Review for Solstice Mediterranean Venice cruise June 28, 2012

[dln929]

Debarkation in Barcelona was fast and painless, especially when you don't have to leave at the crack of dawn. We had a leisurely breakfast outdoors, loading up our plates with a rib-sticking English breakfast of coddled eggs, baked beans, sausages, fried tomato and more. We made little piggies of ourselves on the last morning, knowing that from then on we'd have to be feeding ourselves. I must say I love that aspect about a cruise--I always know when and where I'll get fed. It's such a stress reducer. :D

 

We took ourselves down to the MDR to await our group being called. One last ping when our seapass went in the machine. One final lump in the throat. Good bye, sweet Solstice, til we meet again!

 

We (mistakenly) thought that because we were among the last to get off the ship, the bulk of the crowds would have cleared out. NOT. There were still hundreds of people milling about waiting for transportation. I do not wait for anything least of all taxis, so off we headed to pound the pavement. If you're in reasonably good shape and don't have luggage that weighs 2000 pounds, there's no reason why you couldn't walk into Barcelona. We walked for about 45 minutes or less before we found a taxi to take us to our hotel near Placa Catalunya, where we proceeded to enjoy another precious day of vacation in the gracious city of Barcelona. We didn't even get pickpocketed, either. ;)

 

 

[dln929]

How wonderful to visit your daughter in Florence! I know how happy that made all three of you!:):)

 

It did make us happy to see Philippa! She hasn't seen American soil in nearly a year and a half because, of course, it is so much easier for her parents to come to Italy to see her than for her to come home. Seriously though for as much as we are glad she lives and works in Italy--it's like a dream come true--it's hard to be so far away from her. I could really relate to all the crew members when they told us how many months go by before they go home to see their families. Sure, everyone thinks it's glamorous to see the world on a cruise ship, and indeed it is, but it's hard work and it's hard to be separated from your loved ones.

 

Philippa and her happy dad in Florence. She speaks Italian very well now, which is a benefit when in the gelato shops. She does the ordering and we get the "locals only" scoops which are so much bigger! :D

 

 

[tright]

I really enjoyed reading your review. We will be taking our first cruise to Europe this year and will be seeing few of ports you talk about. Thanks for taking the time to post and I also enjoyed the pictures

[HardHeadedWoman]

I loved your review! My fiancé and I will be taking this cruise in September and you just got us even more excited.

 

So great that you got to see your daughter, too!

 

Happy Travels,

Lissette

[dln929]

Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting!

 

Before I get on to our day in Barcelona, I should tell you all about the Views From the Railing. I've never been on a cruise where we've sailed within sight of land for so long. I am all about the View. There was always a plethora of things to do inside--listen to the live music, attend a destination talk, exercise, etc. We missed a lot of this because we couldn't tear ourselves away from the deck railing. The views!!! Most people park themselves by the pool when it's almost a hundred degrees out. Not us. Maybe it's a function of living in the flat Midwest that makes a mountain so fascinating to us? No matter. They're awe-inspiring to look wherever you call home. It was particularly memorable to sail through the Strait of Messina with Sicily on one side and mainland Italy on the other. Cooler than cool.

 

Here are some views from the railing. Enjoy!

 

The Croatian coastline as dawn is breaking.

 

 

Another golden sunset. What beats the romance of a sunset at sea?

 

This is what the Croatian coastline looks like before you reach Dubrovnik, later in the morning after the haze has dissipated at bit.

 

 

Deck 5 just outside Cafe al Baccio was never busy and there are comfortable teak chaises to sit on (the old-fashioned kind that make you think of grand ocean liners).

 

 

 

[dln929]

Everyone has their favorite "thing" on a cruise and for me it's watching the pilot boats in the morning. You can watch them with me from the comfort of your own computer. :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[cruiseacecat]

Your review was truly enjoyable. Do you happen to have the officers "spotlight" and would you be willing to post the names? Thanks

 

Anne

[buzzybuzzbuzz]

Thank you for a great review, 7 weeks and we will be aboard.

