I just booked Solstice!!!!

[Rusty311]

Hello everyone

Great to be with other cruise enthusiasts. My TA got me a cabin yesterday on first voyage - C1 on resort deck. Hope they put something in the blank area of the deck plan. Had to book without knowing the prices and decide on Aqua or CC. Blu would really be nice if not first & second seating, but anytime dining. Celebrity web site did not have the CC amenties listed for the Aqua Class, so picked CC. Hope they have another optional dining restaurant.

I'll register for the meet & greet and hope to meet many of you on board.

This is exciting - and I will probably spend as much time researching and reading information on the Solstice as the 7 day cruise will take. Joy of traveling is planning, taking the trip, and remembering.

Larry

[btnilreb]

wew just booked the maiden voyage dec 14---1a -we were on the maien voyage of the constelaltion and the millenium--it is aalways a surprise on a maiden voyage--but that is the fun of it--lets get a group ready for the maiden voyage

[pkgjockey]

Paid waaaay too much for RS/1607....;)
But you only go around once!
Looking forward to enjoying Solstice!

Regards,
Tony

[Host Anne]

Tony ~ we'll all be coming over for a visit! ;)

[Host Anne]

By the way, for any new posters who don't know, Host Andy has started a Roll Call thread for this cruise (THANKS, Andy). Here's a link to the Roll Call. Be sure to join us!

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=576559&page=2[/URL]

[cruzingduo]

We just booked a b2b for our 20th anniversary, April 5 & April 12. It's a long way off, but we have many others booked before including the Quest. Looking forward to both Celebrity cruises! We usually sail RCCL, but the food is way better with Celebrity. Booked Aqua class also, but it's not clear is there going to be a pool for Aqua class only? Couldn't get an answer about that, does anyone know? We would have booked March but we have sailed on b2b's the last two years in March and always have 1 week full of spring breakers, so we decided to go for our anniversary. I will be curious to hear back from those sailing in March as to their findings.

Joanne

[Host Anne]

Cruizingduo ~ we always look for spring dates to avoid as well. March and April can both be tough. March seems to be more college spring breaks and April more high school and elementary breaks because they often coincide with Easter. In 2009, Easter falls on April 12 so I'm guessing you could get a fair amount of families on that cruise (which is better than a ship of college spring breakers).

But the good thing about Solstice is that I doubt many college spring breakers will go for the higher prices of this ship and I sure hope that Celebrity wouldn't sell her to college students like the did our Zenith cruise last year. I think college students are looking for inexpensive spring break trips and I don't think Solstice will fit that bill. I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway as we are planning a Cruise Critic member cruise on March 8 & 15 in 2009.

[ccletzgo]

[quote name='kk99']Hi Patsy,
I did confirm with my TA that the sky suite 2 price of 4197.39 and sky 1 price of 4697.39 for the holiday sailing of 12-21 through 12-28. It seems that they are charging about 900 dollars higher for the cc and aqua spa cabins and 2000 more for the sky suites. That certainly made the decision for me as to which to book. I do hope that Celebrity decides to adjust prices to be more in line for those who want a holiday sailing. Has anyone every been on a Celebrity inaugural? If so, what was anything extra special about it from the cruise line? We just got back on the 11th from the Galaxy, and our family and friends (30 in all) had a blast. Hopefully, this trip will be as much fun.
Take care everyone,
k.k.[/quote]


We were on the Millenniums 2nd week out, which was also Christmas week. I am going to be totally honest. :o I wouldn't book a new Class of ship within the first few months out, ever again. The crew is completely UN familiar with the ship, and other crew members, and they seem to be pretty stressed. If its a new ship within an all ready existing class, then its not such a difficult adjustment for the crew. In our experience on that sailing, putting a Christmas cruise on top of the new ship, with over booking, and a crew that had not worked together before this, made the experience a big negative in my book.. Its like everyone is on there second week on the job with a ship full of passengers annoying them while they are trying to get to know the new ship. They didn't enforce any rules at all. (like children snorkeling in the solarium pool) :eek: I love celebrity and our two galaxy cruises have been the very best of all our cruises, but I will always give a first ship, of a new class, time to work out the "newness"....:eek: Also with no one having cabin experiance to pass on, we learned the hard way about those noisy cabins under the pool deck with the huge over hang on our balcony:(

[Host Anne]

ccletzgo ~ you have a lot of good points. It is tough for the crew on a brand new ship. I was on the Grand Princess shortly after her inaugural and experienced some of the same issues.

But we've decided after the fun and excitement I just experienced being involved with the pre-inaugural for Liberty, doing the inaugural on Solstice would be worth it. Part of it is that I don't expect a perfect sailing from the crew. That's impossible. It's all about expection. For me, getting to have the chance to plan and look forward to the cruise with all our fellow Cruise Critic passengers and experience a not only a brand new ship but a brand new class of ship is what it's all about. I don't expect perfect service or even a perfect running, completely "complete" ship. It's like a new house....there will be things that need to be fixed and kinks to work out. But that's OK...because I'm expecting that. In fact, I know that inaugurals don't even always go on the scheduled date. While that would be a disappointment, we would adjust our schedule if possible.

I do also think, that being an inaugural (which we've never done) that the excitement and special touches that will be offered will outweight any glitches that might occur. We're glad we're giving it a try!

[cruzingduo]

Host Anne, we saw that Apr 12th is Easter before we booked. We were going to do the hast week of March and April 5th, but that meant flying home on Easter. I think they may be more children but I would prefer some children over the drinking college kids. We are interested in what's above our cabin (1605). We're doing a b2b and can still choose to do only 1 week. Since we booked Aqua class I suspect there won't be many kids in the dining room.

