Back from 7/18 Solstice W. Caribbean

[John73]

I was going to do this all as one post but I realized I'm a bit long-winded. So, I'll post day by day as I write them up...

 

My ‘review’ is a bit delayed due to family having been in town visiting. But, they’re gone today, so here’s my post.

What, Where, and When: I was on the July 18th-25 Solstice Western Caribbean itinerary in a CC room.

 

Day 1:

 

The trip started with me boarding around 11:30AM on Sunday the 15th. I had stayed at the Renaissance Ft Lauderdale the night before and been upgraded into their Junior Suite so the trip was off to a good start. Check-in and boarding went very quickly. I didn’t have to wait in any lines other than the security scanner line. Once I passed that I was right to the front at check-in and then right onboard. I immediately went to check out Bistro on 5 and thought it looked interesting but I wasn’t quite hungry yet. So off I went to find a place to purchase the premium alcohol package. I asked at Guest Relations and they referred me to the Passport Bar across the way and said to get it there. The bartender was very quick with the process. He had me sign off on the ticket and then put the stamp on my Seapass card.

 

Now, well, after one drink, I was in to exploring mode. I wandered around for a bit on the lower decks to check out the wine bar, the martini bar, the casino, and get an idea for where the Guest Relations & Shore Excursion desks were located. After that it was up to the upper decks to check out the pool, solarium, café/buffet, and the Sunset bar at the stern. I also wandered around a bit in the AquaSpa and workout area to become familiar with those.

 

In no time at all, they made the announcement that staterooms were ready. I quickly headed to cabin 1299 (deck 10, almost at absolute rear of the ship) to check out my accommodations. I was very pleasantly surprised by the size of the cabin. I had seen pics but they all seemed like it would be a small space. For just solo traveller, and even for two, it seemed to be plenty roomy. I had also been warned by a friend that the bathrooms were small but, again, they didn’t seem that small to me. Since I was in a CC cabin, there was a welcome bottle of Blanc de Blanc chilling in the room waiting for me. I’m not a big champagne/sparking wine fan so I saved it for later in the cruise to take to dinner for my table.

 

The rest of the afternoon was a blur with more exploring, checking out my dining assignment (table seemed in OK location), muster drill, and looking out at the rain that came in during our sailaway.

That night at dinner I met my soon to be new friends. There was one couple from Florida and another from Wales. There was also another older couple at the opposite end of the table but they didn’t talk much and disappeared after the first night. Oh well, the rest of us had a great time. I hadn’t expected to find such cool people at my table and I later realized that those people really helped make the cruise that much more fun.

 

After dinner I have to admit I was a bit tired so I skipped the show and intended to call it a night. Instead, I got my second wind and headed to the casino to play for a bit. I didn’t do too well here but ended up losing only abou $40 for the couple hours I was there. Around 2AM I finally called it a night. The bed was pretty comfy and I slept very well. I did remember to put out my room service order for breakfast but only when I happened to wake up at 5AM. I wasn’t sure they’d accept it but at 10AM my room steward was there with my breakfast! What a great way to start my first full day onboard.

[John73]

Day 2 – Sea Day

As can be guessed from a day spent at sea, this one was fairly uneventful. Main thing that happened was the connections party where I met some Cruise Critic members and had a great time. There was one couple & another solo traveller that I spent a lot of time chatting with after the group dwindled out. L

Later in the day there was the Cellar Masters Wine Around the World tasting. This was a very enjoyable tasting involving 6 different country stations, each with a red and white wine to taste. The thing I like most about it was that if you liked a certain wine you were welcome to keep coming back to it. They also handed out a sheet for making tasting notes. I will have to find mine and post pictures. I recall there being a very nice wine from Italy on there as well as one that I liked from Napa. I need my notes to refresh my memory though.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing on the balcony, at the solarium, or just in the room. Dinner on this night was one of the formal nights so I wore my tux. As I mentioned above, the older couple from the first night was now gone and no one replaced them. But, we did have that other solo Cruise Critic member that I met at the Connections gathering join us at the table. We were now up to 6 fun people!

