Solstice B2B - April 15-29 - Mex Riviera & Pac Coastal

[aring75]

And this looks very interesting. 🤔

 

[aring75]

MDR dinner tonight. 
 

 

 

Dessert. 
 

[aring75]

Finally made it to the dining room for breakfast.
 

 

 

 

The food in the buffet yesterday was…not hot. This morning I had Eggs Benedict with a side of hash browns. Everything was piping hot and very tasty. 
 

[aring75]

Sitting in the Sky Lounge all the way forward and this morning is the most ocean swell activity we’ve had all cruise. I kinda like it, but we’ve heard a few people around us make comments about feeling a little “off.”

 

One of the dining room waiters this morning said that the seas are always a little worse headed back north to California. 

[westcoastsue]

1 hour ago, aring75 said:

Sitting in the Sky Lounge all the way forward and this morning is the most ocean swell activity we’ve had all cruise. I kinda like it, but we’ve heard a few people around us make comments about feeling a little “off.”

 

One of the dining room waiters this morning said that the seas are always a little worse headed back north to California. 

The seas are rougher because it’s an uphill run from Cabo to LA. We were on a cruise back in the 90’s when our arrival in LA was delayed until 10am. We didn’t get sick but it was not the most pleasant experience. The only worse experience we have had was the South China Sea where my husband did succumb.

[aring75]

The World Wine tour was new for me this cruise. And I really liked it!

 

 

 

This is a great wine tasting for anyone who doesn’t really love a “structured” wine tasting. Here, they have multiple tables set up representing different wine regions. There’s both a red and white (or rosé) option from each region. 
 

 

 

You walk around at your own pace and try any (ALL 😁) wines of interest. There’s also a table set up with various cheeses, crackers, fruits, and bread to enjoy in between tastings. 
 

[aring75]

Consecutive (B2B) cruiser information. 
 

[aring75]

We are currently waiting in the martini lounge for our turn to go through immigration. We are in San Diego, so since this is our first return port to the US, everyone is required to go through customs before exiting the ship.

 

At least that means no one will have to do that tomorrow in San Pedro. 
 

Immigration information. 
 

 

 

We are #19 and they wouldn’t give us an earlier number when I requested it. We had made plans at 10:30 this morning in San Diego and even though I explained this to guest relations, they said they couldn’t change it. We moved our reservation back to a later time, but I’m still a little salty about it. 

[aring75]

Has anyone ever done this? It’s the first time I’ve ever even heard of it. 
 

[davekathy]

@aring75 is the CC doing the Music and Mixology for elite and above on the Solstice? 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

2 hours ago, aring75 said:

The World Wine tour was new for me this cruise. And I really liked it!

 

 

 

This is a great wine tasting for anyone who doesn’t really love a “structured” wine tasting. Here, they have multiple tables set up representing different wine regions. There’s both a red and white (or rosé) option from each region. 
 

 

 

You walk around at your own pace and try any (ALL 😁) wines of interest. There’s also a table set up with various cheeses, crackers, fruits, and bread to enjoy in between tastings. 
 

This looks AWESOME! Would it likely be on a sea day? It's offered on the Summit to Bermuda but no day/time is given. We have 2 sea days going and 1 coming back - will it likely be one of those?

[TinyG]

All ready to go, except the wellness check. It popped up yesterday and I waited till today, now that's gone off the app. I called X and they said that's done at the port now. Oh well...by this time tomorrow I will be on board! Let's GO!!!

[JintyGirl]

6 minutes ago, TinyG said:

All ready to go, except the wellness check. It popped up yesterday and I waited till today, now that's gone off the app. I called X and they said that's done at the port now. Oh well...by this time tomorrow I will be on board! Let's GO!!!

We did ours last night. Only 4 questions to answer so shouldn’t take long at the port. 

[TinyG]

That sounds good. Thank you! Traveling with my 80+ parents, so anything that easy would be great....I also upgraded my drink package to be on the safe side 🤪. I have already told them, when we pick them up tomorrow, no complaining....how the times have changed. They can comment on the ship, service, weather, and that my mom does not have to cook....

[westcoastsue]

5 minutes ago, JintyGirl said:

We did ours last night. Only 4 questions to answer so shouldn’t take long at the port. 

We did ours last night too!

[JintyGirl]

We left San Diego a few hours ago on our way to San Pedro. Saw the Solstice and waved 😄

[JintyGirl]

2 minutes ago, TinyG said:

That sounds good. Thank you! Traveling with my 80+ parents, so anything that easy would be great....I also upgraded my drink package to be on the safe side 🤪. I have already told them, when we pick them up tomorrow, no complaining....how the times have changed. They can comment on the ship, service, weather, and that my mom does not have to cook....

1 of the questions is “are you more than x weeks pregnant” so that should bring a smile to their faces 😂

[Chardonnay Char]

On 4/19/2023 at 1:55 AM, aring75 said:

Ohmahgosh. Why. Why have we never done the Veuve Cliquot dinner before??

 

This was spectacular. 
 

 

 

 

 

This dinner is limited to eight guests, but our sommelier told us that so many people were interested this cruise, that they opened up another night. If you miss out during first sign-up, ask to be put on a waiting list. If they have enough people interested, they will extend the dinner to a second night. 

Can you share the amount of the uncharge? And can you use the classic beverage card there?

[CTSandy]

3 hours ago, davekathy said:

@aring75 is the CC doing the Music and Mixology for elite and above on the Solstice? 

They offered it on Solstice on the April 8 sailing - we attended and enjoyed it.

[TinyG]

8 minutes ago, JintyGirl said:

1 of the questions is “are you more than x weeks pregnant” so that should bring a smile to their faces 😂

YIKES.....LOL🤣

[aring75]

4 hours ago, davekathy said:

@aring75 is the CC doing the Music and Mixology for elite and above on the Solstice? 

Yes they are! We missed it on this first cruise, but we are going to try to make it next time. 
 

Here is the notice we received in the stateroom. 
 

[aring75]

2 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

This looks AWESOME! Would it likely be on a sea day? It's offered on the Summit to Bermuda but no day/time is given. We have 2 sea days going and 1 coming back - will it likely be one of those?

Yes I would imagine. Ours was held on the last sea day. I enjoyed it so much that I will probably do it again!

[aring75]

1 hour ago, JintyGirl said:

We left San Diego a few hours ago on our way to San Pedro. Saw the Solstice and waved 😄

Waiving back to you! We’ll see everybody tomorrow! 😁😁😁

 

 

[aring75]

57 minutes ago, Chardonnay Char said:

Can you share the amount of the uncharge? And can you use the classic beverage card there?

The dinner is $179 and you can’t use any beverage packages. It’s definitely pricey, but a unique experience and basically all you can drink (lol, if that makes a difference). 🥂

[aring75]

So we had to wait until 12:30 pm to disembark (we were scheduled for 10:45 - 11:00). After communicating with our private tour operator, we all decided that we didn’t have enough time to enjoy everything we had planned. Since we will be back in a few months, we just postponed our original plans for later. That was very much appreciated. We would have hated to feel rushed. 
 

I can’t recommend SoCal Tours by Locals highly enough. They have been very communicative and extremely flexible. 
 

So instead we opted to do the HoHo Old Town Trolley. They have a pick-up location right next to the end of the pier where the ship docks. At Carnitas Snack Shack right on the Embarcadero. 
 

We grabbed a crispy chicken sandwich while we waited for the trolley to arrive. (They run approximately every 20 minutes.)

 

 

 

Plenty of choices and it’s close by. The table seating and bar area are open-air and the weather was gorgeous today.