State of the Solstice

[phoenix_dream]

On Solstice can you load $$ on your machine using obc and then cash out or is this one of the ships that cashier has to load in $50 increments at a time and you need to play it out?

[kirtihk]

On 9/21/2022 at 12:46 PM, Jim_Iain said:

 

Good luck on your transition to Retirement.   All l can say is -   It's better than I ever imagined.   Prior to retirement, due to work Financial Calendars there were only about 3 weeks out of the entire year that our schedules synced and we could get away.    Now it's fun to just say I found something - wanna do it?

 

I think we like the S-Class ship (with exception of Reflection) the best.    While we enjoy the M-Class the specialty restaurants selection is really limited.  

 

We have only sailed Edge but will be doing Apex in April so will have to re-evaluate the e-class. 

Beyond is supposed to be... yes, beyond of Edge and Apex (during our March cruise we booked a cruise on it on April, 2024; it was on sail; now it is 30% more).  When they announced it about 3.5 years ago or so, it appeared as the same (sister ship); however recently I read and watched videos about it, and it will have a lot of additional items vs. Edge and Apex.  For example, the Sunset Bar (see the picture below):

 

The open sea is one of the most rejuvenating places you can be, and we took full advantage of this in creating a redesigned, two-story Sunset Bar that’s nearly twice the size as before. Throughout Sunset Bar’s two open-air decks, you’ll find all kinds of inviting places to sit. Pull up to the u-shaped bar, or settle under the cool shade of the plush daybed niches. You’ll find the right spot for every occasion. The Sunset Bar even connects seamlessly to the alfresco dining area of Oceanview Café below, so you can drink and dine in the same captivating space. Whatever brings you to Sunset Bar, you’ll quickly realize that the fresh sea breezes and boundless views are sure to make every sip of that cocktail taste even better. 

 

[snowowl]

7 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

On Solstice can you load $$ on your machine using obc and then cash out or is this one of the ships that cashier has to load in $50 increments at a time and you need to play it out?

We are currently on the Solstice, the slot machines do not have the “personal banker” option.  If you want to cash out your NR-OBC, you can go to the casino cashier and ask for a slot voucher using you OBC. You can put it in any machine and then cash out without playing, then redeem the voucher for cash from the cashier.  We usually do it in $100 increment so not sure whether there is a minimum. 

[Jim_Iain]

8 hours ago, ScottC4746 said:

Don't let the Maitr'd turn you off.  Remember they are on three month contracts (three or six), then they go home for a bit and then return on a new contract but not necessarily the exact same ship as while they are gone a new crew is in place.  If you run into him again and have the same issue, simply go to Guest Services and ask for the F & B Director.  Having access to Luminie you have a concierge I believe you can go to for assistance.

 

I can assure you it was addressed.   I initially sat down with him and explained my disappointment.   He would call Michael's Club and say our table was ready and then when we came down would wait 30 minutes.   Sitting looking disgusted the Captain came in and asked if there was a problem.   I explained to him.   The Captain who called the F&B Manager over and told him to fix it.     The Retreat Concierge (this was before SS were permitted in Michael's Club)  then would insist to  call down each night to make sure our table was available and then insist on escorting us down.  Even when we arrived it wasn't and he was no were to be found.    I was embarrassed that the Concierge would insist on escorting us down.

 

You are welcome to Sail Reflection if you choose  but I will never sail her again.    The extra passenger loads are also apparent in many other operations of the ship

[Jim_Iain]

On 9/24/2022 at 4:18 PM, Northern Aurora said:

 

This is the first time we have sailed with her, and I am impressed as well.  Very visible.  We are seeing her daily.

 

One quick question.  When you did your B2B in LA did they do Immigration in the Terminal or on the ship?

