solstice and family vacation

[1234asdf]

I am planning a family vacation (wife, 3 kids) and have read wonderful things about the solstice. Are the shows suitable for young teens? I have been on several cruises and really like the smaller ships better, but this ship comes highly recommended. I really hate having to fight for deck chairs, particularly on sea days, is this a problem? Any help in planning a nice family vacation is appreciated.

[Gonzo70]

Welcome to Cruise Critic,

 

The Solstice class ships are beautiful; I just got off Equinox last week.

 

Since you mentioned travelling with three children, Solstice may not be the best choice, but it depends on your family and what you are looking for in a cruise. Celebrity's sister line, Royal Caribbean, tends to have lots and lots of activities and venues geared towards children/teens. Most of Solstice's shows are appropriate for teens (in that there is not adult content), but might not be exciting/interesting to teens. There would be some activities for them such as there is a basketball area (half/court), child/teen area, and the lawn club area offers activities like ring toss and baggo. If your children are somewhat mature for their age they may end up enjoying Solstice, but if they are used to the amenities on Royal Caribbean such as ice skating, rock climbing etc. they may be a bit disappointed in Celebrity's more serene ambiance.

 

As for pool chairs, as long as you do not need a seat right by the pool, you should be fine. We had four sea days on our cruise and while sometimes the loungers next to the pool are seemed to be taken, there were always chairs available in other areas on that deck or on the sun deck above.

 

Even though the Solstice is a fairly large ship, it is laid out very well, so it does not generally feel crowded. The only area that seemed to have significant lines at times was the buffet area during boarding day and near all-aboard time on port days. The restaurants and bars/lounges on Solstice class ships are amazing and the lawn area and blown glass demonstrations are really nice as well.

[Cruise Arizona]

The shows were appropriate for all ages. The kids loved the cirque "Solstice" show. Lots of things to do in the Teen Club and Fun Factory.

 

If you can get a Family Ocean View room, which might take a phone call, the rooms easily accomodate 5, but you will share one bath. The adjoining rooms are also a great option for 5 because of the two baths, and the way the rooms connect. It is hard to explain but basically the two doors are like this in the hall ways ____/ \______ and for the connecting rooms they add a door that is flush with the hallway so you don't loose any room space with a connecting door. The only issue with the connecting rooms is that you have to pay full price for the first 4 passengers.

 

I can't help too much on the whole chair hog issue as our cruise was a TA and there was never a shortage of chairs due to the cooler weather.

 

The Lawn Club and Hot Glass shows, were also a HUGE hit with my kids.

 

We ate most of our evening meals in the main dining room where we really enjoyed the food. Most lunches were in the Ocean View where we had lots from which to choose. We had the family room, so we often enjoyed room service too.

 

Another great thing about the Solstice is the in room entertainment which can be nice if there is nothing going on in the entertainment areas of the ship that is of interest to your kids. My 13 year old son watch a couple of good movies like the new Transformers, GI Joe and Terminator Salvation. We also watched "The Proposal" one night. All these movies are availble in their free on demand system. You could even pause a move for up to 48 hours. The movies were nice on cloudy cold TA days.

 

The service and atmosphere was really fantastic on the ship, and though we too prefer smaller ships, we didn't feel this one was too big. The only way I felt it was big was that I generally did not have a much opportunity to make new friends as it was rarer to run into the same people all the time. The kids however, were in the teen club and fun factory so they had lots of chances to make friends. We had a small amount of teens and kids on our cruise, only 23 on the early December TA, but numbers are usually around 100 to 200 kids during times when then are generally out of school. If you kids are with you, they are generally welcome any where on the ship except the Quasar Disco after 11:00, but if they want to stay up with you elsewhere they are welcome. Teen club is open till 12:00 midnight also.

 

I would recommend the ship for a very classy refined vacation with plenty of fun. I've never been on Royal Caribbean, but I understand they are great for active families who want to have plenty to do like Rock Climbing or Ice Skating, but I have nothing but good things to say about my own family experience on the Solstice.

[Onessa]

We are recently off Solstice with my 14YO DD. We did a Med itinerary which is very port intensive so we did not have much time on-board.

The shows were appropriate for most ages.

• The Fun Factory kids appeared to be having a great time.
  
• The Teen area was hijacked by some 10-12YOs who got permission to "move up" so the real teens avoided it like the plague :D. But groups of teens still managed to have a great time elsewhere.
  
• The free movies on demand were a big hit. My DD and her on-board friends (all girls) would get permission to gather in one or another of the cabins and watch a movie with room service snacks.
  
• They also liked the lawn games (simple things like bocce or bean bag toss)
  
• My DD LOVED the Hot Glass Show. She won a glass fish sculpture at one of the raffles. She was thrilled!
  

We've primarily done RCCI (one NCL, one Princess). While X does not have the sheer volume of kid-friendly activities of the RCCI ships, it was a great time.

 

As others have mentioned the Solstice does a good job of being a big ship but without the big ship feel. Lots of intimate spaces. Very little sense of crowding. (a few exceptions: the walking area between the casino and the shops on deck 3 was just crazy when the shops were open, we had late seating in the MDR -- area outside the MDR was always crazy busy since the early seating always ran LATE and late seating folks had to wait for entrance).