Review: Solstice to Alaska, August 23-30

After a day of washing laundry, putting away luggage, and making a menu plan for next week, it's time to sit down and put down a few thoughts about the wonderful cruise from which we just returned. (Note: after reviewing, I realize that "put down a few thoughts" apparently translates as "write a novella." I will not be hurt if no one gets all the way through).

We flew to Seattle the day before, because we are decidedly not risk-takers, and a delayed flight or TSA lines or anything like that would've sent us into conniptions over fear of missing the sailaway. Stayed in a nondescript airport hotel with a convenient shuttle to Pier 91. Not much to say about the first night, because we got in pretty late and went almost straight to sleep.

Sailaway day! This was our first cruise, so we didn't know what to expect. Embarkation could not have been easier - we were concierge class, so we had a dedicated line and were registered and onboard within 10 minutes. The pier was loud and crowded, but even the folks in the regular lines didn't seem unhappy or unduly stalled - the friendly Celebrity staff kept things moving briskly, it seemed.

On board, we were handed a glass of champagne and advised to walk around the ship getting acquainted with it, as the rooms wouldn't be ready for a while. The ship itself: beautiful. Just gleaming, clean lines, lots of glass and a sleek look. Some folks onboard told us they preferred the "glitz" and baroque-sounding decoration scheme of other ships, but I prefer a cleaner, more modern look. So Solstice was very appealing to me.

We walked to observation decks and took in the lovely Seattle coastline, drinks in hand. Everyone was smiling, everyone seemed relaxed. Every crew member smiled, greeted us, was exceptionally friendly. I honestly think that anyone who found the crew less than wonderful may have been looking for trouble.

We had one incident that, I suppose, could have been perceived as rudeness, but I honestly believe it was a simple cultural communication issue. While awaiting sailaway, we approached the bar & grill (thanks to CC, I'd been looking forward to the burgers and dogs on offer here). We asked if they were open for lunch, and the gentleman behind the counter responded: "Is restaurant RIGHT THERE." (indicating the buffet). "You hungry? You go there!" He said it in an almost comically abrupt manner, and for the rest of the cruise my husband and I kept saying to each other "You hungry? You go there!" as kind of a "soup ****" style catch phrase.

I am certain this person meant no harm, and did not mean to sound rude, but sometimes the clipped English and direct way a non-native speaker may have of speaking can seem rather abrupt. Every other crew member we encountered was exceptionally gracious and we found service excellent in every way.

Shortly after sailaway, our rooms were ready and they were very nice! Plenty of room, cleverly designed bathroom, and I liked the curved bed design which eliminated barking my shin against the edge when I got up.

There WAS a very distinct and obnoxious whistling sound made when the balcony door was closed but not sealed, and I thought of our good friend (I can't recall his name - pop something) who worried that this would bother him all week. Simply following the instructions on the door solved the problem.

We ate at the Bistro on 5 that first day, and I hate to say that I was underwhelmed. It was good, certainly, but not great. I liked the quiet atmosphere, but the crepes were just okay, in my opinion. I know that's the minority opinion, but there it is!

We had grand plans to attend the late show, but by 10pm we were zonked out (plus we'd had a few glasses of wine and something delicious called a citrus mojito. Try this - trust me.), so we fell asleep early. The bed was very comfortable, but the body pillow we'd asked for was hilariously huge. We felt like our brother-in-law was in bed with us. The robes in concierge class were very nice, and I wore on every chance I got. Including on the balcony, while sipping coffee - you're welcome, forward cabins on decks 12 and 13!

Our room was always kept immaculate, special requests were attended to immediately, and we really appreciated our stateroom attendant. When the time for the comment cards came, I commended her especially, but I also threw in any other name I could recall, because those people are ALL working so hard and it seemed like they could use all the help they get.

The next day we had the meet & greet for our roll call (at something stupid like 10:30 am), and I'm glad we went. I got to meet several people from the boards, and they were each every bit as lovely, gracious, and friendly as they seem on the boards. Which leads (sort of) to my opinion of the size of the ship: just about perfect. The ship is just big enough so that you are likely to repeatedly encounter some of the nice people you've chatted with, but not so small so that you're all up in each other's business all the time.

That night was formal night, and the tuxedos were out in force. I happen to be on the "Yes! Formal night! Bring on the tuxes and gowns!" side of that fence, so I loved the whole glamorous experience. We danced a lot that night, and did I mention we had the drinks package? So we danced a LOT. I also did karaoke. Believe me when I say this is a surprise.

