kwokpot

None of Celebrity ships have liquid hand soap by the lavatory (NCL does). That's what the one bar of soap is supposed to be used for. In the shower is liquid body wash, shampoo, hair conditioner. Body lotion is also provided in all cabin classes. Additional bars of soap can be requested from your cabin attendant to be used in the shower and anywhere else.

The red dot is where you exit and/or get dropped off by taxi. The blue dot is where we were told by the Uber driver to meet him. He picked us up on the curbside of the gas station on the main road(on the right hand side not visible in the photo) Edit: Google maps photos hasn't been updated. There's a huge shopping complex now right at the pier with shops and restaurants. You have to walk through it in order to get to and/or from the ship pier.

I'm sorry I can't remember when you were first allowed off but I think it was around 7:30. Regarding Uber it's best that you exit the cruise terminal shopping area and go out to the public streets. There's a Shell gas station if you walk out of the main exit and you can order you Uber to pick you up around the gas station. Last week we ordered an Uber to take us to the start of the Malecon (you can choose Hotel Rosita or Winclub Casino) and it was about $5US. We walked the Maecon all the way and back to the starting point. When we tried to order an Uber back to the cruiseport no one picked up the ride. After 15 minutes we flagged down a cab. We had no Pesos so asked about the rate in $ and it was $10. We took that and was dropped off right at the port shopping complex entrance.

What they could do is what was done when they added the Alchemy Bar on the Pride. If you take notice they removed alot of the moldings and all the ornate decor, the puffy curtains, and it looks much cleaner and less dated. https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/carnival-pride-190/alchemy-bar-207330/alchemy-bar--v10556111/ vs https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/carnival-pride-190/piazza-cafe-211090/piazza-cafe--v10556134/ or https://www.cruisecritic.com/photos/ships/carnival-pride-190/raphael-lounge-207310/raphael-lounge--v10554231/

We just disembarked the Celebrity Solstice in LA and i didn't get to try the buffet for dinner or even get to check it out so I can't confirm the offerings. At breakfast and lunch it was similar to previous offerings with carving stations for various cuts of meats. One thing I did notice is the iced tea is now SWEET TEA; I don't remember it ever being sweet tea before and it was horrid.

I know and it is. It's a dress shirt from Banana Republic and it's one of those non iron shirts, so it's perfect for travel. It also works with jeans or nicer chino type pants. Being retired and usually cruise anywhere from 6-12 cruises a year, so I have to remember to not always take the same clothes, lol. Here is a photo with me in the SAME shirt from this past week on the Celebrity Solstice, lol. I promise I do have more than one dress shirt! Edit: Ok, I just realized we're talking about a different shirt,lol. That one is also from Banana Republic and a iron dress shirt. The one below is another one of my go to travel dress shirts.

Some other points.The Pride is going for a long drydock right after the TA over to Europe,so hopefully many of the major items needing attending to will be addressed. The ship is the same class as Royal's Radiance Class and Celebrity's Millennium class. Both Celebrity and Royal maintains it's older ships better than Carnival does. Comparing the Pride to the Summit, for example, would be comparing Walmart to Bloomingdales or Nordstroms. The ships are similar in age and size but Worlds apart in looks and condition. Royal and Celebrity's buffet offer much more choices than Carnival. The only specialty restaurant on the Pride is the Steakhouse. We had dinner there three different times and they were by far the best meals on board the ship, although the food quality did vary a bit between the three meals. The Alchemy Bar is the nicest bar there since it was an updated area. Photo attached is one of our dinner's in the Steakhouse on the Priode.

It's funny you should bring this up. It was for preboarding purchases, so yes I got the points. I had purchased casino slot dollars which gives you a bonus. HOWEVER, I just completed the Solstice cruise that I had purchased the casino credit for and COMPLETELY forgot I had bought the credit! Luckily on the last day they saw I didn't claim the credit so they reimbursed me back for the purchases. That was really nice of Celebrity to do that. Now I just hope AMEX doesn't claw back the bonus membership points!

