Celebrity Solstice Alaska cruise (8/26/16 - 9/2/16) review with many photos

I have always enjoyed reading reviews from fellow cruises here on Cruise Critic as they always provide wealth of information which has been helpful in planning our vacations. I want to pay it forward and review our Celebrity Solstice Alaska Cruise (26 August – 2 September) and our suite experience. I’ll include as much information as I can to share our experience to the best, but pictures can be worth a thousands words and since I love photography, I’ll also add many photos to this review.

I’ll be happy to answer any questions throughout the review, but you will find that my review of each day will be quite long and so you may find out the answer to your question in the review itself. I will do my best to post and answer questions daily each evening after I get home from work.

Enjoy!

INTRODUCTION

My husband (37) and I (31) love to travel. We have taken six cruises and all six of them have been with Celebrity. We love the product and the price fits our budget. We are patiently waiting for the new Celebrity ships to make their debut!

We have cruised to the Caribbean and this was our second cruise to Alaska.

I do must admit that I am a cruise addict and if I could have it my way, I’d vacation on a ship all year long! My DH is simple and happy with vacationing by camping in the woods; this means that I am the one that typically comes up with new cruise vacation ideas and am also the one finding good deals, planning, and booking everything (and I am excited to do all that each time).

We have cruised only on S-class ships in obstructed and non-obstructed verandah cabins (2), Concierge (1), Aqua (2), and now we can add Sky Suite to our list as well.

We booked this cruise through Celebrity about year and half ago and I really cannot recall the promotion type that was offered back then (maybe 1,2,3 Go All Inclusive?). I transferred the booking to an online travel agent afterwards. The following were our perks and OBC: pre-paid gratuities, classic beverage package, $300 OBC, $250 OBC from previous onboard booking, and $525 OBC from the travel agent.

PRE-CRUISE

Seattle is one of our favorite cities. We used to live near Tacoma for just a few short years and fell in love with Washington and Seattle immediately. We were so excited about returning to Seattle but our work schedule only allowed us to stay one night. I am quite picky when it comes to hotels and like to do an extensive research; I like to get the best for my money. Last time we cruised to Alaska out of Seattle we stayed in Hotel1000 (very nice property) under the government rate, but since they no longer offer this option, I booked the Renaissance Seattle Hotel under the government rate instead. Two days before our trip to Seattle, the Seattle Marriott Waterfront showed a government rate and so our hotel plans changed.

We had an early morning flight out of Saint Louis on 25 August with one stop in Salt Lake and by 11am we landed in Seattle, picked up our baggage, and off we went to find transportation to our hotel.

We debated whether to take taxi or Uber from the airport and at the end, we used a town-car service. The town-car attendant quoted us $40 to downtown, but the driver asked for $50 when he dropped us off (perhaps the Seattle Marriott Waterfront hotel was not considered downtown?).

We checked in to the hotel around noon and were prepared to leave our bags in storage since we were so early. However, we were offered a room right away and were upgraded to a corner room with two balconies (due to my DH’s status with Marriott). We were so happy with the room and the views. The location of this hotel is truly unbeatable!

(Seattle Marriott Waterfront; can you spot my DH waiving on the balcony?)

(Our room with a fantastic view from the bed)

(Waterfront views)

(Sunset view with Mt. Rainier in the background)

For lunch, we visited our favorite restaurant, Lowell’s Restaurant at Pike’s Place Market. We ordered cod fish and chips and Caesar salad with grilled salmon. Both entrees were absolutely delicious. The restaurant gets very crowded, but a table on the third level of the restaurant is worth waiting for as it offers amazing views!

For dinner, we tried Anthony’s Bell Street Diner at pier 66 located in front of our hotel. We ordered the lingcod fish and chips and mahi mahi tacos. We were not impressed at all with our meals – they were okay, but nothing special (unlike our meals during lunch).

(A couple of more photos from the waterfront)

The next morning, we decided to try our luck at the Starbucks store at Pike’s Market. (It was a short walk from our hotel). We arrived there around 9:30am and the line was already long, but not as long as what we had seen the day before in the afternoon. 20 minutes later, we had our favorite beverage, snapped a few tourist photos, returned our hotel, and checked-out.

Thanks for the review.

