From the moment we started hearing about the Solstice, we wanted to sail on her. Here are my thoughts on this cruise and ship.

 

Embarkation: Embarkation was quick and easy. There are numerous check in lines and also several different stations for the traditional welcome aboard photo as well as the security photo which is linked to your seapass card. I believe that this was the main reason for the extremely quick embarkation process. I think this is worth mentioning though..........traffic getting into the actual terminal was pretty bad. There was nobody directing traffic and several lanes coming from different directions were all trying to enter the terminal at the same time. This is not Celebrity's issue, but just a heads up for anybody that arrives at the peak arrival time.

 

Ship: The ship is amazing. Everywhere you look you are amazed at how different this ship is from any other ship I have sailed on. One of my favorite features on the ship was the design of the three centrums. There was the main centrum which contained several bars, the restaurant court aft which held all of the specialty restaurants all in one place and the entertainment court forward which contained all of the entertainment venues on the ship(Theater, Disco, Comedy Club). This was an excellent design idea which kept you from having to run from one end of the ship to the other to catch all of the activities.

 

Stateroom: We sailed in cabin 8323, a catagory 2a on deck 8. It was beautiful and very spacious. This cabin definitely had the biggest bathroom we have had in a standard balcony cabin. The shower was large and the wife loved the bar installed for leg shaving. I loved the fact that I wasn't constantly banging into the walls of the shower making it sound like there was a wrestling match going on inside. Our stateroom stewards were Dennis and Augusto......they were outstanding and very funny. We had a great time talking and joking with them every day. We bought them a box of guava pastries while in San Juan and gave it to them.........I think that made their week......they couldn't stop talking about how delicious they were. This is one thing we always love to do while cruising........take the time to get to know these incredibly hard working people on board these ships, they have very interesting stories to tell and you may make a new friend for life.

 

Dining: We had second seating in the GE dining room at table 209. Our waitor and assistant waitor was Raul and Marvin.......they are fantastic and highly recomended. They made excellent recomendations throughout the week and were also very up front in telling us what not to order........which really impressed me. The service and food was fabulous, everything that my wife and I ordered was cooked to perfection, tasty and served in a very timely fashion. After finishing dinner the first night, we struck up a conversation with Marvin and Raul........after that it was liking being with friends at dinner for the next six nights. We also ate in the Silk Harvest and Bistro on Five. We found both venues to have excellent service and food......well worth the cover charge. Probably our favorite place to eat on the ship is on the aft open terrace of the Oceanview Cafe. Breakfast here every morning was just to die for between the food and the atmosphere. The waffles...........WOW......they definitely lived up to the hype. I had them every morning. Another great thing about breakfast in the Oceanview is that all of the food is hot off the grill. The pancakes are cooked right in front of you instead of sitting under a heat lamp for God knows how long. Don't wait until the end of the cruise to have breakfast al fresco on the aft terrace..........try it once and you will be back every morning.

 

Entertainment: We loved the entertainment on this ship. It was definitely a nice change of pace from the very active cruises that we are used to. We loved all three production shows and consider them some of the best we have seen on cruises. The comedian is great and definitely don't miss out on hearing Jefferson the guitar player or the acapella group, Oceans Four. The pool area was extremely relaxing on this ship. Yes we love all of the action seen on RCCL's ships, but I must say that this was a nice change of pace..........just total peace and relaxation.

 

Other notes: The Lawn idea is really neat and very nice, but I must agree with the many others that have said it...........I don't think it will last long. There were several areas that were worn all the way to the dirt. I felt that the ship was very steady. The first night out the seas were a little rough and I thought the ship handled it very well. I never heard any of the constant creeks and moans of the ship that others have mentioned. Our cabin configuration had the bed next to the balcony. I don't feel that the closets are small as others have mentioned, but in this configuration I think that they are just poorly placed which makes them seem small. The couch is so large that it makes access to the entire right side of the closet nearly impossible. Overall we didn't have a problem with this, but I can see why some people have issue with it. Another topic mentioned on these boards was the extreme sewer smell. Yes I did smell it, but very rarely.......not anything that would ruin your cruise.

