A Brief Report From Onboard Solstice

We are currently on the Solstice for the 12-night South Pacific and Fiji cruise. Now I say this coming from a place of love, but we really need a break from X. We are having a great time, always appreciate the opportunity to travel and are not complainers, but we have noticed certain things creeping up that mean we need to take some time away from X.

On the plus side, the ship is beautiful as always. The loving care that the crew gives these ships is admirable. We are in an aft Sky Suite and the room itself is fantastic. Luminae continues to be a highlight for us with fabulous service and wonderful food. The crew, overall, continues to be fantastic, remembering names and drink preferences. Everyone is just delightful. We feel valued and appreciated, and everyone tries to make this a great experience. And of course, the Solarium, which is our favorite spot of any ship, continues to be our daily retreat.

On the negative side, this ship is LOUD! Now, I have been on here in the past to defend X when people would complain about the noise level (which I never thought to be excessive). But I would have to agree now. We are in our 30s. We're not grumpy 100-year old men who push our spectacles down our noses and look disapprovingly at anyone having fun. But why has the Martini Bar become a chaotic whirlwind of whistles and yelling bartenders and screeching passengers, set to the backdrop of LOUD music bellowing through the atrium? Yes, there are quieter venues to hang out, but this was always our favorite. Not now. And why has the pool area been taken over by loud bands and singing and loud activity? I can't even listen to my own music on my iPhone because the band's music drowns it out. We now spend the whole day lounging in the Solarium - luckily we love it in there.

The menu options don't change. We're eating the same thing in Luminae this cruise as we did on Infinity back in June. We are eating the same thing in Silk Harvest as we did last time. The Oceanview Cafe offers the same menu items on every cruise. Not much variety for those of us onboard frequently. Granted, the food is fabulous in all venues. And, yes, restaurants we eat at back home don't change menus often. But our other cruise lines of choice offer an extensive variety of options, differing on each voyage. Yes, maybe we're spoiled, and maybe we're just getting too familiar with X.

As mentioned before, our room is great! Really well-maintained and taken great care of by our stewards. But we have one of the Sky Suites that is located in the awkward separate little hallway area, separated from the main hallway by an exterior door. The space just outside our door is being used as a storage area for pallets of toilet paper, couch cushions, trays and housekeeping carts. It detracts from the suite experience to have all of this to navigate getting into our room and looks like where they throw everything they can't fit into proper storage areas.

We have a special place in our hearts for X....and we have a great trip booked on the Connie for Xmas 2016 to India.....but no more additional X bookings for us for a long while. Azamara will be getting the bulk of our business for the foreseeable future. X isn't doing anything wrong....we just feel as if some things have changed that have made it not such a good fit for us.

Still having a great time out here, and looking forward to the rest of this cruise. We certainly can't complain about having the time and money to take such great trips!

M&O

...like you we are regular X cruisers. We do understand what you mean about unchanged menus. We find this both a positive and a negative. I have some firm favourites without which my visits to Murano's and Tuscan just would not be the same!

It would be great each year if they got rid of one of each offering (they must know which are rarely requested) and replaced it with something new. A slow evolution, leaving favourites on but providing constant updating.

We are back on the Solstice next year. Could you let me know if Luminae is serving three meals a day or some days offering brunch? This, I know, is an ongoing issue. Also is there still only 2 lunch menus?

Sincere thanks for taking the time out of your cruise to report.

...like you we are regular X cruisers. We do understand what you mean about unchanged menus. We find this both a positive and a negative. I have some firm favourites without which my visits to Murano's and Tuscan just would not be the same!

 

It would be great each year if they got rid of one of each offering (they must know which are rarely requested) and replaced it with something new. A slow evolution, leaving favourites on but providing constant updating.

 

We are back on the Solstice next year. Could you let me know if Luminae is serving three meals a day or some days offering brunch? This, I know, is an ongoing issue. Also is there still only 2 lunch menus?

 

Sincere thanks for taking the time out of your cruise to report.

