Solstice to Alaska- Help with a verandah room please

[Cruiser Andi]

After a bad experience on HAL, I am ready to try Celebrity. We would like to go to Alaska next year (September 1, 2017) on the Solstice. My husband and I like to be lower on the ship because of motion. I would like any advice on a quiet location on either deck 6 or 7. We like to stay somewhat in the middle (again to help with motion) but having a quiet room is the most important. I have read that being on the "hump" would also be ideal but am not sure if that's true of the lower decks. Also, we would like an unobstructed view. All guidance is welcomed. Thanks.

 

 

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Edited August 1, 2016 by Cruiser Andi

[DCCruisin1]

Hi there!! My sister and I cruised the Solstice on the May 27th sailing to Alaska this year and were in room 7195. It was PERFECT! Mid-ship, quiet and had great views from our veranda. Yes if you looked straight down you did have the lifeboats down below, but they were two decks down from us, so they really didn't obstruct our view at all. We loved our veranda as we saw a TON of wildlife while sitting out there in the early evenings!! I am one who can get seasick very quickly and in this room we honestly felt NOTHING, even on the one day where the seas were a bit questionable!! Highly recommend this room/location.

[dkjretired]

You may not take this advice but in Alaska the best veranda cabins are in the aft. While heading up the inside passage, celebrity has a great naturalist on board Brent Nixon. He gives a running account as you go along the passage. There may be sights such as wildlife that you may not see on one side and may not be there on the way back.

Edited August 1, 2016 by dkjretired

[Cruiser Andi]

Thank you both. I appreciate it [emoji4] We've never been in an aft room before. Might be time to give it a try.

 

 

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[Cruiser Andi]

Hi there!! My sister and I cruised the Solstice on the May 27th sailing to Alaska this year and were in room 7195. It was PERFECT! Mid-ship, quiet and had great views from our veranda. Yes if you looked straight down you did have the lifeboats down below, but they were two decks down from us, so they really didn't obstruct our view at all. We loved our veranda as we saw a TON of wildlife while sitting out there in the early evenings!! I am one who can get seasick very quickly and in this room we honestly felt NOTHING, even on the one day where the seas were a bit questionable!! Highly recommend this room/location.

 

 

Thank you!

 

 

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[sandav]

You may not take this advice but in Alaska the best veranda cabins are in the aft. While heading up the inside passage, celebrity has a great naturalist on board Brent Nixon. He gives a running account as you go along the passage. There may be sights such as wildlife that you may not see on one side and may not be there on the way back.

 

Be aware that while the view from the aft cabins on the solstice class ships is excellent, these cabins are very exposed to the elements.

[sandav]

You may not take this advice but in Alaska the best veranda cabins are in the aft. While heading up the inside passage, celebrity has a great naturalist on board Brent Nixon. He gives a running account as you go along the passage. There may be sights such as wildlife that you may not see on one side and may not be there on the way back.

 

Be aware that while the view from the aft cabins on the solstice class ships is excellent, these cabins are very exposed to the elements.

[BecciBoo]

You cant go wrong with an aft cabin, I can't tell you how many animals and views we saw there that were impossible from the sides of the ship. We know because our buds were in a starboard cabin...they finally ended up on our balcony mostly:D

 

However, if you're worried about the weather (Yes not much overhang) I suggest deck 7 hump as the balconies are so much bigger. And right at the elevators. We had 9294 Reflection and loved it.

[cruisine21]

We did the Solstice last year in September and had cabin 7134 midship which was excellent. We received an upgrade after we booked.

Edited August 1, 2016 by cruisine21

[barreloflafs]

We cruised Solstice to Alaska in 2014. We were in 6197. Quiet, low, mid-ship location. Loved it...

 

Cabin review and pics here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=43607814#post43607814

[cruzqueen518]

Hi there!! My sister and I cruised the Solstice on the May 27th sailing to Alaska this year and were in room 7195. It was PERFECT! Mid-ship, quiet and had great views from our veranda. Yes if you looked straight down you did have the lifeboats down below, but they were two decks down from us, so they really didn't obstruct our view at all. We loved our veranda as we saw a TON of wildlife while sitting out there in the early evenings!! I am one who can get seasick very quickly and in this room we honestly felt NOTHING, even on the one day where the seas were a bit questionable!! Highly recommend this room/location.

 

We are cruising in 2 weeks on the solstice and have your room 7195. Do you have any photos you'd be willing to share or advice?

[DCCruisin1]

We are cruising in 2 weeks on the solstice and have your room 7195. Do you have any photos you'd be willing to share or advice?