 

Ports: My wife is from Puerto Rico so we spent a nice day with family there. In St. Maarten we took a cab to Orient Beach. We spent the day at Kon Tiki..........I highly recomend this spot. We have been there several times and the service is great and the staff is extremely friendly. This whole day cost a total of $39.00 without our bar bill. We originally had the Fan Ta Sea Catamaran tour to Nevis booked for St Kitts, but upon boarding we were notified that the excursion would not be making it's planned stop in Nevis. We decided to cancel and just spent the day browsing the shops then hitting the pool.

 

Final thoughts: After this experience, we love Celebrity and will definitely sail with them again. We found that the service and quality of food was definitely a step up from the other lines we have sailed on. I know a lot of people are not happy about the Solstice because of some of the things they are used to receiving from Celebrity are not on this ship, but for us being our first time with Celebrity we don't know any better. All of the employees we encountered seemed very happy and were always smiling and willing to chat. They were also very willing to go out of their way to make sure you were happy.

 

The week before we left for this cruise several posters were saying that they were going to cancel their sailing on this ship............my advice is don't. If you are one of the lucky ones that have this ship booked.........start counting the days until embarkation......you will love every minute of it!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If anybody has any questions, fire away, I will try to answer them.

 

Happy Sailing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Buckeye Geo]

Bacon227: Thank you for your up lifting review. More people should take time out to smell the flowers.

[benbess]

Great review! Many thanks!

[hcat]

Thanks for the upbeat review--

 

we did you purchase the Guava pastries?--they sound very interesting...

[jt1120]

 

The week before we left for this cruise several posters were saying that they were going to cancel their sailing on this ship............my advice is don't. If you are one of the lucky ones that have this ship booked.........start counting the days until embarkation......you will love every minute of it!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Anyone who would cancel their Solstice cruise has got to be nuts. ITA with every part of your review, it was very well written. Great job, Bacon!

[ssCRUISERS]

"take the time to get to know these incredibly hard working people on board these ships, they have very interesting stories to tell and you may make a new friend for life."

 

Thanks for taking the time to write your glowing review. Could not agree more get to know these hard working individuals, they make cruising so enjoyable for us all.

[Host Anne]

Bacon ~ thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience. Please be sure to submit your review to the REVIEWS section of Cruise Critic.

 

Your review just makes me want to be back on the ship! Glad you enjoyed Solstice, her crew and amenities. She is one great ship!

[phoenix_dream]

Anyone who would cancel their Solstice cruise has got to be nuts. ITA with every part of your review, it was very well written. Great job, Bacon!

 

Same for me! Sure, I can find something to nit pick at here or there but to cancel a Solstice cruise?!?!? You don't know what you'd be missing. The ship is BEAUTIFUL beyond description, and for every minor complaint I could dream up, there are two or three minor (often major) improvements I could counter with. Bottom line, one of the most enjoyable cruises I've been on in a long time (and I've cruised 30+ times, 2/3 on Celebrity). I am SOOOO glad I had the chance to sail on her. Would go back in a minute.:)

[cvat]

.

 

Embarkation: Embarkation was quick and easy. There are numerous check in lines and also several different stations for the traditional welcome aboard photo as well as the security photo which is linked to your seapass card. I believe that this was the main reason for the extremely quick embarkation process.

Indeed Nicly managed from Celebrity!

 

Thank you for the review!!!

[RJL58]

Great reveiw, agree 110% with you.....

 

People who want to cancel let me know I will swap places in a heartbeat:D

[BACON227]

Same for me! Sure, I can find something to nit pick at here or there but to cancel a Solstice cruise?!?!? You don't know what you'd be missing. The ship is BEAUTIFUL beyond description, and for every minor complaint I could dream up, there are two or three minor (often major) improvements I could counter with. Bottom line, one of the most enjoyable cruises I've been on in a long time (and I've cruised 30+ times, 2/3 on Celebrity). I am SOOOO glad I had the chance to sail on her. Would go back in a minute.:)

 

 

I have to agree.........this definitely ranks as one of the best cruises we have taken also!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BACON227]

Bacon ~ thanks so much for taking the time to share your experience. Please be sure to submit your review to the REVIEWS section of Cruise Critic.

