Dec 11 Solstice Review

[stampinrobin]

I love reading reviews, so thought I’d pay it forward. Cruising Celebrity Solstice, December 2011.

 

For introductions, me, Robin, 50 year old female, wife to wonderful Rob

(53) (yes it's Rob and Robin) and momma to DS, Matt, 25, active duty air force, currently stationed in Japan.

 

DS flew from Japan to south Florida last week to visit paternal family.

We are meeting them all for dinner Saturday night, we are flying in from Indy, staying at Cambria Suites. We have not seen DS for 18 months so are very excited to spend a week on Celebrity Solstice, just the three of us!

 

We took our first cruise in 2009 and fell in love with it! We've cruised Carnival three times and it is our goal to try all the mainstream cruise lines. I did cruise on the Century a year ago with a gal pal and absolutely loved it!

 

We love the casual nature of Carnival, we both have stressful jobs (me-inventory coordinator for large orthopedic manufacturer, DH is an R.N.), and don't really care to "dress up" on vacation, but I loved Century so much, we bit the bullet and packed a bit dressier for this cruise. We are also non-smokers and know we will enjoy Celebrity's restrictive smoking policy.

***

Hi, I'm Rob (self-referred to as DH from now on). I will occasionally pop in and give my own unique take on our experiences this trip

***

DW-So here it is Monday a.m. our first sea day. Let me tell you how embarkation day went. It was a doozie! I haven't sailed on a ship returning from Europe, so I didn't know that the Coast Guard conducts an inspection on each of these returning ships, so that alone slows boarding down. To add to that we had the deep cleaning delay because of a Noro virus outbreak on the last sailing, I didn't know what time to get to the port.

 

We are usually among the first group to get to the port so going later is not appealing to me. But they said we would not board until 2 p.m. We decided to grab a salad at the Cambria Suites mini restaurant. They didn't open until 11:30 but we talked to the workers who were prepping and they put our order in with the cook in advance. We got our salads around 11:40. They were very good.

 

We then took the shuttle from the hotel at noon, when we got to the port, we were allowed to go inside the port facility. They had an additional area set up to hold people. We checked in right away and then went to the line, which was toward the front of this group. There was another group who had gotten there before us in the regular waiting area. We stood on concrete for 2.5 hours waiting, no exaggeration.

 

The line behind us became very long and then the line formed outside, I felt really sorry for those people. It did rain at some point, because parts of our luggage were wet when we got it (seriously, they leave luggage out in the rain?), don't know if there was still a line outside when it rained, hope not.

 

 

 

So around 2:20 they started boarding, it took a while before they got to our group. I would say we were on the ship around 3 p.m. By then my knees were a bit sore from standing so long. I felt sorry for the elderly people. Some people in the lines were getting grouchy. While it did no good to express this frustration to the very nice port/Celebrity workers trying to keep things under control, I can understand their frustration.

 

Once on the ship, we headed straight to the lawn club. It was really cool to walk on grass on a ship! We had drinks and tried to relax, but it also rained.........the list goes on and on, Guys played corn hole.

 

 

About an hour later we decided to brave the buffet in the Oceanview Cafe knowing it would he chaos. It was, we couldn't find a table so we went back up the lawn area and ate at a cocktail table. It worked out fine.

They were serving everything in the buffet area including drinks, no self-serve. It didn't really seem to slow things down, lines were not long to get food.

 

The problem is, and I've seen it on every cruise, is people eat and then have no where else to go so they camp out at the tables.

This is an extremely self-absorbed thing to do and always amazes me that people don't realize what they are doing. Once you eat you can easily get up and go into a lounge area if you just want to sit and talk. Ok, I said it, I complained about something, I'm done. But you know who you are!!

ha ha ha

 

Guys schlepping our carry-on luggage around all afternoon.

 

 

 

After that we tried to find a place to sit and have another drink. Due to the rain, most of the outdoor sitting was wet. We wanted to watch sail-away so we needed to stay outside. After a bit of walking around we did manage to snag some seats. Watched other ships leave and the FINALLY it was the Solstice's turn. It was dark.............so all we saw were the lights along the waterway. But still we were so glad to be sailing away. Then FINALLY they announced we could go to our staterooms. It was 6 p.m. That was a long day for sure - UGH.

 

So I would sum up the day by saying, of course it could have been worse and I do think X did the best job they could, but it was a fiasco. As I said earlier, I was tired and my knees hurt, I can only imagine how the older demographics were feeling...........plus I had a few cocktails to ease my pain, if you weren't drinking it would have been even more annoying!

 

Got to the stateroom, unpacked, hung out on the balcony for a little while, met the room steward, Salwyn. He was very nice. Guys left to go find a football game to watch, I did one more trip to get ice cream from the Oceanview Cafe, took a Tylenol pm and was in bed by 8:45. We do pretty much feel like day one of our cruise was wasted, but my motto was, it can only get better!

 

During the cruise we seemed to hear people complaining about this and that, it truly amazed us to hear them complain about stupid things, but I can’t help but wonder if the rough start didn’t set the tone for some people for the entire week. In hindsight I think it would have went a long way if X would have done something to “make up” for us losing the entire first day of our cruise.

