Review of Alaska Cruise-Solstice Tracy Arm Fjord May 27, 2015 to June 3, 2015

[wangel]

7 Night Alaska Cruise - Tracy Arm Fjord May 27, 2015 to June 3, 2015

 

The wife and I just returned from our Celebrity Solstice Cruise to Alaska and wanted future cruisers to know the pros and cons of how everything went. Let me preface, that this was our 10th cruise with Celebrity and the below is just our opinion or an opinion we heard on ship that we agree with. We rate our experiences on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very poor and 10 being highly excellent.

 

Solstice Ship – (9) – The ship is beautiful. It was clean, well maintained, and handled the ocean very good even in rough seas. It was good to see nice clean bathrooms throughout the ship. Unfortunately the chairs in the main theater and smaller theater were subpar (seat leaning too far forward) and were just plain uncomfortable. These chairs need to be replaced with better theater quality seating that are in most local theaters.

 

Stateroom Cabin – (9) – Our forward cabin on deck 8 was very good. It had extra electrical outlets (not the normal just one), appeared larger than normal, and the shower curtain was gone replaced with sliding shower doors that did not leak water. Standard drawers, mirrors, safe, and perhaps a 36” Samsung TV that pivoted very well and had 20 channels that included 4 news, 2 sports, TNT a cartoon channel, etc. etc. Took off a little just because a stateroom is never big enough.

 

Room Steward – (7) – Our male room steward on the first day was happy and cheerful to see us, introduced himself to see if we had any special needs (we asked him to clear out the refrigerator of drinks, which he did). After the first day, we rarely saw our steward, but he entered our room probably 3 times a day to give us fresh towels, shampoo, make up the bed, etc. That is just the way we liked it, we never really saw him during the cruise, but he did his job. Took off a bit because on the first day I ate a Saltine cracker and left a few obvious large pieces on the carpet toward the back of our cabin. The crumbs were on the floor for 4 days before being vacuumed up. I also did not feel it was the job of our room steward to be touching our clothing. We would come back to our room to find our clothing folded and moved. The wife felt a little funny with that being that the steward was male. We didn’t want to say anything due to the otherwise excellent job that he did.

 

Cruise Director (Ben) – (10) – Our Australian cruise director was fun where ever he went. Always a smile and something funny to say. He was a highlight of the cruise.

 

Captain Tosslo (SP) – (7) – Our Greek Captain Tosslo was very popular. He came to most all of the events and was a participant at many. Actually he was seen so often at the events that people were wondering who was driving the ship. Yes, we know that these ships are pretty automatic, but when you see the captain at so many events, it tends to make some people worry about ship functions.

 

Entertainment – (4) – There was a show every night. The wife and I felt obligated to go to every show. Overall, I would say that there was too much opera in the shows. The shows were all quite fair, but the comedian/impressions and the magician were exceptional (10). The house dancers/singers were fair (4), but often sang off-key. We were expecting one night to have a lavish Las Vegas type costume performance, but nope, didn’t happen.

 

Crew in General – (6) – In general the crew was very pleasant the first 2/3’s of the cruise, with ‘happy you are here’, and ‘hope you have a pleasant day’, ‘anything we can do to make your cruise better’; to toward the end of the cruise with nothing to say and blank faces. It was almost like they were out of pleasantries with this set of passengers and let’s just get on with the next set of passengers.

 

Casino – (3) – I spent quite some time in the Casino, as you must walk through it when you walk through that level of the ship. I spent lots of time watching and even gambled a small amount of money. In my observations, way too many people lost their money. Obviously casinos are there to make money, and I would never say the games/machines are rigged without proof, but virtually all of people I saw were walking out upset due to the money lost so quickly. Having spent time in non-cruise boat casinos, I did not see this same type of loss. If you want to gamble, I would suggest you stick to games where you have some control like Blackjack or Craps and stay away from slots and other machines that do not require skill. Either way, you likely will lose.