Luminae is offering breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. Unlike our cruise on Infinity over the summer, brunch has not been offered. There are still only two lunch menus.

Thanks for taking the time to read my little rant :)

M&O

Glad Luminae is doing breakfast daily. Less bothered about lunch, as a soup and salad person I may end up in the buffet or bistro if there are only two soups!

Sorry the ship is so noisy. We somehow never got round to visiting the martini bar on Solstice last year. This year on Equinox we did not particularly enjoy the area, it always seemed busy and we found it less relaxing than other bars on the ship.

We also tend to prefer the solarium area to relax in although we often swim in the main pool.

Please continue to report about the food and service in all restaurants. Can't wait to get back on board!

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your onboard report. I had thought/hoped the loud music message was heard by Celebrity, as we haven't had many recent reports about it.

Sorry to hear that it has returned, and hope it's only a 1 ship issue - but have my doubts about that. I guess this is what Celebrity feels is "Modern Luxury". We surely do not. Just curious, how's the noise level at the Pool ? We've always noticed this area being one of the culprits.

Thanks again, and I sincerely hope you have a wonderful cruise !

As suite guests dis you get any complimentary access to Persian Gardens?

Interesting. Our 11 night Alaska on Solstice last month did not have the noise issues you mention. We could easily hold a conversation at the Martini Bar. Granted, there wasn't much time spent at the outdoor pool in freezing weather! (Also in my 30's, for reference.)

We are elite plus,our last cruise on the Reflection was so loud,we spoke to CD,and he told us,thats the direction of Celebrity now.

Azamara,Oceania here we come....

Can I just say I enjoy the buzz at the Martini Bar it's 100% better that way than before when like some other bars on the Celebrity ships you thought you had went for a drink at a funeral !!!!

So I understand it may not be everyone's cup of tea but there are many other option's if you are looking for a quiet spot, and far to few bars with a bit of atmosphere.... so I really hope Celebrity don't change the Martini Bar back.

I'm all in favor of a lively upbeat nightlife, please continue to move away from the ballroom dancing crowd. Moving forward I feel the vibe of Celebrity needs to continue developing away swiftly from the retirement demographic.

I like the direction Celebrity has moved towards in the last few years and look forward to even more energy in the future. After my highly anticipated NCL Escape cruise coming up in January I hope Celebrity continues to be my cruise line of choice. ;)

Thanks for taking the time to post while on your cruise. We cruised Solstie in March and going back next month, so will be curious to see if I can notice a noise difference or if it was already loud earlier this year!

We didn't find excessive noise on our voyage, something I liked more than on RCI with the bellyflop poolside comps, all the sales announcements etc.

Martini bar was certainly busy each night and we found it had a lovely vibe but not too loud.

Glad to hear the solarium is still quiet! One of our favourite places :)

If you had time, if not much trouble, would you be able to come back and share some feedback on the molecular / world class bar? Are all the molecular drinks still on offer during this transition period? Are all the world class bar drinks available?

Thanks so much! Have a lovely cruise!

Were doing the 12 night pacific in January - can't wait!

I am currently on this cruise in a CS and our 1st time on Solstice. We are having a lovely time and the ship is beautiful. Our cabin is wonderful and spacious and our butler and stewards are the best we have had.

A few problems after embarkation were handled well by our concierge in Michaels Club and taken care of immediately.

Wonderful service in Luminae, but a limited menu and not many vegetable or salad offerings. Also, too many of the items come with sauce. They are prepared well and taste great but we tend to eat in a more healthy manner and omit sauces, etc.

We have booked many specialty restaurants to make up for the limited menu offerings in Luminae and this works well for us. I must say again, the service is exceptional.

We do not go to the bars, therefore, the noise is not a factor for us. I do believe the noise could be a demographic issue as this seems to have a louder passenger mix and more similar to a Caribbean type cruise you get from the US on a big ship. We typically cruise on smaller ships to avoid this.

We have attended a few shows and all were very nice and especially enjoyed the young violinist. She is fabulous and beautiful.

We are doing a B2B and will be heading to New Zealand next. Very excited to see this area of the world.

The timing and itinerary were why we chose this B2B and we have been delightfully surprised as to how nice this ship and service has been. It is a nice change from the small ships that we tend to frequent.

Hi Michael,

 

Thank you for your onboard report. I had thought/hoped the loud music message was heard by Celebrity, as we haven't had many recent reports about it.

 

Sorry to hear that it has returned, and hope it's only a 1 ship issue - but have my doubts about that. I guess this is what Celebrity feels is "Modern Luxury". We surely do not. Just curious, how's the noise level at the Pool ? We've always noticed this area being one of the culprits.

 

Thanks again, and I sincerely hope you have a wonderful cruise !

Hi Andy!

Portofinoitaly just made an eloquent post about her experience onboard (and I was fortunate enough to happen to meet her at lunch today thanks to my profile pic!) and I think she might be right that the noise level onboard is reflective of the demographic onboard - a lot of younger Australians who are on our equivalent of a Caribbean cruise (which I try to avoid on X). The other night my friends and I were talking near the Martini Bar and one of the bartenders led a conga line from the bar to Quasar. It was both bizarre and obnoxious, but in his defense I think he was trying to drive the loud traffic from the Martini Bar to a more suitable venue.

The pool is loud....blaring 80s music, dancing and a loud band. But, I suppose it's nice they have that for those who enjoy it. We just go hibernate in the Solarium.

As the cruise has been winding down, everything has also quieted down a bit.

Again, my post is more of an observation than anything else, and why we will be taking a sabattical from X.

Michael

As suite guests dis you get any complimentary access to Persian Gardens?

Hi Chemmo!

Persian Garden complimentary access is limited to Aqua Class guests.

Michael

atmosphere sounds awesome! Can't wait to have a great time!

Michael, it was nice to meet you and Omar, as well. I must admit when we 1st embarked and took a peek at the demographic on board, I thought "Oh my, what did we get ourselves into". I was a bit astonished at first, but after a few days we found our niche and quiet places to hang out and the only real noisy place for us is in the gym. They tend to hold their Zumba classes with over the top loud music and shouting. I do my workout and get out LOL!

I will update when we are done with our next cruise to New Zealand on our B2B. I have a feeling this will be at a different decibel level because the weather will be cooler and not a place for an Aussie Spring break.

See you around the ship and enjoy your last few days onboard.

...thanks for the reply. Not over bothered, will have elite coupons for a visit. I just wondered if along with the other suite perks anything had been arranged. We were on Equinox as the suite life programme started and there was some uncertainty about perks for upper suites.

We are back on Solstice in March, if it is loud I guess we will be hanging out in the Solarium and Michael's! Can think of worse ways to spend a vacation!

I do enjoy mixed ages on cruises and understand Celebrity wanting to 'recruit' younger regulars the art will be to develop venues to suit all.

Thanks for taking the time to post while on your cruise. We cruised Solstie in March and going back next month, so will be curious to see if I can notice a noise difference or if it was already loud earlier this year!

 

We didn't find excessive noise on our voyage, something I liked more than on RCI with the bellyflop poolside comps, all the sales announcements etc.

 

Martini bar was certainly busy each night and we found it had a lovely vibe but not too loud.

 

Glad to hear the solarium is still quiet! One of our favourite places :)

 

If you had time, if not much trouble, would you be able to come back and share some feedback on the molecular / world class bar? Are all the molecular drinks still on offer during this transition period? Are all the world class bar drinks available?

 

Thanks so much! Have a lovely cruise!

