Sailing with a group on the Solstice
I am a travel agent that went with a group of 44 people to the brand new Celebrity Solstice, "in March 2009. Here is my review of the classified vessel.
Embarkation: A +. We arrived on the bus at the Port Everglades Terminal at 12.15 clock. By 12:45, all 44 passengers were checked in and on the ship. Embarkation is very good with so many windows open that it can run virtually no lines. Upon receipt of the ship,we got a glass of champagne or a mimosa.
Ship: B +. This ship is a beauty. It is elegant, with muted tones and warm, rich colors. The public areas have been created for the most part very good. We liked the fact that the entertainment and the Promenade deck instead of the greater part of the entertainment and alternate dining venues. It is comfortable with all on two decks.
The theater was very nice, but there are some places that are blocked by pillars. InIn addition, there were not enough places to accommodate all passengers who wanted to see the early show. While the lifeboat drill, we asked the celebrity-filled people, how many passengers in the theater instead, and was told, were 1600, with the entire back of the theater with people. While that seems more than half of the passengers is the reality of several hundred people standing to watch a show not to be viable.
The only complaint in our group had with the shipLayout, was the fact that there are no elevators aft. It had been a very long way for the passengers, the room toward the back of the ship.
The new turf club showed signs of wear. While this is a new feature on a ship, it's really a waste of space. Although there were a few bowls, golf and croquet tournaments on the ship, if such activities are not taking place, we have not noted anyone participate in these sports on their own. The space could be better used, additionalSeating for the Hot Glass Show, or lying, as the pool loungers were always packed in the sea day.
Cabins: We had an A inside cabin on deck 8-8188. The cabin was very spacious, on a par with some balcony cabins, we have seen on other routes. The bed was in the middle of the room with plenty of room to walk. Our luggage fit easily under the bed. There were two chairs in the cabin, a small table and a desk with two small bedside table. Our onlyProblem was that there was not enough drawers - just 5 small drawers next to the desk. The cabinet was also small, but we surprisingly enough space for our hanging clothes. But the lack of necessary drawers we put a lot of our clothes in the cupboard above the bed, which was a bit difficult to achieve.
The bathroom was spacious, with glass doors in the shower and ample storage space. The sink was a little uncomfortable as the water splashed about the vanity and floor when you washed. The bar infor leg shaving shower was a great addition, but was getting a bit high for the older ladies to their feet up at. We miss a clothing line in the shower to hang wet bathing suit - it took two days for our clothes to dry hanging on hooks.
We loved the flat screen tv. But there is a distinct lack of channels. In addition to two two channels CNN and ESPN, there was little other ship besides the many channels to be seen. Fortunately, there were free movies on demand, because that was aLifesaver. The interactive features were a little difficult to operate. We have attempted to access the Internet to work with the keyboard in the room, but the mouse was not possible, and we are finally on the Internet cafe when we needed to check e-mail.
Food: B. We ate breakfast and lunch on most days in the Oceanview Cafe. The buffet is very good, with stations operating from various related products. The device eliminates long lines at the entrance to the cafe. There were the usual linesfor boiled eggs in the morning and hamburgers, steaks and hot dogs for the afternoon. The waffles were very good, as is the vegetarian pizza. The ice cream selection changes daily and were very good. There was the Asian selection daily for lunch and standard pastas and many different salads.
What I found that missing sandwiches. It was a station, the sausage and tuna, bread, etc., where you can make your own sandwiches were, but I enjoyed having paninni and smallprefabricated sandwiches on other ships.
We have here one night to eat and I was very disappointed. Most of the stations were closed, which was again available to pizza, pasta, pre-cooked steaks, salads. On other cruise lines, reflects the buffet in the evening, which is served in the dining halls.
Grand Epernay Dining Room: We had dinner four nights in a spacious dining room. We were at the table, 135th Our group of 44 dined together at six tables and Celebrity has a great job of allocating the tablestogether.