 

Your review just makes me want to be back on the ship! Glad you enjoyed Solstice, her crew and amenities. She is one great ship!

 

 

Indeed I will...........

[BACON227]

"take the time to get to know these incredibly hard working people on board these ships, they have very interesting stories to tell and you may make a new friend for life."

 

Thanks for taking the time to write your glowing review. Could not agree more get to know these hard working individuals, they make cruising so enjoyable for us all.

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the review........enjoy every minute of your Solstice experience and say hello to the employees I mentioned.....they are great people.

[BACON227]

Anyone who would cancel their Solstice cruise has got to be nuts. ITA with every part of your review, it was very well written. Great job, Bacon!

 

 

Thanks....glad you enjoyed it.......

[BACON227]

Thanks for the upbeat review--

 

we did you purchase the Guava pastries?--they sound very interesting...

 

 

We purchased them at a Bakery called Lemmy's which is pretty far away from the port, but you will have no problem finding them in any bakery while walking in Old San Juan.

[BACON227]

Bacon227: Thank you for your up lifting review. More people should take time out to smell the flowers.

 

 

I agree 100%.........there is nothing that irks me more than seeing somebody giving one of these hard working people a hard time...........life's too short to be angry anytime.....let alone on vacation!!!!!!!

[Texed]

. The waffles...........WOW......they definitely lived up to the hype. !

 

You mean they were hyped? ;)

Nice review.

[BACON227]

I realized that I forgot to mention how beautifully the ship was decorated for the holidays. We were on the Navigator of the Seas last year and the decorations on the Soltice were far superior.

[vickykay]

Great review - there are always so many negative remarks regarding the ships - I sometimes think that some people just love to complain and then ruin their vacation for themselves We were on the Connie this past summer and had a fantastic time, ship was great, staff was great, etc., yet there were many negative comments on the boards before we sailed. Enjoy!

[hcat]

We purchased them at a Bakery called Lemmy's which is pretty far away from the port, but you will have no problem finding them in any bakery while walking in Old San Juan.

 

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me on this..

 

--we'll look for them- our day will be spent in the direction of San Cristobal, so I am hoping we find them!

[oldstuff]

Hello All,

 

I never post here, but having come back from the Solstice on the 12/7 - 12/14 sailing I feel I must speak my peace.

 

I have sailed on HAL three times, and on no other line. I and my partner were really excited about sailing on the Solstice as it is a new ship, as well as trying another line. Well, all I can say is that Celebrity doesn't hold a candle to HAL.

 

I won't whine on and on....just a hint of the cruise....

 

Food was mediocre at best. There was sooooo much noise above our cabin that Celebrity actually gave us some money back...but still didn't make up for being woken up MULTIPLE times each night - and in the wee hours, I might add.

 

The set-up of the the Oceanview buffet is a mess. What a joy it was fighting for a seat, and then trying to find silverware. Not to mention the fact that the food in the evening was just plain lousy. Snacks at night? How about dried out cake without even a hint of frosting....sheet cake mistake. And no condiments for the sandwiches. When I asked for Mayonaise all the cook said to me was "No.", no other words....just NO. How customer friendly was that?

 

Having said all of this, I will say that the ship is quite beautiful to look at, but not so beautiful to sail on.

 

To the Celebrity company - Never Again.

[eroller]

Hello All,

 

I never post here, but having come back from the Solstice on the 12/7 - 12/14 sailing I feel I must speak my peace.

 

I have sailed on HAL three times, and on no other line. I and my partner were really excited about sailing on the Solstice as it is a new ship, as well as trying another line. Well, all I can say is that Celebrity doesn't hold a candle to HAL.

 

I won't whine on and on....just a hint of the cruise....

 

Food was mediocre at best. There was sooooo much noise above our cabin that Celebrity actually gave us some money back...but still didn't make up for being woken up MULTIPLE times each night - and in the wee hours, I might add.

