Celebrity Solstice Review, March 15-22, 2009

[AriesLV]

Celebrity Solstice Review, March 15-22, 2009

 

BACKGROUND: This was our second cruise, the first being on the Caribbean Princess in March of 2008. We are 38 and 42 years old. After our first cruise, we “joined the cruise cult.” We really didn’t expect to love cruising so much; I guess we were of the “newly wed or nearly dead” mentality. This really was simple ignorance on our part. We are now among the converted! :D

 

EMBARKATION / DEBARKATION: Very smooth in both directions. We were in AquaClass, so we had priority embarkation. This may have made our experience a little different from those not in AC. I was amazed by the whole process. How they can get 3,000 people off just a few hours before 3,000 more people get on, and still make you feel like this is their first cruise is impressive, to say the least.

 

STATEROOM: We were a little surprised by the size of the cabin. Our mini-suite on the Caribbean Princess (CB) was about 100 sq ft larger, which was nice as you can imagine. However, at 191 sq ft, our AC cabin was adequate to two larger people. We found the storage space to be perfectly acceptable, although I’ve heard some didn’t. Another surprise was our “obstructed view.” There is an overhang above deck 11, which connects to deck 10. These connections are really large, steel support beams. They only exist in the middle third of the ship, and not the front or read third. They really did block our view. It wasn’t a huge deal, but I’m pretty sure I would book a room fore or aft if I were on the Solstice again.

 

Aqua Class: Several people asked me if I thought AC was worth the extra money. For us, it was a no brainer because when we booked (way in advance), there was virtual no price difference. I think we ended up paying a total for both of us of about $100 more for AC than we would have for a verandah stateroom. It was worth that for Blu alone.

 

Blu – I think a lot of people have the wrong idea about Blu. I heard it called “spa food,” “healthy fare,” “lighter fare,” and so forth. If this is true, I didn’t notice. There were creamy sauces on several of my meals. I was never offered a big pile of veggies. Each dinner started with a big ole basket of bread and butter. I finished most meals with ice cream. I suppose it’s possible that we got smaller portions, but to be honest, I left Blu stuffed on most nights. We did find carrot and celery sticks on the table each evening, but there was ranch dressing to dip them in, so where’s the healthy in that? There were a fair number of fish dishes on the menu, but I had filet mignon, shortribs, and the oddly named, but really delicious, “airplane chicken.”

 

Other A C amenities – I liked the ice tea that we got every day, and the ‘free’ bottled water was nice. The canapés were ok, but nothing special. We did have a bottle of scent with sticks in it, which I suppose was the “spa scent diffuser,” but it never changed and no one offered other scents. I actually didn’t realize it was there until day 6. The complimentary slippers were nice, and my mom was quite happy with them. I have size 13 feet, so there was no wearing them for me. The A C bathroom was nice and well thought out, but nothing I found special. The much anticipated super-duper shower system was nice, and I loved the shower head (it rains on your head, which I totally dig), but watch out guys: on several occasions those fancy water jets got me in a place better left out of harm’s way. The pillow menu was a nice touch, I thought. I thought we also got priority tendering, but a call to the Aqua Class Concierge got me the answer of “no, not really.” No problem.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: We only saw two shows: the ‘Cirque’ show and the ‘Broadway’ show. We found both to be fairly amateurish. In their defense, we live in Las Vegas and have seen all the local Cirque shows and several of the travelling ones. It’s really not a fair comparison; to do what they did on a moving vessel boggles the mind, and that fact shouldn’t be ignored. There were times when I had trouble walking, so who am I to judge? Also, Cirque is also known for having a theme running throughout their shows; if there was any sort of theme in the cruise version, I couldn’t figure it out. Without it, it just seemed like a bunch of people doing fairly cool things, but without any rhyme or reason. As for the “Broadway” show, I was really unimpressed with the singing and dancing. Again, it seemed amateurish.

 

FOOD: I was really impressed in this category. I heard Celebrity “old timers” bemoan what they saw as a lowered food quality. I certainly can’t make any Celebrity comparisons, but compared to the CB, …well, there is no comparison at all. I found the food on the CB to be mediocre to downright awful. After seven days, that gets old. We ate in Blu every night, and we were never unhappy with our meals. I think Aqua Class might be worth the money for Blu alone. If you can, try the braised shortribs. Yum!

I also enjoyed the ‘burger bar’ on the top deck where they served burgers, hot dogs, nachos, chili, fries, onion rings, and a few salads (pasta salad, coleslaw, and such). The CB had the same type of place, but it was never even a fraction as good.