[dln929]

As of July 2012, from the Solstice "In the Spotlight":

 

Master: Captain Costas Nestoroudis

Chief Engineer: Stavros Zannikos

Staff Captain: Tasos Kafetzis

Guest Relations Manager: Tom Beeckman

Hotel Director: Jan Willem Kuipers

Cruise Director: Stewart Turnbull

Food & Beverage Manager: John-Paul Lamb

Executive Chef: Michael Fernandes

CC Host: Melissa Snow

[dln929]

Rob and I are huge Sondheim fans. Has anyone seen his musical "Company?" There's a song in it called Barcelona. It starts out thus: (him) "Where ya going?" (her) "Barcelona" and so on and so forth. It's about as catchy a tune (meaning it stays in your head playing itself over and over) as Disney's It's a Small World After All. I kid you not. Fortunately Rob and I are diehard fans and we tolerate it and even enjoy it. Nonetheless, here we are singing Barcelona to each other for years and years and neither of us has ever been. Thank goodness the Solstice sailed along to rectify that problem.

 

Barcelona lived up its billing. Even though all those posts on CC about the pickpocketing epidemic did try their best to scare the beejeepers out of me. I had to give myself a pep talk, telling myself that I've been to all corners of the world and I've never had anything stolen from me, and to take all the scaremongering with a grain of salt. It's not that I can pretend Barcelona doesn't have a problem with petty thieves--even our walking guide warned us sternly to watch our belongings. But, with proper awareness you can even the odds out. We were careful in Barcelona and we did enjoy ourselves without worry, and we didn't have to buy special purses or wear money belts or any other gizmo. We were fine even with walking up and down las Ramblas dozens of times.

 

We lined up two walking tours with Runnerbean, which is a tips-only free walking tour. One a tour of the old city and the other a Gaudi tour. Both were excellent and we tipped generously. The latter tour was especially good because it involved two trips on the subway so we got a lesson on how to use public transportation. I was pretty impressed with the Metro. It was on time and very clean and well lit.

 

We stayed at the Hotel Praktik Ramblas http://www.hotelpraktikrambla.com/ which we liked very much. It was well located, the staff was very personable and helpful, and it had lovely rooms and a terrace. I would not hesitate returning to it.

 

So we fell in love with Barcelona and its people. I do think Barcelona has stolen away the heart I thought I gave Paris years ago. Isn't that the great thing about cruises? You're given the opportunity to "sample" places you might never have gone to otherwise. Thank you dear Solstice for taking me to Barcelona!

 

Some photos of the beautiful Barcelona.

 

 

This is the reception area of our hotel with stairs leading up to the rooms.

 

 

There are lovely buildings with wrought iron balconies everywhere!

 

This is the courtyard in the old city that leads to the two Roman arches.

 

[cruiseacecat]

Thanks so much for the "spotlight info"

 

Anne

[momofmeg]

We stayed over after the cruise and we also did a tour with a taxi driver. When we considered the cost of the tour through Celebrity times 3 plus pickup from airport etc. we decided this was best. We enjoyed it very much. We even ate lunch with our taxi driver-we had him take us to what he liked and he took us to an Argentinean restaurant that was in one of their malls. He only spoke a little English and our Spanish is even less than his English-although we are trying to learn Spanish-LOL! That was a lot of fun! We saw the unfinished church, that castle, some other landmarks by that famous architect, a nice park area, and we also did souvenir shopping. We actually did a deal with him, where he picked us up at the airport, took us to the first hotel,took us to the cruise port, and then picked us up at cruise port after the cruise,did a 5 hour tour with us, and then took us to our hotel near the airport. He did the whole thing for 250 euros total. Of course hubby bought his lunch and did tip him a little more-as we felt he was worth it.

 

Pre- cruise we stayed between Los Rambas and the dock at a little hotel recommended by Trip Advisor. It was called Hotel Abravadeo and it was in an area with restaurants, shops and behind it was a residential area. It was considered a budget hotel, but the rooms were clean, our bed were comfortable, and we even had a small bathtub and bidet in our bathroom. It ended up costing us around $100 US. (70 euros-euros were fairly cheap against the dollar when we were there) I loved that from our window we could see the balconies of the apartments with all their stuff on them including their clothes lines with clothes drying!

 

Post cruise we stayed at a Best Western near the airport. It was more (135 euros)-but this time our daughter stayed in the room with us, whereas pre-cruise she shared a room with her friend. Plus the shuttle to the airport was included in price, and this hotel had a pool, although we did not use it.

[librarylady19]

Deidre,

I just had to pop back to say how much I enjoyed your review and lovely photos. I will have to pick your brain too, like Cocobakerchica onboard Summit! Now I will have no trouble finding you guys thanks to your photos!!

