Review for Solstice Mediterranean Venice cruise June 28, 2012

My husband and I took our first Celebrity cruise on the Solstice out of Barcelona. We arrived the morning of the cruise, not because that's a good thing to do (it's not), but because the airfare was significantly cheaper on that day. We used Choice Air and booked the Celebrity airport transfer. The official boarding time was 2 pm but in reality it was much earlier. We were on board before noon. We availed ourselves of the liquor store found after check-in. It's cheaper to buy wine in the city, of course, but we were wiped out from our flight and didn't want to schlep into Barcelona just to save a euro or two. Two bottles of sangria for our cabin cost about 10 euros or so. Once boarded we found two lounge chairs by the pool and promptly fell asleep. I should add that we flew Delta, which now offers free wine and beer on transatlantic flights. We imbibed liberally as neither of us is able to sleep on planes. In retrospect, not such a good plan! It made us twice as tired. Usually we explore new ships first thing but that never happened. We were out like lights. We had plenty of company, too. We woke up from our naps surrounded by a sea of snoring passengers. It was pretty comical.

We had a Concierge Class cabin #9283 towards the aft. The layout of the cabin was similar to what we've known on Royal but we much preferred the color scheme and textiles on the Solstice. The overall look is much sleeker. We had a bottle of bubbly, ice, and fresh fruit waiting for us. No flowers, but when we met our steward he said they'd just brought a new shipment on board that morning and that we'd have two vases by nighttime. He was as good as his word. Because I remarked how much I like flowers, our steward made sure that ours were always fresh. Very nice!

Much has been said about the Concierge perks. Count us among those who like those perks and are happy to pay for them. Every day that we came in from our days at port, we made a beeline for our hors d'oeuvres and fruit. Yes, I know we could have easily gone upstairs to the buffet to have gotten the exact same thing, but we didn't want to. We are stair climbers--no elevators for us--and going up to the 9th deck was enough. It was wonderful to go to our cabin and sit down on the veranda with a glass of wine and our treats! Speaking of the veranda. We did have foot rests, I am happy to say. It made for a rather cramped space, to tell you the truth, but I'd rather have had them than not.

We ate in the MDR. Our first night was an unmitigated disaster. We were seated at a table with four other couples, two of whom were delightful and two of whom were the passengers from Hell. Offender #1 talked politics within the hour. Offender #2 spoke rudely to the waiter and the maitre' d. My husband and I were appalled. We knew our cruise would have been ruined if we'd had to eat every night at this table so we switched both table and dining time immediately. Our second table (on the second night) was delightful and we spent many happy hours talking and laughing with our new tablemates. Moral of the story: don't be shy about saying your table won't work if you know that it won't. Change!

to be continued

One jet-lagged husband on the lawn with Barcelona in the background. We were up there a lot. It was never crowded. The weather was blistering hot and most people were at the pool. We found the peace and quiet of the lawn more to our liking!

Nice start to your review. We had a similar experience with table mates on Century.

I look forward to meeting you both on Summit soon!

Boiler Up!!

Looking forward to the rest of your review as we will be on the Solstice in October for the same cruise.

Nice start to your review. We had a similar experience with table mates on Century.

 

I look forward to meeting you both on Summit soon!

 

Boiler Up!!

Thanks, Sandi. We can't wait to meet you, either. Rob and I thought of you when we went into Michael's Club for the first time. I was under the impression that it too had been converted to a craft beer bar. Our first indication that it hadn't was that the piano player was playing "Eidelweiss." Talk about soporific. :rolleyes: We toodled on over to the bar looking for bottles of beer. None to be found. The sympathetic bartender, seeing our puzzled faces, explained to us that Michael's Club on the Solstice had not been solsticized like her sister ships. Mystery solved. I guess we shall have to wait for the Summit to try some good beer!

Looking forward to the rest of your review as we will be on the Solstice in October for the same cruise.

If you have even half as good a time as we did, you'll be in for a wonderful cruise.