The Oceanview Café was fine; I thought it was fairly standard buffet food. Breakfast was the same every day, and I found the eggs runny, but I enjoyed the large selection overall. I also enjoyed the pasta bar, ice cream, and pizza selection in the afternoons (since we had late seating for dinner and needed something mid afternoon to keep us going).

 

SERVICE and ATTITUDE: No complaints here. Celebrity employees from top to bottom always greeted us with a smile and a “good morning, etc.” The only exception was at one of the bars on Labadee with a rude bartender. I was more shocked than anything, since everyone else had been so pleasant throughout the week. Otherwise, everyone I met was helpful and cheerful.

 

THE SHIP: I found it to be beautiful in all regards. I liked the liberal use of artwork around the ship; I loved how clean it always was; I loved all the spaces throughout and the feeling of intimacy you could find in little areas scattered throughout. I even thought the hanging tree in the elevator space was cool.

Most people seem to be down on the Lawn Club, and my first reaction was “what a stupid use of space;” however, I really ended up liking it. I enjoyed sailaways in my bare feet on the lawn. I liked the color it provided. I found it surprisingly peaceful, if that makes any sense.

I LOVED the Solarium pool. We spent at least an hour there every afternoon before we went to dress for dinner. I am really, really pale (even though I live in the desert, go figure), and I simply can’t handle outdoor pools with the kind of sun you get in the Caribbean. I burn quickly, regardless of SPF, and end up miserable for days. So, for me, the Solarium pool was my happy place. The water was even warm, which makes me happy. To top it all, it’s a really beautiful space with the fountain and the waterfall (which are particularly nice at night).

 

FELLOW PASSENGERS: It seemed like a nice mix to me; I saw babies, and I saw more mature folk. We were told that there were 300 kids onboard, but I can’t say I noticed them. The children we did meet were, for the most part, very well behaved. Nearly everyone we met was happy and chatty and wonderful. It’s amazing how many interesting people I met in just the elevators! We came home with about a dozen email addresses and several invitations to visit exotic places like Canada! I’m also guessing that our casita in Vegas is going to be seeing some of these people in the near future. We also really enjoyed meeting the Cruise Critic gang. We aren’t ‘joiners,’ but we are so glad we got to meet so many of you. :)

 

A Digression: did anyone else on this cruise meet Drunken Debi? We saw her four times, and each time she was so drunk she could hardly walk. We first met Debi (almost certainly not her real name) on an elevator. She hadn’t actually pressed a button; she was really just staring at them, perhaps hoping someone would press her floor. She got off on deck 11; we’ve often wondered since if that was her floor or not. Someone may have gotten a big surprise! Later in the week, we found her attempting to put mustard on a burger while simultaneously holding her drink (of the alcoholic sort), yelling for onion rings, vainly trying to decipher whether or not that was coleslaw, and trying not to puke. And yes, it’s mean of me to make fun of her, but if you’re going to act like a fool in public, you should expect it. I wonder what her bar bill was like?! For the record, she was the only person we saw make a spectacle of themselves during the week.

 

PORTS: I was a little disappointed with the itinerary, but it was the only week we could travel. We were in St. Maarten for, I think, 15 hours. On the other hand, we were in Tortola for only about five. In St. Maarten we got a taxi to Orient Beach, which was a little crowded but beautiful. In Tortola we just walked around the town a little. Spicy Caribee is a great spice store, which I would really recommend, and Pusser’s Rum was a fun place with an interesting history and a great drink called a “Painkiller.” There wasn’t a whole lot else. In San Juan we did a bus tour of “Old Town,” and enjoyed that. The old fort was really interesting and probably worth most of a day of sightseeing by itself.

 

Labadee, Haiti – Our cruise on the Caribbean Princess last year stopped at Princess Cays, their private “island.” It was so amazing that I could never truly explain how much I love that place. It was bliss. Perhaps this is why I was so thoroughly disappointed with Labadee. I had such high expectations, and none of them were met. It’s certainly a pretty spot, but that’s everything positive I have to say about the place. The first thing we found was a guy who pulled out lounge chairs demanding a cash tip. Next we found that the beautiful sand beaches led to extremely rocky water. Parts of the beach were also rocky. I had water shoes, thank goodness, but even so found swimming treacherous. About 10 feet from the shore there seemed to be a major dropoff, which seemed dangerous. The water was murky, probably from the dredging that’s going on for the construction of their new dock. There were also many signs warning of barracudas, sea lice (?!), and fire coral. Eeeep. And don’t even get me started on the “artisan market” and the “flea market.” They seemed to have some really cool stuff, but I couldn’t stand the begging, pleading, and pushy behavior of these artisans. And yes, I know that these folk are very poor and survive on tourist money and so forth; and please don’t flame me for being put off by the whole thing. If you want to flame me, do so for the incorrect usage of that last semicolon.

