Chesterbear finally went on a cruise

I got off celebrity solstice on Monday and I had a great time.

As a little background, this was my first cruise. I traveled solo and booked last august. I had always wanted to try it and mid last year I found out I would have the funds to do so. I picked celebrity for the itinerary and they were recommended over carnival [emoji14]

I traveled to Sydney for 4 days pre cruise. Spent it with relatives and sightseeing. I managed to get some shopping done but not nearly enough. It was my second time there.

Embarkation was easy. I didn't see gbenjo but I met up with a couple on the roll call and another couple they met at the airport. The line moved along and soon enough we were on the ship being handed our welcome drinks.

The oceanview cafe was packed but we got seats and lunch until our cabins were ready. I then went there then to cafe al bacio for a relaxing iced tea.

Our roll call had organised a sail away party so that was a lot of mingling photo taking and enjoying the sunset. We stayed there until dark.

I had booked an inside cabin with a sideways layout. I would happily book it again. It was forward on deck 7 and quiet. It was well maintained by the room attendant.

The food was wonderful. I ate at the mdr most nights and we had up to 11 people at a time. I had select dining and had worried I would eat alone every night but that never happened at dinner. I tried aqua spa for breakfast and room service on a couple of port days. I didn't eat in any of the specialty restaurants but I did dine in the penthouse suite one night and ate off the Tuscan grill menu.

I had the premium non alcoholic package and it was nice not having to pay for everything individually. I only had a few alcoholic drinks and did wine tasting at cellar masters on a sea day. That was well worth it.

I went to several of the shows. I saw all of the 9pm shows except amade. I also enjoyed dancing in the sky lounge a couple of nights and gave the silent disco a go. While it was still on I snuck out to the Tiffany store and my cabin and came back to the area to a lot of people singing highway to hell. [emoji3]

I loved the public spaces especially the library and the sky lounge. I discovered the pools very late and liked to go in around 5 pm. And yes I did enjoy the shops as proved by my onboard bill! Some things were cheaper like perfume and guess handbags than at home.

The ports were interesting. I went to the aquarium and lemon bay in noumea, then the vanilla factory in lifou. Both were celebrity excursions and very nice. Noumea was expensive but I was able to limit my spending to just using the $80 in local currency that I took.

I loved mystery island. I wandered around the market and then took a swim in the ocean. It was perfect weather.

I knew what to expect in Fiji from a previous visit and I booked excursions through viator. My favourite one of the whole trip was the jewel of Fiji in Suva where we went to the village then down the river on longboats. The waterfall swimming hole was beautiful. I went to the orchid garden in lautoka and the market and temple. Oh yes and downtown lautoka for aloe Vera for my sunburn.

Disembarkation was all too quick. I was at the airport around 9 and was supposed to leave on a 3.50 flight so was prepared for a day at the airport. I went to the air New Zealand counter to see if I could go through customs early and they advised they could rebook me to an 11.50 flight. I was happy about that until I got on the plane and it was a turbulent flight.

I was happy enough traveling solo but I did have my "what were you thinking?!?!" moments. They usually passed with a good meal and or company.

There wasn't much to dislike at all. A couple of dishes in the mdr and that's about it. The staff were great and the 1700 Australians didn't tease me too much [emoji14]

I booked onboard for a cruise in 2019 that is a round trip from Auckland to the South Pacific. I enjoyed that area so much that I wanted to see more of it. And to spend more time on the beautiful ship!

Feel free to ask questions as I probably forgot something [emoji3]

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Pleased you enjoyed your cruise but I really thought with all your posts you were an experienced cruiser!

Pleased you enjoyed your cruise but I really thought with all your posts you were an experienced cruiser!

Yes, you certainly had me fooled Cesterbear. :)

Glad you enjoyed the cruise. I really like Solstice and Celebrity in general.

Loved the review. Thank you. Glad you had a good time! Not easy on your own.

