Solstice To Replace Millie - Mexican Riviera 2022

[2jeffs]

We are on the Dec 3 Mexican Riviera sailing. Celebrity called us last week and said they would have everything updated by the end of the week. Reservation still shows the Millenium in Southern Carribean.

[jelayne]

1 hour ago, 2jeffs said:

We are on the Dec 3 Mexican Riviera sailing. Celebrity called us last week and said they would have everything updated by the end of the week. Reservation still shows the Millenium in Southern Carribean.

If you haven't checked prices lately there have been 2 price drops on this sailing in the past 2 weeks.  Our booking decreased by almost 20%.

[2jeffs]

Thanks for the suggestion but we got a screaming good deal when we booked and it is definitely higher now. Don’t want to mess up our original details.

[Cruise Raider]

Looks like I've been put back onto the Mexican Riviera cruise but still no room assignment.  Online, they still have me on the Millenium.  I don't think they know where to put us as we had a family veranda on the Millie for Sept 24th.  There are currently none left.  I'm not sure if I should call or what ... maybe just wait it out and see what they have to offer???  

 

[TexasTraveler1020]

4 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Looks like I've been put back onto the Mexican Riviera cruise but still no room assignment.  Online, they still have me on the Millenium.  I don't think they know where to put us as we had a family veranda on the Millie for Sept 24th.  There are currently none left.  I'm not sure if I should call or what ... maybe just wait it out and see what they have to offer???  

 

We had a FV booked as well and the new ship was as sold out, but once I got my reservation updated we were out in a family veranda- so you may still get into one. Mid May is when I’ve heard it’s all suppose to be resolved. 

[Cruise Raider]

7 minutes ago, TexasTraveler1020 said:

We had a FV booked as well and the new ship was as sold out, but once I got my reservation updated we were out in a family veranda- so you may still get into one. Mid May is when I’ve heard it’s all suppose to be resolved. 

 

I will just be patient in that case.  I can be very flexible.  

[phoenix_dream]

We finally got our new assignment and it was the cabin we wanted (although I would have preferred to keep a mid-ship cabin but there just aren't any S1 mid-ships on Eclipse), and then we saved about $800 thanks to the notice from Jelayne about price drops.

 

I'm wondering if maybe, just maybe, we were a little too quick to judge Celebrity's actions as far as putting the sailings out to the public.  Maybe in point of fact Celebrity had put aside a certain number of cabins in the various categories to hold for transferring passengers.  There would be no way to know that necessarily by looking at the website.  We'll never know for sure.  But I recommend those still waiting and concerned about assignment maybe hold off a bit before you cancel if you can (not sure what the last date was when you had to decide).  You may end up being pleased with what you get like we were.

[TexasTraveler1020]

1 hour ago, phoenix_dream said:

We finally got our new assignment and it was the cabin we wanted (although I would have preferred to keep a mid-ship cabin but there just aren't any S1 mid-ships on Eclipse), and then we saved about $800 thanks to the notice from Jelayne about price drops.

 

I'm wondering if maybe, just maybe, we were a little too quick to judge Celebrity's actions as far as putting the sailings out to the public.  Maybe in point of fact Celebrity had put aside a certain number of cabins in the various categories to hold for transferring passengers.  There would be no way to know that necessarily by looking at the website.  We'll never know for sure.  But I recommend those still waiting and concerned about assignment maybe hold off a bit before you cancel if you can (not sure what the last date was when you had to decide).  You may end up being pleased with what you get like we were.

 

Glad you got yours fixed now too! I did a search and our cruise is still more expensive now than when we booked - but I'm glad others are getting a good deal!!

I believe that celebrity could have handled the process a bit better - but I do think they did most of us right by still giving us the same type of room whenever possible. My biggest complaint was that the agents didn't know the details so I kept getting different/inaccurate information. I eventually got my reservation resolved through the executive office and all is fine now - but it should not have required 6+ calls to get some simple answers. So overall, celebrity should have communicated how and when we would see our changes, not just "you don't need to do anything..." Overall, I'm glad its all resolved and for those who haven't gotten their reservations updated yet, I suspect you will very soon - may 21st I believe is the deadline. 

 

Here's to a great cruise!