 

Our stateroom 7281 is very nice and easily holds three people. What I love the most is the bathroom, it's huge for a ship! So nice to not feel cramped.

 

More to follow - I hope my pictures posted, we'll see after I hit submit!

[stampinrobin]

It's early Monday morning (early to bed, early to rise!), DS is at the gym working out. We told him we would meet him there in a little while - bhaaa ha ha ha. We will wait for him to get back and shower and then go up for breakfast. After that will walk around and finally see the ship!

 

 

****

DH here- I can honestly say, I like this ship. The drinks so far have not been weak, the food is so far quite good, the seasonings on the more culturally specific foods are very nicely done.

****

DW-Very happy with the breakfast buffet. Food was very good, even had a carved ham, very fresh and tasty. I'm not a big breakfast eater, but this makes it much easier. Lunch buffet in the Oceanview was also quite good.

We just hung around during the day, read and relaxed. Got ready for the first formal night and started in the Martini Bar.

 

Even if you don't drink, you should go and watch for the bartender to get a multiple glass order. They are very impressive, juggling their bottles and ice, etc and then can pour multiple martini's at once, it was quite a sight to see!

 

 

 

 

Went to Select dining around 7, there was a line, but it went quickly and we did not have to wait to be seated. We even brought a lady we met with us, she had traditional seating, but they didn’t even blink an eye when we asked if she could join us. Food was very good. We did leave without dessert because we wanted to see the Solstice acrobatic show and were running out of time.

 

Of course, since we got to the theater late we had to stand in the back, We stayed for two acts, they were very good, I would have loved to see the whole thing, but after standing yesterday for 2.5 hours, I just couldn‘t bring myself to stand there. It was our fault for not timing things better, no big deal. Stopped for ice cream on the way back to the room.

 

Not sure if I like the pictures larger or smaller?

 

 

 

 

[stampinrobin]

Grand Cayman. Since sail away was delayed we got into GC later also. I didn't realize they cut their schedules so close that an hour and a half delay would effect a 36-hour travel window, but apparently it does as they have announced we will be late into GC.

 

We booked the Sting Ray/Turtle Farm/Dolphin Encounter/Tiki Beach excursion through the ship. Our tickets were printed before the sail away delay and they said we were to meet at 7:15 a.m. Then we got another notification that the turtle farm portion of excursion was cancelled and we received a ten dollar refund. Then we received the announcement that we would now be departing at 9:15 for our excursion.

 

It took about an hour to tender and bus ride it to the departure dock of the Sting Ray part. Once we got on the boat, it was a beautiful 30-minute ride to the Sting Ray sand reef. When we got there and the crew was getting our boat parked and anchored, it seemed a little rough and the boat got away from the anchor, ended up smacking into another boat a few times before the captain gained controlled. It probably took 20 minutes longer than normal to get the boat anchored properly.

 

Once we were ready they gave us instructions, we got into the water, where we were anchored it was actually over our heads, so we quickly swam about 10 feet so we could stand. When the crew got in the water, they kept us corralled to one area.

 

It was freaky at first, these huge sting rays just swimming all over looking for food. It took me a while to get up the nerve to feed one, but once I did, it was really cool. You just hold the food under water and they will smell it and come and just suck it out of your hand like a vacuum cleaner!

 

The whole thing was rather surreal, here we are in the middle of the Caribbean Ocean standing on a sand reef, the water is so clear you can see the sting rays and they just come right up to you and you pet them on their wings, they were slimy.

 

It was choppy and I did manage to get a few mouths full of salt water when a wave would hit unannounced. Also had trouble getting back to the boat, remember it was a little deeper by the boat. DH was trying to help me but the waves were too strong, he signaled to one of the crew members that was just standing on the boat watching over us. He immediately dove into the water with a life preserver ring. I hung on to it and he just swam me right over to the boat, it was great!

 

Our crew also took pictures, one guy helped us hold the sting ray and the other gal took pictures. Once we got back on the boat she loaded them into her lap top and said you can purchase a picture for $10 each or $40 (cash) for all the photos she took, plus she already had 80 photos of the sting rays and Grand Cayman loaded on the disc. Once I took a look at the photos and saw how great they were it was impossible for me not to purchase the entire package. I was so happy with the pictures, can't wait to get home and load them on my computer. I give the crew high marks, it was a great adventure.

 

 

 

So then we were loaded back on the bus and off to the Dolphin encounter. Took a while to get things organized once we were there, but when it got started it was fun. The trainer was very enthusiastic and friendly. We just did the Encounter, stood on a platform in the water and the dolphin kissed us and we got to pet it, etc. There was a photographer taking pictures during all this.

 

Got back to the gift shop and could view our photos on a computer, I was shocked because they were all GREAT. He was a very good photographer. So the deal was you could order one photo for $25 each, or get all the photos of our party (3) on a disc for $139 and get three prints. Once we saw how good the photos were I immediately chose the disc package. (they did take Visa). Great pictures and a great time.

 

 

 

 

 

Well we were then bused to Tiki Beach where we had a ticket for a chair and a drink, we were supposed to have two hours there and only ended up with a half hour. It was a nice beach bar and we would have really enjoyed being able to recover from our day there for a couple of hours.

