Solstice food venues

[sleepless]

I have never been on a Celebrity cruise, and am considering going on the Solstice to Alaska next summer(currently booked on Royal, but looking to change). What restaurants and eateries are available on the Solstice. What are the choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am interested in both complimentary and paid eateries.

 

DH and I are considering Select dining for dinner for the first time. (we have always done traditional, early seating on Royal). How does this work in Celebrity, and what are the hours of the main dining room. Does the menu change nightly.

 

When are the formal nights? Is anything special served in the main dining room these nights? Are there any special activities associated with formal night?

[Cruise Raider]

I have never been on a Celebrity cruise, and am considering going on the Solstice to Alaska next summer(currently booked on Royal, but looking to change). What restaurants and eateries are available on the Solstice. What are the choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am interested in both complimentary and paid eateries.

 

The Solstice has (or at least as of last year, the main dining room, the buffet, the aqua spa café, hamburger / hot dog grill -- all for no charge. The specialty restaurants include Silk Harvest, Tuscan Grill, Muranos and El Bacio for a $10-$50 pp charge (might be up to $55 now) Blue is also a specialty restaurant if you are in an Aqua Class room or in a suite if they have availability. Luminae is a dining room recently added for suite guests.

 

DH and I are considering Select dining for dinner for the first time. (we have always done traditional, early seating on Royal). How does this work in Celebrity, and what are the hours of the main dining room. Does the menu change nightly.

 

The select dining is in the main dining room for guests that want to dine during a time of their choice. It shares the same menu with traditional dining. You can make a reservation ahead of time or walk up and may have a wait if you walk up. AQ and concierge will get preferential seating, at least in my experience. The menu does change nightly just as with traditional dining.

 

When are the formal nights? Is anything special served in the main dining room these nights? Are there any special activities associated with formal night?

 

Formal nights are based on the length of the cruise and usually the itinerary. They are mostly scheduled on sea days or early port days ... one early during the cruise and one later in the cruise.

[Bo1953]

http://www.celebritycruises.com/ships/celebrity-solstice?tab=Deck_Plans%2Fships%2Fcelebrity-solstice%2Fdeck-plans

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard-celebrity/gateway

 

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard-celebrity/cruise-restaurants-main-dining

 

 

Some good reading for several of your questions.

 

bon voyage

Edited August 4, 2015 by Bo1953

[teecee60]

I have never been on a Celebrity cruise, and am considering going on the Solstice. What restaurants and eateries are available. What are the choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am interested in both complimentary and paid eateries.

 

DH and I are considering Select dining for dinner for the first time. How does this work in Celebrity, and what are the hours of the main dining room. Does the menu change nightly.

 

When are the formal nights? Is anything special served in the main dining room these nights? Are there any special activities associated with formal night?

 

I was on Solstice for a two week transatlantic a few years ago and loved it. Beautiful ship with a sleek modern décor, but without being cold or harsh. Rooms are efficient but lack drawer and closet space. Public spaces are gorgeous, especially the Theater! Sunset Bar for nice weather, or the Martini Bar are GREAT

 

The MDR is two story, open in the middle which can make things a little noisy. The quality of food is always very subjective but I would rate it VERY good on all of my Celebrity cruises. Better than Princess and much better than Carnival or NCL.

 

The MDR menu has two sides, left hand has fruit, salad, and FANTASTIC French Onion Soup, (always order with TRIPLE cheese)a standard NY steak, salmon, etc, that doesn't change, the other side has different selections every night.

 

Specialty restaurants are very good, ESPECIALLY Murano, but are quite pricey at $45pp. However there are "package" discounts for 3 or 5 or unlimited meals, but you can often get 25% and even 50% discounts on longer cruises when they have trouble meeting their quota for bookings. Tuscan grill should be experienced once just for the view out the huge wrap around windows. Silk is pan Asian served family style and I thought it was GREAT, but you need a group of at least 4-6 to enjoy the many offerings.

 

The buffet is set up with multiple stations instead of a few long cafeteria lines. The Indian curries are wonderful, and there is an ice cream station that has 8-10 differing flavors of fresh made every day. TRY CINNAMON and Rum Raisin! :)

 

I would never even consider traditional fixed time dining, I'm on vacation and will eat when I'm ready. Select dining with Celebrity is GREAT. If you WANT, you can get the same table, same waiters, same people every night... OR you can have ALL different every night... OR anywhere in between. Sometimes just us at a table for two, usually we like to meet new people at a shared table for 6, sometimes we enjoy a party with friends at a table for ten.

 

Two formal nights... usually the second day, and the second to last day. You can avoid the formal buy dining in specialty restaurants which are always smart casual, but many people still wear formal there as well, if they want to.

 

Some cruises/ships will have lobster on the last formal night. But the lamb chops, lamb shanks and chateaubriand are my favorites. :D

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise... but PLEASE don't get upset if you get addicted to Celebrity and never want to cruise another line. ;)

Edited August 4, 2015 by teecee60

[snowmc]

We just sailed the Solstice last week. We had one cabin in Traditional Dining and one in Select. The dining room was able to move both cabins to Select. Select dining is located on Level 4 and Traditional dining is on Level 3. After dining in Select for one week, I would never consider going back to traditional. The upper level felt so much more open. If you find a table and staff that you like, you can ask to have that table for the remainder of your cruise. We did this and it was perfect. I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

[dkjretired]

I have never been on a Celebrity cruise, and am considering going on the Solstice to Alaska next summer(currently booked on Royal, but looking to change). What restaurants and eateries are available on the Solstice. What are the choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I am interested in both complimentary and paid eateries.

 

DH and I are considering Select dining for dinner for the first time. (we have always done traditional, early seating on Royal). How does this work in Celebrity, and what are the hours of the main dining room. Does the menu change nightly.

 

When are the formal nights? Is anything special served in the main dining room these nights? Are there any special activities associated with formal night?

 

Formal nights on the 7 night Solstice cruise will be day 2 and day 6, did it last year.

[ClaudiaB]

You asked about special things on formal nights. Well there will be more photographers lurking about, taking formal staged shots and casual ones at your table in the dining room. We never have the photos taken, a polite "no thank you" is all it takes.

The last formal night they'll likely have the big production show that is Cirque-like. Not to be missed.

Some believe the menus are better. I always skip the lobster as it's warm water lobster and IMHO not really that good. Actually we believe the specialty restaurants are better and more special so that's where we have been eating on all our formal nights for the last 5 or 6 cruises. Tuscan Grill is our favorite.

[calicakes]

We have sailed 2x with X out of the 2 cruises we've taken. We have no desire to switch to another line. We're also sailing to Alaska in a month. We have always booked AQ, we love Blu restaurant. The food is "lighter", less heavy sauces. There is no set dining time and no formal nights. We love that the most. The first cruise to the Caribbean, my spouse wore shorts almost every night.

 

If you sail AQ, Blu is your restaurant. If you don't want to eat there, you don't have to, and you can order whatever you want from the MDR. I always get the shrimp cocktail and french onion soup.

[DaisyGirl55]

Hi Sleepless! My DH and I are also booked on the Solstice next year on July 8. I don't believe there is a roll call set up yet. I tried, but no takers yet.

 

Maybe we can start one together when we get closer!

[sleepless]

Hi Sleepless! My DH and I are also booked on the Solstice next year on July 8. I don't believe there is a roll call set up yet. I tried, but no takers yet.

 

Maybe we can start one together when we get closer!

 

 

I just signed up for the roll call. You now have a taker.

Edited August 5, 2015 by sleepless