 

Prepaid Gratuities (2) – Like I’m sure many of you, we purchased our cruise because one of the perks was “Prepaid Gratuities”. We thought, wow, how great, no more envelopes on the bed, no more worrying about tipping, etc. etc. Well, let me tell you that this program is not all it is cracked up to be. Even though we had the prepaid gratuities, we were still charged 18% gratuity on many things, still had people with their hand out looking for a tip and still had numerous envelopes on our bed the last night of the cruise looking for tips. When I enquired about this, I was told that perhaps your service was so exceptional and I might want to tip more. Really?! The whole reason we prepaid our gratuity was we didn’t like the confrontation with the stewards and others about tipping. We just wanted to enjoy the cruise without the worry about tipping, but this didn’t happen. Many of the guests including myself saw the crew looking at us like we were just dollar signs and not people. Next cruise, I will not prepay the gratuity and tip as I normally do. Truly a shame as I thought the concept of a prepaid gratuity was a great idea, but seems Celebrity got greedy and wants to try and squeeze passengers even more. The other $20 or $30 of gratuity that was automatically charged on my bill was so insignificant in comparison to the whole bill that we did not want to wait in the long line at customer relations to argue about it. When Celebrity said that gratuity was prepaid, we sort of took them at their word. That was a mistake.

 

Food (3) – Who doesn’t go on a cruise for the good food? Well, good food will cost you, as it is only available in the finer pay restaurants on the ship. But as for food, you can get that anywhere on the ship.

 

Fine Dining Specialty Restaurant – Yes, for $50 or $60 you can eat at a 5 star restaurant on board and have a phenomenal meal. The best and most scrumptious parts of a cow, fish or fowl will be cooked, prepared and presented to you fantastically. The other parts of the cow, fish and fowl is then sent over to the Standard Fine Dining Restaurant.

 

Standard Fine Dining Restaurant – I ate most my meals in this FREE restaurant. Service was good and food was good to fair. The selection was so bad on certain days that it required many guests to go upstairs to the buffet or to better restaurants. Overall I would compare the quality of this restaurant to Applebee’s/Perkins or pretty much any 2 star restaurant. Putting 2 star food on fancy plates and being served by people dressed up nice does not make the food taste better. I would prefer to have better quality food as that is why people cruise! We always ate at shared tables to get the opinion of others. Often there was one or two things served that tasted not right or was not edible. The desserts that Celebrity has long been known for has been minimized and cheapened. We did not see a midnight buffet, we did not see a grand presentation of desserts, we did not see the dance of the waiters; all things we saw at prior sailings. Is celebrity getting cheap on food?

 

Buffet – Deck 14 - As for the buffet upstairs on deck 14, I can only say that it is a step just slightly above Ryan’s or Golden Coral Buffets. Just mass produced food laid out to feed the mass as quick as possible. I will say that tables were always available and cleaned fast. On port days this is where they tried to get people to go eat. Seems the Standard Fine Dining Restaurant hours have been shortened and they were constantly sending people to the buffet to eat.

 

Outside hamburger restaurants. Do I really need to comment about the Burger King, McDonalds and Pizza Hut type food on deck that served hamburgers, French fries, and pizza? If you came for and ate this food, you will not care about this review.

 

Again, I wish Celebrity spent some extra time on quality and not so much time on quantity. Obviously the bottom line of Celebrity is money. The more people who eat at the buffet or hamburger spots the more profit for them.

 

Fruit – We did notice something about the fruit. We had fruit at most every restaurant including the buffet. At the Fine Dining Specialty Restaurant, ALL the fruit was sweet as sugar and the core or peel totally gone. At the Free Fine Dining Restaurant, the fruit was mostly sweet with a hint of core and peel. At the buffet you got what was left over from all the other ship restaurants. The fruit was rarely sweet and had not been peeled or cored properly. Yes, even with the fruit there is a difference between all the restaurants.

 

Overall – the continual comment I heard from passengers were: The food is crappy in the FREE restaurants and that is Celebrity’s ways to force people to the pay restaurants for the good food.