Can't wait to see more! Your photos as usual are just fantastic. :)

Embarkation, Seattle, WA (26 August, 2016)

We decided to leave our hotel at 10:15am and take a taxi to the port. Although the cab ride was short, once we got to the port, the traffic was horrendous and it seemed we spent more time waiting in that traffic than the actual trip from the hotel to the port entrance! The cost of the ride was $16 + tip.

Unlike the port of Miami, for example, the pier 91 cruise port has cruisers and porters crossing the street to get to the terminal… the very same street that vehicles use to get to the drop off area. Cars, vans, busses, luggage, and people everywhere! There was one person stopping and directing vehicle and people traffic at the crosswalk but it really slowed down everything! Our cab driver remained very patient; me… not so much.

When we finally dropped off our bags with the porter, I somehow felt a sense of relief and my excitement started to kick in again. We breezed through the passport and express pass check as well as the security line and by 10:40am we were checking in. We never waited in line once through the process. At that time, however, other stateroom categories already had long lines. Since they were not ready to board the ship yet, we were directed to the waiting area where we waited less than 10 minutes until they started letting people board the ship. They first called suite guests (and Zenith, I believe), but unless the guests were waiting right at the doors (like we did), one could barely hear the gentleman’s announcements. This part was little disorganized, in our opinion.

Day 1, Seattle, WA (26 August, 2016)

We boarded the beautiful Solstice, picked up our mimosas at the entrance, and headed directly to Michael’s Club. MC was quite packed during embarkation, but everybody seemed to be able to find a spot to sit. The concierge, bartender, and spa representatives did a good job in accommodating everyone, answering questions, and making everyone feel welcome. Canapes were also brought in for us to enjoy.

I typically have a list of “to-dos” once we board the ship (which also helps with killing some time before the staterooms are ready). My to-do list typically includes taking pictures of the ship, signing up for a drawing at the spa and finding out if they have any specials available, upgrading our drink package to premium, and making reservations for a specialty dining. While I run my errands, my DH likes to relax at one of the bars where he also guards our bags. It’s a win-win.

However, prior to leaving for our cruise, I read on Cruise Critic that the MC concierge can arrange everything for the suite guests and so I selfishly put our concierge, John Garrett, to work.

John was able to book an excursion and specialty dining for us. (We did not have any other requests for John for the remainder of the cruise). The MC bartender was able to assist us with upgrading our drink package and the spa representatives were able to book a couples massage for us. The only item left on my list was to purchase a Persian Garden pass, which, I am sure, could had been purchased through the spa reps in MC, but after sitting in MC for a while, my husband and I decided to stretch our legs and walked over to the Spa and Fitness Center.

A few months before our sailing, I emailed the Canyon Ranch Spa (using the email provided on Celebrity's website) to inquire about Persian Garden passes and the cost. I was interested in a week-long pass and was quoted $75 for 6 days. Onboard, the spa was advertising $99 deal. After showing the spa representative the email with the $75 quote, he only ended up charging us $75 + gratuity per person. I am not sure if the $99 deal included 7 days of PG, but if I did my math right, that would still be more expensive per day than paying $75 for 6 days.

I also signed up for a spin class the next morning as I had always wanted to try an exercise class onboard and thought that $11 would be money well spent… and hoped to keep up with my fitness routine onboard.

Feeling hungry, we were excited to head over to Luminae for our embarkation lunch. I ordered the Luminae signature burger and my DH ordered the fried chicken and waffles. We also split the white chocolate macadamia cake. Everything was delicious. During this first experience, we fell in love with Luminae and could not wait to return for dinner!

After leaving Luminae very stuffed (around 1:30pm), we realized that many folks were walking around without their luggage. Cabins were ready! We headed up to deck 11. Our cabin was Sky Suite 1667 (S2) on the aft and I purposely chose the location of this cabin because our first sailing to Alaska was in Aqua Class on the aft and we really enjoyed the views from our balcony then.

Since we never sailed in a suite before, I was extremely excited to enter our suite. I did look up photos of the Sky Suite (S2) many many many times and so I knew how it looked like, but there is just something about stepping in in person for the first time. Our butler showed up shortly after we finished exploring our living quarters. He introduced himself, talked to us about reserved seating on Chic nights, delivery of afternoon snacks, tea, and coffee, and he left his contact information.

