Great ship and cruise made better by the fabulous staff
Celebrity Solstice Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 56
7 Night Alaska Tracy Arm Fjord (Seattle Roundtrip)
Sail date: August 04, 2017
Ship: Celebrity Solstice
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 2122
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 7 years ago
Review summary
Overall we enjoyed the cruise, and it was nice to have such attentive staff and a separate classroom. The premium beverage package was worth it with all the beer, wine, and cappuccinos we drank. The food was better in the restaurants, but the buffet had something 24 hours a day.Embarkation
The lines were long and confusing. We didn't see the Suite line until after we had already waited in the regular line. But the person checking us in was extremely friendly and helpful. There were very long traffic lines to get in, and a bit confusing as to where to get dropped off (we got chided by a traffic helper for getting out at the wrong spot, but he was trying to keep us safe).
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The buffet was pretty good, with some things being better than others. The restaurants were better, and Luminae (Suite-level restaurant) was our favorite for breakfast, lunch when we could, and dinner. The extra-charge restaurants were pretty good as well, with Tuscan Grill being preferred over Murano. We had room service for the days we had continuing education classes, and it was presented beautifully but tasted only OK. (I did enjoy the pot of coffee a lot, though, and even got some delivered later.) I am allergic to strawberries and a vegetarian and the staff did great at accommodating my dietary needs.
Onboard Activities
We really didn't participate in activities since we were in class most of the time and don't gamble.
Entertainment
We didn't get to do or see a lot since we were there for continuing education and spend the days at sea in class, but we did watch (and were enthralled by) the glass blowing demonstration and the acrobat show. The ROCK show was cute, but not as "head-banging" as my husband would like. It was more a dance-type revue.
The main lobby (with an open design that all floors could see/hear) sometimes had live music that was too loud for my taste, even several floors away.
Service and Staff
Alfredo (in Luminae), our butler Brijesh, and especially our fabulous room steward Husaeni were absolutely wonderful. All of the staff were friendly and helpful.
Ship Quality
There were ship guides when you got off of every elevator, which we often needed since it was such a big ship that we were sometimes lost. The suite and ship were immaculate, which must have been done mostly at night since I never saw the ship being cleaned. We loved having an adult-only pool and hot tub area which was quieter. My only issue was the elevators. I'm afraid of heights, and having a glass elevators with glass doors was difficult for me, and I rode with my eyes closed every time. Standing on a glass overhang was not an option for me, and if faced with that I had to ask someone to move for me.
Cabin / Stateroom
Oh my goodness! It was fabulous with lots of space and a real-room feel, not at all like a ship cabin. The balcony was good, but we had a bit of an obstruction with the roof overhang blocking our view of the tall mountains as we went by. If you can get a suite on a lower floor (we were on 12, the top of the cabins), they did not appear to be obstructed by a roof. We also had the running track above us and could on occasion hear thumping from joggers.
Ship tip
You can get menus from other restaurants in some places. I'm a vegetarian and was able to get the main restaurant menu even in the suite-level restaurant Luminae so I had more choices (even for breakfast). I didn't find this out until near the end of the trip and it would have been nice to know earlier.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Pretty typical city, but the hills reminded me of San Francisco. Highly recommend the Capital Grille for dinner, and the Whiskey Bar for drinks. There is a Star Trek (and fantasy, sci-fi, and Jim Henson) exhibit at the Pop Culture Museum by the space needle. We were a bit underwhelmed by the Chihuly Glass Garden because after the first room of giant pieces of glass they all seemed pretty similar. The garden was nice, however. The Pike Market was extremely bustling, if you like that. The original starbucks is there, but the line is extremely long and, for a starbucks coffee, I just went to the next one down the street. We did go on a coffee tour the morning we sailed, since we had a few hours, and we went on a beer tour the day before. Both were by RedDog tours that started at the Seattle Brewing Company. After we docked, we went on a day trip to Mt. Rainier - definitely worth staying the extra day to see.
Really cute town, but we had a tour to catch and didn't see much. We did a kayaking trip starting at Orca's Cove. We didn't see any whales, but did see starfish and jumping salmon, and a lot of great scenery. It did require paddling and a short boat ride to the kayaks.
Sam is the man here. He's a jeweler that fixed my eyeglasses I had stepped on the first day of the cruise. We did a lot of shopping and beer drinking here. We had a canoe trip to see the Mendenhall Glacier and an absolutely beautiful waterfall. It was fun, but the paddling was a lot of work. Got my exercise in that day!
We really wished we could have stayed longer in this port. We had a rafting trip through the Eagle Preserve (no paddling, yeah!) and did see a lot of eagles and their nests, but the best part was taking the boat to Haines. It was a wonderful little city that was worth the 40 minute ferry and we REALLY wish we could have stayed longer.
We had a long tour through the Buchart Gardens and only saw the city as we drove through it. There were several buildings lit nicely as we drove back to the ship after dark. When we got off the ship, we saw several ladies dressed in Victorian clothes on the dock. The gardens were lovely. Our favorite part was the sunken garden. There was also a live music session going on at the same time which reminded me of the music festivals we have in Austin.
Disembarkation
We got luggage tags and instructions the night before. That morning we were able to get breakfast and wait in the suite level club, Michaels until we were ready to disembark. Being suite guests, we could choose any time to leave up until 9:30. The rest of the ship had numbers on their luggage tags and were dismissed by numbers so there wasn't such a long line to get off the ship. Our only issue was picking up our luggage. They were organized by number and ours didn't have numbers, only "suite" and the dock person apparently didn't know that those are removed first and would be at the front. The taxi line was very long, but still only took about 20 minutes to get a ride to our hotel. I don't know about other transportation waits.
Traveler Photos