On Sunday we woke to lovely little Ketchikan. As we walked off the ship, we walked past the lumberjack show, where the crowd was clearly, loudly, and raucously enjoying themselves. Don't miss checking out the salmon runs, where they REALLY DO swim up, in huge, flopping clusters, the creeks. Tres cool.

We kayaked with an outfit called Southeast Sea Kayaking. Highly recommended. A fast boat took us 17 miles out to a beautiful, serene, glass-surfaced cove for a few hours of kayaking. We saw the lovely landscape and a few bald eagles VERY close-up. We didn't see other wildlife until the boatride back, where we encountered 2 orca.

Frankly, the lack of wildlife was fine by me because I found the kayaking ever-so-slightly terrifying (esp. when I was told the water was over 1000 ft deep below us), and if a large animal had swam right up to us I would have lost my sh*t. There were two other couples (one from the Solstice!) on the excursion with us, and they were so nice to us-very encouraging, as they were experienced kayakers and we were first-timers. Our instructor was adorable -a recent college grad who sheepishly admitted he was mostly doing this to avoid getting a "real job."

We dined at Grand Epernay for dinner every night. Delicious food, excellent and knowledgeable sommeliers, and of course the always-excellent service. We enjoyed every entertainer, but particularly a group called the Ryan Johnson quartet. They were excellent. We saw several of Brent [just forgot his name]'s lectures and they were ALL terrific. Some of his jokes were a little corny, but easily forgiven, because his lectures were so entertaining and educational that we didn't want to miss any of them after we'd seen one. Highly recommended.

We woke very early the next day to see Tracy Arm, and it was a highlight of the trip. I can't describe it - go look at some good photos and you'll see just how gorgeous this part of the world is. Worth every minute of lost sleep.

We did a little shopping on the ship for souvenirs for the kids. I don't know if it was because it was the end of the season, but blankets (with "Alaska" written on them - whoopee) were $5 and nice t-shirts were about $4.50, so we decided these items would make FINE souvenirs. We tried our hand at the video poker, lost $10, but we saw a guy down the line win over $2,000 when the machine dealt him a royal flush. So that was nice. For him.

We usually ate breakfast at the buffet, and it was fine. Some items were really tasty, most were just fine. Finding a table was only very occasionally a challenge - one nice thing about the Solstice is that it very rarely felt crowded.

We tendered in Juneau and I was freaking out about it because we'd booked a non-Celebrity excursion. I got in line for tender tickets at about 12:30; by 1:00 the line was quite long. HOWEVER, the tendering went very quickly. Too quickly for me, in fact, because as soon as I was handed my ticket, (number 9), they called for "all numbers 1-9" and I didn't have time to run back to our room to get our stuff. I tried to give away the tickets for a slightly later tender, but by the time I'd asked someone, they were already up to number 14 (her number), so the swap wouldn't have done either of us any good. In any event, we ran up to grab our things, got on a tender boat, and was ashore well before 2 pm.

Juneau - a kind of depressing little city, actually, at least portside. However, we booked a whale watch with Harv and Marv and it was spectacular. A tiny boat, seating only six passengers and the captain (Captain Liz was great and seemed like a fascinating woman in her own right), we FLEW across the waters, then gently bobbed toward the whales. Wow, did we see whales! We even saw a baby breach completely. Unforgettable.

(Now for some unsolicited advice: Don't try to take the perfect picture while whale watching. Don't experience this through the tiny rectangle of your phone or camera. Put your camera away, and just experience it. Look around, breathe in the whole experience. You'll remember it. And your photos wouldn't do it justice, anyway. That advice was given to me by someone who'd recently been to Alaska, and I'm glad I followed it.)

More dinner, more wine, more drinks, more music, a comedy show: night life on board was a lot of fun. We were able to chat with some very friendly, funny, bright folks from all walks of life. (More unsolicited advice: do NOT mention the name "Obama." No matter which side of the political fence you are on, it will probably not end well.)

We arrived the next morning in Skagway. It was really wonderful to wake up to a completely new, and breathtaking, vista every day. We did the train ride, as everyone advised, and it was beautiful. Again, I took some photos, but it's like photographing the Grand Canyon - the pictures don't even come close. I liked Skagway, and I found the gold rush history much more interesting than I'd anticipated. Next time, I'm going to plan an excursion that focuses on that history.

The next night was the second formal night, and again the glamour was fun. We dined at Grand Epernay, as usual, and formal night had frozen lobster tail as a main course. I set a record, I believe, by eating shrimp cocktail as an appetizer every single night of the cruise. I had a bunch the next day at the grand brunch, too.

