Live from Solstice - Jan 28th to Feb 4th - First Time X Cruiser

[SLOTheta]

Hello!

This is my first cruise on Celebrity. I have sailed on Holland several times. I was given a “free” cruise due to my MGM Platinum status. I get a free cruise every year, but I’ve never taken advantage of it. I’m really glad I finally took the plunge. My original offer was for an inside room, I upgraded to Aqua Class for $500 for 2. What a great deal. I get seasick, so I picked a midship room. I wish I had splurged for the Retreat. Next time. 
 

My sister and I arrived on Friday night and stayed at the Courtyard at the Long Beach Airport. They have a convenient free shuttle to the hotel. 

We downloaded the app, checked in and selected a 1pm embarkation time. 
 

I pre-paid for premium internet. It was pricey, but glad I bought it early. I wish I had know that pre-buying excursions and dinners early closed 2 days prior. I would have pre bought more things!

 

We took an Uber to the port, it was easy and was dropped off right in front of 93. $25.

 

I was surprised to see how empty it was. A porter took our bags quickly. We breezed through check-in and security. Our 2 bottles of wine we brought, along with a few sodas and water bottles weren’t a problem.

 

Our room was quite nice, except that the beds a super tiny (or feel that way). I’m not a large person, 5’7, 140, but I felt like a giant! We went to our muster station, it took about 5 mins. 

 

Our room steward Ronald was helpful and very accommodating.

We signed up for the Veuve Clicquot dinner at $200 a person. I wish I had seen this and pre-bought it! Darn. It’s only 5 couples, looking forward to this small group experience.

 

Our first meal was a mix of the buffet and the grill. I picked up pasta and pizza from the buffet and a garden burger at the grille. None of it was all that tasty, very bland, but did the trick. I wasn’t a fan of the French fries, they were a bit tasteless, which seems to be not worth the calories. My sister said her burger was also a bit tasteless 

 

We gambled in the casino that opened around 5:30pm. We don’t have a drink package due to the casino rate, I was pleasantly surprised that drinks were free while gambling. I thought it would be bottom shelf stuff, but I was happy to see it was pretty good vodka, I ordered many Tito’s Moscow mules and extra cans of club soda. I tipped well and the servers came often. I lost my shirt playing slots and 3 card,  but did ok on roulette. I had a few 4 of kinds playing VP, but nothing too exciting. 
 

Our first dinner was at Blu and it was delicious. I ordered shrimp cocktail and escargot from the MDR menu without issue. For my entree I had the miso soba main lobster. Absolutely Devine! The crème brûlée for dessert was yummy. I ordered a glass of Sauvignon blanc, it was $18, a bit pricey, but good.

 

We headed back to the casino until about 1am. No luck, but lots of fun and free drinks!

 

Good first day. 

Edited January 29, 2023 by SLOTheta

[LaCal]

Thanks for doing a Live review 

 

We’re on the Solstice on 4/1 and it’ll be our first Celebrity cruise 

 

It’s also a comped casino deal 😜🍹🍹

 

Have Fun and Lots of Luck in the casino 🍀🍀🍀💰💰💰🍀🍀🍀

 

Looking forward to more of your review and photos 

[wendyam76]

Have a great cruise! And you wouldn’t have been able to book the Veuve dinner in advance - only onboard! 
Wendy 

[miched]

We were on the Equinox in Nov and many have been many times on Celebrity ships.  I never seen a casino menu for free or complimentary drinks. .  We played in the casino and ordered a drink and they brought it to us.   I was drinking Woodford neat.  We were in a SS and had the premium drink pack but I was never asked for my card.  The menu may be something new.   Things always changed for day to day and cruise to cruise.  

 

Since you are in Aq class be sure to visit and relax in the Persian Gardens.  It is complimentary.   

 

Another to be aware of is as the cruise gets closer to the end the  casino gets more crowded as passengers are trying to use up their non refundable on board credit.  We had over $1200 on our last cruise. Some have more. 
 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for posting.   Looking forward to follow along.

[luv2cruisemore]

We've been on the Solstice many times. Our first "post covid" cruise was in September for the repositioning from Vancouver to LA. 

 

We were supposed to be on this cruise, but postponed until March 4. I recently had Covid on a Princess Cruise. I was quarantined  and then rebounded once I was home. So, we decided to postpone. 

 

Anyway, thanks for posting. Can you tell me how many people were on board? Some friends were on the Solstice last week and it was only 1/3 full (880 passengers).

[Georgia_Peaches]

6 minutes ago, luv2cruisemore said:

We've been on the Solstice many times. Our first "post covid" cruise was in September for the repositioning from Vancouver to LA. 