I definitely will post pictures here as soon as I get my hard drive with my photos on it back from my sister!! We truly had the time of our lives in Alaska! My biggest pieces of advice are to go see Brent Nixon...the man seriously has so much great information to share!! And go out and EXPERIENCE Alaska when you are in ports!! Talk to the local people, walk around or do a tour. We thought this was going to be a once in a lifetime trip so we had an excursion in each port. Ketchikan we did the Bering Sea Fisherman's Tour which I can NEVER say enough good about...if you are interested in the show Deadliest Catch or commercial fishing or just wanting to know where your seafood comes from this tour is a wealth of information!! We did do the Tracy Arm Excursion (where you get off the boat and go on the catamaran)...unfortunately or fortunately for us we weren't able to get up Tracy due to ice issues, so we went to Dawes Glacier. The whole experience was truly spectacular. We saw a HUGE calving...like half the glacier face fell off while we were there!! And had we been on the ship...we wouldn't have seen that. The day we were going up Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm we got up SUPER early...like 4 am and sat on our balcony and watched as we slowly cruised up the Arm. You can go to other spots on the ship, but we loved sitting on our balcony watching and soaking it all in without having to be crowded by a ton of people. We turned our TV on so we could hear Brent Nixon's commentary as we cruised too. The Captain does a "donut" maneuver while near the glacier so you will be able to see it!! In Skagway we took the train tour and dog sled camp through Chilkoot Tours and that I must say was pretty spectacular in itself!! Beautiful scenery and memories to last a lifetime!! We sat on our balcony every evening watching for whales and other marine life and saw a TON!! (We took notes at Brent Nixon's talk about the best times to see stuff from your balcony or if you go up top and look...we just preferred our balcony as it was so peaceful!! Our room steward that week was Merlin and he was soooo good! Fun to talk to too! I hope you and your family have a wonderful time and I will post the pics for you before you go!! Sorry I just get so excited when talking about our trip...I get carried away!! And we weren't big drinkers at all so I can't answer any questions about the bars unfortunately! Please feel free to ask me more questions if you have them!! :):):)

[dkjretired]

I definitely will post pictures here as soon as I get my hard drive with my photos on it back from my sister!! We truly had the time of our lives in Alaska! My biggest pieces of advice are to go see Brent Nixon...the man seriously has so much great information to share!! And go out and EXPERIENCE Alaska when you are in ports!! Talk to the local people, walk around or do a tour. We thought this was going to be a once in a lifetime trip so we had an excursion in each port. Ketchikan we did the Bering Sea Fisherman's Tour which I can NEVER say enough good about...if you are interested in the show Deadliest Catch or commercial fishing or just wanting to know where your seafood comes from this tour is a wealth of information!! We did do the Tracy Arm Excursion (where you get off the boat and go on the catamaran)...unfortunately or fortunately for us we weren't able to get up Tracy due to ice issues, so we went to Dawes Glacier. The whole experience was truly spectacular. We saw a HUGE calving...like half the glacier face fell off while we were there!! And had we been on the ship...we wouldn't have seen that. The day we were going up Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm we got up SUPER early...like 4 am and sat on our balcony and watched as we slowly cruised up the Arm. You can go to other spots on the ship, but we loved sitting on our balcony watching and soaking it all in without having to be crowded by a ton of people. We turned our TV on so we could hear Brent Nixon's commentary as we cruised too. The Captain does a "donut" maneuver while near the glacier so you will be able to see it!! In Skagway we took the train tour and dog sled camp through Chilkoot Tours and that I must say was pretty spectacular in itself!! Beautiful scenery and memories to last a lifetime!! We sat on our balcony every evening watching for whales and other marine life and saw a TON!! (We took notes at Brent Nixon's talk about the best times to see stuff from your balcony or if you go up top and look...we just preferred our balcony as it was so peaceful!! Our room steward that week was Merlin and he was soooo good! Fun to talk to too! I hope you and your family have a wonderful time and I will post the pics for you before you go!! Sorry I just get so excited when talking about our trip...I get carried away!! And we weren't big drinkers at all so I can't answer any questions about the bars unfortunately! Please feel free to ask me more questions if you have them!! :):):)

 

Agree about Brent, besides his running commentary I went to each one of his lectures, he is really a big asset to Celebrity.

[DCCruisin1]

We are cruising in 2 weeks on the solstice and have your room 7195. Do you have any photos you'd be willing to share or advice?

