Solstice to Alaska - First Sailing for 2023 - Hopefully Live

[Chrissit]

After lunch we unpacked and got ready to be on deck for sailaway. 

 

This is our first Alaska cruise and we plan to enjoy as much of the scenery as we can. 

 

Saying good by to the Royal Princess and Canada Place.

 

Headed under the bridge on our way out (having also done the golden Gate Bridge and the Verrazano Narrows, this one doesn't look nearly as close.) 

 

 

As we continued along, we headed down to our cabin to get a few more pictures. 

 

 

And the menu for Blu for the evening, which we didn't end up at because we had a reservation for Tuscan Grill. 

 

 

We did make the 7pm show with the comedian Buddy Fitzpatrick. He mentioned there would be an "adult" show later in the cruise - we'll try to attend! 

 

[Chrissit]

22 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)

I grabbed a few pics when we walked by the Hot Glass area. The colors they have and what the pieces are/currently cost. 

 

 

 

[CNPGOLF]

Have they completed the upgrades that were scheduled prior to this 1st Alaska cruise?

[Chrissit]

11 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

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

 

I actually held off answering this question so I could walk through a few decks this morning and give a balanced answer. I'm going to say yes, the Solstice is good shape.

 

Are there things that show she's a 15 year old ship? Of course. There are places that we can see repairs were made. Some of the soft goods are showing wear. Nothing crazy bad. There is a glass panel in one of the elevators that is broken/covered.  There are small dings, nicks, and I'm pretty sure the curtains in the cabin have a small hole in them. But they did a great job blocking out the sun this morning so I'm pretty happy with that. 

 

The ship overall is beautiful and she's looking good. The railings are in great shape (we did a cruise on Freedom of the Seas a few years ago and the varnish peeling from the railings was very noticeable and peppered around the ship). The color scheme is the older one, but we like it. Food so far has been very good. 

 

The crew has been nothing but amazing and like usual, they were out cleaning, scrubbing and doing their best to keep her clean. Everyone we have encountered so far have been kind and very engaging. 

 

Hopefully that helps? 

[mahdnc]

This happened a while a go: https://vancouversun.com/news/metro/cruise-ships-mast-will-be-altered-so-it-can-fit-under-lions-gate-bridge-next-year

Edited May 4, 2023 by mahdnc

[Chrissit]

1 hour ago, CNPGOLF said:

Have they completed the upgrades that were scheduled prior to this 1st Alaska cruise?

If it's the Revolution upgrades, I believe those were put on hold. If it's different upgrades, I'm not sure. Last time we were on board her was 2018. 

 

Starlink is on board. 

[Fly and Sail]

Remember that Solstice will be the vessel for this years Presidents Cruise in a few weeks time and I'm sure ship management wants to make a good impression for the new boss.

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, Fly and Sail said:

Remember that Solstice will be the vessel for this years Presidents Cruise in a few weeks time and I'm sure ship management wants to make a good impression for the new boss.

 

Yes, it reminds me of the times I had to get the house cleaned up before my in-laws arrived.

[danny6514]

Would love to hear about your experience comparing your previous Princess sailing with your current Celebrity sailing, especially in dining.

Edited May 4, 2023 by danny6514

[marcg11]

54 minutes ago, Chrissit said:

 

I actually held off answering this question so I could walk through a few decks this morning and give a balanced answer. I'm going to say yes, the Solstice is good shape.

 

Are there things that show she's a 15 year old ship? Of course. There are places that we can see repairs were made. Some of the soft goods are showing wear. Nothing crazy bad. There is a glass panel in one of the elevators that is broken/covered.  There are small dings, nicks, and I'm pretty sure the curtains in the cabin have a small hole in them. But they did a great job blocking out the sun this morning so I'm pretty happy with that. 

 

The ship overall is beautiful and she's looking good. The railings are in great shape (we did a cruise on Freedom of the Seas a few years ago and the varnish peeling from the railings was very noticeable and peppered around the ship). The color scheme is the older one, but we like it. Food so far has been very good. 

 

The crew has been nothing but amazing and like usual, they were out cleaning, scrubbing and doing their best to keep her clean. Everyone we have encountered so far have been kind and very engaging. 

 

Hopefully that helps? 

We were on Solstice a few weeks ago for a Mexican Rivera cruise and agree with all above...certainly seemed like whatever upgrade was coming hasn't been done yet (mentioned above)...but more just on the little things here and there...most notably for me was the shape of the glass around the ship - especially in the Sky lounge in front - pretty opaque in places.   But the main areas were fine overall and didnt impact our enjoyment of the cruise.

[cruisinfly]

Thank you, Chrissit, I think I'll need to make a glass jellyfish!

[Chrissit]

Let me add this and then I'm going to hopefully catch up to today. 

Sail away day 

 

 

 

[Chrissit]

Current onboard booking promo. 

 

[Chrissit]

Dinner last night was at Tuscan. 

 

It was fantastic. The sun setting after 8:30 was a welcome partner. 

 

(You may be starting to notice the food pics) 

 

But the real star of dinner was the sky. 

When we sat down.

 

Versus later in dinner 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hazelwoodp]

Yum!!!!  Can’t wait to read about every day!!  We’re on Solstice on August 11

[Chrissit]

After that we called it a night. We ate late and are still adjusting to time zones. 

 

This morning we were up and at Blu for breakfast.  

 

Both of us opted for the salmon plate + bagel. 

 

Once breakfast wrapped up, we were around the ship for the day. 

 

Here is today's Daily.

 

 

 

 

I've got a few work check-ins that need to take place and the premium wifi on Starlink had been great. Basic wouldn't work for me with needing to check in and moving file around. 

