LIVE: Dec 23 2019, Solstice, 12 Night Holiday New Zealand Cruise

[mahdnc]

Our only Celebrity shore excursion.

[mchell810]

14 hours ago, mahdnc said:

By the time we got there, there were three empty shuttles ready for passengers. The shuttle pick up point was across the street from the Amora Hotel in Wakefield St.

 

A question if you don't mind:  Was there another shuttle stop near the Beehive?

 

[mahdnc]

15 minutes ago, mchell810 said:

 

A question if you don't mind:  Was there another shuttle stop near the Beehive?

 

There were two shuttle stops. Their locations are declared in the Celebrity Today photo I posted yesterday. We only took the shuttle on the way back and it went directly back to the ship. I don't know the location of that stop relative to the Beehive

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

Here is the schedule and description of our shore excursion

 

7:30 am We arrived at the Celebrity Theater as instructed on our ticket. 

 

7:45 am We line up to board the first tender. 

 

8:20 am We board our motorcoach. There are 28 passengers on our bus and a total of 3 buses. The bus ride is nicely narrated by the driver. 

 

9:05 am We have a scheduled restroom stop  It is very brief. 

 

10:00 am The bus arrives at the location in Christchurch to board our train. The train is empty and appears to be dedicated for the cruise ship. It only has around 4 passenger cars with an observation car. There are 84 passengers that board. The train ride is headphone narrated and is very comfortable. 

 

11:00 am A nice box lunch is served on the train  You can buy additional snacks or meals. The train climbs the mountains through 12+ tunnels along a beautiful river. The river is a pretty silty turquoise color which indicates that it is being fed from a glacier. 

 

12:30 pm We arrive at our destination, Arthur's Pass. Under gorgeous sunny skies, we get off the train and board the same 3 buses from earlier in the day. We make 3 quick stops for photos of the mountain scenery. The view on the bus ride down the mountains is as spectacular as it was from the train on the way up. 

 

2:20 pm. Two buses arrive at a sheep farm where free water, coffee, and tea are served along with snacks. There is a demonstration of the dogs herding the sheep followed by a sheep shearing demonstration. 

 

3:30 pm. We get back on the bus for the 2 hour bus ride back to the tender dock. I am currently on the bus. 

[luv2cruise0611]

David ... I am so enjoying your cruise through your fabulous photos and reviews.  Australia and New Zealand is up there on my bucket list ... but I feel like I'm already seeing it through your eyes.  I only today found your review through Mary's link.  Thank you Mary for posting the link on our 'Cruise to Nowhere Roll Call'.    Can't believe that roll call is already on page 123.  I think more pages have been posted after our cancellation than before.  

Hoping you continue to get great weather.  And wishing you and your beautiful family a wonderful cruise.   I'm looking forward to following you on the rest of your journey.

Edited December 29, 2019 by luv2cruise0611

[mahdnc]

The anchor flag is being taken down which indicates that we are preparing to raise the anchor and set sail. Dunedin is our next port tomorrow. 

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Solstice shadow is in the water

 

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

Tuscan Grille tonight. The photo (blue from the tinted windows) doesn't do the sweeping vista view any justice. 

 

Our son has been given the responsibility for ordering tonight. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Here is the schedule and description of our shore excursion

 

7:30 am We arrived at the Celebrity Theater as instructed on our ticket. 

 

7:45 am We line up to board the first tender. 

 

8:20 am We board our motorcoach. There are 28 passengers on our bus and a total of 3 buses. The bus ride is nicely narrated by the driver. 

 

9:05 am We have a scheduled restroom stop  It is very brief. 

 

10:00 am The bus arrives at the location in Christchurch to board our train. The train is empty and appears to be dedicated for the cruise ship. It only has around 4 passenger cars with an observation car. There are 84 passengers that board. The train ride is headphone narrated and is very comfortable. 

 

11:00 am A nice box lunch is served on the train  You can buy additional snacks or meals. The train climbs the mountains through 12+ tunnels along a beautiful river. The river is a pretty silty turquoise color which indicates that it is being fed from a glacier. 

 

12:30 pm We arrive at our destination, Arthur's Pass. Under gorgeous sunny skies, we get off the train and board the same 3 buses from earlier in the day. We make 3 quick stops for photos of the mountain scenery. The view on the bus ride down the mountains is as spectacular as it was from the train on the way up. 

 

2:20 pm. Two buses arrive at a sheep farm where free water, coffee, and tea are served along with snacks. There is a demonstration of the dogs herding the sheep followed by a sheep shearing demonstration. 

