Solstice

This was going to be my first cruise that I have been on. Before this the biggest boat I was on was a ferry. I was nervous on what to expect and whether I would even like the cruise on the Solstice.
When I arrived at the pier and saw the ship for the first time my fears vanished. It is a beautiful looking ship. Embarkation was easy and the staff very efficient and helpful. It took us only 20 minutes to get on the ship which I thought was fast. I was expecting huge lineups.
There are lots of elevators onboard which is great as I have problems walking stairs. I really liked the lawn club as well and made good use of it.
The ship does cater to an older clientelle of 50 - 60's which was fine with us. The activities also are geared towards older people.
The food onboard was excellent and if you really want a treat eat at Blu.
Really I had nothing to worry about when going on the Celebrity Solstice. I really enjoyed my week long cruise and will sail with Celebrity in the future.

Me and my husband have cruised before on Royal Caribbean and on the Celebrity Summit. This would be our first time on the Celebrity Solstice. We arrived at around 11:00am at the port and had to wait only a short time before we could board the ship. We had purchased an Aqua Class cabin which I would recommend so we had a special checkin. When we first got onboard we were excited as she was a beautiful ship. I liked the overall decor and the art that was everywhere. It really created a nice atmosphere.
Our cabin was awesome and we really enjoyed staying there.
There are lots of places to eat onboard and the food we got in Aqua class was excellent. The buffets didn't have the best of choice and often hard to find something we liked.
With a large ship like the Solstice they can only go into certain ports due to the size. For this reason we didn't go to as many interesting ports. That is the advantage of a smaller cruise ship.
What I didn't like about the Solstice was that the staff wasn't that great. They did their job but just lacked that extra friendliness and helpfulness. I have had better service on previous cruises. The entertainment was dreadful at times so be prepared to entertain yourself.
Overall we enjoyed our cruise on the Solstice and she is a beautiful ship but we would only sail on her again for a good deal.

We have cruised many times with different cruise lines but this would be our first time with Celebrity. When we first boarded the Solstice after our long flight from Vancouver we were just amazed. She really is a beautiful ship and we spent a good while just exploring. The staff was wonderful and very friendly. Many remembered my name and what drinks I like even if I haven't seen them for a few days.
I did hear people complain how they didn't like the look of the ship but I disagree. It is a more contemporary style but I like it with a lot of art work around the ship.
The food onboard was excellent and found it better than the other cruise lines we have been on.
I found the buffet to be well organized with a lot of different choices. I thought the buffet was better than we had on Princess.
The lawn club was lots of fun and you can play bocce or croquet. Also was fun to see a lawn at sea.
The service is what really sold me on this cruise. Everyone I dealt with and talked with listned to my concerns and addressed them. They were friendly and helpful and just top notch. I think some of the other cruise lines can learn from this. I think we have turned over to Celebrity now and will sail with them in the future. I definitely would sail on the Celebrity Solstice again.

I have sailed before with Carnival mostly on shorter cruises and if you think that all cruise lines are the same you are wrong. The Carnival cruises were good but after sailing on the Celebrity Solstice I realized they are no where close in quality.
Embarkation was quick and easy and when we boarded we were blown away by the ship. Being a new ship she is in great condition and though very large she did feel very comfortable still.
We enjoyed the lawn club and the solarium though the solarium pool was often very busy.
There definitely was an older age group onboard the ship from late 50's and up. On our Carnival cruise there were more families and younger adults. The entertainment on Celebrity is more subdued compared to Carnival. The activities are more geared to an mature clientele.
The buffet was about average and nothing too great. We really did like Blu and ate there every night being Aqua class.
The rooms were wonderful and especially since we splurged on the Aqua Class. Definitely worth it and made our cruise.
They do have a nice gym and spa onboard and a lot of sports activities going on. The jogging track isn't the best as it gets so crowded.
Overall a wonderful experience and we look forward to sailing on the Celebrity Solstice again.

We have taken many cruises before but this cruise on the Celebrity Solstice was by far the best cruise that we took. We were very sad to leave the ship. It was a seven day cruise with two sea days.
Embarkation went smooth we quickly got through the lines and were onboard the ship. We did bring ourr daybags with us. This is so we could change and also take a quick swim before our luggage arrive. After a quick dip we were quite hungary and went to get some food. The food onboard was so much better than we had experienced before on Carnival. The dinners at night were exceptional and the service was outstanding.
We loved the entertainment onboard from all the daily activities onboard like glass blowing. We even won the free raffle for a beautiful piece we have in our living room.
In conclusion we just loved the Celebrity Solstice it was an amazing cruise and we definitely will sail with Celebrity again.