 

The set-up of the the Oceanview buffet is a mess. What a joy it was fighting for a seat, and then trying to find silverware. Not to mention the fact that the food in the evening was just plain lousy. Snacks at night? How about dried out cake without even a hint of frosting....sheet cake mistake. And no condiments for the sandwiches. When I asked for Mayonaise all the cook said to me was "No.", no other words....just NO. How customer friendly was that?

 

Having said all of this, I will say that the ship is quite beautiful to look at, but not so beautiful to sail on.

 

To the Celebrity company - Never Again.

 

 

This is why you have to take every review with a grain of salt. Ask 10 different people on the same cruise, and get 10 different answers.

 

My partner and I also sailed on the December 7th sailing of SOLSTICE, and felt it was fantastic. Not only the ship (which is probably the most stunning afloat), but also the service we received and most of the food. We were in a Celebrity Suite and everything about it was fantastic. We loved all the speciality restaurants and the main dining room was pretty good too.

 

As far as the buffet goes (ocean cafe), I felt it was one of the best laid out of any ship I have sailed. I NEVER once had a problem finding a table, and I certainly can't say the same about HAL. It's true there was a shortage of silverware sometimes which should have been on every table .... but hey, this was only the third cruise and things are not going to be perfect.

 

The previous poster is going back to HAL. Having completed a cruise on OOSTERDAM not too long ago, it will be quite sometime before we return. A big yawn is the best way to describe the experience, with mediocre food and service and a ship that looks like it was designed in the 70's. Dismal and dark with low ceilings and bizarre art. My brother felt the ship smelled like a nursing home and I guess it did seem like a floating nursing home. Maybe in 25 years when we are in our 60's HAL may be a line of choice ... but not now.

 

Anyway, I think we are all lucky to have so many cruise lines to choose from. After my fantastic experience on SOLSTICE, Celebrity has only enhanced it's position has my favorite large ship cruise line along with Cunard.

 

Ernie

[tinybabynurse]

My wife and I just returned from this sailing of the Solstice. We are in our mid thirties and as you can see from my signature we have sailed with several different cruise lines. We have always wanted to sail with Celebrity and decided this was the perfect oppurtunity. From the moment we started hearing about the Solstice, we wanted to sail on her. Here are my thoughts on this cruise and ship.

 

Embarkation: Embarkation was quick and easy. There are numerous check in lines and also several different stations for the traditional welcome aboard photo as well as the security photo which is linked to your seapass card. I believe that this was the main reason for the extremely quick embarkation process. I think this is worth mentioning though..........traffic getting into the actual terminal was pretty bad. There was nobody directing traffic and several lanes coming from different directions were all trying to enter the terminal at the same time. This is not Celebrity's issue, but just a heads up for anybody that arrives at the peak arrival time.

 

Ship: The ship is amazing. Everywhere you look you are amazed at how different this ship is from any other ship I have sailed on. One of my favorite features on the ship was the design of the three centrums. There was the main centrum which contained several bars, the restaurant court aft which held all of the specialty restaurants all in one place and the entertainment court forward which contained all of the entertainment venues on the ship(Theater, Disco, Comedy Club). This was an excellent design idea which kept you from having to run from one end of the ship to the other to catch all of the activities.

 

Stateroom: We sailed in cabin 8323, a catagory 2a on deck 8. It was beautiful and very spacious. This cabin definitely had the biggest bathroom we have had in a standard balcony cabin. The shower was large and the wife loved the bar installed for leg shaving. I loved the fact that I wasn't constantly banging into the walls of the shower making it sound like there was a wrestling match going on inside. Our stateroom stewards were Dennis and Augusto......they were outstanding and very funny. We had a great time talking and joking with them every day. We bought them a box of guava pastries while in San Juan and gave it to them.........I think that made their week......they couldn't stop talking about how delicious they were. This is one thing we always love to do while cruising........take the time to get to know these incredibly hard working people on board these ships, they have very interesting stories to tell and you may make a new friend for life.

