Pictures of Solstice AQ 1552 (large angled balcony)

[elena7seas]

Here are some detailed pictures I took of Solstice AQ 1552 in December/08. This is one of the veranda cabins that has the larger angled balcony. (The angled balcony cabins are ranged in pairs, one balcony being somewhat larger than the other).

 

I took as many pictures as I could to answer questions that had been posted about the Solstice staterooms, particularly in regard to storage details and the size, layout and furnishing of the balcony.

 

What may be of interest to anyone considering this stateroom or the cabin beside it (AQ 1554) is the fact that the permanent home of the starboard window-washing equipment is in front of AQ 1554 and therefore, because of the angle of the balcony, is also right in the middle of the view from the balcony of AQ 1552. However, you cannot see the window-washing equipment when you are inside AQ 1552, only when you are near the balcony railing. The disappointment for me was in not being able to take any panoramic pictures from my balcony. The impact on the occupants of AQ 1554 would clearly have been much greater.

 

With respect to the home of the port-side window-washing equipment, the parallel condition exists for AQ 1547 and AQ 1549.

 

 

http://leftcoasters.smugmug.com/gallery/7051726_Pzoiv#P-1-15

 

 

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[ustal]

Amazing photos, and great commentary! Thanks so much :-)

[benbess]

Great pix!! What a beautiful stateroom....Thanks so much for sharing...

[Xcruiser]

Great pictures, I think I would be a little paranoid about having a camera affixed to the ceiling of my veranda:eek:. That’s interesting news about the placement of the window washing equipment for those booking these AQ cabins. Thanks for posting this.

[Wine-O]

Thanks for the great description of the room. Is the showerhead removable or stationary?

[british betty]

Thank you so much for those pictures.

 

We are considering AQ1547.

 

Did you find that the larger balcony made the cabin dark, or perhaps darker than others might have been and did you manage to get any sun on your balcony?

[hcat]

Thanks for those detailed pics & comments..Very useful--we sail next week & this has helped us plan ahead..Glad we are nowhere near the window washer ...

 

Seems there is lots of space for storage of cosmetics & such in the bathroom--wierd sink for washing of bathing suits.... & a big step up/down

 

we can move the robes for more closet space & stack extra clothes on the hard couch..

 

glad for the tip about the heat in top drawer--we'll store our Chocolates elsewhere!

 

All in all we can't wait to cruise next Sunday!!!

[elena7seas]

Thanks for the great description of the room. Is the showerhead removable or stationary?

 

Thank you all very much for the kind comments.

 

I'm sorry, I can't tell you about the showerhead for sure. Both my daughter and I think that it wasn't removable, but neither of us tried to remove it. Perhaps someone else who has cruised in AquaClass can tell you for sure.

 

This Hansgrohe showerhead is the "rain shower" type, and there are 3 or 4 other jets positioned lower down, so I didn't need a hand-held spray.

 

If you double-click on the picture of the shower in Smugmug, you can see an enlarged version of the shower head connection. It doesn't look removable.

[elena7seas]

Thank you so much for those pictures.

 

We are considering AQ1547.

 

Did you find that the larger balcony made the cabin dark, or perhaps darker than others might have been and did you manage to get any sun on your balcony?

 

Hi British Betty:

 

No, the cabin wasn't dark at all, although I expected beforehand that it might be.

 

Most of my pictures were taken with the cabin lights off, and you can see that the cabin is quite bright. (The darkness in the first picture is a function of my lack of photography skills...I must have been using the wrong setting).

 

The railing is so "transparent" (except for the rail itself, the railing almost disappear) and the front panels of the balcony dividers are translucent, so a lot of light comes in and I never felt the cabin to be dark at all.

 

We did get some sun on the front of our balcony. The overhang on this particular balcony wasn't too extensive (from almost no overhang on the left side, to about 3 feet on the right side), so there was sunshine on our deck when the sun was on the correct side of the ship.

 

If you go to the last page of my pictures, to the third picture from the end, you will see a shot that looks along the side of the ship. The last cabin that you can see in the distance, past the window-washing equipment, is the reverse of ours (also on the angle), and you can see that there is quite a bit of sun shining onto that balcony.

 

We have another angled cabin on the Solstice in the Mediterranean in May, and I think we will be grateful for the overhang then.

 

It was really lovely to sit out on the balcony and read. There wasn't much wind at all, which was something that I had worried about.

[elena7seas]

Thanks for those detailed pics & comments..Very useful--we sail next week & this has helped us plan ahead..Glad we are nowhere near the window washer ...

 

Seems there is lots of space for storage of cosmetics & such in the bathroom--wierd sink for washing of bathing suits.... & a big step up/down

 

we can move the robes for more closet space & stack extra clothes on the hard couch..

 

glad for the tip about the heat in top drawer--we'll store our Chocolates elsewhere!

 

All in all we can't wait to cruise next Sunday!!!

 

Hi HCat:

 

I'm sorry that I haven't finished my review, but I did post some of my comments on our Roll Call for our upcoming cruise on Solstice in May. See post #502.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=741234&page=26

 

With regards to your comments above:

 

I was travelling with my adult daughter, and we had room for everything, although I must admit we only had 7 pairs of shoes between us, which I think is real restraint! We didn't have to use the space over the bed, nor the top shelf in the closet. I didn't have to move the bathrobes, but it would have given us lots more space if we had removed them. Some people I know asked to have their terry robes switched for the thinner waffle-weave cotton robes.

