Celebrity Solstice Review
Enjoyable Cruising with Elegant Celebrity Soltice!
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Overall, this was a wonderful cruise, and you could relax, socialise, watch or participate in many activities and games on offer (even Bouche/bowls on the real grassed area) or party as much as you like!, The service throughout the ship was of a high standard with all the staff (from various countries) we came in contact with showing lovely smiles (not forced), helpful and ready to assist. We had a couple of issues, that were dealt with effectively and fixed quite promptly, and any queries or discrepancies we had were solved, corrected quickly, and always with a smile.
The ship is beautiful and BIG and took my partner and I four days to discover all the lounges, bars, areas for health minded folk (like the gym, spa, etc...), swimming pools, galleries, studios, Corning Museum of Glass area, shops, theatres, the teens and kids club areas with a basket ball court, and every public space the ship had to offer! There are water fountains (main pool area) and water features that changed with the 'mood' music (Solarium pool) and a lot of art pieces of various mediums and sculptures displayed throughout the ship and the art displayed in the Art Gallery and some of the foyers near the theatres are auctioned off towards the end of the cruise, as was some of the incredible glass blown pieces that the ladies created on the ship throughout the cruise (for all to view and marvel at) from Corning Museum of Glass's own set-up on Deck 15. Lighting was very good throughout the ship, as well as the lounge bars at night, particularly in the Quasar (when karaoke and the discos were on), where funky, wall lights change to various colours where the curved seatings are.
Now for more detail - Embarkation: This would have been a straight forward process I'm sure if we had departed from the usual Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay, however, 2 weeks prior to cruising, we received emails and phone msgs from RCI (mother company) and Celebrity Cruises that because of upgrades and work being carried out at the main cruise terminal (authorised by Sydney Port Authority), we would need to find our way to the White Bay cruise ship terminal (a little out of the way, and no public transport available), where passengers would be processed and then ferried to the ship docked at the OPT, Circular Quay. Fortunately, as we had hours to spare before boarding time (due to our 6 am morning arrival from our flight from Perth, the other side of Aus), we decided, after catching the airport train to Town Hall Station, to walk with our mid size wheeled luggage down to the Quay, to take a few pics of the ship, and seeing other folk wheeling their luggage towards the ship, joined them and found we could check in our luggage at the provided marquee area and board an air conditioned bus (chartered by Celebrity) that took us on a scenic, waterfront route to the White Bay Terminal (15 mins away) for free!
Cabin Review
Deluxe Veranda 2C
Considering we booked a guaranteed Deluxe Ocean View with Veranda (showed as an 'X' for the cabin/stateroom number when our booking was confirmed), as it was discounted and cheaper than an ocean view stateroom, we felt, even though we couldn't choose where our stateroom was located, we still had a well located veranda stateroom on deck 6 (though partly obscured) situated midship on the starboard (right) side. We weren't allotted a stateroom number till 4 weeks after we booked (showed on our online ticketing PDF). Our ocean view was pretty good, only obscured by the top of a lifeboat and small crane, When I was laying in/on the bed, I could turn on my side and look out at the ocean and just see the outline of the deck chairs and table top, with no other obscurity at all!The stateroom cabin (including ensuite bathroom) is spacious with lots of storage and coat hangers, was clean, elegantly furnished (maroon red, white, with neutral tones and timber panelling and edging, and well designed.The King size bed is comfortable, and only when we had fairly big swells for 3 days of our cruising, did I notice any noises (slight creaking) in the cabin. One of the sliding wardrobe doors vibrated, but I just tucked a corner of a sleeve of a shirt between the doors and no noise. Also, the veranda sliding glass door's handle needs to be all the way straight upwards to block out any wind noise. Other than that, both of us had a noiseless cabin and peaceful sleep all the nights we were on the cruise.Our cabin attendant, Rumalyn, was friendly, efficient, willing to assist us with whatever we requested (like providing us with a stainless steel jug of boiling water (which was hot for hours!) so we could have a cuppa in our stateroom. Any issues we had (maintenance issues) were attended to and solved/fixed promptly. The staff were lovely, with genuine smiles and we ordered a room service cooked breakfast, which arrived hot and on time (as well as with fruit, yogurt and cereal).All in all, we enjoyed our stateroom accommodation and would consider booking another Guaranteed Deluxe Ocean View with Veranda Stateroom on Celebrity Cruises.