Solstice to Alaska - First Sailing for 2023 - Hopefully Live

[Chrissit]

We’re going to try and take you along with us as we sail the first Solstice Alaska sailing of the year. I say try, because well that will depend on the ships internet.

Unlike how a number of live reviews start, we’re actually already on a cruise. We took the Royal Princess out of San Francisco and we’re sailing her to Vancouver and switching to the Solstice as a S2S. While we’d have much rather done a B2B, my fantastic TA pretty quickly put a kibosh on that idea thanks to PVSA. But, if you’d like some humor, my husband was a bit feisty about it and called Celebrity and they told us no issues. We went with our TA’s advice since I refused to gamble with the single nine day cruise the Solstice is doing this year to Alaska. (Our TA is correct that that B2B would be a no go thanks to PVSA for anyone wondering.)

 

I’m really hoping to cover the process of disembarking the Royal Princess and embarking the Solstice on the same day. Could be fun. Or a huge drag.
 

I’m also open to answering some questions about the Princess cruise we’re coming off of. I may do some comparisons somewhere along the line. So early pictures will likely be of the scenery and then once we disembark the first ship, I’ll start flowing pictures of the Solstice once we are on board.
 

A few notes on us - we’ve been cruising Celebrity for at least 10 years and we’re in our very early 40’s. Our first cruise with them was four days (Top Chef Charter) and our longest was a 19 day Transpacific. We’ve booked everything from a Sky Suite to an interior and for this cruise we’re in Aqua. 

 

For now, we’re sailing into Victoria (which we’ll also be visiting on the Solstice) and enjoying the scenery. 

 

[mahdnc]

I look forward to reading your posts for this cruise!

[Chrissit]

Well, I wasn't expecting to see her until tomorrow, but here we are.

 

Solstice just pulled up along side us in Victoria. 

 

[Chrissit]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

I look forward to reading your posts for this cruise!

Thank you! The lives tend to give some great insight into the actual cruise and I appreciate reading them. This will be my first attempt at a live so I'm hoping the internet holds out for us. 🤞

[SSFrance69]

We are sailing in Aqua for the first time later this year, so looking forward to living the AC experience vicariously here first. I'm looking forward to trying out Blu. I hope it's good! Enjoy and thank you for posting.

[Barwick Cruiser]

Hope you have a wonderful cruise. What day do you board and what are your ports? Have you booked excursions or have plans for the individual ports? 

[SunLuvr321]

Our Alaskan Cruise on the Solstice isn't until September, so I will be following along in anticipation of our cruise later this year.

 

Thank you for sharing your cruise and I hope you have an amazing journey!

[cruisinfly]

Thank you for the live review. We're heading out on the Solstice in a month, also Aqua class, and are really looking forward to hearing about your experience. I hope you have a great cruise!

 

Are you doing the Hot Glass experience? (I pre-purchased)

[danny6514]

Oh hello neighbour! We just got off the Solstice this morning and saw your ship yesterday!

[eyecantwait]

Happily following along as we'll be on the Solstice in August. Our last trip on this ship was May 2010 so it's long overdue.

Hope your cruise is fabulous!

[eyecantwait]

2 hours ago, cruisinfly said:

Thank you for the live review. We're heading out on the Solstice in a month, also Aqua class, and are really looking forward to hearing about your experience. I hope you have a great cruise!

 

Are you doing the Hot Glass experience? (I pre-purchased)

Please let us know about your hot glass experience as we'll be doing it in August.

Thanks!

[KmomChicago]

hello, what is PVSA?

[Northern Aurora]

I will also be following.

 

And for @KmomChicago, PVSA is the Passenger Vessel Service Act.

[Chrissit]

Okay, I'm going to add this and then go back and answer some questions. We're settled onboard the Solstice and I have to say, transitioning between ships went FAR better than we expected. 

 

We were off the Royal Princess and on Solstice within 2 hours. Which included at least a half an hour of standing around and chatting with others doing the same thing we were. 

 

This is P2 and it's where you drop your luggage off if you are in Vancouver terminal prior to 10a. 

 

This was the "ticket" we were given post check in for Celebrity. Because Celebrity and Princess are sharing space. 