 

3:30 pm. We get back on the bus for the 2 hour bus ride back to the tender dock. I am currently on the bus. 

 

5:30 pm. The bus arrives back at the pier in Akaroa.  

 

6:00 pm. We get on the tender after some light shipping (most of the stores were closed). 

 

6:20 pm  We get off the tender to board Solstice. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by mahdnc

[mahdnc]

Some photos from our Tranzalpine Railway excursion:

 

from the train:

 

Getting off at Arthur’s Pass:

 

Bus stop on the way back:

 

From the window of our moving bus:

 

Taken during a bus stop:

Edited December 29, 2019 by mahdnc

[villauk]

Great photos, which are bringing back wonderful family memories for us too 👍. I remember it being very windy in Wellington when we docked there.

[mahdnc]

33 minutes ago, villauk said:

Great photos, which are bringing back wonderful family memories for us too 👍. I remember it being very windy in Wellington when we docked there.

Interesting that you should say that about the wind. 

 

During the night that we were sailing to Wellington, we ran into some very fierce cross winds.

 

There was an hour that evening when it was particularly bad. During that time the wind was creating a whistling noise thru our balcony door. We opened the balcony door in an attempt to reseal it. What a mistake. We couldn't get the door to latch closed and the annoying whistle turned into a loud roar. I thought that the door chose a bad time to be broken. And the timing was awful since we were getting ready for bed. 

 

Our neighbors in the connecting outside cabin heard it and knocked on our door to see if everything was ok. 

 

I called Guest Relations to ask for a mechanic to be sent immediately to our cabin to fix the door. While waiting, I was able to get the balcony door to close by forcefully pulling down on the door while I rotated the door handle to the closed and locked position.  That eliminated the deafening roar and reduced the cabin nose to the very annoying whistle.  After 30 min, the noise had completely gone away. 

 

A mechanic called our state room to inquire if our cabin still needed a mechanic now that the strong winds had died down. Apparently they got a lot of calls from a lot of cabins during that windy hour. We took the option of having maintenance look at it after we reached port the following day. 

 

They did not find anything wrong and we've had no problems with it since. The strong winds were to be blamed for everything. 
 

When we arrived in Wellington to take our private tour, our guide told us that Wellington had an unusually windy day prior to our arrival. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by mahdnc

[Suzi66]

4 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Interesting that you should say that about the wind. 

 

During the night that we were sailing to Wellington, we ran into some very fierce cross winds.

 

There was an hour that evening when it was particularly bad. During that time the wind was creating a whistling noise thru our balcony door. We opened the balcony door in an attempt to reseal it. What a mistake. We couldn't get the door to latch closed and the annoying whistle turned into a loud roar. I thought that the door chose a bad time to be broken. And the timing was awful since we were getting ready for bed. 

 

Our neighbors in the connecting outside cabin heard it and knocked on our door to see if everything was ok. 

 

I called Guest Relations to ask for a mechanic to be sent immediately to our cabin to fix the door. While waiting, I was able to get the balcony door to close by forcefully pulling down on the door while I rotated the door handle to the closed and locked position.  That eliminated the deafening roar and reduced the cabin nose to the very annoying whistle.  After 30 min, the noise had completely gone away. 

 

A mechanic called our state room to inquire if our cabin still needed a mechanic now that the strong winds had died down. Apparently they got a lot of calls from a lot of cabins during that windy hour. We took the option of having maintenance look at it after we reached port the following day. 

 

They did not find anything wrong and we've had no problems with it since. The strong winds were to be blamed for everything. 
 

When we arrived in Wellington to take our private tour, our guide told us that Wellington had an unusually windy day prior to our arrival. 

With our most recent visit to Wellington the wind and the water was so rough that the pilot was unable to disembark and so had to be our guest for that night and the next until we stopped at Tauranga and he could go home.  At least our pilot could go home quickly unlike the one that was on the car carrier that left at a similar time to us and had to wait until that ship arrived back in Japan and then they would have to fly back to NZ.

I don't think I have ever been to Wellington and it wasn't windy.

[mahdnc]

We've arrived at Dunedin, our last port of call in New Zealand where we get off the ship. 

 

 

Technically a shuttle is not needed although the town is over two hours away by foot. So there's a paid shuttle that one can use that cost $20 NZD round trip or $15 NZD each way. It is all cash for the shuttle and they will take AUD and USD but at a 1:1 exchange rate which is very unfavorable for USD. 