Apparently I’ve put on a little bit of weight since having it taken in due to losing weight, because the Tux was not all that comfy. After dinner I was very quick to change back to my khakis & button-down shirt for the evening show. The show was “Solstice: The Show” and is pretty similar to a Cirque show. It was impressive at points but because I’ve seen so many Cirque shows it ultimately was a bit disappointing.

Knowing that I had an early morning diving excursion for Tuesday, I called it a night after the show.

Not much more to report on this day really, just an easy going at-sea day.

[John73]

This was our first port and my first scheduled scuba shore excursion. They had a good group of people for the diving operators and I felt very well taken care of during the diving. Good operation all around.

 

We started out with a dive on a site called Caribbean Sand Chute where there were a number of ‘cuts’ in between the reef formation. The dive was pretty cool with some great formations and a very steep wall. I got in a couple of good camera pictures but then my battery died. I noted in my dive log “always check camera battery before the dive!”.

 

Our second dive was on the wreck of the Oro Verde. The wreck has really broken up by now and there are about 3 main sections of the debris field. The coolest one to see was the engine. All of the wreck was well covered by coral since it had been there so long. There were also two bicycles that were down at the wreck site. The dive instructor later filled us in on the local tradition of stealing someone’s bike when you find out they’re leaving the island and dumping the bike at the dive site.

 

On the second dive we saw a sea turtle that was probably about 2 feet long. This was my first time to see one while diving and I was just really impressed by the experience. I stared at that thing for many long minutes. A couple minutes later we came across one that must have been at least 5-6’ long, a fuller grown one. It was using its front fins to hold on to coral formations while using its head and mouth to snap at whatever it was that it wanted to eat. Here again I probably spent at least 5 minutes just amazed by this animal.

 

After the dives they took us back to the ship. I took a nap for a bit and got up basically just in time for the 6PM dinner. After dinner I played in the casino a bit (giving back most of the money I had won the night before) and then killed more time talking with people at the Martini bar (it’s apparently my new favorite place on the ship).

[John73]

have to say i was very relieved that the departure time for the Cozumel diving excursion was not until around noon. I slept in this morning until around 10:30 before finally getting up and about.

 

The diving operator here was good, but not quite up to the standards that the rest of the Celebrity cruise had set. Still good, just not as good as others.

 

We first dived on Santa Rosa wall down to about 80’. This time, although my camera was fully charged, I managed to forget it on the boat when I hoped in the water. guess I need another note in my dive log. Luckily, I didn’t miss out on too many photo opportunities on that dive. We did see a nice 8’ nurse shark swimming around but not many other critters or fish. And I do kinda wish I had some pictures of the swim-through ‘caves’ and holes in the reef that we went through, those were very cool.

 

On the second dive we did San Clemente Reef. This one I remembered my camera for and I was very glad that I did. I got some pictures of two spiny lobsters, another sea turtle, and some other random fish and coral. I’ll post them up when I have better net access.

 

We got back only about 20 minutes before the ship sailed away from Cozumel so I didn’t get time for any shopping or other things.

 

Dinner tonight was at the Murano specialty restaurant. Since I had skipped lunch today it was a good day to go to this restaurant. They definitely feed you! I started out with a warm goat cheese soufflé, then a heirloom tomato salad with buffalo mozzarella, then a grilled lobster tail with a petite filet mignon, and finally a dark chocolate souffle for dessert. For wines, I had a nice chardonnay from Frog’s Leap (good, but a bit bland), a Rutherford merlot (way too weak for the steak and lobster), and a nice Fonseca port paired with dessert (this was the highlight of the meal, pairing-wise).

[John73]

Not much to report on this port. I decided not to dive here because I had not heard much about it and also because I figured it’d be a nice break in between diving. I found out yesterday that this thought was shared amongst many in our diving group.