 

Miscellaneous: I really liked the tv we had in the cabin. With Princess, if we wanted to know the current state of our bill, we had to go to guest services. On the Solstice, it was easily accessibly on one of our tv channels. I also thought the music channels were a great idea, even if they were a little hard to master. Ordering room service through the tv was also pretty cool –and easy! We also thought the short documentary-type programs were really interesting (the ones about the engine room, etc.).

 

In short (too late!) we would highly recommend the Solstice. We had a wonderful, relaxing week on her, and we can’t wait until our next cruise (Alaska in August of 2010! :cool:).

[Host Anne]

Thanks for the great, balanced review, Aries! Please be sure to submit it to the REVIEWS section here on Cruise Critic as well! Glad you had a great time! We did, too!

[Texed]

We did, too!

 

Glad you enjoyed Solstice. :)

[earl_m]

Great review, well done. Glad you enjoy your cruise!!

[Cruisenouvelle]

Thanks for taking time to share your impressions - she really is a great ship!

[cruzmaven]

Very nice, well done review. Thank you!

[Conanc]

Thanks for the review. I am glad you enjoyed your cruise. We are leaving in three hours! Tomorrow it's our turn. We will finally be cruising on the Solstice!:D

[MEcruzr]

"did anyone else on this cruise meet Drunken Debi?"

 

LOL... I think we did, only we called her "Loretta". When she attempted to talk she sounded like Larry the Cableguy, so we called her "Loretta, Larry's Twin Sister". Mostly she babbled about not being able to find her "hubby". She was totally wasted on the tender coming back from Labadee. She sat behind my son, who quickly moved because we were SURE she wouldn't make the trip without... well... you know. Luckily for all of us, she didn't. :rolleyes: We saw her the next day up on deck 15 (still in search of her husband... we figured he was in hiding) and she was STILL drunk. Like you said, I can't imagine what her bar bill was.

[Denny01]

"did anyone else on this cruise meet Drunken Debi?"

 

LOL... I think we did, only we called her "Loretta". When she attempted to talk she sounded like Larry the Cableguy, so we called her "Loretta, Larry's Twin Sister". Mostly she babbled about not being able to find her "hubby". She was totally wasted on the tender coming back from Labadee. She sat behind my son, who quickly moved because we were SURE she wouldn't make the trip without... well... you know. Luckily for all of us, she didn't. :rolleyes: We saw her the next day up on deck 15 (still in search of her husband... we figured he was in hiding) and she was STILL drunk. Like you said, I can't imagine what her bar bill was.

 

And Liver.

 

Denny

[hobgob]

Thanks for your great review.

Just wondered what room number you had?

We have booked aqua class room number 1578,any ideas if it will be quiet ?

Could you comment on whether the toiletries supplied were adequate?

Would be nice to cut down the weight for our flight from Scotland to Florida!

[jeffreytg]

That is a very well balanced and IMHO fair review..

 

What exactly is balanced? An opinion is an opinion is an opinion. As Scalia said something like" What is a balanced interpertation of the Constitution; some place between what it really means and what people would like it to say? :p

[AriesLV]

Thanks for your great review.

Just wondered what room number you had?

We have booked aqua class room number 1578,any ideas if it will be quiet ?

Could you comment on whether the toiletries supplied were adequate?

Would be nice to cut down the weight for our flight from Scotland to Florida!

 

We were in 1586, and didn't notice much noise from anywhere. A few times we could hear people running (?) above us, but it was rare. We didn't hear noise from the cabins on either side of us at all.

 

We found the toiletries very adequate. We were supplied with "hydro-minerale aquatic spa therapy collection" lemongrass shampoo, conditioner, and 'moisture lotion,' along with little round soaps. I liked them. There were also q-tips and cotton balls supplied in the bathroom. I really liked the towels they provided too. They were very plush (and I typically find hotel-like towels to be like sandpaper, but not these!).

 

If you really want to cut down on the weight of your luggage, you might want to consider stopping by the Walgreens or CVS stores that are very near the cruiseport. I think the Walgreens, at least, is open 24 hours. We stopped there and picked up a few things we forgot. They also had a large supply of travel-sized stuff (from hairspray to deoderant to mouthwash).

