Live: Dec 22 2023 Solstice 12 Night Thailand & Vietnam Holiday Cruise!

[NMTraveller]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Have a super nice cruise. Too bad the Christmas sailing from Hong Kong didn’t happen in 2020 because we would have met….

You have a super nice cruise also.  We are really enjoying Millenium.

[mahdnc]

We spent a little time up in the Sky Lounge which was also a popular place this morning.  Most of the window seating was filled.

 

 

Closer to the Sky Lounge dance floor, Celebrity ran stretching exercises followed by a trivia game (Hg is a symbol for which element?).

 

On the starboard side of the lounge, we saw whales:

 

[mahdnc]

Just now, NMTraveller said:

You have a super nice cruise also.  We are really enjoying Millenium.

 

Ah, the ship we both were supposed to be on for the cancelled Christmas 2020 sailing.  So in the end for our replacement sailings, I re-booked the itinerary while you re-booked the ship.

[mahdnc]

Today, Christmas Eve, we have not done that much with our new found time since today's port was cancelled.

 

We had lunch at the MDR today and I finally realized how loud it was compared to Blu.  We had a table for two on the upper floor and the noise from the surrounding tables made it difficult to converse with the couple that was seated in the 2 top beside us.  Maybe in the prior years when we were seated at the MDR with our 2 kids, we were the ones making the noise, but now my wife and I are the victims of it.

 

Afterwards we strolled around the shops and the casino.  My Summit tee shirt resulted in a conversation with some of the crew that worked on her in the past.  A worker at the liquor store--who was from Zimbabwe--spoke very favorably about his time aboard Summit and preferred that size ship over Solstice.

 

The casino was pretty busy today and I went by mainly to checkout the blackjack tables while my wife surveyed the slots.  Lowest minimum blackjack table was $10 and there were several of them up and operating (with the lousy 6:5 blackjack payout of course).  The $25 table was opening up and that is where you have to go if you want the traditional 3:2 blackjack payout.  My wife and I will be hitting the casino but we wait until the latter half of the sailing because if we lose our money (and we always assume that we do), we don't want it to happen at the beginning of the cruise!

 

There were two roulette tables open (one table had a player who liked to scream) and even the craps table had a lively group going.

 

I brought my DSLR camera with me to take some photos around the ship.  While I was in the casino, I was greeted by several young kids (escorted by an adult) that were doing a scavenger hunt and needed to find a passenger with a Nikon camera.  I am now immortalized in one of their selfies that was taken as proof of their successful find.  I hope they won.

 

Video is not allowed in the casino, but non-flash photography is permitted.  Here are some photos from the table games this afternoon:

 

Cards.  This table did get loud and lively a couple of times.  Good for them.

 

Dice.  The gentleman on the left, throwing the dice, was on a good roll.  He threw at least 10 times after I began watching before he sevened out.  Craps is a fast moving game with lots of activity simultaneously going on.  It took several shots before I could get one where all the players and dealers were paying attention to the roll.

 

Wheel.  It appears that not everyone was happy with this spin.

Edited December 24, 2023 by mahdnc

[villauk]

8 hours ago, NMTraveller said:

Hopefully the weather is fine in Phuket tomorrow.  We just passed Port Klang.

Are you sailing on Millie from Singapore to India by any chance? Only asking as I’d love your comments on that cruise. I know Phuket is one of the port stops on that itinerary and we are presently considering it for 2025. 

[mahdnc]

As the years have gone by, my wife and I have become less and less and less interested in the evening shows onboard Celebrity ships.  Nevertheless, we popped in briefly at the Solstice Theatre to watch The Other Guys perform a hastily scheduled matinee show since our port was cancelled.  Kudos to them for putting something together at the last minute when I am sure they were planning to be ashore or asleep.

 

[mahdnc]

This is the current view from our balcony.  We are getting dressed for Christmas Eve dinner on this Evening Chic night!

 

[mahdnc]

Santa came to the Grand Foyer this evening to hand out gifts to a long line of excited kids:

 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Nice ! 
how many children on the cruise 

[Jim_Iain]

 

Thanks for doing a live post.    I look forward to following along.  

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

 

Jim

[Jim_Iain]

On 12/17/2023 at 1:05 PM, mahdnc said:

We are trying to go cashless here in Singapore and later in Hong Kong by going with ApplePay like we have with our two prior trips to Australia. 
 

On the other hand, Vietnam and Thailand are very cash oriented and so we will have to be prepared for that and obtain their local currency from ATMs when we go ashore. 
 