[Northern Aurora]

Jim:   We did US immigration in Astoria, Oregon.  Nothing has been done for Mexico (we are in Puerto Vallarta today).  Gerry

[Gordoncruickshank]

22 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

You are welcome to Sail Reflection if you choose  but I will never sail her again.    The extra passenger loads are also apparent in many other operations of the ship

We have only done one Reflection cruise in 2015 when the were building Luminae. We were in one is the Aqua suites at that time. They gave all suites free speciality bookings all week but all that did was make them over busy and not as enjoyable. Blu was overloaded caused by all the extra suites wanting to use it. It felt vary crowded as the added a deck but didn’t increase the common areas. It was just not pleasant. Never been back.

 

Fortunately we had two weeks one the Eclipse immediately following that cruise.

[Jim_Iain]

28 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Jim:   We did US immigration in Astoria, Oregon.  Nothing has been done for Mexico (we are in Puerto Vallarta today).  Gerry

 

Ahh..  light bulb goes off.  I seem to remember you saying that.   Hope you are having beautiful weather it's perfect in the SF Bay area.

[sbcs5390]

37 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Jim:   We did US immigration in Astoria, Oregon.  Nothing has been done for Mexico (we are in Puerto Vallarta today).  Gerry

Thanks for keeping us posted. Maybe next week we’ll pick the brains of another B2Ber on how it works without the Astoria call and two RT LAs in a row. Hoping for my mom’s sake we can stay on the ship. Did you have chic night tonight or last night? I assume the second one will be the sea day before Ensenada. 

[Northern Aurora]

2 hours ago, sbcs5390 said:

Thanks for keeping us posted. Maybe next week we’ll pick the brains of another B2Ber on how it works without the Astoria call and two RT LAs in a row. Hoping for my mom’s sake we can stay on the ship. Did you have chic night tonight or last night? I assume the second one will be the sea day before Ensenada. 

 

This leg started on September 24th.  Our first evening chic night was September 25th which was our first sea day.  The second will be on September 29th which is the day after Cabo San Lucas.

 

We are having time changes which is causing some confusion for passengers.  The butlers (and I suspect stateroom attendants for those not in Suites) set the TV to an announcement regarding the time zone change, it is clearly noted in the Celebrity Today and, as I understand, is announced at evening show (we haven’t been going).   Apparently a few folks missed their Puerto Vallarta shore excursions this morning.

 

And today we had extra entertainment — pier runners.  We were scheduled to leave at 4 PM but didn’t leave until 4:40 PM.  A man and woman were dropped off at the port entrance by a taxi and sprinted to the ship.  I was surprised we waited that long but with the time zone changes they may have cut some slack.

[abbydancer2003]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I can assure you it was addressed.   I initially sat down with him and explained my disappointment.   He would call Michael's Club and say our table was ready and then when we came down would wait 30 minutes.   Sitting looking disgusted the Captain came in and asked if there was a problem.   I explained to him.   The Captain who called the F&B Manager over and told him to fix it.     The Retreat Concierge (this was before SS were permitted in Michael's Club)  then would insist to  call down each night to make sure our table was available and then insist on escorting us down.  Even when we arrived it wasn't and he was no were to be found.    I was embarrassed that the Concierge would insist on escorting us down.

 

You are welcome to Sail Reflection if you choose  but I will never sail her again.    The extra passenger loads are also apparent in many other operations of the ship

We've been on Reflection once.  Our first time in a Sky Suite and Glen's first X cruise.  We normally eat between 8-8:30.  We only had to wait once, and that was Sicily because we didn't leave port until after 7, so everybody came then.  They sent us to Michaels Club and either the hostess came and got us or the concierges sent us.

(By the way, the same thing happened to my sister and me in the Caribbean on the Equinox, which doesn't have the extra deck.)

 

Our friends in Aqua said they had to wait every night, and we were told they had no room for us (suites are as available).  No baked brie for me.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by abbydancer

[sbcs5390]

2 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

This leg started on September 24th.  Our first evening chic night was September 25th which was our first sea day.  The second will be on September 29th which is the day after Cabo San Lucas.

Thanks for confirming, that’s what I meant to guess but this work week has felt like one long Monday so I was off by a day! The time zones in that area can be a doozy. For a while on our canal cruise they were insisting they’d change them the night before arrival in San Diego. I’m glad they moved it to earlier as that seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. 

