Solstice Xmas / NYE brief review

Just debarked this morning and waiting for a flight so will provide some brief thoughts.

First the good:

Ship is still beautiful, clean and well maintained.

Our aft aqua class cabin on Deck 11 was also very nice and well maintained. Still felt like new.

Itinerary to NZ was great

Captain is one of the best we have had - always visible around the ship, fun and informative. We saw him far more than we saw the cruise director

Service and staff were very good - with a couple of bartending exceptions.

Passenger mix was excellent - it was great sailing with a predominantly Aussie crowd. Everyone was friendly, fun and outgoing and well mannered. Children on board were also well behaved.

Now what could have been better:

The food. Specifically the food in Blu. It is noticeably not as good as it used to be and we were somewhat disappointed this time. Aqua class is in our opinion no longer worth paying any extra for - we will just book a regular veranda if we do sail Celebrity again (which is now doubtful).

Nickel and diming - quality in general has gone down significantly while trying to squeeze more money out of everyone has gone up dramatically. It felt like I was sailing on Carnival or NCL at times.

Running out of inventory - the ship ran out of several common food and drink items for last 3 days - haven’t encountered that before.

Entertainment was truly woeful. Not just the shows, but also a total lack of any interesting activities on board.

In summary, we had a good time and enjoyed our cruise but I doubt we will ever return to Celebrity. Perhaps we have just sailed with them too much, but to us the quality of the product has deteriorated to the point that sailing with the line no longer feels special. Time for us to move on to another line - realizing that we will need to pay more now to enjoy the level of cruising we prefer. I suspect a return to Azamara will be next, or Oceania or Viking Ocean.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We also expect to get what we paid for.

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And here she is blocking my view

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Thanks for the review.

Thank you for your review.

Keith

Thanks for your views.

Nice review (Silver Spectre, nice photo). We just boarded her today to do the Great Barrier Reef.

Cheers.

Nice pic of her at the OPT.