 

Tours / Excursions – (2) - Like many of you, we used our (OBC) On Board Credit, for our tours and excursions. I could not believe how much of a rip off these tours were. Let me be more specific. The wife and I signed up for 4 tours. Each tour had a specific time, perhaps 2 hours. Well, we got a 40 minute tour and then were left off at their designated gift shop to spend money, then back to the boat, but not before the bus driver or guide will tell you some sad story about their kids or such to try and convince you to give a larger gratuity. Seems the guides/drivers all had the same story. First how they have been separated from their wife/family trying to make a living in Alaska to support their family, and then we hear about all their kids and medical expenses. We compared it to all the ASPCA dogs and cat commercials we see on TV asking for money. Next time, we will arrange our own tours. We found all the same tours that Celebrity had for cheaper on the dock. If you wait until the day of the tour, you can change your mind at the last minute if the weather is bad. Who wants to go on a canoe trip or open boat trip in the rain?

 

To summarize, the tours/excursions were overpriced, cut short, and just an excuse to go to their gift shops and of course, the gratuity.

 

Activities – (7) – There were your standard activities that tended to lessen as the cruise progressed. It appeared that art auctions and other money generating events were scheduled when nothing else was or nothing else reasonable, so that you were pretty much forced to these money generating sales.

 

Chair Hogs – Because this was an Alaskan cruise with lots of old people, chair hogs were nonexistent. The pools and outdoor hot tubs were always available.

 

Passengers do understand that a billion dollar cruise ship must be paid for by the passengers, but there has to be a balance between money paid by passengers and benefits offered by the cruise line. When cruisers only feel like dollar signs, and hands are always out for a gratuity or passengers are herded like cattle to your gift shops, spas, and casino, they will either stop cruising, change cruise lines, or just refuse to purchase/tip next time on board – none of which is good for Celebrity. Many people work all year for their one or two week vacation. A cruise use to be relaxing, enjoyable, entertaining, and pleasurable. Celebrity needs to understand that cruisers are not dollar signs or cattle to be herded into the buffet to line up at the horse trough.

 

I’m posting this review to help others plan their cruise better. The above was just my opinion and the opinion of other passengers.

 

If you have a comment, you can email me directly at raizinman@gmail.com as I will not be checking this part of the forum for comments or replies.

[Host Walt]

The foregoing review was copied from the Solstice Roll Calls forum.

[PortlandCruiser]

Cruise Critic indeed!

 

We'll keep an eye out for tip "pumpers". We're expecting to pay tips to excursion guides & drivers but nothing extra out of cash on the ship itself (and we realize that drink orders are auto-tipped).

[bhughey]

Very odd regarding the envelopes for tips? We were on the 5/20 sailing just a week prior to your cruse and did NOT receive envelopes - in fact, I have not seen envelopes EVER on X?

 

Re: 18% - if you did not have one of the drink packages, and having sailed Celebrity quite a few times as you mention you have, it should be well known that 18% is added to any beverage purchases? The included grats cover waitstaff/room steward. It should also be no secret to a seasoned X cruises that there are additional specialty/up-charge restaurants on board. That being said, I didn't find the "no fee" venues to be "crappy" as you put it, but quite the opposite. We had a wonderful cruise on the Solstice and in fact, thought it was out best to date!

Edited June 9, 2016 by bhughey

[alex2155]

I was on the May 27th-June 3rd cruise, and we had a wonderful time. We did not encounter any envelopes, so it seems odd that you did.

We also quite enjoyed the buffet and MDR food. The only night in the MDR that we were not a fan of was the Top Chef menu, but luckily they always have three choices that are they same each night so we order off that side instead of the the Top Chef choices.

As for the 18% on certain things, that is expect because your general gratuity for the room attendants and MDR waiters. Both our room attendants and MDR waiters deserved the general gratuity that is put onto the bill (although we used one of our promotion items for free gratuities), they were great!

 

As far as excursions, we bought them from celebrity and were quite happy with them. Ziplining in Ketchikan was great! Bus driver there and zip lining guides were fantastic. Train in Skagway was nice. The commentator wasn't amazing, but we enjoyed the ride and views, and saw a bear! So that made the entire thing worth it. In Juneau we were going to take the blue bus to Mendenhall, but last minute decided to buy through celebrity (used part of our OBC) only because we were tendering and wanted to get off the ship quickly. The bus driver wasn't great--driving was fine, commentary not so much. But we enjoyed Mendenhall and hiking to the waterfall.