[Tapi]

On 5/4/2022 at 5:42 PM, jelayne said:

If you haven't checked prices lately there have been 2 price drops on this sailing in the past 2 weeks.  Our booking decreased by almost 20%.

I need to keep checking mine. I thought that, by moving to a ship with more inventory, that prices would go down. But so far they are almost $1,000 more than what I paid when I  booked this cruise. 
 

I’ll keep checking. Maybe closer to final payment I’ll see some drops. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Tapi

[Cruising89143]

On 5/4/2022 at 2:42 PM, jelayne said:

If you haven't checked prices lately there have been 2 price drops on this sailing in the past 2 weeks.  Our booking decreased by almost 20%.

I checked Saturday morning and the price for our category jumped more than what we paid. I guess it depended on the category or timing. 

[nitzhel]

We finally got our room assignment today.  The room is a little further down than we wanted but looking at the deck plan I think nothing too crazy is above our room. Going to take a chance and keep it.  Time to start making reservation for the restaurants, so excited.   

[jelayne]

On 5/4/2022 at 4:42 PM, jelayne said:

If you haven't checked prices lately there have been 2 price drops on this sailing in the past 2 weeks.  Our booking decreased by almost 20%.

FYI that price drop was short lived.  I checked the price on our Suite today and it is now $2000 more than the lower price that we grabbed on 5/4.  Interesting the same # of CS suites are still available.  I will never understanding X’s pricing

[GottaKnowWhen]

5 minutes ago, jelayne said:

FYI that price drop was short lived.  I checked the price on our Suite today and it is now $2000 more than the lower price that we grabbed on 5/4.  Interesting the same # of CS suites are still available.  I will never understanding X’s pricing

My C-2 now is roughly 25% higher than it was last week during that brief sale. I predict that what goes up may well go back down…

[garyl62]

I realize the focus of this thread is now on those that have accepted the change and are looking forward, but in case anyone who canceled and is wondering about a refund is still reading along, I called Celebrity to cancel on April 18th, and on April 25 I had my $500 deposit credited back to my credit card.  I hadn't even checked until this weekend as I never would have expected it that quickly.

[Cruise Raider]

On 5/6/2022 at 8:10 AM, TexasTraveler1020 said:

 

Glad you got yours fixed now too! I did a search and our cruise is still more expensive now than when we booked - but I'm glad others are getting a good deal!!

I believe that celebrity could have handled the process a bit better - but I do think they did most of us right by still giving us the same type of room whenever possible. My biggest complaint was that the agents didn't know the details so I kept getting different/inaccurate information. I eventually got my reservation resolved through the executive office and all is fine now - but it should not have required 6+ calls to get some simple answers. So overall, celebrity should have communicated how and when we would see our changes, not just "you don't need to do anything..." Overall, I'm glad its all resolved and for those who haven't gotten their reservations updated yet, I suspect you will very soon - may 21st I believe is the deadline. 

 

Here's to a great cruise!

 

Today, I finally received my new cabin assignment on the Solstice.  I'm not overjoyed with it ... we went from a corner aft FV with a huge balcony to a FV cabin on deck 7 with a super small balcony all the way forward.  The room is absolutely huge, though.  There are just the two of us so not sure what we would do with that extra bedroom but I do love the huge living area and there are two large forward facing windows.  

We've cruised extensively on Princess and even tried one of their window suites ... we loved it so much, we booked it again a second time.  So, maybe I shouldn't be so pessimistic about the room they assigned to us.  I was almost hoping they did transfer us over to the Pacific Coastal sailing instead and left us in our Millie FV aft balcony.  But, this one will be great.  At least we will find out if we like being all the way forward or if it is a no go for us in the future.  We rarely get sea sick anymore so, hopefully, this won't be the one.  

Other than the rather small / confined balcony, does anyone have any info about cabin 7107 on the Solstice?  That huge structural portion of the ship that blocks a good part of the balcony ... maybe a nice wind block???  

Oh, and someone on my roll call had mentioned an all inclusive photo package on the Millie a couple of months ago.  It was only $50.  I am going to call to see if I can get that back.  It was such a great deal and they've already refunded it to my new booking.  Darn!  

