Live from Solstice - Sept 19-26

[GeorgiaPeach51]

Thank you!! Do those patches make you drowsy? How would you compare them to Bonine or Drammamine ?

 

The patches make me so thirsty I want to drink the whole ocean, minus the salt. Just cannot get enough water when using that patch. That was the only way it affected me, but it drove me crazy. Stopped using them. The patches are kind of like a seat belt....you only need them when you really need them! We went on cruises, used the patch the whole time, thirsty the whole time, the ship was smooth as silk.

 

Also had the experience of getting sassy and taking off the patch, then feeling seasick while snorkeling and having to then get on a tender that was rocking and rolling its' way back to the ship.

 

Dramamine makes me sleepy. I'm sleepy just typing the word.... :p

 

Everyone is different...never have tried Bonine. My vote would be to take ginger tablets and Bonine with you....I've heard both work well. And I prefer that to taking scopolamine with the side effects.

[SMA9497]

If you don't want to take any medication try Sea Bands. You can get them at any drug store. DH and I use them. I don't typically get sea sick unless it gets really rough but DH will always be a little queasy the first day or so until he gets his sea legs. They use acupressure?!?! I'm not usually much of a follower of that (daughter of a pharmacist) but they seem to work pretty well and no side effects!! Just a thought and worth the $7 to give it a try to avoid any problems.

[purplethorn]

I wonder if the ocean is getting rough again , even though I think Water Baby is on Eastern Caribbean and its far from the hurricane activity,.. we will be on Western Caribbean in a few days and there is a big storm brewing in that area :(

 

And yep i have the seabands and every over the counter motion sickness medicine that you can think of.

[vickykay]

Hi. Just wondering what time the Select and Elite Senior Officers party was. Thanks.

 

Vicky

[HeatherInFlorida]

I think you hit the rough seas left over from Igor. We always bring our sea bands and use them as soon as we leave. If things are calm I take them off, but we've found they work very well. Then Bonine at night sometimes and we're good. Never wanted to try the patch.

 

We are looking forward to trying Silk Harvest so hoping we agree more with you than your friends!

 

Thanks for your "live from..." which I only found today so I'm a little late to the party!:)

[Smiley7863]

Just Wondering where I can purchase a pair of those sea bands?

[celebrity]

Just Wondering where I can purchase a pair of those sea bands?

Any drug store should carry the sea bands.

[purplethorn]

I only found them at Target ...CVS/walgreens did not have them

[HeatherInFlorida]

They have them at our Walgreens. They are with Bonine, etc. They come in a little plastic box ... about $10.

[celebrity]

I have 2 sets. The first I bought at my neighborhood pharmacy..not a chain. The 2nd pair from Harmon.

[JanineM]

Hi. Just wondering what time the Select and Elite Senior Officers party was. Thanks.

 

Vicky

 

Vicky - the party was at 7:45 to 8:30 pm, and we got there right at 7:45 and had to fight to get a drink. It was jam packed. My advice is to Go Early!

 

The Captains Club party was yesterday (Friday) at 1:30 pm. It again was very crowded, but was easier to find a server with a full tray. They had quite a bit of food with a carving station, sushi and crepes for dessert.

 

The seas have been calmer since we left St. Martin on Thursday. Very low swells for the past two days. The weather has been a bit cloudy, and most people are just resting on the pool deck or in the sun.

 

Saw the Hot Glass show yesterday and it was just excellent. Great entertainment and they are very talented.

 

We've eaten in the MDR for the past three nights and are enjoying the menus, however our service has been spotty. We're not overly picky about service, but would like to be offered coffee. I think it may be a case of us not sitting at the table for three nights, so the waiter doesn't really know what we prefer.

 

Tonight I think we're going to Muranos for one last time.

 

I'm running low on minutes so will probably check in from home on Sunday ...

[Texed]

Thanks for the postings. :)

[Woobstr112G]

Vicky - the party was at 7:45 to 8:30 pm, and we got there right at 7:45 and had to fight to get a drink. It was jam packed. My advice is to Go Early!