 

We were supposed to be on this cruise, but postponed until March 4. I recently had Covid on a Princess Cruise. I was quarantined  and then rebounded once I was home. So, we decided to postpone. 

 

Anyway, thanks for posting. Can you tell me how many people were on board? Some friends were on the Solstice last week and it was only 1/3 full (880 passengers).

We are on the March 4th cruise as well!

[CTSandy]

Thanks for sharing - we will be cruising on Solstice on April 8 - I’ve cruised several times on S class, but this will be the first time on Solstice.  Will be following this topic with interest!

[KikisDad]

We are on Solstice next week and are enjoying your posts

[kayehall]

4 hours ago, LaCal said:

Thanks for doing a Live review 

 

We’re on the Solstice on 4/1 and it’ll be our first Celebrity cruise 

 

It’s also a comped casino deal 😜🍹🍹

 

Have Fun and Lots of Luck in the casino 🍀🍀🍀💰💰💰🍀🍀🍀

 

Looking forward to more of your review and photos 

A little off topic but I have a question.  How does someone who has never been on Celebrity get a casino comp deal?  We have about 8 Celebrity cruises under our belt with 2 of them where I organized groups.  So what does one have to do?

[expattraveler]

1 hour ago, kayehall said:

A little off topic but I have a question.  How does someone who has never been on Celebrity get a casino comp deal?  We have about 8 Celebrity cruises under our belt with 2 of them where I organized groups.  So what does one have to do?

Possibly the casino is tied to all cruise lines like your credit cards???

 

We’re Elite on Celebrity. We have never been offered any discounts from the casino since we never gambled on cruise ships. 
 

However, we just returned from a Solstice cruise out of Los Angeles and did some small contributions in the casino a few nights. Voila! Three emails from the casino arm of Celebrity in the past two weeks offering a 10% cruise discount on cruise fare along with gratuities, wifi and drink packages included. I can only guess the level of freebies associated from the particular cruise line is linked to your $ play.

 

Unfortunately the value of being a loyal Celebrity customer for many years doesn’t equate to the valve of casino losses according to the Royal Caribbean computer algorithms. 
 

Just saying…

 

[SLOTheta]

2 hours ago, kayehall said:

A little off topic but I have a question.  How does someone who has never been on Celebrity get a casino comp deal?  We have about 8 Celebrity cruises under our belt with 2 of them where I organized groups.  So what does one have to do?

Hello,

From my experience on Holland, you get comped or reduced fares based on casino play. I received this Celebrity cruise for almost free, due to my MGM platinum status in vegas. I would suggest the next time you are on a Celebrity cruise, make sure you spend time in the casino every day. When I’m on Holland, I gamble every day, about $1000 a day…I’ve been doing the same on this cruise, so it will be interesting to see what offers I get when I’m done. We are on day 2 and I’ve lost quite a bit ($1500), hoping I get something good from all my gambling. 

[SLOTheta]

Day 2 - Our first sea day

 

I had breakfast in Blu. My sister had a headache, so I dined by myself. I had 2 glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice and 2 glasses of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice.Both Delicious. When I was in the buffet the day before, I noticed the juice options were limited- fruit punch and a passion/orange mix. Neither were all that good. I ordered the salmon with capers, bagel and eggs Benedict. All were very good. A server with warm pastries came by and I picked up a croissant and danish. Since my sister could come with me, I asked to take 1/2 my meal back, they replated my breakfast and I took it back to her. 
 

We attended the art auction at 11:30am. I told myself I wouldn’t buy anything since I like to support local artists and have a quite a bit of art at home. I received a card in my room for 5 extra raffle tickets and $100 off a painting. Even so, I was determined not to buy anything. But, I found a piece I really liked by Michael Godard. They give you stickies to mark paintings that you are interested in. I left my stickie on it. As the auction went along, my piece didn’t come up. There are over 100 items in the gallery and not all can be put up for auction that day. The gallery manager walked up and asked if there was a piece I was interested in and that he would bring it up if I wanted it to. He offered me first bidat a discounted rate. The value was $2800, the pre offer was $1300, starting bid would be $1500. He said even if someone else bid on it at open f bid, I could get it at the pre-offer price. I took his offer and when the piece went up, I bid and was able to get it at the pre-offer price, not the opening bid of $1500. I had paid for wi-fi, so I knew I could buy a similar print unframed online for $1200. The frame was a perfect large silver frame that matched my house and from my previous painting framing experience, frames can cost $500+. I know the painting wasn’t worth the appraised value of $2800 (of which I paid $35 to get it appraised for insurance purposes) I still feel I had a deal at $1475  after taxes and appraisal. They ship it to you free within 12 weeks. I applied for the park west credit card with 0% financing for 12 months where I also received a free print for signing up. I received 1 glass of Champagne along with a print for attending (which my sister received also, without buying a thing). I had to come back at 6pm to finalize my payment. The gallery director checked me out and was very helpful. 
 

