Members Reviews of Solstice are concerning me.

[Painter]

I viewed members reviews of Solstice about ten months ago when I booked the Queensland Cruise and they were excellent. I am cruising in March on this ship and have noticed the "not so good " recent reviews of members. Should I be concerned??????

[constantcruiser]

I wouldn't be concerned. We've cruised on over 30 ships, and Solstice remains my all-time favorite even above two other S-class ships. In fact we're booked on her again for 2 weeks in September. But I'll tell you what, if you start to feel nervous about your decision, I'll take your place on that Australia cruise!

[dln929]

I viewed members reviews of Solstice about ten months ago when I booked the Queensland Cruise and they were excellent. I am cruising in March on this ship and have noticed the "not so good " recent reviews of members. Should I be concerned??????

 

I don't know what is is lately--maybe it's the winter season that's doing it--but posts like yours are popping up like crazy! "Should I worry about Solstice / Reflection / Silhouette..." When a ship gets consistently good reviews, no one says a peep. A sprinkling of less-than-stellar reviews sets off a panic. It makes little sense to me. Think of how many passengers sail on an Celebrity ship. 3000+, correct? How many of these people take the time to write reviews afterward? A small percentage. So you read a handful of negative reviews on any particular sailing...we'll say six people write in complaining that the lobster was tasteless, the magician wasn't funny, and that the bar prices were too high. This represents approximately .02% of the passengers who had disappointment in their cruise. Which means that presumably there were another 99% out there who either had a fantastic time, or if they didn't, they weren't troubled enough to write a review about it. I don't know about you, but I'm siding with the majority. Now go enjoy your cruise on the Solstice! And if you're still not convinced, you can read my review. We absolutely adored the Solstice. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1676328

[MicCanberra]

Do not worry about it Marlene, a cruise is room and board that travels to lovely places. It is only you that can make or break a holiday. Set out to enjoy yourself, don't let the little things get you down and it will be fantastic. Remember that people are more likely to complain then to praise (especially a few weeks later).

BTW, if you are not having fun, come and join Rosie and myself in a bar somewhere. See you in March Marlene andI will see you Constantcruiser in September.:D

[skylight]

Hi I have been on Celebrity Solstice August 2011 and May 2012. Both times I had the same cabin and both times it was a great cruise, food etc. I went once with my 24 year old daughter and once with my husband. It is a great ship with a good crew and good food. Dont listen to the whingers just enjoy yourself. We are on the Celebrity Reflection in May and I am ignoring all the bad reports. Have a great cruise.

[Andy]

I viewed members reviews of Solstice about ten months ago when I booked the Queensland Cruise and they were excellent. I am cruising in March on this ship and have noticed the "not so good " recent reviews of members. Should I be concerned??????

 

Hi Painter,

 

I sailed on Solstice's maiden voyage. She's an absolutely beautiful ship. I wouldn't be concerned. Regarding the review section, no matter how wonderful any ship is, there's always going to be a percentage who will share negative insights. Everyone has an opinion. As such, they are subjective.

 

My advice - Please dont worry. Look forward to your upcoming Cruise, and enjoy yourself. I wish you a wonderful Cruise.

[6andy6]

I viewed members reviews of Solstice about ten months ago when I booked the Queensland Cruise and they were excellent. I am cruising in March on this ship and have noticed the "not so good " recent reviews of members. Should I be concerned??????

 

Hmmm. I think you are missing the point. A fair amount of the reviews are also good. By the same token are you concerned you may have too much fun? :D

 

A cruise is no different to a movie. You can have a cinema full of people and rarely do they all agree whether it was good or bad or just meh. I have seen movies I loved that critics panned and seen movies critics loved and I thought was old twaddle.

 

Same with a cruise. Some have high expectations and expect champagne and caviar for the price of a can of beans.,some plod along and look beyond the little things ( not every cruise, or indeed event in life, is completely perfect). So,e have cruised in the 'yawn' good ole days and continually whinge about how things change......but somehow forget to look in the mirror.

 

Sometimes complaints are justified and people in a job can be unsuited, crabby or just off for the day and that affects how they perform.

 

I wouldn't worry about it....and it's to late to cancel.

