Less Than 6 Days to Go Tell Me What My First Impressions Will Be

OK I am in the Final Count Down till our Solstice Cruise and only 3 more days of work. As you can tell from my signature most our cruising has been with Holland America but in this past year we have branched out with trying Princess and NCL. On my way to work this morning I got thinking about my first impressions of these new cruise lines and got wondering what will be my first impressions of the Celebrity Solstice having been an avid HAL Cruises and also living in Las Vegas being accustom to high end resorts.

To be honest we went on NCL with low expectation and walked away being very impressed and quite comfortable with the NCL Suite life. Yet our Princess cruised I embarked confident that it would be as good or equal to HAL and found it to be a superficial and false first impression and that after a few days did not feel that Princess lived up to their hype. Quality of the Princess product is not even close to HAL or even NCL in some areas.

Granted none of you can know for sure what my first impressions will be but tell me what you think they might be ;)

For any of you that recognize my handle and have seen my previous Live from posts I will not dissapoint :) I will again be doing my Live from thread and this time Live from the Solstice. I often will post twice a day and will start as we leave Las Vegas from McCarren Airport Saturday morning. I will be posting it here on the Celebrity Board.

BTW can you tell I am just a bit excited and cannot really think of anything else but this upcoming cruise :D

I think you will be presently surprised. Our 4 night mini Century Cruise in April surpassed our expectations. The shows were the best we have seen at sea and food good. Be sure to try the Aqua Spa Cafe. What category stateroom will you be in?

I think you will be presently surprised. Our 4 night mini Century Cruise in April surpassed our expectations. The shows were the best we have seen at sea and food good. Be sure to try the Aqua Spa Cafe. What category stateroom will you be in?

Hi Jade, we will be in Aqua Class behind the hump toward the aft :) We have friends that are cruising with us that have the cabin next door so will probably have the gate between the balconies opened.

:)Ooooohhhh Lisa....you are in for a treat. Have a great cruise and come back and tell us what you think. :)

Lisa,

I am a very frequent cruiser who in the past 20 years has cruised almost exclusively on Celebrity. However, in the past few years, I "cheated" on Celebrity and did 4 or 5 HAL cruises, a couple Royal Caribbean and a couple of Carnival cruises........all because I detest flying and Celebrity had no ships in the Northeast whereas HAL/RCI/Carnival were all departing from the Northeast.

Prior to my HAL experience, I read the HAL boards quite frequently so I know you are a very frequent HAL cruiser and, what I would call a HAL loyalist. (as a matter of fact, the first time I was onboard Noordam we got very friendly with some of the bar staff (!!) and some of the waiters (I think Romeo may have been one of the names) asked if I was on Cruise Critic and if I knew Miss Lisa!!).

I found my HAL experience quite similar to Celebrity. In my opinion, however, nobody has yet to top the Celebrity service onboard the ship (it's easy to top their "on land" service LOL)

I think that you are going to be very pleasantly pleased with your Celebrity experience.

Have fun!

Janice

Lisa,

 

I am a very frequent cruiser who in the past 20 years has cruised almost exclusively on Celebrity. However, in the past few years, I "cheated" on Celebrity and did 4 or 5 HAL cruises, a couple Royal Caribbean and a couple of Carnival cruises........all because I detest flying and Celebrity had no ships in the Northeast whereas HAL/RCI/Carnival were all departing from the Northeast.

 

Prior to my HAL experience, I read the HAL boards quite frequently so I know you are a very frequent HAL cruiser and, what I would call a HAL loyalist. (as a matter of fact, the first time I was onboard Noordam we got very friendly with some of the bar staff (!!) and some of the waiters (I think Romeo may have been one of the names) asked if I was on Cruise Critic and if I knew Miss Lisa!!).

 

I found my HAL experience quite similar to Celebrity. In my opinion, however, nobody has yet to top the Celebrity service onboard the ship (it's easy to top their "on land" service LOL)

 

I think that you are going to be very pleasantly pleased with your Celebrity experience.

 

Have fun!

 

Janice

Hi Janice, OMG that is way too funny about Romeo. He is such a sweetheart. We have sailed with Romeo numerous times. That is so neat he thought of me, thanks so much for telling me :)

Also Thanks, I have a feeling I will have the good vibe like we have on HAL. Of course you will all be getting my play by play daily of my thoughts :D

Lisa.....we'll all be waiting for your comments. I am happy that Celebrity is back in NJ and Baltimore for the time being. Let's hope they stay here! I think you'll be very impressed with the dining service on Celebrity. While HAL had excellent bar service, I thought their dining room service was absolutely horrible. I'll be interested in your take on things.

We have sailed often on Princess and RCCL but on neither NCL nor HAL. Our first experience with Celebrity was on the Solstice (Aquaclass) this summer...and we were impressed in many ways. The food and service was excellent, the decor worthy of praise, and the passengers very well-mannered.

When you first board I would bet that the interior design of the ship will catch your attention. The colors and style are similar to a "W" hotel, not in-your-face, not garish, but rather cutting edge in a bold classy way. Then you will be impressed by the genuine way that the staff greats you throughout the ship.

We were so pleased with Celebrity that we booked two 16-day cruises while on board.