 

Happy sailing! - I'm so jealous 'cause I want to go back. I'm having horrible cruise withdrawl at the moment.

[AriesLV]

That is a very well balanced and IMHO fair review. I am very glad that I read it and to tell the truth it was just what I expected.

I am quite unhappy the the Line goes to Labadee. They are providing income to a hugely crooked government which passes NONE of it onto their citizens. The people are SO poor that they actually EAT DIRT! Believe me I am NO bleeding heart Liberal, in fact I am often described as being to the "Right of Reagan" and that is accurate, but Haiti is a horrible country with a despicable government and I would resent it if any of my money went to their crooked politicians. IF and when I cruise on the Solstice it would HAVE to be the other Itinerary. So I was VERY interested in your review of their beach. We went on a RCCL cruise once and they stopped at Coco Cay and while we loved the beach and the picnic part of the day we too found the huge rocks in the water ruined the wading and swimming for us.

Your review of all of the remaining portions of your cruise and the ship sound wonderful and I wish they would vary the itinerary a little. But thank you for taking your time to provide all of the great information to all of us.

 

On the plus side, after realizing that neither swimming nor shopping was not going to be on my agenda, I settled under a palm tree with a good book. As much as I enjoy a good book on my couch at home, it really can't compare to reading with the sound of the ocean in the background :rolleyes:

[willysgrandma]

Very nice review. While I also sailed on the CB and don't particularly care for the food on Princess (it is okay, but I don't cruise for the food), I also sailed on the Solstice and felt the food is not as good as it was when Michel Roux was the Executive Chef. But I didn't starve, that's for sue.

 

Sorry you were disappointed in Labadee - that is one of my favorite islands. I just find a nice spot under a tree and stay away from the market. The beach that face the ship are not rocky at all.

 

Glad you had a great time.

[Histrionix]

We found the toiletries very adequate. We were supplied with "hydro-minerale aquatic spa therapy collection" lemongrass shampoo, conditioner, and 'moisture lotion,' along with little round soaps. I liked them. There were also q-tips and cotton balls supplied in the bathroom. I really liked the towels they provided too. They were very plush (and I typically find hotel-like towels to be like sandpaper, but not these!).

 

 

Happy sailing! - I'm so jealous 'cause I want to go back. I'm having horrible cruise withdrawl at the moment.

 

Hey, you forgot to mention the lemongrass scented facial spray and the lemongrass scented foot spray, neither of which you used, but I did and found them incredibly refreshing. Oh, and the lemongrass scented lip balm.

 

There were days that I was a spoonfull of curry away from smelling like a Thai dish.;) But it was all good stuff.

[JaiOfChi]

Hello there,

 

I commend you on your very objective and entertaining review. You kept your comments to the point and honest, which is much appreciated. No flames for you, only kudos!

 

Cheers!

 

Jai

[Solstice23]

We loved the Solstice too, Our favorite ship to date!

 

Concerning the room, Try booking a sky suite, It is worth it in every way! Celebrity unlike RCCL with Junior Suites and Princess with mini suites, has "real" suites. Try one on your next X cruise

 

Cheers!

[Solstice23]

Once again for people comparing old Celebrity food.

 

IT WILL TAKE A WHILE TO GET IT WORKING CORRECTLY!

 

I actually prefer the new food cause its lighter....Roux food was to heavy and rich, although good, I am sure the food will be as good again, just look at reviews its slowly getting better month by month.

[scg1a0]

Thank you for the wonderful review! I am currently stalking Solstice and hope to go on her in the next year, or so! (We just were on NCL for the 1st time. Don't ask..)

 

I felt a need to post to say that your babies are beautiful! It seems to me that the lawn area on Solstice could be used to bring in canine customers?!!! We can wish....

[AriesLV]

Thank you for the wonderful review! I am currently stalking Solstice and hope to go on her in the next year, or so! (We just were on NCL for the 1st time. Don't ask..)

 

I felt a need to post to say that your babies are beautiful! It seems to me that the lawn area on Solstice could be used to bring in canine customers?!!! We can wish....

 

We thought the same thing the first time we saw the grass in person- LOL! The yellow lab (Tucker) would probably have a stroke from the excitement of meeting so many people. The black one (Duncan) would ignore everyone, use the poop deck for literal purposes, find the staircase at the back of the Sunset Bar, make his way down to the Oceanview Cafe, and never be seen again!