During our Galapagos trip last month we didn’t have to worry about foreign currency since they have a US dollar based economy.  However I still got a surprise and a chuckle when I got change back from my $20 after making a small purchase in Quito. Some of the change appeared to be given in strange subway or old arcade tokens or something like that and I was put off by it. When I held the tokens closer to my face for careful inspection so that I could complain accurately, it turned out to be US one dollar coins. I had not before seen the current dollar coin that is so rarely used in America!

 

You should be ok going cashless.   Since we were going to be in Singapore for 5 days pre-cruise I got $50 exchanged at one of the street exchange banks.  Actually the rate was really good.   

 

After 5 days we hadn't spent an of it and I ended up exchanging it in Bali and used it to tip private tour guides.  

[hcat]

2 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Santa came to the Grand Foyer this evening to hand out gifts to a long line of excited kids:

 

 

loved the children..esp the girls with

holiday dresses and fancy sandals..

[hcat]

 

M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S !

[desibee]

I hope you get to Phuket!  We did a snorkelling tour there and I’ve never seen so many tropical fish just streaming past you unafraid.  Keep in mind that toilet paper basically doesn’t exist in public bathrooms and hold it or bring some Kleenex to get you through if you don’t know how to use the “bum gun”.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

11 minutes ago, desibee said:

I hope you get to Phuket!  We did a snorkelling tour there and I’ve never seen so many tropical fish just streaming past you unafraid.  Keep in mind that toilet paper basically doesn’t exist in public bathrooms and hold it or bring some Kleenex to get you through if you don’t know how to use the “bum gun”.

I always thought everyone knew to pack TP on an excursion 😁

[desibee]

1 minute ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I always thought everyone knew to pack TP on an excursion 😁

I had to lend a distressed mother and her little girl a packet of tissues in one of the washrooms on the pier in Phuket 😂 

 

They were very grateful.

[Beba-Beba]

 

[mahdnc]

7 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

Nice ! 
how many children on the cruise 

Although I will do it, I haven’t made the trip up to kids club to ask one of the counselors. We are pulling into Laem Chabang in an hour on this Christmas Day to begin our two days off the ship in Bangkok. When we get back on, I will ask about the number of kids on this cruise and the number for the next sailing as a comparison. 
 

Merry Christmas from Solstice!

[mahdnc]

5 hours ago, hcat said:

 

M E R R Y   C H R I S T M A S !

Merry Christmas from Solstice and Thailand!!

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, Beba-Beba said:

 

Merry Christmas to you, too, Mary. I am sure you’re excited about your multiple back to back Caribbean sailings coming up soon!

[Beba-Beba]

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

Merry Christmas to you, too, Mary. I am sure you’re excited about your multiple back to back Caribbean sailings coming up soon!

Just did check-in 2 days ago for the 1st one.  Can't wait!!!!

 

Enjoy Bangkok!  Your pictures are wonderful!  More PLEASE!!

 

Mary

[mahdnc]

We docked at approximately 6:55 am local time. At 7:20 am, the ship was cleared by immigration. 
 

The port is very large and very industrial. 
 

We have a two day private tour set up for Bangkok for just the two of us. Our tour is set to start at 9 am this morning. We will overnight at the St Regis.  

Edited December 25, 2023 by mahdnc

[villauk]

1 minute ago, mahdnc said:

Merry Christmas from Solstice and Thailand!

 

We docked at approximately 6:55 am local time. At 7:20 am, the ship was cleared by immigration. 
 

The port is very large and very industrial. 
 

We have a two day private tour set up for Bangkok for just the two of us. Our tour is set to start at 9 am this morning. We will overnight at the St Regis.  

 

You will love it; it’s definitely the best way to maximise your time.
 

Merry Christmas 🎄!

[mahdnc]

28 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

You will love it; it’s definitely the best way to maximise your time.
 

Merry Christmas 🎄!

Thank you.

 

It appears we have lucked out on weather. It will be on the cooler side for our two days in Bangkok.  And no rain. 
 

Edited December 25, 2023 by mahdnc

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Although I will do it, I haven’t made the trip up to kids club to ask one of the counselors. We are pulling into Laem Chabang in an hour on this Christmas Day to begin our two days off the ship in Bangkok. When we get back on, I will ask about the number of kids on this cruise and the number for the next sailing as a comparison. 
 

Merry Christmas from Solstice!

Don’t worry about the number , I guess there more than you would find on a TA 😁