 

For the day I mostly just took it easy. I slept in, enjoyed breakfast on my balcony overlooking the port, and then decided to go in to Port and wander around a bit. I have to say there really is not much there. There were a number of tequilarias (sp?), but all their pricing was extremely high and i didn’t feel like haggling. Most of my tequila purchasing is for margaritas and it just didn’t seem worth it to deal with haggling, purchasing abroad, and lugging it back home. I’ll just get some Cuervo gold at the local store :)

 

At this point, the Martini Bar had definitely cemented itself as my favorite bar. Adrian and Jose greeted me by name, knew I was on the premium alcohol pacakge, and provide phenomenal service to me all week. They both received a very nice cash tip at the end of the week.

 

Dinner was a lot of fun again with the group. This evening had yet another couple join us for one night, not talk to us much, and then disappear the next. Kinda made me wonder why they were at a larger table when they didn't appear interested in talking to us. My only guess was that they wanted smaller table and none were available.

[John73]

Ok, this was one of the ports where I did let myself get my hopes up in regards to the diving. A close friend had told me about this place and really raved about it. I was mildly disappointed in the dive results. The reef formations were beautiful, the water visibility was great, but there just was not that much sea-life for us to enjoy on both dives. The first dive was off to a good start with the sighting of a small turtle. And some of the coral formations were very impressive. But the second dive was also entirely empty of interesting sea-life. I think I’ll dive again next month on my cruise to the same ports, but I don’t know right now that I’d be up for a week spent at the Anthony’s Key Resort and diving all the time.

 

Dinner was back in the main dining room. And, this time, all the fun people at the table showed up. It was our first night to have the table full and it was a lot of fun. I lucked in to a great table and have made some good friends through this trip. I expect to keep in touch with most of them aftter we all exchanged contact info on the last evening.

[John73]

quote from my blog posting "Well, here it is nearing 5PM on our last day on the ship, which is also a Sea Day. After being up till 1:30AM with my tablemates and then losing $150 in the casino over the next hour or so at craps, I called it a night. We also lost an hour last night with setting our clocks forward 1 hour. So, i guess I really went to bed around 2:30AM. It was a late night. "

 

I got up at 11,looked at the Celebrity daily event sheet and was thrilled to see the main dining room was open for lunch. They had a phenomenal looking brunch spread on Monday (the first Sea day) so I was expecting the same today. WOW, was I disappointed. It was just a basic menu with none of the cool stuff I heard about from the brunch. Next month, I’ll definitely be hitting up the brunch on the first sea day.

 

I wandered around the pool deck trying to find any of my tablemates but couldn't locate anyone. So I just made the best of the day with a good long workout, relaxing by the pool, and catching a good nap. It was very good that I did because we were up very late again this night. I think we all called it a night around 1-2AM again.

[John73]

Overall, I was completely wowed by the entire cruise experience. I have my next cruise on Aug 15th and am really looking forward to it. The Solstice is a great ship, the Western Caribbean itinerary has some great diving opportunities, and I just had a great time overall. My tablemates from this sailing definitely set a high bar! I'm in AQ for the Aug 15th sailing so I know it may be a bit more difficult to meet/make friends onboard, but I'm still hopeful.

 

On the Premium Alcohol Package, it was well worth it for me. I really liked being able to try out any martini I wanted. I also appreciated the ease of getting Evian 1L water bottles, soft drinks, and just about anythign else. My sommelier in the MDR did a great job of asking what I'd be having for dinner and coming up with a good pairing of wine that was priced in the package limit. Just like Jose & Adrian at the Martini bar, he received a nice extra tip at the end of the cruise.

 

The canapes offered in CC were a bit too fru-fru for me. Remembering a post on this board, on Wednesday I wrote in that I'd like cheese and crackers instead. For Wed & Thurs I received the cheese & crackers but then on Friday & Saturday it was back to regular canapes. Not a big deal breaker, just wish that they had recalled the preference for cheese and crackers.

 

My cabin was 1299, which is just about the rearmost cabin you can get without being on the stern. This was a hike from the elevators. Granted, it was very quiet, but in the future I'll prefer to be closer to the elevators/stairs and not have to hike as much.

