Review: Solstice Sept 16 & Sept 22 B2B Pacific Coastal & Mexico

[SusieV]

15 minutes ago, hcat said:

Nice review....good details.  We did a similar itin years ago..it was  lots of fun but was during a period of safety  cautions in some of the ports. 

 

Did you feel safe in ports, esp where you went for local food?

How were the bands on board?

 

There were warnings about not venturing out of the tourist area in Ensenada except on a tour. Since you had to take a bus elsewhere to shop, this contributed to our decision to skip that port. Puerta Vallarta we felt no safety issues. There was a port shopping area with even a massage tent set up, and a free Celebrity shuttle to downtown. In Cabo we walked about 40 min and did not feel unsafe. Maybe a bit lost lol we had to keep asking people for directions as we got closer.

 

We enjoyed the live music, except for the parts of the ship where music competed. We like to sit at the World Class bar, so if there was music playing in the Grand Foyer it would compete with both the music from the shops and the music from the bar itself. I would say generally volume was a minor issue but that's personal preference.

 

But as for quality? No complaints. We enjoyed sitting on the pool deck and listening to the band more than once.

[OrcaGirl]

35 minutes ago, SusieV said:

 

There were warnings about not venturing out of the tourist area in Ensenada except on a tour. Since you had to take a bus elsewhere to shop, this contributed to our decision to skip that port. Puerta Vallarta we felt no safety issues. There was a port shopping area with even a massage tent set up, and a free Celebrity shuttle to downtown. In Cabo we walked about 40 min and did not feel unsafe. Maybe a bit lost lol we had to keep asking people for directions as we got closer.

 

 

Do you happen to recall where specifically the shuttle picked up and dropped off? Did it require pre-booking?

 

Did you partake of any spa treatments while aboard? I'm wondering if the spa is fully restaffed or if appointments are hard to come by.

 

Thanks!

[cinderellen]

Very informative review. Thank you!

 

[SusieV]

1 minute ago, OrcaGirl said:

 

Do you happen to recall where specifically the shuttle picked up and dropped off? Did it require pre-booking?

 

Did you partake of any spa treatments while aboard? I'm wondering if the spa is fully restaffed or if appointments are hard to come by.

 

Thanks!

 

The shuttle picked up right where you got off the ship, you can't miss it. It did not require prebooking.

 

There were a lot of discounts offered to use the spa during the trip, so I suspect they are up to normal staffing levels and not getting normal levels of booking. I was able to call and make an appointment to get makeup done on formal night the day before with no issues. Several times they stuck $50 coupons in our mailbox or offered multi service packages at very reasonable prices. I don't think you'll have trouble getting bookings. I can tell you that many of the spa activities in the Daily Planner like the 5 Minute Makeover had literally 1-2 attendees. It was kind of crazy.

[boontj2003]

20 minutes ago, OrcaGirl said:

 

Do you happen to recall where specifically the shuttle picked up and dropped off? Did it require pre-booking?

 

Did you partake of any spa treatments while aboard? I'm wondering if the spa is fully restaffed or if appointments are hard to come by.

 

Thanks!

I was on the S to Alaska in June. Personally, I did not have a great massage; however, my husband LOVED his. The one thing we both agreed on, they were playing jazz music rather than spa music. Totally messed up the vibe. Dancing instead of meditating! Enjoy!

[OrcaGirl]

5 minutes ago, boontj2003 said:

I was on the S to Alaska in June. Personally, I did not have a great massage; however, my husband LOVED his. The one thing we both agreed on, they were playing jazz music rather than spa music. Totally messed up the vibe. Dancing instead of meditating! Enjoy!

 

They should let the client pick from a series of playlists for their preferred spa vibe! Personally, a playlist of moody 80s British new wave would be amazing. 😉

[OrcaGirl]

1 hour ago, SusieV said:

 

The shuttle picked up right where you got off the ship, you can't miss it. It did not require prebooking.

 

 

 

Thanks! Do you recall where in PV it dropped off? I didn't venture much beyond the immediate port area on my last stop, so I'm not sure where 'downtown shopping' would be located. 🙂

[sbcs5390]

9 hours ago, SusieV said:

I didn't check into the book, but I got an email from the Captain's Club to get a free book printed so that's why I didn't check into it further.

 

I saw a package of 10 prints for $100; I didn't notice any for $5 each. With the Captain's Club discount that's pretty close though.

 

Definitely though don't prepay for the package if you're Elite. It was a hassle to get it refunded and charged correctly.

 I got the CC one too and think I am going to make a Christmas gift of summer (non-cruise) beach memories with that one. I did go in and cancel the digital package, so thanks again for that!

