This was only the 2nd cruise for my husband and myself so we did not have a great idea of what to expect. Our first cruise was on a Princess ship on a Mediterranean itinerary and it was AMAZING. So it was actually a little hard to follow that one with a cruise to New Zealand. New Zealand is very beautiful and the ports were lovely, but it's just not the same impact. I chose Celebrity as I had read it was a step up again from Princess so I guess I did have some expectations. The Solstice, although a beautiful ship, does not have the wow factor of the Crown Princess and we did not feel that it was laid out as well. However, having said that, there were aspects of the ship that were far superior.

The CABINS: are beautifully laid out and the bathrooms are fabulous, with plenty of room for two people and lots of storage and a fantastic shower with glass door and not the tacky shower curtain that we had previously experienced. The Apple interactive television in the room is wonderful and had plenty of movies to entertain us when we wanted to stay in our room plus it was great to be able to view our onboard account periodically and make sure it was all correct. We booked a Concierge stateroom but not sure how much extra we paid over a regular balcony stateroom, as we had anticipated that it would be better and so took no notice of the cost difference. Upon reflection, we would never waste our money again on a so called upgrade because you get so very little for the extra money. The Concierge rooms were exactly the same as other balcony rooms and all you really get for the extra dollars is a bottle of sparkling wine and some rather pathetic little flowers, some very ordinary canapes daily, and 'fresh fruit' that was not fresh just changed over occasionally. The list of extra amenities included plush bath robes, that you could apparently get in any class of cabin if you asked for them. The sparkling wine, I managed to get swapped for a bottle of Chardonnay which I took to the dining room,(so did not need to pay the $25 corkage), and drank over several nights. The canapes were a bit of a joke and we cancelled ours after a few days anyway. It was easier just to pop up to the oceanview if we wanted a light snack in the afternoon anyway. The upgraded tote bag doesn't seem to exist anymore, even though all of the literature that promotes Concierge class lists it. The only benefit really was embarking in one hour as opposed to 2 hours that other people told us it took them to board.

Our stateroom attendants did an amazing job and even provided us with some really clever towell animals that were much so much fun to find when we returned to our room at night. Read more