 

The Captains Club party was yesterday (Friday) at 1:30 pm. It again was very crowded, but was easier to find a server with a full tray. They had quite a bit of food with a carving station, sushi and crepes for dessert.

 

The seas have been calmer since we left St. Martin on Thursday. Very low swells for the past two days. The weather has been a bit cloudy, and most people are just resting on the pool deck or in the sun.

 

Saw the Hot Glass show yesterday and it was just excellent. Great entertainment and they are very talented.

 

We've eaten in the MDR for the past three nights and are enjoying the menus, however our service has been spotty. We're not overly picky about service, but would like to be offered coffee. I think it may be a case of us not sitting at the table for three nights, so the waiter doesn't really know what we prefer.

 

Tonight I think we're going to Muranos for one last time.

 

I'm running low on minutes so will probably check in from home on Sunday ...

 

Thanks for your continued posts......:):):)

 

Bob

[vickykay]

Thanks! Vicky

[HeatherInFlorida]

Thank you, Janine ... look forward to you final thoughts when you're back home.:)

[JanineM]

Well it's 9:20 pm and we [I]just[/I] arrived home after a multi-hour delay in Miami, thanks to storms in ATL.

Here are a few final thoughts, and then I'll start working on a review.

Yesterday we had a final breakfast in Michael's Club and spread a little "love" to the regular servers. It was very busy in there this morning. Later in the morning we went to the Chef Cooking contest, which was held in the theatre and was a contest between one of the regular chefs and the guest chef. It was interesting and fun, but really lopsided and I thought a bit unfair to the guest chef. Anyway, after that we ran up to join our team for the final Team Trivia event. If I haven't said it before I'll say it now ... Team Trivia is HARD. We're pretty good at trivia and had a team with people from across the continent and Europe, and we were stumped. Came in 3rd, which isn't too bad, but we still wanted to win! :p

We spent most of the remainder of the day wandering around the ship and enjoying things we had not yet seen. I spent time in the casino, and walked away down a few bucks but had a bit of cash left.

Late afternoon we had a few more cocktails & hors d'oeuvres in the Lounge up on the sky deck, then headed downstairs to pack. DH watched one of the "on-demand" movies while I cleaned up, packed and did my final shopping.

For dinner we decided to go to Murano's one more time, and had to be squeezed in at 9 pm. It was very, very busy ... every table full and they were still cooking steaks at close to 11 pm. Still, an excellent meal with good friends.

When we headed back to our cabin at about 11:15 pm the ship was like a ghost ship ... all quiet with everyone already in their cabins.

This morning we docked right on time and went up to the Oceanview Cafe for breakfast, then waited for disembarkation in Tuscan Grille. Our colours were called at about 8:25 am (and were scheduled for 8:20 am), then had a really quick trip through Customs and then on to our shuttle to MIA.

MIA was another story all together. We were there at 9:30 am and could have taken then earlier flight, but didn't want to spend the extra $100 to change flights on American. We regreted it when our flight was 3 1/3 hours late departing. Ugh. Lesson learned is "do not be cheap" for the return flight.

>>>>>>>

A few things quickly come to mind, and will pop back in later to add more once I get my equilibrium.

[LIST]
[*]It's a thousand times easier to fly through FLL than MIA when sailing from Port Everglades. Our black car to the port and shuttle from the port cost us $146, plus a lot of time.
[*]WiFi has improved dramatically on this ship. I had no problem using it in the cabin, and connections were good and speedy (not as fast as at home, but much better than on M class ships)
[*]Only one NFL game shown, in the casino bar, so be prepared for that if football is important to you.
[*]The "new" Celebrity Today is very different, and we missed a lot of good things because of the new layout. We didn't see one single show at night, and that's partially because they weren't highlighted on the first page the way they used to be.
[*]There are some new items on the MDR menus and they were a nice change.
[*]Move to the back of Oceanview if you're trying to find a table during busy times.
[/LIST]
To sum it up, it was a good cruise and an excellent value for the money. I have a few quibbles with the design of the ship, but that's subjective so no point in highlighting it here.

Will answer questions and post a review soon. :)