[SusieV]

20 hours ago, OrcaGirl said:

 

Thanks! Do you recall where in PV it dropped off? I didn't venture much beyond the immediate port area on my last stop, so I'm not sure where 'downtown shopping' would be located. 🙂

 

I'm sorry I can't really describe it but it wasn't too far. I was happy with the port area and Walmart but it was also 38C plus humidity that day so I didn't go out for long.

[Northern Aurora]

Thanks for the review.  We also were on for both the Pacific Coastal and the Mexico cruise.  And we also had to change staterooms from a Celebrity Suite to a Sky Suite.  We were in 1198 on the second cruise so were your neighbors.  Despite the staterooms being side by side we had a different stateroom attendant than you.

 

We had cool water one morning in the Sky Suite, my husband mentioned it to our stateroom attendant and within minutes a plumber arrived to fix the problem.

 

We also suspect that there were more covid cases on the second leg.  The Luminae seating hostess was "under the weather" for several days and on turnaround day, such a busy day for the staff, a Retreat Concierge also was "under the weather."  Same phrase was used both times.  We avoided covid but always (and I mean always) wore masks in elevators.  On September 24th the long line in the Sky Lounge of folks lining up to have new photos looked like a possible covid spreader event, and we were some of the few who wore masks.

 

We had spent two weeks on the Solstice in June and had been on her in Australia when the global suspension of cruising was implemented in March 2020.  While we find the decor dated we have no qualms in cruising on her.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

@SusieV do you recall what time passengers were able to disembark when you returned to Cali?  Further, can you speak to how long it took to get through customs?  Trying to figure out if we could make a 10 AM flight out of LAX if we were among the first to leave the ship.

[Northern Aurora]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

@SusieV do you recall what time passengers were able to disembark when you returned to Cali?  Further, can you speak to how long it took to get through customs?  Trying to figure out if we could make a 10 AM flight out of LAX if we were among the first to leave the ship.

 

I am not Susie, but it will be interesting if her party of six differs from our experience (a couple).  My impression is that a significant number of folks self-disembarked early.  When we left our Suite to wait in Michael's Club/Retreat Lounge it was 8 AM, and a surprising number of passengers had already left.  

 

We left the ship at 9:15 to pick up our luggage and go through customs.  Facial recognition is used so essentially folks just walk through.  We were in our waiting car and on the way to our airport hotel.  We were at the hotel by about 9:50 AM.  

 

While LAX isn't my favorite airport it isn't my least favorite either .  Do you have TSA Pre-check?  I am not sure I would book a 10 AM flight.

[SusieV]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

@SusieV do you recall what time passengers were able to disembark when you returned to Cali?  Further, can you speak to how long it took to get through customs?  Trying to figure out if we could make a 10 AM flight out of LAX if we were among the first to leave the ship.

I would strongly advise against a 10am flight even if you're not international. We had number 5 and didn't get called until after 8am, and it's about a half hour drive at best to LAX. Customs was pretty quick though especially if you get a porter so you go to the front of the line. I didn't pass facial recognition (perhaps because non-US?) but they just wanted to see our passports and that was it.

 

I'd go with 11am or later unless you plan to walk off with your own luggage, and the earliest time for that was 7:30am.

Edited October 7, 2022 by SusieV

[cruzzzinma]

I would say UBER and Taxis were a major challenge for us. We disembarked at about 9:15 and got outside quickly. It was 10:30 before we were in an Uber and driving away. .I did order an Uber XL to accommodate luggage and the rollator from #@$!!.

 

Agree with Northern Aurora, immigration was a breeze.

[Northern Aurora]

52 minutes ago, cruzzzinma said:

I would say UBER and Taxis were a major challenge for us. We disembarked at about 9:15 and got outside quickly. It was 10:30 before we were in an Uber and driving away. .I did order an Uber XL to accommodate luggage and the rollator from #@$!!.

 

......

 

As folks excited the cruise terminal there was a long line directly ahead.  Was that the line you were in?  

 

The Retreat Lounge/Michael's Club concierges were able to arrange a private car for us through Private Journeys so we used N-OBC as payment.  As we excited the terminal our black car, with our name on the window, was waiting for us just to the right of the door.   With your husband's rollator that line would have annoyed (to be polite) me.  If the length of that line is typical in the future it will be problematic for a number of folks trying to make a before noon flight.

[cruzzzinma]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

Was that the line you were in?  

We got in that line but there were no taxis so I ordered an Uber XL which finally came. Taxis trickled in but I don’t think we’d have been better off if we’d stayed in the taxi line.
 