 

Even though we had a great day and thoroughly enjoyed each part of the excursion, we decided that we would not do such a busy excursion day again. To try to get that much done in one day was too much. We didn't even have a drink or bite to eat until we got to the Tiki bar at 3 p.m. and then didn't have time to order food.............

 

So with all that said, once we got back to the ship we were starved so we decided to eat in the Bistro on 5. It was SO good. Well worth the $5 cover charge. And to top it off, I was able to get a gluten-free crepe! Also they advertised to us there is no dress code, I confirmed it when I went in my bathing suit cover up, they said that was just fine.

 

Found our photos from last night, settled on a group shot of us three. It was taken in the Martini bar, so it was priced less than a formal shot with a background. It was a 5 x 7 and also got a 4 x 6 print and portfolio frame for $12.95. I thought that was a good price.

 

 

Went up and watched the Hot Glass show, it was amazing.........

****

DH here- we've done 2 cruises together and have had some great times on excursions, but, the sting-ray encounter on the reef with the African Gray crew was absolutely awesome and the best experience I've had to date. One of the crew members would hold a sting ray that was at least 3 feet in diameter and let you hold it from underneath (BTW, they did a very good job of instructing us how to hold a sting-ray as you obviously don't want to make them mad!).

 

The legend is that if you kiss a string-ray, you will have 7 years good luck- I gave that girl (I think it was a girl anyway) a couple of good smooches! As DW said, the lady crew member took great pictures & one of the other guys dove in with the life preserver when he saw DW wasn't doing very well as she is not a good swimmer. The African Grey rocks!!

The dolphin encounter was a great experience too, Alma, our dolphin, was as gentle as she could be and the trainers are excellent in interacting the dolphins with us. Yea, it would have been nice to have had more time at tiki beech, but all in all, a very memorable & special day.

****

DW-It is rather strange, unless this is the norm for X, but when we got our X Today it said that we need to set our clocks back one hour. All the other cruises I've been on, no matter what time zone we arrived in, we did not change our clocks. So it was strange to me to have to set our clocks back one hour. But I complied....................

[alreadypacked]

Great start to the review!! We were on this sailing too and it's interesting to see it through another's eyes. Can't wait to read the rest! Thanks.:)

[stampinrobin]

Cozumel. X Today said early riser breakfast was at 6 a.m. and breakfast buffet at 7 a.m. We went up to the buffet at 6 a.m. and they weren't open for anything, I asked a server about it and he said, no we don't open til 7 a.m. So the time change must have gotten the crew discombobulated.

 

Our excursion was not due to leave until 10:45 so we had a leisurely morning, ate breakfast, came back to the room for a nap, got ready at a leisurely pace. Went to the pier and did a little shopping, got in line for the excursion and of course it didn't even come close to leaving on time. I'm learning Caribbean time is different than US time!

 

Our excursion was the Twister Boat and Isla of Passion beach break. I think there are a couple of different Twister boats, but the one that is included with Isla of Passion is awesome! We were on Twister Boat #5, our crew was great and skilled. When we were trying to board a swell came up and ripped the cleat right out of the boat! The two guys on the crew jumped right on it and got the boat under control, they were great.

 

We then took about a 30-minute boat ride on a speed boat that holds 24 people and was built for speed and turns! The ride was fast but straight, then when we got close to the island there is a smooth spot in the ocean (so we were told) and that is where we did our 360 degree turns.

 

I was a bit nervous about this excursion, I had read various reviews, most people said it was a blast, others said it was too much jostling around and the crew was snotty, etc etc. That is why I think there must be two different companies that offer this. One maybe just a boat ride and then maybe ours that does the boat ride to the private Passion island.

 

The turns were awesome, they were very sharp, but never once was I scared, just exhilarated! and to say the least, we all got TOTALLY soaked. It was really a lot of fun. I think part of it was just shock that we were in a speed boat on the ocean doing crazy turns and getting soaked.

 

What was really nice was that when we got on the boat they took all our belongings and stuck them in a forward cargo hold so nothing got wet. I wish I would have known that because I only brought a disposable water camera, fearing my regular camera would get wet. Hence no pictures for this part of the review as I have to take them in to be developed.

 

Also, I took off my bathing suit cover up before I got buckled up, so glad I did, because everyone else had their shorts and cover ups SOAKED!

 

They dropped us off at Passion Island beach, I do believe this beach is only used for cruise ship excursions. While it was not fancy or high-faluting by any means, it was beautiful and very picturesque. We found chairs in the shade and went to the buffet for lunch, it was very good.

 

The guys said it was some of the best grilled Mahi Mahi they've ever had. They had very good guac and pico. Bbqued Chix was also good. Had some other items on the buffet. Workers all wearing gloves and masks, looked sanitary.

 

Drinks left a bit to be desired, they were included, but not very good. I drank a few and never felt it, so I stuck with my own bottled water.

Massages were 30 minutes for $35 and were very very good.

 

Got back on the boat to do more twists and then took our high speed boat ride back to the pier. If you like exhilaration without danger, I would recommend this, I was nervous about going, but it ended up to be quite a bit of fun!