Hi Luckie,

I have only been by the Molecular Bar a couple of times, but the menus are still the Molecular offerings. I don't drink, so I don't know if they offer any World Class options if you ask. Sorry I can't give you a definitive answer. I had a Mudslide in Martini Bar the other night and was on the floor after two sips, so I have been sticking to my sparkling water lol

Michael

Hi Luckie,

 

I have only been by the Molecular Bar a couple of times, but the menus are still the Molecular offerings. I don't drink, so I don't know if they offer any World Class options if you ask. Sorry I can't give you a definitive answer. I had a Mudslide in Martini Bar the other night and was on the floor after two sips, so I have been sticking to my sparkling water lol

 

Michael

Thanks so much Michael for letting me know, we loved Molecular and was one of the reasons this was our favourite ship.

Oh no haha about the mudslide, might need to try one!

I kinda like the throbbing music in the Martini Bar...does it lend to conversation? No, but that's ok in my book...I have plenty of other places I can talk. When OP said they needed a break from Celebrity...I thought about our recent experience on RCCL and how we found so many areas that Celebrity does a better job...now I am not bashing RCCL, I really like their product too but it does not feel as elegant to me. We are looking forward to our 2nd Solstice cruise to Alaska and we will for sure make our way to the Toonie bar every night. PS...the Solarium is wonderful for peace and quiet...until the room is packed with inclement weather folks...then it is just a pool.

I too think Luminae could benefit from amazing vegetable dishes, not just vegetarian entrees. I missed good veggies on our last cruise.

Particularly on longer cruises when one can only take so many rich sauces.

I hope your enjoy your cruise and find a way to make it uniquely special for you.

We literally just walked in the door from the airport. We flew from SYD - AKL - SFO on Air New Zealand in Business Class.....for those who haven't experienced ANZ, it is fabulous and I highly recommend it. I have not experienced better crews anywhere else. Such a lovely experience going down there and returning with this airline.

We had a wonderful trip, starting with the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb pre-cruise and ending with the wonderful memories that we will have from the ports to the great friends we made.

My husband and I are 38 and 40. We have cruised on everything from NCL to Holland America to Crystal, but we found that Celebrity has been the best fit for us. As I said in my initial post, we are going to take a break from X (with the exception of our 2016 cruise on Connie, which is already paid in full!). We still enjoy X, but maybe we have just outgrown it.

Here's a rundown on the overall cruise for those who are interested....

PORTS:

- Noumea, New Caledonia....not a pretty city, which we explored on foot. If we end up there again, we will arrange some sort of tour. It was a quick hour out into town for us and then we scampered back to the ship

- Lifou, New Caledonia....this is a fun, off-the-beaten path South Pacific outpost. The ship's tenders brought us right up to the beach. We walked up hill to a cute church and then wandered down roads, looking at the local's homes.

- Lautoka, Fiji....we did a zip-lining tour arranged through X. It was an well-organized tour, but the zip line was more beginner than we would have liked. All-in-all it was a fun day.

- Suva, Fiji....again, not a pretty city, but we really enjoyed exploring this multi-cultural town. Really interesting shops and the Indian influence is fascinating.

- Isle of Pines, New Caledonia.....this is the ultimate South Pacific beach port. Just beautiful! We found a quiet little spot on the beach and just relaxed all morning.

FOOD:

We ate most of our meals in Luminae, which was consistently excellent (both service and food). This was our second time in Luminae, and once again, they prove that they will cater with your every little whim. It's a fabulous experience. As portofinoitaly said in her comments, there is a severe lack of veggies and salads offered. I'm not a huge meat and heavy sauce-eater, so I was feeling bloated and tired by the end of the cruise. I would go to Oceanview Cafe during the day and make myself a huge salad. Speaking of Oceanview, it is not a place I visited more often than just to make a salad or grab a quick pastry in the morning. It is good for the purpose it serves, but I prefer to avoid it.

We ate in Bistro on Five once for dinner....eh, it is alright. The crepe I tried wasn't great, but they do make a fantastic club sandwich. We probably wouldn't bother with it again. It was empty in there every night, as usual.

We also dined in Silk Harvest twice. Despite the mostly negative feedback I have read on here about it, we really enjoyed it. We live in San Francisco and have fantastic Asian food at our fingertips, and I don't feel that Silk Harvest compares too poorly to what we're used to. Sure, it's a little watered-down if you're comparing it to authentic Asian, but we certainly found ourselves diving into seconds and thirds on both visits.

PRODUCTION SHOWS:

We were happy to see the new production shows on this cruise. We thought they were each excellent (there were three on this 12-day cruise). Maybe we were just glad to see something new (we gave up on shows a couple of cruises ago because we were so tired of the same ones), but we loved them. They might have been a little disjointed, but the singers and dancers were fabulous and the music, lighting, overall production was great. I was tempted to go back and watch one of them a second time.

ROOM:

We were in Sky Suite 9374. For those who haven't stayed in this room, it's hard to explain the location. But when you are in the hall, this room (and the adjoining room) is not visible. You have to put your key into a door that looks like a staff entry or something, and then it takes you into the little hallway where our room is. On embarkation day we could not figure out how to find this room. As I mentioned before, the staff used this little hallway as a storage space. So we had boxes of toilet paper, carts, cushions and dirty room service trays piled up right outside our door. Besides being smelly, it was just an eyesore. The actual room was wonderful....bright, well laid out, well-maintained, great shower, huge veranda. It was much better than our experiences with the Celebrity Suite on M-Class ships, which were very old and rundown.

STAFF:

As good as always....most of them extremely friendly and courteous. Some less so, but we all have bad days. The stand outs for us were the entire Luminae staff and our room stewards. The bar servers were also out in full force around the pool and Solarium.

Overall, we had a great time. Yes, Celebrity is getting a bit loud and rowdy for us (although it did quiet down towards the end of the cruise). And we do feel that they are losing some of the elegance they had when we first cruised with them in 2011 - I miss seeing cold towels handed out at the pool. The crowd was also a little rowdy and unsophisticated - people walking around with beer bottles and shorts on formal night. But we still feel they offer a solid, if less-elegant, overall product. Speaking in terms of age and income, we are the demographic Celebrity is wanting to target. However, we feel that for the same price we pay for a suite on Celebrity, we get a much better experience on Azamara with long port days, great evening shore side events, better food and service and a guest list more interested in quiet sea days at the pool than Zumba and DJs and copious amounts of alcohol.

And to portofinoitaly, you and your husband enjoy the rest of your B2B to New Zealand!

Michael

....sincere thanks for your ongoing reports.

Our last cruise on Solstiice was a Trans Pacific and the cruisers were a quiet set. In the spring we are doing the same cruise you have. As I said in an earlier post we may be heading to the solarium during the day and Michael's in the evening if we need peace and quiet.

With a couple more X cruises booked I am not too concerned that the line as a whole is changing. I think they are possibly just adapting to who is on board that cruise. Over the years when we have cruised summer/Easter we have had louder cruises (but not too bad) and then quieter out of season. As you said in an earlier post this cruise will fit in well for many Australians simply wanting a beach break.

We have considered Azimara ourselves but as yet have not tried. I am interested to see what the ships will be like post refit.

Thanks again for your reports.

Michael, as I suspected, our Aussie Spring break cruise to Fiji and S. Pacific was just that. This NZ itinerary has a totally different demographic of passengers and most are much older, quiet, seem to be more well traveled and the attire is much more upscale :)

We were in the CS on PH deck 11 and enjoyed the location and size but could not get it for this cruise. We had to move to PH Deck Sky Suite 1663. We actually enjoy the open space and the veranda is wonderful with the Aft views. The bathroom is a much better layout than the CS which felt cramped for a suite that size. Now, the bad part...We do walk into what is similar to a private foyer (just like what you had). It seems like a nice touch until you exit and must walk past cleaning buckets, vacuums, towel trollies and trash bags. Coming back into our cabin after dinner tonight, DH made the comment "are we living in the low rent district". LOL! You are correct, it is really bad.

Will give you more feedback later. Going to watch a movie and to bed early.