I was aggravated but we had nowhere we had to be. We were headed to a hotel in Hermosa Beach where I did not expect the room to be ready, but wanted to drop the bags with the bell Captain before friends picked up up for lunch. It turned out they were able to switch rooms around and give us a room at 11.

 

I don’t think we’ve ever disembarked at a port where they weren’t managing taxi flow.

[Georgia_Peaches]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

As folks excited the cruise terminal there was a long line directly ahead.  Was that the line you were in?  

 

The Retreat Lounge/Michael's Club concierges were able to arrange a private car for us through Private Journeys so we used N-OBC as payment.  As we excited the terminal our black car, with our name on the window, was waiting for us just to the right of the door.   With your husband's rollator that line would have annoyed (to be polite) me.  If the length of that line is typical in the future it will be problematic for a number of folks trying to make a before noon flight.

Did you just ask the concierge to arrange the car once you boarded or was this done in advance?  May I ask the cost?  We also have no refundable obc. This sounds like a great thing to use this on. 

[Northern Aurora]

4 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Did you just ask the concierge to arrange the car once you boarded or was this done in advance?  May I ask the cost?  We also have no refundable obc. This sounds like a great thing to use this on. 

 

We are Zenith level members of the Captain's Club and were in a Suite.  We don't gamble and there are very little items onboard which we wish to purchase.  Even after gifting hundreds of dollars back to the crew/staff in tips we still had a substantial amount of N-OBC.  

 

We were B2B.  On the first leg another Zenith CC member, who also was in a Suite, asked to arrange a Private Journeys's transport to LAX, and it wasn't possible on that leg.  We asked about the possibility of such a transport near the end of the first leg of our B2B, the Retreat Concierges were able to orchestrate one for us.  The car was a lovely black limo and the cost was in the range of $420 from the cruise terminal  directly to our LAX hotel.   The vehicle was large enough that more than party of 2 could have been accommodated.

 

[AnnaNicole]

We got off the ship around 8:15am on Oct 1.   We only waited in the taxi queue for a few minutes.   It cost $63 to go to LAX.   It was really fast because we got dropped off at arrivals (no traffic) and took the escalator up to departures.  

Edited October 8, 2022 by AnnaNicole

[Northern Aurora]

Oh dear -- major typo in my post #43.  The Private Journey's limo service was $290.

[dlh015]

26 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

Oh dear -- major typo in my post #43.  The Private Journey's limo service was $290.

Don't cha just hate that  😀

 

And here I thought you were living high on the hog!!

[Northern Aurora]

And I thought I had carefully proof read the text!  We had a substantial amount of N-OBC but not THAT much!

[sdnich]

On 10/5/2022 at 1:11 PM, OrcaGirl said:

 

Thanks! Do you recall where in PV it dropped off? I didn't venture much beyond the immediate port area on my last stop, so I'm not sure where 'downtown shopping' would be located. 🙂

I’m sure they would drop you off close to the Malecon downtown Puerto Vallarta it’s about 12 blocks right on the water with walking traffic only and lots of  shops and restaurants! if you’re going it’s definitely a must see . depending on the traffic the shuttle shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes and the taxi or Uber back would probably cost you about five dollars.

[SusieV]

On 10/7/2022 at 6:32 PM, cruzzzinma said:

I would say UBER and Taxis were a major challenge for us. We disembarked at about 9:15 and got outside quickly. It was 10:30 before we were in an Uber and driving away. .I did order an Uber XL to accommodate luggage and the rollator from #@$!!.

 

Agree with Northern Aurora, immigration was a breeze.

 

I'm surprised- we didn't wait longer than 10-15 minutes in the taxi line and we were able to get a van that held all six of us plus our luggage. That driver got a large tip for managing to cram all our bags in his vehicle rather than insisting we split into two taxis!

 

They did have a desk and someone with a clipboard asking everyone what they needed in terms of taxis.

[lovecruzin]

On 10/7/2022 at 6:38 AM, Georgia_Peaches said:

@SusieV do you recall what time passengers were able to disembark when you returned to Cali?  Further, can you speak to how long it took to get through customs?  Trying to figure out if we could make a 10 AM flight out of LAX if we were among the first to leave the ship.

We disembarked on the 24th, so no immigration. We had an 11 am flight, which I was slighty nervous about

We were in group 1, off the ship and at LAX by 9:10.  The taxis were not plentiful when we disembarked shortly after 8. Luckily we pre booked a private shuttle,

There was no traffic but once at the airport there seemed to be long lines.

Even with TSA precheck I would not risk a 10am flight. 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by lovecruzin