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Pleased you enjoyed your cruise but I really thought with all your posts you were an experienced cruiser!

Ditto!

Very pleased to hear you enjoyed Solstice. She's a lovely ship.

October 2018 can't wait!

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Pleased you enjoyed your cruise but I really thought with all your posts you were an experienced cruiser!

Yeah I had way too much time on my hands beforehand so I learned about it like crazy. Or maybe I was just plain crazy [emoji14]

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Yeah I had way too much time on my hands beforehand so I learned about it like crazy. Or maybe I was just plain crazy [emoji14]

Nope! I did exactly the same before our first cruise. ;)

Nice feel good review, hope you forever enjoy your travels xo:)

Great review Chesterbear. Glad you enjoyed your first cruise. You have the bug now!

Leigh

So another addict??:evilsmile::halo:

Thanks for the Review. glad you really enjoyed it.

Thanks [emoji3]

Yes an addict I think. I believe it's my job in life to recruit more addicts for the cause [emoji106]

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Thanks [emoji3]

 

Yes an addict I think. I believe it's my job in life to recruit more addicts for the cause [emoji106]

 

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A worthy vocation, if you can get paid for it even better.:p

My plan is working!!

My sister is keen and today we booked a family cruise on Pacific Explorer over New Years.

I know I swore I wouldn't try p&o but I have to take the time off work anyway and I don't have to pay extra for traveling solo. [emoji106]

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Quick question for you if you're still reading my fellow Bear... :)

I know you didn't go to the specialty restaurants, but did you notice if there were any special offers? I'm going on 13/4 and wondering whether to book online for my night of choice, or wait until I'm onboard in the hope of a discount.

Quick question for you if you're still reading my fellow Bear... :)

 

 

 

I know you didn't go to the specialty restaurants, but did you notice if there were any special offers? I'm going on 13/4 and wondering whether to book online for my night of choice, or wait until I'm onboard in the hope of a discount.

There were some packages offered onboard as some of the people I met bought 3 night packages. I didn't hear of individual dinner discounts.

Our waiter in the mdr did advise of a $20 lunch at silk harvest which was Indian themed but it coincided with wine tasting which I really wanted to try.

There was also rumours about all inclusive at sushi on five but I don't know if that was true.

[emoji3]

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Thank you! :)

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Quick question for you if you're still reading my fellow Bear... :)

 

I know you didn't go to the specialty restaurants, but did you notice if there were any special offers? I'm going on 13/4 and wondering whether to book online for my night of choice, or wait until I'm onboard in the hope of a discount.

On our recent Solstice cruise, last month, they had some specials.

Sushi on 5 started off with $25 all-you-can-eat lunches, and then the price dropped to $20.

Silk Harvest were offering dinner for $27 instead of $35. We weren't impressed by the food though.

There was a special lunch in Tuscan Grille, $35, that was supposed to showcase all three restaurants but they pulled that menu at the very last minute, offered us the regular lunch menu and only charged $25. Awesome food.

We didn't try to go to any of the other speciality restaurants for dinner this time. The MDR meals were exceptionally good, much better than on our previous Solstice cruise.

Thanks again. It's Murano I'm interested in, though all you can eat sushi sounds appealing too!

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We also loved our waiters in the main dining room - Wilson and carmanta. We wanted them to serve us every night so we had to go back [emoji3]

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Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

It's great that you have future cruises booked.:)

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

It's great that you have future cruises booked.:)

Yep always nice to have something to look forward to.

Clairebear I nearly booked that cruise! They had very good last minute specials. Enjoy your cruise[emoji4]

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Quick question for you if you're still reading my fellow Bear... :)

 

I know you didn't go to the specialty restaurants, but did you notice if there were any special offers? I'm going on 13/4 and wondering whether to book online for my night of choice, or wait until I'm onboard in the hope of a discount.

I'm on the same cruise :)

Hoping there's a chefs table night on board or a progressive dinner but I've heard maybe not on cruises from Australia :(