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Cannes was our first port of call. Thanks to our cat nap by the pool the previous day, we were able to make it through dinner and the opening night show. I'm glad we saw the show as it was a sampler of what we could expect entertainment-wise over the course of the cruise. The a cappella group "The Neptunes" performed. All my preconceived notions of a cappella being hokey and corny were wiped away. Wow! Those guys are something else. So entertaining. It's no wonder people go out of their way to seek this group out as they perform around the ship and no wonder that the applause is always so loud and long. What a treasure they are.

We slept 12 hours! Suffice it to say that we had no need of getting any tender tickets. By the time we got there, we simply walked on. Everyone else had long since gone. ;) I wish I had known how close the beach was to the tender dock. We'd have put bathing suits on under our clothes and gone for a swim. It really wasn't worth the trouble of getting back on the tender, though, so we walked around town. This was Plan B. Plan A would have had us on a train to Nice and its old city, but getting up so late put a kabosh on that. No worry. We've gotten a lot more relaxed about exploring Europe. It used to be that Rob and I were first off the ship and last on. It was go, go, go. Now we realize that being on a cruise is as much about relaxing as it is about exploring. We don't beat ourselves up any more when we sleep in. We simply adapt our day to the hours we have left in port.

Cannes is a pleasant little town. There's a nice museum at the top of the hill, some lovely trompe l'oeil buildings, tons of shopping and cafes, and the famous red carpet. We even saw a celebrity while wandering around one of the side streets. No idea who he was but he was definitely Someone. He was too richly dressed and impeccably groomed to be One of Us. Or maybe it was the deference the crowd showed him, the looks of adoration the women shot him, and the battalion of cameras aimed at him that gave it away?

We watched our first Hot Glass show that evening after dinner. Rob and I love hand-blown glass and we've seen many glass blowing shows in our travels. As such I thought we wouldn't be too interested in this one. Not so! The three young ladies making the glass objects put on a very good demonstration night after night and more than held our interest. We ended up sitting on the shows several nights, in fact.

Get a load of these prices for beer. Yikes! I'd much sooner pay for a beer on board at the Mast Grill than at this cafe in Cannes. :eek:

Glad things worked well and appreciate your sharing the info, pictures, etc. Keep up the good work! It's helpful for those planning future trips. Or, bringing back nice memories.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 94,458 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

Glad things worked well and appreciate your sharing the info, pictures, etc. Keep up the good work! It's helpful for those planning future trips. Or, bringing back nice memories.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 94,458 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

Why thank you, Terry. Now is a good time to tell you that it was your photo journal review of the Solstice cruise that inspired us to book our cruise. I had never even heard of Kotor, Montenegro, but when I first saw your picture of it, I made up my mind that we were going there. And so we did!

And now another photo (now that I've figured out how to insert them successfully :p).

What can be better than a Hot Glass show conducted under the light of a full moon on the beautiful Mediterranean?

I can't wait to read more! My husband(also Rob) and I will be on Solstice September 8 and we are getting anxious! We have never done a Med cruise before and I have enjoyed reading reviews and getting all this helpful information:)

Thanks for the report....

I can't wait to read more! My husband(also Rob) and I will be on Solstice September 8 and we are getting anxious! We have never done a Med cruise before and I have enjoyed reading reviews and getting all this helpful information:)

As are we - I am enjoying the report and looking forward to boarding the Solstice in a little over 6 weeks :D

We were on Equinox in March and had one of our best ever cruises so hoping Solstice matches up.

Looking forward to hearing about the ship and the rest of your trip.

Can't wait to read more! My husband and I, along with 10 of our friends, will be aboard the Solstice for the Sept. 20 sailing. We are mostly set for the ports but the last 3, Kotor, Venice, and Split are still in the works. We would love to hear what others planned or are planning for these ports!

Keep it coming - it all sounds wonderful!

Thanks for the kind comments everyone! Here are some photos of the lovely food we ate at the MDR. The chefs did an outstanding job. I was especially pleased with the steak. I like my steak VERY rare. Yes, I know, unusual for an American. I usually have to tell the waiter "just pretend I'm French and give me lots of red in my meat" or I get the American version of rare, which is still too cooked for my liking. I always got a perfect steak on the Solstice. The sorbets for dessert were delicious, too, and there were imaginative flavors such as cassis and granny smith apple. I was thrilled to find that these same sorbets were also available in the Oceanview Cafe on Deck 14. Needless to say I was a constant customer. :D

This is the beet carpaccio appetizer I had one evening. Cold beets with goat cheese and tomato.

