This Solstice review does make you wonder...

[floridacruisers]

Whenever I see a review like this one below( which was on the front page of Cruise Critic), I have my doubts about the validity of it. Yes, Celebrity can screw things up every now and then. However, in my 26 trips with them I don't ever recall anything like this. The key here is the food issue of no meat. Why on earth would you go to Guest Relations or main desk as the OP says for that? What about the maitre'd???? Have to love the comments about the ports as though they had no idea as to where they were going! And they got an upgrade too!

Phil

 

Disaster at Sea

 

On April 3rd of this year, after an incredebly trying six months, my wife and I happily departed on a weeks worth of R&R. On checking in to our "upgraded" cabin, we were very disappointed to find that our view was obscured by some large blue metal ( rusting) structure, with ladders, pulleys and chain railings, as well as a flotilla of life rafts. As we surveyed this scene, workers we climbing past our balcony to sand and paint the blue monstrosity outside. We soon learned that the doors to the crew area were right below us, a fact brought home each night with the constant coming and going of the crew (1:30am). It was also the social gathering place for crew members, so any privacy on the balcony, and in the room with the curtains open was a loss. It got worse from there. I made it very clear to the dining staff that I could not eat meat products due to a digestive condition. So when several offerings had chicken stock and beef stock ( which I found out by calling when I became quite ill the 5th night out) I was not pleased. We called the main desk several times, finally giving up. There was no satisfaction to be had on board. I called our travel agent, and Celebrity's main number, but was told to wait to call again until I returned to port.

 

The excursions we took in St. Thomas was a complete rip-off. The next excursion was cancelled the night before we were to go, leaving us under an hour to reselect or do nothing. The guest support was poor. The information available was also poor. The dock in the biggest tourist traps I have ever seen, then expect you will use their over-priced services of risk being ripped off further by the hungry locals.

 

 

I have been to several 5 star resorts, finding the level of service wonderful. I think it is false advertising to call what these pirates call service in the same book as the others. I finally contacted service when we returned home, and was offered, via email, a $100 discount on my next cruise with them. I had already told them I would never cruise with them again. That only served to further incite my response.

 

 

Be warned. They will pull money from your pocket at every turn. If you thought that a cruise was a reasonable vacation, don't try Celebrity Solstice, or hope you do not need to deal with any Celebrity Cruise Line personel. Try someone else. Anyone else.

 

 

[sarahc78]

Whenever I see a review like this one below( which was on the front page of Cruise Critic), I have my doubts about the validity of it. Yes, Celebrity can screw things up every now and then. However, in my 26 trips with them I don't ever recall anything like this. The key here is the food issue of no meat. Why on earth would you go to Guest Relations or main desk as the OP says for that? What about the maitre'd???? Have to love the comments about the ports as though they had no idea as to where they were going! And they got an upgrade too!

Phil

 

Had I not come on this board and learned so much I would have gone to Guest Relations too. But that review does seem a little over the top. Cruising just isnt for some people :shrug:

[Hollywood Traveler]

On the same cruise and had an entirely wonderful experience. Oh, well. Guess that's why they make more than one flavor of ice cream.

[floridatravelersforlife]

Had I not come on this board and learned so much I would have gone to Guest Relations too. But that review does seem a little over the top. Cruising just isnt for some people :shrug:

 

Some people are so narcissistic and self centered that they have no tolerance or understanding even when circumstances are out of the control of Celebrity.

 

One can't pity them nor argue with them, just ignore them and move on. It isn't worth the rise in blood pressure.

[SoBe2010]

You, we and everyone should tolerate other opinions and experiences.

 

Even though I like Celebrity, not everything is perfect, only because we think it is.

 

I found myself several times leaving guest relations unhappy for instance or a simple request (water pitcher on Solstice Class) never been fullfilled by house keeping. I had to call the house keeping supervisor for this little wish, which isn´t extravagant in my eyes since your are used to it from Century and Millenium Class ships.

 

However, the plus side on a Celebrity ship still wins by a landslide.

[We're The Groupnors]

I find the following especially confusing:

 

"I made it very clear to the dining staff that I could not eat meat products due to a digestive condition. So when several offerings had chicken stock and beef stock ( which I found out by calling when I became quite ill the 5th night out) I was not pleased."

 

Logic would dictate if the menu item in question had absolutely no animal products in it then it would be in the vegetarian section of the menu, or identified as a vegetarian-friendly dish. If you have an issue with meat and meat products then stick to the vegetarian section of the menu. Pretty simple.

[rhuntington3]

Yes, sounds like someone didn't do any research when they booked their cruise and are blaming the company for everything that went wrong.