[Cruising89143]

2 hours ago, garyl62 said:

I realize the focus of this thread is now on those that have accepted the change and are looking forward, but in case anyone who canceled and is wondering about a refund is still reading along, I called Celebrity to cancel on April 18th, and on April 25 I had my $500 deposit credited back to my credit card.  I hadn't even checked until this weekend as I never would have expected it that quickly.

I grew tired of waiting for X to open up the Retreat on our 10/15 sailing so I asked my CVP to cancel that booking and we rebooked on the 12/03 sailing as we wanted a specific type suite of which there is only four. I’m still waiting on the 10/15 to be canceled as it was refundable. I emailed my CVP again this morning to follow up. On a positive note, our FCC from the Edge arrived in less than a week after canceling. 

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

Other than the rather small / confined balcony, does anyone have any info about cabin 7107 on the Solstice?  That huge structural portion of the ship that blocks a good part of the balcony ... maybe a nice wind block???  

 

Cruise Raider, I am very sorry that you lost your nice corner FV.  Like you, I put a lot of priority on a cabin (esp the FVs) since we have been cruising as a family of 4 for many years.  Consequently, we also book our cruises very early to ensure that we get the exact cabin we want for the exact sailing we want.

 

We have been in a Solstice FV twice (2018 & 2020) but both times up on Deck 8 including the one that is directly above your cabin.  I did find this website from an internet search and the photos look very accurate to me: Solstice FV 7107 photographs

 

I have some comments for you regarding your FV:

 

1. Yes, the metal structure that you speak of provides an excellent wind and rain block.

 

2. You will be surprised at how much cabin floor space you have and yet so little furniture.  We have been in FVs on Eclipse and Reflection and my general observation is that Celebrity did a better job with each new successive ship in properly furnishing the FVs.  It was almost like they were learning along the way and that properly furnishing an FV to take advantage of the huge amount of room was an afterthought when the first S class ship was launched (I can understand that).  This means the Solstice FVs are very sparse with furniture and blessed with a lot of floor space.  It also means that Reflection FVs are furnished really really well.

 

3. The biggest piece of furniture that is glaringly missing is a dining table which really comes in handy for this cabin.  After having a dining table on our previous Eclipse FVs, I assumed that there would be one in our Solstice FV.  When I saw that the table was missing after we embarked, I talked to our cabin steward and insisted that he bring one up to our cabin.   He actually did bring one up for our cabin but that was before I figured out from additional internet searching that the Solstice FVs don't come with one (yes, I tipped our cabin steward well along with my apologies once I figured this out) !  Two years later when we booked another Solstice FV and armed with knowledge from our previous experience, we actually brought a cheap folding table with us (and we left it behind for the cabin steward who liked it).

 

4. Judging from the photographs of 7107, the master bedroom closet is smaller than on the Deck 8 FVs because the master bedroom itself is smaller.  I am sure you will be using the closet in the 2nd bedroom.  

 

5.  Having the sofa in the living room is very nice.

 

6.  You will like having the two front windows.  They let in a lot of light which is great.  Sometimes you will have to close the shades on both windows on sunny days because direct sunlight through them can overpower the room air conditioner.  Because the windows are steeply slanted, on occasion you will bump your head when you walk up close to it to look out the window.  By the end of the cruise, you will learn how to look out the windows without bumping your head!

 

7.  It's a little noisier in the FV cabins when the ship is docking or anchoring.

 

8. It's useful to bring a standard rubber door stop which allows you to keep the master bedroom door open.  The motion of the ship causes the door to swing back and forth if you don't keep the door closed.  Our cabin steward loaned us one to use when we were in our first FV.  After that, we always brought two (one for the second bedroom door as well).

 

9. Like the M-class FVs, the Solstice FVs have a standard bathroom and a standard set of electrical plugs mounted by the desk.  This means that there are no electrical plugs in the master bedroom and the bed is located far away from the outlets.  As a result, we bring battery packs to put by our night stands to keep our phones near us while charging them overnight.  You may not be that shackled to your smart phone like we are.  The location of the electrical outlets also have implications with using a CPAP machine--the cabin steward will provide an extension cord although it will be a long one.

 

[Cruise Raider]

18 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Cruise Raider, I am very sorry that you lost your nice corner FV.  Like you, I put a lot of priority on a cabin (esp the FVs) since we have been cruising as a family of 4 for many years.  Consequently, we also book our cruises very early to ensure that we get the exact cabin we want for the exact sailing we want.