 

Oh, and before I forget, there was one annoying customer service issue. On Tues night I returned to my room and put my keycard in the lock only to have it flash red at me. I went to guest services and they gave me a new card. So I hike back to my room and get the same red flashing light. So, hike back down to Guest Services. They then called a tech to meet me at the door. He first tried my card and saw that it didn't work. He then tried to reprogram the door luck and found that this wasn't working either. So, he had to call security that had the real metal keys to unlock the door. Security came and let me in and then they had to replace the entire lock/handle unit with a new one. This took about an hour and half (all at around 1AM, mind you) before they finally got it all squared away. Granted, not the work experience to have, but a bit annoying at that time in the morning. I'll hope this doesn't repeat itself on my next cruise.

[Keith1010]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write and then to post your review.

 

Keith

[Lois R]

Hi, thanks for sharing your experience with us:). Sounds like you had

a really good time:D.

 

I have had room key issues in the past as well but it was usually

something I did (put they card too near something else that was

metal or magnetic).

But you said they had to replace the actual lock in your door?:eek:

Hoping your next cruise the door/key both work correctly.:)

 

Again, glad you had a great cruise:D

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Nice review. Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise!

 

Did you find that there was an abundance of choices available using the premium drinks package? (Not what was listed, but what was actually available). I ask because of comments here regarding the lack of beer choices available compared to the abundant listings. I'm not a beer drinker but my husband and BIL are and this is a big deal to them if they're going to get the premium package on our next cruise. Thanks for any info you can share....

[John73]

Nice review. Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise!

 

Did you find that there was an abundance of choices available using the premium drinks package? (Not what was listed, but what was actually available). I ask because of comments here regarding the lack of beer choices available compared to the abundant listings. I'm not a beer drinker but my husband and BIL are and this is a big deal to them if they're going to get the premium package on our next cruise. Thanks for any info you can share....

 

I'm actually not much of a beer drinker myself. I mostly went with wines, martinis, and other mixed drinks. The only one thing that I recall them not having was a specific dessert wine in the MDR. It was on the menu but not available for any of the nights of my cruise. Everything else seemed readily available.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Thanks, Mikelat. I'll pass the info on to my DH.

[cricri7]

Thanks for your wonderful review!! I am even more anxious to leave for my Solstice cruise on August 15th!!!

 

It is only my 2nd cruise solo so on my first (at the beginning of July), I was a bit apprehensive about dining alone all week long...especially since I could not get fixed seating. For this cruise, I went back and forth about which type of dining to take and I decided to opt for fixed seating...the first one. I hope I get great tablemates like you did.

 

In 2 weeks time, we will be there:)

[Eileen G]

Thanks for the great review. We will be on the Solstice with you on the 15th. I am a bit confused about Grand Caymen. We would like to rent a car. Our port time is 7-4 but I believe Grand Caymen is on Eastern Standard time and ship will be on daylight savings time. Past cruisers say we don't change time until Tuesday night. So are we really there from 6-3 Grand Caymen time or 7-4. This makes a big difference when renting a car as most car places don't open until 8. We are really looking forward to sailing on the Solstice again and we hope to meet you on board.

[Woobstr112G]

ENjoyed reading your review. Sounds like you had a fantastic cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Lois R]

Thanks for your wonderful review!! I am even more anxious to leave for my Solstice cruise on August 15th!!!

 

It is only my 2nd cruise solo so on my first (at the beginning of July), I was a bit apprehensive about dining alone all week long...especially since I could not get fixed seating. For this cruise, I went back and forth about which type of dining to take and I decided to opt for fixed seating...the first one. I hope I get great tablemates like you did.

 

In 2 weeks time, we will be there:)

 

Hi,:) I always sail solo and hope you have a wonderful time. If you end

up not enjoying your tablemates go see the Maitr'd after that first

dinner and let him know you want to change tables. They are usually

very helpful:)

[John73]

Hi,:) I always sail solo and hope you have a wonderful time. If you end

up not enjoying your tablemates go see the Maitr'd after that first

dinner and let him know you want to change tables. They are usually

very helpful:)

 

I can heartily second this recommendation. The group of three that joined us on Wednesday night had asked for a "Fun table" and they were assigned to our table. Worked out well for everyone!