mabell2

I’ve been on 2 Celebrity Ships in the past 2 months. The Wi-Fi on the Silhouette was pretty bad!  I felt like I was being forced into upgrading to the premium just to get any service, but I didn't do it, and just tried it at different times. I really only use it to check my email and a few things online, but it constantly failed. The Wi-Fi on the Summit was better. I can’t say it was perfect but definitely an improvement from the past experience. Either way I would buy it and hope for the best. 😃

Do you know how long it takes to get there? Our ship doesn’t dock until 3:30 and the last tour is at 4:30.

We are returning on Royal Caribbean Cruise on a Saturday and our flight doesn't leave Baltimore airport until 5:00 PM. I am looking for somewhere to store our luggage and any ideas of what to do for about 4-5 hours in Baltimore. Does anyone know if I can check my luggage at the airport and then hop a cab from there? Is there an area to go sightseeing or a great place for lunch? Any information would be help please.

:):):)

I also didn't mean to imply that Victoria is not a great city, but we just chose the wrong thing to do. We had eaten an early dinner on the ship so we weren't going to eat again. We walked around downtown and there were a few souvenir type stores and Rogers Chocolate open but it was not enough for us. I would love to go back with a tour planned. I know there are many beautiful things we missed.

We spent most of the fjord on the balcony. We were invited to see the glacier on the ships helipad because we are Elite members but once we were there we decided to go back to the balcony. There were too many people and if you didn't secure a spot on the railing you couldn't see. We only stayed about 15 min and went back. It might be worth it to go up to deck 14 so you can see both sides. It took several hours to go through the whole passage.

FYI - I also posted this review in the CC "review page.

We returned yesterday from the 7 day Inside Passage/Sawyer Glacier cruise. I wanted to write this before I went back to work and every becomes a distant memory.

We arrived in Seattle 2 days prior to sailing. The weather was Beautiful! It was in the mid 70's and no rain. We were surprised at all the steep streets and hills in Seattle. Coming from Florida we are not used to anything that steep but that didn't stop us from doing a lot of walking. We also took cabs which I found to be pretty reasonable. We went to the Chihuilly Glass Museum that is located next to the space needle. This is worth seeing. The exhibits were spectacular and with the weather being so nice we were able to spend time in the gardens. From there we took the Monorail close to the Pike Street Public Market. The Monorail was 2.00 per person and was only a few minute ride. The Public Market was about a 4 block walk from the monorail through downtown Seattle. It was a very busy area because we were there on a weekday. The Market is very large and very busy. At one point we were a little overwhelmed because there were so many people and it was hard to get around. After lunch time the crowds let up a little and we were able to browse a little more. There were so many beautiful fruits, vegetables, flowers and fish to buy BUT we were leaving on a cruise and it was impossible for us to purchase anything we were not going to eat that day. Of course, we were able to find a few things because there are delicious bakeries and coffee shops among everything else.

On Friday we took a cab to Pier 91 to meet the Celebrity Solstice. The ship was just beautiful. We had previously sailed on the Eclipse so we knew what to expect but it was even nicer this time. We had a Balcony cabin on the Starboard side and we had fantastic views throughout the entire cruise. While docked in all the ports out cabin actually faced the port. In some cases that was good in others it was just OK.

The food on the Solstice was GREAT!!! When we sailed on the Eclipse about 4 years ago the food was not very good so we were a little nervous but it was a totally different chef and the food was fabulous. I am a pretty picky eater and I can honestly say I liked everything I ate. Even the buffets were good. We didn't go there for dinner but breakfast and lunch was really good. We had pre-booked 2 specialty restaurants on the 2 formal nights. We did this because my husband did not want to bring a jacket and we figured this would be more casual but we saw a lot of men and women more casually dressed on formal nights and they ate in the dining room. We ate in Murono which was very very good. The service was excellent and the food, though a little unusual was delicious. We also ate in Tuscan Grille which was our least favorite. The service was also excellent but the food was not as good as other meals we had. I personally thought the dinning room food was better.

First I have to tell you that the weather was GREAT in all our ports. Skagway got a little bit cold, and Ketchikan had rain on and off for about an hour but it was mostly in the mid to high 60's and sunny.

Our first stop was Ketchikan. We have been on many cruises but I have to say this was not my favorite port. We took a 2 hour tour (that we booked privately), the tour was really good but the town was a little run down and not as beautiful as the other ports. We ended our tour on Creek Street and it was a very nice little area, but it was very small so we ended up walking back to the pier and doing some souvenir shopping. The Salmon were not running because it was too early in the season. We learned very quickly to look for the "Locally owned stores". I was shocked to see the same stores that are in the Caribbean such as Del Sol, Diamonds International and MANY Caribbean owned jewelry stores. I'm sure the cruise lines must have a piece of these stores because it because they are the only stores they "Endorse". Our tour guide told us several years back all these stores came from the Caribbean and actually put a lot of locals out of business.

The next morning we were up at 6:00 AM to start our the ships journey through the inside passage, Tracey Arm Fjord and Sawyer Glacier. It was not very hard to get up because the sun rose at 4:15 that day and didn't set until after 10:00 PM. This was one of the best parts of the trip. The scenery was AMAZING!! The inside passage and Tracy Arm were Breathtaking. unfortunately, we were not able to get very close to the glacier because it was too early in the season and there was too much ice for the ship to go through. But it didn't really matter because everything was just unbelievable. We sat on our balcony and watched the whole "Show" while the ships Naturalist narrated on and off for several hours.

That afternoon we docked in Juneau which was a beautiful City. We had a private tour to Mendelhall Glacier, Shrine of St. Therese and through the mountains and homes in Juneau. The City is really nice, clean and also had breathtaking scenery.

Skagway was a nice little down but I would recommend booking some kind of excursion because it is a long day and the town is small. We pre-rented a Green Jeep and took a very long ride up to the Yukon. We stopped in a very small town of Carcross CAN. and Emerald Lake. To be honest, I thought the ride was much too long and the town and lake were really not much to see. The lake was pretty but not worth a 4 hour round trip ride. The snowcapped mountains driving up and down were just gorgeous and worth seeing but it was just too long a ride for us. When we got back we still had a few hours to explore downtown.

The next day and 1/2 at sea were well needed after all the touring and running around we did the previous days. We were a little disappointed that there were not many activities on board on sea days but we found a few things to do and took a lot of naps!! In Victoria BC we made the mistake of not preplanning a tour. The port was pretty far from downtown. There is a shuttle that cost 11.00 per person round trip but since it was after 6:00 PM when we docked a lot of downtown was closed. We heard wonderful things about the tour to the gardens and if we go back we will plan in advance. There was nothing to do downtown but walk around and look at closed stores.

I have to say that Celebrity does a GREAT job on the Solstice. The service, food and cabins were wonderful. We didn't see a lot of the entertainment because we were in the casino but we had a great time there. I can't wait to go back and now that I kind of know the way of the land it will be a little easier to decide what excursions to book.

Thanks to everyone for your help. That's why I love CC! :):):). To Pink Roses, I did look up Middle Age Drama Queen and lover her reviews. You also mentioned Virtual rain, but I'm not sure what that us. Thanks again!

We are thinking of western med, including Italy and Greece. If I do the 7 day instead if 12 it does not include Greece I have no problem doing the balcony. It is worth it not to do Greece?

I am planning a European cruise for 2015. We always book balcony cabins but I would love to book 12 days instead of 7 and the balcony is very expensive. We talked about booking an outside instead so we can do the longer cruise. I would like the opinion of experienced European cruisers as if we will be missing a lot buy not booking the balcony. Your help is appreciated!!:):):)