[momofmeg]

Just another thought about the pick pockets. I have heard it is pretty bad all over Europe but I think we need to use good sense and take precautions.

 

Here is the two incidents I know personally. When we took a land tour of France 3 years ago, one of our tour mates got his wallet stolen in Paris. This was in the evening when we had free time. He had taken a city bus to the Louve. He had his wallet in a backback. Our tour guide and the hotel helped him to get in touch with the American Embassy so he could get his passport replaced.

 

The other incident was told to us by friends of ours who took a cruise out of Rome last summer and stayed in Rome several days pre-cruise. They were on a city bus going somewhere and it was standing room only. Another passenger next to him fell against him twice, and then proceeded to exist at a stop. Fortunately he looked down saw his fanny pack was unzipped and his wallet was gone-he yelled that the guy had taken his wallet-and the bus driver closed the door-the guy threw back his wallet and THEN the bus driver allowed him to exit.

 

Well we all know in BOTH of these cases that back packs and fanny packs are no-nos-too easy for pickpockets to get into.

 

In our case we wore neck wallets. I also had a bra pocket and a waist belt (goes under shirt) for hubby- both were made of silk and very thin-so you could not see them under clothing. I did not even try to hide my neck wallet-as I heard pickpockets are aware of them-so I had it out and kept my hand on mine. In the silk bra pocket I put my credit cards/bank card-so if my neck wallet got lifted-that would not be taken. Hubby did the same with his belt wallet.

 

We also put enough cash on a refillable VISA, as we hoped we would not use our bank/credit cards-and we didn't -we came back with $500 still on that VISA! Nothing happened to us but if it had-it would have been a couple of thousand-not our bank account or credit card account-and if it did happen-we had our bank cards for an emergency.

[PathfinderEss]

Really great review and wonderful photo's. Thanks for posting them.

[dln929]

Thank you everyone for reading and sharing your comments. And for being so nice about the photos. They're not high resolution so you're all being very kind. I took over a 1,000 photos *not hard to do* and when Rob loaded them onto Shutterfly he said it would take a week if we loaded them on crisp and sharp. So in the interest of time, I said Oh alright do the low resolution upload and get them on the site so I can start my trip report already. :eek:

 

Some random observations about our cruise with photos to illustrate.

 

Have fun. Touring in Europe can be intimidating when you're surrounded by eons of history and drama. It has a way of reminding you that you're just a little spec in the sea of humanity that has both preceded you and will follow you. Thumb your nose up at it every now and then. Every time we're in Rome, we put our head on the headless statue at the Baths of Diocletian and snap a photo. It's not often that I get the chance to see Rob sport full hips and a bosom, so I take advantage. :D

 

 

 

 

Don't obsess about the dress code and what everyone else is wearing. This man didn't. And from what I observed, his wife thought he looked pretty fine. ;)

 

 

It's okay to get lost in alleyways with graffiti and wash hanging down the sides of the building. Even if it looks strange to you. We had planned on going to Sorrento when we docked in Naples. Hardly anyone who docks in Naples ever goes to Naples and in a lot of ways, that's a pity. No, it's not heart stoppingly beautiful like Ravello on the Amalfi coast. And yes, there are petty crime problems. But be brave! You don't always have to go on an excursion to have an adventure. Hit the tourist booth that's always outside the pier, get a map, and go forth and conquer. You might find interesting things.

 

 

 

 

[dln929]

Explore the ship! Just go walking around and look. There's lots of really interesting artwork around. Some of it's weird, some of it's wonderful, and some of it falls somewhere in between, but it's all there for your enjoyment. I passed by this vase several times without giving it more than a cursory glance. Then I went to to the Hot Glass show and one of the glass blowers started talking about the different colors in glass and how they cool at different rates. She mentioned black and white color combinations as an example. Voila! On an aimless sea day stroll around the Solstice I noticed this vase again and I looked at it in a whole new light.

 

 

 

 

 

If you're cruising in the summer and it's boiling hot, use the beach towel Celebrity provides in your cabin! It's meant to be taken to the beach. Sure the pool on the upper decks is nice, but there's nothing that beats real water. We put our beach towel in our Celebrity tote and took it to Lokrum Island in Dubrovnik. We found a swimming hole called the Dead Lake and it came with a really amazing cave.