Appetizers like this were delivered to our concierge class cabin each afternoon. While I wouldn't call them gourmet dining, they were tasty and certainly appreciated when we came in from our day at port, as were the fresh fruits.

I can't remember what the dessert on the left was but the granny smith apple sorbet was memorable. Every night I had two desserts like this. My table mate exclaimed "How can you be so slim and eat like you do!!" to which I replied "Stairs." Honestly, Rob and I never set foot into the elevator. Well, I did once, just once. I had gotten up early to watch a sunrise and piled two plates full of food for a veranda breakfast for Rob and myself. Those buffet plates are heavy! I had to use the elevator. The funny thing is that I was all turned around when I got off the elevator at Deck 9--the elevators aren't where the stairs are, and I ended up walking two wrong corridors before finding the right corridor in the right direction. I am very directionally challenged. I should have stuck to the stairs. :rolleyes:

I told you I like my beef rare!

Florence (Livorno) was our next port of call. To help any of you transportation-wise, here's a bit of info from our Celebrity Today.

Local Shuttle Service to Livorno City Center

Please be advised that local authorities do not permit guests to walk on the pier. Guests who are not booked on a Celebrity Shore Excursion and wishing to go to the city center will need to utilize the shuttle service provided and operated by the local port authorities. Journey time is approximately 15 minutes. Round trip ticket can be purchased outside on the pier for 5 Euros per person. Important Note: to avoid lines and delays, we advise our guests to bring with them exact change.

Local Shuttle Service to Livorno Train Station and Back

Ticket can be purchased outside on the pier for US$18 per person charged to guests onboard accounts.

Rob and I booked the Celebrity Florence On Your Own bus trip. We normally do our own thing when it comes to excursions and it killed us to pay $90 each to get to Florence but the convenience of it was too good to pass up. It actually turned out to be a wonderful value, though. There was a guide on our bus, a young man named Luca. He spoke to us at length and told us all about Italy and Florence in particular. We hadn't counted on getting such an interesting narrative on our bus ride so this was a great bonus! The bus made a quick pit stop on the way to Florence giving everyone a rest room break if they needed it and a chance to buy a pastry and espresso, too.

We were so happy to be in Florence! Our 23 year old daughter has a teaching job there and we were anxious to see her again. Philippa left home for Florence last June. We miss her a lot. She misses us too, of course, but she also misses lots of American goodies like lime tortilla chips, Cover Girl face powder, Secret Clinical Strength Anti-Perspirant, etc. etc. Our new Celebrity tote bag was fairly bulging with a laundry list of "must have" items for our baby girl. It was Christmas in July for her! :D

We spent the early part of the afternoon in the beautifully landscaped Boboli Gardens, an easy walk from Santa Croce where the bus dropped us off. Afterwards we headed to the museum where we enjoyed the air conditioning every bit as much as the stunning paintings that lined the wall. It was HOT outside.

The three of us had lunch at Ristorante Zaza near the Mercado Centrale. http://www.trattoriazaza.it/ Our daughter prefers Mario's which is next door and owned by the same people but the line was too long and our time in Florence too short. So Zaza it was and it was delicious! I had an eggplant dish that was so good that I was reluctant to share bites with my husband or daughter. I like the Florentine bread, too, though it is definitely an acquired taste, having no salt in it.

Ah, parting is such sweet sorrow so I will post a happy photo of a happy father and daughter in Florence. The background is the Mercado Centrale.

Why thank you, Terry. Now is a good time to tell you that it was your photo journal review of the Solstice cruise that inspired us to book our cruise. I had never even heard of Kotor, Montenegro, but when I first saw your picture of it, I made up my mind that we were going there. And so we did!