[Essiesmom]

I do not sail Solstice until next week, but I am sure there are some Solstice experts here...Who can tell us what verandah cabin(s) would be obstructed by a blue steel thingy? And I seriously doubt that any crew entertainment area would be high enough to impact a verandah cabin. Most of the crew areas are usually below the lowest passenger deck. Is this another 'reviewer' who has no other posts? EM

[BBsails]

Oh please tell us what cabin you were in! :confused:

[Denny01]

They are referring to the window cleaning machine. Someone will tell you where it is stored. The Solstice Cabin Compilation Sticky may help some.

 

As to the crew noise, they were probably referring to the entry to the bridge which has a few officer SR's inside that entry area, or a cleaning station storage area where the stewards may congregate and talk some. Have read a few reviews complaining about that, and did stay in one cabin near a cleaning area, but would catch a few snatches of conversation. that was it.

 

But not sure what is going on about the veranda not having any privacy. Maybe someone has a better cut on that.

 

Den

[Bobby Dee]

They are referring to the window cleaning machine. Someone will tell you where it is stored. The Solstice Cabin Compilation Sticky may help some.

 

As to the crew noise, they were probably referring to the entry to the bridge which has a few officer SR's inside that entry area, or a cleaning station storage area where the stewards may congregate and talk some. Have read a few reviews complaining about that, and did stay in one cabin near a cleaning area, but would catch a few snatches of conversation. that was it.

 

But not sure what is going on about the veranda not having any privacy. Maybe someone has a better cut on that.

 

Den

 

Window washing equipment is stored in front of 1549 and I believe 1552. Check out your particular cabin by opening the sticky about the cabins above and click on "search thread" and enter your particular cabin number in the search window. It will pull up the posts which refer to that particular cabin. Good luck.

[sarahc78]

I find the following especially confusing:

 

"I made it very clear to the dining staff that I could not eat meat products due to a digestive condition. So when several offerings had chicken stock and beef stock ( which I found out by calling when I became quite ill the 5th night out) I was not pleased."

 

Logic would dictate if the menu item in question had absolutely no animal products in it then it would be in the vegetarian section of the menu' date=' or identified as a vegetarian-friendly dish. If you have an issue with meat and meat products then stick to the vegetarian section of the menu. Pretty simple.[/quote']

Sometimes chicken stock is used in dishes that are listed as vegetarian. My friend is a vegetarian and found this out the hard way.

[jcumming]

I think it is false advertising to call what these pirates call service in the same book as the others.

Geesh, you get to travel on a pirate ship and then you complain about the service?

[h20cruzer]

Well if I were concerned about meat products in my dishes I would have questioned the waiter about everything when placing my dinner order.

They were checking into their upgraded cabin, did they ever think to check out the cabin before accepting the upgrade...

I have sailed Celebrity many times, with very few issues. When I spoke up my issue was resolved.

They cant fix if they dont know its broke. People who If your soup is always cold tell the waiter don wait to come home and then complain.

 

I think its all a matter of opinion, on our last cruise we thought the maitre'd for our section was great, then we meet another couple at the airport who thought he was terrible.

I always try to look at the positive and not the negative, so sorry these folks had a terrible time. However the up side is they will never travel on Celebrity again so we won't have to hear what a bad time they are having.

[2blueyam]

Actually if you have that kind of severe food allergy, I would recommend filling out the special needs form before boarding to let Celebrity know about it and be prepared for it. I am sure it would also be a good idea to follow up with the maitre'd and servers once on board. I might even have cards printed up with the information on it, so the server could pass this along to the chef.

 

In the end, if he made his condition clear to the server, the server should have made it clear to the chef and there shoudn't have been an issue.

 

With regard to the upgrade, if those cabins are listed on Celebrity's web as obstructed or partially obstructed view, they should have seen that for themselves on the site and turned down the upgrade or asked for another room. If they weren't well, you can't expect everyone to be on here researching everything, particularly if they are first time cruisers.

[Crazy Cruzer]

The dock in the biggest tourist traps I have ever seen, then expect you will use their over-priced services of risk being ripped off further by the hungry locals.

 

Ahh ... the "hungry locals"...

 

Yes it is simply terrible that they allow such terrible looking peasants and low life to live on these Caribbean islands. Just looking at them is enough to make me ill. I wish they only had proper looking servants at these places.

 

Now excuse me while I go practice holding my nose higher than those around me.:rolleyes:

[wolfganghowell]

On April 3rd of this year, after an incredebly trying six months, my wife and I happily departed on a weeks worth of R&R.

 

What I find incredibly trying is reading such a negative and nitpicky rant. Any validity to this review is lost on me.

