Celebrity Solstice NZ review

[cruiseph]

This was our first Celebrity cruise, although we have been on many cruises I the past, To start with our bags were left on the pier in Sydney in the pouring rain before the ship departed. Almost everything was wet inside. This happened to many people. They did launder some pieces, but one tee-shirt was stretched out. I had wet clothes hanging all over the room. All our papers were soaked as well.

 

Because of the bad weather we did not get to sit on our balcony until near the end of the trip. I was under the impression that this was a non-smoking ship, but it appears the one smoking area was right below our balcony on the lower deck. We had to come in due to the cigar smoke. I spoke to customer relations the next day and the said our travel agent should have been aware of this, but they would switch our room if we desired. I have a card from them showing where everything was on the ship, and it did not indicate this smoking area. As we were at the end of the trip, we did not want to pack everything to move. They indicated this was our only recourse. How can they design a smoking area below a balcony room? They said they just change rooms if people complain. This was unacceptable to me.

 

There were also too many sea days, and for a ship this size we were amazed there was no bridge program. There were 5 tables open to a noisy atrium for "games" and you had to make your own card games. Five tables for 2800 passengers was ridiculous. If you found a game, there was no table to play at.

 

We took an expensive excursion to Queenstown, which was very good, except for the lunch the last day. It was a terrible buffet, and we ate very little. I barely made it off the bus before I was sick, and I was sick all night. They said they would report this to the shore excursion people, but again no compensation.

 

My recommendation would be to take a road trip in NZ rather than a cruise, and we would not use Celebrity again.

[Big_G]

Many people find out about these things here on Cruise Critic. Thanks for posting.

[jelayne]

I'm sorry you didn't have a good trip. Having your luggage in the rain & wet clothes would not be a good way to start a cruise. When it pours & about 6,000 pieces luggage have to go from the terminal to the dock & to get loaded on the ship some of it will get wet.

 

We had this happen to one of our bags with a different cruise line. Fortunately the bag that got wet held our swimsuits, workout clothes, rain jackets, snorkel masks & similar items so not a real problem.

 

Celebrity isn't a non-smoking line but they do not allow smoking inside or on the balconies. Its unfortunate if someone told you the ships were entirely non-smoking.

[GUT2407]

Too many sea days.

 

Didn't you look at the itinerary first? They don't hide how many sea days there are. Our first cruise we spent days looking at itineraries to make sure that there weren't many sea days as herself has seasickness issues, now she knows how to treat it we are not as worried but we still always look to see where we are going and how many sea days there are, but now we want more of them not less.

 

Smoking.

 

You need to take it up with your TA if they told you Celebrity was non-smoking.

 

I'm also not sure where they could put the smoking area that it wouldn't waft into some other area, there is really no where on the ship other than the top deck that there wouldn't be a balcony pretty close to above it.

[cruzeluver]

The luggage thing would have been upsetting to me as well.

 

Did you not know the number of sea days you would have prior to boarding? That seems strange.

 

I am curious how you came to believe that the ship would be non-smoking. I am not aware of any ship on any line that is 100% non-smoking. Of the big-ship, major lines Celebrity has one of the most restrictive smoking policies in effect.

[Phxazzcruisers]

It is a shame Mother Nature was not good to you for the start of the cruise. I am sure your wet bags totally put you off the entire cruise. I am sure you knew how many sea days there would be, you cannot blame Celebrity for that. We find the smoking policy on Celebrity on of the best we have looked at, that is one of the reasons we chose to sail on Celebrity. Again, sorry you had a bad adventure.

[NLH Arizona]

At least your luggage was just left on the dock, I've heard horror stories about some falling into the sea before they make it on the ship.

 

Did everyone get sick who ate the buffet on your excursion? If not, I wouldn't think Celebrity owes anyone any compensation. Now if everyone who ate did, that is a different story.

[GUT2407]

The wet luggage is why we use hard shell luggage as we once got our soaked while walking from the train to the hotel.

[SPacificbound]

I'm sorry your cruise was a disappointment to you.

 

New Zealand deserves much more time then a few stops by cruise ship. If you are able to do so, plan a land trip to New Zealand for at least two weeks, it will be amazing.

[Vikstar]

The bags being left in the rain is inexcusable and you should have been compensated for this - did you speak to customer relations?

 

The smoking issue can be avoided by researching where the smoking areas are and avoid rooms in the vicinity.

 

The too many sea days can't be avoided unless we can miraculously move AU closer to NZ or vice versa.

 

It's a shame there were some issues with your cruise, but were there some fun and exciting things also? I find on cruises there's usually so much to do I feel disappointed because I end up missing out on things.

 

Edited to add: Sometimes you can't sweat the small stuff or you will be miserable. I agree that wet bags are not small things, but not enough game tables can be overcome by doing something else interesting on the ship until one was available or taking a game to another area (if this is allowed?)

Edited February 15, 2015 by Vikstar
Stuff

[CathyCruises]

I agree that bags left out in the rain is inexcusable, but there is such a thing as personal responsibility. I believe the OP Cannot complain that there were too many sea days, that's ridiculous. Obviously did not do their homework ahead of tiime. And the smoking issue would have been easily resolved by also doing homework; he has found cruise critic, for one thing, and that issue is talked about ad nauseum here. Saying that you were 'under the impression' that the ship is non smoking just means you didn't care enough to check it out. I have read many cautions here about not booking port side cabins on deck 6 for that very reason. A little research goes a long way.

 

They may not book celebrity again, but hopefully they have learned how to book a cruise in the future.