 

Yes...that's about all we used the sofa for...stacking clothes and our purchases :p. Oh, and the extra paperwork that used to go in our night table drawers!

 

There was LOTS of storage in the bathroom. We didn't come close to using it all. The counterspace was a bit limited. The sink is actually not as big a problem as it looks. There is a fair bit of room under that large "spout", and the sink itself is quite large.

 

There is no "clothesline" in the shower, but there are two hooks on the wall inside the shower. You can see them in the picture of the shower that is reflected in the mirror (page 4, picture 2).

 

The step-down looks larger in the pictures than in reality. I didn't feel that it was much higher than on the M-class ships.

 

Believe me, you will notice the heat in that top drawer right away! I put a chocolate chip cookie (from the buffet) on a napkin in that top drawer just to test how warm it really was, and it totally melted the chocolate chips.:p

 

I remember once, before I cruised in December, that you were asking about the food. We ate in Blu as our regular restaurant (loved it!) and also in Tuscan Grill, Silk Harvest and Bistro on Five. We cancelled our reservation in Murano because we were having a great time in Blu, and loved the food, our servers and our table "neighbours". Everyone that I talked to that ate in Murano really enjoyed it, however.

 

If you have any questions before your trip next week, please ask!

 

I know you are going to have a wonderful time!

[katjam]

Great pics Elena, we're heading out on the Solstice in March, originally booked in cabin 1556, but after some research, came up with a link to some exterior pics of that area. The window washing equipment was in sight, but also what looks like an emergency stairway from the resort deck. Also didn't like the overhang so we moved to a more forward cabin.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2495793210104101060acKlBX

 

Did you take any pics of Blu's food or menus?

[Janet987]

Elena, Great pictures and thorough detailed explanations; your post will be very helpful to all.

I can add two comments because we had the ship's IT guy visit us when the "free on demand" movies froze after a few days. The heat is from the mini-Mac computer located behind the top drawer. He mentioned our TV issue was a common problem, but all he had to do was, in effect, reboot the computer. Only took a minute or two to fix. I also had cables to view photos from my digital camera on the TV but was not having success. He stated that all the connections on the back of the TV were disabled. So yes, there are connections, but apparently, none work. And no, guests do not have access to the computer for re-charging ipods or any other reason.

[british betty]

Elena,

 

Thank you for all of that information.

 

We would have preferred one of the larger balcony cabins on the angle of the hump, but they have already been booked on the cruise we were looking at :(.

 

We have now booked 1547, (on the Equinox) ;)

[leepoffaith]

Elena, Thank you for much for your pictures and information. It makes it a lot easier for people who are looking for their room to decide what to choose! :)

 

I do have a few questions for you about the room if you wouldn't mind. The first is, would you book it again? I am very close to booking this room because the other angeled balconies in Aqua Class are booked, but I'm still hesistant about the window washer. I did find a picture of what it will look like and I don't think it looks too bad because it looks to be on the opposite wall of the room next to 1552, correct? Basically, was having to see the washer worth having the larger balcony? :)

 

My second question is about noise. One of the whirl pools looks to be right above this room. Did you hear any scraping chairs at all? My guess is after the pools close this area should be pretty quiet, at least I would hope so.

 

Anything else you would want to tell someone about this room? I'm not worried about the storage room since my partner and I pack fairly light, but we are REALLY looking forward to having a wonderful balcony to spend a lot of time on. Our last Carnival Cruise was great, but smokers on other balconies ruined that for us. We are very excited to have a smoke free balcony! :)

[hcat]

Don't forget to post the drawbacks of these cabins on the sticky note at top of the boards--re the window washers..

[elvnga]

Great pics and I the captions are quite helpful. I forgot how frustrated I was that there was no light available on the balcony. I would have loved to have the opportunity to read out there after dark and I seem to remember a small light on the M class ship that did not shine onto neighboring balconies. In the not A class cabins the shower head is smaller and quite functional but can not be used as a handheld.

 

 

Be sure to check out the TV. It had functionality I did not discover until I was packing to leave. You can track the ships location there.

[Cruise Raider]

Elena, Thank you for much for your pictures and information. It makes it a lot easier for people who are looking for their room to decide what to choose! :)

 

I do have a few questions for you about the room if you wouldn't mind. The first is, would you book it again? I am very close to booking this room because the other angeled balconies in Aqua Class are booked, but I'm still hesistant about the window washer. I did find a picture of what it will look like and I don't think it looks too bad because it looks to be on the opposite wall of the room next to 1552, correct? Basically, was having to see the washer worth having the larger balcony? :)

 

My second question is about noise. One of the whirl pools looks to be right above this room. Did you hear any scraping chairs at all? My guess is after the pools close this area should be pretty quiet, at least I would hope so.

 

Anything else you would want to tell someone about this room? I'm not worried about the storage room since my partner and I pack fairly light, but we are REALLY looking forward to having a wonderful balcony to spend a lot of time on. Our last Carnival Cruise was great, but smokers on other balconies ruined that for us. We are very excited to have a smoke free balcony! :)

 

Are there any comments regarding the noise in this location ?? thanks :confused: