Live from Solstice 10/1/23 Transpacific

[tigervixxxen]

One other thing I’ve noticed is that the date on our sea pass cards is for the day we debark the cruise. Is this an error or something they’ve changed recently? The cards work fine but don’t want it to be an issue getting back in port. 

[Silkroad]

1 hour ago, tigervixxxen said:

One other thing I’ve noticed is that the date on our sea pass cards is for the day we debark the cruise. Is this an error or something they’ve changed recently? The cards work fine but don’t want it to be an issue getting back in port. 

Our sea passes displayed only the embarkation date through early 2022. From December 2022 through August 2023, our sea passes have displayed both the embarkation and debarkation dates. If yours displays only the debarkation date, that is a very recent change.

 

BTW I’m very much enjoying your live review. We dream of sailing this itinerary. I hope you have a wonderful voyage!

Edited October 3, 2023 by Silkroad

[Bob & Sandy]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

can't it be replaced. have u asked at guest rel?  that is a big issue..we usually  keep our phones, wallets and cash in the safe..very concerning!

 

did they offer u ability to leave docs etc in the ship's safe or pursers,   Hope the rest of thd ship is in good order!

 

enjoy the cruise...hope safe issue is resolved!

Asked attendant and guest relations, promised something today (2 Oct).

We’ll see what happens (or not!) and make a post.🤔

[fstuff1]

2 hours ago, Bob & Sandy said:

Asked attendant and guest relations, promised something today (2 Oct).

We’ll see what happens (or not!) and make a post.🤔

 

I'm also on this cruise but veranda. I have a safe.

 

No safe for inside rooms? 

That's unacceptable.

 

Any reason why it's missing?

 

Edited October 3, 2023 by fstuff1

[Bob & Sandy]

Well, the explanation that they gave us that it is broken.🤔

[wallyj]

7 hours ago, tigervixxxen said:

 

Also it seems formal/chic nights are on nights 3, 11 and 17. They are just skipping day 12 for the international date line so we will have 18 nights on this 17 night cruise. 

I believe when you are going westbound, when you cross the date line you will ‘lose’ that day. So say you are on Monday before dateline, when you go to bed, the next day will be Wednesday, you will lose Tuesday, so you do not get an extra night.

 

You do get the extra day if you were sailing FROM Sydney to HNL, you repeat the same day when you cross the dateline, so same scenario, go to bed Monday night cross date line, wake up to Monday again.

[lyndarra]

Cue Mamas and Papas. "Monday Monday".

Which will now be stuck in my ear for the rest of the day.🙄

[abbydancer2003]

We'll be on the Solstice in March-April-May, from Singapore-Sydney-Honolulu-Vancouver, so following.  Our itinerary is different than yours, but I'll still enjoy this.  Thank you

[kwokpot]

4 hours ago, Bob & Sandy said:

Well, the explanation that they gave us that it is broken.🤔

Unacceptable. DEMAND that it be replaced. 

[Bob & Sandy]

6 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Unacceptable. DEMAND that it be replaced. 

I agree that it is unacceptable, and since it is now 0608 on 3 October 2023, we are passed the vague promises stage! My DW and I will get up, do our morning routine and sample the Captain’s Club breakfast in Murano’s. We will then go to Guest Relations and one of three things will happen: 

 

1) The safe is installed this morning. Period, full stop.

2) They simply do not have a working safe available on board,

and can’t fix a broken one due to lack of parts, etc. Then, they

can compensate us with OBC, use of the purser’s safe and

or other amenities currently on board to reach an acceptable 

compromise. I can negotiate, and we are a reasonable couple.

3) They stonewall with more vague promises. Not acceptable,

we refuse to leave and return to option #2.

 

Further updates as they become available - don’t touch that dial!🤨

[JDPCruisers]

2 hours ago, Bob & Sandy said:

I agree that it is unacceptable, and since it is now 0608 on 3 October 2023, we are passed the vague promises stage! My DW and I will get up, do our morning routine and sample the Captain’s Club breakfast in Murano’s. We will then go to Guest Relations and one of three things will happen: 

 

1) The safe is installed this morning. Period, full stop.

2) They simply do not have a working safe available on board,

and can’t fix a broken one due to lack of parts, etc. Then, they

can compensate us with OBC, use of the purser’s safe and

or other amenities currently on board to reach an acceptable 

compromise. I can negotiate, and we are a reasonable couple.

3) They stonewall with more vague promises. Not acceptable,

we refuse to leave and return to option #2.

 

Further updates as they become available - don’t touch that dial!🤨

Along with others have never even heard of that happening to anyone and trust they will make this right with another one or some acceptable compensation. All the best with this!

[Bob & Sandy]

They went with option one, kudos to Benny our stateroom attendant

who diligently tracked down another safe and then, he and a 

colleague installed it. Problem resolved.😀😀

[Bob & Sandy]

Of course, the ship is full (but doesn’t feel like it), so tracking down another working safe may have been a bit of a scavenger hunt. And DW reminds me it was Tuscan grill for the Captain’s club breakfast, not Murano’s. 🤭 The mango smoothies were

fresh and tasty (or were to me, anyhow).

[kwokpot]

1 hour ago, Bob & Sandy said:

They went with option one, kudos to Benny our stateroom attendant

who diligently tracked down another safe and then, he and a 

colleague installed it. Problem resolved.😀😀

I'm glad this was taken care of for you but I'm a bit surprised it was resolved by your cabin attendant. Shouldn't this have been an issue that maintenance took care of? 

[tigervixxxen]

Greetings from another lovely sea day. It’s a bit cloudy today but still warm, humid and it is clearing a bit. Glad to hear the safe issue was resolved! I agree the ship doesn’t feel very crowded which is nice. There’s definitely a very quiet and relaxing vibe onboard. The only time I’ve seen much of a line is for the Effy charm giveaway 😆. It’s fun to collect them though but I can’t believe the line. 
 

Anyway, mixed thoughts on the food over the last 24 hours. Breakfast yesterday in OVC was good as usual and I always enjoy the omelette station. Lunch was good too, we favor the mozzarella sticks.

 

Dinner was a bit disappointing. It was nice to have one of the non-typical menus so beef carpaccio appetizer was a welcome sight and was tasty. French onion soup was pretty typically good. The chicken saltimbocca was tough, I prefer chicken on the dry side anyway and never had tough chicken before. The mini mash was present and some medeterranian veg at least. DH had the standard chicken and he was happy with it. Apple tart for dessert was kind of lackluster too, so I’d give the dinner a 50% success. Also we arrived at 6:30 for anytime dining because I wanted to watch the sunset. Had to wait maybe 10 minutes for a table which was fine but the service was definitely a lot slower than we are used to closer to opening time when we usually arrive. I think we will skip Chic night in the MDR tonight, I don’t care much for the menu and we will be doing our own Chic night tomorrow in Murano for our 20th anniversary. 
 

The good news is we had breakfast in the MDR this morning and was fantastic, probably one of the best seated breakfasts I’ve had. Great fast service and we enjoyed everything. I had the French omelette and DH had a create your own. So we are hopeful for a good MDR lunch. Other than that not much to report, just doing a lot of relaxing early on for this cruise. 

[Baynanno1]

Thanks for your informative posts.

Following along, as we are on the next sailing out of Sydney.

What is the onboard temperature like?

Is it fairly constant, or are there warmer and cooler areas?

 

[tigervixxxen]

Checking in to say MDR lunch was lovely, enjoyed every bit of it today. Had the beef/chicken skewers, pork loin and chocolate mousse. Will hit the OVC for dinner. 
 

Haven’t noticed anything with temps, overall pleasant. Nothing overly air conditioned or hot. If anything maybe gets a little warm in the observation lounge and conference room (deck 14) but otherwise haven’t noticed much. 

[Chrisclaire]

8 hours ago, tigervixxxen said:

Checking in to say MDR lunch was lovely, enjoyed every bit of it today. Had the beef/chicken skewers, pork loin and chocolate mousse. Will hit the OVC for dinner. 
 

Haven’t noticed anything with temps, overall pleasant. Nothing overly air conditioned or hot. If anything maybe gets a little warm in the observation lounge and conference room (deck 14) but otherwise haven’t noticed much. 

Thanks for info!

Can I ask if you are a champagne drinker?  If so, do you know what brand they are serving and is it available in all bars?

Thanks 😊 

[tigervixxxen]

17 hours ago, Chrisclaire said:

Thanks for info!

Can I ask if you are a champagne drinker?  If so, do you know what brand they are serving and is it available in all bars?

Thanks 😊 

No I’m not but I can try to keep an eye out for that. We only have the classic beverage package so I could see what we could get on our package. 
 

Dinner in the OVC last night was pretty standard buffet. Not my favorite type of meal but no complaints. Most of the stations were open, just a couple on the sides weren’t. Looked like a full offering. The ice cream station wasn’t at like 6:30pm which was odd but I think something might have happened to the cooler, it was fixed for lunch today. 
 

Another great breakfast in the MDR and lunch I think was Indian day in the OVC with an expanded offering which was fantastic. Enjoying another relaxing sea day. 

[fstuff1]

26 minutes ago, tigervixxxen said:

Dinner in the OVC last night was pretty standard buffet. Not my favorite type of meal but no complaints. Most of the stations were open, just a couple on the sides weren’t. Looked like a full offering. The ice cream station wasn’t at like 6:30pm which was odd but I think something might have happened to the cooler, it was fixed for lunch today. 

 

Another great breakfast in the MDR and lunch I think was Indian day in the OVC with an expanded offering which was fantastic. Enjoying another relaxing sea day. 

Wished they put the theme of the buffet lunch and dinner on the Daily or app.

On other ships, I think they do on the Daily

[fstuff1]

I was told by the matreD of the buffet that last day lunch will be mussels

[mrgabriel]

7 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

I was told by the matreD of the buffet that last day lunch will be mussels

We were on the previous sailing. The buffet on the last sea day featured mussels, shrimp, maybe some other shellfish (I’m allergic so didn’t look closely), and a chocolate fountain. 😋 

[Jim_Iain]

On 10/2/2023 at 10:25 PM, wallyj said:

I believe when you are going westbound, when you cross the date line you will ‘lose’ that day. So say you are on Monday before dateline, when you go to bed, the next day will be Wednesday, you will lose Tuesday, so you do not get an extra night.

 

You do get the extra day if you were sailing FROM Sydney to HNL, you repeat the same day when you cross the dateline, so same scenario, go to bed Monday night cross date line, wake up to Monday again.

 

We were going the opposite direction (Westbound)  and received an extra day of points due to the date line.  Of course I didn't complain.    I have to assume you may loose a day's points Eastbound and would have to call to have it adjusted.     Celebrity IT isn't the most forward thinking.

[Ciaranaman]

Jumping on to your live report!  Sounds like a great itinerary.  I'm not sure I could do that many sea days but the older I get, the more of a possibility it becomes 🤣 

🎉Happy Anniversary!🥂

~Bernadette

[fstuff1]

6 hours ago, mrgabriel said:

We were on the previous sailing. The buffet on the last sea day featured mussels, shrimp, maybe some other shellfish (I’m allergic so didn’t look closely), and a chocolate fountain. 😋 

i was on the previous sailing too but the last day was Kona and i was out on shore.
But i remember day 3 or 4 for lunch, the buffet also had mussels