Long Cruise Review: May 30th Solstice to Alaska

Wonderful - we will have to try to find a way to say hi! We were going to book Aqua class but they don't do staterooms for 3 and we are travelling with our toddler this time round. Oh well!

We saw him also in the MDR during lunch so you may see him that way!

Jude8,

Thank you so much for this review!! My wife and I will be cruising this next May and she has a gluten allergy as well. It's great to hear of all the food options that will be available to her as we too will be in an Aqua room.

:)

We sailed on the Solstice last year up to Alaska and loved it so much that we booked it again for this year. This will be our 8th time up to Alaska and just never tire of that itinerary. Last year, we booked the AQ on a special Chef John Howie package deal ... it was amazing. We had such lovely weather this entire trip and never put my jacket on once but did use an entire tube of sunblock that I brought just in case.

This year, still looking for the AQ to go down to a reasonable price - because I absolutely love Blu as well as the Persian Gardens and Relaxation Room. If this doesn't happen -- we will be happy enough in the cabin we chose. It is a hump balcony so will be out there a LOT -- and have booked a 3 dinner package just to avoid taking the formal wear. We are going with a small group and they are all the same as us in terms of dressing up for dinner.

I was also super interested in that Allen Marine tour to the glacier. Thanks for posting info on this. We saw them last year and wondered how one would get booked on that tour. I had no idea it was offered through Celebrity. The price is kind of steep but may consider taking all our entire lot of excursion funds to go on this one tour??? :confused: We'll see.

Thanks for writing such an in depth review. Even though we've sailed on the Solstice before, still like to know what others have found that we may have missed. I see you posted pictures the Persian Gardens as the Relaxation room, whereas this room is directly below the bridge on the other side of the ship on deck 11 by the secret staircase. Not sure if you found it or not but it was my favorite hang out the entire cruise last year. It is not the one with the heated tile chairs. Also so glad to see the ice is working on the martini bar....very cool feature which was non-functional last year. We saw it on the Equinox and it really does add to the atmosphere....ah, the little things. Also happy to hear that those chocolates are for the taking in Café Al Bacio. I loved that place -- so nice to have a really good cup of coffee. Never tried the crepes at the Bistro as of yet, but am planning it for our embarkation day this year -- happens to be our anniversary and we never like going to the MDR or specialty restaurant on the first day out. I think crepes will be most lovely. To each his own, I guess.

thanks again for the great review.

:)

Thank you for your review. We are cruising to Alaska next year on the Millennium. And thank you for posting the dailies. We've never sailed on Celebrity and gave us some ideas of what to expect.

We booked it online prior to the trip under the Juneau excursions. It was JU94 Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer at 8:00 am.

 

I would recommend booking this early because it is the only excursion at that time. You leave the Solstice while it is in the middle of the Arm and the rest of the cruise ship turns around and heads to Juneau while you are doing the excursion.

Was the JU94 there from when you booked? We are booked on the 6/5/15 cruise and I don't see it listed.

We are sailing on Solstice on Aug. 1st and we are also booked for the Tracy Arm small boat excursion. What time did you arrive back at the ship? About what time were you off the Solstice once meeting back up after the small boat excursion? This is the only thing I'm unsure of & I'm trying to decide what to book in Juneau. I'm worried that booking one of the early excursions is not very wise & that we will want a little down time after returning from Tracy Arm. I'm thinking about renting a car so we can tour Juneau on our own.

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Day Four, Tracy Arm & Juneau

 

This day was a huge roller coaster of highs and lows.

 

I got up around 4:00 am and DH moseyed outside around 5:30. At 6:00 am, Brent Nixon began narrating the trip on the way in and you could listen to him outside or on the television. We got room service for breakfast for the viewing on our balcony of the cruise into Tracy Arm. It is truly incredible. Everyone was outside bundled up and freezing to look at all of this amazing natural beauty. Pictures do not do it justice. There was amazing floating blue ice everywhere in the water. The cruise ship could not get further into the Arm to see the glacier because of the ice.

 

As a result, we were really glad that we had purchased the Celebrity excursion that lets you get off of the Solstice to get on a smaller Allen Marine boat to cruise further in to the Sawyer glacier. The driver and crew were great narrating the trip, taking photos with our cameras for free and pointing out any wildlife on the way.

 

This experience is truly the best way to see the glaciers because you are in the water, hair blowing in the wind, hearing the sounds of the ice calving and the thunderous rumble following it. We also saw harbor seals, whales and several bald eagles on the trip. I only had two critiques of this excursion: the constant pushing by staff to buy their items for sale whether it was food, books, or other merchandise; the other larger problem is that we were an hour late (which I will explain the major problem with this below). I would highly urge you to book this excursion with the scheduling issue noted below.

 

We returned to the ship that was at the tender dock at 2:00 when we were supposed to have arrived at 1:00 pm. Then the Allen Marine boat had a conflict with the Solstice crew and had no place for us to get off safely! Finally around 2:30ish we were on board again.

 

Now when we purchased this cruise, the itinerary originally had the Solstice docked in Juneau. As a result, we planned our excursions around this schedule. Then a few months before, I noticed the itinerary had change to tender. We had booked an independent whale watch excursion with Orca Enterprises at 3:30. If we were docked, making this 2nd excursion should have been no problem. If we returned to the ship at 1 pm, I could get in line right away for our tender tickets. But that is not what happened and tendering in Juneau is a nightmare so plan accordingly!

 

When we got back, we said screw lunch and headed straight to get the tickets. We were tender 49! We knew we were never going to make it. I also later learned that they gave all of the first tenders off of the ship to those participating in Celebrity excursions. I complained to one shore excursion staff member and told them that because of our delayed Celebrity run excursion, we could not get into line to get a tender ticket until late. She said too bad. Well being the stubborn woman that I am, I went to another shore excursion staff member and explained again in more detail what happened. She radioed the activities manager and then quietly whisked us away. We were on the next tender. We later learned that it had been requested of Celebrity to improve the docks so they could tender more than 2 boats at a time and Celebrity refused. Apparently, I believe it is supposed to be done and completed by 2016. We also learned that Princess built their own docks so the ships could plug directly into Juneau's power structure (pretty smart).

 

The walk was quite a bit away from town but we made it to the Orca Enterprises with ten minutes to spare. We grabbed some food and had a quick lunch. Then to my great delight, Brent Nixon, the Solstice's naturalist was going to be giving the guided tour portion on the bus to Mendenhall Glacier and the drive throughout and also going on the boat with us for the whale watch. This was one of the best experiences in my lifetime. We saw probably 12 humpback whales with some right near the boat, a bunch of whale tails and one eating on his/her side allowing us to see their mouth. Captain Larry knew exactly where to position the boat and his daughter and Kelly were also on the boat helping everyone look and take pictures. It was a small group so that you did not need to fight for viewing space. We also stopped for 40 minutes at Mendenhall Glacier. Several guys were jumping into the water for their rite of passage! It was great!

 

After all the mess with the tendering, both excursions will be forever in our memory books and would recommend them without hesitation. I would just try to book this cruise when the Solstice is docked!

 

Had a quick meal at Blu, a couple of martinis at our usual haunts and crashed from the really long day.

 

The show that night was focused on the different styles of dance at 10:15. We did not make it. We were too pooped from all of the excitement and craziness!

This is from my review above as far as the times. I can't remember when we were off the ship again but we made our excursion by 3:30 but this only bc I harassed the staff so we could get the next tender off the boat. If you are going schedule an excursion make sure it is a Celebrity run one bc they will reschedule for you there are scheduling efforts. The tendering here is really a mess and it is unfortunate because Juneau is such a great port with lots to do.

:)

We sailed on the Solstice last year up to Alaska and loved it so much that we booked it again for this year. This will be our 8th time up to Alaska and just never tire of that itinerary. Last year, we booked the AQ on a special Chef John Howie package deal ... it was amazing. We had such lovely weather this entire trip and never put my jacket on once but did use an entire tube of sunblock that I brought just in case.

This year, still looking for the AQ to go down to a reasonable price - because I absolutely love Blu as well as the Persian Gardens and Relaxation Room. If this doesn't happen -- we will be happy enough in the cabin we chose. It is a hump balcony so will be out there a LOT -- and have booked a 3 dinner package just to avoid taking the formal wear. We are going with a small group and they are all the same as us in terms of dressing up for dinner.

I was also super interested in that Allen Marine tour to the glacier. Thanks for posting info on this. We saw them last year and wondered how one would get booked on that tour. I had no idea it was offered through Celebrity. The price is kind of steep but may consider taking all our entire lot of excursion funds to go on this one tour??? :confused: We'll see.

 

Thanks for writing such an in depth review. Even though we've sailed on the Solstice before, still like to know what others have found that we may have missed. I see you posted pictures the Persian Gardens as the Relaxation room, whereas this room is directly below the bridge on the other side of the ship on deck 11 by the secret staircase. Not sure if you found it or not but it was my favorite hang out the entire cruise last year. It is not the one with the heated tile chairs. Also so glad to see the ice is working on the martini bar....very cool feature which was non-functional last year. We saw it on the Equinox and it really does add to the atmosphere....ah, the little things. Also happy to hear that those chocolates are for the taking in Café Al Bacio. I loved that place -- so nice to have a really good cup of coffee. Never tried the crepes at the Bistro as of yet, but am planning it for our embarkation day this year -- happens to be our anniversary and we never like going to the MDR or specialty restaurant on the first day out. I think crepes will be most lovely. To each his own, I guess.

thanks again for the great review.

