Just off Solstice Cabin 8108 with kids

[ginger123snaps]

impressed with service! in the last five years we have done royal carribean, ncl, carnival. they all offered good service but celebrity just took it one step above then all the other cruise lines. for example...my cabin steward saw me coming to the room with my hands full and rushed from down the hall to open my door for me. our bar server in the main dining room was not happy with how long it took her one night to get us our drinks...we didn't mind or notice but you could tell she really cared. guest relations with a smile tried to genuinely help us with resolving onboard credit issues even though we booked through a 3rd party. I'm not sure if they have some sort of incentive system based on customer feedback but whatever they are doing is working! This is all relative..but we feel that since prepaid gratuities have been automatically deducted...service over the years has declined from before...again this is all relative!

 

our kids LOVED the kids club. my boys are 7, 7, 6 and they did not want to hang out with us at all....they couldn't get enough fun! hours were great...they ask that you pick up your children for lunch but it still remained open. when ship is in port they charge for meals. First night the slumber party is free.

 

room 8108 Storage: very large spacious but poor use of space. the bathroom is tiny and there is a lot of wasted space in the room itself. Also we had no drawers. I wish I had pop up bins for my kids underwear and socks. we did take 2 over the door hanging storage pocket...but it wasn't enough. There were 4 shelves and small hanging closet space in the bedroom with bunks. In our bedroom...it was similar. Considering this is meant to accommodate a large family...drawers would have been nice. I recommend buckets or pop up bins for socks at the very least. I ended up having to leave my underclothes and socks in the suitcase on the floor.

 

room 8108 Location: You are right below the kids club which is nice but opposite side of the ocean view cafe. Also every time the boat docked it was LOUD! The balcony was cold but to be expected in alaska...wind wasn't too bad out there.

 

Ports: Juneau...we rented a car from Juneau car rental. i would not do that again. It was kind of far from the tendering spot and also the walk is somewhat on a busy road. With little kids its only worth it if you catch a cab to the rental place. on the way back my husband dropped us and called a cab..but the cab never showed...so he ended up walking back...it was a cold and rainy day. On the flip side had the weather been better it might not have been so bad

 

Skagway...where we docked was a long walk to the town (maybe a mile). We didn't take our kids off the boat here....it was still rainy and cold....there shoes were still wet from the day before and they just wanted to go to the kids club. I'm glad we didn't because they would have whined the whole way into town. They did have someone in a golf cart giving rides.

 

Victoria: Beautiful! I was not expecting much from this port...but I really enjoyed it. The empress hotel and government building is beautiful and the town lights up at night.

 

Tracy Arm: Last time we cruised our ship went much further in. This time we only made it to sawyer island and then turned around. When the ship goes in further you get to see seals, eagles right from your balcony. We didn't see any animals going through this passage.

 

Overall Ship: I was not wowed by this ship. its more on the contemporary style and i like more traditional things...so that's just opinion. The grass is cool but kind of useless in alaska.

 

Pool: we did not use it but saw several using the pools. the indoor pool only has hours for kids between 10am-12 and then again 4-5. We did not swim

 

Food: Oceanview cafe was great but sometimes difficult to find a spot to eat. Everyone was eating inside because of the weather...so expected that it would be somewhat crowded...not a big deal. I do think the layout of all the buffet stations was difficult to navigate with the crowd. Main dining room was fine.

 

Beverage package: Service was great! I had read that they saw reduced service...because the package was included for so many...but that's just not true. They even had tables set up when you got off port in case you wanted to take a water bottle with you. Molecular bar was there with different types of drinks. martini bartenders did very cool tricks.

[Keith1010]

Welcome home and thanks for writing and sharing your review.

 

Keith

[chemmo]

Sorry you didn't have better weather in some of your ports. As you said rain and young kids do not make a great mix!

 

Interesting comments about storage in your room.....useful for anyone looking to book in the future.

[maggie.1008]

On July 17th we did our 4th cruise to Alaska. It was the only one we have had good weather on. It makes all the difference ! We thought it was a fabulous cruise. We were in AQ and enjoy Blu. Crew and Officer`s were great.