The suite was very spacious. I could have done cartwheels in there, if I wanted to! The wardrobe/cabinet space in the cabin and bathroom was more than we needed, but it certainly was very nice to divide and spread our clothing into multiple places instead of shoving everything in just a few drawers like we typically do in the smaller cabins.

(Sky Suite - S2 - 1667)

(Sky Suite - S2 - 1667 Balcony)

The only one change that we would like to see is an addition of more towel racks in the suite bathroom. Between wet swimsuits, robes, towels, and clothes, there was not enough space to hang everything up (the non-suite bathrooms on S-class ships allow us to hang our clothes over the shower door).

I forgot to ask our butler for additional hangers when he came to introduce himself and so I called him for this request. Although hangers are hangers and we are not picky, we were slightly surprised to receive a variety of thin metal hangers – the ones that cleaners use. We received a plethora of them – different shapes, different styles, a few with some less-desired sticky objects full of fuzz, and one even had an advertisement paper on it featuring a random cleaner’s business logo. I wish I took a photo of them all. During our previous sailings in non-suite cabins, upon request, we always received the same wooden hangers found in the cabin’s closet and so we were quite surprised to receive such odd wires in a suite cabin!

We also did not receive our Captain’s Club Select Member coupons and so I inquired about it with one of our stateroom attendants and the coupons were delivered to our room later on that day.

After taking a few photos of the cabin, I decided to go take some more pictures out on the decks before going to muster drill.

After muster, we spent a short while in the hot tub before it was time to get ready for dinner. We could not wait to be back in Luminae for another wonderful meal, service, and wonderful atmosphere.

Enjoying this review so far! Your pictures are amazing!

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Beautiful pictures. Great review so far.

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When we check-in for dinner in Luminae, the maître d' remembered our cabin number from when we visited for lunch and we were quite impressed (or maybe we made an impression on him during lunch). I enjoyed the selections of breads that were offered during dinner time each night (I’m was born and lived in Europe for 18 years and so fresh bread is my favorite). Our first dinner in Luminae was a success - all the dishes we ordered were wonderful! The service was excellent as well; we did not wait a long time in between dishes.

(Potato croquette to cleanse our palates)

(Crispy Pork Belly)

(Cold Smoked Salmon)

(Grilled Filet Mignon)

We are not experts when it comes to wines and so for us, the wine list had plenty of selections. We often just asked the sommelier to suggest a good wine and were never disappointed. Below are a few photos of the wines available by the glass, but the menu offered many more pages of wines by the bottle.

After dinner, we were excited to try the World Class Bar. We were devoted to the Molecular Bar because no matter how many times one ordered the same drink, each round would have the same taste because the bartenders measured the ingredients religiously. (Although the Martini Bar provides a cool and fun atmosphere, the drinks never taste consistent. Many times the drink is too strong for our taste and so we never visited this bar during this cruise). We were quite disappointed when Celebrity decided to change over to WCB, however, after seeing photos on CC of the WCB drinks and menus, we figured it would be the same concept, just different drinks.

Needles to say, the World Class Bar became our favorite destination for drinks on this cruise and we got to know the bartenders, Loyda and Dimitri, well. The bar seemed popular; on most nights, the bartenders were very busy, especially after the evening shows ended.

The bartenders offered to make us any Molecular Bar drinks, as long as they had the ingredients. They also came up with some drinks of their own, which were excellent. Between all the drink choices, we were never tired of trying something new or getting seconds.

One aspect of the WCB for sure remains the same – this bar does not serve water, soda, and beer products. Numerous times (just like on our past cruises) we would see guests ask for these drinks, only to get directed to visit the Café al Bacio instead. I can see how frustrating this must for both the bartenders as well the guests. I wonder why Celebrity has not come up with some way to advertise this information.

At 10pm at night, we decided to see the opening night show: Comedian Dave Burleigh. We were not too impressed with him during this event, but maybe we were just too tired after a long day.

Great photos and review, can't wait for more and thanks for sharing... :)

Beautiful photos, thanks!

Really enjoying your review. Looking forward to the rest of it. Your photos are excellent! Thank you for posting them!

Enjoying the pics and descriptions.

Thanks for posting.

Day 2, 1st Sea Day (27 August, 2016)

I woke up around 7:15am excited for our 1st sea day – a day full of relaxation and enjoying all that the ship has to offer. My spin class was scheduled for 8am and I kept wondering – what was I thinking signing up for an early fitness class on my vacation?