 

Okay I'm going to try this. Here are pictures of room 7195.

 

First one is looking into the room from the balcony

Room 7195 Solstice by Sarah Sutton, on Flickr

 

Second one the bathroom

Room 7195 Solstice by Sarah Sutton, on Flickr

 

Third is the shower

Room 7195 Solstice by Sarah Sutton, on Flickr

 

And finally the view from our deck of the boat harbor in Seattle

 

Room 7195 Solstice by Sarah Sutton, on Flickr

 

Hope these help!

[Cruiser Andi]

I definitely will post pictures here as soon as I get my hard drive with my photos on it back from my sister!! We truly had the time of our lives in Alaska! My biggest pieces of advice are to go see Brent Nixon...the man seriously has so much great information to share!! And go out and EXPERIENCE Alaska when you are in ports!! Talk to the local people, walk around or do a tour. We thought this was going to be a once in a lifetime trip so we had an excursion in each port. Ketchikan we did the Bering Sea Fisherman's Tour which I can NEVER say enough good about...if you are interested in the show Deadliest Catch or commercial fishing or just wanting to know where your seafood comes from this tour is a wealth of information!! We did do the Tracy Arm Excursion (where you get off the boat and go on the catamaran)...unfortunately or fortunately for us we weren't able to get up Tracy due to ice issues, so we went to Dawes Glacier. The whole experience was truly spectacular. We saw a HUGE calving...like half the glacier face fell off while we were there!! And had we been on the ship...we wouldn't have seen that. The day we were going up Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm we got up SUPER early...like 4 am and sat on our balcony and watched as we slowly cruised up the Arm. You can go to other spots on the ship, but we loved sitting on our balcony watching and soaking it all in without having to be crowded by a ton of people. We turned our TV on so we could hear Brent Nixon's commentary as we cruised too. The Captain does a "donut" maneuver while near the glacier so you will be able to see it!! In Skagway we took the train tour and dog sled camp through Chilkoot Tours and that I must say was pretty spectacular in itself!! Beautiful scenery and memories to last a lifetime!! We sat on our balcony every evening watching for whales and other marine life and saw a TON!! (We took notes at Brent Nixon's talk about the best times to see stuff from your balcony or if you go up top and look...we just preferred our balcony as it was so peaceful!! Our room steward that week was Merlin and he was soooo good! Fun to talk to too! I hope you and your family have a wonderful time and I will post the pics for you before you go!! Sorry I just get so excited when talking about our trip...I get carried away!! And we weren't big drinkers at all so I can't answer any questions about the bars unfortunately! Please feel free to ask me more questions if you have them!! :):):)

 

 

Sounds like you had a fantastic trip!

 

 

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[cruzqueen518]

Oh My Gosh, thank you so much for your reply and photos. We are so excited. What was the weather like? I am hot all the time so hoping for a cool cruise ;) Did you have a lot of rain? I have heard mixed reviews on the weather. I am a balcony person so I think you're idea of hanging out on the balcony while sailing up the arm sounds good to me :) I'd love to see more photos if you have time.

Edited August 1, 2016 by cruzqueen518

[Cruiser Andi]

Oh My Gosh, thank you so much for your reply and photos. We are so excited. What was the weather like? I am hot all the time so hoping for a cool cruise ;) Did you have a lot of rain? I have heard mixed reviews on the weather. I am a balcony person so I think you're idea of hanging out on the balcony while sailing up the arm sounds good to me :) I'd love to see more photos if you have time.

 

 

We just got back from Alaska in Saturday (different cruise line). The weather was mostly rainy and foggy. Generally in the upper 50's. We enjoyed it. [emoji4]

 

 

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[cruzqueen518]

Cruiser Andi, thanks...50-60's sound good to me :)

[DCCruisin1]

Oh My Gosh, thank you so much for your reply and photos. We are so excited. What was the weather like? I am hot all the time so hoping for a cool cruise ;) Did you have a lot of rain? I have heard mixed reviews on the weather. I am a balcony person so I think you're idea of hanging out on the balcony while sailing up the arm sounds good to me :) I'd love to see more photos if you have time.

 

Sure...I'll get some of my best one together!! We actually had a "misty" on and off day while in Ketchikan and in Juneau. It wasn't huge rainstorms or complete washouts in either city. On the day we were in Skagway we had perfectly blue, not a cloud in the sky type day, which was a REAL treat!! I can't stand to be hot and found that the temperatures were VERY nice. Mostly 50's or so, but the Skagway day was 72, but honestly didn't feel all that bad!