 

We have been in a Solstice FV twice (2018 & 2020) but both times up on Deck 8 including the one that is directly above your cabin.  I did find this website from an internet search and the photos look very accurate to me: Solstice FV 7107 photographs

 

I have some comments for you regarding your FV:

 

1. Yes, the metal structure that you speak of provides an excellent wind and rain block.

 

2. You will be surprised at how much cabin floor space you have and yet so little furniture.  We have been in FVs on Eclipse and Reflection and my general observation is that Celebrity did a better job with each new successive ship in properly furnishing the FVs.  It was almost like they were learning along the way and that properly furnishing an FV to take advantage of the huge amount of room was an afterthought when the first S class ship was launched (I can understand that).  This means the Solstice FVs are very sparse with furniture and blessed with a lot of floor space.  It also means that Reflection FVs are furnished really really well.

 

3. The biggest piece of furniture that is glaringly missing is a dining table which really comes in handy for this cabin.  After having a dining table on our previous Eclipse FVs, I assumed that there would be one in our Solstice FV.  When I saw that the table was missing after we embarked, I talked to our cabin steward and insisted that he bring one up to our cabin.   He actually did bring one up for our cabin but that was before I figured out from additional internet searching that the Solstice FVs don't come with one (yes, I tipped our cabin steward well along with my apologies once I figured this out) !  Two years later when we booked another Solstice FV and armed with knowledge from our previous experience, we actually brought a cheap folding table with us (and we left it behind for the cabin steward who liked it).

 

4. Judging from the photographs of 7107, the master bedroom closet is smaller than on the Deck 8 FVs because the master bedroom itself is smaller.  I am sure you will be using the closet in the 2nd bedroom.  

 

5.  Having the sofa in the living room is very nice.

 

6.  You will like having the two front windows.  They let in a lot of light which is great.  Sometimes you will have to close the shades on both windows on sunny days because direct sunlight through them can overpower the room air conditioner.  Because the windows are steeply slanted, on occasion you will bump your head when you walk up close to it to look out the window.  By the end of the cruise, you will learn how to look out the windows without bumping your head!

 

7.  It's a little noisier in the FV cabins when the ship is docking or anchoring.

 

8. It's useful to bring a standard rubber door stop which allows you to keep the master bedroom door open.  The motion of the ship causes the door to swing back and forth if you don't keep the door closed.  Our cabin steward loaned us one to use when we were in our first FV.  After that, we always brought two (one for the second bedroom door as well).

 

9. Like the M-class FVs, the Solstice FVs have a standard bathroom and a standard set of electrical plugs mounted by the desk.  This means that there are no electrical plugs in the master bedroom and the bed is located far away from the outlets.  As a result, we bring battery packs to put by our night stands to keep our phones near us while charging them overnight.  You may not be that shackled to your smart phone like we are.  The location of the electrical outlets also have implications with using a CPAP machine--the cabin steward will provide an extension cord although it will be a long one.

 

 

This answered all my questions.  I obviously asked the right person as you are a wealth of such valuable information for us.  Many thanks to you for taking the time to write this all out for me.  I am on hold with celebrity right now trying to see if they can move us to deck 8 but I feel like that may be a futile attempt.

Update:  I got through and am put on a waiting list for deck 8. I don’t feel like there is a good chance of getting it but, it is what it is.   I also attempted to get my unlimited photo package reinstated.  She is moving it up the chain per my request.  I saved the confirmation email.  So, what was supposed to be a special cruise for my birthday, which has been canceled so many times (not just because of Covid but twice because of chartered itineraries), has now gone back to a bit of a hassle but I promise to drop those frustrations the minute I get onboard.  Celebrity has always treated me more than fairly in the past so, I’ll hang in there and be flexible.  I’m more worried about the room being noisy but when we had the Family OV rooms on the Mercury, we thought the noise was worth having that great room.  

[mahdnc]

13 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

This answered all my questions.  I obviously asked the right person as you are a wealth of such valuable information for us.  Many thanks to you for taking the time to write this all out for me.  I am on hold with celebrity right now trying to see if they can move us to deck 8 but I feel like that may be a futile attempt.