Despite analyzing my work out intentions, I was actually looking forward to the spin class; my DH and I like to ride our road bikes and I try to attend spin classes at our local fitness center or just get a work out on my own on. I showed up to classroom, chose my bike, adjusted my bike, and started warming up. Other attendees did the same.

What shocked me was the fact that the instructor never came around before the class began to check our bikes and whether or not they were properly adjusted as the wrong fit can potentially cause injuries (and also makes the ride uncomfortable)!

To add to my disappointment was the workout itself - $11+ gratuity completely wasted! The class lasted about 35 minutes and consisted of about eight 25-second “pushes” and the rest was just pedaling (or that’s how I understood it). So, was the work out only supposed to be about 3.5 minutes long? Additionally, I didn’t understand what the instructor meant by pushing at 70% or 100%; he never explained this. The bikes had one knob that adjusted the level difficulty – you either turned the knob left of right to decrease or add the intensity. The lack of instructions was terrible! The instructor was not motivating at all and, in my opinion, was there to have his own work out as he was sweating profusely at the end. Close to the end and after much frustration, I decided to just ride the way I thought would give me the most amount of exercise.

I brought up my concerns to guest relations via the comment card, but never heard back. I also let the Michael's Club concierge know closer to the end of the cruise that the spin class experience was terrible.

This day was also the only day that I worked out. Shame on me. :) But... does the long walk to and from our aft cabin count as exercise?

After the awful spin class experience, I was ready to meet up with my husband to enjoy our first breakfast in Luminae. The menu offered plenty of selections and I found it difficult to narrow down my choices. My DH enjoyed the granola parfait almost every day. I was happy with fried eggs, kielbasa (delicious), and harsh browns (not your typical shredded potatoes). We also had a choice of various pastries to satisfy our sweet cravings.

I am not sure if the orange juice that I ordered was freshly squeezed, but it tasted good to me. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about the apple juice as it was undrinkable; it tasted like pure sugar.

For the first couple of days, I also requested French bread and the staff remembered to bring some by for the remainder of the cruise – whether it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

In the early afternoon, we decided to check out Michael’s and to our surprise, it was empty. The suite guest welcome letter that we received from the hotel director on embarkation day listed that the following will be available: light continental breakfast 8:00-11:00am, afternoon canapés: 11:30am-2:00pm, and evening canapés: 5:30-8:00pm. Additionally, the letter also stated that beverages would be available to us throughout the day.

Upon entering the MC we took out our sea passes to show the bartender who was working during our visit that we are suite guests and also to inform him that we have a premium drink package, should that matter in any way. Prior to our cruise, I did some research and talked to fellow cruise mates about their MC experience and so I learned that the bartenders there do not swipe the sea passes and that beverage package is not needed to order drinks. This, indeed, was correct.

The bartender was very friendly and chatted with us for a little while since the venue was empty. He was a waiter at the Tuscan Grill and since we had reservations there for one night, we let him know that we will be sure to request him as our waiter. We enjoyed our time in Michael’s Club that afternoon, away from the crowds, especially during this 1st sea day. MC suddenly became our to go venue for the remainder of our sail.

Michael's Club also had all the speciality dining menus available for guests to look at.

(Sushi on 5)

(Murano)

(Tuscan Grill - new menu!)

(Silk Harvest)

Since we did absolutely nothing all day but relaxed, we realized that a nap was needed. Unfortunately, since we had the “do no disturb sign” on the door, our butler skipped our suite while delivering sandwiches and sweets around 3:30pm. Thanks to our wonderful stateroom attendants, who seemed to live on our hall, they were able to call the butler to see if he could come back and he did around 4pm. The finger food options were quite delicious! Our favorite was the chicken salad mini sandwich and our butler remembered this and always left us a couple each day.

Our stateroom attendants, Magno and Jonel, were so welcoming on embarkation day and the second day and thereafter was no different. They greeted us with a giant smile each time they saw us passing through the hall throughout the day and always inquired about how we are enjoying our day, what our plans were, and never forgot to farewell to us with “have a good evening” or “have a great dinner.” All I wanted to do was to chat with them and get to know them as they were so kind. Unfortunately, I know how busy stateroom attendants are and so I tried not to take up too much of their time. Our room was always spotless. We did receive turn down service each night with a chocolate on our pillows. Magno and Jonel were the best stateroom attendants that we ever had and we ensured that we submitted a comment card to guest relations as well as included their names in the electronic survey. We tipped them well too!

