Sky Suites on Solstice-class ships

[padgman1]

Wondering if any other Sky Suite passengers have encountered this problem.....2 years ago, on the Solstice going from Hawaii to Sydney ( repositioning cruise on our our 25th anniversary), we were in a Sky Suite and were awakened many days at 630 or so by the rustling of chairs overhead in the Oceanview café - people starting to get breakfast.....this intermittently continued throughout the day the entire cruise....we did mentioned this to the appropriate staff....found out myself that the area right above our cabin was the small part of the Oceanview café that was NOT carpeted and was only tiled, thus making chair movement audible below...the staff tried to cordoned off this area for a few days and it made it a little better, but the roped-off area disappeared a few days later and the noise was back...

 

I am in the initial stages of planning a 30th anniversary cruise, probably to Scandinavia, and I would like to be in another Sky Suite....has anyone else had this problem? Should I try to choose a Sky Suite that is more likely to be under a carpeted area of the Oceanview café? Should I try to get a truly aft Sky Suite at the far end of the ship on a lower level (VERY WORRIED about soot accumulation on veranda here - am I paranoid?)?

 

I'm hoping the experienced, helpful travelers here on CC can help me out!!

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Don't know what stateroom you were in but we've cruised in 2123 on Eclipse & Equinox with no noise problems.

[ClaudiaB]

We've never been on that deck but we've been in the deck below yours many times. Love those suites! No soot ever. No noise ever. Well, maybe if we were out on our balcony we'd hear people but that was during the day and it's not a problem. We know we're not the only ones on the ship!

 

I wouldn't worry at all. It's a cruise, it's a suite, it's vacation. Just book a deck or two down.

[ClaudiaB]

In my opinion the corner aft S1s are the best. Love the long walk. Did I mention they're our favorite ;)

[ScarlettMLB]

We were in 1405 on the Reflection - aft corner S1 on the 10th deck: no noise problems, no soot problems.

 

We LOVED that cabin and booked a corner aft S1 for our upcoming TA on the Equinox. We booked on the Penthouse deck, because the reviews say it's quieter, since there's still 1 level of cabins between us and Oceanview.

[gdpups]

We were in corner after 2146 (S1) on deck 12, Equinox last month. We loved the cabin, but did hear noise mostly in the early morning from the deck above and sometimes at different times later in the day. The noise was noticeable, but didn't really bother us and never bothered our sleep. I did hear from our aft neighbor that the noise did bother his wife significantly, so I guess it depends on your level of noise tolerance.

 

I did book that cabin and would again because of the shade provided by the overhang on the deck above.

[gdpups]

I forgot to add there is a "sticky" that reviews different "S" class cabins that is really useful. I knew about the issues with the noise in the aft cabins on deck 12 because of those reviews and when I returned I added my comments to about the cabin we stayed in.

[maggie.1008]

The only sky suite we have been on and had a noise problem was # 2121 on the Equinox. Heard chairs and food carts day and night. The cabins under the ocean view café have had some bad reviews.

[Ayton lady]

My sister and brother in law had corner S1 and I had aft S2 next door to them on deck 12 this summer for the Baltics cruise. Beautiful sky suites both with the balconies opened up. We were under the ocean view outside part. Slight noise only early morning when we were sailing into Stockholm through the archipelago but the rest of the mornings most people ate inside as it was cool outside at that time. In other words no problem at all and no noise the rest of the day. We did think it might be different in a warmer climate if more people ate outside for breakfast.

[padgman1]

Really appreciate the replies so far....

 

Looks like an aft Sky suite lower than Deck 12 may be our best bet to avoid any possible annoying noise problems......

[maggie.1008]

I hope on the new builds Celebrity does not put the sky suites under the ocean view café.

[padgman1]

I hear you, Maggie...

 

Gdpups, thanks for the info about the sticky on S-class cabin reviews....in briefly looking at this spreadsheet, it looks as though at least 33% of reviews mention some noise from Oceanview café that is obtrusive in some way...

 

Looks like a lower deck aft Sky suite would be the way to go to avoid this...

[padgman1]

BTW, I think we were in cabin 2119 or 2121 on Solstice 2 years ago...

[kennelgang]

The Sky Suites on deck 12 of the Solstice class have completely cover balconies which is great for privacy and protection from the elements. All of the Sky Suites on the decks below deck 12 have balconies with very little overhangs, consequently offering little to no privacy since all of the decks above can look down into all the balconies below. So one must decide if complete privacy is worth putting up with the minor noise from the food court above. I would book a corner aft S1 on deck 12 in a heartbeat. In fact we are booked for Alaska in May on the Solstice in such a suite, 2146.

 

Bob

[ggroup]

Does anyone have comments on corner aft S1 1668 on the Silhouette? Lower decks are available if we want to switch. We are particularly interested in the view since it will be a Med cruise.

[dolcengabbana]

I would never again have a suite under the ocean view cafe most nights the excessive noise went until 2-3am and began at approx 5.30am it was atrocious. The cabin itself lovely. The noise issue is terrible. We really felt that we had a more enjoyable cruise for peace and quiet in a balcony cabin on deck 7 previously.

[jagoffee]

Does anyone have comments on corner aft S1 1668 on the Silhouette? Lower decks are available if we want to switch. We are particularly interested in the view since it will be a Med cruise.

 

I will let you know soon as I am in 1665.

 

I would never again have a suite under the ocean view cafe most nights the excessive noise went until 2-3am and began at approx 5.30am it was atrocious. The cabin itself lovely. The noise issue is terrible. We really felt that we had a more enjoyable cruise for peace and quiet in a balcony cabin on deck 7 previously.