 

We were toast by the time we got back, so we just ate in the buffet that evening and watched a movie in the room. I do like their selection of free in-room movies, we ended up watching quite a few.

***

DH here- the twister boat #5 & crew were great! Just a word of advice

though- if you agree to go on a boat ride called "twister boat ride", don't be upset if they do big swells and 360 turns because that's what you are paying for! There was a couple that told the lady at the beach (she's not in charge of the twister boat anyway) that they did not want the twister boat to do anymore twists on the way back because "they don't want to get wet". Seriously! While we were stuck with this couple as they had no other way back, the crew did take us out for several twists and came back to pick up the knuckleheads- my advice- don't disrupt the trip and features people pay for because you can't handle it. Not to be mean, but as they say on Monday night football, C'mon Man!

 

The Mahi-Mahi was absolutely delish with the chips/pico/guac. If you were served the drinks, they were weak, so DS & I walked to the bar, told the guy what we wanted & to be generous, then the drinks were good!

One word about tipping- it seems like everyone that looks at you expects and even bold-faced asks to be tipped. Don't get me wrong, when exceptional service or experience is given like the twister boat ride/the sting-ray adventure, I'm more than happy to give them a tip as I know they do a lot of work behind the experience to make it happen for you. But, don't walk with me a few yards, smile, then literally hold your hat out & ask for a tip! I did tip the bathroom guy at the beach as he really did a superior job keeping them clean all day.

****

DW--ok in that couple’s defense………when we got to the port a large group of people were supposed to go to Passion Island via catamaran, didn’t find out until they had waited for their excursion that their boat was broke. They offered a full refund. How disappointing. They also offered a bus ride to the island and then a ferry or you could upgrade (pay more) and go on the twister boat.

 

The majority of these people spoke Swedish, so it was up to the English speaking in the group to relay all this to them. A bunch decided on the twister boat which surprised me because they were all much older than us. And we were by far the oldest on the excursion.

 

I later see that they brought in another boat for their group, yes it was a twister, but my guess is they did not do the twists, or not as hard as we did, because when we got back onto the boat to leave this couple told the captain that Isabella promised them that they would not get wet on the way back? HUH? (Isabella, showed us where everything was on the island.)

 

The captain asked the rest of us if we wanted to forego the twists on the way back and unfortunately for that couple we all said no. But they were adamant that Isabella promised them they wouldn’t get wet. He told them he didn’t work for Isabella. So the Mgr of the island called the home office and our captain was instructed to take us out and do our twists and then come back to the shore and pick up the fuddy-dudds.

 

I’m guessing it was a language barrier issue, but still, they really can’t expect 12 other people on the boat to give up what they paid for to accommodate them, it was only water (cold and salty, but still !).

 

So we went out and I think we got a little extra action to make up for the delay, it was fun and everyone was in a better mood when we went back to pick them up!

 

Oh and another comment about the tipping, what DH was talking about. We are more than happy to tip these workers on our excursions. They work very hard and we are always generous, but it was pitiful, when Isabella walked us back to our boat, she literally asked for tips and took her hat off an passed it around. I mean we spent about five minutes with her all day. We were quite shocked. And we literally didn’t have any small bills left. I had even asked one place for change so we could tip the happy bathroom attendant (I have my guesses why he was so happy, but the bathrooms were spotless so who cares why!) I noticed people putting change in her hat. I just told her sorry, I had nothing left, which was true. I felt sorry for the girl, but in her culture it is probably the norm.

 

 

　

[TLCOhio]

Appreciate your review!! Brings back nice memories from being on the Solstice in June. Looks like they had nice holiday decorations on the ship. Glad you have mastered how to do larger pictures. That helps make a nice, positive difference for great sharing.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 52,644 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[gelo7]

Loving your review, and I like your pictures large.

[stampinrobin]

Well I was on my way to get this finished today since I'm off work and now I can't get into my photo bucket account - grrrrrrr. So I guess I'm off to do laundry, not near as much fun.

 

I did email photo bucket, but I don't know how long until they respond. Has anyone else ever got this message? I got it after I uploaded the dolphin pictures, they said they were not copy writed.

 

This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.

<Error><Code>NoSuchBucket</Code><Message>The specified bucket does not exist</Message><BucketName>s1131.photobucket.com</BucketName><RequestId>B71D3022E9320EFE</RequestId><HostId>qVMD4FTGQknBwkt13lxDojIWMQ77AeMr9tq8Mt8VcXBW6eK4iLlZQj81GG2B6jP4</HostId></Error>

[TLCOhio]

Well I was on my way to get this finished today since I'm off work and now I can't get into my photo bucket account - grrrrrrr. So I guess I'm off to do laundry, not near as much fun. I did email photo bucket, but I don't know how long until they respond. Has anyone else ever got this message? I got it after I uploaded the dolphin pictures, they said they were not copy writed.

This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.