[crusinthrough]

21 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Reflections has an additional Floor than all other S-Class ships and has approx 120-280 more passengers but they have the same number of seats in MDR, Blu and Luminae - which has caused some problems in past sailings.     My opinion is based on the fact we almost exclusively have sailed in suites and some Aqua.     After a really bad experience (the Luinae Maitr'd was out of his element) we have never sailed her again and probably will never sail her again.

 

Reflections has 111 Suites -   Vs   72 on Silhouette  (after Revolution)

 

Blu isn't as bad with  150  Aqua  Rooms vs 130 on Silhouette

 

 

Thank you for the information.  I'm surprised Celebrity did not expand the dining venues especially Luminae with the extra passengers. I have an upcoming sailing on the Reflection.  I am in a suite, which are not  sold out but will probably be at capacity with winning Move Up bids.  I'll hope for the best.  

 

I have a RC ship that I will never sail on again.  I understand how this can happen.  

[Algebralovr]

1 hour ago, crusinthrough said:

Thank you for the information.  I'm surprised Celebrity did not expand the dining venues especially Luminae with the extra passengers. I have an upcoming sailing on the Reflection.  I am in a suite, which are not  sold out but will probably be at capacity with winning Move Up bids.  I'll hope for the best.  

I love Reflection, but the additional deck of suites is a serious issue.  Luminae doesn’t have sufficient seating for all the suites.  For some reason, no one thought to make it enough bigger when it was built.  
 

The M’D basically has to hope that 1/3 to 1/2 of the guests choose to book specialty instead of coming to Luminae.  It is kind of crazy.  We were on one cruise on Reflection  where the specialty restaurants just were not being booked.  Luminae was super full with waiting.  If I remember correctly, they were offering Tuscan for like a $10 cover charge one evening to Luminae guests, to try to help with the pressure.  Only saw that once, though.  

[Jim_Iain]

13 hours ago, crusinthrough said:

Thank you for the information.  I'm surprised Celebrity did not expand the dining venues especially Luminae with the extra passengers. I have an upcoming sailing on the Reflection.  I am in a suite, which are not  sold out but will probably be at capacity with winning Move Up bids.  I'll hope for the best.  

 

I have a RC ship that I will never sail on again.  I understand how this can happen.  

I'm guessing the decision was a financial one  -  Increase revenue from the extra cabins and not increase size and take it away from revenue generating areas of the ship.  

[SunNFunCruzer]

An update about the internet on Solstice in the MexRiv.... It is unreliable and often fails to work. Today we're in Cabo with family in Ian's path and in addition to premium internet being slow and unreliable, every news channel is either frozen or showing "no signal". I have to use my cellular data plan to communicate with work and family. And, as I said, we have the premium package. Internet in PV was almost nonexistent -- hours long periods with no connectivity or constant drops. There was a note 2 days ago in Celebrity Today to expect internet outages and a statement that prices were adjusted, but we received no credit and internet was expensive.

[phoenix_dream]

19 hours ago, snowowl said:

We are currently on the Solstice, the slot machines do not have the “personal banker” option.  If you want to cash out your NR-OBC, you can go to the casino cashier and ask for a slot voucher using you OBC. You can put it in any machine and then cash out without playing, then redeem the voucher for cash from the cashier.  We usually do it in $100 increment so not sure whether there is a minimum. 

Thank you 

[cruzzzinma]

17 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

And today we had extra entertainment — pier runners.  We were scheduled to leave at 4 PM but didn’t leave until 4:40 PM.  A man and woman were dropped off at the port entrance by a taxi and sprinted to the ship.  I was surprised we waited that long but with the time zone changes they may have cut some slack.

The retreat concierge said the ship called them and learned they were on the way back. We also had a really short distance to go for today’s port.

[blackshirt]

19 hours ago, snowowl said:

We are currently on the Solstice, the slot machines do not have the “personal banker” option.  If you want to cash out your NR-OBC, you can go to the casino cashier and ask for a slot voucher using you OBC. You can put it in any machine and then cash out without playing, then redeem the voucher for cash from the cashier.  We usually do it in $100 increment so not sure whether there is a minimum. 