 

We had a great time! Absolutely loved Alaska!

Edited June 9, 2016 by alex2155

[Texasopa]

By the looks of his dates, he's posting about a cruise a year ago? :confused:

Edited June 9, 2016 by Texasopa

[bhughey]

By the looks of his dates, he's posting about a cruise a year ago? :confused:

 

I think his reference to 2015 was a typo. The Solstice did in fact sail Alaska on 5/27 - in addition, his graphic in the signature line says 2016.

[MustBCruzn]

We were on the Solstice 5/20 - 5/27 and had a wonderful experience. Food is subjective, but we found lots of great (free) options all over the ship--including the delicious burgers at the pool grill--Burger King they most definitely are NOT. We did not experience the tipping issue, and I've never run across that on any of our many =X= sailings. And Captain Tasos was by far the most enjoyable Captain we've had the pleasure of sailing with. For those folks considering the Solstice, don't let this review dissuade you, you'll have a great time.

Edited June 9, 2016 by MustBCruzn

[cruisestitch]

To the OP sorry you misunderstood about the prepaid gratuities, they do cover dining and housekeeping but not drinks, hair salon, and spa treatments

[BecciBoo]

Wow, practically nothing positive in this review...so sad that you cannot find one thing that pleased you...excuse me, the room you seemed to have liked. But...to each his own.

 

I'm looking forward to much more to praise than denigrate when we cruise in 3 months...so excited.

[Sea Emerald]

My husband and I will be sailing on the Solstice on July 8th. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary. We are so excited and can't wait! My brother and Dad were on it two years ago and loved it. We always know that with any trip there will be some glitches, but the fun always overshadows any problems. Can't wait to be on board!! :D

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[jacen]

I wonder what you eat when you are at home and go out to dinner,probably tip 5% and then complain about the decor.

[Midnight Blue]

Just got off Solstice yesterday-- the only thing left on our bed was a lovely handwritten thank you not from our cabin steward team. Did I give them an extra gratuity? Yes-- because they deserved it. I also gave a few other extra gratuities but never felt pushed to do so. And I was in a Royal Suite--I would think those guests would be high on the list if there was a real effort to force extra gratuities.

 

And do people seriously think the Captain is 'driving the ship' all or even a majority of the time (whatever 'driving the ship' means)? A major part of the Captain's job is being the public face of the cruise line on board. Captain Tassos is very good at that.

[scorchestra]

<<Many of the guests including myself saw the crew looking at us like we were just dollar signs and not people.>>

 

What a sad, pathetic comment with a hint of racism.

 

All of staff we encountered were so friendly and clearly proud of the great job they were doing. How horrible it must have been for them to serve someone who thinks of them like that.

 

Also, if you don't want someone touching your clothing and hanging them up, put them away yourselves.

[Blondie008]

We were on the May 27th sailing - have to say - a lot of no tipping went on - saw it firsthand - and staff told us as we asked - guests saying "thanks very much blah blah blah - but not an extra penny crossed palms:mad:

we extra tipped our cabin stewards and attendant throughout - and also various crew through the ship - ie Bistro on 5, BLU, and the Martini Bar - on our final morning breakfast we were of the few if any who left a personal envelope at the desk for ALL the BLU team - over and above of course, the auto grats.

Scots are supposedly known for being "tight" - well - I can assure you we are generous beyond belief - and will give our heart and soul to those we can.

It disgusts me that people don't give tuppence - I don't care what anyone thinks - if all you tip is the auto grat - then may Karma bite your backside!

Wallow in your misery - its your every day and every being - suck it up for it will follow you wherever you go....

We don't have much - but we share in small ways what we can - share the love people - it bounces back!:)

[mgfraser]

Most people feel that the automatic gratuities are sufficient!