<Error><Code>NoSuchBucket</Code><Message>The specified bucket does not exist</Message><BucketName>s1131.photobucket.com</BucketName><RequestId>B71D3022E9320EFE</RequestId><HostId>qVMD4FTGQknBwkt13lxDojIWMQ77AeMr9tq8Mt8VcXBW6eK4iLlZQj81GG2B6jP4</HostId></Error>

 

I use PhotoBucket for my large pictures that I post on these CC boards. Generally things work fine and they are usually pretty quick in replying. Have not received that type of message from them. Good luck!! Here's one of my favorite areas from being on the Solstice. Love this area of the ship. Hope you had a chance to enjoy this Solarium area.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 52,644 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

 

The Solarium was one of our favorite areas on the Solstice. Food and drinks were nearby and it was very relaxed and sophisticated. Quieter, too, as it is an adults-only area. Two hot tubs here. Not crowded, especially in the evenings. Nice art and design are there as a part of this sparkling ship facility.:

 

[stampinrobin]

I use PhotoBucket for my large pictures that I post on these CC boards. Generally things work fine and they are usually pretty quick in replying. Have not received that type of message from them. Good luck!! Here's one of my favorite areas from being on the Solstice. Love this area of the ship. Hope you had a chance to enjoy this Solarium area.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 52,644 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

 

 

The Solarium was one of our favorite areas on the Solstice. Food and drinks were nearby and it was very relaxed and sophisticated. Quieter, too, as it is an adults-only area. Two hot tubs here. Not crowded, especially in the evenings. Nice art and design are there as a part of this sparkling ship facility.:

 

 

Ha, this is the picture I am currently using on my desk top! I looked at it for months! Now I can use one of my own! Thanks for the loan.

 

Photobucket must read their emails quickly becuase I took a break and went back in and now I can see my photos! Will keep working on my review! Thanks for all the nice comments!

[stampinrobin]

Great start to the review!! We were on this sailing too and it's interesting to see it through another's eyes. Can't wait to read the rest! Thanks.:)

 

 

Are you going to post your thoughts? I'd love to hear them also!

[stampinrobin]

Roatan: Been there, done that! We were not impressed last time we went

to Roatan, did a ship's excursion to Tabayana Beach, so we decided to stay on board, which worked out well after two adventurous port days!

 

Really didn't do much, just schlepped around. Made reservations at the Tuscan Grill restaurant, found the Sky Lounge and spent time in there reading with a great view of the island. Had a consultation in the afternoon with the Go Smile (teeth whitening) technician. DS and I made an appt to have it done the following morning, didn't want to give up our red wine tonight in the Tuscan Grill.

 

Tuscan Grill. The last thing I want to do is sound negative about

anything. We have the attitude that we are cruising and life is good. But

I have to admit all three of us were a bit disappointed in the food.

Service was excellent, they even had a wonderful gluten-free bread for me. Guys had the Calamari for appetizer and said it was probably the best

they've ever had.

 

We all ordered filets and all agreed the meat really wasn't all that great. Not bad by any means, but if I was paying fine steakhouse prices for it, I would not go back. Also the steak came with runny mashed potatoes and Argula (sp) salad - really? Another salad? Didn’t we just have one with out salad course? What about some nice hot grilled marinated vegetables?

 

So for the three of us with wine and extra gratuity it came to $150 bucks, a bit steep for "ok" steak in my humble opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

DS and I went to our teeth whitening appt at 7:30 a.m. the next morning. We both saw improvements, nothing like I had dreamt of, but def a noticeable improvement. And of course they offer follow-up treatments, used once a month - $50. DS bought some and will tell me how it goes. I had planned to leave the tech a tip, but when I went to sign the bill I saw a 15% gratuity had been automatically added, something I didn't know they did. (I have before and after pictures of my teeth, but I'm not sure that is what anyone else would like to see ha ha)

[TLCOhio]

Ha, this is the picture I am currently using on my desk top! I looked at it for months! Now I can use one of my own! Thanks for the loan. Photobucket must read their emails quickly becuase I took a break and went back in and now I can see my photos! Will keep working on my review! Thanks for all the nice comments!

 

WOW!! That's fun and interesting that you were able to use one of my pictures as your desktop picture. I'm sure that "royalty" check is "in the mail". Glad I was able to help.

 

See you are a neighbor in Indiana. Where at? These midwest winters make the cruises more important as a needed escape. Look forward to see more from your cruise.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 52,644 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[HeatherInFlorida]

Rob & Robin, lucky me finding your review today! I am in heaven reading it because in less than 3 weeks we'll be on the Solstice doing the same itinerary. We sailed on her last October and loved the ship so much we booked this cruise.

 

I have a question ... did you have any Noro problems throughout the week and did they continue the precautions with no self service? I'm hoping maybe they licked the outbreak and it's smooth sailing ahead:).

 

Looking forward to more of your review and LOVING the pictures so I hope you get the Photobucket problem fixed.

[Wolfie469]

OP, another free site I like I s image coast dot com. They aren't as restrictive.

[alreadypacked]

Are you going to post your thoughts? I'd love to hear them also!

 

Yes, I've started my review in MS Word and will copy and paste it on cc hopefully soon!

[KirkNC]

Wow, nice detailed review with pictures. Glad you enjoyed the Solstice, we sailed on her two years ago and loved her.

[subtchr]

Nice review, Robin, and nice to meet you at the Connections party!

 

We had a wonderful cruise. I will also be posting a review when I can get my 800 pictures uploaded! (No, I will not use all 800 in the review, I promise.)