I have to say that the Celebrity Soltice was one of the most beautiful ships I have sailed on. Celebrity really does work on making a wonderful cruise.

The Solstice signature is the Lawn Club which is green grass on the 15th deck. They have a lot of different activities and parties around this grass so it is well used. They also have a live tree growing in the middle of the ship. Not something you would expect on a cruise ship. The rooms have a night light to help people get to the bathroom at night. They have swiveling flat screen TV\'s that you can see from anywhere in the cabin.
They have an Entertainment court with a lot of entertainment going on. We did enjoy watching the many talented acts.

The food onboard was good and for a nominal charge you can go to specialty restaurants which had wonderful food.
The spa onboard was heavinly and I received alot of treatments and enjoyed them all.
I am glad that smoking is not allowed for the most part on the ship. You really do notice the difference especially since Europeans are known to smoke so much and there were quite a few Europeans onboard.

Overall a great cruise and I am looking forward to when I can cruise again on the Celebrity Solstice.

I really love the Solstice!

Our trip from Los Angeles was uneventful and we arrived into Fort Lauderdale the night before the cruise. In the morning we had a leisurely breakfast and made our way to the ship by 11:30am.
The embarkation process was easy and there was hardly a lineup. As this was a new ship for us we spent quite a while getting to know the ship.
Our room was wonderfull and we always enjoyed having a balcony. I like just going out at night sitting on the deck and having some wine before dinner. The room was well equipped and had plenty of storage space.
Dining onboard the Solstice was excellent and we enjoyed both the service and the food. I really recommend the Tuscan Grille. We went there 2 nights and both my wife and myself were quite happy.
The entertainment was wonderful I really liked their 3 main production shows - Solstice, Pulse and Ghost light. Definitely a strength for this cruise.
Service was good exceptional from some and average from others but none bad.
The Solstice itself was beautiful inside and I really liked the decor.
Overall a wonderfull cruise on the Solstice and we definitely would sail on her again.

Embarkation:

As we had a suite onboard we had a private lounge to wait at until the ship was cleared. They served some really tasty cookies as well as water and punch. I could make reservation for specialty restaurants onboard and have it all taken care of before I boarded.
The boarding process only took 30 minutes.
Inside the ship is beautiful and we really liked the look and feel of everything.
Space in the pool and around the pool was definitely limited. Some people are so aggressive to reserve their lounge chairs as there were never enough. I went out early in the morning and already people had towels books and other items to hold their space. By the time I left they still hadn\'t even showed up while people were looking for a place to sit. Wish they would do a better job of supervising this.
The lawn club seemed like the wrong choice for a ship. It served no real purpose and it seemed like it wasn\'t fairing very well. I saw them replacing huge sections of grass. Guess some dies and then they just pull it out and put more in. You can\'t sit on it or walk on it all you can do is play bocce ball at certain times. Real waste of space if you ask me.
The room was nice and large but that is because we had a suite. No complaints everything was new except I found for this type of room the storage space could have been better.
If it was just for the above I would have given the Solstice a better review. The food service is what brought this cruise down for me.
The dining rooms were beautiful but the food was average at best. The waiters work hard in the dining room but we found that they didn\'t get orders right and didn\'t even know what was being offered on the menu. Some of them really tried hard but overall it was a miss. Even the specialty restaurants were not that good.
Overall the Solstice is a nice ship but the food would make me not want to return.

I was one of the lucky ones that was allowed to partake on the Solstice Naming Cruise and I must say I really enjoyed it. We received a balcony stateroom and it was beautiful. Everything on the Solstice was new which I wasn't used to with a cruise. New furniture, sheets, towels etc. It all had that new smell. There was lots of storage throughout the room and we had no problem putting away all our clothes and luggage. The room has a refigerator which was nice as we like to store our water in there.
The buffet was the best I had seen. They had many different stations like Mexican, Sushi, Steaks etc and you just pick and choose what you want.
They had a naming ceremony onboard and of course the heads of RCCL were there on the cruise.

The shows onboard were excellent and we watched them both nights. My wife and I really enjoyed the Ghost of Broadway. Overall a spectacular cruise I just wish it was for longer.