 

Sometimes, and I emphasize sometimes, we tip our room steward or a server that gets our drinks a little extra.

 

We do not need to be critical!

[whitshel]

"Prepaid Gratuities (2) – Like I’m sure many of you, we purchased our cruise because one of the perks was “Prepaid Gratuities”. We thought, wow, how great, no more envelopes on the bed, no more worrying about tipping, etc. etc. Well, let me tell you that this program is not all it is cracked up to be. Even though we had the prepaid gratuities, we were still charged 18% gratuity on many things, still had people with their hand out looking for a tip and still had numerous envelopes on our bed the last night of the cruise looking for tips. When I enquired about this, I was told that perhaps your service was so exceptional and I might want to tip more. Really?! The whole reason we prepaid our gratuity was we didn’t like the confrontation with the stewards and others about tipping. We just wanted to enjoy the cruise without the worry about tipping, but this didn’t happen. Many of the guests including myself saw the crew looking at us like we were just dollar signs and not people. Next cruise, I will not prepay the gratuity and tip as I normally do. Truly a shame as I thought the concept of a prepaid gratuity was a great idea, but seems Celebrity got greedy and wants to try and squeeze passengers even more. The other $20 or $30 of gratuity that was automatically charged on my bill was so insignificant in comparison to the whole bill that we did not want to wait in the long line at customer relations to argue about it. When Celebrity said that gratuity was prepaid, we sort of took them at their word. That was a mistake."

 

Seems a little weird to me that you have been on more than a dozen cruises, Panama Canal, Bermuda, Trans-Atlantic etc and you thought that tipping for drinks etc was included in your basic tips? So before you used the prepaid tipping procedure did you follow the tipping guidelines? Did you tip for drinks? Why would there be a confrontation with room stewards and staff when giving them their tips the old way? Personally I haven't seen a tipping envelope n about 5 years (mostly sail with RCCL tho). :confused::confused: SMH!!

[davis0056]

I thought this thread was about the Alaskan Cruise reviewed by the OP. There's a separate thread on gratuities. Sad to see this thread hijacked. Thanks, OP, for your great review.

[dkjretired]

Just a quick note on a couple of the comments. On all the Solstice class ships you do NOT have to go through the casino to get from one end of the ships to another, there's a walk around on the same deck.

 

We were on that same cruise in 2014 and disagree with some of the comments, not going into most of them but I found the food at the grill to be excellent and many people in the past rave about the burgers and hot dogs. I am just off the Summit today and I would love to know where they get their hot dogs from. They were rather large, great for grilling and tasted to me very much like Nathans.

[SheriffJoe]

This is obviously a hit piece written by someone who implied he has cruised recently before but kept referencing things that have no been around for many years like the midnight buffet.....we just returned from a B2B on Solstice and had a fantastic 2 weeks..(no envelopes on bed either week)...other items like saying Capt Taso's being visible means he isn't driving the ship is just moronic....not to mention throwing down cracker crumbs in the corner to see how long it will take to get vacuumed up.....oh and FYI there rocket scientist, if your wife leaves her crap strung out everywhere then yes the room attendant will fold it and stack them up as you should have done yourself so they can make your bed etc....

[dkjretired]

This is obviously a hit piece written by someone who implied he has cruised recently before but kept referencing things that have no been around for many years like the midnight buffet.....we just returned from a B2B on Solstice and had a fantastic 2 weeks..(no envelopes on bed either week)...other items like saying Capt Taso's being visible means he isn't driving the ship is just moronic....not to mention throwing down cracker crumbs in the corner to see how long it will take to get vacuumed up.....oh and FYI there rocket scientist, if your wife leaves her crap strung out everywhere then yes the room attendant will fold it and stack them up as you should have done yourself so they can make your bed etc....

 

Just off the Summit and Capt Kate answered the question about who is driving the ship. She stated there are three people at all times on the bridge working four hour shifts, all who are qualified to run the ship in the event someone goes down. I have some real problems with the review, agree with Joe, haven't seen Envelopes in five years and can't believe this person after all his cruises doesn't know drink tips are handled differently and always have been.