I was on the Pride from May 19-June19, 32 days last year and have a different opinion of the food. Besides Guys Burgers, the Deli and Pizza I felt the food was subpar and many times inedible. I just got off the Solstice yesterday and if comparing overall food between the Solstice and Carnival Pride with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best the Solstice was an 8 and Carnival Pride a 4. I ordered stuffed mushrooms and what was served multiple times in the four weeks was diced mushrooms with the serving portion size of two teaspoon full of diced mushrooms. My husband ordered the lasagna multiple times and every time what was served looked like a brick of meatloaf with a layer of dried cheese covering it. Cutting into it all you saw was dried out ground beef, no tomato sauce, no layers of lasagna pasta. Multiple times I ordered both the Egg White frittata and regular frittata (neither is being served any more) for breakfast and brunch and every single time they came out all dried and hard, not fluffy and soft. The Asian food in the buffet was nothing like what was served on the Solstice. The ship itself is dark and depressing. If you go ahead on the Pride just temper your food expectations drastically.

I have to agree with this. My sister and her husband are first time Celebrity cruisers and we all enjoyed multiple coffees,teas and sweets there. We also played cards at Al Bacio and in the Ensemble Lounge.

We didn't eat in any specialty restaurants. We were traveling with my sister and BIL so we did some things differently from our normal cruise routines. We didn't get to use the Solarium at all nor eat at the Spa Cafe. But I did use the Complimentary sauna in the spa locker rooms every afternoon and that was a nice way to warm up. We walked out of the cruise terminal at Puerto Vallarta and got an Uber to the beginning of the Malecon. It was about $5 US before tips. We walked the whole length of the Malecon and the backtracked and checked out the Church before walking back to where we started. We tried to haul another Uber but no one picked up the ride. After 15-20 minutes we gave up and hauled a cab. We didn't have any pesos so we asked what the fare was in $USD and it was $10 to the cruise terminal. The cab took us right to The terminal entrance.

Just disembarked from the Solstice (2/25) and here are some thoughts. *The condition of the ship is immaculate. Any discussion about the ship looking tired and a dumpy is a red herring and a downright lie. *For our 2/18-25 sailing the ship's overall Inside temperature was COLD. I would estimate it varied from 64-68 degrees. People regularly wore their overcoats and at minimum sweatshirts and hoodies. The only area of the ship that wasn't cold was the casino and solarium. *Service overall was excellent. We had Select anytime dining and we asked to sit at server LaToya's section every night. She's from Jamaica and was tp notch. She previously worked as a cook in the kitchen so she knew the menus inside out and would accurately describe each dish for you and give an honest opinion about each dish. All the other employees were also great. Unfortunately we had an inexperienced cabin attendant that was forgetful, didn't put out the required daily paperwork, and just wasn't up to the usual Celebrity standards. We didn't give her any extra gratuities. *The food overall was good and MDR dinner presentation and plating was attractive. We enjoyed breakfast in the MDR and it was fine. Lunches were at the buffet and there were many choices and the food quality overall was good. We didn't get to check out the buffet at dinnertime so I have no comments on that. *The overall vibe of this cruise was strange. Our last Celebrity cruise was on the Beyond in October and it's as if we sailed on two different cruiselines. This cruise felt more like an old fashioned cruise and not a something targeted as Modern Luxury. The entertainment was all geared towards baby boomers. There was a band with a filipino singer who do music geared towards baby boomers. The poolside music was loud Caribbean style beats which is nothing like the low-key lounge music on all the E-Class ships. During silent disco it became not so silent as the DJ had a channel of music that was more appropriate for a baby boomer piano bar with people SHOUTING the words to Sweet Caroline and Journey. It was annoying as hell sitting in Cafe Al Bacio and 50-60 people shouting out Sweet Caroline in the Grand Foyer. I've never experienced a silent disco like that before on any cruiseship. *Due to the President's Week holiday the ship was pretty full at around 2,500 passengers and many more kids and teens than on the previous Solstice sailings. For that reason Quasar Disco became a nightly young adults hang out and was never used for any dance events for adults. *The casino did have some brand new slot machines which was great to see. It was Packed every night and I can't remember any recent Celebrity cruise where the casino was as packed as on this cruise. All the slot machines were tight. The casino host was very nice. *I used the gym everyday and the gym on the S-class ships are bright and spacious. Unfortunately there were many broken treadmills and one of the two rowers didn't work very well. *The entertainment was good/OK. The quality of the production shows for the E-Class ships are of a much higher standard. *Overall we had a great time. Puerto Vallarta remains our favorite port stop on this itinerary. We had perfect weather in all three Mexican ports, not hot,not cold,no humidity. It was a welcome change to the weather in LA pre and post cruise which was and is horrible. I wish the ship was at a more comfortable average temperature so one wouldn't feel cold wearing shorts and a t-shirt and having to wear a hoodie and long pants so not to feel cold all seven days on the ship.