 

 

It looks like our string of 4 straight sunny days at port has come to an end. Perhaps the sun will be out this afternoon. 

 

We have independently booked a wildlife tour today. 

Edited December 29, 2019 by mahdnc

[missm]

13 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Tuscan Grille tonight. The photo (blue from the tinted windows) doesn't do the sweeping vista view any justice. 

 

Our son has been given the responsibility for ordering tonight. 

The next time you're in Tuscan, please tell Alan hello from Chuck and Mary from Virginia. We were on Solstice 6 weeks ago for an 8-week stay. He's a very nice man and very professional in his work.

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by missm

[hawkesbaynz]

10 hours ago, Suzi66 said:

With our most recent visit to Wellington the wind and the water was so rough that the pilot was unable to disembark and so had to be our guest for that night and the next until we stopped at Tauranga and he could go home.  At least our pilot could go home quickly unlike the one that was on the car carrier that left at a similar time to us and had to wait until that ship arrived back in Japan and then they would have to fly back to NZ.

I don't think I have ever been to Wellington and it wasn't windy.

It’s not called Windy Wellington for nothing! Famous for it’s inclement weather in comparison to the rest of the North Island. 

[Muffinz]

Really enjoying your review as I did your GBR review last year

the only place I've not been to in NZ that your cruise goes to is Milford Sound

Enjoy Dunedin - it's a beautiful city... I tried to convince my wife to move there, but she wasn't interested sadly

 

Have you noticed any deterioration on Solstice? some reviews I've read say she's showing signs of deterioration in places

 

We will be on Solstice in April going from Auckland to Fiji, Samoa, US Samoa and Tonga return and we're really looking forward to it

 

[Suzi66]

1 hour ago, Muffinz said:

Really enjoying your review as I did your GBR review last year

the only place I've not been to in NZ that your cruise goes to is Milford Sound

Enjoy Dunedin - it's a beautiful city... I tried to convince my wife to move there, but she wasn't interested sadly

 

Have you noticed any deterioration on Solstice? some reviews I've read say she's showing signs of deterioration in places

 

We will be on Solstice in April going from Auckland to Fiji, Samoa, US Samoa and Tonga return and we're really looking forward to it

 

I'm back on in a couple of weeks and as we have done a couple of cruises this year and the one with David in 2018 I will let you know as well.  My dad has just got off her for his very first time a fortnight ago.  It was his first cruise and he was very impressed with her.  He is looking at more cruises now and is very keen to go back on the Solstice.

As for the reviews about the deterioration, I've been seeing those for years and think really?  It is the same when you read the reviews on the same cruise that you have been on and you question if it really was the same cruise.  
With the GBR cruise that both David & myself went on in 2018 we had one meal where the chicken was not pleasant to eat.  However the lady at the table next to us sent every single meal back.  I really wondered how her review would go compared to ours.   With my dad's cruise everyone he spoke to said how much they were enjoying it and how wonderful everything was EXCEPT for one couple from the UK who said they were very disappointed.  He wasn't sure if that was because they had come down south for summer weather and it was cool in NZ or what, but there are always people that have a completely different opinion to the rest of us and they are often the most vocal.  They also seem to do the quick reviews not the full ones like David does.

[peter1956]

A bit late with this question. Did any of the restaurants have special Christmas lunches or dinner menus?

[mahdnc]

8 hours ago, Muffinz said:

Really enjoying your review as I did your GBR review last year

the only place I've not been to in NZ that your cruise goes to is Milford Sound

Enjoy Dunedin - it's a beautiful city... I tried to convince my wife to move there, but she wasn't interested sadly

 

Have you noticed any deterioration on Solstice? some reviews I've read say she's showing signs of deterioration in places

 

We will be on Solstice in April going from Auckland to Fiji, Samoa, US Samoa and Tonga return and we're really looking forward to it

 

 

Hi Muffinz. I have not noticed anything in the way of deterioration in Solstice's physical condition. I have been rather pleased with it, actually. 

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, peter1956 said:

A bit late with this question. Did any of the restaurants have special Christmas lunches or dinner menus?

 

The MDR did not have a special dinner menu for Christmas Eve nor Christmas. I don't know about lunch, but I doubt it. 

 

A special Christmas Eve dinner menu was put together for Murano. There was special pricing for it, too, at $120 USD pp. This is also true for New Year's Eve. The special dinner was advertised for advanced purchase in our Cruise Planner.