Just off the solstice to Alaska, my thoughts

[FiremedicMike151]

Quick background, we made gold on carnival, did one RCCL cruise (thought it felt like carnival but more expensive), our last cruise was celebrity retreat on the summit and then this cruise in a regular aft balcony.

 

The good -

Alaska was amazing.  Seriously.  I am a city-boy in a relatively flat mid-west state and was just absolutely blown away by the scenery.  We even hiked through a "remote" Alaskan mountainside and it was just an unexplainable experience.  We went for an aft-balcony so that we could have a private space to view the inside passage and the channel leading down to the Dawes Glacier and it was worth it even for just those few moments.

 

Ketchikan had a very cool vibe, we enjoyed that port.  We really didn't like Juneau - it really just felt like an on-land version of the shop deck on the boat, only dirtier.  Skagway is where we did the mountain hike so that was amazing, otherwise Skagway is VERY small so there wasn't much to do.  We did have food recommendations from a friend who lived in Alaska for each port and liked two of htem so I'll pass them along - in Ketchikan hit the Alaska Fish House, in Juneau get a fish taco at Deckhand Dave's taco stand.  In Skagway we hit the Skagway Brewing Company which was honestly way too expensive for what it was.  The burger and beer were fine, but not $80 fine.. 

 

Sushi was great, martini bar is always fun, and the cellar bar had an amazing selection including Eagle Rare, which was only $3 over the premium package - so I partook in way too much of that.

 

Casino was clean, crowd was mostly chill - only one angry fella at the blackjack table "why'd you bet that way" garbage, on the $10 no less.  I was in awe of the $300 table, occupied by a woman with $30,000 in chips in front of her who was just throwing them around like they were nothing.

[FiremedicMike151]

The "meh"

 

The food was disappointing overall.  The buffet was almost the same thing every single day and it generally played out with doing 2 laps around and then deciding to grab something we could tolerate as opposed to finding a "whoa grab that" option.  Same way with breakfast, although it was neat to see the "english breafkast" and "indian breakfast" option.  At lunch, the mexican bar was decent, the asian was simply terrible, and everything else was just general buffet food.

 

The MDR menu was uninspiring.  The appetizers were nearly identical each night with 1-2 changes, same with the entree choices, same with the desert.  The food was fine, and warm when it needed to be, but the service was slow.  We only ended up there 2, maybe 3 nights, otherwise we roamed to the other VERY limited free food options.

 

Which brings me to my next point, the free options are so limited, and frankly the paid options are too expensive.  I've already spent nearly $4,000 to be here, I shouldn't need to spend another $140 for my wife and I to have dinner with our friends in the specialty restaurant.  So you have the MDR, the hamburger/hot dog stand on Deck 15 (which was mediocre at best), the buffet (already mentioned) and the spa cafe, which was fine, but same thing every day so it's really a one and done.  My last 4 day carnival cruise on a little boat had 2-3 times more free dining options.

 

The crowd.  The crowd was a positive and a negative.  Rather than dealing with drunk college boys, we dealt with snobby old people who were honestly more irritating than the former.  Absolutely condescending, arrogant, etc.  This wasn't the entire crowd, mind you, and we met some marvelous people (for the first time ever, my wife and I actually made facebook friends with some folks we spent a lot of time with on the boat), but again, you're just replacing the frat boys with the nasty old ladies who look down on you.

 

Finally, the bar service on deck was pretty bad - very slow.

Edited September 24, 2023 by FiremedicMike151

[FiremedicMike151]

Overall thoughts

 

This was only our second celebrity cruise.  The first one was a 4 night retreat we managed to book in the middle of covid, so it was dirt cheap.  That was a remarkable experience and we were blown away with the feel of being on a high class ship with excellent service and food.

 

As a non retreat guest this time, this did NOT feel premium in the slightest - and I can't say that strenuously enough.  I'm not crossing celebrity off our list, but it's moving down our list for sure.  We are going to sail NCL for the first time next year to give it a try, and I'll keep checking celebrity prices and itineraries for anything interesting (we WILL do Alaska again) but yeah.. That's my thoughts.

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by FiremedicMike151

[JFontaine]

Those "nasty old ladies"??  One or two bad interactions on a ship of a few thousand people or like 30 or 40 nasty old ladies?  Next time someone 'looks down on you' just look away. Thanks. 

[FiremedicMike151]

4 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

Those "nasty old ladies"??  One or two bad interactions on a ship of a few thousand people or like 30 or 40 nasty old ladies?  Next time someone 'looks down on you' just look away. Thanks. 

My comment wasn't on old ladies in general, it was referencing the snotty old folks on the boat. 

 

And no, it wasn't 1-2 interactions, it was as in your face as the drunk frat boys are on a carnival cruise.

 

And finally, to be clear, people can judge me all they want, that's a problem in THEIR personality, but it does diminish the overall atmosphere/vibe of the ship.

[Guera53]

I’m an older lady and the term nasty old ladies is a thing. Not every older lady is, but when they group together and scorn, whew….