We decided not to book the onboard comped cruise offer. They charge a $10/day/pp booking fee that isn't waived. This is similar to what NCL does on their comped cruise offers. No upgrades of any kind offered through this promo, any upgrades must be requested through BCC after booking onboard. Without any added extras we didn't feel we wanted to pay the additional administration fees.

No, that benefit isn't being offered. You get an additional $100 Freeplay in lieu of it.

Yeah, it's a BIG jump from Shapphire. To answer an earlier question of yours my husband plays almost exclusively slots. That wasn't the case 20 years ago. But after seeing his mom get better comps playing a couple hundred on slots in Atlantic City than him playing 3x more on roulette and craps he completely switched his games of choice and has never looked back. He is able to get the same enjoyment from playing slots as he did playing roulette or craps. He's not a card player.

I think we'll do that when we book. The card implies we have to book it onboard. We didn't confirm if that's the case or if this particular offer will be available after disembarkation. We need to look at our options. I would like to consider around the horn/South America or Spice Road/India neither which we have done. I'll update further when we book.

We went to the Future cruises desk this morning to inquire about the comped Conceige class cabin offer. It's quite generous. It's cabin only good for sailings up to 1 year away on ANY CRUISE except for the Assent and major holidays. No other exclusions.

Yes, my apologies. My husband is Sapphire tier. The information I provided about his points earnings and Freeplay are correct. As an aside the BCC tier levels and benefits you listed is missing the Sapphire plus tier at 500,000 points.

Yes, usually later at night.

Eden consists of three components. There's a restaurant on the lower level that is open for dinner only by reservations. There's the main Eden space that's has a bar, a performance space, a ramp that spirals around the performance space with seating nooks that either look out at the aft panoramic windows or are secluded nooks. Last is a separate cafe to the left of the bar that's open for breakfast and lunch only and is complementary. The shows are done on the performance space adjacent to the bar and no reservations. The shows can be just a solo performer, or a variety type of show with the singers and dancers and aerialists and acrobatics.

My husband earned 52,000 pts on our Beyond Cruise in October and however they calculated the Freeplay returns he got more than the minimum Amethyst minimum of $500 and received $795 return Freeplay on our current Solstice cruise PLUS AN additional $100 for no access to the Retreat Lounge which is part of the benefits of the Amethyst tier. Edit: He also received a card in the cabin for a comped Conceige class cabin that can be booked onboard at the future cruises area. This is the 1st time he has ever received a free cruise offer while onboard from BCC. For years the offers were received weeks after disembarkation either via email or postcard mailings.

Yes, sorry amethyst (I'm not the gambler)

On the Solstice right now. Very different experience this week than yours last week. Due to President's Week holiday ship is pretty full. About 2500 passengers. Ship is cold. The first several days people were wearing winter coats on the ship. Many places 9b the ship the AC Is full blast, so about 65 degrees. Casino is war. Main dining room is cold, a long with Cafe al Bacio. Casino is packed every night. Literally packed. Strange vibe on this cruise, not typical Celebrity Caribbean cruise vibe. Silent Disco became a signaling event with the atrium packed and all people singing to sweet Caroline and music like that- piano bar music rather than dancing music. Never had a silent disco night on any ship like that and frankly it was annoying trying to have a nice late night tea at Cafe al Bacio and having a sing-along at top volume without the music.

Minimum Freeplay for amethyst tier is $500 or 5% of the previous play on your last cruise.