[NETSEG]

I just got off Solstice on January 28 and have been on Reflection and Equinox in the past year. I find the a solstice class ships are pretty consistent in how they operate. My Solstice cruise was wonderful as the other two were. The Main Dining Room food was so good we opted not to do the Specialty restaurants. We had Anytime Dining and never waited more than 10 minutes for a table. The buffet was a notch lower but improved as the cruise progressed. The ship is in fine shape. The ice top of the Martini Bar was broken ....hardly a deal breaker. Selling of extras was no more obvious than other Celebrity ships or other mainstream cruise lines. Shore excursions were well organized. Some evening entertainment was well received; others were average but none were bad - the usual for most cruises. I find that as the ships travel into areas with a more diverse passenger mix, expectations can vary. I didn't encounter anything that would cause me to say Solstice was disappointing compared to other Celebrity ships. Enjoy your cruise.

[anandaindonesia]

Hmmm... ...

A cruise is no different to a movie. You can have a cinema full of people and rarely do they all agree whether it was good or bad or just meh. I have seen movies I loved that critics panned and seen movies critics loved and I thought was old twaddle.

Same with a cruise.... ...

I wouldn't worry about it....and it's to late to cancel.

 

Yes! It's too late to cancel yet it's not coming soon enough... 27 long days and 27 long nights to wait... Solstice, here we come!

:)

[Painter]

Thank you all for your positive thoughts...I will not cancel... but was just wondering if something major had brought about the recent reviews.

Anyway with MicCanberra and Heather (aka Pockets the Clown) it will be a fun cruise anyway.

[Painter]

Hi Painter,

 

I sailed on Solstice's maiden voyage. She's an absolutely beautiful ship. I wouldn't be concerned. Regarding the review section, no matter how wonderful any ship is, there's always going to be a percentage who will share negative insights. Everyone has an opinion. As such, they are subjective.

 

My advice - Please dont worry. Look forward to your upcoming Cruise, and enjoy yourself. I wish you a wonderful Cruise.

 

Yep....I'll be on board with bells on...well maybe not bells... but a big smile!

[MicCanberra]

Thank you all for your positive thoughts...I will not cancel... but was just wondering if something major had brought about the recent reviews.

Anyway with MicCanberra and Heather (aka Pockets the Clown) it will be a fun cruise anyway.

 

Yep....I'll be on board with bells on...well maybe not bells... but a big smile!

On second thoughts, bring the bells, they may come in handy.:D

[gek]

I looked up the reviews and there are 24 from the last 3 months, 18 of them are 4 stars or better (including mine). The others are 3 stars.

 

I read all of the 3 star reviews and I didn't agree with a lot of what they wrote. I must admit I tend to be fairly generous in my reviews as I realise that no ship can please everybody all the time. Any criticism I could make about the Solstice would be pointless nit-picking

 

You have nothing to worry about. The Solstice remains a fantastic ship.

[NSWP]

A few 'whingeing Aussies' are to blame for those reviews, in the past 3 months or so. Don't worry about it Painter, go on with the right attitude.

 

I did not think Aussies whinged much, until I did Sun Princess around Australia in 2008, 2000 whingers. But then last year we had a few hundred whingeing Poms and a few hundred whingeing Aussies on P&O UK's 'Arcadia' all the way from Sydney to Southampton. Ye Gods ! Me thinks I would rather cruise in the company of North Americans.

 

Enjoy your cruise, just close your ears to he 'Whingers.'

[ctp365]

I always take those reviews with a grain of salt. Some people just seem to like to complain.

 

What can there be to complain about - a lovely ship, no cooking, no housework, no work. The most stressful decision of the day will be whether to find a sunny spot or a shady spot to read that book :)

 

I'll be there on that March Queensland cruise with bells on too :)

[gek]

I always take those reviews with a grain of salt. Some people just seem to like to complain.

 

What can there be to complain about - a lovely ship, no cooking, no housework, no work. The most stressful decision of the day will be whether to find a sunny spot or a shady spot to read that book :)

 

I'll be there on that March Queensland cruise with bells on too :)

 

My thoughts precisely. Although I think my reviews don't give people a balanced perspective. Here's my revised "Whingeing Aussie "review:

 

"What a nightmare! On boarding the Solstice I noticed someone had dropped a napkin from the complementary champagne and it remained on the floor for a good 10 seconds before someone picked it up. Not a good start.

 

We were then forced to rush to get dressed for dinner because the muster drill was so badly timed. The crew tried to make the drill as entertaining as possible but by now I was in such a bad mood that I was just irritated by their antics.

 

Speaking of dinner - oh dear! Every night I was forced to choose between multiple delicious meals and I missed some great dishes because they weren't repeated on other nights. The menus needs to be reorganised so that my personal favourites are spread out over the cruise.