 

This is the process we all got to go through and Celebrity and Princess are mingling through a good bit of it.  

 

I actually like how the US Customs was here. We are US citizens so it was nice to scan our passports, get the print out and keep moving. I didn't take a picture of this... Cause reasons. 🙂

We were then taken to a hiding area and we're on the ship by 10:45. 

 

One of the things we like to do is knock out dining reservations as soon as we board. We did secure seats for the Veuve Clicquot dinner which we are really excited about and scheduled dining for a few evenings. And, because we were on the ship so darned quick, the team doing muster stations weren't even set up. Stopped by guest relations to ask about possible upgrades. That was a hard no for this sailing - sounds like we are sailing full. 

 

 

[Chrissit]

2 hours ago, KmomChicago said:

hello, what is PVSA?

 

The Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA) basically says you can't take a non US flagged ship between two different US ports without visiting a distant foreign port. Canada and Mexico don't count. 

 

So, we couldn't board the Solstice in LA and take her to Seattle because she doesn't stop anywhere other than Canada. It would have been considered one voyage because we were continuing on - breaking it up between the two different ships makes it allowable. 

[Chrissit]

6 hours ago, SSFrance69 said:

We are sailing in Aqua for the first time later this year, so looking forward to living the AC experience vicariously here first. I'm looking forward to trying out Blu. I hope it's good! Enjoy and thank you for posting.

We really like Blu. You'll see a few meals from there! And if you have any specific questions - let me know.

[Chrissit]

5 hours ago, cruisinfly said:

Thank you for the live review. We're heading out on the Solstice in a month, also Aqua class, and are really looking forward to hearing about your experience. I hope you have a great cruise!

 

Are you doing the Hot Glass experience? (I pre-purchased)

We aren't currently planning to do the hot glass, however we have done it before and enjoy watching the show. Highly recommend doing it at least once! 

 

This is from the Equinox. 

[SSFrance69]

54 minutes ago, Chrissit said:

We really like Blu. You'll see a few meals from there! And if you have any specific questions - let me know.

Thank you! Much appreciated. Bon Voyage! 

[SSFrance69]

52 minutes ago, Chrissit said:

We aren't currently planning to do the hot glass, however we have done it before and enjoy watching the show. Highly recommend doing it at least once! 

 

This is from the Equinox. 

That is gorgeous! Is that one you made? Love the nail polish, too! haha

[Chrissit]

18 minutes ago, SSFrance69 said:

That is gorgeous! Is that one you made? Love the nail polish, too! haha

Yes, Nov of '21 on the Equinox. I love it. Big sturdy piece of glass! 

 

Thank you! I don't remember the color off the top of my head, but it is OPI. 

[GeorgiaRetiredCruisers]

Hello! We too are on this cruise right now 🙂   Boarding was pain free, although a lot of walking if one was older or handicapped?  Was onboard by 12:00 and went to OV for lunch.  Food unremarkable but the desserts were yummy.

[Chrissit]

I've seen suggestions about Sushi on Five for lunch on boarding day and that is a great suggestion. 

 

Chicken Gyoza

Temaki trio hand roll

Eel dragon roll

 

The best part? It's not crazy! No long lines, plenty of space and the food is good! (We love us some sushi)

 

The menu 

 

We do have an Aqua Class cabin. However, we have one of the few that are parked on the aft.

 

This is the view in Vancouver from 1670. 

 

 

 

[Chrissit]

4 minutes ago, GeorgiaRetiredCruisers said:

Hello! We too are on this cruise right now 🙂   Boarding was pain free, although a lot of walking if one was older or handicapped?  Was onboard by 12:00 and went to OV for lunch.  Food unremarkable but the desserts were yummy.

 

Oh good! Glad to hear boarding was pain free behind us. We were in line by 9:30 due to the S2S and weren't sure what others behind us may experience. That's great to hear! 

 

[Fly and Sail]

Taking Solstice from Seattle next week. Is the ship in good shape?

[Milhouse]

Saw Solstice docked at Canada Place this morning while dropping the missus off at work.  We sailed on her in November and it brought back great memories!