Because we were lazy and full of rich foods and drink-packaged to within an inch of our useful lives, plus it was raining, we stayed on the ship when we docked in Victoria for a whopping 4 hours. From the ship, it looked like a lovely town, but we didn't have a 45-minute each way walk in us at that point. If we'd had all day in Victoria, I'm sure we would have gone in and I'm sure it would have been terrific, but this stopping from 6-10 pm was, well, odd. A lot of people stayed on board, it seemed.

We spent the last night scrolling through our pictures, laughing at our adventures, and soaking up the ambience of the Solstice for those last hours.

I am happy to answer any questions.

Edit: forgot to add: we saw several (but not tons) of children on board, and every one was well-behaved and charming. We eavesdropped on the most adorable conversation about book recommendations among a dad, his daughter, and her friend (the girls were 10ish), watched a few toddlers to kindergarteners rock out on the dance floor, cooed at the adorableness of dressed up formal night children, and caught a glimpse of the kids all enjoying the HECK out of the children's program.

Tl;dr: had a nice cruise. Enjoyed the drinks package a LOT.

Thank for posting your review.

We were a couple of sailings before you and were also in a CC stateroom. We also did the Whale watching with Capt Liz.We tendered in Juneau as well and like you was in line at 12:30 to get tickets.

Didn't see a full breach but she was a large part of the great experience. She couldn't have been any nicer.

We enjoyed the cruise so much we booked it again for the same week next year. So much to do and see and it will be our third time on the ship.

Thanks for your review.

Thanks for taking the time to write this review.

Keith

What was the weather like this time of year?

Vicky

I really enjoyed your review. We're on the Solstice to Alaska in 2014 and I'm so glad you had a wonderful cruise.

Great and detailed review. We sail a year from now. So excited to experience many of the amazing things you wrote about!

What was the weather like this time of year?

 

Vicky

Except for a drizzly day in Ketchikan, we had sunshine every port day. Skagway was quite warm (70s) and the guides kept saying how unusually clear it was. Rain off and on in Victoria, but warm. The only time I needed my fleece layers was upon waking early to see Tracy Arm. I needed rain gear in Ketchikan.

The sea days were cold and windy enough to keep most people off the decks much of the time. So: pack for every season.

Turning,

Thanks for posting. :)

Thanks for the review--we are taking this cruise on Friday!

Thank you so much for your review! We are taking this cruise this coming Friday also!!! Can't wait to board the ship!!!:D

Barbara

Wonderful review just booked for 2014 on Solstice so very helpful!

Just need to let you know that you so made me even more excited (is this possible) for the cruise on Friday!

We tendered in Juneau and I was freaking out about it because we'd booked a non-Celebrity excursion. I got in line for tender tickets at about 12:30; by 1:00 the line was quite long. HOWEVER, the tendering went very quickly. Too quickly for me, in fact, because as soon as I was handed my ticket, (number 9), they called for "all numbers 1-9" and I didn't have time to run back to our room to get our stuff. I tried to give away the tickets for a slightly later tender, but by the time I'd asked someone, they were already up to number 14 (her number), so the swap wouldn't have done either of us any good. In any event, we ran up to grab our things, got on a tender boat, and was ashore well before 2 pm.

We will be on Solstice next August with the same Alaska itinerary, so your detailed cruise report was very helpful - thanks.

The Celebrity website shows us docked - not tendered - in Juneau. Hopefully that will remain the case for our cruise.

One question. I don't have a planned excursion in Juneau, but of course want to see as much as possible ( Mendenhall Glacier and tram is the plan). I don't need to get off early, but just wondering if you wait out the tender rush, what time you would get off boat? Is everyone off within an hour or so, or not? Thanks!

We did the tender last week & it went very smooth. The only real pain was wasting a 1/2 hr or so in line. We were tender 10 or 11 & were off the boat by 2. There are 4 big ships in port that day & the town was a zoo the tender wasn't bad.

Wonderful review just booked for 2014 on Solstice so very helpful!

Ditto here! Just booked for July 2014 and cannot wait to experience our first Celebrity cruise! Your awesome review threw me "over the edge" and I paid the deposit just now.

Turning46,

We are on the Solstice with you, and sorry we never got the chance to meet. We never received any notification of the meet and greet time, and from reading your post, it was at the same time as the galley tour which is what we did.

We had a great time on the cruise. In Juneau, we opted to take the smaller boat in the morning to the glacier. I'm glad we did, it was amazing! We saw glaciers calving! It was a great excursion. One thing I did not understand was at the end of the excursion they brought us back to the ship. We walked onto the ship on one side, go through security, then walk to the other side and get into a tender to go ashore. Seems like an extra step in the process that was not needed...:confused:

I have no complaints, the trip was great! It was over way too fast!