Great information. We just booked a Mexican Riviera cruise on Soltice and were getting a lot of OBC, more than I think we can spend if not for the casino.

[sbcs5390]

1 hour ago, cruzzzinma said:

The retreat concierge said the ship called them and learned they were on the way back. We also had a really short distance to go for today’s port.

Good to know they now have access to folks' phone numbers. This past spring on ML I was out in port and they had question about a room service order for a sailaway party I had placed in advance. They explained their only solution was to call my emergency contact and ask for my phone number because "the ship doesn't have access to guests' phone numbers"!

[Northern Aurora]

4 hours ago, cruzzzinma said:

The retreat concierge said the ship called them and learned they were on the way back. We also had a really short distance to go for today’s port.

 

I heard the same thing.  We always have an I-Phone with us while on land and it is important to ensure that the phone which is actually in your possession is the number you have on file as an emergency contact.

 

PS: We have the premium internet and are having no issues.

[stonesc]

On 9/26/2022 at 10:28 PM, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

Not sure about games on the screen at the pool.... and not sure you'd want to sit out there with the heat and humidity even if they were shown, but the in-room entertainment includes ESPN and ESPN2. Tonight's game is Cowboys vs. NY Giants.

When are the formal nights on Celebrity Solstice?

[rj59]

I was on the Soltice last month, and will be on her 4 more times through April. I didn't notice any problems, but then again, I don't go looking for such trivial things. My stateroom was large, attractive, and comfortable, and I enjoyed the Alaska views from the Sky Lounge too much to care if a window wasn't clean. The only thing I noticed was some frayed parts of the lawn, but that's to be expected in Alaska weather and a lawn on a cruise ship. All I can say is that I went on the brand-new, spotless, gorgeous Discovery Princess the month before, and was bored by Princess sameness and stressed by too many passengers and full venues. On the other hand, I loved Solstice for the creative venues, varied activities, friendly crew, lack of masking and judgment, and fine food, which is why I booked it 4 more times when I got home. I find that sometimes the older designs can be more interesting than the new, large, cookie-cutter ship with fancy gimmicks that remove things I love, like wraparound outside promenades or the Sky Lounge. I even have enjoyed the surreal, gaudy, breast-centric, Vegas-nightmare Carnival ships designed by Joe Farkus (Solstice has some of that--the overhead yellow light-sculpture in the atrium looks like a female body part to me). 

[DaKahuna]

23 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

I can assure you it was addressed.   I initially sat down with him and explained my disappointment.   He would call Michael's Club and say our table was ready and then when we came down would wait 30 minutes.   Sitting looking disgusted the Captain came in and asked if there was a problem.   I explained to him.   The Captain who called the F&B Manager over and told him to fix it.     The Retreat Concierge (this was before SS were permitted in Michael's Club)  then would insist to  call down each night to make sure our table was available and then insist on escorting us down.  Even when we arrived it wasn't and he was no were to be found.    I was embarrassed that the Concierge would insist on escorting us down.

 

You are welcome to Sail Reflection if you choose  but I will never sail her again.    The extra passenger loads are also apparent in many other operations of the ship

Jim,

 

 How long ago was this?  As you know we did a B2B on Reflection this past December and had a very wonderful cruise.  We never waited more than 2 or 3 minutes to be escorted to our table in Luminae and we simply just walked up to the Maitre'd's station each night around the same time.  

 

 

[SunNFunCruzer]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

PS: We have the premium internet and are having no issues.

 

Count yourself lucky. Although I doubt you had uninterrupted service.... Why would Celebrity warn that service would be spotty? and why on earth would we lie? We started the cruise complimenting the internet's speed and stability.

 

In any case, we have photos of both our internet and tv without signal for hours. And Celebrity knows the volume of data via upload and download at any given day and time and Celebrity can clearly investigate and determine when their system(s) was (were) offline and for how long.