 

Perhaps I'm being unsympathetic, but I don't find it reasonable to go on a mass market cruise and expect them to cater to each and every food allergy on the planet. I think we as patrons have to do our due diligence and make realistic choices and recognize that the world does not revolve around our individual needs. I believe the food issue could have been easily handled but by the tone of this review, I would bet this guy was a jerk to everyone about it. And as previously mentioned, there is a special needs form on food issues but there is no mention it was ever filled out. Can you imagine being this guy's tablemate? What a nightmare.

 

And yeah, I second the remark about his port remarks. Apparently he has never been to the Caribbean. And there is no information about why he thought his excursion was overpriced and why the other one was cancelled. Cancellations happen for a variety of reasons - usually legitimate like equipment failure or not enough people signed up to make it feasible. Duh - read the contracts.

[Rysyonok]

Ultimately it's all about attitude: expect a relaxing holiday, and you will get one. I've had excursions canceled on me, ports, had opportunities with my room - but is any of that truly worth wasting a chance to have a good vacation? I don't think so.

 

Crazy Cruzer: I love your response :)

[Solstice23]

First of all nothing hangs down in front of a cabin thats blue! there is a blue part that sticks out below on some categories but all hanging items are white! like the window washing equipment.

 

I have traveled with my aunt who has a gluten issue, and every night on her 3 Celebrity cruises they were more helpful then on other lines.

[Solstice23]

First of all nothing hangs down in front of a cabin thats blue! there is a blue part that sticks out below on some categories but all hanging items are white! like the window washing equipment.

 

I have traveled with my aunt who has a gluten issue, and every night on her 3 Celebrity cruises they were more helpful then on other lines.

[lilbit chick]

It does happen that people have bad experiences with companies. I am thankful that the CCr wrote about it. It made me quickly look up my cabin number because that was one of the cabins I had asked for. Is 1549 not an AQ class? I would not be happy to have an obscured view due to a window washing mechanism or to have to hear crew members socializing at 1:30 AM outside my balcony.

We should not condemn cruisers for writing about their frustrations when their cruise goes awry, it is called freedom of expression. The more we know both positive and negative about a company we put so much trust in the better off we are collectively. Thank you for your review, I hope your next cruise goes better. If cruisers are not allowed to vent, and only glowing reviews are tolerated then we may as well not bother reading CC for different insights.

[Germancruiser]

Oh what a review- some people are just not be satisfight- thats all- no matter how hard one trys- if you book a cabin, every brochure I came to warned from obstructed views. Well I suppose they booked a regular outside cabin without balcony- they got a upgrade, when one balcony cabin was not booked - well it happens the one with the obstruced view.

Ah ... those complainers about everything!

Michael

[chive]

It does happen that people have bad experiences with companies. I am thankful that the CCr wrote about it. It made me quickly look up my cabin number because that was one of the cabins I had asked for. Is 1549 not an AQ class? I would not be happy to have an obscured view due to a window washing mechanism or to have to hear crew members socializing at 1:30 AM outside my balcony.

We should not condemn cruisers for writing about their frustrations when their cruise goes awry, it is called freedom of expression. The more we know both positive and negative about a company we put so much trust in the better off we are collectively. Thank you for your review, I hope your next cruise goes better. If cruisers are not allowed to vent, and only glowing reviews are tolerated then we may as well not bother reading CC for different insights.

 

 

I agree with the general point you were making, that negative reviews are valuable. Yes, we believe in freedom of expression. No one has said that the OP didn’t have the right to set forth his or her views. However, I believe that there is a right and wrong way to present your review for the purposes of this board. A review that merely says “all the food was cold”, “I couldn’t cut the meat”, “the staff was rude to me” and so forth, doesn’t really help anyone, in my opinion. By the same token, a review that merely says “I spent a month on a cruise and everything was perfect, Celebrity is awesome” doesn’t serve any real purpose, either, to me. In my opinion, a review should give specifics so that the readers can understand the exact point that is being made. Specific examples of what went wrong (or what was right) and what you did about it and the reaction to your problem gives us insight and valuable information.

[jackdiamond]

We enjoyed 1549 on our Equinox Christmas cruise, despite the window washing equipment to which reference has herein been made. We did not allow the existence of said equipment to disrupt our enjoyment of said cabin and large balcony. Could this be, because we do not sweat the small stuff; and, most of it is small stuff.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

You, we and everyone should tolerate other opinions and experiences.

 

Even though I like Celebrity, not everything is perfect, only because we think it is.

 

I found myself several times leaving guest relations unhappy for instance or a simple request (water pitcher on Solstice Class) never been fullfilled by house keeping. I had to call the house keeping supervisor for this little wish, which isn´t extravagant in my eyes since your are used to it from Century and Millenium Class ships.

 

However, the plus side on a Celebrity ship still wins by a landslide.

 

Did the housekeeping supervisor grant your wish and bring you a water pitcher? I'm about to embark on my first S class voyage and will find the lack thereof very annoying.