Appreciate so much the kind mention from our friend/neighbor to the west in Indianapolis. Glad to know I/the pictures helped you in deciding. I'll be looking in the mail for that commission check from Celebrity and the tourism people in Kotor. Keep making your good posts to share with others for their future planning.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 94,458 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

More on wonderful Kotor and nearby, check these postings. Have had over 7,600 views on this posting and appreciate those who have tuned-in and commented.:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1439193

Sunday found us in Rome. We could have taken the train in but I made a silly mistake while looking at Trenitalia's website. I clicked on the Mini fares and there were none available at convenient times so I wrongly concluded that the Sunday schedule was severely curtailed. It wasn't really; there just weren't any cheapie fares! No worry though as I found an excursion company that worked well for our day in port. I booked two seats with http://www.smartcruisetours.com. I mentioned it in our Roll Call and three other passengers also booked. It turned out that we were the only five who did, so instead of a bus taking us to Rome we had our own private mini van! We were really pleased with the service we got from Smart Cruise Tours and I'd use them again.

Before we got on the van, I made a phone call to Philippa asking her to get on a train and meet us in Rome. Our day in Florence with her was simply not enough. I went to bed the night before sad that we had such few hours with her and woke up tired and cranky. There was nothing to do about my bad mood except to get Philippa to Rome. Luckily for us she was agreeable. What a treat~another day with our sweet daughter!

Rome was blazing hot. Our van dropped us off at the Vatican and we walked with one or two detours to the Baths of Diocletian where we met Philippa. It took us over two hours' worth of walking to get there as we ended up on a few of Rome's seven hills, and not on purpose, either. Rome is a city that is exceedingly easy to get lost in. But oh what a beautiful city! We poked our heads in all the churches we passed by, did a bit of window shopping, poked around the Forum and finally ended up at a nice little cafe where we treated ourselves to a beer. The price of a pint in Rome is 3.50 euros and it was worth every penny.

I should mention that as we did in Florence, we carried a water bottle. There are lots of fountains around. I'm surprised at how many tourists have no idea that you can drink from the fountains. I noticed that every time Rob took the bottle to a fountain for a refill, there was a person or two looking at him watching what he was doing. This happened so often that Rob remarked to me "Look, I've just trained another tourist." :D

We left Philippa at the metro stop near the Vatican before heading back to our van, but not before doing a little mother-daughter shopping! There's nothing like a piece of jewelry to wipe away the tears of saying goodbye, don't you think?

This photo is a bit dark but the temperature reads 41.5 Centigrade (106.7 Fahrenheit). The heat rising from the busy roads in Rome is what drove it up so high. We kept to the narrow shady alley streets wherever we could!

On to Naples! Rob and I adore Naples. I know it's one of those cities you either hate or don't, and we don't. It's a remarkably easy port to sail into. Walk off ship. Walk through shopping mall. (A helpful Celebrity crew member will point you in the right direction so you don't miss it. :rolleyes:) Walk onto docks and into city. If you want to take a hydrofoil to Capri or Sorrento, the booking agents are to your left as you exit. It's all very easy.

Once more we slept in and had a leisurely breakfast on the outdoor dining patio behind the Oceanview Cafe so it wasn't worth our while to go anywhere but Naples. We had originally planned on going to Sorrento because I wanted to go swimming. Several years ago we found an incredible swimming hole by the Roman fort and I was itching to go back. Like many other things, we will have to save it for another cruise! Our backup was to find the Veiled Christ. http://www.museosansevero.it/inglese/cappellasansevero/cristovelato/capolavoro.html It's tricky to reach but Rob has the instincts of a homing pigeon and somehow we ended up on the right street. Such an amazing little chapel with statues that will stick in your mind for a very long time. We could hardly tear our eyes away. Another similarly amazing place was the archeological dig found under the church of San Lorenzo Maggiore. http://ac-support.europe.umuc.edu/~jmatthew/naples/sanlorenzo.htm We weren't actually looking for this but it happened upon us as we were strolling around Naples. It was too interesting to pass up. Wow~ a city under a city. This place is well worth seeing! It's like an underground Pompeii but without the bodies. We were captivated.

Naples is colorful, seedy, dirty, crowded, vibrant and simply alive! And you can't beat the view of Vesuvius.