 

I do not believe 1668 is under the Oceanview Cafe. I believe is in one more deck down?

[Karynanne]

I hope on the new builds Celebrity does not put the sky suites under the ocean view café.

 

Wouldn't that be great! Whoever designed the S-Class ships, made a huge error in positioning the Sky Suites under the Oceanview Cafe.

 

We put up with the disturbance when we cruise. We enjoy the Sky Suites and all the extra space it offers.

[padgman1]

Kennelgang - Thanks for your input....I did like the fact that the balcony was covered from the elements on Deck 12...let us know here if you experience any problem with noise on your May 2016 cruise (Alaska's a great cruise)...

 

Karynanne - My wife and I like the space as well....just don't like the noise...I GUARANTEE if one of the higher level suites were under the Oceanview Café and people in these suites complained, there WOULD be a redesign...

 

Dolcengabbana - I am in total agreement....

[kennelgang]

Another thing to take into consideration if you do experience noise during normal sleeping hours on deck 12 coming from the café you can always op to insert ear plugs. I have had to do this since my wife's oxygen and CPAP machines make enough noise to prevent getting to sleep easily. Ear plugs work great and I hear nothing.

 

I am not too worried about noise on our May Alaska cruise on deck 12. The fact it is typically cold in the evenings and early mornings most people opt for the indoors. The part of the Ocean View Café effecting suites on deck 12 is in the outside seating venue. While in Tracy Arms I do expect some noise since most people will be out early (6AM) to view Fjord and some will be gather at the railing just above deck 12.

[socreader]

Wondering if any other Sky Suite passengers have encountered this problem.....2 years ago, on the Solstice going from Hawaii to Sydney ( repositioning cruise on our our 25th anniversary), we were in a Sky Suite and were awakened many days at 630 or so by the rustling of chairs overhead in the Oceanview café - people starting to get breakfast.....this intermittently continued throughout the day the entire cruise....we did mentioned this to the appropriate staff....found out myself that the area right above our cabin was the small part of the Oceanview café that was NOT carpeted and was only tiled, thus making chair movement audible below...the staff tried to cordoned off this area for a few days and it made it a little better, but the roped-off area disappeared a few days later and the noise was back...

 

I am in the initial stages of planning a 30th anniversary cruise, probably to Scandinavia, and I would like to be in another Sky Suite....has anyone else had this problem? Should I try to choose a Sky Suite that is more likely to be under a carpeted area of the Oceanview café? Should I try to get a truly aft Sky Suite at the far end of the ship on a lower level (VERY WORRIED about soot accumulation on veranda here - am I paranoid?)?

 

I'm hoping the experienced, helpful travelers here on CC can help me out!!

 

We had the same problem on a Norway cruise on the Eclipse in 2012. I would not choose a Sky Suite in the deck below the Oceanview Cafe again.

[Iamthesea]

Don't know what stateroom you were in but we've cruised in 2123 on Eclipse & Equinox with no noise problems.

 

2123, as well as our stateroom (2121) are most definitely under the tiled area of the café. However, 2119 and forward may be located under the carpeted areas.

 

Last March, my daughters and I stayed in 2179 on the Reflection, just aft of the after elevators. We heard very little noise from cart rolling and no scraping of chairs because the stateroom was under the carpeted areas. Although the staterooms numbers are different on the Reflection, my DH and I stayed under the same area during our recent Eclipse cruise. The following is what I just posted in the S-Class Cabin Information Compilation.

 

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS:

I had read on CC that this stateroom on the Eclipse had some unpleasant noise coming from the overhead OV Café. We didn't think that it would be a big deal because we travel with a white noise machine. While the machine helped, we were still awakened during the night by the "thundering" noise of the carts and scraping of chairs on the uncarpeted areas which appear to be right above the bed. This bothered my husband more than me. ;)

 

Then there was the "other" noise...

 

Again, I had read about a creaking noise in the cabin. This from a very early review. The later reviews of this stateroom did not mention the creaking, so I thought it had been resolved. In fact, we heard no creaking until about halfway to 3/4 into the cruise. At that time, the seas were becoming rough and the ship was sailing at top speed to reach the next port of calls. OMGosh! It seemed the entire back, left side corner of the cabin was creaking. I was able to localize the noise to a space above the desk storage cabin near the sliding door. I placed a rolled up magazine between the cabinet and the ceiling panels. This helped somewhat unless the ship really rocked to the starboard side (we were on the port side of the ship) and the creaking noise was at it's worse. We even set up a white noise app on my iPad between the creaking and our bed, in addition to our white noise machine on the dressing table. Neither of the white noise sounds helped when the creaking was at it's worse. To be fair, there were several places around the ship that creaked badly when the seas were rough.

 

Unfortunately, my husband and I received very little rest from that point on. We did not complain to the purser because we knew there was nothing that would or could be done for either noise. It really is too bad that passengers spend extra on these suites and then have to put up with these annoyances.

 

One more noise problem that occurred. The following was not an ongoing issue, but did sort of ruin our last afternoon on the ship.

 

On the last afternoon, after packing our suitcases and wanting to have a couple of hours of relaxation before the evening's entertainment, a loud drilling noise began in the wall between our bed and our bathroom. We were sure it was coming from the OV Café, so my husband went up to check it out. Nothing was going on above. We assume that the noise must be from the stateroom below. There was drilling and banging noises continuously for at least an hour. No rest for the weary that afternoon! We did report this to our room steward who did not have a clue what the noise could have been.

 

Other than the stateroom noise, we had a great cruise to Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands. Spent 5 days in London pre-cruise with a side trip to the Cotswolds (highly recommended!)

Edited November 2, 2015 by Iamthesea