 

We stopped by for the Tlingit introduction by Fred Fulmer and his wife Ivy (I do apologize if I have misspoken anything) and we really enjoyed this. 

 

This is a gentleman who is deeply ingrained in his ancestral background and his stories have been outstanding.

 

He is a great story teller. He had a half an hour earlier in the Grand Foyer - he went for 75 minutes and kept the crowd engaged the whole time. 

[Chrissit]

Here are some of the drink/wine/specials/attractions

 

[SSFrance69]

15 hours ago, Chrissit said:

Dinner last night was at Tuscan. 

 

It was fantastic. The sun setting after 8:30 was a welcome partner. 

 

(You may be starting to notice the food pics) 

 

But the real star of dinner was the sky. 

When we sat down.

 

Versus later in dinner 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yum! I'm loving all the food pics, and what a lovely view for dinner! Was that a rib eye you had? Also what is the other dish... lasagna or eggplant parm? I hope it all tasted as good as it looks! How is their Caesar salad? I had the best Caesar salad I've ever tasted recently on Oceania cruise line.

[westcoastsue]

We just got off a B2B on the Solstice as you boarded. We were also in Aqua Class cabin 1600 - everyone seemed to love that number! Blu service was amazing - Sherwin was the most attentive Maitre’d we have ever had and Milrose the hostess was just lovely. All the wait staff was friendly although the first cruise, which was at capacity, they seemed a bit slammed. We loved the Veuve Cliquot dinner in the wine room of Murano. It was well paced and very informative. Our table mates were good fun after a couple of the champagnes were served.

We stayed at the Pan Pacific for one night post cruise and we’re very sad to see the Solstice sail away without us.

[Chrissit]

7 hours ago, SSFrance69 said:

Yum! I'm loving all the food pics, and what a lovely view for dinner! Was that a rib eye you had? Also what is the other dish... lasagna or eggplant parm? I hope it all tasted as good as it looks! How is their Caesar salad? I had the best Caesar salad I've ever tasted recently on Oceania cruise line.

Actually those were "just" filets - delicious and cooked to the temp requested. 

 

The other dish was a half portion of the lasagna. This is a more recent recipe, I miss the one from a few years back that was bechamel based. 

 

The Caesar was decent. We requested the anchovies which they were happy to add. And, honestly, it's light years ahead of what we had on Princess. For some reason their dressing was pretty much tasteless. 

[Chrissit]

Okay, getting fully caught up here! 

 

The rest of the day we spent puttering around the ship. This is our first cold weather cruise - and it's showing. People are flocking to the interior of the ship. The Solarium was packed pretty full. There were a few intrepid souls that had set up shop near the Pool Bar and we're enjoying themselves. (A part of me suspects they are from the colder climates and we're perfectly happy.) But the interior of the the ship was very busy - shops were open, people were stopping by. 

 

We found Fast, Fun and Free Bingo in the app and headed to the Sky Lounge. Now, let me take a moment here. I'm not sure if it was the word "Free" or the word "Bingo", but based on that crowd, Celebrity my want to rethink Deal or No Deal and look at Bingo again. The room was packed! 

 

We scored two seats at the bar, and along with our trusty Bingo Seal (yes, we are aware he's on the wrong cruise line however, he comes every cruise and normally wins us a tidy sum of money) we played bingo. And lost.

 

I'll be having words with the Seal later. 

 

 

We stayed on for Trivia. We lost spectacularly at both regular and music trivia. 

 

Decided that was enough of that, said bye to the nice couple we'd been chatting with and headed to change clothes for Chic night and then to Cellar Masters. 

 

We headed to Blu for dinner. 

For some reasons the Miso Maple Salmon had more of a mustard blend on top. Still good, but not what we expected. 

 

The lamb was very good. And honestly the creamy crab bisque was the star of the meal. Pleasantly surprised there! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by Chrissit
Spelling

[Chrissit]

This morning we woke up to Ketchikan. 

 

Breakfast was a quick bite at Blue (even more than it should have been due to a race back to the cain for our waterproof camera so I missed pics...) because we didn't want to miss our excursion. 

 

A year or so ago, we booked our excursion - snorkeling. Yes, seriously, we opted for snorkeling in Alaska with Snorkel Alaska. 

 

Fred (the owner) is a great guy and Kurt, our other guide was awesome. Also, it's cold snorkeling in Alaska, but the wetsuits, once they warm up? Great. 

 

They would go down and bring up some of the local starfish, sea cucumbers and sea urchins so we could see them up close. 

 

Then we headed to the Asylum for lunch and a few beers. Beers were only $3.50 each. I can't get a draft for that back home! 

 

 

 

 

We split a halibut sandwich from next door at Burger Queen (which was delivered to our seat at the bar)

 

 

Local map

 

Rain gague

 

 

Ketchikan sign

 

 

Solstice was parked at Birth 3. There were four ships in port today. 

 

[eyecantwait]

I'm having a great time on your trip! Thanks for taking the time to share with us. Snorkeling in Alaska....who knew? 🥶

[swigso]

We are sailing from Hawaii to Vancouver on the Edge in May 25. Wanted to stay on and do the following Alaska cruise. But have found out that will not be possible due to the Jones act. So looking at other options but will wait until the schedules are released. Can you please let me know when your cruise sailing was released. Many thanks

[Chrissit]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:57 AM, danny6514 said:

Would love to hear about your experience comparing your previous Princess sailing with your current Celebrity sailing, especially in dining.

I promise I'm not ignoring this. I wanted to wait a few more days in to answer you after we were to both Tuscan and Murano to give a fair shake to the comparisons between Princess and Celebrity.