We had lunch in the MDR. My sister had a steak and salad, I had the duck. Both were decent. Nothing to write home about, but good all the same.
 

I spent  most of the day before dinner gambling in the casino. I played a mix of table games and slots. Nothing was hitting. I even won 200+ spins on Wonder 4 and won a close to $60 (not great seeing I had pumped $500 into the machine). But, the drinks were flowing fast and the service was very good. I learned I will never need a drink package if I gamble like I normally do while cruising. 
 

We went to dinner at 7pm at Blu, but it was really crowded. It was evening chic night and a lot of people dressed in sparkly things or nicer clothes. Not a lot of formal dress like I am used to on Holland. But, people were dressed better than the normal casual fare. We came back at 8pm and it was much more manageable. We had escargot, scallops (1 small one), crab bisque and gnocchi. The escargot was delicious as always, the tiny single fried scallop was ok, the crab bisque was delicious (except I had asked for no onions since I’m allergic and it had them, even after I saw them and said, are you sure?) and the gnocchi was a bit dry. We had coconut sorbet for dessert. I wish I had known we would get 2 scoops, we were super full. Very yummy sorbet, but I could finish it. 
 

After dinner, I headed back to the casino for more video poker and roulette. Didn’t have luck with either, but the several drinks helped.

 

Tomorrow is our first port day in Cabo. I booked a whale watching tour online for $90 since celebrity’s offering was $250! 
 

 

[LaCal]

7 hours ago, kayehall said:

A little off topic but I have a question.  How does someone who has never been on Celebrity get a casino comp deal?  We have about 8 Celebrity cruises under our belt with 2 of them where I organized groups.  So what does one have to do?

I joined Urcomped online 

 

It’s free and you fill out the info and include screenshots of your Best cruise casino offers or land casino offers 

 

They deal with Royal, Celebrity, MSC, Holland and Virgin 

 

If you sent them say Copies of Comp balcony offers you had from Carnival they’ll basically match the comp on the lines i mentioned 

 

Through them it’s how we took our Very first MSC and Royal cruises 

 

And it’s how we are taking our First Celebrity cruises this year both with comp balconies to start and we upgraded to a Sky suite on the Solstice one 

 

IF you’ve already cruised on Celebrity or any other line i’ve mentioned Already in the past year they can’t get you a comp on it but can on any line they deal with that you haven’t tried 

 

But in our case since we never cruised on Celebrity we qualified and now have many many many comp balcony offers from them……You can keep booking them through Urcomped 

[SLOTheta]

22 hours ago, wendyam76 said:

Have a great cruise! And you wouldn’t have been able to book the Veuve dinner in advance - only onboard! 
Wendy 

Good to know! I saw that there was a pre cruise discount for Murano and other restaurants. Glad we didn’t miss out 

[LaCal]

How was the whale watching today in Cabo? 

 

We got lucky when we were there and saw lots of playful whales.  Hope you did as whale 🐳 

[SLOTheta]

2 hours ago, LaCal said:

How was the whale watching today in Cabo? 

 

We got lucky when we were there and saw lots of playful whales.  Hope you did as whale 🐳 

The whale watching was great! It was a bit overcast and chilly on the boat, I’m glad we brought the ship towels. But, we saw a bunch of whales during our 2 hour trip. It was great! 

[RichYak]

14 hours ago, LaCal said:

If you sent them say Copies of Comp balcony offers you had from Carnival they’ll basically match the comp on the lines i mentioned 

I had no idea you could parlay a Carnival comped offer to another cruise line. This is very good to know.

[SLOTheta]

Day 4 - Our first port stop in Cabo 

 

We arrived a little before 12pm. We wanted to avoid the rush of all the folks who were eager to leave the ship. We had lunch in the MDR. I had the seafood roulette which I asked to be made without onions or bell peppers and they made it specifically for me. It was very good. Since we didn’t know how long the queue would be to get on the tender, we grabbed tender tickets before heading back to the room. By the the time we walked to our room, our tender group was being called. The tenders don’t leave until absolutely every seat is full. For those who were physically challenged, it wasn’t fun getting on the tender. The crew asked for tips, so be sure to bring a few dollars with you (both ways).
 

We arrived on shore fairly quickly and had time to kill before our whale watching tour. We grabbed a drink at a bar that had a front facing seats.  Two Don Julio Paloma’s were $27. Not cheap, but it wasn’t outrageous.

 

We booked a 2.5 whale watch with Cabo Trek which had a max of 12 people with a marine biologist as our guide. The boat was a decent  size for 12, with an emergency bathroom. If you get seasick, I wouldn’t recommend it. It was pretty bumpy. We saw a bunch of whales and the information provided by the guide was informative. For $95 plus $20 tip a person, it was a great value. 
 

