Alaska on the Solstice - random observations

[Belle5129]

We just returned from our 7-day Alaska cruise, round-trip from Seattle, on the Solstice. I thought I would provide some observations about our trip - things that I myself wondered before we set sail. Hopefully, others may find something of interest in here! I apologize in advance as it is longer than I intended it to be.

 

Just a little but about us. It was myself, my husband, our two sons (18 and 20) and my in-laws. This is our fourth Alaska cruise - same itinerary, once on the Millennium and 3 times on the Solstice. What can I say, we are creatures of habit!  We arrived in Seattle the night before departure and stayed at the Inn at the Market. I arranged airport pick up through them, and while pricey, it was nice to get picked up right outside baggage claim, especially with our 7 bags of luggage and our two older parents. The hotel was really nice, loved sitting outside on their deck in the evening. They also upgraded my in-laws to a wonderful suite overlooking the market. Would definitely recommend it. The next day, it was very easy to grab an Uber to the port. So here are my random observations, in no particular order!

 

Cabin - we had two aft balconies (always have to have an aft in Alaska!).  When our cabin steward stopped by to introduce himself and asked for any requests, I did ask, when it was convenient, if he could have the balcony divider opened between our two rooms. Our fridge was pretty empty, so we were able to put our sodas and wine in it. The aft balcony of course was wonderful. On past cruises, we could grab heavier blankets up on the pool deck that we could use. This time around, I never saw any blankets. I never asked though because we had fantastic weather and really didn’t need one. I was prepared for there to be a lack of electrical outlets - there were only two (at least that we found - I will feel silly if we missed some!). We had a lot of things to charge, so there was always something plugged in. We made it work, so it was not a real burden. If my boys and us were all in the same room - that might have been an issue!

 

Drinks - we debated back and forth about getting a drink package. We certainly enjoy some beers and cocktails, but after doing the math, I really didn’t think we could break even. We don't drink coffees, teas, juices, etc. I was really tempted when they had the flash sale last month, but instead, we just went with the zero-proof package. My husband can go through lots of sodas in a day - I am pretty sure they lost money on him!  Our plan was to get drinks during the Captain's Club Elite Happy Hour, bring our allotted wine bottles on board, and then purchase drinks as needed. More about the happy hour and carry-on wine below. All in all, we were happy with our decision. We did go through alot of diet coke, coke zero (so glad that they stocked this) and canned water. I did bring my own sugar-free hot chocolate packets. I am glad I did because I think I only saw regular packets up in the Oceanview Cafe beverage station.  

 

Elite Happy Hour - staying on the theme of alcohol…before the trip, I was wondering if we would have enough time to get our happy hour drinks since it started at 5pm and we had early dinner at 5:45. I envisioned crowds of people standing around the bar, all trying to get their free drinks (like us!) before the dinner bell. We were pleasantly surprised that it was all easy-peasy and very uncrowded. We found a nice area in the Ensemble Lounge which was practically empty every night. And our server, Komamg, was awesome. After the first round, he knew to keep the drinks coming🙂 We never had to wait, and the lounge was never crowded or noisy. We just really had a great time there, chit-chatting with our family. We always ended with a final drink to carry to dinner with us. I have to say, I never felt rushed, like I had to hurry up and drink so that we could get to dinner. Our personal choice was to tip with each round and we were happy to do so given the great service. We were actually bummed out when Komamg told us Ensemble was one of the bars that would be closed during the Victoria stop. Like many happy hour drinks anywhere, I found the Cosmo to be somewhat “weak”, but my husband’s Manhattans seemed pretty strong. I kept thinking maybe we would stop by later in the evening to see if the non-happy hour cosmos were any stronger, but we never got around to it.

 

Carry-on wine - before we left our hotel, we walked down to the Target store a few blocks away, and we each bought 2 of the finest bottles of sparkling wine that 15 bucks could buy us!  We each carried 2 bottles in our backpacks as we boarded, no questions, no fuss. Before the trip, I had ordered online some plastic champagne glasses just to make things a bit more festive!  We opened a bottle during a few sailaways and one while we watched the Belmont Stakes. We will definitely continue to take advantage of this allowance in the future!

