My Solstice cruise journal posted

[B17]

Fantastic review - you had me hooked all the way through. You said you would go for sushi before dinner as dinner was late. Can you tell me how late. We are booked on 2nd sitting and was hoping its no later than 8.30pm. Also what time did they close off the pools and tubs?

[ottawapuppy]

Fantastic review - you had me hooked all the way through. You said you would go for sushi before dinner as dinner was late. Can you tell me how late. We are booked on 2nd sitting and was hoping its no later than 8.30pm. Also what time did they close off the pools and tubs?

 

Late seating for dinner is 8:30pm.

 

I am not sure what time the pools and tubs close. I think they were closed by the time our dinner time rolled around. Our friends would go swimming around 6pm and they said they were the only people in the pool.

 

Mike

[Shirley C]

The rental car depot is at the airport. There is shuttle from the rental car place to drop you off at the port, and there is supposedly one that picks you up. We took a cab so we wouldn't have to wait.

 

You can NOT check luggage in early in Fort Lauderdale. The airline won't even talk to you unless it is less than 3 (?) hours before your flight. You will have to keep luggage in the rental car.

 

Mike

 

Thanks. Is it a short distance from the port to FLL? How much was the cab ride?

[maggieq]

I love to print the reports/review....is there an option to do that?

[ottawapuppy]

I love to print the reports/review....is there an option to do that?

 

Because it is white text on a dark background, it won't print very well from the browser. Cut and paste the text into a word processor or Notepad and print from there.

(On the web page, click in the text and hit CTRL + A to select the text, then CTRL +C to copy to the clipboard. In Notepad hit CTRL +V to paste it)

 

Mike

[ottawapuppy]

Thanks. Is it a short distance from the port to FLL? How much was the cab ride?

 

You can see the airport from the port, it is very close. Cab fare was $12.50.

Mike

[Shirley C]

One more car rental question -- you said you used Priceline to rent the vehicle. I've never done that. If you do the bid your own price, when do you find out what rental car agency you got? Ever had any problems with priceline?

[Schplinky]

One more car rental question -- you said you used Priceline to rent the vehicle. I've never done that. If you do the bid your own price, when do you find out what rental car agency you got? Ever had any problems with priceline?

 

 

This is Lee. Mike asked me to answer because I normally do our bookings.

 

No, we've never ever had a PL problem. We can't imagine paying full price anymore. I think PL would not work for a hotel booking if you needed a very specific set-up (say, a smoking room for 4), sine part of getting a good deal involves giving up a certain amount of control. That said, we find that just pleasantly asking for what's important to us has worked at check-in every single time.

 

With the Name You Own Price side of Priceline, you find out the car company after you've paid. They only use national companies and we've always been pleased. On this trip, we dealt with Alamo and Hertz, both won through PL. We were actually upgraded on Hertz.

 

To get an idea of what sort of bids are being accepted, I'd suggest visiting one of the sites where people post their winning bids. My favorite is biddingfortravel dot com.

[Shirley C]

This is Lee. Mike asked me to answer because I normally do our bookings.

 

No, we've never ever had a PL problem. We can't imagine paying full price anymore. I think PL would not work for a hotel booking if you needed a very specific set-up (say, a smoking room for 4), sine part of getting a good deal involves giving up a certain amount of control. That said, we find that just pleasantly asking for what's important to us has worked at check-in every single time.

 

With the Name You Own Price side of Priceline, you find out the car company after you've paid. They only use national companies and we've always been pleased. On this trip, we dealt with Alamo and Hertz, both won through PL. We were actually upgraded on Hertz.

 

To get an idea of what sort of bids are being accepted, I'd suggest visiting one of the sites where people post their winning bids. My favorite is biddingfortravel dot com.

 

Thanks again so much for your help. You two are my new travel guru's!

[Snorkel Dawg]

Hello Mike,

 

I enjoy reading your reviews & website. I'm sailing on Solstice 2 weeks from tonight. Can you tell me if they put the crews tips on everyone's seapass account now or do you still pay your tips in cash? Just wondering so we figure how much $ to take

 

Thanks,

Dawg

[Schplinky]

Hello Mike,

 

I enjoy reading your reviews & website. I'm sailing on Solstice 2 weeks from tonight. Can you tell me if they put the crews tips on everyone's seapass account now or do you still pay your tips in cash? Just wondering so we figure how much $ to take

 

Thanks,

Dawg

 

 

Hi there. Mike is cooking a roast for dinner so I'll answer you. They put them on your sea pass automatically. You can adjust them at Guest Relations if you want. We liked this system a lot and didn't think it affected service. It's a very happy and helpful crew.

[mattsmom11]

I have posted my journal from our recent cruise on Solstice. The quickie version of it for those who don't want to read the whole thing is: LOVED IT!!!!

 

Got to http://web.me.com/thecruiseguys and click the Celebrity Solstice link on the right hand side.

Click the Read Mike's Journal link.

 

Mike

 

 

Hey Mike, it's me Deb [from AOS Sept 2008]. Larry & I are looking into a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium that we are very interested in Nov 27 - Dec 7.

Having never cruised with Celebrity before we would love to talk to someone that has cruised on Celebrity before

Was this your first time on Celebrity or have you cruised on it before?

Hope to hear from you soon, you can email me if you prefer [srappinfun@hotmail.com] in case you don't have my email anylonger.

 

Say hi to Lee from Deb & Larry.

[Aquahound]

Lee or Mike,

What nights were the formal nights on Solstice? I'm trying to plan alternative dining reservations.

Thanks!

 

**Edited - I just answered my own question by reading the review again. Unless you correct me, they are Monday and Friday.

 

Thanks!

 

That was easy, huh?

[Snorkel Dawg]

Thanks Lee. Good to know. Enjoy that roast dinner!

 

Dawg

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Enjoyed your review! Can you be more specific as to what criteria you entered into Priceline that resulted in your getting the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood? Someone once posted the way he enters his information so he ends us at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco and I thought that was very helpful. I find that hotels in Ft. Lauderdale are vastly overpriced. Thanks!

[ottawapuppy]

Enjoyed your review! Can you be more specific as to what criteria you entered into Priceline that resulted in your getting the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood? Someone once posted the way he enters his information so he ends us at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco and I thought that was very helpful. I find that hotels in Ft. Lauderdale are vastly overpriced. Thanks!

 

Lee might correct me, but I believe the bid was for the resort level in the Hollywood Florida bidding zone.

 

Mike

[Schplinky]

Lee might correct me, but I believe the bid was for the resort level in the Hollywood Florida bidding zone.

 

Mike

 

 

That's exactly right.

[ottawapuppy]

That's exactly right.

 

Look at me...listening!....

 

Mike