Since it was overcast, we headed back to the ship after we docked. It was an easy 7 minute walk back to the port tender. 
 

We had dinner at Blu with our same server, Amelia. Escargot, quail, butternut squash soup and duck. The duck was excellent. Perfectly cooked.

 

I tried my luck in the casino again. The machines were not giving me any love. But, I played a few hours at the roulette table and ended up even, which is a win in my book

 

Dropped by the ocean cafe for late night cheese pizza. Wasn’t great, but was filling and will help me sleep. 

[LaCal]

11 hours ago, RichYak said:

I had no idea you could parlay a Carnival comped offer to another cruise line. This is very good to know.

Yes but you go through the company called Urcomped 

[LaCal]

Loved that you saw so many whales.  We go on a Mexico cruise every November and get lucky each time 

 

Can you post what the Shows/Entertainment are on the ship this week? 

 

Hope you get lucky in the casino and hit a Jackpot 🍀🍀💰💰🍀🍀

Edited January 31, 2023 by LaCal

[Spurs Fans]

On 1/29/2023 at 5:19 PM, SLOTheta said:

Hello!

This is my first cruise on Celebrity. I have sailed on Holland several times. I was given a “free” cruise due to my MGM Platinum status. I get a free cruise every year, but I’ve never taken advantage of it. I’m really glad I finally took the plunge. My original offer was for an inside room, I upgraded to Aqua Class for $500 for 2. What a great deal. I get seasick, so I picked a midship room. I wish I had splurged for the Retreat. Next time. 
 

My sister and I arrived on Friday night and stayed at the Courtyard at the Long Beach Airport. They have a convenient free shuttle to the hotel. 

We downloaded the app, checked in and selected a 1pm embarkation time. 
 

I pre-paid for premium internet. It was pricey, but glad I bought it early. I wish I had know that pre-buying excursions and dinners early closed 2 days prior. I would have pre bought more things!

 

We took an Uber to the port, it was easy and was dropped off right in front of 93. $25.

 

I was surprised to see how empty it was. A porter took our bags quickly. We breezed through check-in and security. Our 2 bottles of wine we brought, along with a few sodas and water bottles weren’t a problem.

 

Our room was quite nice, except that the beds a super tiny (or feel that way). I’m not a large person, 5’7, 140, but I felt like a giant! We went to our muster station, it took about 5 mins. 

 

Our room steward Ronald was helpful and very accommodating.

We signed up for the Veuve Clicquot dinner at $200 a person. I wish I had seen this and pre-bought it! Darn. It’s only 5 couples, looking forward to this small group experience.

 

Our first meal was a mix of the buffet and the grill. I picked up pasta and pizza from the buffet and a garden burger at the grille. None of it was all that tasty, very bland, but did the trick. I wasn’t a fan of the French fries, they were a bit tasteless, which seems to be not worth the calories. My sister said her burger was also a bit tasteless 

 

We gambled in the casino that opened around 5:30pm. We don’t have a drink package due to the casino rate, I was pleasantly surprised that drinks were free while gambling. I thought it would be bottom shelf stuff, but I was happy to see it was pretty good vodka, I ordered many Tito’s Moscow mules and extra cans of club soda. I tipped well and the servers came often. I lost my shirt playing slots and 3 card,  but did ok on roulette. I had a few 4 of kinds playing VP, but nothing too exciting. 
 

Our first dinner was at Blu and it was delicious. I ordered shrimp cocktail and escargot from the MDR menu without issue. For my entree I had the miso soba main lobster. Absolutely Devine! The crème brûlée for dessert was yummy. I ordered a glass of Sauvignon blanc, it was $18, a bit pricey, but good.

 

We headed back to the casino until about 1am. No luck, but lots of fun and free drinks!

 

Good first day. 

Could you tell us what the minimum bets generally are on BJ, 3 Card Poker??  I realize they will vary at different times of day.  Just curious for our Summit cruise in August.  Thanks! 

[LaCal]

Can’t wait for todays update 

 

What’s the Entertainment/Shows happening this week? 

[lovecruzin]

I just booked the 2/11 cruise today and also booked with Cabo Trek. Thanks!

If you have a chance can you wander by the iLounge and tell me if they are selling any Apple products. We have a large OBC…then again the Veuve dinner would be a good use of $$$. We did it previously and had a great time.

Look forward to hearing about the rest of your week.

[Jim_Iain]

Reading your remarks of fruit drinks at OVC.    At the entrance bar they sell Premium OJ and Grapefruit which are included with the Premium Package.   Much better than what comes out of the self serve -  basically sugar water.   The drink waiter will also get them for you.