 

As for the other passengers, well one night a lady irritated me. I won't go into details but I was sorely miffed by her behaviour for at least a minute or two. It left a bad taste in my mouth and I now have a low opinion of Celebrity customers.

 

The entertainment was barely adequate. There were no hard-core stoner doom metal bands playing anywhere on board and I'm sure many of the other passenger were as disappointed as me. I noticed a couple of people frowning as they left the theatre one night.

 

Overall I don't think I will cruise with Celebrity again. I think sitting at home eating takeaway food and watching TV is definitely the sort of vacation I prefer"

[Painter]

gek...that is so funny!

 

Can't wait for the 28th March to arrive.

[misha1]

Do not worry about it Marlene, a cruise is room and board that travels to lovely places. It is only you that can make or break a holiday. Set out to enjoy yourself, don't let the little things get you down and it will be fantastic. Remember that people are more likely to complain then to praise (especially a few weeks later).

BTW, if you are not having fun, come and join Rosie and myself in a bar somewhere. See you in March Marlene andI will see you Constantcruiser in September.:D

 

I agree and disagree. I cruise because I love the atmosphere on the cruise ship. The ports we stop at are secondary. If the vibe and service are sub-par on the ship, it can affect how I feel about that cruise. That being said, I know I am a very fortunate person to even have the experience of travel and so I never let less than perfect situations affect my happiness. And I agree that you will see a propensity of reviews that showcase the complaints vs the compliments. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good reviews that are sprinkled with concerns. If a review starts off with a negative tone, I bypass it. It's all relative.

[u2cruiser]

I agree and disagree. I cruise because I love the atmosphere on the cruise ship. The ports we stop at are secondary. If the vibe and service are sub-par on the ship, it can affect how I feel about that cruise. That being said, I know I am a very fortunate person to even have the experience of travel and so I never let less than perfect situations affect my happiness. And I agree that you will see a propensity of reviews that showcase the complaints vs the compliments. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good reviews that are sprinkled with concerns. If a review starts off with a negative tone, I bypass it. It's all relative.

 

I'm somewhere between your view and MicCanberra's view. We are very low maintenance and don't require anything much, other than a smile and a bit of banter from our waiters and bar staff, so room and board plus the chance to visit lovely places suits us just fine.

 

We've only had one 'off' cruise (not Celebrity) and it was off from the beginning; mainly because of the unusually miserable crew, unhappy waiters in the 'anytime' dining room and awful weather on sea days, (it was a TA) which caused crowding inside the ship. I didn't review it on CC or even mention it much, as I knew it wouldn't go down well on the forum and it was only our view.

 

Obviously, nothing can be done about the weather, but a miserable crew, for whatever reason has a big impact on any cruise. It's put me off the cruiseline, yet we had an amazing cruise with them a year earlier.

 

Interestingly, the very same cruise had some great reviews, with contradicting reports about the miserable crew. Just shows, you can have a very different cruise experience on the same ship, depending on who you come into contact with onboard. I suppose we should give them another chance in the future. :o

 

To the OP, they had to drag us kicking and screaming off Solstice in November. It was our best ever cruise and best ship experience. :D

[cruisetrail]

I viewed members reviews of Solstice about ten months ago when I booked the Queensland Cruise and they were excellent. I am cruising in March on this ship and have noticed the "not so good " recent reviews of members. Should I be concerned??????

 

These ship are covered by heavy layers of advertising makeup.

However they have their pros and cons.

Whatever reviews are - they cannot change anything.

 

There may be so-called "positive" or "negative" reviews.

Pay attention to competent reviews before you make your choice.

Once your choice has been made, think positive and prepare to enjoy your cruise.

Even the worst, oldest and cheapest ships sail full and have positive reviews.

[stormynow]

One poster complained because they had to stand in a single line to check in. That is behind one another. Please put me in that line now!!

[gelo7]

I don't think that you should be concerned.

[MicCanberra]

I agree and disagree. I cruise because I love the atmosphere on the cruise ship. The ports we stop at are secondary. If the vibe and service are sub-par on the ship, it can affect how I feel about that cruise. That being said, I know I am a very fortunate person to even have the experience of travel and so I never let less than perfect situations affect my happiness. And I agree that you will see a propensity of reviews that showcase the complaints vs the compliments. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good reviews that are sprinkled with concerns. If a review starts off with a negative tone, I bypass it. It's all relative.

Maybe I should clarify that it is 5* room and board, very enjoyable in nearly anyones book.:D

[NSWP]

Good comments, the one from gek a classic. As for myself, I don't care what ship I am on as long as I am on a ship.