 

 

 

 

 

Drink the fountain water and dress appropriately. We brought a water bottle from home with us and filled it up wherever we went. The water is good and clean and cool and did I say, free? It's also handy for sticking your head under when the heat gets absolutely unbearable. Do it~ no one is looking at your hairdo when it's a hundred degrees. And it IS possible to dress for the weather and still stay modest enough to warrant admission into the churches. Rob is wearing a linen shirt. They wrinkle like crazy but everyone knows that, so it's okay to venture forth looking a little rumpled. The linen breathes and stands up well in the heat. His pants are hiking/travel pants from ExOfficio. We got them at a good price from Sierra Trading Post on-line. They weigh next to nothing and the fabric is breathable and moisture-wicking, making them perfect for high heat days.

 

[dln929]

If you are interested in wine, sign up for one of the wine tastings. This one was held as we were sailing away from Venice. There were picnic blankets provided if we wanted them. Several wine stations were set up with various whites and reds. The sommeliers pouring the samples were happy to talk about the wines and answer all your questions. I never knew I could like white wines before this tasting! The cost was a very reasonable $25 per person. Trust me, we got our money's worth out of this one. :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lawn is open 24/7/. You don't always have to go to a show after dinner. Or hit the lounges or the casino. You can walk upstairs to the lawn and play a game of bocce ball. If you're lucky you might even beat your honey at a game or two, which, of course, entitles you to do the Happy Dance of Victory.

 

 

 

 

The ship's officers on the Solstice are very nice and very approachable. Talk to them! Though not when they're working. :p

 

[dln929]

Don't leave ship without your camera! You never know what wacky things you may see. I don't know if I'd ever spot something like this except in Venice.

 

 

If you want to break out the sparkle and glitter and glamour for Formal night, do it! You'll have lots of company. Have your photo taken, too. If you like it, a nice size print is only $20 to buy. If you don't like it, you can take it to the photo desk and they'll get rid of it for you so no one else can see it. :cool:

 

 

 

There are more comfortable chairs on board than the ones you see around the pool. Some of them are on the decks that no one really bothers with, like Deck 5. It makes for a very nice place to take a little snooze before heading over to the MDR or restaurant for a big dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

[billrco90278]

Wonderful thread! Appreciate your insights. We are doing this itinerary on the Solstice in October and are getting more and more excited each day.

[momofmeg]

I love your photos. Nothing wrong with them. My hubby took tons but I do not know how to post them beyond that tiny size that you can tell nothing about-LOL! so it is great you posted your photos!

[portofino3]

Thank you so much I can't wait departing on the 15th Aug

 

David.

[Golfgal]

What a great review! Thanks for sharing and making me even more excited to be boarding Solstice on Friday. Can't wait. We fully intend to take your advice and take time to pause for breath and relax. Thanks again :)

[dln929]

Thanks for all the wonderful comments! Cruising in the Mediterranean, it's all about the boat. You'll see every kind under the sun which presents some great photo opportunities.

 

Graceful sailboats dot the seas. We saw them at nearly every port.

 

 

There were sightseeing boats like this one in Dubrovnik.

 

 

 

And for a glimpse into the lifestyles of the rich and famous, a yacht in Cannes.

 

 

But somehow, nothing beat the BIG boat. Here's the Silhouette docked along side us in Venice with the dawn sun glinting on her side.

 

[dln929]

On the subject of the wedge balcony. I've read a lot about them and one of these days we're going to stay in one. Talk about a bargain--same price as others in its category and all that extra space! On debarkation day I asked our cabin steward if he had a quick minute to show me one. He very graciously said yes (I swear I didn't take up too much of his time as I know how busy they are! ;)) Here's a 1A category balcony. It is lovely. And it absolutely does NOT have a claustrophobic closed in feel. I'd grab one in a heartbeat if it came my way.

 

Continuing along the wedge balcony train of thought, I could not recommend the wedge balcony cabins that are portside aft, most particularly those on the 6th and 7th decks. These are cabins 6237, 39, 41, 43; 7241, 43, 45, 47. Not unless you are a late night partyer and/or smoker. Deck 5 underneath these cabins is where the smokers gather. It's actually a fantastic spot for them to hang out and if I were a smoker, I'd be right there with them. Really! The location is really good and there are chairs and lots of deck space. It's party central late at night. If I were staying in any of those wedge balcony cabins right above them, however, I'd be a little put out. Maybe this was something particular to our cruise, a fluke of nature maybe, but the smokers on Deck 5 were a happy, vocal (read LOUD) group. I wouldn't have wanted a cabin anywhere near them. :(