 

Peloton/gym - feel free to skip this section if you could care less! But for those who are interested in keeping their streaks alive…..I knew there would be Pelotons aboard, but wasn’t sure how “busy” they would be. My intention was to go to the Spa booking desk as soon as we boarded and book a time. However, the sparkling wine (see above) seemed more important at the time, and then I totally forgot!  The next morning, our first sea day, we went to the gym, and boy was it packed. I did manage to make a reservation later in the week. They started bookings at 7am for the bike, and she told me before that time, it was first come/first serve since the gym is open 24 hours a day. Well, my husband and I were up pretty much every morning by 4am (stupid internal clocks!), so we would usually hit the gym to kill time waiting for 6am breakfast. The Pelotons were totally free at the time, so I happily spun away. Logging in was no problem, and I have to say, the view beat the one I usually have in my basement, looking at the air hockey table and storage boxes! It was a little bit of an adjustment to use the cages instead of clicking in, but it worked.

 

Elite Breakfast - we turned Elite during the pandemic (thanks PUPs!), so we were new to this. I knew it was one of the benefits, but honestly, once we were onboard, I kind of forgot about it until maybe the 3rd or 4th day.  Might be because we were up at the crack of dawn (love Alaska when the sun is shining brightly at 4:30 in the morning), so we were usually door-busting breakfast as soon as the OVC opened! But one morning, I was like, we should check it out. I was surprised as it was empty at 8:30am, so it felt like we were a little on display being the only people there. We ended up not staying as I had in my head that it was a casual thing where we could pick up a mimosa, sit down and chat, etc (maybe more like an airport lounge). But it seemed more formal as they wanted to sit us at a table and bring menus. If we drank coffee/tea, I can see where it would be a great place to sit and watch the waves.

 

Food - there has been so much discussion about the food that I felt the need to set low expectations with our traveling party. Prepare for the worst and all that. My husband and I took our first Celebrity cruise 25 years ago on the Century, back when they had the partnership with Michel Roux. At the time, the food was insanely delicious. Over the years, the food has not stacked up to those early trips, but I don't know if the food has changed or if our tastes have changed. But regardless, we found the food to be good. Not bad, not great. Serving sizes were smaller than we remembered, but really, it was still plenty of food. And our wonderful waiter never balked if I asked for both soup AND shrimp cocktail, or if my son asked for two different entries. We always managed to walk away full, so maybe they are onto something!  And I still gained weight, so apparently I liked what I had!  We discussed back and forth about whether we should do a specialty restaurant, and eventually decided not to spend the extra money.  

 

Overall- we had a wonderful time on the cruise. Yes, the ship was a little worn in places (stains on chairs, worn carpet, rust in places), but it never really got in the way of our enjoyment. The staff were really terrific - everyone was so friendly, happy to help out, just say hello. We participated in some activities like the Deal or No deal. We had never played and I have to say, it was quite fun. We liked to go up to the Sky Lounge for Trivia, and my sons actually attended the art auction and made a purchase. I used to always wonder who went to that, well apparently, my sons do! They had a good time and seem really excited for their artwork to arrive. Happy cruising to you all!

[SJ1_]

Did the same cruise years ago  Great Memories

[mahdnc]

Thank you for your well written review.  I liked reading your perspective on things.  Your exercising discipline is something to be admired.

 

You mentioned that that you had done this itinerary several times before.  So what does an Alaskan cruise veteran do during the port stops?  Our first Alaska cruise was aboard Galaxy (Inside Passage out of Vancouver) and that is the only one we have been on so far.  I am at the point now where I want our next trip to Alaska to be a long land tour where we visit the national parks (not just Denali, but Katmai, Wrangell-St. Elias, Kenai Fjords, and Lake Clark, too) for several days at each one.  $$$$

 

I am curious as to what art your two sons decided to buy.

 

Our first Celebrity cruise was aboard Century, too (back in 1996, her inaugural year) and the food and service were both amazing. 

 

Thanks again for taking the time to write your review.

Edited June 19, 2023 by mahdnc

[linksgolf]

1 hour ago, Belle5129 said:

We just returned from our 7-day Alaska cruise, round-trip from Seattle, on the Solstice.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts! We were on the exact same cruise as you, although we are first time Celebrity cruisers (and haven't really cruised much in general).

 

Overall, we really enjoyed the week. And like you, we found every employee friendly and engaging, and more than willing to solve any issue or problem that arose. I have a lot of respect for the crew who clearly work long hours for our enjoyment, and I never took it for granted.

 

Some things I liked:

- The comedian Monique Marvez was sensational. I went to all three shows, and her third show had the Solstice theater the most packed I had seen it all week.

- The naturalist Dr. Gary Kramer, a retired Canadian professor, was also fantastic. I attended all of his many lectures about Alaska, the Alaskan gold rush, and climate change. He really increased my knowledge and enjoyment of the history of Alaska and put everything in perspective.

- My daughter loved the Camp at Sea kids club - she insisted on going morning, noon and night whenever we let her. The staff really engaged the kids and had lots of fun activities for them. I was told there were 300 kids on this cruise!