Food ratings are very subjective. Having traveled on Celebrity, where the chef Michel Roux has been and will be held after dinner at that time, was superb, we were disappointed in the food quality on this ship. That is, we do not starve, but simply were not as satisfied as we had expected. The first night I had the lamb which was very good. I'm also a big fan of the cold fruit soups, and they were very good. But the rest of the nights, I found myself orderingThe steak always available, nothing struck me as particularly interesting. Now, believe me - we do not starve, but we did not think that one was enough for me, something in the menu that sounded interesting. Even the desserts were so-so.
We ate one night at Silk Harvest. Food and service were very good. The sushi was excellent with some interesting choices. They brought out many dishes and all were very good.
We also ate at the Bistro on five, and thought theFood was very good, and here again, great service. One of us had a crepe and had a paninni and the server told us we could multiple items, if we were okay, but we just could not eat so much. We had a dessert crepe was also very good.
We ate some of the free pastries at Cafe Bacio, and they were good, as was the ice in the ice-cream. However, if we find the free ice cream in the buffet every day, we did not feel the need to pay more hiss.
Poolsand Spa: A - Mid-ship found two pools, the family pool and sports pool and a wetland that was never turned on along with four whirlpools. At the front of the Solstice pool was equipped with two Jacuzzis. At sea day as usual, the chairs around the pool were always filled with hogs chair to make their products and leave never to sit on the chair. Just once I would like to see on a cruise with the courage to say lifeguards to remove items after an hour no one sitting on the chair. We found weSolstice Pool enjoyed - it was easy, because no one was allowed to quietly under 16 years old and it was included. They keep the room a little too cold - many of them were bundled under towels, because the air conditioning was too cold.
My wife has an appointment for a manicure in the salon on Thursday. Even if no one with a manicure on her arrival she had to sit still and wait 10 minutes before it is underway. The girl who did the manicure was very nice She had a pleasant conversation anda decent manicure.
Entertainment: C + This is an area that I, like many others in our group felt that Celebrity has really cut back. Celebrity has no more headline acts. The majority of the nightly shows in the Main Theater of the production were singers and dancers danced. Perhaps because we live in the vicinity of New York City and frequent Broadway shows, I am a little jaded about this production clock displays on the sea. They were okay, nothing more. The singers were adequate, butnot great. I see the same tired faces every night. On the night in St. Martin, there was no point at all, just a movie (Iron Man, which I already had seen in cinemas) last summer. I fully recommend Solstice, the show. It was very well done - to show not as good as a real Cirque, but when you consider that these same children show that the production is done, they have a fantastic job.
The first show Oceans Four Nights, a cappella group that sang during the week featuredNight in different areas on the ship. Their first song was barbershop quarter and I winced, but they have some of Frank Valli and the 4 Seasons and others and were better. The Broadway-style show, the second night was okay, but also - because I go Broadway shows all the time, I see this and probably should not.
The night they had a featured xylophonist, we could not longer than 10 minutes. The man was good but not good enough for a 45-minute show - it wasendless. If Game is looking to satisfy more than 70 mass - well, that's good entertainment. If they are looking for a younger traveler - this is not to cut.
The Cruise Director was even a little subdued. He had a joke every night in the theater. But he was not one of those bouncy, overly enthusiastic people who say you again and again to clap, clap, clap. His staff was very good - the girls who were in the golf and bowling tournaments were good, as hisWizard show on Newlywed.
I want to say that the Celebrity Orchestra was great. They played in the lobby a few times and they were wonderful. I could be a whole show of them have only listened to - why not celebrity like this?
In room entertainment - I have the music channels on your interactive TV, liked the free on-demand movies (which I would like a larger selection had), but the regular TV channels were terrible. CNN does not even show the weather temperatures from home or any of theIslands that we visited. Cruise a little more mainstream TV. Two of the passengers in our group had caught norovirus, and in her room for 24 and 48 hours down and almost insane from the terrible TV. Decisions.
Services: I want to break out service in three areas - room stewards, food service and customer service desk.