Back on ship we had signed up for the Wine and Cheese Party on the Lawn (our sommelier at the MDR arranged it for us). What fun that was. We were provided with a blanket and pillow to set down on the grass, a plate of cheese, and wine. The singer/guitar player Martin Andales entertained us. He obviously scanned the audience, judged the average age of everyone there, and started singing songs that we all knew the lyrics to. It was really nice. We sailed out of Naples Bay at sunset. It was nothing short of spectacular to see the set dip low behind the isle of Capris. Cruises are full of magic moments and this was one of them.

Just wanted to say thank you for such a lovely review of your recent cruise on the Solstice.

We will be on the exact same cruise beginning 10-14 so I am devouring every review I can find regarding this cruise. It is very interesting to read about your rememberance of your time on the Solstice....you have a way of writing that makes it all come alive!

Loved the photo of the sail-out from Naples!

Will be anxiously awaiting the remainder of your review.

Thanks again!

Deirdre!

It's so great to find you here. I'm going to enjoy reading your recap, and reliving our cruise. It went by far too fast.

To all of the readers, I was also on this cruise and it was a particularly large and lively roll call - we met the best people! Even beyond our cruise critic mob the tone of the passengers was fun and social. I'm sure all you future sailors will have a blast on Solstice.

-Al (and John)

Just wanted to say thank you for such a lovely review of your recent cruise on the Solstice.

We will be on the exact same cruise beginning 10-14 so I am devouring every review I can find regarding this cruise. It is very interesting to read about your rememberance of your time on the Solstice....you have a way of writing that makes it all come alive!

Loved the photo of the sail-out from Naples!

Will be anxiously awaiting the remainder of your review.

Thanks again!

Why thank you! I know what you mean about wanting to know everything. I was the same way. I like to be prepared.

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Finally, a day at sea. It couldn't have come sooner. Port days are all about burning the candle at both ends--you want to see as much as you can during the day and squeeze in as much entertainment as you can in the evening. It's a recipe for exhaustion! Of course there's just as much temptation for activity on a sea day, too. As you can see from some of the offerings listed in the Celebrity Today.

--A lecture given by second in command, Staff Captain Tasos Kafetzis on "Secrets to Ship's Navigation."

-- Special interest speaker Al Miner on "Then and Now: Connecting Art Through the Ages."

--"Heartbeat of the Operation" galley tour

--"Lawn Olympix: Officers vs. Guests Bocce Ball Tournament"

If anyone has the chance to listen in on Captain Kafetzis' lecture, do so! He is an interesting speaker and funny as all get-out.

Rob and I spent the day on the lawn for the most part; I with my Kindle and Rob asleep in a comfortable chaise. It was a good day. As expected, most people were by the pool but that's not our scene. We were happier by the lawn. Every now and then we'd get up and play a game of bocce ball or run downstairs and help ourselves to an ice cream.

Speaking of food, we eventually gave up on the Oceanview Cafe. Not because the food wasn't good but the exactly the opposite! It was too good. Rob and I were eating way too much. We turned to the AquaSpa cafe on Deck 12, where the plates were beautifully presented and the portions smaller. It was a safer bet for us. :p

It was a formal night for dinner that evening. Rob wore a tux as did one of our table mates (the rest being in suits and ties). All the ladies wore cocktail dresses or gowns. I saw some really pretty outfits. People watching is fabulous on formal nights! The photographers were out in full force and many people--us included--took advantage. I will say that the Celebrity photographers do a nice job. We bought several photos. I like the one we had taken with Captain Nestoroudis especially. He's such a nice man and has a good, firm handshake. Plus he tells these weird funny jokes at his 10 am talk from the bridge every day. It takes a day or two before you "get" him but once you do, it's fun listening to the daily zinger.

The show was "Ghostlight- the Spirit of Broadway." Fantastic tribute to the Broadway musical. The singers and dancers are just so talented. If I could, I'd have watched it twice.

Here the moon shines brightly over the water after a wonderful day at sea.

Thank you for your wonderful Review.

I am going on the same cruise early October and you gave us so many ideas and things to look forward to.

Now I can't wait LOL!