 

For the poster who asked about the Noro, they did leave the restrictions in the buffet for the entire cruise, but an officer we asked on Friday said they had had no cases, so he thought they would be back to normal this week. He also said that the reason they kept them in place for our entire cruise was at the direction of the CDC.

 

Looking forward to more!

[stampinrobin]

Costa Maya: We booked Maya Chann (Miya Channe) beach on our own. The directions say he has to use port taxis, but if the wait is more than 15 minutes, we can walk out of the port and get a yellow taxi and they will pay for it. Went to the port taxi stand and they said it was a 25 minute wait, so off we were to the yellow taxi stand outside the port, about a ten minute walk. My two guys were skeptical that we would not have to pay for the cab ride since we were doing it on our own.

 

ok, now for the discussion on the ride there. You might have read reviews

about the road there. Well let's just say in life you get what you pay for

and that is applied to $$ and non-$$ things in life. At first the ride

was fine, twisty through town, slow speeds, I'm thinking oh this isn't

bad. The last 15 minutes (seemed like three hours) after we left the paved road was just crazy. I kept thinking this place better be worth it (hence the you get what you pay for).

 

The road is literally hard-packed sand with huge craters. So we went about 5 mph and dodged craters the entire time. The guys were fine but I emitted many heavy sighs!

 

It's so different, we are so spoiled in the states. But this is how the

country of Costa Maya takes care of their roads. I saw many for sale

signs on properties, but think it will take quite a bit of time before the

area is developed, the govt needs to step up to the plate. Another thing

I noticed was quite a bit of litter on the roads and beach. First I can't

believe people are littering and second of all, another place the govt

could step up and provide jobs and enhance their country.

 

So then all of a sudden the driver stopped at a small opening in the

shrubs and here we were. I walked up to the bar and they said they would

pay the driver, I did tip him a few bucks, he was a very good driver,

considering. If we would have been at the meeting spot at 9 a.m. like we

were supposed to we might have been in a bigger vehicle, but we couldn't

get it together that early. No worries!

 

 

So Preston greeted us and gave us a tour of the facilities and showed us

our wonderful 10' by 10' thatched roof Pa-LA-Pa.................we are in

heaven. There is a wonderful breeze! Immediately they bring us rum punch

and fresh fruit as a welcome. It's very breezy, so it' s not hot. You

can sit in the sun or be totally shaded. WONDERFUL !

 

Then Zach the activities director comes by and introduces himself as the

AD or beach clown, whichever your preference is. He asked if we wanted

massages and we said yes, and decided to do it right away to get in the

relaxed mode. Zach is a bit goofy, DS son said he's probably just in a

state of perpetual stoniness, and I'd agree. Rather like a Yah Mon type of

guy.

 

Massage, there are three of them giving massages in a nice little secluded

area. $25 for half hour. If you've never had a massage I'm sure it was

fine. If you get massages frequently, not so hot, it could have just been

the gal I had. She was very fast and a bit jerky. But I still managed

somehow to relax!

 

ok, so Zach the beach clown is actually a manager, he's just laid back. Very friendly and really does know what he's doing. He stopped by for a chat and we were asking him about Hurricane Dean and how MC got started. He showed us pictures of the property after Dean hit and what it looked like when the owner bought it.

 

It is amazing what they done with it! The owner's son David runs it and Preston and Zach help manage it. I have to give those three guys a lot of credit. It's very well run and their staff is quite friendly. The two bartenders, Hugo and Hugo were super friendly. If you go, try the Christmas Tree drink, very good!

 

After the massage we sat at the bar and used the WiFi, checked email for

the first time in a week. Had chips, salsa and gauc! Very good!!! Went

back to our hut and just chilled out until lunch time. They served the

best steak and chicken tacos! The steak melted in my mouth, it was SO

good! Guys played sand golf after lunch.

 

The only negative about the place is the water, it is weird, full of sea

grass (which they are constantly raking up off the beach) but the water

was not inviting at all. I saw this along the beach during the ride so I

think it is how most of Costa Maya is. I would not let that deter you from this wonderful place.

 

The PaLaPa's are set up on a sand path and each one is a bit set off from

the other, the place is not that big which is really nice because it's

just a short walk to the bar or bathroom facilities. They also have a

server who takes drink orders at your PaLaPa also. I rather felt like I

was in an outdoor house. The entire place was full of shrubbery and palm

trees, just so comfortable.

 

Before (right after the huricane)

 

 

After

 

 

 

 

this one is off their website, but I didn't get a picture and this sums it up for sure

 

 

 

The other guests were all friendly and most people ended up talking with

everyone else. The drinks were all good, used name brand liquor, etc.

Unfortunately we had to leave at 3:30 to take that long windy drive back. He had taxi vans there waiting for us.

 

We cheered when we finally hit pavement! I would give Maya Chan very high marks! No one wanted to leave!

*****

DH here- We were in Costa Maya about two years ago for the first time & I swore I would never go back there or at least not get off the boat like

Roatan. We were constantly hounded and I literally mean every 10 seconds by someone wanting to sell/massage/boat ride & over & over again.