[FiremedicMike151]

double

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by FiremedicMike151

[FiremedicMike151]

Misfire

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by FiremedicMike151

[AnnaNicole]

Alaska is beautiful.   We cruised Solstice to Alaska in 2019.   It was wonderful.   The itinerary, the ship, crew, food, etc.

 

We were on Solstice three times in the past year or so.   The food was not good.  Worsening each cruise.  On the last cruise, we left in the middle of dinner one night due to the inedible fish.   It was a rare exception for me not to finish a meat dish.  I feel it is insensitive to the animal to be wasteful.   

 

We are not big eaters, but we do appreciate good quality food.  It seems only available at the specialty restaurants now.  Celebrity has changed a lot.   Unfortunately. 

 

I believe Celebrity is chasing a new type of customer.   Those who do not know or do not care about food or service.   Our next cruise is on Azamara.   It is all-inclusive with the exception of shore excursions.  We have a lot of OBC which will cover most of our excursions.

 

I haven't been on NCL for a while but we enjoyed our cruises with them when cruising with our young daughter.  

 

[Crazy planning mom]

Thanks for your review.  Definitely recommend NCL as long as it's not spring break.

[RichYak]

17 hours ago, AnnaNicole said:

I believe Celebrity is chasing a new type of customer.   Those who do not know or do not care about food or service. 

I'm not sure if they're actively chasing that type of customer, or if they're just cutting way back on food costs and that's just the type of customer who remains satisfied.

[Barwick Cruiser]

17 hours ago, AnnaNicole said:

Alaska is beautiful.   We cruised Solstice to Alaska in 2019.   It was wonderful.   The itinerary, the ship, crew, food, etc.

 

We were on Solstice three times in the past year or so.   The food was not good.  Worsening each cruise.  On the last cruise, we left in the middle of dinner one night due to the inedible fish.   It was a rare exception for me not to finish a meat dish.  I feel it is insensitive to the animal to be wasteful.   

 

We are not big eaters, but we do appreciate good quality food.  It seems only available at the specialty restaurants now.  Celebrity has changed a lot.   Unfortunately. 

 

I believe Celebrity is chasing a new type of customer.   Those who do not know or do not care about food or service.   Our next cruise is on Azamara.   It is all-inclusive with the exception of shore excursions.  We have a lot of OBC which will cover most of our excursions.

 

I haven't been on NCL for a while but we enjoyed our cruises with them when cruising with our young daughter.  

 

It’s too bad you didn’t receive good service on your cruises. While the food quality/selection  mentioned by some recent cruisers leaves a lot to be desired we’ve personally only ever had wonderful service from the hard working crew. So many went out of their way to please us and that’s what we truly remember from our holidays. Hopefully this never changes for us as that would be the proverbial straw. 

[AnnaNicole]

1 hour ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

It’s too bad you didn’t receive good service on your cruises. While the food quality/selection  mentioned by some recent cruisers leaves a lot to be desired we’ve personally only ever had wonderful service from the hard working crew. So many went out of their way to please us and that’s what we truly remember from our holidays. Hopefully this never changes for us as that would be the proverbial straw. 

I think they were understaffed on our cruises or maybe just a Solstice issue.   We gave our stateroom attendants a break and only had our room cleaned a couple of times.   We also gave them an extra big tip.  The dining room service was very slow and hectic.   The crew were doing their best.   I don't blame them.    Maybe things have changed since my last cruise in March.   

 

We had excellent service in the specialty dining restaurants.  

 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by AnnaNicole

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[AnnaNicole]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

I'm not sure if they're actively chasing that type of customer, or if they're just cutting way back on food costs and that's just the type of customer who remains satisfied.

It is possible.  IDK.  My husband is very easygoing and he is done with Celebrity.   The cutbacks were very palpable.   We are not the type who like to be fawned over.  Our needs are simple.  Good food.  Good selection.  Good entertainment.   

[Cap_D]

@FiremedicMike151thanks for this review, and presumably sharing it through the survey and to Celebrity - yet they must know at this point (probably quite happy about it too).

[hcat]

nice review... maybe another  X ship would be  better....or try AQ Class?

[susiej104]

We were on the same sailing.  I have been on Solstice 3 times now, Reflection once and Summit twice.  I've also been sailing with Carnival.  I agree wholeheartedly about the main dining room experience.  It was so different when Solstice first launched.  The food on Carnival in the main dining room is much better and more diverse.  We only ate in the MDR once.  The buffet had many pretty good offerings.  I'm a bread lover and most of the breads on board are baked there. I also agree with some of the comments here.  Celebrity is trying to change somehow and I'm not quite sure who they are going to identify with.  We met some great people on this cruise.  Did not meet any nasty people at all and we had an enjoyable time.  That being said we may look elsewhere for our next cruise.

[montythecat]

I agree with most, but not all, of the X criticisms. We are Elite Plus

(so lots of cruises) but have given Holland America a go and loved 

it. For us, superior in almost every way to Celebrity (crew exceptional

on both). I would suggest trying their new Pinnacle Class ships. I

don’t like glitzy theatre productions.  If you do, then HAL might not

be the cruise line for you because they don’t provide them.