- Although the food at the MDR & buffet was good (I especially enjoyed all the Indian items at the buffet), I really enjoyed our Specialty Dining at Tuscan Grille & Le Petit Chef. It was nice to change it up, and have those two experiences (the views from the rear of the ship in Tuscan Grille are worth the $ alone).

- I loved how many activities were offered throughout the day & evening - trivia was always a hit with our family.

 

Some bumps in the road:

- (Not Celebrity's fault at all): We weren't able to see or go to the Dawes glacier because there was too much ice in the water, which I assume had broken off from the glacier. It appeared the smaller boat that was supposed to take Solstice passengers for a close up of the glacier had trouble navigating the ice as well, so I would think they didn't get to see it either. I was told the two Solstice trips the previous two weeks were able to get to the Dawes glacier, so we got unlucky. It's a reminder that Mother Nature rules all! If glacier viewing is high on anyone's prerequisite list, perhaps a different cruise line that goes to Glacier Bay would be better. Glaciers were lower on our list, so it wasn't too big a deal for us.

- Midway through the cruise, there was a problem with the stateroom phones. Anyone on the ship who tried calling Specialty Dining reservations had their phone call routed to our stateroom! So we were getting tons of phone calls from all different passengers, and our phone was ringing off the hook. We let Guest Services know, but the IT department wasn't able to fix the problem until the next day. It seemed like everything was fixed the middle of that next day, but then the same issue started happening again, and we were again getting phone calls from everyone on the ship! This time, the IT department was able to fix it within a few hours. We never asked for compensation or anything, but a few days later an employee called us and gave us $250 each in future cruise credit. That was a nice gesture, although I suspect it will go unused because we don't have any plans to cruise again in the next two years before it expires.

 

All in all, we really enjoyed the cruise, and would recommend Celebrity to anyone interested! We're not typically cruise people, but had a good week and are glad we went.

[vickykay]

Thanks for your review.  We haven’t cruised to Alaska but are considering for the future.  Our very first cruise was also on the Century 25 years ago and completely hooked us on cruising.  Wow, was she a wonderful ship!  We really do miss the Michael Roux partnership!  

[keesar]

29 minutes ago, vickykay said:

Thanks for your review.  We haven’t cruised to Alaska but are considering for the future.  Our very first cruise was also on the Century 25 years ago and completely hooked us on cruising.  Wow, was she a wonderful ship!  We really do miss the Michael Roux partnership!  

 

That was our same experience.  Really enjoyed the Century and the menus.  A classic cruise ship.

 

My comments on the Solstice in Alaska:

- friendly staff 

- glad I did not pay for internet service

- dinners at the buffet with the fresh seafood arriving from port were fantastic

- our room was rather tired and needed a renovation

- Port Valet was a great service that was offered

 

Would go on an Alaskan cruise again.

[Belle5129]

19 hours ago, SJ1_ said:

Did the same cruise years ago  Great Memories

Agree - I love all our cruises, but Alaska cruises seem extra-special🙂

[hawkesbaynz]

Great review. Will be on Solstice in November at Singapore and glad you had a great experience. Looking forward to trying our fourth S-class. Good tip for a future Alaska cruise for a SV. We have one in April in Japan on the Millenium. Loved it on the Silhouette. 
 

Love the gym….but 4am. Am more of a post tour pre-dinner gym goer.

[Belle5129]

19 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Thank you for your well written review.  I liked reading your perspective on things.  Your exercising discipline is something to be admired.

 

You mentioned that that you had done this itinerary several times before.  So what does an Alaskan cruise veteran do during the port stops?  Our first Alaska cruise was aboard Galaxy (Inside Passage out of Vancouver) and that is the only one we have been on so far.  I am at the point now where I want our next trip to Alaska to be a long land tour where we visit the national parks (not just Denali, but Katmai, Wrangell-St. Elias, Kenai Fjords, and Lake Clark, too) for several days at each one.  $$$$

 

I am curious as to what art your two sons decided to buy.

 

Our first Celebrity cruise was aboard Century, too (back in 1996, her inaugural year) and the food and service were both amazing. 

 

Thanks again for taking the time to write your review.