Dining Service: The service instance in the Grand Epernay dining room on the first two nights was chaotic. It was a little bit better for night 4, if weHave said the Maitre D ', we were divided with a group of 44 persons over 6 tables with four different servers. Celebrity has a fantastic job keeping the group together. We were in the tables 123 to 135 on three of the deck near a window .
Celebrity waiters will tend to sit and wait for the entire set of tables, first of all orders. The first night, we sat for 15 minutes before our waiter came to take our jobs. The other tables were already ordered. We ordered drinks fromsomeone else, and then a woman came to another drink order taken. Why does drinking a couple of people for orders? It took about 20 minutes to get our drinks (this was) every evening until the Maitre 'D overheard a conversation with us to our table and asked how the service was and we told him that we had been waiting 15 minutes our drink and still not come. He also could not find the guy who order our drink. Then we had delivered from another server and our drinks were, inless than 10 minutes. If you wanted iced tea, and also meet another person that we waited for 15 minutes, and that as well. The service was so insignificant in the dining room that I do not remember the name of our waiter. During the trip, the dining room service was slow, but to become better, the last two nights of the trip. It was not the quality of the service we previously had on Celebrity.
I want to say that was the Maitre 'D very well. We had some problems withBirthdays and anniversaries that have allegedly delivered that does not happen. I spoke with the Maitre D ', and he took care to ensure that they were celebrated.
We ate at Silk Harvest and Bistro on Five, and the service in these two restaurants were excellent. Quality of service is what brought my overall rating to a B.
Room Steward: B. Our room steward was good, not exceptional. I noticed on the first day that the bathroom floor was dirty - it wasHair in the corners of the ground. The rest of the bathroom was good, but the muddy ground was a turnoff. We had a bottle of champagne in our room and he took the ice for the first two days, but we could not open the ice and never again after the first two days.
What we have done, as was the room manager was very unobtrusive - we rarely saw him, and he has quite a good job with the rest of the cleaning. I had to ask him to give us a cleaning service case - there was none in our room and wetypically you use this service at least once on a cruise.
Customer Service Desk: D. Because we led a group, we have to use the customer service desk a few times for requests. The people at the reception were very unfriendly and condescending. I have never seen a group of people that seemed to not like the jobs they were doing. Each of them tried to brush off my wishes and it seemed that I was harassed.
Two of our group went to the ship, Dr. and werethe room for 24 and 48 hours quarantined. The ship, Dr. told them they could free room service, free pay-per-view movies and free soda at the time they have been quarantined. Room Service said you were different - only one free soda, they could not, at what is served in the dining halls, etc., call the Customer Service and said that was how it was. We tried to get answers and they were brushed off as well.
Once she came out of theirQuarantine status, they walked toward the desk and CS were brusquely rejected by the customer service person if they asked to drive from the tip so that it could tip, then, since her room was the only administrator in her room in the time have allowed, they were quarantined. The desk rep. would not allow them to speak to anyone but him, and they were outraged. Only then they were finally allowed to the head of customer service, which began when he spoke with them, she saidthat misrepresentation of room service, and given that they have received permission, which served in the dining halls, and they should have non-alcoholic drinks had cost. They suffered unjustly for 48 hours because of misinformation and lack of customer support.
I'm going to service in other areas of the ship - the buffet, ice tell counters, etc. Service was very good.
We also had an event coordinator for our group, which was excellent;of the cocktail party we had, if they got our group at a time when they landed disembarkation different numbers. She was the one who did, did what customer service should do.
Disembarkation: A +. We got up and ate breakfast in the dining room, then he went back to the gym and our carryon retrieved and passed to the theater waiting for our 8:20. We were there only 20 minutes, when our number was called. We have our luggage and headed immediatelyour bus for transfer to the airport.
Overall: B + + We enjoyed the trip very much and so has our group. We have, as the ship and would recommend. Your Customer Service Desk has been some improvement, and they must act together to get her in the dining room and perhaps a little better to do with entertainment. But none of them were much power switch or would take us from sailing on the Solstice to prevent again.
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