The 1st sea day brought me a little bit of sea sickness. I do not get sea sick often and if I do, it is very mild. I do not use the pills or patches and so when this happens, I typically move to a wide open area, like the Café al Bacio, and this seems to ease my sea sickness. However, since it was a Chic night and we traditionally take photos each time we dress up on a cruise, we had to get ready so we had enough time to take photos before the daylight was gone.

To clarify: we take photos of ourselves with a tripod. As a photographer, I just can’t seem to pay those hefty photo package fees available through the cruiseline… not yet anyway. I do come close sometimes, though, because it can get frustrating setting up the tripod, camera, and flash on a small balcony or hauling the heavy equipment around the ship trying to find the best spot in terms of light. Luckily, my sweet husband is the one that calms me down with his patience.

For this cruise, we chose to bring one formal wear. We hoped that many others would also dress up formally, but in the end, we found ourselves to be the minority.

My husband wore a black suit, white button down shirt, and a tie. After the evening show, he waited for me in front of the theater where a guest approached him and asked him for directions. The guest told my husband that he thought he worked on the ship. That, I thought, was hilarious. I personally like to dress up even on smart causal days (unless I’m too tired from an excursion); I just feel that since I am on a beautiful ship, with opportunity to dine in beautiful dining venues with excellent meals, why not also feel and look beautiful?

And so after we got all dressed up in our formal wear, we took a few photos on our balcony, but since the sun was still quite strong, we decided to try a different spot elsewhere on the ship and headed to the Sunset Bar. A kind gentleman offered to take our photos and so we did not have to set up the tripod there, which made things easier. We had a time for a quick drink as we waited for the sun to start setting before heading to another spot to take more photos and then off we were to dinner.

(And here we are in our formal wear. For the first photo, the credit goes to the very nice man who volunteered to take our pictures.)

For dinner, we skipped an appetizer and ordered a main dish right away; we both ordered the Alaskan Halibut. Of course, I was munching on some fresh bread while we were waiting for the meals to be delivered.

For dessert, you had a choice of selecting as many of these petite sweet items as you'd like. There were also desserts listed on a separate menu, but I forgot to take a photo of it, unfortunately.

How did I forget to post about lunch? Yes, we had lunch on our sea day. Pardon me for posting these photos out of order, but I wanted to share the Luminae lunch menu and a couple of photos. After all, the creamy heirloom tomato soup was our favorite! I even asked if they had some left over during dinner, but the answer was no.

(A couple of photos of the restaurant; it was never crowded, as you can see from these images :)).

(Braised Short Rib & Seared Tuna)

(Chocolate Lave Cake -- one of our many favorite desserts from this cruise)

Lucie: As always, your photography is delightful. And the information is fantastic. Now that you and Kevin, and Tom and Pete, and Sharon and Bob, and practically everyone else but us have enjoyed the suite experience, we'll finally get our first chance at it on the Reflection in a few months. Now we can't wait. Luminae looks fantastic, just as Tom and Pete have kept telling us. We can't wait.

Once again, beautiful pictures and descriptions. Looking forward to the rest.

Incidentally, I don't know if you remember this, but it was from the pre-cruise dinner for a 2013 sailing of the Equinox. Not up to your quality of photography but still a lovely couple:

Larry

Oh, and one question, Lucie. Were the short ribs as good as they look in the picture?

Lucie: As always, your photography is delightful. And the information is fantastic. Now that you and Kevin, and Tom and Pete, and Sharon and Bob, and practically everyone else but us have enjoyed the suite experience, we'll finally get our first chance at it on the Reflection in a few months. Now we can't wait. Luminae looks fantastic, just as Tom and Pete have kept telling us. We can't wait.

 

Once again, beautiful pictures and descriptions. Looking forward to the rest.

 

Incidentally, I don't know if you remember this, but it was from the pre-cruise dinner for a 2013 sailing of the Equinox. Not up to your quality of photography but still a lovely couple:

 

 

Larry

Larry, of course I remember the 2013 Equinox cruise! It was one of our favorite sailings. The photos still makes me laugh! Great memories.