Solstice Class - Accessible Suites

[swiddowson]

Does anyone have pictures of the accessible Sky Suites on the Solstice class ships? Any info would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks,:)

Seth

[teajak]

Didn't take pictures but I can tell you the bed is centered on the wall, the bedside tables are larger than other cabins, there is no overbed storage but we still had plenty,clothes closet is free standing opposite foot of bed, the seating area is a very small loveseat,the shower is open with a curtain and has grab bars and a small pull down seat,huge room and large balcony. That's all I can think of. Oops sorry this is a description of Aqua 1522.

[swiddowson]

Didn't take pictures but I can tell you the bed is centered on the wall, the bedside tables are larger than other cabins, there is no overbed storage but we still had plenty,clothes closet is free standing opposite foot of bed, the seating area is a very small loveseat,the shower is open with a curtain and has grab bars and a small pull down seat,huge room and large balcony. That's all I can think of. Oops sorry this is a description of Aqua 1522.

Thanks for the info - that info does help shed some light!

[montgomeryfamily]

Teajak, do you remember the shower set up in the AQ stateroom you were in? Specifically I wanted to know if these AQ accessible staterooms had the shower panel in addition to the hand held shower or if they only have the hand held shower. Since the shower panel is a feature of this category, I wondered if they made an effort to keep that in and work the handheld around it or if they just took the easy way out and took out all of it and put in a hand held shower. Thanks.

[bubbie617]

No, unfortunately you sacrifice the shower panel when you have a HA room. We were delightfully surprised that we didn't soak the entire bathroom each time we showered. I've heard horror stories in the past, but we didn't experience any of them.

[gordiej]

Anyone have any more information on the Accessible Sky Suites on Solstice class?

 

Booked a Suite Guarantee and was just assigned an Accessible one, which I knew would happen...oy. (An assignment would have cost $500 extra).

 

Are these suites larger than the regular Sky Suites? They look so on the deck plan.

 

What other features/amenities will we be missing from the standard cabins, other than the bathtub?

Will the ambiance be adversely impacted by the presence of the accessible features?

[gordiej]

Anyone have any more information on the Accessible Sky Suites on Solstice class?

Why yes, I do, after just having gotten off my cruise. :D

 

Are these suites larger than the regular Sky Suites? They look so on the deck plan.

Yes, they are larger than regular Sky Suites. I estimate about 400 SF for the cabin -- vs. ~200 SF for a standard veranda (the accessible SS is a double-bay cabin) and ~300 SF for a regular Sky Suite.

 

What other features/amenities will we be missing from the standard cabins, other than the bathtub?

Storage space is somewhat reduced, both in the cabin and in the bathroom. Mainly fewer drawers. Towel rack was not convenient to the shower even though there was plenty of space right next to the curtain. The shower didn't seem to make a mess of water on the floor as long as you didn't have the pressure turned all the way up.

 

Will the ambiance be adversely impacted by the presence of the accessible features?

In the bedroom, not really. The configuration was pretty nice, with lots of space, and there were few notable accessible features.

 

HOWEVER -- we ended up moving out of the accessible SS to a standard one after the first night. The reason -- there is no deadbolt on the cabin door. One of the accessible features is the automatic door. It opens automatically when you swipe your card outside, and it opens automatically when you press a button on the inside of the cabin. I guess as a result of this, there is no deadbolt installed. The automatic door was quite a hassle in and of itself (probably 20 seconds to fully open and close, exposing your room to passers-by for much of that time period), and there was no way to disengage it.

 

But the lack of a deadbolt for privacy and security was an absolute deal-killer. I can sort of understand the need for easy access in case of an emergency. However, I imagine most accidents would happen in the bathroom, and that door had a lock on it, so I'm not really sure how it solves anything. I do not understand why they couldn't have a deadbolt that could be disabled/disengaged depending on the occupant of the cabin. It made me very upset that Celebrity would put me in a room where there was no way to guarantee my security and privacy, and thus I made a big stink with Guest Relations the first night. They were able to find us an alternate cabin in the same category the next day when a no-show officially canceled.

 

All I could think about was an acquaintance of mine who woke up in the middle of the night in a 5* Las Vegas hotel with someone rummaging around his room (he didn't lock the deadbolt or engage the chain). The intruder ran off when the guest woke up, but it shook him up quite a bit.

 

Hope this information is helpful for people.

[mjmagee]

Gordiej, is there room for someone to get by the foot of the bed using a walker?

 

Marilyn

[BBsails]

For anyone who may be assigned an accessible suite on a GTY booking: If you don't need accessibility and a regular suite opens up in your category (S1,S2 etc.) after booking, you can contact Celebrity or your TA (if you booked through a TA), and you may be able to switch to a regular suite. Just watch the website daily for your particular cruise. Worked for us on an upcoming cruise.

[gordiej]

Gordiej, is there room for someone to get by the foot of the bed using a walker?

Marilyn - while my posts have been geared toward features of the cabin for guests who don't need accessibility, it's probably safe for me to say that yes, there is plenty of room. I think the room is designed to allow a motorized wheelchair through and to turn around, so I assume a walker would be no problem. But of course, I'm not an expert on this stuff...

 

For anyone who may be assigned an accessible suite on a GTY booking: If you don't need accessibility and a regular suite opens up in your category (S1,S2 etc.) after booking, you can contact Celebrity or your TA (if you booked through a TA), and you may be able to switch to a regular suite. Just watch the website daily for your particular cruise. Worked for us on an upcoming cruise.

Thanks for that info. When I booked the GTY, I noticed that there was only one regular S2 available and 2-3 Accessible S2s. I never checked back after our cabin was assigned, although it's possible by then the category was completely sold out -- I don't remember. The other problem was that we only booked about 2 weeks prior to departure.