 

Dining: We had second seating in the GE dining room at table 209. Our waitor and assistant waitor was Raul and Marvin.......they are fantastic and highly recomended. They made excellent recomendations throughout the week and were also very up front in telling us what not to order........which really impressed me. The service and food was fabulous, everything that my wife and I ordered was cooked to perfection, tasty and served in a very timely fashion. After finishing dinner the first night, we struck up a conversation with Marvin and Raul........after that it was liking being with friends at dinner for the next six nights. We also ate in the Silk Harvest and Bistro on Five. We found both venues to have excellent service and food......well worth the cover charge. Probably our favorite place to eat on the ship is on the aft open terrace of the Oceanview Cafe. Breakfast here every morning was just to die for between the food and the atmosphere. The waffles...........WOW......they definitely lived up to the hype. I had them every morning. Another great thing about breakfast in the Oceanview is that all of the food is hot off the grill. The pancakes are cooked right in front of you instead of sitting under a heat lamp for God knows how long. Don't wait until the end of the cruise to have breakfast al fresco on the aft terrace..........try it once and you will be back every morning.

 

Entertainment: We loved the entertainment on this ship. It was definitely a nice change of pace from the very active cruises that we are used to. We loved all three production shows and consider them some of the best we have seen on cruises. The comedian is great and definitely don't miss out on hearing Jefferson the guitar player or the acapella group, Oceans Four. The pool area was extremely relaxing on this ship. Yes we love all of the action seen on RCCL's ships, but I must say that this was a nice change of pace..........just total peace and relaxation.

 

Other notes: The Lawn idea is really neat and very nice, but I must agree with the many others that have said it...........I don't think it will last long. There were several areas that were worn all the way to the dirt. I felt that the ship was very steady. The first night out the seas were a little rough and I thought the ship handled it very well. I never heard any of the constant creeks and moans of the ship that others have mentioned. Our cabin configuration had the bed next to the balcony. I don't feel that the closets are small as others have mentioned, but in this configuration I think that they are just poorly placed which makes them seem small. The couch is so large that it makes access to the entire right side of the closet nearly impossible. Overall we didn't have a problem with this, but I can see why some people have issue with it. Another topic mentioned on these boards was the extreme sewer smell. Yes I did smell it, but very rarely.......not anything that would ruin your cruise.

 

Ports: My wife is from Puerto Rico so we spent a nice day with family there. In St. Maarten we took a cab to Orient Beach. We spent the day at Kon Tiki..........I highly recomend this spot. We have been there several times and the service is great and the staff is extremely friendly. This whole day cost a total of $39.00 without our bar bill. We originally had the Fan Ta Sea Catamaran tour to Nevis booked for St Kitts, but upon boarding we were notified that the excursion would not be making it's planned stop in Nevis. We decided to cancel and just spent the day browsing the shops then hitting the pool.

 

Final thoughts: After this experience, we love Celebrity and will definitely sail with them again. We found that the service and quality of food was definitely a step up from the other lines we have sailed on. I know a lot of people are not happy about the Solstice because of some of the things they are used to receiving from Celebrity are not on this ship, but for us being our first time with Celebrity we don't know any better. All of the employees we encountered seemed very happy and were always smiling and willing to chat. They were also very willing to go out of their way to make sure you were happy.

 

The week before we left for this cruise several posters were saying that they were going to cancel their sailing on this ship............my advice is don't. If you are one of the lucky ones that have this ship booked.........start counting the days until embarkation......you will love every minute of it!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If anybody has any questions, fire away, I will try to answer them.

 

Happy Sailing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by BACON 227

If you are one of the lucky ones that have this ship booked.........start counting the days until embarkation......you will love every minute of it!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you for a wonderful review - we were also on the ship the same time that you were and our thoughts are the same as yours. We had a wonderful time and had no complaints. We would return to the Sostice happily---

[BACON227]

Thanks for taking the time to get back to me on this..

 

--we'll look for them- our day will be spent in the direction of San Cristobal, so I am hoping we find them!

 

 

You'll have plenty of time to get them. Just walk to the closest bakery off the pier, they will have them...........unless somebody ate all of them!!!!!!!!!!!!