Next up:

9-14-07 Radiance 14 night members cruise
1-13-08 Explorer 12 night
2-16-08 Quest 14 night
4-12 and 4-19 Liberty
11-8-08 Serenade members cruise
1-19-09 Jewel 11 night Panama

Lot's to plan for before the Solstice!

[maggieq]

Can I ask where the info is for pricing and itin? I have been checking the web and can't find any info.

Thanks.

[pkgjockey]

[quote name='Host Anne']Tony ~ we'll all be coming over for a visit! ;)[/quote]


Host Anne,
Are you guys on the March 29th, 2009 sailing?

[Danbee46]

Wow, only a day or two after the announcement of the Solstice for booking and this thread is already so long. Well, being incredibly jealous people, my wife and I are about to book also. For the 12/14/08 inaugural cruise we can get a 2B balcony cabin for $1699 pp including taxes and port charges and airfare from NY. We will both be retired by then and can't wait to spend more time at sea.

[Buckeye Geo]

I checked the Major College Spring Break Schedule for 2009. I looks like most Breaks will be March 9 - 16. I probably will get some on my 3-22 sailing, but the bunk will be 2 weeks earlier.

[BCHappyGal]

We just booked to the Jan 11th, 2009 sailing. Would have loved to be on first but the dates just before Christmas do not work for us whereas we will be in Florida anyway in January so we will hop aboard.

[Host Anne]

Maggie ~ here's the link to the Captains Club page that has info on Solstice - only itineraries and deck plans are there right now.....no pricing. That comes through your TA at the moment.

[URL]https://rccl.bridgetrack.com/07/Solstice/cc/default.htm?ProspectID=E1C56C309D584C09A34F5C27E9A47E02&SRC=PGI110127[/URL]

Pkgjockey ~ we're currently on the inaugural - December 14. But we are looking at doing a Cruise Critic member back to back cruise in March of 2009.

[jwattle]

:o We're set to go March 1 and 8 of 2009 on her. What a wait!

[Duanerice1]

Booked the inaugural in Aqua class yesterday. Decided to go for it as we have never had the opportunity to go on an inaugural before. We would not normally book the Aqua class but decided what the heck. For a few hundred dollars more than CC it was worth a shot.

I agree with a lot of what was said above and have already talked with my wife about the issues with an inaugural cruise. But, we don't really expect that from any cruise. Never had a bad one :)

It will be worth it to see everything NEW!

enjoy,
Duane

[cdbaum]

We booked a cabin on the inaugural cruise last week. I figure at this point it's just a deposit. We can always change cabin types, add other people or even cancel anytime during the next year and a half as more information becomes available.

The rep at Celebrity mentioned that the deck and cabin layouts are not really finalized. The connecting doors and furniture layouts will change once they start building the cabins.

We fully expect there to be issues with a new ship and crew, in fact we are sort of counting on it. As long as it isn't a safety issue we consider it sort of fun and just try to laugh along with the crew (if they can). And then you always have that "remember when the ..." story to tell.

The Xrep tried to tell me that the inaugural was in December instead of October because X wanted to take the extra time to make sure that everything would be running smoothly. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the date change was more likely to account for construction delays.

Is there a roll call for this cruise yet? Need to make sure that we have the 25 people in time.

[darrencantwait]

[quote name='cdbaum']

The rep at Celebrity mentioned that the deck and cabin layouts are not really finalized. The connecting doors and furniture layouts will change once they start building the cabins.
[/QUOTE]

I can't imagine they would change cabins from connecting to non-connecting after posting these deck plans. What if people booked their children next door and then don't have connecting rooms? I think they'd be pretty upset.

I DO hope that CC and AC class end up with more square footage, giving them the "more space" advantage that CC has on M-class ships.

[Schplinky]

I was hoping that, too, Darren but I was counting cabins and there are exactly as many AQ as 1a cabins in the stretch I was looking at on two different decks so that should mean they are at least the same width. Maybe AQ could be deeper, though.

When Freedom was launched, a friend had booked a hump cabin and was called about a half year out to be told that the cabin only could hold two, not three (theyw nere with their daughter) and she would have to move. Smooth operator that she is, she parlayed it into a Junior Suite (over a regular balcony) but the point is, the plans were off a little.

[Host Anne]

cdbaum ~ I see you've found the roll call for the inaugural. But for anyone else looking, here's a link to that roll call [URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=576559&page=3[/URL]

[psychboss]

[quote name='maggieq']Can I ask where the info is for pricing and itin? I have been checking the web and can't find any info.

Thanks.[/quote]

For all information except pricing. Until July 5th you can only book if you are a Captain's Club member. For pricing call the phone number on the CC page or your Travel Agent/Cruise Planner.

[psychboss]

[quote name='Schplinky']I was hoping that, too, Darren but I was counting cabins and there are exactly as many AQ as 1a cabins in the stretch I was looking at on two different decks so that should mean they are at least the same width. Maybe AQ could be deeper, though.

When Freedom was launched, a friend had booked a hump cabin and was called about a half year out to be told that the cabin only could hold two, not three (theyw nere with their daughter) and she would have to move. Smooth operator that she is, she parlayed it into a Junior Suite (over a regular balcony) but the point is, the plans were off a little.[/quote]


I was told that these deck plans are it. That these are the ones that are going on line on July5th for everyone.

[cdbaum]

Yes, these deck plans are the same ones that will be seen by everyone booking after next week. The point was that they are still subject to change as they fabricate the staterooms. There will be lots of minor changes to the layouts as they actually construct the ship due to "unforseen coordination issues" as they love to say in construction.

Another point that the X rep had was that X is reaffirming their commitment to being "Green" and this ship will be the cleanest and most efficient that they can produce. Translation... Pods and probably gas turbines, IMO.