 

Well thanks to DW finding Maya Chan, what a 180 difference this experience was. I told Zach and Preston, they simply got it right! They created the perfect little get-away for the day, intimate setting, and while you are around people, you definitely feel like you have your own space.

 

Plus, the bartenders were a Blast! Hugo and Hugo made their own absolutely delish drinks using fresh fruit and the good stuff. DW loved Hugo 2's Christmas tree drink!

 

 

[stampinrobin]

 

DS and I did the sand wedge golf tournament and it was very fun and creative-a very memorable experience.

 

Hey Zach, if you or any of the Maya Chan mgmt read this- I left my koozie on the bar, that I won for the most lucky shot, probably due to a state of forgetfulness brought on by too much of the good stuff. I’ll pay to ship it to us here in Indiana not because I need a koozie that bad, but, it represents one of my favorite sayings: “I’d rather be lucky than good”.

 

While the ride to Maya Chan was pretty much a bombed-out road- it’s worth every pothole. DS & I did a corona moment there (sitting in the beach chairs, toasting our coronas’ with a wedge of lime as we look our over the Caribbean sea). That’s what Maya Chan reminds me of!

 

 

******

[stampinrobin]

DW - It was formal night, but by the time we got back to the ship, again we were toast and decided to skip it. Ate in the buffet. I've noticed the buffet serves the same food each night. Salad, fruit, cold cuts, pasta bar, stir fry and then an assortment of meats--pork chops, grilled chicken, minute steak, along with some vegetables.

 

I don't want to compare cruise lines and we've only been on two (it is our goal to try them all) but I would have to say X totally beats Carnival on the breakfast, but Carnival has a much better lunch and dinner buffet. X is very repetitive, their quality is very good, but not enough variety.

 

I will admit I'm a picky eater, and am gluten free to add to that, which makes it harder, but still…… I ended up having tacos every day for lunch at the buffet and they didn't even offer salsa! I can't figure out what X does with their baked potatoes but they are weird looking and tasting, not fluffy at all.

 

I know most people like to eat in the MDR, but there are actually quite a

few people like us who don't. Every night we've been in X buffet for

dinner, I've been surprised by the amount of people there.

 

DS has lost in the casino, which makes him not a happy camper. We just came back to the room and watched another movie. As you probably are seeing a pattern here, we aren't so much into the night life.

 

Last sea day tomorrow. I notice in the newsletter tonight there is no

Gala Lunch Buffet like there was on the Century, that is a disappointment

for sure. I wonder if it is due to the Noro outbreak they are trying to

control. I haven't heard of anyone being sick. The buffet and beverages

are all still served, not self-service.

 

Last Sea Day. I decided I couldn’t eat in the buffet one more time so we decided to eat in the MDR tonight, but then on second thought made reservations at Silk Harvest.

 

DS and I went back to the Spa for a follow-up treatment on our teeth. Of course I ended up buying a couple boxes of the maintenance stuff. Didn’t want the initial money/treatment to go to waste! We took before and after pictures and can see a difference.

 

Just hung out and read and napped the day away. Met up with our lady friend and went to Silk Harvest at 8 p.m, the only time they had left. DS and Denise love love love Sushi and they were not disappointed at all. They ate a lot of it and quite the variety of it.

 

I am not a huge Asian food lover, and even I loved every thing I ate, which was the cream cheese wontons w/really good dipping sauce, spring rolls, orange chicken and silk fried rice. This was by far the best meal we ate all week. It’s served family style, you can order a variety of different things, the server is very helpful. It’s nice to be able to sample different items. Highly recommend it.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry that I couldn't comment on the evening entertainment for all of you, we just aren't into it.

 

We did self-assist disembarkation, something must have went wrong because there was a huge line and it was hot with all of us waiting in a small space and into the dining room (which I’m sure the people eating breakfast enjoyed)! It didn’t take too long and we were off.

 

I did hear quite a few negative comments during week, can’t quite recall what they were, but seriously people, get a life. I think the crew had quite a challenge dealing with this Noro outbreak, even though they had to be exhausted, most of them kept their smiles going. Way more than I could do dealing with demanding people!

 

As Sue mentioned above, we did not hear of any outbreaks during the week, hopefully they now have it under control.

****

DH here- while especially as a RN I do appreciate X for dealing with the Noro problem, and realize it may or may not have been their fault, I feel very strongly that X should have made some kind of attempt at service recovery as it did pretty much take our boarding day away from us and would have probably set a better tone overall for the other paying guests. For a cruise line that has a sole purpose of entertainment, a little gift card/credit or something can go a long way to get you to come back for repeat business.

***

DW-We had a great cruise. We are still on our quest to try all the mainstream cruise lines to find our perfect match (I think NCL is next). While we enjoyed X and Solstice, we do not think it is our perfect match. Had pros and cons, which I think every line will have and who knows after we try them all we might be head back to X ! It was a very very nice cruise, but maybe just a little too laid back for us.

 

Hope this was helpful to any of you crusing soon, let me know if you have any questions!

[stampinrobin]

Oops, I let the secret out of the bag! I would guess I'm not the only one who has "borrowed" any of your pictures!

 

We live in the Warsaw area, between South Bend and Fort Wayne.