Update:  I got through and am put on a waiting list for deck 8. I don’t feel like there is a good chance of getting it but, it is what it is.   I also attempted to get my unlimited photo package reinstated.  She is moving it up the chain per my request.  I saved the confirmation email.  So, what was supposed to be a special cruise for my birthday, which has been canceled so many times (not just because of Covid but twice because of chartered itineraries), has now gone back to a bit of a hassle but I promise to drop those frustrations the minute I get onboard.  Celebrity has always treated me more than fairly in the past so, I’ll hang in there and be flexible.  I’m more worried about the room being noisy but when we had the Family OV rooms on the Mercury, we thought the noise was worth having that great room.  

 

Thank you for the kind words.  If you are able to get a Deck 8 FV your stateroom will be bigger, but still relatively unfurnished (stray furniture added over time notwithstanding).  However the balcony improves considerably with a move up to Deck 8.  You will find that the balcony length is actually longer than a standard balcony which is nice (still not nearly as large as your coveted M class corner FV).  More importantly you and your spouse will be able to stand on that balcony at the same time to enjoy the views together--something that is difficult to do on a Deck 7 FV. 

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

 

Thank you for the kind words.  If you are able to get a Deck 8 FV your stateroom will be bigger, but still relatively unfurnished (stray furniture added over time notwithstanding).  However the balcony improves considerably with a move up to Deck 8.  You will find that the balcony length is actually longer than a standard balcony which is nice (still not nearly as large as your coveted M class corner FV).  More importantly you and your spouse will be able to stand on that balcony at the same time to enjoy the views together--something that is difficult to do on a Deck 7 FV. 

 

You are most welcome....and thank you again!  We've decided to move this cruise until next year.  We are going to go on Princess this Sept instead.  

We just were not happy with the move to a forward cabin and the noise that might be involved.  Someone in the resolutions dept was so very helpful with our problems.  I just couldn't see spending the money on something we really didn't want and he was able to move us to a regular balcony cabin with all of our OBC.  We are both happy about the decision.  

 

[casandbliz]

23 hours ago, garyl62 said:

I realize the focus of this thread is now on those that have accepted the change and are looking forward, but in case anyone who canceled and is wondering about a refund is still reading along, I called Celebrity to cancel on April 18th, and on April 25 I had my $500 deposit credited back to my credit card.  I hadn't even checked until this weekend as I never would have expected it that quickly.

 

We also cancelled and received our refund much sooner than expected. We had been told it could take up to 30 days, but it was actually only about a week.

[SusieV]

21 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

This answered all my questions.  I obviously asked the right person as you are a wealth of such valuable information for us.  Many thanks to you for taking the time to write this all out for me.  I am on hold with celebrity right now trying to see if they can move us to deck 8 but I feel like that may be a futile attempt.

Update:  I got through and am put on a waiting list for deck 8. I don’t feel like there is a good chance of getting it but, it is what it is.   I also attempted to get my unlimited photo package reinstated.  She is moving it up the chain per my request.  I saved the confirmation email.  So, what was supposed to be a special cruise for my birthday, which has been canceled so many times (not just because of Covid but twice because of chartered itineraries), has now gone back to a bit of a hassle but I promise to drop those frustrations the minute I get onboard.  Celebrity has always treated me more than fairly in the past so, I’ll hang in there and be flexible.  I’m more worried about the room being noisy but when we had the Family OV rooms on the Mercury, we thought the noise was worth having that great room.  

 

Can you please post if you get your photo package back and how you did that? Because I had them booked as well.

[Cruise Raider]

4 hours ago, SusieV said:

 

Can you please post if you get your photo package back and how you did that? Because I had them booked as well.

I did ask for it and could never get it back.  If you are staying on the Sept 24th cruise, you can always plead your case along with the confirmation email.  I switched to another sailing altogether for next year because we just didn't feel like this sailing was giving us the value of what we paid for so, I knew I wasn't going to put up the fight for the photo package.  Oddly enough, the refusal to reinstate the photo package was the straw that broke the camel's back on this sailing.  We moved it to next year and are so much happier.  We booked our Sept celebration cruise (a birthday and anniversary) on another line this morning.  

[AZ-Floater]

I checked again and, at least for us, there was a few Sky suites available for $1000 less than what we paid. Sky suite is approx $3500 and Celebrity suite is $4500.