We have fond memories of the Century! Regarding what we do in ports, it is sort of a mixed bag. Regardless of where we travel, we really love to just wander around, so that is what we do in a lot of ports. This is a classic example of how we operate - on our first visit to Juneau, we stumbled across a shuttle bus going to Costco, and we thought, let's go check out the Alaska Costco! We had lots of fun on that shopping trip, it was all crew and us, and they welcomed us aboard.  Another time, we rented a car and drove out to Mendenhall Glacier (and stopped at Costco of course🙂). Then we did the canoe trip to the glacier which was crazy but we are glad we did it. This last time, we wandered around and checked out this great food truck downtown, Deckhand Dave's. Fish and chips were sooo good. We have done whale watching in Victoria, and this last time, we just walked around. Which is exactly what we did in Ketchikan. Might sound a bit boring, but it is really what we enjoy!  We would love to do the national parks you mentioned, and actually had booked a northbound Millennium with plans to then go to Denali, but then cancelled it due to COVID. As a side note, we did an overnight at Mt. Rainier this time around (checked off another national park) and it was worth it, we really loved the hiking there! 

 

For the art, the boys ended up bidding/winning a print with some wolves. And then they bid on an "option" to pick 3 art works from a group of 5. For those, they selected all landscapes. My husband was a little dubious about it all, but they were very interested in the art - and as I told him, there are alot of worse things they can spend their money!

[Belle5129]

18 hours ago, linksgolf said:

- The comedian Monique Marvez was sensational. I went to all three shows, and her third show had the Solstice theater the most packed I had seen it all week.

I am now sorry we missed her. We talked about going, so we should have stuck with our original plan! Glad you enjoyed it! I am happy that your daughter enjoyed the kids area. My boys have aged out of their programs, but they used to love to go. I give the program a lot of credit because I would never have guessed there were that many kiddos on board. They did a good job of keeping them busy. We did feel bad for those who were on their first sailing to Dawes and did not get to see it. This was our fourth visit and it was the only time we have NOT seen it. Guess you have an excuse to plan another Alaska cruise (use up that phone credit)!! That is totally crazy what happened to you with the phones, I am sure it was annoying and the credit does not make up for the bother, but it is nice that they tried to do something, I guess. Good luck with any future travels, cruise or land🙂 

[Belle5129]

11 hours ago, vickykay said:

Thanks for your review.  We haven’t cruised to Alaska but are considering for the future.  Our very first cruise was also on the Century 25 years ago and completely hooked us on cruising.  Wow, was she a wonderful ship!  We really do miss the Michael Roux partnership!  

It's funny how many of us got our start on the Century. My husband and I still talk about the "Gourmet Bites" they used to have around the ship in the evening🙂. And our sons don't believe our stories about the grand buffets at midnight!

[Belle5129]

25 minutes ago, hawkesbaynz said:

Great review. Will be on Solstice in November at Singapore and glad you had a great experience. Looking forward to trying our fourth S-class. Good tip for a future Alaska cruise for a SV. We have one in April in Japan on the Millenium. Loved it on the Silhouette. 
 

Love the gym….but 4am. Am more of a post tour pre-dinner gym goer.

We really love the Millennium too - that was our first Alaska cruise with the fantastic aft balconies! I always admire those who can go to the gym mid-day, if I don't do it first thing, I lose my motivation - naps, lunch, more naps, mid-afternoon cookies from Al Bacio, they all seem to get in the way! 

[Fly and Sail]

Pretty sure that at $30/day they aren’t losing money on anyone who purchases the zero proof package. But it’s still the best value even after Celebrity scammed us out of the Classic Non Alc package.

[yoyoyomonkeysss]

I'll be going to the Alaska cruise in September! Looking forward to the experience, it will be my first time on Celebrity. 

 

QQ: We didn't purchase the internet package, so I'm trying to figure out how to stay in touch with my family when onboard. Does anyone have any recommendations how this works while we're on the ship sailing? 

[mahdnc]

42 minutes ago, yoyoyomonkeysss said:

I'll be going to the Alaska cruise in September! Looking forward to the experience, it will be my first time on Celebrity. 

 

QQ: We didn't purchase the internet package, so I'm trying to figure out how to stay in touch with my family when onboard. Does anyone have any recommendations how this works while we're on the ship sailing? 

 

You can keep in touch with others on board with you by using the messaging feature of the Celebrity app.  The good news is that it does not require for you to purchase an internet plan to use it.  The bad news is that when you receive a message thru the app, there is audible or haptic notification.  You just have to check the app once in a while to see if you got a message.

[Belle5129]

This probably is not very helpful, but the one nice thing about this itinerary is with all the ports, you can at least get cell service once you get off the ship. It felt like the first thing we all did the moment we stepped on land was to check our phones🙂 (well, maybe we admired our surroundings first...and then checked our devices) I don't have a good solution about what to do while on the sea days though. We bought the basic wifi package and by day 2, I wanted cancel and try to get a refund, it was so bad. But the boys convinced me that it was better than nothing.  Hope you enjoy your cruise!!