 

 

WOW!! That's fun and interesting that you were able to use one of my pictures as your desktop picture. I'm sure that "royalty" check is "in the mail". Glad I was able to help.

 

See you are a neighbor in Indiana. Where at? These midwest winters make the cruises more important as a needed escape. Look forward to see more from your cruise.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Back from a June 7-19 Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 52,644 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[HeatherInFlorida]

...............

For the poster who asked about the Noro, they did leave the restrictions in the buffet for the entire cruise, but an officer we asked on Friday said they had had no cases, so he thought they would be back to normal this week. He also said that the reason they kept them in place for our entire cruise was at the direction of the CDC......

 

Thanks for this ... we'll hope for the best.

 

Robin & Rob, thank you again so much for this review. I just loved reading it and seeing all your pictures. We have also booked Maya Chan and it sounds wonderful from your description. It's such a shame about the seagrass, but David mentioned it can be there one minute and gone the next. You just never know. I'll hope for a miracle because DH really loves to go in.

 

We loved Silk Harvest on our last cruise on Solstice and plan to go there at least once again. We love the MDR and always get a big table. When we really like our tablemates (which is almost always) it's hard to break away too many nights.

 

We're doing the dolphin encounter in Cozumel and I just hope it's as wonderful as yours was in Grand Cayman.

 

Thank you again for your review .. I really appreciate it!

[10XCRUISE]

Robin,

 

DW and I got off the Solstice yesterday with you....When did you have time to post that review? We are sill doing laundry and opening mail:) Your review was great.

 

I must add this was our 28th cruise. Does that make us a 'cruise critic?

 

Loved our week with Celebrity!!! It wasn't the best itinerary but that was only 2nd to getting away from work and spending on beautiful ship with a great crew.

 

We had a CC cabin on deck 10 with a room steward that could not do enough for us. From past experience we learned to pack 1/2 the clothes needed and used their laundry service on Wednesday. They did not offer any 'cram the bag' special. Due to all of the extra suitcases (airline expenses) we no longer go to the formal nights.

 

For dining we chose the Select option and never waited more than 5 minutes for a 2 top. There were some obvious problems with the waitstaff getting the food to us in a reasonable amount of time, 35 minutes for the first course one night, which I mentioned to the Maitre d' (sp). He was overly apologetic and insisted on comping us a dinner in the Murano anytime. We weren't asking for anything but he insisted. Talk about some over the top customer service. P.S. The Murano dinner was fabulous.

 

The buffet dining was served by the staff the whole week for Noro reasons and as far as I'm concerned this should be standard practice. There was no serving trays that someone before you had mashed the food and the staff serving us was great.

 

We saw all of the evening entertainment and although each show was enjoyable it is not the venue that Celebrity invests much money on. We found the individual musicians scattered around the ship to be very good instead.

 

Been to the Caymans a dozen times and once you kissed the sting ray there wasn't much else 'to die for'.

 

Took a fabulous catamaran snorkel/beach trip in Cozumal which we highly recommend.

 

Roatan isn't really a must see destination (been there done that) so we opted for the Magic Island day trip. About 20 of us were ferried to a private island off the coast for a day of R & R. Perfect!! A blue lagoon, lobster lunch served on a deck over the water and ....no noise.

 

Back to Robin's post, she covered all of the details nicely and we second it.

 

Bravo Celebrity!!

[Amagamma]

We were also on this cruise. Was told to arrive at 2:00, but we decided to arrive a little later, 2:30. (We questioned the Celebrity rep on phone about arriving more like 4:00, and she said "Absolutely not, you need to be onboard 90 minutes prior to sailing). The line wrapped around outside several times. Total time waiting outside was 90 minutes, some of that time in the rain, only one section of line was under shelter. Once inside the building, it was about a 45 - 60 minutes before we were checked in. They kept closing down check in stations with a building full of upset people. Not too smart. While trying to board, they had the stairs closed off and our options were one elevator or escalator. We chose the escalator, and no one mentioned they had sprayed the handle with some kind of disinfectant, so while trying to hold our carryons and holding onto the railing, we all got covered in black grime, including our clothes. Discovered they had messed up our dinner time, so we split up and most of the group went to buffet to get some food for our 5 yr old grandson, and two of us went to dining room to fix the mix up. Another 60 minute wait to see MaitreD. We finally got to the buffet at 6:00, (we were told our rooms would be ready at 5), and no message about rooms yet. Finally a little before 6:30, we got to our rooms. I'm glad they took the time to disinfect the ship but I believe Celebrity could have handled embarkation so much better. We've cruised over 40 times, 20 on Celebrity, and this had to be the worst embarkation day. There should have been some kind of compensation or at least an apology for the disastrous first day. We heard so many people saying that they would expect this kind of thing from other cruise lines, not Celebrity. I also agree that the disembarkation was a nightmare also. Come on Celebrity, you can do better. Other than the first and last day, we did enjoy our cruise. It was a little trying at the buffet, so we only ate there for breakfast. We found that ordering room service for lunch was a lot more relaxing than fighting with people to get a beverage or table. This is the first time we didn't book another cruise onboard. We need a little time off from Celebrity, but we will probably be back.