My guess is that your first impression will be of the beautiful ship. I've cruised on RCCL and Princess, but my first steps onto Solstice left me in awe. Many ships are very nice, but Solstice will take your breath away.

I haven't been on HAL to speak to the differences, but my overall impression was of a classy, relaxed, service-oriented experience.

Solstice is drop dead gorgeous.

Assuming that you do not have any issue boarding, I believe your first impression will be "what a beautiful elegant ship". I was just amazed the first time I cruised on the Solstice. I agree that it is not necessarily amazing for everyone, but for most people. Don't miss having a cocktail in the evening with a piano player in the Michael's Club.

Have a great cruise and I am looking forward to your reports. It is always nice to compare experiences with others.

We're lovers of HAL, and after recently cruising Solstice have found the 2 to be almost interchangeable. We're currently booked on HAL Eurodam in November....and then the Celebrity Eclipse in March.

Your first impression will be, IMO....quite favorable, as was ours. Solstice is very (tastefully) modern, a simply beautiful ship that will not disappoint.

Don't know what accomodations you have, but we've been fortunate enough to book suites on both ships, and we prefer the Neptune Lounge over having a butler; that said, no matter where you're sleeping, you will absolutely enjoy and probably end up being like us....a 'cross-cruiser (HAL and X).' :D

We're lovers of HAL, and after recently cruising Solstice have found the 2 to be almost interchangeable. We're currently booked on HAL Eurodam in November....and then the Celebrity Eclipse in March.

 

Your first impression will be, IMO....quite favorable, as was ours. Solstice is very (tastefully) modern, a simply beautiful ship that will not disappoint.

 

Don't know what accomodations you have, but we've been fortunate enough to book suites on both ships, and we prefer the Neptune Lounge over having a butler; that said, no matter where you're sleeping, you will absolutely enjoy and probably end up being like us....a 'cross-cruiser (HAL and X).' :D

We are booked in Aqua Class but of our HAL 20+ HAL cruises about 90% were in Full Suites either on a Corner Aft and or right across from the Neptune. Our last cruise in April was on the NCL Pearl in a Full Suite on the Aft and our first Butler experience. To our surprise we enjoyed the Butler and Personal Concierge service a bit better than having the Neptune Lounge or at least we did not miss having the Neptune Lounge. I thought about moving up to a Suite but we are traveling with another couple that are next door to us in Aqua Class.

Thanks Everone, I am enjoying the comments and it's helping with my excitment :D

My Wife & I just came off out first cruise with Celebrity on the Solstice for our 10th Anniversary and we both loved it. The ship was beautiful and well laid out.

The food was great although Murano was not terribly exciting. The thing that

stood out to me was the service. We both felt like we were being pampered-(especially the cold towels when you come back on the ship from a long hot day). The adults only Solarium was a great place to relax. The Cabin was great-we had a extra large hump balcony-My wife loved all the storage in the washroom. Overall we give the cruise 8 out of 10. I think you will enjoy it.

Looking forward to your comments. I haven't been on S class yet, so can't comment on the ship. However, I think you'll be very happy with the way the crew treats you. They always have a smile and seem happy to see you and serve you.

Happy cruising!

Have a great cruise, Lisa. Am looking forward to your "live from" reports to see how you compare the two lines.

I think that you will find the service on Celebrity to be superior to the service on HAL, based on my limited experience of HAL. I thought the verandah suite we had on HAL was better than the concierge class rooms we usually have on Celebrity. It was just more intelligently designed. The bed was definitely way more comfortable. I'd say food is equal on both, although HAL did not have orange butter for its waffles, a VERY serious omission. ;)

I haven't sailed an S class ship yet, so am not sure how different that experience is from sailing M class.

As much as I love Celebrity, I would tell you to try not to go in with any expectations and not make too many comparisons, at least initially. It's very difficult, I know. I have been guilty of doing this on other lines as well: "oh, Celebrity does it this way" or "I miss that on Princess". But from your initial post, it sounds like that high expectations contributed to your dislike of your Princess cruise and low expectations maybe helped along your view of NCL. There's no need to stop researching on CC, getting excited, and getting a feel for Celebrity, but building up something almost always leads to disappointment. I remember before our first HAL cruise, we were dying to try the bread pudding after all the rave reviews on CC. It was awful! Neither of us could finish it, it was that bad. It's a silly comparison, but a good reminder not to get too worked up and let yourself experience everything as it comes.

That being said, I will give a superficial first impression. I'd say that you're likely to be impressed by the interior of Solstice. Very modern, and completely different from any HAL or Princess ship.

Hi Janice, OMG that is way too funny about Romeo. He is such a sweetheart. We have sailed with Romeo numerous times. That is so neat he thought of me, thanks so much for telling me :)

 

Also Thanks, I have a feeling I will have the good vibe like we have on HAL. Of course you will all be getting my play by play daily of my thoughts :D

My husband & I are Royal to Royal Caribbean fans, and went on our 1st Celebrity cruise (on the Summit) this past January. We were so impressed, that we are sailing on the Solstice in less then 3 weeks. I have never cruised on Hal, but I have cruised on RCCL, Disney, Carnival, Princess and now Celebrity. I loved the Summit. We had a conceirge balcony room, and booked another on the Solstice. The service was fantastic and the food very good. Hope you have a wonderful cruise, and will be looking forward to your impressions!!!!!:)

Pat