[uktog]

The OP having got off to a bad start does not seem able to move on. Bags being left out is not great but it happens at airports as well so preventative measures are always needed when packing.

 

Funny I was in NZ the last five weeks - the weather has been unseasonably dry and gorgeous, they are desperate for rain as they are in Oz

[Hlitner]

Interesting post and thanks for sharing. We have also had our share of cruises with our luggage being soaked by rain, but it has always happened to us in Florida ports. The cruise lines will usually offer to launder (or dry clean) items if that is helpful.

 

Complaining about too many sea days is really an absurd complaint since folks book their own cruises and should be aware of the itinerary. This kind of complaint is akin to booking a 8 hour airline flight and then complaining that the flight took 8 hours!

 

We do agree with the smoking complaint and the only solution is to simply ban all smoking on a ship, but none of the cruise lines seem to be ready to adapt this total smoking ban. So those of us who hate smelling cigarette/cigar smoke have learned to study deck plans and avoid cabins near outdoor smoking areas. We would add that some other lines such as HAL actually allow passengers to smoke on their balconies.

 

Hank

[Pushka]

That's really unfortunate about your luggage. But the rest is really user-error or TA or Mother Nature at work. Not even Celebrity controls the weather.

 

We had the cabin directly above the smoking area. We knew about it through CC but we were lucky and it was never an issue.

 

This would be that cabin view:

 

Edited February 15, 2015 by Pushka

[MicCanberra]

Thanks cruiseph for posting your review, a shame it was so bad for you, I hope you enjoy any future cruise you do.:D

[hobbsie65]

That's really unfortunate about your luggage. But the rest is really user-error or TA or Mother Nature at work. Not even Celebrity controls the weather.

 

We had the cabin directly above the smoking area. We knew about it through CC but we were lucky and it was never an issue.

 

This would be that cabin view:

 

 

Hi- Could you tell me what cabin this was as we have booked 6155 which I think is fine. Many thanks

[MangoPicker]

Hello CruisePH,

 

You don't happen to know whether the folks downstairs were smoking cigars purchased onboard the ship? I suspect being an US liner they won't have been smoking Cuban cigars that have a highly floral and aromatic aroma - a delight for the senses. I suspect the cigars were cheap ones from Dominican or Niceragua.

 

Did you see the prices of Cigars onboard?

 

Thanks

[DYKWIA]

 

My recommendation would be to take a road trip in NZ rather than a cruise, and we would not use Celebrity again.

 

Whilst touring a country or a selection of countries by cruise ship might be perfectly enjoyable, there are very countries that I can think of (other than VERY tiny island nations) that I would say are BEST explored by cruise ship.

 

Having traveled to New Zealand a few times it really does lend itself perfectly to exploration by car with the odd side trip by boat, train and helicopter / small aircraft - very easy driving.

Edited February 15, 2015 by DYKWIA

[AntjeG]

I was on the same cruise. Yes, we had that bad start in Sydney but the rain is mother nature´s fault, not Celebrity´s. My baggage was wet, too, but it was already wet when I finally made it to the terminal. The crew did their best by offering to put clothes into the dryer.

 

As for the sea-days:

You know how many sea-days are scheduled when you book the cruise. Unfortunately, we had one more day at sea because we were unable to dock in Tauranga due to high winds but again: I think this is nature and not Celebrity´s fault.

 

As for room/tables in public areas:

I had an inside stateroom so I spent all day in the public areas and never had a problem to find space. I saw people playing card or board games all around the ship. You don´t have to stay in the card room to do this.

 

My complete review is here, if anybody is interested:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2167007

[hcat]

Gee, never had our bags rained on ...lucky I guess!. But perhaps in the future we could use dry cleaning bags as a liner to better protect items inside...can always learn from posts on CC!

 

We changed our room on our recent cruise on Connie on the first night. .We were just about fully unpacked but decided to give up our primo midships AQ cabin because of the unending noise and vibrations from the pool deck above, caused by the awful .loud DJ with added drum banging, After the DJ they had zumba...and parties scheduled throughout the cruise.

 

The person they sent to check it out could not even stay in the room and authorized the move immediately. Luckily, they showed us a much quieter cabin on same deck and we grabbed it. Surprisingly, not much help was given with the move but we were glad we did it. Was alot of work fir an hour or two,...but the cabin switch was worth it.

 

no more midships for us underneath where the DJ and zumba and events are held,,...even if a bigger balcony...

[Jade13]

We took this cruise last year and loved it.

[MicCanberra]

I was on the same cruise. Yes, we had that bad start in Sydney but the rain is mother nature´s fault, not Celebrity´s. My baggage was wet, too, but it was already wet when I finally made it to the terminal. The crew did their best by offering to put clothes into the dryer.

 

As for the sea-days:

You know how many sea-days are scheduled when you book the cruise. Unfortunately, we had one more day at sea because we were unable to dock in Tauranga due to high winds but again: I think this is nature and not Celebrity´s fault.

 

As for room/tables in public areas:

I had an inside stateroom so I spent all day in the public areas and never had a problem to find space. I saw people playing card or board games all around the ship. You don´t have to stay in the card room to do this.

 

My complete review is here, if anybody is interested:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2167007

 

Cheers.:D

[MicCanberra]

A simple tip that we have done for years is to wrap your clothes in plastic bags or bin liners in your luggage so if it rains they remain dry. This applies for air travel as well.:D

[GUT2407]

Thanks for an alternate take on the same cruise.

[GUT2407]

Thanks for an alternate take on the same cruise.

 

 

Sorry quote from AntjeG won't take for some reason.

Edited February 15, 2015 by GUT2407