:)

You are welcome! I could not find any 2014 detailed reviews for me so I wanted to help others! The bistro was perfect on the first day because it was so nice and quiet compared to all the craziness everywhere else and the servers was really good too!

Was the JU94 there from when you booked? We are booked on the 6/5/15 cruise and I don't see it listed.

Yes but it is listed in Juneau not under Tracy Arm.

Jude8,

Thank you so much for this review!! My wife and I will be cruising this next May and she has a gluten allergy as well. It's great to hear of all the food options that will be available to her as we too will be in an Aqua room.

You are welcome. Blu is amazing for the gluten free allergy. I would just not recommend the buffet for those of us with food allergies.

"Another perk of Blu, beside the amazing service and quiet atmosphere is that formal attire is not required! We both wore nice pants and shirts but no dressing up! We have to wear suits everyday for work so for us we really don't want to on our vacation. "

We just started packing for our Sept 5 cruise on the Solstice in Aqua Class- I called upstairs to my husband and told him that he didn't have to pack his suit! I won't have to pack formalwear! I am so happy not to have to dress up! We'll be in nice casual attire for the formal dinners. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for your nice review, so glad you had a good time on your cruise

I am glad the photos and dailies helped. I was looking everywhere for updated dailies for the Solstice before we went and there were none so that was something really important for me when I got back to share!

Thank you so much for posting these. I'm on Solstice in November for Australia/New Zealand and have looked for the dailies to get an idea of the activities - thank you so much for posting them. I'm really looking forward to, particularly the food events and galley tour (now I know they have them!).

Mtn_couple, please arrive early for the galley tour, lots of people go and there is a long wait.

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Mtn_couple, please arrive early for the galley tour, lots of people go and there is a long wait.

 

 

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Thanks for the heads up - will do!

Thanks for the review, I enjoyed reading about what you did and I liked your photos as we will be on the Solstice in December.

I am currently writing a very long review on the Alaska boards, so I appreciate your time in writing this one.

Thank you for posting this, I am getting ready to book this cruise for Aug 2015. Great tips and has helped me decide that this is the cruise I want to go on. Still deciding between Concierge and Aqua..I think it will come down to price.

Thank you again!

Hi Jude

Thank you so much for your review. We are doing this cruise with friends next May and your review has been a godsend.

One thing above all others leapt out to me and that was that you had an 11 AM flight home.

My first question is did you make the airport in plenty of time? We have a 10.45am flight to Vancouver to connect with a Cathay flight home to Australia. Any later flight would leave us pushing to meet that flight.

My second question was, you said you discovered you were eligible for luggage valet. Isn't everyone eligible ?- I ask this as we had thought this would be a good option rather than having to self disembark with luggage.

I look forward to seeing your answers as since I did online Check in and it suggested flights AFTER 11.45am I have been stressing!:eek:

Great review, this one is on our bucket list :)

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Hi Jude

 

Thank you so much for your review. We are doing this cruise with friends next May and your review has been a godsend.

 

One thing above all others leapt out to me and that was that you had an 11 AM flight home.

 

My first question is did you make the airport in plenty of time? We have a 10.45am flight to Vancouver to connect with a Cathay flight home to Australia. Any later flight would leave us pushing to meet that flight.

 

My second question was, you said you discovered you were eligible for luggage valet. Isn't everyone eligible ?- I ask this as we had thought this would be a good option rather than having to self disembark with luggage.

 

I look forward to seeing your answers as since I did online Check in and it suggested flights AFTER 11.45am I have been stressing!:eek:

We were at the gate by 8:50. I was worried too but we walked off immediately and took a cab to the airport with no problems. Not everyone is eligible for the luggage valet. I think it depends on the airline and your flight time but I would totally recommend it. Life was much easier without the luggage.

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Loved your review, the pictures are awesome. We're going in Sept on the 11 night, so excited.

Thank you so much for this review. The world needs more people like you. I leave for Celebrity Solstice Alaskan cruise June 5, 2015. Can't wait. You're the best thanks again.

How far was the walk from the ship to Creek Street?

I learned so much from reading this. This is a great tool for my wife and I who will be taking our first cruise next year.

Thanks again......I am sailing in 4 weeks:D......

Cindy, if memory serves, Creek Street is within a 10 minute

walk from the ship......(been quite a few years since I have been there)

but I remember it was a very easy walk.:)

I am sure someone will correct me if my timing is wrong.